Welcome to the Nightmare Live

Chapter 122: Stairs Leading Up

The darkness felt endless, as if there was no end in sight. The further he slid down, the faster the speed became. Wen Jianyan could almost hear the whooshing wind in his ears as his spine and thighs scraped against the slide, giving rise to a sensation of scorching heat.

The passages on either side were noticeably narrowing, and the trend was growing even narrower—

Faster, faster.

He clenched his teeth, waiting silently in the darkness. A pair of amber eyes glinted faintly, like a lurking feline in the shadows, waiting soundlessly for the right moment.

Soon, a faint glimmer of light appeared beneath his feet.

Clearly, the slide was nearing its end, and in the distance, the vague contours of the ocean ball pool could be seen.

Wen Jianyan gauged the distance between the walls on both sides—

—It’s now!

He suddenly raised his hands and arms, the joints bending as they wedged tightly against the metal walls on both sides.

Scratch—

“Aaaaaahhhh!”

Layers of flesh rolled up in an instant under the forceful momentum, the bloody wound grinding against the hard slide wall, descending layer by layer until bone was visible!

Even with mental preparation, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but let out a scream of agony.

In mere seconds, his face turned white, and cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes, yet his posture remained unchanged.

After dragging for half a meter, the falling speed finally slowed down.

Wen Jianyan was wedged halfway down the slide, gritting his teeth and bracing himself. His body trembled uncontrollably, his vision darkened, his breath burned, and even a tear welled up in the corner of his eye.

Crimson blood oozed from the wound, dripping down the slide.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Holy…!]

[Holy…!]

[In the end, he used his bones to stop himself!!]

[I’ve seriously got goosebumps. This looks way too painful!]

[Damn, the anchor is truly hardcore and way too tough on himself. I’m shivering just watching…]

…Damn, it hurts like hell.

The taste of rusty iron filled Wen Jianyan’s mouth. He spat out a mouthful of blood foam, even his faintest breath now carried a quiver.

He steadied himself at a distance.

Suddenly, a familiar sensation struck from below.

It was like being watched and scrutinized—just like the feeling he had experienced outside the ocean ball pool at the beginning.

Wen Jianyan lowered his head to look downward.

In that instant, a chill shot through his mind.

The end of the slide was indeed just within arm’s reach.

Amidst the brightness, he could vaguely make out a densely packed ocean ball pool. However, the colorful ocean balls had turned into only two colors: red and white, for some inexplicable reason.

It was a massive, wide-open eye.

White sclera and a red pupil.

It stared straight ahead, silently gazing at the human deep within the tube. That eerie feeling crawled up Wen Jianyan’s spine.

Another layer of cold sweat oozed out of him, and the pain from his wound seemed to intensify.

“Squeak—”

Wen Jianyan’s strength gradually waned. His body slid downward relentlessly, with his arms and leg joints scraping against the walls, producing an excruciatingly grating sound.

Most importantly, he had no chance to open his backpack at this moment.

Just then, urgent friction sounds approached from above, rushing down with an unimaginable speed!

As if another person was hurtling downward rapidly, about to crash directly onto his head the next second!

Damn it!

Wen Jianyan’s pupils contracted.

His already strained body had reached its limit. Enveloped by crimson droplets of blood, the slender boy plummeted straight down.

And the point of impact—

Was right in the center of that eye’s pupil.

His body weakly detached from the slide. The blinding light replaced the darkness, and Wen Jianyan subconsciously shut his eyes.

The passage of time seemed to slow down in an instant, then accelerate several times over.

Without warning, the fall suddenly stopped.

“!”

The impact of the descent pulled at his wounds. Wen Jianyan’s expression twisted slightly for a moment, and tears welled up at the corners of his eyes again.

Damn it! It hurts so much!

As the dizzying pain and ringing in his ears subsided, Wen Jianyan realized that there seemed to be something soft beneath his back. It was like… a large net?

Wen Jianyan blinked his eyes, blurry from pain and tears. His vision gradually cleared.

Not far away, Yun Bilan and Elise appeared as if they had just engaged in an intense workout. Their faces were flushed, sweat covered their foreheads, and they were panting heavily.

Each of them held one end of a large net, perfectly positioned beneath Wen Jianyan’s body, preventing him from hitting any of the ocean balls.

“How did you…?”

Wen Jianyan opened his mouth, but as the words left his lips, he realized that his voice had become hoarse, like that of a traveler who had wandered alone in the desert for three months.

“You, you… you didn’t know.”

Yun Bilan clutched her waist, her back half-bent as she gasped for breath, weakly explaining, “We just got down here and we realized something was wrong. All the slides turned green in color, and their shapes were off. We couldn’t find a way back to you… so, we…”

Her heavy breathing made it difficult for her to continue.

The reason the slide castle was called a slide castle was due to its complex structure, with adjacent slide entrances above and possibly completely different exits below. Without the color and slide orientation, the two had no choice but to each watch several slides, waiting for Wen Jianyan to slide down from one of them.

“And then? How did you locate my slide?” Wen Jianyan asked.

“…Blood.”

Elise leaned against the slide, took a breather, and finally took over the conversation. She pointed to the side of one slide entrance as she continued.

There, several crimson droplets of blood had flowed down from deep within the slide, falling drop by drop onto the ocean balls below. They had already accumulated, staining the ocean balls with a glaring and ominous hue.

These were the droplets that flowed from Wen Jianyan’s wounds when he used all his might, sacrificing the skin and flesh on his arms and legs, to stop his fall using his bones.

In the instant they saw the blood, both of them immediately realized that this slide was most likely the one.

So, they exerted all their strength, setting up a net in the slide’s mouth at the fastest speed possible, and just in the nick of time, they managed to catch Wen Jianyan.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath in exhaustion, slumping weakly against the net.

Too dangerous, that was really too dangerous.

He had really come close to losing his life this time.

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan seemed to recall something. Maintaining the position of his limbs, he struggled to turn his head and looked down at the ocean balls beneath the net.

The eerie red and white eye had disappeared, leaving behind only normal, colorful ocean balls that looked exactly like regular ones.

“Speaking of which… your wounds?”

Yun Bilan’s gaze fell on Wen Jianyan’s wounds, her expression slightly furrowing. “Should we do something about them?”

The boy’s legs and arms were pale and slender, but his joints were bloody and raw, with a large area of skin rolled up to reveal the white bones underneath, a sight that was both shocking and distressing.

Wen Jianyan managed a faint smile, his lips curling weakly. “Indeed, they should be taken care of.”

Since they were done with the slides, they could leave the ocean ball pool.

They quickly climbed out of the pool and carefully laid Wen Jianyan down on level ground.

They bandaged his wounds tightly, and Wen Jianyan downed two bottles of painkillers. Only then did the excruciating pain on his face finally subside from the ashen pallor it had taken on.

He let out a long sigh of relief.

“So, what happened up there just now?” Yun Bilan asked.

Wen Jianyan briefly recounted the events, and both of their expressions turned serious. “Wait, you said someone pushed you?”

“Who could it be? Or… what could it be?” Yun Bilan pondered.

Wen Jianyan shook his head. “I don’t know. It might be a mechanism for this attraction. After all, being pushed down like that—”

He paused, the words he was about to say getting caught in his throat.

“What’s wrong?”

“…”

Wen Jianyan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned around and took off his backpack, unzipping it with a “zip.”

Mr. Ribbit doll appeared in front of them.

Mr. Ribbit doll, which had been lying flat at the bottom of the backpack, had somehow sat up. Its two green arms were stretched out flat, maintaining the motion of pushing someone.

Yun Bilan and Elise both took a sharp breath of cold air.

“…It’s this?” Elise exclaimed incredulously.

Yun Bilan’s expression grew serious. “Get rid of it quickly. This damn doll almost killed you.”

Wen Jianyan remained silent.

He reached into the backpack and searched at the bottom. Soon, he took out and unfolded the receipt from when he purchased the doll. On the initially blank paper appeared a line of bold text:

【■■■■■■■】

He took a deep breath, put the receipt back in his bag, and zipped it up.

“What’s this…?” Yun Bilan’s face showed confusion.

Wen Jianyan shook his head. “There are still mysteries about it that I haven’t unraveled. It’s too early to get rid of it now.”

Seeing that he seemed resolute, neither of them tried to persuade him further. They sighed and stood up. “So… what do we do next?”

“Should we sneak in secretly?” Elise looked towards the closed door of the cleaner’s break room and rubbed her hands together.

“No.”

Wen Jianyan blinked. Even though his face had turned pale from pain and blood loss, his expression remained carefree and cunning. “Let’s follow the rules.”

***

“Knock, knock, knock.”

The door to the cleaner’s break room was knocked on, and soon a cleaner in a blue uniform, with about eighty percent of their face covered by a mask, stepped out.

“Hello, we saw a frog corpse in the ocean ball pool and hope you can clean it up,” Yun Bilan said.

Elise nodded in agreement and pointed to the area under the slide from which Wen Jianyan had just come down, the spot where the red and white eyes had appeared. “And there’s not just one, it’s better to have a few more people come.”

The cleaner nodded.

Soon, three cleaners in blue uniforms, carrying cleaning tools, emerged and followed Elise and Yun Bilan toward the ocean ball pool.

Behind them, the locked door to the cleaner’s room creaked slightly, as if it had been pried open by something.

The door opened a crack and swiftly closed again.

The cleaner’s break room wasn’t large; it was cluttered with cleaning supplies and discarded old amusement equipment, resembling more of a storage room.

Wen Jianyan moved forward silently, taking a few steps inside the workspace and swiftly searching.

His main purpose for doing so was to distract Yun Bilan and Elise. It wasn’t just about ensuring their safety, but also because what he had to do next had to be done alone.

He fumbled along the walls, searching for any possible hidden doors or passages—

Unfortunately, there was nothing.

Wen Jianyan furrowed his brows slightly.

Could it be… that he made the wrong judgment?

Wasn’t the supposed passage to the second floor supposed to be here?

He fell into contemplation, slowly stepping back a couple of paces.

Just then, footsteps approached from behind the door, getting closer to his side. Wen Jianyan was startled—was it coming back already?

He quickly activated an item, retreating rapidly. Utilizing his agile and slender frame, he concealed himself behind a pile of assorted items.

His back bumped into something chillingly cold.

Wen Jianyan was taken aback and subconsciously turned his head to look.

It was a full-length mirror. The reflective surface had been removed from the mirror, leaving an empty frame covered in dust.

He raised his hand and gave it a gentle push.

The central partition of the frame fell away, revealing a pitch-black staircase leading upward.

Whether it was a trick of the mind or not, in that instant, Wen Jianyan felt a faint, warming sensation on his lower abdomen, where his tattoo was.