Welcome to the Nightmare Live

Chapter 110: Unconcious

Wen Jianyan’s back was tightly pressed against the cold, hard mirror surface. A deep and thick shadow oppressed the line from his neck to his chest, causing nearly suffocating dizziness.

“…God the Father.”

His voice was hoarse, as if forced out from deep within his throat: “Are you there?”

The light from outside the mirror shone in from behind, and as the light and shadows moved, faint footsteps and conversations of teammates could be heard.

Accompanying the changes in the light, it seemed that someone approached the mirror and tentatively tapped it with their fingertips, as if observing whether there was another space hidden beneath the mirror.

A faint vibration transmitted through the mirror, overlapping with the rapid rhythm of his heartbeat.

“…”

A deathly silence filled the darkness in front of him.

No one responded.

……

Wen Jianyan was oppressed, raising his head and struggling to breathe.

In front of him was an intense darkness that couldn’t be penetrated by the line of sight, like viscous ink or thick clouds, enveloping him entirely.

The initially vague and elusive sensation of touch had completely solidified, turning into ruthless restraints. The icy touch of the shadows constricted his skin, entwining every part of his body, and it seemed to tighten gradually over time.

Every inch of his skin was deeply immersed in the cold shadows.

The feeling of being excessively wrapped up made Wen Jianyan subconsciously curl up, but he was immediately pressed back onto the mirror surface more heavily.

The back of his head made a “thud” as it hit the mirror surface.

Outside the mirror.

Yun Bilan, with her palm against the mirror, was slightly startled and looked deeper into the mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

Wen Ya pursued from behind, asking: “Did you find any clues?”

“…”

Yun Bilan frowned, “I’m not sure.”

There seemed to be some movement inside, but it was too subtle for her to determine whether someone was trapped inside.

Wen Ya lowered her gaze, pondered for a moment, and said, “Let me try.”

As she spoke, she stepped over the sobbing Blondie and walked straight forward.

The impact made Wen Jianyan dizzy, and his mind buzzed.

Nevertheless, his brain was still working at lightning speed.

The current situation was somewhat strange.

Wen Jianyan was certain that he had not violated any rules.

The instance had not ended, and there was no trace of the opponent’s soul fragments, which meant their transaction was still ongoing.

The hidden murderous intent in his heart should not have been exposed yet.

In a way, entering the world inside the mirror was also done with the tacit acquiescence of the other party.

There was no reason for the other side to tear their faces apart and attack him at this moment.

“Wu Zhu? Wu Zhu!”

Wen Jianyan called out tentatively.

“…”

There was a deathly silence in the darkness, and the shadows surged soundlessly with no response from anyone.

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly, showing a thoughtful expression.

He realized that the other party had never appeared since the beginning.

Even though these shadows symbolized the existence of the other, the “figure” of Wu Zhu had never appeared.

If he connected this with the previous journey in the mirror at Decai Middle School—

At that time, before being awakened, the other party had no consciousness at all, and the shadows were like ordinary, unconscious, lifeless objects without any reaction.

In other words…

Perhaps the appearance of that “form” meant the other’s rationality and consciousness, and when the “form” disappeared, these shadows became unconscious, instinctive forces.

If this was the case, everything would make sense.

Because of the “mark” on him, the shadows didn’t attack him, and they might even regard him as one of their own. After he dragged in the second human, the peaceful slumber was disturbed, and these uncontrollable forces began to attack all intruders.

“Uh…”

While Wen Jianyan was lost in thought, he didn’t know when the shadow had wrapped around his thigh.

The painkillers and soothing agents had already lost their effect.

The pain that had disappeared during that period seemed to be a deception of his senses. After the effects of the drugs wore off, all sensations came back with a vengeance.

The slightly rough fabric was pressed against his overly sensitive skin, slowly grinding and constricting it, making it hot and itchy, and bringing a strong, almost shameful stinging sensation.

“F*ck!”

Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but curse.

His whole body trembled, and he instinctively curled up.

The shadows, which had been unresponsive no matter how he called out before, finally reacted this time.

Under the pressure of an external force, Wen Jianyan’s instinctively curled body was forced to expand, like a shellfish being pried open from its hard shell, exposing its soft, fragile, and defenseless flesh.

In the next second, the cold shadow slipped into the gap between the fabric and his skin.

“F*ck!”

Wen Jianyan bounced up, inhaling a cold breath. His pupils shrank in fear, and he instinctively cursed: “Are you crazy?!”

The scorching-hot skin was tormented and crushed by the icy, dark tendrils, malicious and cruel, seemingly eager to force out more sounds and struggles from the human.

“Why the hell are you even more perverted than when you were conscious?!”

Wen Jianyan was going crazy, bouncing up again.

Under the pain’s stimulation, his eye sockets reddened, and a hint of teardrops, as a physiological response, moistened his eyelashes.

“Damn it! Let go of me!”

Outside the mirror.

Wen Ya placed her palm on the slightly vibrating mirror surface and squinted, saying, “I think it should be right.”

Once they confirmed the location of their teammate, the next steps would be simple. There was a relevant prop in the system store that could pull their teammate out.

However, the usage of this prop was extremely limited, with significant differences between levels, and the effect was very unstable. If they weren’t certain about their teammate’s location, the chances of failure were high.

Wen Ya gritted her teeth and exchanged for the highest-grade prop in her store, the “Grapple.”

A few seconds later, the Grapple turned into a dot and disappeared.

It seemed to have failed.

Seeing this, everyone’s hearts sank.

Yun Bilan stepped forward and said, “Let me try.”

She had the highest level among the anchors present and had access to the highest level of props in the open system store.

Soon, Yun Bilan exchanged for a higher-level prop and activated it.

The metallic hook extended into the mirror, like a fishing hook dropping into a smooth lake.

“…”

Everyone instinctively held their breath, anxiously waiting.

Time passed slowly, every minute and every second feeling particularly unbearable.

Suddenly, the hook jerked!

With a slight tremor, the long metal wire was slowly pulled out from inside the mirror.

In the next second, Wen Jianyan, who was tightly held by the collar, was yanked out from deep within the mirror, falling awkwardly to the ground.

“!!!”

The eyes of Yun Bilan and the others brightened, and they quickly gathered around, asking with concern, “Are you okay?”

“Can you get up?”

“Is there any discomfort?”

“…”

Wen Jianyan lay weakly on the floor, feeling a bit dizzy. It took him about five seconds to realize that he had been pulled out of the mirror.

“I’m… I’m fine.”

He shook his head and heaved a long sigh of relief as if he had survived a catastrophe, hoarsely answering.

The rest of them were shocked when they saw the raised face of the other part.

The bones on his cheek were tinged with a sickly blush, and his eye sockets and the tip of his nose were slightly reddened, as if he had been severely bullied. His eyelashes were wet, and his amber eyes were tinged with a hint of moist tears.

“What happened?” Yun Bilan asked with concern.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, slowly shaking his head, and gritted his teeth, “It’s nothing.”

He stood up with the help of his teammate. Just as he stood upright, his feet involuntarily staggered.

Wen Jianyan’s face changed slightly.

“Are you injured?” Wen Ya accurately noticed his slight pause and frowned with concern.

“…”

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth fiercely, revealing a slightly distorted smile. “Yes, but it’s an old injury. I was just hit earlier, that’s all.”

He opened the store and exchanged for painkillers and soothing agents, quickly swallowing them to gradually restore his normal complexion.

“What about Blondie?”

He looked around and asked.

Only then did Yun Bilan and the others realize that they had been too concerned about their teammate’s safety and had momentarily forgotten about the hostage!

They exchanged a glance and saw the same solemn expression in each other’s eyes.

Yun Bilan ran out of the room and happened to see Blondie reaching for the keys under the spin wheel.

Evidently, the opponent took advantage of the chaos earlier to secretly turn the spin wheel.

Seeling that he was discovered, Blondie jumped up and grabbed a bunch of keys, rushing forward. He quickly opened a door and ran out as if his ass was on fire.

“Chase! This guy’s trying to escape!”

Yun Bilan gritted her teeth and increased her pace, followed closely by the others.

Wen Jianyan’s steps faltered.

He thought of something and turned his head to sweep a glance at the bathtub.

There was something shiny at the bottom of the bathtub; it should be the item he had seen before entering the mirror.

When he ran outward, he reached out and grabbed it.

As his fingertips touched the item, a familiar system sound rang in his ears: 

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

【Collection progress: 2/6】

—It turned out to be a Difficult-level item!

Wen Jianyan’s eyes lit up.

He didn’t have time to examine the appearance of the item and casually stuffed it into his pocket before quickly turning around to follow.

Regardless, capturing Blondie was still the top priority.

***

Several rooms above them.

“Hey, where is he?”

Hui Cheng, who was walking ahead, turned his head and couldn’t help being stunned.

Behind him, there was nothing but emptiness.

In just a few seconds, Blondie, who had been following not far behind, had suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving no signs, as if he had evaporated into thin air.

—What’s going on?

“Hey, hold on, don’t leave!” Hui Cheng called out to the other teammates, his expression serious, “Blondie is missing!”

“What?”

The others were taken aback, and they also stopped their steps. They changed their direction and returned to the room, searching for Blondie’s figure.

However, the room in front of them was empty, without any hiding places.

Blondie had inexplicably vanished.

How could something like this happen?!

“Captain, what should we do?” The others looked at Hui Cheng.

Hui Cheng pondered for a long time before saying, “Let’s not worry about him and continue forward.”

Although it would be troubling without Blondie, they had already completed the mission objective. Wasting their time of clearing the level for the opponent wouldn’t be a wise decision.

As they left the room and reached the corridor, Hui Cheng’s phone suddenly vibrated twice.

He opened the phone and was stunned.

It was from Blondie.

“What happened?” the other teammates asked.

Hui Cheng quickly walked to the window and said, “He says we should look down in the five o’clock direction.”

Evidently, they were within Blondie’s line of sight; otherwise, he wouldn’t know their exact location.

He stood by the window, gazing in the direction indicated in the message.

Soon, his gaze settled on a semi-transparent corridor, and his pupils slightly contracted.

“Look!” 

The other teammates gathered around and looked in the direction he pointed.

A familiar figure was running forward along the corridor.

Hui Cheng gasped:

“It’s the mission target!” 

He actually hadn’t died!

***

Wen Jianyan halted his steps.

Not far away, Blondie who was trying to escape, had already been caught by his two tough teammates. He was now crying and cowering in a corner, receiving a thorough beating from Yun Bilan and Wen Ya.

Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as they caught him, it was enough.

However…

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan sensed a strong gaze coming from somewhere.

He turned his head and quickly made eye contact with Hui Cheng, whose face turned ashen nearby.

Damn! He was discovered.

The young man raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at Blondie, who was cowering in the distance.

He managed to secretly escape and even sent a distress message to his teammates. It seemed this guy wasn’t as useless as he had imagined.

However…

Wen Jianyan estimated the angle from which Hui Cheng was observing and realized that it only gave him a view of Wen Jianyan, not the battered Blondie huddled in the corner.

That was perfect.

A slight smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

“Let’s stop for now.”

Wen Jianyan walked over and pulled apart his two teammates, who hadn’t gotten enough venting, advising them in a soft voice, “Stop hitting him; it’s not good if we hurt him too badly.”

Teary-eyed Blondie looked up at the young man in front of him.

As he glanced down, the young man’s eyebrows and eyes showed a hint of gentle amusement. His amber-colored eyes appeared clear and transparent under the light, exuding an unusually affable aura.

Wen Jianyan took slow steps as he approached.

He reached out and helped Blondie, who was lying on the ground, gently patting off the dust from his body.

“Are you okay?” the young man asked with concern.

“…” 

Blondie shook his head blankly.

For some reason, the image of the young man dragging him while escaping inside the mirror flashed in his mind.

Perhaps… the young man wasn’t as terrifying as he had imagined?

“It’s good that you’re okay.” 

Wen Jianyan took a step forward. He reached out and affectionately hugged Blondie by the neck, leading him away from the previous line of sight. He then pointed his hand outside.

“Look.”

Blondie raised his head and followed the direction indicated by Wen Jianyan.

Hui Cheng’s livid face appeared within his line of sight.

“…??!!!” 

Blondie’s hair stood on end, and his scalp tingled. He froze in place, and a single thought echoed repeatedly in his mind– 

It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!

He had been discovered after reporting to his own people!!

Sensing Blondie’s tense body under his arm, Wen Jianyan chuckled softly.

“Why are you nervous?”

“Now that we’re already in touch…”

He squinted his eyes, and a faint smile appeared in his amber-colored eyes, like a mischievous cat toying with its prey, with a somewhat childish yet sinister feeling.

“Why not say hello to old friends?”

In the room above.

Hui Cheng’s group didn’t have Blondie’s sharp vision.

They could only see the target, apparently noticing their gaze and then heading toward their blind spot of vision. And then he and Blondie appeared within their line of sight.

The two of them seemed friendly, with their arms around each other’s shoulders, and there was even a smile on their faces as they waved toward this side.

“…” 

Hui Cheng’s expression turned cold, as if it could drop ice shards.

“Dammit it! I said why did our attacks never work before? This guy is indeed an insider!”

Lao San jumped up in anger, “When did they become buddies?! F*ck!”

“I knew it. This bastard has been fooling us with his exaggerated acting all the way…” Another teammate said through clenched teeth, emphasizing each word, “Damn it, turns out he had been colluding with the enemy all along.”

Down below.

With a warm and playful smile, Wen Jianyan waved his hand and affectionately put his arm around the other person’s shoulder:

“Guess what your old friends will think of your new friends?”

“…” 

Blondie’s face turned pale, his body stiffened, and he couldn’t control the slight tremor throughout his body.

“You don’t look too happy.”

Wen Jianyan clicked his tongue, chuckling and shaking his head.

He reached into Blondie’s pocket and skillfully pulled out his phone.

Because he was too quick, the phone screen hadn’t had time to turn off and was still on the message-sending interface.

Wen Jianyan quickly read through the message, raising an eyebrow.

“As expected, due to being chased, time was tight, so you didn’t explain the situation and just had them look in this direction, right?”

“Since that’s the case, I wonder if they would think you were hinting…”

The young man’s eyes glimmered with a smile, and he slightly leaned in toward Blondie, moving his gaze toward the corner of his eyes, and softly said:

“Or provoking, huh?”

“I believe they must be very eager to find the answers themselves.”

“…”

Blondie was completely dumbfounded.

His eyes moved in jerks, finally fixing on Wen Jianyan’s face.

The young man had a beautiful appearance, like an angel enveloped in a halo. With a smile on his lips, all the previous vulnerability had vanished, and now he looked terrifying, like a devil in Blondie’s eyes.

Wen Jianyan gently put the phone back into Blondie’s pocket and softly said: 

“This is the last time, understand?”

The author has something to say: 

What a standard villainous expression!

Blondie (bursting into tears): Still terrifying!!!!!