WTNL Chapter 578

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Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 578: I’ll come see you tonight.

“…”

From any angle, there was nothing wrong with the content of their conversation.

However, the looks everyone gave them changed from initial wariness to increasingly strange.

Indeed, after speaking, that guy no longer seemed so cold, eerie, and daunting, but for some reason…

They just felt something was weird.

It seemed like something wasn’t quite right, but they couldn’t immediately put their finger on what exactly was wrong.

Their gazes shifted between the two people in front of them, their expressions complex, as if they wanted to speak but stopped themselves.

Standing at the very back, Blond silently looked away.

See, I told you so.

“Guild Leader…”

After Wu Zhu said “hello,” Ma Qi finally didn’t react as strongly as before. Even so, she still shrank back, pressing herself tightly against the wall, seemingly wanting to stay as far away as possible from the being opposite her that made her instinctively uncomfortable.

She asked in a weak voice:

“Are you, are you sure… he really poses no threat?”

“Yes,” Wen Jianyan said. “He is an important ally, and I hope you all think the same.”

“…”

Wu Zhu paused slightly.

He lifted his eyes to look at Wen Jianyan, his gaze profound, seeming to dance with golden firelight.

Wen Jianyan reflexively avoided his gaze, then cleared his throat and asked in a seemingly natural, calm tone:

“Aside from that? Are there any other questions?”

Wen Ya glanced at Wu Zhu and said, “Are you introducing him to us now because he will be participating in the upcoming actions?”

“Perhaps.”

Wen Jianyan acknowledged, then said, “But maybe not in the way you imagine.”

After all, Wu Zhu’s abilities were restricted in this instance, and that was only one aspect. The most important thing was that he couldn’t openly appear under the live broadcast lens right now. Once “observed” by the lens, the consequences were hard to predict.

So, how to use this aid still needed consideration for the time being.

“I understand.” Wen Ya nodded.

Even though she was still wary of this suddenly appearing non-human, Wen Jianyan’s purpose in doing this was already very clear—he was gathering his strength and fleshing out his wings.

“OK.”

Chen Mo spoke slowly.

He glanced at Wu Zhu not far away. Although the wariness in his eyes hadn’t completely dissipated, his attitude was worlds apart from before.

“Since you trust him, then naturally I trust your choice.”

Trust…

This word made Wen Jianyan pause.

Did he… trust Wu Zhu?

Chang Feiyu blinked, a brilliant smile habitually plastered on his face:

“The Vice Guild Leader is right. Since the Guild Leader chose a non-human as an ally, he must have his reasons. I have no objections.”

“Mmhmm.” Kong Wei nodded, his voice muffled.

Regarding the matter of Wu Zhu, the group’s opinions had reached a consensus.

“Alright.” Wen Jianyan snapped out of it. He nodded, as if the brief daze just now had never happened. “Let’s go. We’ll start the live broadcast again when we get back to the hall.”

The group nodded and turned to walk back.

Wu Zhu raised his hand and put the mask back on his face.

Due to the restrictions of the Nightmare, he could no longer hide his form under the live broadcast lens, nor could he interfere with the audience’s cognition like before the instance started—the negative eighteenth floor was an exception. For some reason, the Nightmare’s control over that floor didn’t seem particularly strong.

Wen Jianyan turned around, just about to start the broadcast, but felt his finger being hooked.

Wu Zhu hooked his finger, his eyes gleaming behind the mask. He leaned down and whispered in Wen Jianyan’s ear:

“I’ll come find you tonight.”

“…”

Wen Jianyan’s steps faltered.

He really did need to talk to Wu Zhu. The other party’s proposal was understandable, but why did those words sound so…

Wu Zhu leaned closer, hooking Wen Jianyan’s finger and shaking it.

“Hmm?”

Wen Jianyan reflexively looked towards the group who had already walked away, afraid they would turn back and see this scene. Fortunately, his teammates had walked far enough and didn’t seem to notice the movement on his side. He gave a vague acknowledgement.

“…Mmh.”

He broke free from Wu Zhu’s hand, turned his head away, and lowered his voice, saying:

“Don’t let others see you when you knock.”

“Three short, one long.”

Until the very end of the ball, those “guests” with the cold auras did not engage in any unruly behavior. After Alex announced the end of the night, they left as silently as they had come, vanishing into the darkness without a trace.

The ball ended with more scare than harm, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But amidst the relief, they were increasingly puzzled.

What exactly was the purpose of these “guests”?

Could it be they really just came to attend the ball…

With the ball over, it was time for the lottery to purchase cabins again.

On the night Wen Jianyan was locked up on the negative eighteenth floor as an auction item, the negative ninth and tenth floors were “closed due to an accident.” The price for a room on the negative eleventh floor rose to twenty million a night, and rooms on the negative twelfth floor also began selling at a price of fifty million a night.

Although the price was high, for the current Wen Jianyan, he could still afford it.

Except for purchasing a safer room on the negative twelfth floor for Ji Guan, the rest of the group stayed on the negative eleventh floor.

Wen Jianyan looked down at the key he had drawn.

Negative eleventh floor, Class B.

Actually, it was not bad.

Although not comparable to Class A, the room area of a Class B cabin wasn’t small. It even had two nested rooms, one large and one small. The originally cramped, hard plank bed had turned into a spacious feather bed large enough for two people, big enough for Wen Jianyan to lie down and roll around on.

He threw himself onto the bed, and a familiar exhaustion surged like a tide.

Too many things had happened today.

From escaping the negative eighteenth floor to the confrontation with Figaro and then the conflict with the dealer in the racecourse, all happened within a short dozen or so hours. The overload of information and density of events left him with almost no room to breathe. Only now could he finally catch his breath slightly.

Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly think of something. He rolled over and sat up.

In the blink of an eye, an old, heavy ancient book appeared in his palm.

[Dead Sea Scrolls].

This was exactly what he had taken such great risks for, even going so far as to send himself into the auction to obtain.

The ancient book felt heavy in his palm. The pages were dry and yellowed, but under the light, one could still faintly see the texture of skin, emitting a cold aura.

Wen Jianyan exhaled lightly and raised his hand to open the book.

There were words on the book, but the text was obscure and difficult to understand. The crooked lines looked like ghostly talismans. Although he couldn’t distinguish which country or civilization it came from, it seemed somewhat similar to the stack of manuscripts in the box.

It seemed that the intelligence given by Orange Candy should be correct.

To decipher the content of the manuscripts, the [Dead Sea Scrolls] were an indispensable key link.

Wen Jianyan frowned at the Dead Sea Scrolls in front of him.

As he left the auction, his anchor permissions were restored along with the disappearance of the shackles, and the [Dead Sea Scrolls] could naturally be successfully stored in his backpack. However, its display in the backpack was extremely strange.

[Item: Dead Sea Scrolls]

[Level: Legendary]

[Effect: ???]

…There wasn’t even a user manual.

Wen Jianyan felt a bit discouraged looking at it.

He even tried to use past experience to “communicate” with the book scroll in front of him—the items obtained in the Ping’an Sanatorium previously could answer questions by feeding them souls. If it were a remnant page of the ancient scroll before him, then the effect of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” might not be far off.

Unfortunately, his communication was like a clay ox entering the sea, receiving not a single response.

No matter what Wen Jianyan did, this old ancient book remained completely motionless, like a dead object.

In the “Integrity First” live room chat:

[So, what is this item used for after all?]

[Don’t know, can’t tell at all.]

[Speaking of which, I’ve felt it was strange from the beginning. Why is the anchor so hung up on such a broken thing? Spending so many points bidding at the auction initially and failing to get it aside, he actually went through so much trouble afterwards just to get his hands on it… I don’t understand.]

[Why else? Isn’t it just wanting to get out?]

[I have to say, having watched live broadcasts for so long, I really haven’t seen an anchor who wants to leave the Nightmare as much as he does. As far as I know, he’s already ranked in the top ten. At this point, he actually doesn’t have to enter instances frequently and can enjoy the privileges of the Nightmare. Isn’t it good to just stream here?]

[It’s also quite funny. He doesn’t think that after returning to the real world, the dangers here will just be over and done with, does he?]

[Exactly.]

[Part of the content violates community rules and has been blocked. Friendly reminder from the Nightmare Live Broadcast Room: Please pay attention to civilized bullet comments]

[Alright, stop chatting; be careful not to get banned.]

[Tch, can’t even let people speak.]

Just as Wen Jianyan was scrutinizing the Dead Sea Scrolls in front of him, suddenly, there was a knock on the cabin door from outside.

“Thump thump thump, thump.”

Wen Jianyan reflexively raised his head and looked towards the source of the sound.

Three short, one long.

In the [Integrity First] live broadcast room, the audience obviously noticed this strange knocking sound too.

[?]

[Holy crap, knocking? What’s going on?]

[Don’t know! Did the anchor trigger some type of danger again?]

[Strange, I just came back from other anchors’ broadcast rooms, and it seems this situation hasn’t happened on their side either.]

Wen Jianyan paused. He raised his eyes and lightly glanced at his own live broadcast room.

In the live broadcast room, more sensitive viewers sensed something was wrong.

[Wait, the anchor’s movement – he isn’t going to end the broadcast again, is he…]

The next second, as if to confirm their guess, the screen went black.

Replacing it was a line of text.

[Anchor is resting.]

[…]

[Ahhhhh, which jinx said that earlier, come out!!]

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, then raised his hand to twist open the cabin door.

In the dimly lit red corridor stood Wu Zhu, who had been forced to act separately from him because he couldn’t hide his form.

He had already taken off the pitch-black mask, his pale skin presenting a marble-like texture under the light.

Wen Jianyan yanked him in, then nervously poked his head out to check that no one else in the corridor saw this scene.

“Long story short, we only have fifteen min… Mmph!”

Before he could finish speaking, he was pinned against the wall.

A cold yet passionate kiss landed on his lips, blocking back all the sounds.

–

Author’s Note:

And you dare say you’re not having an affair!

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