Chapter fifteen

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, why was he caught so soon!"

"Hahahahahaha I announce that I will live in this studio from now on, it has brought me so much joy."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, why is it so funny to watch the anchor roll over the car!"

"I'll see how you make it up this time hahahahahahaha!"

In the hallway.

The temperature in the air dropped sharply, and the icy cold air pierced into the skin and penetrated into the lungs.

Zizz, zizz—

The ear-piercing sound of electric current echoed in the empty corridor, scratching the eardrums like thin and sharp needles.

Unknowingly, that face has completely changed back to its original appearance.

Under the flickering light, that terrifying face was coated with a layer of blue-gray light, the corners of the mouth raised exaggeratedly and strangely, the skin was white as if swollen by bubbles, and a pair of pure black pupils stared straight at him. Coming over, Sen Leng's gaze full of malice snaked up his back like a gangrene.

The young man stood a few steps away, looking back calmly with a blank expression.

I saw him take a deep breath slowly—

Then turn around and run away!

"..."

Question marks and ellipsis floated across the barrage.

"?"

"???"

"That's it? That's it?"

As a life-threatening liar, Wen Jianyan has always firmly believed in one principle of life.

A real man should be cowardly when he should be cowardly!

Wen Jianyan ran with firm eyes.

That posture seems to be that he is not fleeing in embarrassment, but is rushing towards a better tomorrow with big strides.

Not only was he caught lying in front of the rightful owner, but the other party also had a force he couldn't contend with. Then, at this time, he only had the last magic weapon at the bottom of the box—

escape!

Behind his back, that smiling face followed like a shadow.

From the corner of his vision, Wen Jianyan saw Xu Yuan's face appearing in the glass window beside him from time to time, with a pair of eyes staring at him intently.

Every step is approaching.

The face was getting closer little by little, and the distance between them was slowly but irreversibly shortened.

The corners of the pale and twisted lips turned up weirdly, and the facial features became more and more similar to Wen Jianyan.

Wen Jianyan's heart skipped a beat.

He found that the other party's assimilation speed this time was much faster than the last time, but in just a few tens of seconds, that face was already 70% like him.

But that's okay, it's almost here.

Wen Jianyan gritted her teeth and took off her coat while speeding up.

He rushed into the stairwell with a stride, raised his arms suddenly—

The jacket was raised with a whoosh, and it was precisely thrown towards the light bulb above the head!

"Crack!"

There was a clear sound of glass breaking!

The scalding fragments of the light bulb scattered, and the red-hot wick quickly dimmed. The next second, the only light went out, and the entire corridor was plunged into darkness.

Wen Jianyan stood in the dark, his chest rose and fell rapidly, and his heart was pounding in his chest.

"..."

There was a dead silence around my ears.

Nothing catches up.

Well, it looks like he's betting right.

Wen Jianyan let out a long breath, and leaned against the cold wall with some exhaustion, panting heavily.

According to his experience of dealing with Xu Yuan several times before, the other party is mostly inside the mirror, and only after robbing the identity of a living person can he act outside the mirror.

Wen Jianyan had noticed the anchor's state when he was on the fourth floor before. Judging from his increasingly stiff and deformed face, Xu Yuan's time outside the mirror was probably limited.

Therefore, in order to be able to stay out of the mirror, she must constantly take over the identities of other people.

Obviously, the time limit for that unlucky anchor was up, and he was the next victim to be targeted.

Fortunately, however, there is a time gap in between.

Since Xu Yuan wants to get his identity, she must first give up the identity of the anchor, so during this period of time, she will return to the mirror.

It was this opportunity that Wen Jianyan seized.

The premise that the mirror can reflect objects is that there is a light source, so if the light source can be made to disappear, the other party will not be able to move.

Wen Jianyan raised his hand and rubbed the tiny bloodstains on his cheeks that were scratched by glass shards. The pain was minimal under the action of adrenaline, and he could only feel the warm and sticky touch when the blood flowed across his cheeks.

He adjusted his breathing.

so far so good.

Finally caught up.

The human skin portrait in the pocket is heavy.

In fact, at the moment when Xu Yuan blocked her, Wen Jianyan had the idea of ​​returning her "face" to the other party - not only can she escape the catastrophe, but also complete the task, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

However, this idea was quickly rejected by him.

This chip is not enough.

If the downsider is really "Xu Yuan" herself, then Wen Jianyan will never hesitate.

But the problem is, now this "Xu Yuan" has nothing in common with the one in the diary. According to the information revealed by the audience in the barrage, Xu Yuan is now the most difficult monster in the entire dungeon.

She's just too aggressive.

All the monsters that Wen Jianyan has seen since entering the dungeon have a core obsession as the driving force.

Xiaojie's obsession is "helping her mother", and the obsession of the villain is "taking Xu Yuan's identity", so what about Xu Yuan?

Take back your face?

Normally, that should be the case.

But...Wen Jianyan always felt that something was wrong, which made him dare not draw conclusions so easily.

After all, according to the information he obtained from another anchor, the reason why they went back to the fourth floor was lured there by the anchor who occupied the identity of Xu Yuan.

She repeatedly seized the identity of the living person, left from the mirror, and led more people to the fourth floor.

— It's not like something a ghost trying to get his identity back would do.

If Wen Jianyan's intuition was correct, even if he returned the human skin portrait just now, it would have no effect on saving his life at all.

Although the task is completed, but the people are gone, it is too worthless.

Therefore, after quickly weighing the pros and cons, Wen Jianyan decided to settle for the next best thing and venture to the stairwell to cut off the light source.

Although the task has not been completed yet, at least his life is safe.

Wen Jianyan groped in the corridor and slowly straightened up.

After losing the only light source, the entire corridor seemed to be immersed in bottomless darkness, and nothing could be seen.

Wen Jianyan asked tentatively in her heart:

"Is the light emitted by the live broadcast interface counted as a light source in the dungeon?"

[Not counting,] the system's flat and cold voice sounded: [Only the anchor can see the live broadcast interface, and cannot create real light in the dungeon. 】

That is not bad.

Wen Jianyan settled down and turned on the background of the live broadcast.

As soon as the backstage was opened, all the tinkling sounds that had been blocked all the time rang out together.

【Ding! The number of people online in the live broadcast room exceeded 10,000! 】

[Congratulations to the host for achieving the achievement: Popular Rookie King!

Wow, the popularity of your live broadcast room is steadily rising. Although you are just a new anchor, more and more viewers are pouring into your live broadcast room, deeply impressed by your charm! I will send you to the throne of the most popular rookie king in this dungeon!

Please make persistent efforts to create a more exciting and novel live broadcast experience for the audience! 】

Wen Jianyan made a rough calculation, the current remaining points, plus the rewards from the background, should last until the end of the dungeon, no problem.

That being the case, it is enough to just hide from the old witch, touch the fish and paddle, wait for the time to pass, and the dungeon will end automatically.

Wen Jianyan let out a breath slowly, the pressure brought by the 20-minute surviving start of the death was too great, which made him always in a state of extreme tension, and now he can finally not have to worry all the time, I was afraid that he would die suddenly in five minutes.

He opens the backpack.

The guiding hand and the robe of invisibility I bought before are all used up, and now the entire backpack is empty, which also makes the apple seedling icon in the upper right corner look extraordinarily lush.

The two lines of small characters below look particularly clear and eye-catching.

[The second stage of growth has been achieved]

【Unlock conditions have been met】

Wen Jianyan:?

He remembered that in the first stage, it seemed that there was no unlocking program?

Under his suspicious gaze, a line of small words popped up on the screen:

[It has been detected that the host is out of danger, and the system is automatically unlocking it for you]

Wen Jianyan:? ? ?

etc?

etc? ? ?

He suddenly had a very ominous premonition.

No way? !

Wen Jianyan frantically opened the backstage again, looked at his remaining points in a panic—the next second, the number on it came into view, and his eyes went dark, his breath was suffocated, and he almost had a cardiac arrest.

【Remaining points: 0】

Wen Jianyan: "..."

After working hard for a long time, I returned to the pre-liberation overnight.

My day is your uncle!

Wen Jianyan was so dizzy with anger, he stared at the injected apple seedling, and almost put himself on a ventilator.

After finally earning enough points to guarantee the clearance, the result was suddenly dismissed by this prodigal bastard.

What luck!

Under his exasperated stare, a small spike slowly emerged from the top branch of the apple seedling, green and round, only the size of a fingernail.

Wen Jianyan was taken aback.

He frowned, and poked the icon with his hand.

A line of small characters emerged.

【Fruit of Lies】

Wen Jianyan was taken aback.

In the Old Testament, the humans in the Garden of Eden were tricked by the devil who turned into a snake into eating the forbidden fruit. All desires, disasters, greed and destruction all started from this lie.

This is the novice gift customized by the system according to his soul quality.

indeed…

unique.

Just as Wen Jianyan was in a daze, the sound of footsteps sounded from overhead, and a faint light flickered, gradually illuminating the dark stairs.

Not good, light source!

Wen Jianyan suddenly came back to his senses with a serious look on his face.

Holding the flashlight that he forgot to return, Su Cheng walked down the stairs step by step.

His heart was as heavy as his steps.

Although I understand intellectually that the senior anchor's approach is the most efficient and safest, an NPC is an NPC, even if he is coaxed into a dangerous place and sacrificed, it doesn't matter.

but…

Whenever the little brother Xu Wen who went into dangerous situations alone in order to find his sister flashed in his mind, and even when he encountered danger, his first reaction was to protect them "students", Su Cheng couldn't help but feel a dull pain in his heart .

He didn't feel it was the right thing to do.

Whenever he thought of himself who didn't stand up and stop him loudly at that time, Su Chengcheng regretted it and wished he could slap himself.

Anger and remorse collided in his heart, making him turn and leave without hesitation.

The group of senior anchors stood guard in front of 408, and Su Cheng couldn't go in to find someone, so the only thing he could do now was to try his best to help Xu Wen fulfill his wish—

Find my sister.

Su Cheng took a deep breath, his eyes became firm.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that he had walked into darkness unknowingly.

For some reason, the lights in the stairwell on this floor went out.

too dark.

It's like being alone in a swamp, with the opaque darkness in front of your eyes, the sound and the light disappear together, leaving only a disturbing abyss of nothingness.

Su Cheng stood still in surprise.

what happened?

What is going on here?

Before he could figure out why, a black figure rushed over from the darkness and pressed him against the wall!

"Well…!"

Su Cheng choked for breath, his pupils constricted instantly in shock and fear.

The flashlight was roughly taken away.

In the next second, the only light source also disappeared, leaving only a bottomless darkness in front of my eyes.

No!

To escape!

Su Cheng gasped in horror, his back was firmly pressed against the hard wall, and he struggled desperately with all his strength until—

"Quiet."

The deliberately low voice sounded in the ears, the clean voice, the slightly hasty articulation, everything seemed so familiar.

"...!"

Su Cheng's eyes widened slowly, and his tense limbs relaxed little by little.

He took a deep breath, and whispered cautiously, almost incredulously: "Little Brother Wen...?"

"it's me."

After hearing this familiar answer, Su Cheng's eyes became hot, and he almost shed tears:

"I, I thought—"

"Me too."

Wen Jianyan interrupted him and said quickly.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, examining the blurred silhouette of the other party in the darkness.

If the people who came were those senior anchors, Wen Jianyan would definitely not try to **** the flashlight, he would just turn around and run away. As for whether someone will die under Xu Yuan's hands this time, it is not a question he can care about .

However, after finding out that it was Su Cheng who came, Wen Jianyan immediately changed his strategy.

A living comrade is much more useful than a dead one.

—However, he must first know how much the other party understands what happened before.

Wen Jianyan let go of Su Cheng's hand:

"Where are the other students? How did you get separated from them?"

Contrary to the cold and contemplative expression, his voice was full of warmth, as if he cared about the other party and the other party's companions from the bottom of his heart.

"After you entered 408, I left on my own initiative."

Su Cheng sniffed and looked at the other party in the dark, with a rare solemnity and calmness in his voice: "Brother Wen, I have to confess something to you."

"I'm not a student, and the people I met on the fourth floor were not students either. We all came here with the same purpose. They had bad intentions. The reason why they acted with you just now was to use you to get some Something, to trick you into a dangerous place to find your way."

He took a deep breath, collected himself, and said the words that he had held in his heart for a long time:

"And...Actually, I am the same as them, we all have impure goals."

There was silence.

Su Cheng looked into the darkness, waiting anxiously.

After a long time, I only heard a soft sigh from the other side: "Don't say that."

The young man's voice was extraordinarily soft in the darkness:

"After all, didn't I also want to get your help when I started to act together with you?"

Su Cheng had a sore nose.

He didn't expect that the other party would use this method to comfort himself...

ah! what a man!

"…Grass."

"……Grass."

"...Unexpectedly, the host actually didn't lie this time."

"But he is still regarded as a good person hahahahahaha!"

"Wake up! The one with the real bad intentions is the person in front of you!"

"Hahahahahaha, the anchors over there who tried to trick this scammer have been slaughtered long ago, they care about the wrong people, silly boy hahahahahaha!"

After being pulled up by Wen Jianyan, Su Cheng asked, "Brother Wen, what's next? What's the plan?"

"..."

If this problem had appeared ten minutes ago, Wen Jianyan would have chosen to fish in troubled waters and wait for the time to pass without hesitation.

However, thinking of the bright [0] in his account now, Wen Jianyan could only swallow a mouthful of old blood back into his stomach, endured the toothache, and answered in a calm voice as much as possible:

"I know how to find my sister."

— After all, he had just smashed the light bulb, forcing his "sister" to be unable to show up.

However, the situation now and just now has been completely reversed.

At that time, the account points were enough, and the task of returning face to Xu Yuan was optional.

But now Wen Jianyan had to do it.

Otherwise, he won't be able to survive the next few hours!

"What?!" Su Cheng was startled, and suddenly raised his head to look at the young man in front of him: "You, have you found a clue?"

"Roughly the same."

Wen Jianyan paused, and said, "It's just that this may require your help."

Unexpectedly, after he confessed, the other party was still willing to cooperate.

Su Cheng, who already felt ashamed in his heart, was even more moved at this moment, he nodded quickly: "Okay, no problem."

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, and smiled silently in the dark, with a sincere and sincere tone:

"Thank you very much."

*

The dormitory building has three floors.

There was no light in the entire corridor, only a deep and deep darkness.

Wen Jianyan found the room where he woke up from his memory.

He took a deep breath, raised his hand and pushed open the door.

The hoarse creaking sound sounded in the dead silence, and it seemed particularly permeating to the ears.

Wen Jianyan stood firmly at the door without moving forward, and said in a calm and peaceful voice:

"Hello."

The voice sounded like a stone falling into an abyss, and it disappeared into the vast darkness without being aroused in the slightest.

No one answered.

The open door is like a black mouth, waiting to devour the next figure who steps into it.

Wen Jianyan is not going to go any further this time:

"Why, are you still waiting for me to go in?"

"..."

There was still a dead silence around my ears.

Wen Jianyan flicked his fingertips, and the human skin portrait unfolded:

"Or...you don't want this anymore?"

The young man's voice was low and low, as if singing an aria, it sounded extremely...

owed a beating.

Before he finished speaking, a strange voice sounded from the dark door in front of him—

"Crack, click..."

It's like the suffocating sound when the neck is turned, or the friction sound when the utility knife is slowly pushed out.

Sharp, piercing, and creepy-sounding.

very good.

Wen Jianyan took two steps back slowly. Before the voice approached, he turned around suddenly and rushed towards a direction in the darkness.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor, echoing the rhythm of the beating heart.

Behind the head is the sound of clicking like a shadow, chasing after him like a wronged soul.

Without the light source, she couldn't see clearly, Wen Jianyan could only rely on her memory to sprint in the dark.

Immediately—almost there!

The ground under his feet creaked, and a familiar blurry silhouette was faintly seen not far away. Wen Jianyan yelled sharply:

"Now-!"

There was a snapping sound, and a beam of light from the flashlight suddenly lit up, which looked particularly abrupt in the dark corridor.

Wen Jianyan's slender figure flexibly moved to the side and stepped aside.

There are several mirrors collected from different dormitories. They lean against the wall in a crooked manner. There are countless glass shards scattered on the ground. Each piece reflects the light of the flashlight, which is as bright as day in an instant. .

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

There was an extremely sharp scream, shrill and ear-piercing, piercing the eardrum like a sharp cone!

Wen Jianyan raised his hand to block the light, narrowed his eyes slightly hurt by the light, and looked in the direction of the sound.

The female student in the old school uniform was standing upright among the numerous shards of glass. She seemed to be struggling, but she couldn't move. The bones on her body were twisted into strange angles.

Every mirror on the ground reflected her figure.

There was only a "click", and the utility knife in his hand fell to the ground.

Ghost Shadow's arm was slowly raised unnaturally, and her pale, twisted fingers bent inward little by little, tightly strangling her own neck.

In the next second, a shrill scream resounded through the entire building.

Wen Jianyan turned sideways subconsciously, avoiding the glare that suddenly exploded.

The place where he woke up was the room of Xu Yuan herself and the roommate who tried to steal her identity. The mirror made him be entangled by Xu Yuan for the first time, and the second time he passively accepted the task of hiding the props. That is to say, there were two ghosts in that room, but they did not appear at the same time.

In connection with the low aggressiveness shown by the counterfeit who issued the mission, and the high danger shown by Xu Yuan, although Wen Jianyan didn't know the reason, he still decided to take a gamble.

— To put it simply, it is to divert the opponent's attention and hatred.

At least don't be slaughtered immediately if you hit it.

Soon, the light disappears.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, looked up and looked not far away.

Among the glass shards all over the floor, a pale figure gradually solidified.

Wet, jet-black hair, a strangely mask-like smiling face, and pure black eyes.

Xu Yuan.

She slowly took a step forward and walked towards this direction. Her figure seemed to be unstable, and her phantom kept flickering.

Wen Jianyan stood up and handed over the human skin portrait in his hand:

"I think this should be your thing."

Behind him, Su Cheng stared at the strange scene in front of him without blinking, his fingers holding the flashlight trembled slightly, and every nerve in his body was tense to the extreme.

He remembered Wen Jianyan's request just now.

As soon as you find something wrong, turn off the lights immediately.

Xu Yuan lowered her head slowly, her eyes fixed on the portrait in Wen Jianyan's hand.

The pale mask seemed to have a crack, and a touch of human emotion appeared on her face, but it disappeared quickly: "Do you think this is what I've been looking for?"

Her voice was hoarse and hoarse, with a distinct malice in her gloomy tone:

"-you guessed wrong."

"No."

Wen Jianyan shook his head and said in a calm voice, "If your purpose is to find your own face, you won't steal the identities of living people and lead more people to the fourth floor."

To be precise, the person who longed for this "face" was not Xu Yuan standing in front of him, but the fake "Xu Yuan" who was trying to steal Xu Yuan's identity.

The task of "returning the face to Xu Yuan" is itself a trap.

As a fraudster, Wen Jianyan is very clear - desire is weakness.

If you want to achieve your goals through transactions, you must find what the other party most desires.

So, what does Xu Yuan long for?

Wen Jianyan recalled the few words and phrases he saw in that booklet, organized the messy clues in an orderly manner, and guesses that gradually emerged in his mind gradually became more specific.

He continued:

"I guess, you should have also made a deal with the mirror, but the price is to attract more sacrifices for the mirror, right?"

Xu Yuan raised her head abruptly, and that face became even more terrifying under the light, as if she was laughing silently, or roaring and wailing silently.

"Don't you want to be free?"

The young man stared at her with sincere words and sincere eyes: "Don't you want to be freed from endless slavery?"

He took a step forward and passed the human skin in his hand forward:

"I can help you."

Time passed by little by little, and the air was as heavy as if it had absorbed moisture, making it impossible for people to pass through it.

don't know how long it's been-

Wen Jianyan realized that the weight in her hands lightened, and in the next second, Xu Yuan's figure disappeared, and she slowly returned to the mirror.

In the mirror, Wen Jianyan saw his own face showing a weird smile at him:

"I'll give you two hours."

In the next second, the figure in the mirror disappeared.

A mechanical voice rang in my ear:

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for returning Xu Yuan's face to the original owner, reward points: 5000]

【Hidden Object (Epic) Quest Completed! Rewards are being distributed...]

[Current plot modification degree: 83% Reward points: 20000]

"..."

Wen Jianyan took two steps back with some exhaustion, leaned his back against the wall, and slid down slowly.

After relaxing, the physiological reaction caused by tension suddenly appeared on the body. The young man's thin and straight back was tense, his slender arms trembled slightly, and he retched while leaning on the wall.

Su Cheng hurried over and patted Wen Jianyan's back nervously:

"Brother Wen, you, are you okay?"

Just as he was anxious and worried, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his ear:

【Ding! Congratulations on assisting other anchors to trigger the ultimate mission of the hidden line in the copy of Decai Middle School:? ? ? 】

[Completion time limit: two hours]

[Note: If the task fails, all survival time and points will be deducted, and the live broadcast room of the anchor will be closed immediately. 】

Su Cheng:? ? ?

etc?

what's the situation?

Other streamers?

The ultimate main mission?

The amount of information in this system sound is really too large, Su Cheng's brain is like an overloaded CPU, completely unable to process such a huge amount of information.

I can understand every word, why is it so difficult to understand when they are combined together?

Su Cheng crashed immediately, and was stunned in place, unable to recover for a long time.

"Ah, then there is no other way."

The young man on the side straightened up and looked sideways.

There were fine beads of sweat on his forehead, his face was pale and bleeding, his black hair was wet with sweat and standing on his cheeks, he looked extremely weak and helpless.

The young man sighed:

"Let's get to know each other again."

The long and soft eyelashes are raised, and the amber eyes are particularly lingering in the light and shadow. It is still the same handsome and pale face, but at this moment it has an almost evil beauty, which looks dangerous and confusing in the dark .

He stretched out a hand towards Su Cheng:

"Wen Jianyan, a new anchor."

Wen Jianyan winked at him and said with a smile:

"It's the first time we meet, please take care of me."