Chapter 167: Purgatory on Earth
Sure enough.
He guessed right.
Wen Jianyan stood still, staring at the empty space behind him.
It wasn’t that his teammates were “replaced,” nor did he run into a wall in the corridor. The real problem was with himself.
He fell for it.
This was an illusion.
From beginning to end, everything that just happened only existed in his mind.
Wen Jianyan took a slow, deep breath, took a step back, pressed his wet and hot back against the wall, and knocked the back of his head backward, making a “bang” sound.
His thoughts have never been this clear before.
Although it was not his teammates being replaced but himself entering an illusion, the overall thought process was still consistent. He needed to find the time node.
Only by finding the entry point into the illusion could he understand how he fell for it and figure out how to get out.
After leaving the elevator was unlikely, so what about before leaving the elevator?
Everything that happened inside the elevator before the elevator door opened flashed in his mind—Wen Jianyan was startled.
He remembered the expressions on “Su Cheng” and “Blond’s” faces.
Blank.
Dazed.
As if they had no thinking ability at all.
That expression seemed familiar—almost identical to the expressions on the slug heads that reached into the elevator.
Wen Jianyan’s body suddenly bounced up.
He turned the flashlight towards himself.
The attendant’s uniform was clean, without any stains.
However, after those heads were cut off by the elevator, Wen Jianyan vividly heard the sound of liquid splattering. After the lights came on, he also saw that thick, pale yellow liquid splattering all around, emitting a foul odor.
If that were the case, his body couldn’t be this clean.
It seems that the reason he fell for it was the bodily fluid from those heads.
“…”
Damn slug heads.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth.
Now that this was case, the next steps should be much easier.
Wen Jianyan opened the live broadcast interface and skillfully purchased purification props.
The B-grade purification items were already capable of dealing with most contamination and illusions—unfortunately, most anchora who fell into illusions were often unaware of being in an illusion, rendering this prop useless.
A small porcelain bottle appeared in his palm, and Wen Jianyan tilted his head back, pouring the liquid inside into his mouth.
The next second, the world in front of him showed a slight deviation, like unstable signals, with tiny snowflakes appearing. Wen Jianyan felt a bit dizzy and took a step back, leaning against the wall to support his body.
The wall seemed to become soft.
Like a giant water bag, semi-fluidly supporting his body.
Strangely, this brief deviation and intermittence only lasted for about ten seconds, then disappeared.
Wen Jianyan stood still, surveying the surroundings.
In front of him was still a dark corridor with no end in sight; nothing had changed.
…Huh?
How could this be?
He blinked, a look of confusion on his face.
Unconvinced, Wen Jianyan exchanged for another bottle of purification prop and drank it.
Deviation appeared.
After dozens of seconds, the deviation disappeared again.
The illusion didn’t disappear, and everything remained unchanged.
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Are you kidding me?!
Based on the reactions just now, the prop should be effective, but for some reason, there was no sign of the illusion disappearing.
Damn it…
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and consecutively exchanged for six bottles of purification agent without hesitation. He poured three bottles into his mouth in a row.
With the cold liquid flowing down his throat, the prop activated. The visible distortion in the scenery unfolded at a speed visible to the naked eye. The floor and walls turned soft, like flowing water. Wen Jianyan felt dizzy, unable to stand steady, and his entire body twisted from head to toe.
The next second, the dark corridor in front of him shattered.
As if a mirror had been dropped from a height, it shattered into thin fragments in the blink of an eye, disappearing from his sight like thin smoke.
Disgusting.
His stomach churned.
Wen Jianyan slowly opened his eyes with difficulty.
Everything in front of him was a pale yellow, like a semi-fluid… jelly.
…What?
Where is this?
What’s going on?
Wen Jianyan’s head was dizzy, making it almost impossible to understand his current situation.
He turned his head.
A pale, expressionless face suddenly appeared in front of him.
“!!!”
Wen Jianyan was so startled that his whole body jolted. The chaos and haze from earlier were cleared out of his body, and he suddenly realized something.
He was inside something’s “body.”
The pale yellow semi-fluid filled his vision. In this viscous gel, numerous pale limbs, arms, legs, torsos, and faces floated and intertwined with each other, all immersed in the gel.
Wen Jianyan felt his scalp tingling, and his whole body stiffened in place.
Too disgusting.
How could it be so disgusting?
The familiar dizziness returned.
The shattered fragments on the ground seemed to start reassembling, slowly piecing together the pitch-black illusory corridor—
Not good!
Wen Jianyan instantly realized this.
Why wasn’t one bottle of purification agent enough?
Because his entire being was now enveloped in this hallucinogenic liquid. One bottle of purification agent could only bring about a brief moment of clarity, and soon he would fall back into it.
He lowered his head.
Although he had left the illusion, the purification agent he had exchanged for in bulk hadn’t disappeared.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, forcing himself, once again, to open a bottle of purification agent, activating and using it—this method didn’t require him to drink it, and it could achieve the same effect.
His vision stabilized once again.
Wen Jianyan struggled among the floating pale limbs, gradually approaching the “outer wall.” Soon, the thin membrane enclosing him within the liquid was within arm’s reach.
Wen Jianyan exchanged for a small knife from the shop.
The membrane was much tougher than he imagined. Even with his maximum strength, the blade only slightly penetrated the membrane, creating a small opening from which liquid seeped out.
The sensation of lethargy reappeared.
Wen Jianyan activated another bottle of purification agent.
He slowly used the blade to widen the opening, attempting to cut through a passage through which he could pass.
One centimeter, five centimeters, ten centimeters.
The opening grew larger, but there was still a considerable distance from being large enough for a person to pass through.
However, there was only one bottle of purification agent left.
At this rate, it was impossible to cut a big enough opening before running out of the purification agent.
There was no choice but to try.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, struggling to swim a distance among the human limbs. Then he reached out and grabbed a few nearby pale torsos for support, finally fiercely charging forward!
Bang!
Bang, bang!
He exerted all his strength, using his own weight to forcefully rush toward the weakened point he had cut open. One time, two times, three times!
“Zzzzz!”
The sound of something tearing echoed.
The next second, Wen Jianyan felt a dizzying sensation.
The pale yellow liquid carried his body and all surrounding limbs, rushing out like a floodgate, bursting out through the opening!
“Ahhhhh—”
A strange, almost painful scream rang out.
Wen Jianyan climbed up from the center of those limbs, looking toward the direction of the sound—
It was a person.
Calling it a person was not entirely accurate.
He had a human face, but below the face, there was a swollen, almost corridor-filling, massive body. A semi-transparent membrane, like a cocoon, enveloped countless human faces and bodies inside, which were rapidly shrinking at an unstoppable speed.
Gurgle, gurgle.
Liquid flowed out, and soon, its abdomen completely shriveled.
It stopped moving.
Wen Jianyan felt his stomach churning violently.
Was it dead?
He wasn’t sure.
He breathed heavily and retreated hastily.
In the ghastly white corpses that resembled a human purgatory, he was the only one standing.
After a brief silence, those bodies… began to move. They seemed not to be dead, or rather, not entirely digested.
Driven by instinct, they wriggled in the sticky liquid, emitting faint moans.
It felt like a scene that would only appear in nightmares.
“….”
Wen Jianyan’s face turned white as paper.
With the last ounce of strength, he stumbled out of the pile of corpses, rushing to a clean spot that hadn’t been contaminated. He then leaned against the wall and violently retched.
Damn you, Ping An Asylum!!
This is too damn hellish!!!
At this moment, a soft, low laughter came from behind. A man’s voice resonated, carrying an exotic accent.
“Ah, it’s you.”
Wen Jianyan was stunned and turned to look behind him.
Black curly hair, brown skin, sparkling chocolate-colored eyes.
It was No. 02.
He stood in a clean place in the distance, wearing a pristine prisoner’s uniform on his tall frame. Not far from him was Wen Jianyan, looking disheveled—soaked from head to toe, covered in pale yellow liquid, pale-faced, panting heavily, with a look of shock and vigilance like a startled bird.
The man’s gaze swept over the young man in front of him. He smiled, revealing his snow-white teeth:
“Not bad, well done.”
Chapter 167: Purgatory on Earth
Sure enough.
He guessed right.
Wen Jianyan stood still, staring at the empty space behind him.
It wasn’t that his teammates were “replaced,” nor did he run into a wall in the corridor. The real problem was with himself.
He fell for it.
This was an illusion.
From beginning to end, everything that just happened only existed in his mind.
Wen Jianyan took a slow, deep breath, took a step back, pressed his wet and hot back against the wall, and knocked the back of his head backward, making a “bang” sound.
His thoughts have never been this clear before.
Although it was not his teammates being replaced but himself entering an illusion, the overall thought process was still consistent. He needed to find the time node.
Only by finding the entry point into the illusion could he understand how he fell for it and figure out how to get out.
After leaving the elevator was unlikely, so what about before leaving the elevator?
Everything that happened inside the elevator before the elevator door opened flashed in his mind—Wen Jianyan was startled.
He remembered the expressions on “Su Cheng” and “Blond’s” faces.
Blank.
Dazed.
As if they had no thinking ability at all.
That expression seemed familiar—almost identical to the expressions on the slug heads that reached into the elevator.
Wen Jianyan’s body suddenly bounced up.
He turned the flashlight towards himself.
The attendant’s uniform was clean, without any stains.
However, after those heads were cut off by the elevator, Wen Jianyan vividly heard the sound of liquid splattering. After the lights came on, he also saw that thick, pale yellow liquid splattering all around, emitting a foul odor.
If that were the case, his body couldn’t be this clean.
It seems that the reason he fell for it was the bodily fluid from those heads.
“…”
Damn slug heads.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth.
Now that this was case, the next steps should be much easier.
Wen Jianyan opened the live broadcast interface and skillfully purchased purification props.
The B-grade purification items were already capable of dealing with most contamination and illusions—unfortunately, most anchora who fell into illusions were often unaware of being in an illusion, rendering this prop useless.
A small porcelain bottle appeared in his palm, and Wen Jianyan tilted his head back, pouring the liquid inside into his mouth.
The next second, the world in front of him showed a slight deviation, like unstable signals, with tiny snowflakes appearing. Wen Jianyan felt a bit dizzy and took a step back, leaning against the wall to support his body.
The wall seemed to become soft.
Like a giant water bag, semi-fluidly supporting his body.
Strangely, this brief deviation and intermittence only lasted for about ten seconds, then disappeared.
Wen Jianyan stood still, surveying the surroundings.
In front of him was still a dark corridor with no end in sight; nothing had changed.
…Huh?
How could this be?
He blinked, a look of confusion on his face.
Unconvinced, Wen Jianyan exchanged for another bottle of purification prop and drank it.
Deviation appeared.
After dozens of seconds, the deviation disappeared again.
The illusion didn’t disappear, and everything remained unchanged.
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Are you kidding me?!
Based on the reactions just now, the prop should be effective, but for some reason, there was no sign of the illusion disappearing.
Damn it…
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and consecutively exchanged for six bottles of purification agent without hesitation. He poured three bottles into his mouth in a row.
With the cold liquid flowing down his throat, the prop activated. The visible distortion in the scenery unfolded at a speed visible to the naked eye. The floor and walls turned soft, like flowing water. Wen Jianyan felt dizzy, unable to stand steady, and his entire body twisted from head to toe.
The next second, the dark corridor in front of him shattered.
As if a mirror had been dropped from a height, it shattered into thin fragments in the blink of an eye, disappearing from his sight like thin smoke.
Disgusting.
His stomach churned.
Wen Jianyan slowly opened his eyes with difficulty.
Everything in front of him was a pale yellow, like a semi-fluid… jelly.
…What?
Where is this?
What’s going on?
Wen Jianyan’s head was dizzy, making it almost impossible to understand his current situation.
He turned his head.
A pale, expressionless face suddenly appeared in front of him.
“!!!”
Wen Jianyan was so startled that his whole body jolted. The chaos and haze from earlier were cleared out of his body, and he suddenly realized something.
He was inside something’s “body.”
The pale yellow semi-fluid filled his vision. In this viscous gel, numerous pale limbs, arms, legs, torsos, and faces floated and intertwined with each other, all immersed in the gel.
Wen Jianyan felt his scalp tingling, and his whole body stiffened in place.
Too disgusting.
How could it be so disgusting?
The familiar dizziness returned.
The shattered fragments on the ground seemed to start reassembling, slowly piecing together the pitch-black illusory corridor—
Not good!
Wen Jianyan instantly realized this.
Why wasn’t one bottle of purification agent enough?
Because his entire being was now enveloped in this hallucinogenic liquid. One bottle of purification agent could only bring about a brief moment of clarity, and soon he would fall back into it.
He lowered his head.
Although he had left the illusion, the purification agent he had exchanged for in bulk hadn’t disappeared.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, forcing himself, once again, to open a bottle of purification agent, activating and using it—this method didn’t require him to drink it, and it could achieve the same effect.
His vision stabilized once again.
Wen Jianyan struggled among the floating pale limbs, gradually approaching the “outer wall.” Soon, the thin membrane enclosing him within the liquid was within arm’s reach.
Wen Jianyan exchanged for a small knife from the shop.
The membrane was much tougher than he imagined. Even with his maximum strength, the blade only slightly penetrated the membrane, creating a small opening from which liquid seeped out.
The sensation of lethargy reappeared.
Wen Jianyan activated another bottle of purification agent.
He slowly used the blade to widen the opening, attempting to cut through a passage through which he could pass.
One centimeter, five centimeters, ten centimeters.
The opening grew larger, but there was still a considerable distance from being large enough for a person to pass through.
However, there was only one bottle of purification agent left.
At this rate, it was impossible to cut a big enough opening before running out of the purification agent.
There was no choice but to try.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, struggling to swim a distance among the human limbs. Then he reached out and grabbed a few nearby pale torsos for support, finally fiercely charging forward!
Bang!
Bang, bang!
He exerted all his strength, using his own weight to forcefully rush toward the weakened point he had cut open. One time, two times, three times!
“Zzzzz!”
The sound of something tearing echoed.
The next second, Wen Jianyan felt a dizzying sensation.
The pale yellow liquid carried his body and all surrounding limbs, rushing out like a floodgate, bursting out through the opening!
“Ahhhhh—”
A strange, almost painful scream rang out.
Wen Jianyan climbed up from the center of those limbs, looking toward the direction of the sound—
It was a person.
Calling it a person was not entirely accurate.
He had a human face, but below the face, there was a swollen, almost corridor-filling, massive body. A semi-transparent membrane, like a cocoon, enveloped countless human faces and bodies inside, which were rapidly shrinking at an unstoppable speed.
Gurgle, gurgle.
Liquid flowed out, and soon, its abdomen completely shriveled.
It stopped moving.
Wen Jianyan felt his stomach churning violently.
Was it dead?
He wasn’t sure.
He breathed heavily and retreated hastily.
In the ghastly white corpses that resembled a human purgatory, he was the only one standing.
After a brief silence, those bodies… began to move. They seemed not to be dead, or rather, not entirely digested.
Driven by instinct, they wriggled in the sticky liquid, emitting faint moans.
It felt like a scene that would only appear in nightmares.
“….”
Wen Jianyan’s face turned white as paper.
With the last ounce of strength, he stumbled out of the pile of corpses, rushing to a clean spot that hadn’t been contaminated. He then leaned against the wall and violently retched.
Damn you, Ping An Asylum!!
This is too damn hellish!!!
At this moment, a soft, low laughter came from behind. A man’s voice resonated, carrying an exotic accent.
“Ah, it’s you.”
Wen Jianyan was stunned and turned to look behind him.
Black curly hair, brown skin, sparkling chocolate-colored eyes.
It was No. 02.
He stood in a clean place in the distance, wearing a pristine prisoner’s uniform on his tall frame. Not far from him was Wen Jianyan, looking disheveled—soaked from head to toe, covered in pale yellow liquid, pale-faced, panting heavily, with a look of shock and vigilance like a startled bird.
The man’s gaze swept over the young man in front of him. He smiled, revealing his snow-white teeth:
“Not bad, well done.”
