Welcome to the Nightmare Live - Ch 14.2

Translated by Aria

At the moment when the thing was in his hand, the system’s prompt sounded:

【Congratulations to the anchor for obtaining the hidden item (normal) in the instance!】

【Collection level ⅔】

Hearing the prompt in the ear, Wen Jianyan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

He raised his eyes in amazement, and his voice carried a little undisguised excitement: “Since this is the case, we only need the last one now! Maybe… Maybe we can really succeed!”

At this moment, a dull clock’s striking sound came from downstairs.

Deng!——

The afterglow of the bell trembled slightly in the air.

It was one o’clock in the morning.

At that moment, the few people on the fourth floor shivered at the same time.

The gloomy and cold feeling climbed up the spine like a snake, the temperature around them dropped instantly, and a strange sense of crisis struck, making them feel a chill in their hearts.

“Creak——”

The creaking sound of the door opening came from the depths of the corridor, breaking the silence without warning.

Everyone was startled and instinctively looked in the direction where the voice came from.

In the illumination of the flickering and shaking light of the flashlight, the distant scene can be faintly seen.

At the end of the corridor, a door was opened. It was so dark inside that no light could penetrate it, like a bottomless abyss.

It seems to be waiting for something.

Thinking of his previous experience in 408, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel a chill.

However, as a professional fraudster, no matter how intense his mental activity was, there was no clue on his face.

“The third thing should be in there.”

Wen Jianyan was the first to break the silence and lied without changing his face.

“…Well.” Kong Shixing recovered, and the expression on his face became solemn.

“You guys wait for me at the door. I’ll go ahead to explore the way first. I should be back soon.”

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and took a step forward.

At this time, he seemed to have thought of something, and turned to look at Kong Shixing behind him: “By the way, I’ll give this back to you.”

Wen Jianyan re-tied the cloth bag, took back his notebook with one hand, and put the cloth bag with the other hand.

Handing it back to Kong Shixing, he immediately took out the cloth bag containing the molars and hair from his pocket, and pressed it into the other’s palm:

“And this.”

Kong Shixing was stunned: “This is …?”

Before he could finish the rest of his words, the young man solemnly put the folded paper into his hand.

“……”

Kong Shixing’s eyes widened.

Wen Jianyan: “It’s extremely unsafe to put these things on me. If I can’t come back, you will find other ways. In any case, you must stop the tragedy. I don’t want to see more people injured.

Su Cheng couldn’t help taking a step forward: “Wait——”

Wen Jian stopped the other party with a stern face: “Don’t follow.”

Su Cheng was frightened by the other party’s sudden stern look, and subconsciously stopped his steps.

Wen Jianyan frowned and said:

“Although nothing happened the first time you entered, no one knows if it will be the same this time. For your own safety, don’t follow, understand?”

Su Cheng was stunned, and subconsciously stopped his pace.

Wen Jianyan turned to look at Kong Shixing: “There are specific methods for performing the ritual on the paper. I shouldn’t need to teach you how to do it, right?”

He gave orders in a natural manner, as if he was the master of the entire situation, and born with the absolute right to speak.

Kong Shixing nodded involuntarily.

In the light beam that flickered slightly from the flashlight, the young man’s eyebrows and eyes were handsome, his face was calm, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised, as if he had already understood the predetermined ending.

“Then… the next thing, I’ll leave it to you.”

This sentence seemed like a last word.

After speaking, Wen Jianyan turned around and walked towards the darkness without looking back.

Under the light of the flashlight, his back looks extraordinarily tall, and in the darkness and chaos, it seems to be glowing. The sound of footsteps gradually faded away.

In the end, the tall and slender back of the young man was swallowed by the darkness.

Kong Shixing was also surprised by this selfless NPC.

He stared at the depths of the dark corridor not far away, and it took him a long time to return back to his senses.

However, as a senior anchor, he quickly regained his form.

In any case, the current situation is far beyond Kong Shixing’s expectations, which can be regarded as a pleasant surprise.

Difficult level hidden item, the way to get the platinum achievement, everything he wanted was already in his hands, and it took no effort to get it. Not to mention that there is still a stupid NPC taking the initiative to be cannon fodder to find the way for them. Whether he can get out of 408 alive or not, there’s no loss for them.

It was so perfect that it almost made him flutter.

“You did a great job.”

Kong Shixing had an uncontrollable happy smile on his face, he was in a good mood.

He raised his hand and patted the depressed Su Cheng’s shoulder: “If it wasn’t for you, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have been succeeded——”

However, before Kong Shixing could finish speaking, he saw Su Cheng dodging to the side, avoiding his actions.

“…This is not right.”

Su Cheng pursed his lips and said in a trance.

Kong Shixing: “…What?”

Su Cheng: “I said, this is not right.”

Kong Shixing’s expression darkened: “What nonsense are you talking about?”

The other anchor also laughed.

“All of you newcomers are like this, overflowing with compassion, unable to figure out anything. That’s an NPC, understand? No matter how smart he is, he is just an NPC.” Kong Shixing said impatiently.

Su Cheng: “But…”

Kong Shixing’s expression slowly cooled down, and he looked tired: “It’s really boring. I thought you were a person that can be made, but I didn’t expect you to be so stupid and cowardly.”

He sneered coldly: “Since that’s the case, don’t waste my time.”

In fact, Kong Shixing didn’t plan to let this stupid newcomer join his team from the beginning. What to act together, what to introduce to the guild after the instance is over, all of those were just his methods to make the other party obedient.

He wasn’t going to bring this kind of cowardly newcomer into his guild.

The previous trust and closeness were just to make this newcomer obediently talk to the NPC.

Now that the NPC is gone and the props are in hand, this newcomer has no use value.

What’s more, looking at his current attitude, if that NPC really comes out alive, it would be a bad thing for him to stay here.

It’s time for him to go too.

Kong Shixing raised his hand with a malicious smile on his lips:

“I’ll count to three, disappeared from here before that.”

Su Cheng watched him silently, not seeming to be ready to argue or plead.

After a few seconds, he took one last deep look at the open door at the end of the corridor, turned around, and walked in the opposite direction.

Kong Shixing raised his eyebrows.

He didn’t expect this newcomer to be quite sensible.

He thought that in such a crisis-ridden situation, he would be humble, even apologise and beg, beg him not to let him act alone.

It’s a pity, but it saves him a lot of trouble.

Kong Shixing looked down at the prop in his hand.

Feeling the heavy weight, a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes — what he gained in this instance was far beyond imagination. Countless surprises hit his head one after another, making him almost dizzy.

If everything goes smoothly, he will not only become the first C-level anchor in the history of the live broadcast room to achieve a platinum achievement, but also jump to the B-level with this!

His status in the guild will definitely improve a lot!

Kong Shixing took a deep breath and suppressed the trembling in his heart.

At this time, he suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly opened the live broadcast interface.

He doesn’t know when it started, but the number of people online has exceeded 10,000, and has reached the highest peak since he entered in this instance!

Looking at the live broadcast data that was still rising, Kong Shixing’s eyes were hot, and he couldn’t help but raise a complacent smile.

Under the impact of victory and joy, he did not notice that there were only a few barrages floating on the screen, and most of the content had nothing to do with the current situation and did not match such a huge number of online viewers.

“I want to share such a crucial moment with everyone.”

Kong Shixing said slowly, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

However, what surprised him was that after he said these words, the barrage actually became less, and he did not receive any rewards… It was completely different from before.

Did the audience not understand it yet?

Kong Shixing cleared his throat and explained:

“Everyone who has been in my live broadcast room from the beginning also knows that I only got normal-level hidden item before, but now, I have also got difficult-level hidden item—”

He spoke while opening the red cloth bag, unfolding it in front of the screen.

The red cloth spread out, and something shiny silver rolled out of it. It fell on the ground with a “ding”, rolled and slowly stopped in front of Kong Shixing’s feet——

A coin.

“……”

Kong Shixing froze in place, almost unable to believe his eyes.

What?

How?

The other anchor on the side noticed his abnormality and came forward: “Brother Kong, what’s wrong?”

Kong Shixing didn’t answer, his face showed a look of uncertainty.

His breathing was a little unsteady, and he hurriedly untied another cloth bag—this time, a well-wrapped candy was revealed inside. The candy wrapper was shiny, shimmering in the dark, looking particularly absurd at the moment.

“……”

Kong Shixing’s face turned pale.

The smug look on his face seemed to be wiped clean in an instant.

Impossible.

Impossible Impossible Impossible!

His face was twisted, almost looking sinister, his fingers trembled slightly under the extreme emotional fluctuations, and he violently ripped apart the note left by the NPC.

The anchor who stepped forward was taken aback by the other party, and looked at Kong Shixing with a frightened expression on his face:

“What happened? Brother Kong, don’t scare me…”

However, Kong Shixing couldn’t hear anything at the moment.

His pupils tightened, his teeth clenched, and he stared at the note in his hand. His fingers clenched tightly, making a rubbing sound as he squeezed the paper——

The handwriting on the note was sloppy and slightly crooked.

[Onion, cabbage, garlic, pork, chilli; remember to buy toothpaste and washing powder]

***

At the entrance of the stairs on the third floor.

The air fluctuated slightly for a moment, and the slender figure of the young man appeared out of thin air.

【Prop: Concealment Robe has expired】

The system’s flat prompt sounded in his ears.

Wen Jianyan stretched his waist. The integrity and passion he had shown before had long since disappeared.

His eyes were half-closed, his long eyelashes drooping down, covering the harmless light-colored eyeballs, and the corners of his lips were slightly curved, not sharp, but rather frivolous and cynical.

Good.

It went well.

Ever since the anchor has spoken about the operation mechanism of the fourth floor, Wen Jianyan began to plan everything.

Even when talking to Su Cheng, he was still methodically calculating the passage of time in his mind.

During the whole process, Wen Jianyan skillfully grasped the progress of the conversation, controlled the speed of the entire conversation, just for the last moment——

One o’clock in the morning.

Just when the bell rang, and attracted all the attention, Wen Jianyan skillfully replaced the items in the red cloth with the things in his pocket.

He has long been familiar with this trick of stealing the beams and changing the pillars. Even with his eyes closed, he can operate it skillfully, and the little injury on his hand can’t affect it at all.

And the last step was the most crucial.

As a fraudster, being able to deceive things is secondary, and being able to get out after deceiving is the key.

Wen Jianyan was not ready to go back to 408 from the beginning.

That room was too dangerous. The mirror was a trivial matter, but the phantom in the mirror gave him too much threat. Wen Jianyan really didn’t want to see him again.

No matter what clues there are, to Wen Jianyan, it is not as important as his life.

Risking your life to go to the most dangerous places just to get more points, more props, and unlock more exploration?

It’s laughable.

Wen Jianyan wouldn’t do such a loss-making business.

So, he stopped Su Cheng — because he had a flashlight in his hand.

The light source was shaken due to the unsteady mood of the holder, and could not completely illuminate the end of the corridor. With the help of this blind spot, Wen Jianyan deliberately created clear footsteps that gradually drifted away.

However, before stepping into 408, he activated the prop he had purchased in the system store: The Concealment Robe.

There should be no adulteration when the anchor gave the information.

Wen Jianyan can be regarded as an expert in this regard, and he can tell at a glance whether the other party is lying.

If that’s the case, he should have been able to leave at twelve o’clock sharp, but he had to go in 408 because the ghost hit the wall.1In Chinese 鬼打墙 is a specific phenomenon where people walking in a large open space in the absent of visual landmarks (in the dark, desert, snow covered fields, etc.) often find themselves lost and circling back to where they started

If the introduction of the system store is not mixed with water, then his breath should be able to disappear completely. Even if the mirror wants to repeat the same trick, it can’t break the rules of going downstairs, and use ghosts to hit the wall to drag him to the fourth floor.

Apparently, this trick worked.

When everyone thought that Wen Jianyan had entered 408, he himself was using the stealth effect brought by the prop to pass over everyone silently, and rushed downstairs at the fastest speed.

—A perfect run away.

The corners of the young man’s lips twitched slightly. He threw up and caught the tricked item, whistling in a good mood, looking a bit innocent and naughty that did not match his age.

The topic in the live broadcast room of 789326qwk unknowingly shifted.

The content on the screen changed from “Anchor nb!” to “My wife is so beautiful!”

[Dog liar, hurry up and restrain your charm that you have nowhere to release! Stop cheating money from me! (100 reward points)]

Wen Jianyan walked forward.

“Zizizi…”

At this moment, the light above his head flickered twice, making a harsh electric sound.

He hesitated slightly, and stopped subconsciously.

Wen Jianyan looked around cautiously.

There was no one in the corridor, no footsteps, no familiar humming—the anchor didn’t catch up, and the old witch wasn’t around.

There was a dead silence in his ears, only the sound of his own even breathing could be heard.

But for some unknown reason, Wen Jianyan just felt a chill creep up his back.

“Zizizi…”

The lights flickered on and off, brightened and dimmed, as if some kind of ominous sign.

The light dimmed, and when it turned on again, a second person suddenly appeared in the corridor that was empty just now!

The man bowed his head and stood straight under the light.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t see his face clearly, but… He clearly remembered the clothes the other party was wearing now.

This is… the anchor who follows Kong Shixing?

If it is really the anchor who chased after him, even if he is caught, Wen Jianyan is not too worried. It’s not a big deal.

However, the atmosphere around this man was not quite right.

He doesn’t know why, from the first time he saw this person, Wen Jianyan felt a little creepy.

“Cheng Huaquan” raised his head slowly, revealing a pale face.

The skin on his face was wrinkled and his facial features were displaced, looking blurred and distorted, especially terrifying in the dim light.

He smiled.

Zizizi…

The lights flickered.

The next second, the human face disappeared.

There was only a wax-like mask left on the head. The facial features were simple. The eyes were dark and strange, and the curvature of the corners of the mouth continued to rise, getting bigger and bigger, forming a terrible and frightening smiling face.

It was the ghost who looked at him from under the bed and chased him down for three floors.

She is also the “sister” in Wen Jianyan’s mouth.

And the owner of that face in his pocket.

Wen Jianyan: “……”

“You said your name is Xu Wen.”

Xu Yuan’s head turned, her neck made a crunching sound, and the smile on the corner of her mouth widened. Her eyes stared at the young man in front of her, and a dark malice was released from her body:

“Is it my brother?”

Wen Jianyan: “……”

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