(2/5)
Anchor Hall
Chapter 522: Take a vacation
“The upcoming tasks will be quite heavy.”
After getting Wen Jianyan’s approval, Chen Mo stood up. His gloomy expression rarely broke, but now it revealed a cheerfulness that sent a chill down one’s spine. “I’ll be leaving first then.”
Wen Jianyan waved his hand lazily:
“Bye.”
The most critical issues had been resolved. It seemed the meeting was about to end.
Before Chen Mo could even step out the door, his phone suddenly went “ding.”
His steps faltered.
It was important to note that during this period, Chen Mo had been handling all guild affairs, large and small. If he set a sound notification for every single matter, he would probably be annoyed to death.
Which meant… the matter that needed handling this time was extremely important, its priority level far exceeding the guild’s automatic filter standards.
Almost at the same moment, the phones of all the meeting attendees rang, Wen Jianyan’s included.
But strangely, he seemed not to have heard it. He simply reached for the box of pastries in front of him and picked up a second strawberry cream cupcake.
“…”
The others exchanged glances.
Wen Ya hesitated for a moment, but ultimately pulled her phone out of her pocket. The moment the screen lit up, a crack appeared on her usually reserved and calm face, and her color suddenly drained.
“This…”
“A request to leave the guild?!” Ji Guan, at the side, sucked in a breath of cold air, his eyes wide with disbelief as he looked at Wen Jianyan in the main seat. “Wait… wait, what does this mean? How could Su Cheng—”
In the main seat, the young man acted as if he hadn’t heard, just nonchalantly taking a large bite of the cupcake.
Wen Ya gave Wen Jianyan a deep look, then retracted her gaze:
“Nothing else matters now. The key is to find Su Cheng, right now, immediately. The decision he’s making now might not be of his own free will. As long as we handle it in time, we can—”
Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a voice:
“Approve the request.”
“?!” The others were all shocked and looked toward Wen Jianyan again.
Wen Jianyan finished the last bite of the cupcake, looked up at the shocked faces of his guild members, and his voice was as calm as a sigh:
“What, you think you can stop him?”
Indeed, a vice-president’s request to leave the guild procedurally required the president’s approval to pass. However, if the vice-president was determined to leave, he could also pay a hefty sum of points to quit directly.
And without any procedures.
Given the difficulty of the instances Su Cheng had experienced and his seniority, coming up with such points was a piece of cake for him.
Instantly, the entire conference hall fell into a dead silence.
Faced with such sudden news, Wen Jianyan was the calmest of them all.
“…You already knew?” Wen Ya said slowly.
“Mhm.”
Wen Jianyan leaned back casually, his gaze fixed on the air. “But, saying I already knew is a bit of an exaggeration. At most… I had a premonition.”
Su Cheng’s state of alienation was already completely out of control.
The moment he agreed to, or rather, formulated the plan to have Yun Bilan trade her life for his, it already meant his obsession had reached its peak.
In other words… at the moment he made that decision, for him, nothing else mattered except achieving his goal.
Even friendship.
A bottom line is a bottom line for a reason.
Once it’s crossed, it means anything else can be allowed to happen.
This is true for both depravity and betrayal. No matter the reason, once they start, they cannot be stopped. Caught in the grip of countless irresistible forces, the people involved will only sink deeper and deeper, like in a quagmire.
Although Wen Jianyan had hoped the other would stop after hearing his words, it was a pity… things still developed in a direction he did not want to see.
He lowered his eyes and silently took a bite of the cake in his hand. The velvety, smooth texture melted on his tongue, but it seemed to lack much flavor.
Thus, with Wen Jianyan’s approval, Su Cheng’s request to leave the guild was smoothly processed.
“Ding.”
Another sound.
On the large screen to the right, on the constantly scrolling information bar, the number of personnel in Oracle suddenly changed. It was worth noting that the conditions for joining Oracle were extremely strict; its member count might not change for months.
And now, its number of vice-presidents had suddenly increased by one without any warning.
It was Su Cheng.
“…”
Instantly, the already tense atmosphere became even gloomier, almost suffocatingly so.
Chen Mo, who had already reached the door of the conference room, turned around, his expression solemn.
As if he thought the current situation wasn’t tense enough, he slowly added:
“The registration information for the challenge tournament has been updated.”
Chen Mo’s voice seemed to be squeezed from between his teeth: “It seems Su Cheng will be representing Oracle in the top-ten challenge tournament.”
“Mmm,” Wen Jianyan lifted his eyelids, glanced at the screen on the side, his expression still faint, as if he wasn’t surprised by this. “That’s pretty good.”
“What’s good about it?!” Ji Guan’s reaction was bigger than anyone else’s. He shot to his feet, the legs of his chair scraping harshly against the floor, his face murderous. “Oracle must have pulled some strings, tricked and bewitched Su Cheng in some way we don’t know, just like last time—”
“Do you know what happened in the last instance?”
Wen Jianyan asked.
The others were first taken aback, then exchanged glances, their expressions cautious and uneasy.
Clearly, they were all well aware of what had happened in the last instance. The reason this meeting hadn’t mentioned a single word about it was likely their deliberate choice.
But unexpectedly, Wen Jianyan was the one to bring it up.
“No, no, I’m not trying to rake up old scores,” Wen Jianyan seemed to see through their unease and caution, sighed, and said, “It’s about the timing of his prophecy.”
“?” The others were all stunned.
Wen Jianyan: “He asked me to bring Yun Bilan along before entering the instance. This means that before the instance started, he had already made a prophecy…”
Wen Ya’s brows furrowed deeply, and she continued, “—But, anchors are not allowed to use their talents outside of an instance, not even prophets.”
“Exactly.”
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, his gaze falling on the few people before him, and said slowly, “But, there are exceptions.”
Like Bai Xue.
But the reason he could use his talent was more complicated. Firstly, his talent was special, more like a passive skill than an actively cast one. Secondly, his status was special. As one of Nightmare’s top ten and a member of the Secret Council, the rules were naturally a bit more relaxed for them—but still, it came at a great cost.
Blond, at the side, seemed to suddenly think of something:
“Ah… that Insect Manipulator!”
After Wen Jianyan left the [Fantasy Amusement Park] instance, he discovered that Su Cheng had been controlled by some invisible force and had entered an instance without telling anyone. Wen Jianyan had to take Blond and the others into the [Ping’an Asylum] instance to rescue Su Cheng.
After leaving the instance, Wen Jianyan finally learned the truth about Su Cheng’s manipulation.
A certain Insect Manipulator belonging to the Oracle guild (in the later ‘Changsheng Building’ instance, he learned this person’s name was Mu Sen), had used his talent in the Anchor Hall before the instance even started, implanting insect eggs into Su Cheng’s body, thus achieving that kind of control.
Because of this, Wen Jianyan came to a conclusion.
[Oracle and Nightmare have some kind of ulterior relationship, which is why Nightmare gives it and its members special privileges, turning a blind eye and allowing it to break the rules.]
It was precisely out of curiosity about the dealings between Oracle and Nightmare that Wen Jianyan had established his current guild and, through less-than-honorable means like swindling, cheating, and exploiting loopholes, had pushed this newly established guild into the top ten of the guild point rankings.
“Are you saying that before you entered the last instance, Oracle had already been in contact with Su Cheng privately?”
Wen Ya asked.
Wen Jianyan: “I’m afraid so.”
Otherwise, there was no explanation for how Su Cheng, as someone who was not a member of the Secret Council, could use his talent in the Anchor Hall.
This should also be one of the reasons why Su Cheng hid his prophecy.
His talent should not have been used.
Once Wen Jianyan knew about this, he would immediately connect it to a deeper meaning.
That is—Oracle had contacted Su Cheng in private, and in a certain sense…
Persuaded him.
Ji Guan hesitated for a moment, and finally began to speak: “Then… are we just going to do nothing now?”
Wen Jianyan looked at him, his light-colored eyes completely calm, like a bottomless sea:
“Then what can we do?”
“Persuade Su Cheng not to join Oracle?” Wen Jianyan shrugged. “Unfortunately, by the time he made this decision, we had probably already lost the chance to persuade him.”
The “request to leave the guild” just now was not a question, but a [notification].
Wen Jianyan knew what kind of person Su Cheng was.
Although the other always seemed gentle and refined, as if he would always reluctantly give way for others, beneath that soft exterior was a resolute, obsessive, and even somewhat terrifying soul.
From the moment he made up his mind, no one could shake his thoughts.
Su Cheng had already chosen and embarked on his own path alone.
Things having come to this, there was no room for turning back.
“Or follow him into the selection tournament?” Wen Jianyan smiled, retracted his gaze, and said unhurriedly, “Then I would be harming him instead.”
After the [Yuying Comprehensive University] instance, Nightmare’s targeting of him was completely exposed, without any cover. If he were to enter the instance this time, then this instance would surely once again become a terrifying trap targeting him. The ending of the last instance would only repeat itself.
Wen Jianyan wasn’t very worried that Nightmare would target Su Cheng if he didn’t participate in the instance.
Although Nightmare was vicious and cunning, it… still had certain rules it needed to follow.
Don’t forget that as the holder of the indenture contract, Nightmare could easily fabricate a reason to strangle someone, but it didn’t do so. It still needed him to enter an instance before it could act.
More importantly, at the end of the last instance, although Nightmare could have directly prevented him from leaving, it still used a high-sounding reason, something about Wen Jianyan’s abnormal use of his talent interfering with the core rules of the instance, thus causing the instance’s abnormal state.
In other words, in a certain sense, Nightmare’s actions were restricted.
No matter how terrifying and vast it was, it was still essentially a [livestreaming platform].
Of course…
Taking a huge step back, was there a small possibility that Nightmare would target Su Cheng to force him into a instance, or simply for revenge, even going so far as to forcibly break the rules and break through its shackles?
There was.
“…”
Wen Jianyan turned his head, his gaze falling on the huge screen on the side, which was scrolling with countless pieces of information. He squinted his eyes and said softly, “So he joined Oracle… how smart.”
In a certain sense, Oracle was the executor of Nightmare’s will.
In that case, even if Su Cheng entered an instance, he would be entering under the protection of Oracle, or rather, Nightmare.
And for Nightmare, which had already completely revealed its malice, keeping Su Cheng alive was of greater value to them than letting him die.
The entire conference hall fell into silence.
Wen Jianyan pushed the empty dessert box back to Ji Guan, pulled out a tissue from somewhere, and carefully wiped his fingers.
After doing all this, he turned and walked straight out of the conference hall, saying as he walked:
“Oh right, there’s one more thing I need to inform you about.”
He stopped at the door of the conference room and turned to look at the people behind him: “From now on, I won’t be doing instances with anyone.”
“?!” Everyone was shocked and couldn’t help but gasp.
However, before they could voice their questions, Wen Jianyan seemed to realize his wording was wrong and corrected himself:
“Wait, that’s not accurate.”
He raised his eyes and said lightly:
“Strictly speaking, I’m not planning to do any instances at all.”
“…”
That sounded much more acceptable than “not doing instances with anyone.”
The few of them exchanged glances.
In the end, it was Wen Ya who spoke cautiously to confirm: “Meaning…?”
“Exactly what it means,” Wen Jianyan straightened his body, stretched languidly, and said slowly, “Your president, me, is going on vacation.”
This was a decision he had made quickly after realizing Nightmare’s purpose.
He wouldn’t do instances with any teammates, with the aim of protecting them from being implicated by him, and also to protect himself from facing the difficult choice of “teammates or you” again.
But, doing instances alone?
Don’t be silly.
Wen Jianyan wasn’t some naive rookie. How could he do something with such low returns and such high risks?
Rather than being a lone wolf full of bitterness and hatred, it was better to give himself a long vacation.
At least until Orange Candy figured out what was in the box and how it could help his next move, Wen Jianyan was not prepared to enter any instance.
“Speaking of which, do you know how long my vacation is?”
Wen Jianyan asked with a grin.
The few of them shook their heads blankly.
“Three years,” Wen Jianyan blinked mysteriously. “Three years and eight months.”
Good heavens!
Even though they had been mentally prepared, the others couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.
Three years?!
“Who told me to do instances so diligently, and the instances I clear are of high difficulty? This is something people can’t be envious of.”
Wen Jianyan said with his hands in his pockets and a grin.
He pulled open the conference room door and waved at the dumbfounded guild members:
“Going on vacation, bye-bye!”
Wen Jianyan wasn’t kidding about going on vacation.
Unfortunately, he had slept too soundly for the past three days and really couldn’t sleep anymore, so he simply became an idle street loafer and started wandering around the Anchor Hall.
Wen Jianyan had passed so many high-difficulty instances and had long accumulated a huge number of points. Now that he finally had the chance, as a thorough hedonist, he naturally began to spend lavishly.
And in the realms of eating, drinking, and having fun, he had always been an expert.
It took him almost no time to figure out where the best restaurants were, where the highest quality tea was, and which hot springs were the most enjoyable to soak in.
It’s just a pity…
Wen Jianyan not only liked to eat, drink, and have fun everywhere, but he also loved to harass his acquaintances.
Dark Fire Guild.
Qi Qian, who had already been promoted to vice-president, pressed his throbbing temple and said through gritted teeth:
“How much longer are you going to stay here?”
On the sofa in the office, the young man was sprawled out, giving a perfunctory “Huh?”
“If you’re not doing instances, do you have nothing else to do?”
Looking at Wen Jianyan, who seemed to be making himself at home, Qi Qian felt a long-lost headache. He gritted his teeth and said, “If you stay any longer, everyone else in Dark Fire will think I’m about to be turned by you.”
“Can’t be helped,” Wen Jianyan yawned lazily. “If I go anywhere else, I’m likely to be caught by my vice-president. He’s gone a bit crazy handling official business lately and insists on grabbing me for forced labor…”
He turned over and started poking with great interest at the black flame ornament placed on his desk.
Qi Qian’s temple throbbed twice. He stood up and forcibly confiscated his guild’s symbol from Wen Jianyan’s hands: “Forced labor? You, a president, handling your own guild’s tasks is what you call forced labor?”
Wen Jianyan wasn’t angry that his thing was snatched away:
“This is a vacation. Do you understand, vacation?”
He stretched out his arms and legs on Dark Fire’s comfortable dark velvet chaise lounge, gave a big yawn, and then grabbed another small ornament from the table to play with, clearly very restless:
“It means not doing anything.”
Qi Qian: “…”
Since becoming a vice-president, he had gradually learned to hide his emotions, and it was rare for him to have such a strong urge to kill someone now.
But…
The guy in front of him seemed to know exactly how to dance on his last nerve.
“Oh right, An Xin is asking about you again,” Qi Qian looked down at Wen Jianyan sprawled out before him. “Are you really not going to give him any reply?”
“What reply can I give?”
Wen Jianyan lazily lifted his eyelids. “Aren’t the words ‘not interested’ enough?”
Qi Qian pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the urge to sigh again.
An Xin was one of his most senior and capable anchors.
Not to mention he had a rare offensive-type talent.
Relying on his strong ability and a handsome enough face, he had always been successful in the field of love. It was just a pity he had a prodigal personality. Although he flirted everywhere, he had never truly cared for anyone.
Until he entered the [Changsheng Building] instance…
For some reason, this guy really got stuck on this one track, asking about Wen Jianyan’s whereabouts every time they met.
On the sofa, the young man stretched and yawned, lazily blinking away the tears at the corners of his eyes.
“…”
Qi Qian’s gaze paused on him.
Well, it wasn’t like he had absolutely no idea why.
His gaze rested on the sliver of wrist Wen Jianyan had just revealed, the layers of bandages on it looking very conspicuous: “You’re injured? Why not use points to heal it?”
“Nope.”
Wen Jianyan lowered his hand, and with a casual flick, his sleeve fell, covering the bandage.
“Just changing my style, doesn’t it look good?”
“Or,” he glanced sideways, a careless smile on his face, “are you afraid I’ll lure away your other subordinates too?”
Qi Qian: “…”
He deserved it for asking!
After this conversation ended, Wen Jianyan seemed to lose interest. He did a backflip off the sofa and tossed the ornament in his hand back to Qi Qian:
“Leaving, leaving.”
“…This soon?”
Seeing him act so decisively, Qi Qian was a bit surprised for a moment.
Wen Jianyan’s steps paused: “What, it’s not like I can’t—”
Qi Qian said expressionlessly: “Hurry up and leave.”
He waved his hand as if shooing away a fly:
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to call your vice-president—I’m serious this time.”
“Alright, alright.”
Wen Jianyan waved at him and sauntered out.
Along the way, he greeted the familiar members of Dark Fire with a smile. His overly familiar attitude left all the anchors except him at a loss, not knowing how to respond to the president of a rival guild.
After leaving the Dark Fire guild, the smile on Wen Jianyan’s face quickly disappeared.
He lowered his eyes nonchalantly, twirled the Ouroboros ring on his finger, his expression inscrutable, his thoughts unknown.
“Buzz buzz!”
The phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
Wen Jianyan paused and took his phone out of his pocket.
The message was surprisingly from Orange Candy, who hadn’t appeared in a long time.
[Orange Candy: I’ve got news.]
“Buzz buzz.”
Another one.
[Orange Candy: I’m at your guild. Come quick.]
__
Author’s Note:
Wen Jianyan: A cat-like anchor whose hands can never be kept under control.
