WTNL Chapter 52

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Chapter 52: “It is necessary to be defensive.”

In the thick and dark cloud of cold mist, the young man appeared in front of him without warning, like a divine soldier descending from the sky.

His warm palms pressed on his shoulders, dragging him back to the human realm from the near-death situation.

Su Cheng’s eyes widened in astonishment, and he looked at Wen Jianyan in disbelief. His voice was stuck in his throat, and he could barely squeeze out a dry syllable:

“You……”

How could you…

Why are you……

“Let’s go!”

Wen Jianyan didn’t seem to notice the other party’s complicated mood at the moment. After sticking the paper talisman on the monster’s forehead, he dragged him away furiously.

Su Cheng stumbled after him, his mind was still a mess, and he could hardly make a complete sentence.

He took the time to glance behind him.

The pale, thin monster froze in place, and the scarlet paper talisman on its head was particularly dazzling in the black mist.

It stopped moving?

What other dangers did this place have that he was not aware of?

Before Su Cheng could figure it out, the black mist on the side stirred like turbid water, and the smiling faces of countless paper figurines were torn apart by the invisible force and turned into fly ash.

The next second, another pale monster appeared in the darkness, charging toward them at a faster speed than the other one!

Su Cheng: “???”

No……

Why is there another one aaaahhhhhhh!

“F*ck, there are two!” Su Cheng’s expression cracked.

He looked at Wen Jianyan, who was dragging him to run wildly, and warned in horror: “Be careful, there are two of them here!”

Wen Jianyan didn’t turn his head back, and ran with his head lowered: “I know!”

Su Cheng: ?

“I brought it in!” Wen Jianyan shouted loudly.

Su Cheng: ? ? ?

While running, Wen Jianyan quickly scanned the system store displayed on the virtual panel in front of him, and used his remaining points to frantically buy life-saving props:

“This kind of monster can drag people into the mirror, and the specific principle is similar to that of Granny Wen’s bagua mirror, except that Granny Wen’s mirror needs a human being with strong inspiration to recite the spell. This monster itself is a kind of spirit body, so the process of chanting the spell was omitted, and at the moment one of them pulled me into the mirror, I used its power to activate the mirror you are in!”

Wen Jianyan spoke very fast. Su Cheng’s mind was originally a mess, and now he was even more confused:

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Don’t worry! The rules shouldn’t allow this kind of thing to happen.”

Wen Jianyan activated the golden body for himself and Su Cheng: “We only need to survive the first few minutes!”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[…My God, so that’s how it is.]

[! I would like to call him the king of bug cards!]

[Ah? Am I the only one who hasn’t understood? Begging someone to explain it to me carefully aaaahhhhhhh!]

[It means, the anchor used the rules of entering the mirror to create a loophole so that the space of the two mirrors overlapped. Logically speaking, there should be only one monster in a mirror, but now two are forced into it, so this place should be blown up soon.]

[!!! Oh oh oh awesome! (Reward points 100)]

[F*ck, this method is too foul. It is purely taking advantage of the loopholes in the rules!… I like it! (Reward points 50)]

[Lol, I guess this instance didn’t expect that there would be an anchor who would activate two mirrors at once; that’s too daring, hahahahahahahahhaha. (Reward points 100)]

Although Su Cheng didn’t understand what Wen Jianyan was saying, he could clearly feel the faint roar and tremor in the whole space.

The dark vortex stirred in the space, and the smiling faces of countless paper figurines in the distance appeared, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing.

The ground under their feet was no longer solid, and it seemed to be collapsing bit by bit.

Su Cheng was startled, almost feeling unbelievable.

Could he really be…

Saved?

“Anyway, don’t worry too much when you’re in the mirror!”

Only Wen Jianyan’s voice continued to come from the front: “What you need to worry about is what to do after the mirror collapses!”

? ? ?

Su Cheng looked bewildered: “…What do you mean?”

Wen Jianyan laughed for a while:

“It means that I’m not sure where the mirror will send us two after it collapses.”

He did not see the other two people other than Su Cheng in the mirror, which meant that the two anchors were probably out of danger. But they did not appear in 1304, which showed that the mirror space was not a condensed and fixed space. It was more like another physical dimension, and the mirror itself was just a medium between the two dimensions.

If they run and move here, they would also move outside, but Wen Jianyan didn’t figure out the inner rules here.

Wen Jianyan only hoped that they were not going around in circles, in case the mirror collapsed, and he returned to 1316…

Then he would personally bear the consequences of his recent provocation.

Although Wen Jianyan didn’t think that his luck would be so outrageously bad, everything that happened after he entered this nightmare live broadcast room forced him to take this possibility into consideration.

“……”

Su Cheng: ? ? ?

Hey, it’s scary when you say that!

The roar around them became louder and louder, as if the whole world was trembling with it, and the sound of crackling echoed in their ears.

At this moment, the bead string on Wen Jianyan’s wrist suddenly started to feel slightly hot.

This… this is?

Wen Jianyan was slightly taken aback and looked down at his wrist. On the reddish-brown bead string, the strange runes carved on it were faintly shining at the moment, as if they were guiding him.

A strange premonition struck him.

Wen Jianyan slowed down and raised his head to look around.

A familiar, rickety old paper woman appeared not far away, and behind it, one could see two adults and two children—a family of four.

“Here!”

Wen Jianyan’s eyes brightened slightly, and he dragged Su Cheng in that direction.

Before they could rush over, their feet landed in the air.

In the next second, the sky and the earth spun, and everything in front of them was spinning upside down, mixing into countless blurry colored blocks.

Only two thuds were heard, and the two of them fell firmly to the cold ground one after the other.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Su Cheng held his burning throat due to excessive gasping and struggled to get up.

The cold and dark familiar corridor, the eerie red dim light, the closed door flickering in the darkness——

He raised his head and looked at the door closest to him: the house number was mottled and peeled off, but the number “1304” could still be vaguely seen.

Really, they are back…

Su Cheng sat on the spot with limp hands and feet and a dazed expression as if he hadn’t recovered from the life-and-death crisis just now.

Wen Jianyan put his hot forehead against the door frame with some loss of strength and slowly let out a long breath.

In his series of actions just now, there was a lot of gambling involved. After all, he only knew a little bit about this instance. With the help of the information provided by the Flower of Delusion, as well as many overly bold guesses, he guessed the entire internal logical chain of operations in this instance.

Fortunately, there was no problem with this overly risky thinking; otherwise, not to mention saving Su Cheng, even his life would have been in danger.

At this moment, a familiar sound from the system sounded in his ears:

【Ding, it has been detected that the anchor’s live broadcast has reached five hours, do you want to start point settlement?】

According to the specific content of different instances, as well as the difficulty of the instance, the interval frequency of point settlement would also change. For example, in this instance, there was hardly any danger in the first three hours, so the time for the first settlement was five hours since the beginning of the instance.

Wen Jianyan collected himself and replied in his mind: “Yes.”

【In the level-D “Integrity First” live broadcast room, the average number of viewers per hour is 50,000, which can be exchanged for 5,000 points!
Congratulations to the host for reaching a 63% rewatch rate!】

【Achievement Unlocked: I will live here from today! 】

【You are still 45,000 points away from the upgrade of your live broadcast room, please make persistent efforts and create greater glories!】

【During your live broadcast, you received a total of 2,463 rewards and earned a total of 180,000 points.
It is detected that the anchor is a level-D anchor, and the system will take 10% of your live broadcast. The points used before the points settlement had been deduced, and 50,000 points have been settled in your account.】

【Instance exploration: 63%, Reward points: 10000
Current plot modification: 51%, Reward points: 30000】

【The remaining points in your account are: 100000】

One hundred thousand points is a lot!

Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel refreshed.

“You……”

At this moment, Su Cheng’s dry and hoarse voice sounded from beside him, pulling Wen Jianyan back from his contemplation.

He turned his head and looked at the other party with some doubts:

“Huh?”

As soon as Su Cheng said a word, he fell silent again. He took a deep breath: “It’s nothing.”

The young man narrowed his amber eyes slightly, stared at him with a gaze that seemed to be able to see through people’s hearts, and asked thoughtfully, “You don’t want to ask me, why did I come here to save you?”

Su Cheng: “…..”

He pursed his lips as if he had been poked in the right place, his eyes wandering a bit.

“Of course, leaving you alone would have saved a lot of trouble, but it would have been extremely disadvantageous in the long run.”

Wen Jianyan held onto the door frame and pulled himself up.

His voice didn’t have too many emotional ups and downs; it sounded cold and detached:

“In the entire instance, only you know my true identity and are on my side. We have also cultivated a certain amount of tacit understanding in the past few instances, and you are a relatively trustworthy teammate. If you had died, then I would have been the only one left in this instance to face the already formed anchor team and the instance mechanism that is still a mystery, and my survival rate would have been greatly reduced.”

“So, as a teammate, it was a sensible choice.”

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s calm voice paused for a moment, and there was a slight smile in his voice:

“But you didn’t call me for help, did you?”

Su Cheng was taken aback by the sudden change in the other party’s tone and subconsciously raised his head to look at Wen Jianyan.

“Even at a critical moment, rather than letting me risk my life to save you, you hope that I can get the item you found, complete the mission, and pass the instance alone… This is not something that teammates will do.”

The young man leaned against the door frame, staring at him with downcast eyes. His lowered eyelashes were dyed a faint dark red by the light in the corridor.

He bent down and stretched out his hand to Su Cheng, who was still slumped on the ground, with a soft voice and a smile:

“That’s what a friend would do.”

Su Cheng raised his head in a daze, staring at the palm stretched out to him.

Wen Jianyan had slender finger bones, fair skin, and neatly manicured nails, which looked like a work of art under the light.

“In that case,”

In the depths of those light amber eyes, a little smile bloomed.

“How can I leave my friends behind?”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Help, I’m feeling emotional.]

[“… F*ck, I was actually moved by this liar.]

[Aaaaahhhhhhh my wife is bewitching aaahhh!]

[I was wondering if there were any openings for friends. I want to sign up! You can lie to me as many times as you want!]

[Aaaaaaahhhhhhh this kind of spicy, bewitching, inexplicably in love, and deceitful wife, where can I get them! Are they sent by the country?]

“……”

Su Cheng’s chest rose and fell violently for a moment. He took a deep breath and suppressed the wetness in his eyes, then raised his hand to hold Wen Jianyan’s hand, and stood up with the help of the other party.

He looked directly into Wen Jianyan’s eyes and said solemnly:

“Thanks.”

“It’s all right.”

After pulling Su Cheng up, Wen Jianyan straightened his expression and said seriously: “Before expressing our feelings, we still have a very urgent matter to do.”

Seeing the other party’s serious attitude, Su Cheng couldn’t help but become nervous:

“What matter?”

Wen Jianyan glanced down at his upper body and said in pain, “Saving myself from the cold.”

Su Cheng: “……”

***

The two walked into 1304 again.

Wen Jianyan managed to find clothes that were similar to his size in the closet.

Anyway, he even recognized this guy’s wife and children as his own once; even if he took his clothes, it wasn’t that much of a big deal. Wen Jianyan didn’t blush, nor did his heartbeat accelerate, he didn’t even feel the slightest sense of shame for occupying the magpie’s nest.

Su Cheng’s gaze stayed on Wen Jianyan’s upper body subtly for a moment: “So, what exactly happened to you to turn into that ghostly look?”

“And just now… in the mirror.”

Su Cheng seemed to have thought of something and asked very suspiciously: “Why do you call yourself that monster’s mother? Is there any allusion in it that I don’t know?”

“……”

Wen Jianyan coughed dryly and changed the subject abruptly: “Well… it’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I have time in the future.”

He turned back to the living room, picked up the black pottery jar, and looked at it carefully with the light of the flashlight.

Su Cheng asked curiously, “What’s in it?”

Wen Jianyan glanced at him: “Human bones.”

Su Cheng was taken aback.

“Soul-locking altar…” Wen Jianyan touched his chin thoughtfully: “Whose soul will it lock?”

Su Cheng guessed: “Those evil spirits chasing us?”

“Maybe.”

Wen Jianyan replied noncommittally.

He turned to look at Su Cheng: “Speaking of which, have the other two anchors come across this jar?”

Su Cheng was stunned for a moment before nodding, “Yes, after all, they are the ones who found it from under the shrine.”

“It’s not a problem then.”

With that said, Wen Jianyan walked quickly to the kitchen, took out a cookie box from the cupboard, poured out all the cookie crumbs, and then simply and rudely put the bones in the soul-locking altar into it.

Su Cheng stared dumbfounded at Wen Jianyan’s excessive blasphemy of the deceased and stammered, “You, what are you doing?”

“I’ve confirmed it. This is an ordinary black pottery jar. What’s important are the bone remains, the bagua mirror inside, and the paper talisman on the mirror. I’ve pasted the talisman on the monster’s forehead now. It should not be able to break free for a while, so even if we change the container, it doesn’t matter.”

Wen Jianyan swept the cookie crumbs into the jar, carefully sealed the mouth of the jar, and then turned to Su Cheng with a bright smile:

“It is necessary to be defensive.”

Su Cheng: “…”

He seemed to understand why his precious teammate could accurately offend countless ghosts in every instance.

Wen Jianyan threw the cookie box to Su Cheng for safekeeping, while he put the black pottery jar in his pocket:

“Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Su Cheng was startled.

“To find another jar.”

Wen Jianyan replied: “If we’re lucky, we might meet our other two friends.”

The corridors were narrow and deep.

The air seemed to be filled with a scarlet, bloody mist, the light shone from above, and everything seemed to be shrouded in a dim red light.

No one knew if it was because of the passage of time, but the length of the corridor seemed to have increased, the ground was slightly twisted, and a light red layer could be seen under the peeling wall skin, like a flesh and blood body.

It was as if the scene inside 1316 was spreading outward little by little.

Theoretically speaking, 1304 and 1306 should be very close, but Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng had to cross two corridors to find this room.

The door panel of 1306 was dark red, like coagulated blood, giving people a particularly uneasy feeling.

The door was slightly closed, and there was an overly thick darkness inside.

Wen Jianyan turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone, then stretched out his hand, carefully pushed the door open a gap, and shone the flashlight into the room.

It looked as if a tornado had just passed by in here.

Sofas, mattresses, tables, chairs…

The furniture was twisted into pieces by some unknown force. Wood chips, cotton, and cushions were all scattered everywhere. The ground was in a mess. There were fragments of paper figurines on the ground, and the walls were splashed with blood that had not yet dried, looking particularly shocking under the dim light, as if a fierce battle had taken place.

Wen Jianyan was the first to look in the direction of the shrine.

That place was also a mess, and the place where the black pottery jar should have been was empty.

It looks like someone has already been there.

And they found the soul-locking altar in this room.

Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng looked at each other and walked toward the room.

According to Granny Wen, three soul-locking altars were stolen, and only the two stolen by the 1304 and 1306 families were found. The other altar should have been stolen by another family, but they didn’t have any clue about the whereabouts of the third soul-locking altar. If the jar in 1306 had been taken away in advance, then their clues might break here, and they could only wait to connect with others.

That would be too passive.

Wen Jianyan turned to look at Su Cheng and said:

“Let’s look separately and see if there are any clues left here that we can continue to follow.”

Su Cheng nodded: “Okay.”

Su Cheng walked into other rooms, while Wen Jianyan stood in the center of the living room, looking around at the chaotic room in front of him.

This is… he seemed to notice something and couldn’t help but be surprised.

Wen Jianyan walked toward the edge of the living room, which looked the most chaotic.

There were blood and messy footprints on the ground. The scarlet blood hadn’t completely dried up, reflecting a dark red luster under the light of the flashlight.

He squatted down, shined the flashlight in his hand on the footprints on the ground, and slowly frowned.

There were far more than two pairs of footprints here.

At least… four or five people.

That is to say, beside them, there were other anchors who also found Granny Wen and received the exact same task from her.

Are they the anchors who separated from them when they escaped?

Or, are there other anchors they haven’t met in this instance?

After all, the map of this instance was indeed very large, with 13 floors and each floor having 30 apartments, and the difficulty was B–. The possibility that the number of broadcasters would be more than seven was extremely high.

That being the case,…

Wen Jianyan stood up, held the phone in one hand, and scanned the entire room with the flashlight——

Since he got this new idea, he began to look at this “scene” with another eye, revealing many details that he hadn’t noticed before.

That’s right, the paper figurines must have launched an attack on the anchor in this room.

But other than that, there were more traces of attacks that didn’t look like they were initiated by supernatural creatures, such as the sofa that was torn into two pieces, with straight edges, as if it had been cut open with a sharp weapon.

There were several traces of blood on the ground: splattered, dripping, dragging, and so on.

Wen Jianyan frowned slightly, and his eyes were stained with a layer of solemn expression.

He remembered that in the information he collected earlier, a similar situation was mentioned… In many high-level instances, the anchors would form a competitive relationship with each other.

Some were forced by the instance mechanism, some were actively formed by the anchors driven by interests, and some instances would even develop into team battles.

Now it seemed that this instance had already had this tendency.

For the soul-locking altar in 1306, different factions had been formed among the anchors, and they had fought here.

At this moment, Su Cheng’s solemn voice came from the room:

“… Come and see.”

Wen Jianyan was startled, put away his phone, and walked into the room.

There was an extremely strong smell of blood in the air.

Su Cheng held up his mobile phone and stood beside the bed with an ugly expression.

The quilt was opened, and the sheets were covered with scarlet and viscous blood, showing an almost oil-like texture under the light. Two paper figurines were lying side by side on the bed, and their paper stomachs were filled with human organs, looking shocking and disgusting.

However, Su Cheng’s gaze did not fall on the paper figurine but instead stared fixedly at the stack of paper in his own hands.

“What did you find?” Wen Jianyan asked.

Su Cheng took a deep breath and handed the stack of papers to Wen Jianyan.

Wen Jianyan took the papers and scanned them down.

This was a case sheet from the hospital; it should be from the owner of this house. It was obvious from this that she was pregnant in October and was about to give birth, and the hospital that issued the case was…

Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank, and he couldn’t help but gasp.

An extremely familiar name appeared in front of him.

Fukang Private General Hospital.

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