CH 55
Chapter 55: It’s all about survival
“……”
Wen Jianyan closed the live broadcast interface with question marks all over his head.
Su Cheng asked: “What’s wrong?”
“……don’t know.”
Wen Jianyan blinked, and after thinking for a while, he said with some uncertainty: “My audience seems to be acting weird today.”
Su Cheng was also puzzled: “???”
However, Wen Jianyan quickly threw the strange barrage in the live broadcast room out of his mind.
Since there was no way to get information from the audience, he could only start from other places.
When acting together with the previous group of anchors, he had been hovering on the side at a distance, hardly letting the group of people remember his existence as an NPC.
And under the crisis that hit all the time, even the anchors themselves had to struggle to save their lives, let alone pay attention to a person who was always deliberately drifting out of their sight, no matter whether standing or doing something.
Especially in the aspect of reducing the sense of existence, Wen Jianyan could be regarded as an absolute expert.
However, this also posed a problem.
That is, there were many clues that Wen Jianyan could not directly contact, which prevented him from obtaining the required amount of information to the maximum extent.
He stood there in thought for a few seconds, then turned to look at Su Cheng: “You are the one who found the note from the hand of the paper man in 1304, right?”
Su Cheng was startled: “Yes.”
Wen Jianyan nodded, walked forward, and squatted down beside the paper figurine of the male owner.
Soon, he pulled out a small note from the paper figurine’s stiffly clenched hands. The note was unfolded, and the writing on it was clearly visible — “Together with the baby forever.”
After eating the baby, they were indeed together.
Wen Jianyan stood up, turned around, and went to the bathroom.
The door that was locked by Su Cheng just now was easily opened, making a light creak in the darkness. With the end of the hidden branch line, the female corpse inside had disappeared, leaving only dirty blood and hair all over the floor.
Soaked in the center of the pool of blood were the torn pieces of the paper figurine.
Wen Jianyan found the part belonging to the “hand”, and also found a note from it——
“A happy family is always together.”
In a sense, it was also fulfilled.
Wen Jianyan compared the two notes together, then turned to look at Su Cheng, and asked, “By the way, was the handwriting on the notes you found from the paper figurines of 1304 before different?”
Su Cheng obviously did not expect Wen Jianyan to ask such a question.
He thought hard for a while, then shook his head in frustration: “I… don’t know.”
When he was at 1304 earlier, he only took a look at the note he found himself and only heard the content of the note in the other anchor’s hand; he didn’t even think about looking at the handwriting.
“At least you have an impression of the writing on the note you found, don’t you?”
Su Cheng thought for a while: “Yes.”
Wen Jianyan stepped forward and showed the two pieces of paper in his hand to the other party: “Is it similar to the handwriting on these two pieces of paper?”
The handwriting on one note was relatively rough, while the other was much more delicate.
Su Cheng shook his head affirmatively: “It’s not similar.”
“So it’s like this.”
Wen Jianyan nodded thoughtfully.
Su Cheng asked: “What’s the matter? Did you find anything?”
“It’s nothing.” Wen Jianyan put the two notes into his pocket: “Just to be sure that these notes were written by the deceased themselves. They should be their own wishes, not some curse from others.”
“Okay, now let’s sort out the known clues.”
Wen Jianyan looked at Su Cheng and said slowly:
“According to the timeline, the residents of 1306 made a wish, and the wish was fulfilled in a distorted form, so the massacre occurred in 1306.
The baby in 1306 was put into the soul-locking altar and then obtained by the residents in 1304.
A massacre occurred in 1304.
Pretty much that, right? “
Su Cheng nodded.
“According to the information provided by Granny Wen, the family that stole the soul-locking altar will be entangled by evil spirits, and then a tragedy will happen.”
Wen Jianyan turned his head and pointed to the empty shrine that was turned upside down not far away, saying:
“So, there should be a soul-locking altar in the residence 1306, and this soul-locking altar should have been taken away by other anchors before we came.
Su Cheng: “Indeed…”
He frowned slowly, a look of hesitation and confusion on his face.
“It seems that you have also realized it.”
Wen Jianyan smiled, his amber eyes slightly curved: “… Granny Wen is lying.”
“The soul-locking altar in 1304 was only completed after the massacre in 1306.” Wen Jianyan slightly bent his fingers and lightly knocked on the fallen shrine in front of him:
“It’s even possible that Granny Wen made it herself and gave it to the next family.”
Su Cheng shivered, a chill crawled up his back, his hair stood on end, and his voice became dry involuntarily: “Wait, then why did she ask us to find it…”
Wen Jianyan didn’t answer, but went straight to the TV cabinet, picked up the mobile phone he had left on it, and turned off the camera.
【Main line task 1: Hold a soul-calling ceremony in 1306 (Time limit: one hour)】
【Completion: 100%, Reward points: 5000】
【Main line task 2: Shoot the soul-calling ceremony, the duration should not be shorter than ten minutes.】
【Completion: 100%, Reward points: 5000】
He opened the task list, then turned the phone over and showed Su Cheng the screen:
【The high-difficulty side task refreshed: find the lost soul-locking altar】
【Completion: 33%】
Su Cheng was stunned: “That’s right, the high-difficulty side task… if you don’t complete it, you won’t die!”
Wen Jianyan nodded: “That’s right.”
After all, he had completely played the final main line task of two instances and gradually figured out some unspoken rules in the Nightmare live broadcast room. The degree of freedom in an instance was very high. The anchor could choose different routes at will, and the rewards he would get would also be very different. The instance’s final main line was the most difficult and dangerous, and it frequently required a very high plot modification to open.
The high-difficulty side lines were often related to the final main line.
Wen Jianyan put away the phone and slowly concluded:
“Since that’s the case, the next course of action is basically determined.”
“Let the other anchors and that lying old woman cheat each other. “We will not intervene, and we will not postpone the main task for difficult side tasks.”
He reached out and patted Su Cheng’s shoulder and said solemnly:
“It’s all about survival.”
If you survive until the end of the instance time limit, you will win!
Wen Jianyan knew how much he owned.
He was not the kind of person who would do everything for the truth or profit, and after entering this instance, his luck had become extremely bad. Even just figuring out the main line on his own ID card had taken time, let alone actively exploring the more difficult and terrifying final main line.
In addition, Wen Jianyan was originally just a level-D anchor with a low system store opening and few basic points. Because of the unexpected events that occurred in the first two instances, he was thrown into this level B instance.
If he opened the final main storyline again by mistake this time, he was not sure whether he would be able to survive till the next instance.
Therefore, even though some conclusions had been deduced that might be close to the truth of the instance, Wen Jianyan was not going to pursue them any further.
——Nothing was more important than one’s own life.
More importantly, the remaining points in Wen Jianyan’s account were enough for him and Su Cheng to survive the remaining time of the instance, and it was enough to deal with the deadly main line on the identity card time and time again.
With two people working together, solving these tasks shouldn’t be too difficult.
He looked at Su Cheng:
“Okay, what is your main task?”
Su Cheng lowered his head and glanced at the phone screen: “Find the second anchor beside you and me within an hour.”
“This task is not difficult.” Wen Jianyan thought for a while: “Even if we stay in this room and don’t move, we can complete it, and maybe they will come looking for us on their own soon.”
Su Cheng was taken aback: “What do you mean?”
Wen Jianyan glanced at him: “Don’t you remember? The Hand of Guidance.”
This prop could point out the location of a hidden item for the anchor, and with the anchor’s level, the level of the item that the hand of guidance could point out could also be raised.
Since the soul-locking altar was a hidden item, other anchors could find it using props.
“However, it would be dangerous for us to do so.”
Wen Jianyan stated solemnly.
After all, the anchors had already formed a competitive relationship, and those anchors had far more points and props reserves than they did. If there were a conflict, they would definitely suffer.
Wen Jianyan would never bet his hope of survival on the kindness of others.
More importantly, although he was not prepared to take the risk of unlocking the main storyline, since these items had already entered his pocket, it was impossible for him to take them out.
You could be cowardly, but you must not be cowardly without dignity!
Wen Jianyan walked to the door and carefully looked outside of 1306.
Compared to before they just entered the door, the corridor looked even weirder. The faint dark red light had become darker since some time ago, and the corridor in front of him was enveloped in a bloody color that was so thick that it could not be melted.
The walls and the ground were curved into a strange arc shape. The corridors of countless other floors were still connected to the 13th floor, but if you looked inward, you would find that they were basically all distorted into almost arc shapes.
Su Cheng stared at Wen Jianyan’s back: “You mean…”
The young man standing at the door turned his head and looked over. The blood-red light fell into the bottom of his amber eyes like a bright flame. He looked at Su Cheng behind him, his plump lips curving slightly in a shallow arc, and his handsome face was half hidden between light and shadow:
“Of course, we have to take the initiative.”
Wen Jianyan had a harmless smile on his face: “I like dealing with anchors the most.”
Su Cheng: “……”
For some reason, he had an ominous premonition.
***
“Are we almost there?”
The lead anchor asked.
He looked very young and tall, but there was always a faint fierce look in his eyes, and when he looked at others, he always gave people an invisible chill.
His name was Gao Chengxin, his level was C+, and he belonged to a top 20 guild, which could be regarded as a relatively prestigious middle-level guild.
“Almost. The hand of guidance shows that the item is just ahead.”
Wang Hanyu stared at the red sign in the sky that only he could see and replied.
Gao Chengxin and his other two companions had a conflict with another team of anchors in 1306. In the end, they won and got the soul-locking altar in 1306. However, they also fell into the mirror world because of this, and it took them almost half an hour to escape from there. Despite the fact that their lives were not in danger, they had lost the soul-locking altar.
Therefore, although they were the final victors, the soul-locking altar was not in their hands.
After leaving the mirror, they met Wang Hanyu and Chen Mo. Since their situations were similar, the two groups quickly reached a temporary alliance.
Although it was said to be an alliance, after discovering that there were other anchor teams in this world who had also accepted the task of Granny Wen and were also looking for the soul-locking altars, everyone realized——
In this instance, all the anchors were pure competitors.
After all, there were only three soul-locking altars, but everyone wanted to complete the task.
However, a temporary alliance was also necessary.
With the passage of time, the pattern of the entire inner world had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The corridors on the 13th floor had been completely connected end to end, twisted into a huge circle, and the rest of the corridors had also been the same, connecting to each other, forming complicated and twisted paths, and from time to time, one could always have an accidental encounter with anchors from other teams.
It was precisely because of this that they had a vague idea of the other side’s combat power.
In the beginning, the instance should have at least eight teams, each with two to three people.
But with the passage of time and after several encounters, the number of people had dropped sharply compared to the beginning. Some were killed by fellow human anchors, and some were by ghosts. Now, there were only about seventeen or eight people left, and each team with only two or three people quickly realized the essence of the competition and began to consciously merge temporarily.
Up until now, they had basically merged into two or three teams.
One of them was on the 2nd floor, one was on the 8th floor, and Gao Chengxin’s team had just reached the 10th floor.
After the team merged, the anchors were temporarily at three points on the inner world map, maintaining an unstable stalemate. Although there was no conflict between them, they were always on guard against each other. Everyone had the hand of guidance in their backpacks, but no one dared to act rashly.
However, the Gao Chengxin team soon lost their temper.
There were five people on their team; three of them found the soul-locking altar in 1306, and two people found the soul-locking altar in 1304. Logically speaking, they should be the team with the highest collection of soul-locking altars on the entire map, but due to being pitted by the system, causing all their efforts to be in vain; in the end, they became a team that didn’t even get a soul-locking altar.
This really made them restless.
Therefore, after a brief discussion, they finally decided to take the initiative to attack. Whatever happened, first grab a soul-locking altar and then talk!
With the help of the hand of guidance, Gao Chengxin’s team cautiously approached that direction.
Not only were they afraid of alarming the other party, but they were also worried that their movements would attract the attention of the other party, and they would end up being besieged by the other two teams.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them without warning!
The sound of chaotic footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, like a rapid drumbeat, making them feel anxious.
The voice was particularly piercing in the dead silence, and Gao Chengxin’s nerves tensed up immediately. At the same time, he stopped and subconsciously assumed a combat posture——
“Wait, wait a minute!”
The anchor’s voice sounded particularly panicked: “Don’t attack, I’m only one person!”
Gao Chengxin and others noticed that the anchor was alone and had no other companions.
And……
His voice sounded familiar.
In the next second, Wang Hanyu’s pupils shrank. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand, and pressed Gao Chengxin’s tight forearm, preventing his attack intention: “Wait! I know him!”
Gao Chengxin was taken aback: “Don’t tell me…”
Wang Hanyu nodded: “That’s right, he was the anchor who acted with us before and was pulled into the mirror after finding the soul-locking altar in 1304.”
Then it really couldn’t be done.
It wasn’t because the anchors were nostalgic.
At a time like this, more companions meant a greater winning rate, and… although the other party was pulled into the mirror with them, they did not come out together. He might have learned some other information.
It could be about other teams, or it could be about the soul-locking altar.
Either way, it was equally important.
Soon, the anchor ran up panting.
After seeing the faces of the few people in front of him clearly, he obviously recognized his teammates who had been separated before, and his eyes widened slightly: “…It’s you! That’s great!”
Wang Hanyu stepped forward and asked with concern: “Are you okay? We have been worried about you since we got separated. Did you face any danger?”
Su Cheng ran out of breath.
He nodded breathlessly, stood still for a long time, and then said: “Yes… yes.”
Wang Hanyu stepped forward, stared straight at him, and asked, “Tell us?”
“You…do you still remember the NPC who entered the inner world with us?”
Wang Hanyu was taken aback.
Ah, yes, that NPC.
It was strange to say, but that NPC had been acting with them since the 13th floor, but for some reason, he didn’t have a deep impression of this NPC. The other party was like a marginal person; although he had been staying on the team, he never took the initiative to enter their line of sight. In the previous tense environment, he almost forgot that there was such an NPC on the team.
But… this NPC disappeared after entering the inner world. He didn’t know if he had been teleported to some other place. After being separated from them for so long, he probably died long ago.
It was just a pity that the hidden item in his hand was difficult-level, and now he didn’t know where it was.
However, before Wang Hanyu felt sorry, Su Cheng suppressed his shortness of breath and slowly said something that he hadn’t expected at all:
“He, he’s not actually an NPC.”
“……What?”
Wang Hanyu’s eyes widened slightly, staring at Su Cheng not far away, with an expression of disbelief on his face: “Then he is…”
Su Cheng’s face was red after running, his chest heaved up and down quickly, and he said in a somewhat unsteady voice:
“He’s an anchor.”
“He…he has been acting since the very beginning. He came in with people from his own guild. I didn’t know through what channels, he knew that there would be such a competitive relationship in this instance, so he lurked on our side as an NPC.”
All eyes were on Su Cheng.
Su Cheng took a deep breath and continued: “I… after I escaped from the mirror, my location was actually not far from 1304, so I went back to the soul-locking altar. Originally, I was going to find you, but before I could do so, I ran into that NPC first. He cheated the soul-locking altar out of my hand and was going to kill me, but I escaped in the end…”
Under the watchful eyes of so many anchors, Su Cheng was very nervous.
He was not like Wen Jianyan. He wasn’t the type who didn’t even change his expression when lying to others. In such a tense situation, it was easy for him to confuse what he said because of excessive nervousness.
However, Wen Jianyan, as a professional in the field of lies, quickly came up with a solution to this.
That was— “to run”.
Running too fast could distort one’s facial features, make one’s complexion red and their breathing rapid and difficult to control. These instinctive physiological phenomena could perfectly cover up the instinctive reaction caused by lies.
And even if other people find that his speech was confusing and not logical enough, their first reaction would not be that he was lying but would be linked to his current physiological state.
It turned out that professionals were professionals, and the solutions they proposed were really, really effective.
“But……”
Su Cheng took a breath and took out a coin made of yellow paper from his pocket: “I got this from him before I escaped.”
In the line of sight, the red sign of the hand of guidance hung above Su Cheng’s head, pointing downward jumpingly, indicating the existence of a hidden item.
A flash of heat flashed in front of Wang Hanyu’s eyes, and he subconsciously took a step forward.
Difficult-level hidden item!
But Su Cheng put the coin back into his pocket and continued: “According to what I know, their team is making the fastest progress, and they have already obtained two soul-locking altars.”
What?
Already collected two out of the three?
Gao Chengxin’s eyes froze, and his expression became serious.
This was key news that could break the balance of the whole situation! You must know that each team had a mirror that could help them enter and exit the inner and outer worlds, so as long as the team found the three soul-locking altars first, they could go to Granny Wen to hand over the task, and they would have no hope.
At this time, he suddenly thought of what the other party said just now:
“You said he came in with the team of his own guild? Do you know which guild he is from?”
Su Cheng barely maintained his superficial composure and slowly uttered two words: “Dark Fire.”
***
On the other side, the young man with amber eyes stood under the dark red light, and the black pottery jar in his palm further complemented his slender fingers and fair skin.
“…That’s right, if they get this jar again, they will complete the task.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his long and dense eyelashes covered the shimmering light in his eyes, and with a hint of seduction and temptation in his voice, he said in a low voice in the deep corridor:
“We can’t let this happen, can we?”
The author has something to say:
Wen Jianyan: Since you want to be a shit-stirrer, you have to stir it up until the end! (The black pot is finally pushed to the head of the Dark Fire.)
“……”
Wen Jianyan closed the live broadcast interface with question marks all over his head.
Su Cheng asked: “What’s wrong?”
“……don’t know.”
Wen Jianyan blinked, and after thinking for a while, he said with some uncertainty: “My audience seems to be acting weird today.”
Su Cheng was also puzzled: “???”
However, Wen Jianyan quickly threw the strange barrage in the live broadcast room out of his mind.
Since there was no way to get information from the audience, he could only start from other places.
When acting together with the previous group of anchors, he had been hovering on the side at a distance, hardly letting the group of people remember his existence as an NPC.
And under the crisis that hit all the time, even the anchors themselves had to struggle to save their lives, let alone pay attention to a person who was always deliberately drifting out of their sight, no matter whether standing or doing something.
Especially in the aspect of reducing the sense of existence, Wen Jianyan could be regarded as an absolute expert.
However, this also posed a problem.
That is, there were many clues that Wen Jianyan could not directly contact, which prevented him from obtaining the required amount of information to the maximum extent.
He stood there in thought for a few seconds, then turned to look at Su Cheng: “You are the one who found the note from the hand of the paper man in 1304, right?”
Su Cheng was startled: “Yes.”
Wen Jianyan nodded, walked forward, and squatted down beside the paper figurine of the male owner.
Soon, he pulled out a small note from the paper figurine’s stiffly clenched hands. The note was unfolded, and the writing on it was clearly visible — “Together with the baby forever.”
After eating the baby, they were indeed together.
Wen Jianyan stood up, turned around, and went to the bathroom.
The door that was locked by Su Cheng just now was easily opened, making a light creak in the darkness. With the end of the hidden branch line, the female corpse inside had disappeared, leaving only dirty blood and hair all over the floor.
Soaked in the center of the pool of blood were the torn pieces of the paper figurine.
Wen Jianyan found the part belonging to the “hand”, and also found a note from it——
“A happy family is always together.”
In a sense, it was also fulfilled.
Wen Jianyan compared the two notes together, then turned to look at Su Cheng, and asked, “By the way, was the handwriting on the notes you found from the paper figurines of 1304 before different?”
Su Cheng obviously did not expect Wen Jianyan to ask such a question.
He thought hard for a while, then shook his head in frustration: “I… don’t know.”
When he was at 1304 earlier, he only took a look at the note he found himself and only heard the content of the note in the other anchor’s hand; he didn’t even think about looking at the handwriting.
“At least you have an impression of the writing on the note you found, don’t you?”
Su Cheng thought for a while: “Yes.”
Wen Jianyan stepped forward and showed the two pieces of paper in his hand to the other party: “Is it similar to the handwriting on these two pieces of paper?”
The handwriting on one note was relatively rough, while the other was much more delicate.
Su Cheng shook his head affirmatively: “It’s not similar.”
“So it’s like this.”
Wen Jianyan nodded thoughtfully.
Su Cheng asked: “What’s the matter? Did you find anything?”
“It’s nothing.” Wen Jianyan put the two notes into his pocket: “Just to be sure that these notes were written by the deceased themselves. They should be their own wishes, not some curse from others.”
“Okay, now let’s sort out the known clues.”
Wen Jianyan looked at Su Cheng and said slowly:
“According to the timeline, the residents of 1306 made a wish, and the wish was fulfilled in a distorted form, so the massacre occurred in 1306.
The baby in 1306 was put into the soul-locking altar and then obtained by the residents in 1304.
A massacre occurred in 1304.
Pretty much that, right? “
Su Cheng nodded.
“According to the information provided by Granny Wen, the family that stole the soul-locking altar will be entangled by evil spirits, and then a tragedy will happen.”
Wen Jianyan turned his head and pointed to the empty shrine that was turned upside down not far away, saying:
“So, there should be a soul-locking altar in the residence 1306, and this soul-locking altar should have been taken away by other anchors before we came.
Su Cheng: “Indeed…”
He frowned slowly, a look of hesitation and confusion on his face.
“It seems that you have also realized it.”
Wen Jianyan smiled, his amber eyes slightly curved: “… Granny Wen is lying.”
“The soul-locking altar in 1304 was only completed after the massacre in 1306.” Wen Jianyan slightly bent his fingers and lightly knocked on the fallen shrine in front of him:
“It’s even possible that Granny Wen made it herself and gave it to the next family.”
Su Cheng shivered, a chill crawled up his back, his hair stood on end, and his voice became dry involuntarily: “Wait, then why did she ask us to find it…”
Wen Jianyan didn’t answer, but went straight to the TV cabinet, picked up the mobile phone he had left on it, and turned off the camera.
【Main line task 1: Hold a soul-calling ceremony in 1306 (Time limit: one hour)】
【Completion: 100%, Reward points: 5000】
【Main line task 2: Shoot the soul-calling ceremony, the duration should not be shorter than ten minutes.】
【Completion: 100%, Reward points: 5000】
He opened the task list, then turned the phone over and showed Su Cheng the screen:
【The high-difficulty side task refreshed: find the lost soul-locking altar】
【Completion: 33%】
Su Cheng was stunned: “That’s right, the high-difficulty side task… if you don’t complete it, you won’t die!”
Wen Jianyan nodded: “That’s right.”
After all, he had completely played the final main line task of two instances and gradually figured out some unspoken rules in the Nightmare live broadcast room. The degree of freedom in an instance was very high. The anchor could choose different routes at will, and the rewards he would get would also be very different. The instance’s final main line was the most difficult and dangerous, and it frequently required a very high plot modification to open.
The high-difficulty side lines were often related to the final main line.
Wen Jianyan put away the phone and slowly concluded:
“Since that’s the case, the next course of action is basically determined.”
“Let the other anchors and that lying old woman cheat each other. “We will not intervene, and we will not postpone the main task for difficult side tasks.”
He reached out and patted Su Cheng’s shoulder and said solemnly:
“It’s all about survival.”
If you survive until the end of the instance time limit, you will win!
Wen Jianyan knew how much he owned.
He was not the kind of person who would do everything for the truth or profit, and after entering this instance, his luck had become extremely bad. Even just figuring out the main line on his own ID card had taken time, let alone actively exploring the more difficult and terrifying final main line.
In addition, Wen Jianyan was originally just a level-D anchor with a low system store opening and few basic points. Because of the unexpected events that occurred in the first two instances, he was thrown into this level B instance.
If he opened the final main storyline again by mistake this time, he was not sure whether he would be able to survive till the next instance.
Therefore, even though some conclusions had been deduced that might be close to the truth of the instance, Wen Jianyan was not going to pursue them any further.
——Nothing was more important than one’s own life.
More importantly, the remaining points in Wen Jianyan’s account were enough for him and Su Cheng to survive the remaining time of the instance, and it was enough to deal with the deadly main line on the identity card time and time again.
With two people working together, solving these tasks shouldn’t be too difficult.
He looked at Su Cheng:
“Okay, what is your main task?”
Su Cheng lowered his head and glanced at the phone screen: “Find the second anchor beside you and me within an hour.”
“This task is not difficult.” Wen Jianyan thought for a while: “Even if we stay in this room and don’t move, we can complete it, and maybe they will come looking for us on their own soon.”
Su Cheng was taken aback: “What do you mean?”
Wen Jianyan glanced at him: “Don’t you remember? The Hand of Guidance.”
This prop could point out the location of a hidden item for the anchor, and with the anchor’s level, the level of the item that the hand of guidance could point out could also be raised.
Since the soul-locking altar was a hidden item, other anchors could find it using props.
“However, it would be dangerous for us to do so.”
Wen Jianyan stated solemnly.
After all, the anchors had already formed a competitive relationship, and those anchors had far more points and props reserves than they did. If there were a conflict, they would definitely suffer.
Wen Jianyan would never bet his hope of survival on the kindness of others.
More importantly, although he was not prepared to take the risk of unlocking the main storyline, since these items had already entered his pocket, it was impossible for him to take them out.
You could be cowardly, but you must not be cowardly without dignity!
Wen Jianyan walked to the door and carefully looked outside of 1306.
Compared to before they just entered the door, the corridor looked even weirder. The faint dark red light had become darker since some time ago, and the corridor in front of him was enveloped in a bloody color that was so thick that it could not be melted.
The walls and the ground were curved into a strange arc shape. The corridors of countless other floors were still connected to the 13th floor, but if you looked inward, you would find that they were basically all distorted into almost arc shapes.
Su Cheng stared at Wen Jianyan’s back: “You mean…”
The young man standing at the door turned his head and looked over. The blood-red light fell into the bottom of his amber eyes like a bright flame. He looked at Su Cheng behind him, his plump lips curving slightly in a shallow arc, and his handsome face was half hidden between light and shadow:
“Of course, we have to take the initiative.”
Wen Jianyan had a harmless smile on his face: “I like dealing with anchors the most.”
Su Cheng: “……”
For some reason, he had an ominous premonition.
***
“Are we almost there?”
The lead anchor asked.
He looked very young and tall, but there was always a faint fierce look in his eyes, and when he looked at others, he always gave people an invisible chill.
His name was Gao Chengxin, his level was C+, and he belonged to a top 20 guild, which could be regarded as a relatively prestigious middle-level guild.
“Almost. The hand of guidance shows that the item is just ahead.”
Wang Hanyu stared at the red sign in the sky that only he could see and replied.
Gao Chengxin and his other two companions had a conflict with another team of anchors in 1306. In the end, they won and got the soul-locking altar in 1306. However, they also fell into the mirror world because of this, and it took them almost half an hour to escape from there. Despite the fact that their lives were not in danger, they had lost the soul-locking altar.
Therefore, although they were the final victors, the soul-locking altar was not in their hands.
After leaving the mirror, they met Wang Hanyu and Chen Mo. Since their situations were similar, the two groups quickly reached a temporary alliance.
Although it was said to be an alliance, after discovering that there were other anchor teams in this world who had also accepted the task of Granny Wen and were also looking for the soul-locking altars, everyone realized——
In this instance, all the anchors were pure competitors.
After all, there were only three soul-locking altars, but everyone wanted to complete the task.
However, a temporary alliance was also necessary.
With the passage of time, the pattern of the entire inner world had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The corridors on the 13th floor had been completely connected end to end, twisted into a huge circle, and the rest of the corridors had also been the same, connecting to each other, forming complicated and twisted paths, and from time to time, one could always have an accidental encounter with anchors from other teams.
It was precisely because of this that they had a vague idea of the other side’s combat power.
In the beginning, the instance should have at least eight teams, each with two to three people.
But with the passage of time and after several encounters, the number of people had dropped sharply compared to the beginning. Some were killed by fellow human anchors, and some were by ghosts. Now, there were only about seventeen or eight people left, and each team with only two or three people quickly realized the essence of the competition and began to consciously merge temporarily.
Up until now, they had basically merged into two or three teams.
One of them was on the 2nd floor, one was on the 8th floor, and Gao Chengxin’s team had just reached the 10th floor.
After the team merged, the anchors were temporarily at three points on the inner world map, maintaining an unstable stalemate. Although there was no conflict between them, they were always on guard against each other. Everyone had the hand of guidance in their backpacks, but no one dared to act rashly.
However, the Gao Chengxin team soon lost their temper.
There were five people on their team; three of them found the soul-locking altar in 1306, and two people found the soul-locking altar in 1304. Logically speaking, they should be the team with the highest collection of soul-locking altars on the entire map, but due to being pitted by the system, causing all their efforts to be in vain; in the end, they became a team that didn’t even get a soul-locking altar.
This really made them restless.
Therefore, after a brief discussion, they finally decided to take the initiative to attack. Whatever happened, first grab a soul-locking altar and then talk!
With the help of the hand of guidance, Gao Chengxin’s team cautiously approached that direction.
Not only were they afraid of alarming the other party, but they were also worried that their movements would attract the attention of the other party, and they would end up being besieged by the other two teams.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them without warning!
The sound of chaotic footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, like a rapid drumbeat, making them feel anxious.
The voice was particularly piercing in the dead silence, and Gao Chengxin’s nerves tensed up immediately. At the same time, he stopped and subconsciously assumed a combat posture——
“Wait, wait a minute!”
The anchor’s voice sounded particularly panicked: “Don’t attack, I’m only one person!”
Gao Chengxin and others noticed that the anchor was alone and had no other companions.
And……
His voice sounded familiar.
In the next second, Wang Hanyu’s pupils shrank. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand, and pressed Gao Chengxin’s tight forearm, preventing his attack intention: “Wait! I know him!”
Gao Chengxin was taken aback: “Don’t tell me…”
Wang Hanyu nodded: “That’s right, he was the anchor who acted with us before and was pulled into the mirror after finding the soul-locking altar in 1304.”
Then it really couldn’t be done.
It wasn’t because the anchors were nostalgic.
At a time like this, more companions meant a greater winning rate, and… although the other party was pulled into the mirror with them, they did not come out together. He might have learned some other information.
It could be about other teams, or it could be about the soul-locking altar.
Either way, it was equally important.
Soon, the anchor ran up panting.
After seeing the faces of the few people in front of him clearly, he obviously recognized his teammates who had been separated before, and his eyes widened slightly: “…It’s you! That’s great!”
Wang Hanyu stepped forward and asked with concern: “Are you okay? We have been worried about you since we got separated. Did you face any danger?”
Su Cheng ran out of breath.
He nodded breathlessly, stood still for a long time, and then said: “Yes… yes.”
Wang Hanyu stepped forward, stared straight at him, and asked, “Tell us?”
“You…do you still remember the NPC who entered the inner world with us?”
Wang Hanyu was taken aback.
Ah, yes, that NPC.
It was strange to say, but that NPC had been acting with them since the 13th floor, but for some reason, he didn’t have a deep impression of this NPC. The other party was like a marginal person; although he had been staying on the team, he never took the initiative to enter their line of sight. In the previous tense environment, he almost forgot that there was such an NPC on the team.
But… this NPC disappeared after entering the inner world. He didn’t know if he had been teleported to some other place. After being separated from them for so long, he probably died long ago.
It was just a pity that the hidden item in his hand was difficult-level, and now he didn’t know where it was.
However, before Wang Hanyu felt sorry, Su Cheng suppressed his shortness of breath and slowly said something that he hadn’t expected at all:
“He, he’s not actually an NPC.”
“……What?”
Wang Hanyu’s eyes widened slightly, staring at Su Cheng not far away, with an expression of disbelief on his face: “Then he is…”
Su Cheng’s face was red after running, his chest heaved up and down quickly, and he said in a somewhat unsteady voice:
“He’s an anchor.”
“He…he has been acting since the very beginning. He came in with people from his own guild. I didn’t know through what channels, he knew that there would be such a competitive relationship in this instance, so he lurked on our side as an NPC.”
All eyes were on Su Cheng.
Su Cheng took a deep breath and continued: “I… after I escaped from the mirror, my location was actually not far from 1304, so I went back to the soul-locking altar. Originally, I was going to find you, but before I could do so, I ran into that NPC first. He cheated the soul-locking altar out of my hand and was going to kill me, but I escaped in the end…”
Under the watchful eyes of so many anchors, Su Cheng was very nervous.
He was not like Wen Jianyan. He wasn’t the type who didn’t even change his expression when lying to others. In such a tense situation, it was easy for him to confuse what he said because of excessive nervousness.
However, Wen Jianyan, as a professional in the field of lies, quickly came up with a solution to this.
That was— “to run”.
Running too fast could distort one’s facial features, make one’s complexion red and their breathing rapid and difficult to control. These instinctive physiological phenomena could perfectly cover up the instinctive reaction caused by lies.
And even if other people find that his speech was confusing and not logical enough, their first reaction would not be that he was lying but would be linked to his current physiological state.
It turned out that professionals were professionals, and the solutions they proposed were really, really effective.
“But……”
Su Cheng took a breath and took out a coin made of yellow paper from his pocket: “I got this from him before I escaped.”
In the line of sight, the red sign of the hand of guidance hung above Su Cheng’s head, pointing downward jumpingly, indicating the existence of a hidden item.
A flash of heat flashed in front of Wang Hanyu’s eyes, and he subconsciously took a step forward.
Difficult-level hidden item!
But Su Cheng put the coin back into his pocket and continued: “According to what I know, their team is making the fastest progress, and they have already obtained two soul-locking altars.”
What?
Already collected two out of the three?
Gao Chengxin’s eyes froze, and his expression became serious.
This was key news that could break the balance of the whole situation! You must know that each team had a mirror that could help them enter and exit the inner and outer worlds, so as long as the team found the three soul-locking altars first, they could go to Granny Wen to hand over the task, and they would have no hope.
At this time, he suddenly thought of what the other party said just now:
“You said he came in with the team of his own guild? Do you know which guild he is from?”
Su Cheng barely maintained his superficial composure and slowly uttered two words: “Dark Fire.”
***
On the other side, the young man with amber eyes stood under the dark red light, and the black pottery jar in his palm further complemented his slender fingers and fair skin.
“…That’s right, if they get this jar again, they will complete the task.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his long and dense eyelashes covered the shimmering light in his eyes, and with a hint of seduction and temptation in his voice, he said in a low voice in the deep corridor:
“We can’t let this happen, can we?”
The author has something to say:
Wen Jianyan: Since you want to be a shit-stirrer, you have to stir it up until the end! (The black pot is finally pushed to the head of the Dark Fire.)
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