Origin
Chapter 663: That’s not a place outsiders can go
Wen Jianyan stared fixedly at the familiar yet unfamiliar town before him. His mind was completely blank, yet he still tried to untangle the logic amidst the chaos.
Why…
Why did he return here after getting off the train?
Xingwang Hotel… was [Volume One]?
How could that be?
While he was lost in his thoughts, the sound of shuffling, dragging footsteps approached from not far away. The sound of stepping on the bluestone-paved road was exceptionally clear and piercing, instantly pulling Wen Jianyan out of his daze.
He turned his head to look in the direction of the sound and couldn’t help but shudder.
It was an extremely elderly woman, looking as if she were hundreds of years old. She was short in stature, her back severely hunched, and she leaned on a gnarled wooden walking stick. Her cloudy eyes were deep and dark, covered with white cataracts. Her brownish-gray face was like old tree bark, covered in deep, dense wrinkles that almost completely buried her facial features. Seeing her so suddenly was heart-stopping.
The half-grown child who had just locked eyes with Wen Jianyan by the bed was now hiding behind the old woman, secretly poking half his head out, watching him with a mix of vigilance and terror.
Clearly, the old woman walking in front was the “A-Ma” the child had just called out for.
“Young man, you’re awake,” A-Ma spoke, her voice ancient and hoarse.
“Yes,” Wen Jianyan steadied his nerves and skillfully put on a smile. “Was it you who brought me back from that place? Thank you so much.”
“A-Ma…”
The child tugged at A-Ma’s sleeve, hesitating to speak.
A-Ma patted the child’s shoulder with her bark-like hand, seemingly comforting him: “Don’t worry, this young man is indeed a human.”
By this time, Wen Jianyan had completely calmed down from his initial shock and panic.
He quietly listened to the conversation between the two, his gaze lightly sweeping over them, looking for clues.
Although their conversation was brief, it contained a massive amount of information.
Just now, the child had called him a “ghost,” while “A-Ma” confirmed he was indeed a “human”… The hidden implications behind this made his heart skip a beat.
This meant that to these people, “ghosts” were a real existence, and they had the ability to distinguish them from living humans.
The moment he realized this, Wen Jianyan’s heart missed a beat.
Right at that moment, the old woman raised her eyes, staring at Wen Jianyan with those heavily cataracted eyeballs. The tree-bark wrinkles on her face trembled slightly. Even though she looked so incredibly old, there seemed to be something terrifying in the depths of her eyes. She slowly revealed a smile:
“Young man, let me ask you, how did you get lost in that place?”
“I…” Wen Jianyan blinked, his tone distressed and not seeming faked at all, “I don’t remember.”
“…”
The old woman scrutinized him fixedly. Wen Jianyan allowed her to observe him, his reaction flawless.
Time seemed to stagnate. Something incredibly oppressive was brewing in the air, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Finally, the old woman looked away and nodded, though it was unclear if she believed him or not:
“Young people nowadays are always so careless, accidentally wandering into dangerous places they shouldn’t enter…”
Wen Jianyan opened his mouth, wanting to ask more, but he couldn’t get a word in.
He only heard the old woman continue:
“…You should stay in the town for this period. Rest well, and leave after some time has passed. Visitors are guests; this old woman won’t let you be wronged…”
The old woman tightened her grip on the gnarled walking stick and tapped it on the ground:
“A-Yuan, keep him company during this time. Don’t neglect him, understood?”
The child scuffed the ground with his toe and reluctantly replied with a grunt of agreement.
“Alright,” the old woman turned around, leaning on her cane, and waved her trembling hand. Just as she came, she swayed step by step forward. “No need to help me back, this old woman can still walk…”
“…” Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, watching the old woman step out of his line of sight before finally feeling the invisible pressure lift from his shoulders.
He slowly exhaled, withdrew his gaze, and let his eyes fall back onto the child called “A-Yuan.”
“A-Yuan, right?” Wen Jianyan asked amiably.
A-Yuan glared at him and gave a low “Mhm.”
After hearing what A-Ma said, he finally didn’t look as terrified as before, but his eyes were still tense. Half his body was angled outward, seemingly planning to turn and run the second Wen Jianyan did anything suspicious.
“What,” Wen Jianyan’s physical strength hadn’t recovered yet, so he leaned most of his weight against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow. “Still afraid of me?”
A-Yuan kept his eyes glued to Wen Jianyan, his mouth moving as he mumbled, “But I’ve never heard of anyone being able to walk out of that place, not to mention—”
He stopped abruptly, vigilant.
Wen Jianyan pretended not to notice and didn’t press the issue.
“Here,” he smiled lazily, rolling up his sleeve to reveal half of his wrist, and held it out. “Wanna touch?”
A-Yuan hesitated for a moment, but eventually couldn’t resist the temptation of curiosity. He took a step forward and quickly tapped the back of Wen Jianyan’s hand.
Warm. Soft.
“See? I really am human.” Wen Jianyan smiled, withdrawing his hand. “Besides, didn’t your A-Ma say so too… Do you not believe your A-Ma?”
“…I do.”
A-Yuan glanced at Wen Jianyan twice and nodded solemnly.
His tense shoulders finally relaxed, and he no longer looked like he was going to turn and run in the next second.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t asked since I woke up… where exactly is this place?” Wen Jianyan asked casually.
A-Yuan answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: “The town, of course!”
“What is your town called? Where is this town located?”
“The town is just the town, it’s not called anything,” A-Yuan tilted his head in confusion, seemingly not understanding what Wen Jianyan was asking. “And it’s not ‘located’ anywhere.”
The child’s expression showed not a hint of deceit.
Alright then.
Wen Jianyan sighed inwardly, giving up on trying to coax information out of A-Yuan. He changed the subject:
“Alright, I’ve been lying here too long, my body has gone numb. Can you take me out for a walk?”
After all, he was still just a kid. Hearing this request, A-Yuan immediately perked up: “Okay, okay! No problem! You’re a guest, A-Ma said I have to keep you company!”
Just like that, the two walked out of the courtyard one after the other.
Wen Jianyan indeed hadn’t fully recovered yet. He dragged his somewhat heavy steps, slowly walking forward along the bluestone road, his thoughtful gaze sweeping over the buildings on both sides—everything looked so familiar yet so strange.
The exact same buildings, the exact same streets, the exact same layout.
However, without the endless, gloomy rain, there was no longer any sense of eeriness here. The winding bluestone road was spotless, the low houses on both sides were clean and tidy, and busy figures could occasionally be seen. The place was filled with the scent of human life.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze.
No matter what, even if the instance was cleared with a Platinum rating and the hotel collapsed, such a ghost town could never possibly become like this—no matter how much time had passed.
With A-Yuan’s dutiful introductions echoing in his ears, Wen Jianyan listened half-heartedly, skillfully walking forward along these streets and alleys he had fled through countless times before.
Soon, the exit of the small town appeared not far away.
But the familiar, massive building was nowhere to be seen.
[Xingwang Hotel] was not here.
Or rather, should he say… it hadn’t been built yet?
Wen Jianyan pondered as his feet moved forward, but before he could take many steps, he was stopped.
“Are you the young man who was picked up from outside?” A tall, plain-looking townsman blocked his path, his gaze carefully sweeping over Wen Jianyan from top to bottom. “Where are you going?”
Wen Jianyan retracted his gaze, his expression unchanging: “Just taking a casual walk to stretch my legs.”
The townsman stood in front of him, his body as immovable as an iron tower, his tone brooking no refusal: “You haven’t recovered yet. Go back and rest some more.”
“…” Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.
It seemed his movements were now being restricted.
A-Yuan, however, was oblivious and completely unaware of the undercurrents: “There’s really nothing fun to do over there anyway. If you go any further, you’ll be out of the village. Come on, let’s go walk over there, there’s lots of delicious food and fun stuff.”
He tugged at Wen Jianyan’s sleeve, pointing in another direction.
Wen Jianyan smiled: “Alright.”
He let A-Yuan pull him along and obediently turned around.
Not far ahead was a street so familiar he could walk it with his eyes closed.
Even though Wen Jianyan was mentally prepared, he couldn’t help but feel a tremor in his heart when he saw it clearly.
—The shopping street.
Lining both sides of the crooked road were shops one after another. Those empty, pitch-black storefronts were vastly different from his memory now. Every now and then, people passed by on the street. While it couldn’t be called bustling, it wasn’t the eerie, terrifying, and unsettling place it had been in the instance.
And A-Yuan was clearly very familiar with this place.
Warm greetings could be heard constantly:
“A-Yuan, out for a stroll?”
“Mhm!”
“Here, these are the big meat buns your auntie just steamed. Here, take them!”
And Wen Jianyan, an outsider with a handsome but pale face, also received special care.
By the time they reached the end of the street, their arms were full of various snacks.
While stuffing a bun into his mouth, A-Yuan mumbled: “…Are you sure you don’t want a bite? Auntie’s buns are super delicious, you…”
Wen Jianyan’s gaze landed on the street corner.
At the end of his line of sight, a shop stood quietly on the edge of the shopping street. It looked completely out of place with its surroundings. The doors were tightly shut, and the windows were pitch-black voids. From the outside, it was impossible to see what was inside. It looked utterly deserted and desolate.
But Wen Jianyan knew exactly what kind of shop that was.
It was a tailor shop.
And all the clothes sold inside were made of human skin.
With this tailor shop as the boundary, everything beyond it belonged to the ghost domain.
If one continued down this street, they would find that framing shop.
If they didn’t stop there… they could walk all the way into that forbidden realm of death where no human could tread.
Just as he thought.
Looking at the familiar, cold, and gloomy shop not far away, Wen Jianyan shuddered, feeling a chill slowly crawl up his spine.
The fragmented clues scattered across different instances twisted together into a long chain.
Wen Jianyan had guessed long ago that before the Nightmare’s interference, there had always been a group of people who knew of the existence of “ghosts” and knew how to isolate their influence from the human world. Those perfected procedures and strict rules for suppressing vengeful spirits—all of it was their handiwork.
Wen Jianyan didn’t know how they did it, nor did he know how they disappeared.
This small town was exactly the residence of these people—thinking about it now, it couldn’t be anywhere else but here. The rainy town that sealed the ghost street, the man-made roads in the no man’s land, the corridors of the framing shop hung with human portraits…
This was the boundary line between the ghost realm and the human world.
“Don’t go that way,” the child said with a serious expression. “That’s not a place outsiders can go!”
Wen Jianyan stopped in his tracks, took one deep look in that direction, and then withdrew his gaze: “I’m tired of walking, take me back.”
That statement was half true and half false.
He had just woken up, and his physical stamina was indeed depleted to its limit.
More importantly… Wen Jianyan was highly sensitive to people’s gazes. Even while walking down this street, he could feel covert stares coming from all directions. Under these circumstances, it was impossible for him to move freely.
At least for now, whether it was entering the ghost street or leaving the town, both were impossible.
What Wen Jianyan needed urgently right now was to be alone.
He needed to carefully think about his current situation and inspect all of his belongings.
Guided by A-Yuan, Wen Jianyan quickly returned to the simple courtyard from the beginning.
Just before leaving, A-Yuan seemed to remember something: “Oh right, I almost forgot!”
He trotted over to the alcove deep in the room, pulled out two white candles from the corner, and placed them neatly on the wooden table.
They were the exact same candles from the courtyard in Changsheng Building.
“…” Wen Jianyan stared intensely at those two extremely familiar candles, his breathing involuntarily hitching.
A-Yuan was completely unaware of his internal turmoil at that moment. He turned his head to look at Wen Jianyan: “Remember to light the candles before it gets dark.”
He repeatedly instructed, unable to set his mind at ease:
“Um… although nothing will probably happen in the town, the situation is different from before now—I can’t tell you the specific reason—but anyway, just for safety’s sake, you absolutely must remember to light them!”
No need to tell him.
He was very clear on what might happen if the candles weren’t lit when darkness fell.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and smiled: “Mhm, I’ll remember.”
A-Yuan waved his hand and left the room.
The heavy door blocked out all those ambiguous stares. Wen Jianyan closed his eyes and sat back down on the bed.
Everything he had seen and heard since leaving the courtyard confirmed his boldest initial guess.
The train hadn’t sent him to the [Xingwang Hotel] instance, but to the true terminal station indicated on the ticket.
[Origin].
The rainy town, before its annihilation.
The more crucial point was that this time, it was not a sandbox instance dominated by the Nightmare. From beginning to end, the viewers had zero participation, so there was no such thing as being observed or not. That is to say, this regression back in time had absolutely nothing to do with the Nightmare, but was instead entirely driven by that bizarre train.
It had sent Wen Jianyan to a non-existent platform and brought him to this town that had long since perished.
The sheer volume of information made Wen Jianyan’s head spin.
Wen Jianyan moved his stiff, cold fingers and looked down at the live stream icon, trying to open it—but it gave no response whatsoever.
This had never happened before. Even when Wen Jianyan had briefly escaped the Nightmare’s control in the past, it only meant the live stream connection was cut off, while the system inventory still functioned normally. But this time… the Nightmare Live Stream didn’t just have “no signal”; the icon itself was completely grayed out. He couldn’t open it at all, let alone check his inventory or take out items like before.
This meant that whether it was the Dead Sea Scrolls or the brass knife, Wen Jianyan had no way of taking them out and using them.
It made sense. After all, at this point in time, it was still a question whether the Nightmare had even arrived here by ship yet.
As for the red spirit money in his pocket, it was gone, likely confiscated by the people in this town while he was unconscious.
No wonder they didn’t believe he knew nothing about all this, and outright restricted his freedom.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, his mind gradually calming down.
However, there was still one thing he had no clue about yet: why the destination of Wu Zhu’s ticket was here, and what exactly his connection to this town was…
As he pondered, he subconsciously reached for the spot just below his neck. But, for the first time, his fingers grasped empty air.
Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank, and he groped around his chest in sheer disbelief for a long time.
The heart pendant beneath his neck… was gone!
