HI Chapter 185

Yan Wei released his grip.

But he still carried a hint of persuasion: “Resentment not only kills, but also harms.”

Zhong Bufan completely cast aside all his preconceptions at this moment, stepping forward to stand in front of Yan Wei, saying: “Zhuo Xidong has known for a long time that the Guanyin Vase is in the Shen Estate. After searching for so many days, it’s clear that the efforts of a few individuals are insufficient, which is why he concocted the ruse of the mage’s notes, compelling all Players of the Shen Estate faction to search. He might have considered that the most unlikely place is actually the most probable, but—”

“But the fact that Zhuo Xidong still hasn’t obtained the Guanyin Vase shows just how dangerous Jiang Jingyun’s mortuary is?” Yan Wei laughed, “Isn’t that obvious? If it were easy to access, would the Guanyin Vase still be waiting for us?”

Geng Liang wore a worried expression: “Should we come up with a plan? Zhong Bufan is right, Zhuo Xidong might have thought of it. I recall now, when he was making an example of others, out of all the methods, he chose to push people into the mortuary courtyard… But when those two were pulled out with ropes, they were…”

He turned and pointed to the two bodies hanging in front of the courtyard, already showing signs of decomposition.

Yan Wei shook his head, somewhat helpless with the three people surrounding him—one to his left, one to his right, and one in front, leaving him only space to retreat.

“Look at those two bodies, aside from the decomposition, is there anything else?”

Geng Liang was taken aback: “No… They must have died quickly. Their Black Rings were destroyed after death, so we can’t tell if they used any Legendary Items, but I didn’t hear any commotion outside, so they probably didn’t.”

Yan Wei concluded: “Then it was instant death.”

Yan Wei knew he couldn’t stop him, whispering to him: “You must come out before midnight. If you don’t—”

“If I don’t,” Yan Wei tilted his head, leaning close to Yan Wei, his warm breath brushing against the other’s chin, “Teacher Yan will have to join me in death. I’m a selfish person; I want to live happily together, but if I have to die… then we die together.”

These words, half-truth, half-jest, seemed more like a jest to ease the tense atmosphere. Yan Wei should have glanced at him with a knowing smile, his expression unchanged, not taking it too seriously.

But before his words faded, under the moonlight, a hint of hesitation flickered in Yan Wei’s deep black eyes.

Yan Wei suddenly felt a pang of discomfort.

He believed Yan Wei would live and die with him, but saying it in jest was one thing; actually doing it was another. If something happened to Yan Wei, he would probably act without hesitation, but if he were truly in danger, he would push Yan Wei away, not pull him into it.

He glanced at Yan Wei, his tone cooling by a degree: “Then I’m going in.”

Beside him, the man raised his hand and lightly flicked his forehead.

“Always overthinking,” the man sighed, “Stop talking about whether you’ll die or not all the time.”

That flick on the forehead instantly dispelled Yan Wei’s discomfort.

He raised his hand, stopping Zhong Bufan and Geng Liang, who seemed to have a thousand things to say: “We don’t know how long Lin Zhen can distract those people. If we keep talking, are we underestimating Lin Zhen’s danger? Don’t worry, before midnight, any lethal attack is ineffective against me. Even if it’s not lethal, I’ll only be injured and can heal with Items or medicine afterward. Just ensure no other accidents happen while I’m inside getting the Guanyin Vase water.”

Zhong Bufan was stunned.

The hand he had used to stop Yan Wei slowly lowered, his entire body stiffening in place. The details and conjectures he had memorized from countless instances overlapped with Yan Wei’s words at this moment, and a bizarre idea seemed to sprout in his mind.

Zhong Bufan murmured: “… Won’t die before midnight?”

No one answered his question; Yan Wei had already stepped slowly into the dilapidated courtyard gate.

“—Won’t die before midnight!?”

Yan Wei’s words interrupted the intense argument outside the instance.

Ever since that high-level Player discovered the code name “V” and voiced his disbelief in this discovery, these high-level Players had been divided.

Some thought it was just a coincidence; V was said to have disappeared, but since the last top-level instance ended in failure so long ago, V was likely dead.

A small minority thought that perhaps… it might really be possible.

Xue Wan also heard these rumors, but only scoffed, completely disbelieving.

Xiang Ying remained silent throughout, calmly twirling his prayer beads, exuding a sense of tranquility.

Others in the Tower World, whether they knew, didn’t know, remembered, or still found it unbelievable, remained silent. The weight of what this code name represented was too heavy.

Until Yan Wei uttered those words.

V’s skill had always been somewhat of a secret in the Tower World. But many had tried to deduce it from his instance records, occasionally noticing that V’s behavior in instances varied greatly, with stark differences between one day and the next.

Midnight seemed to be a dividing line.

As they speculated about Yan Wei’s identity, Yan Wei also mentioned “midnight.”

Even Xue Wan, who had been watching like a spectator, was stunned at this moment, holding his longsword without moving, just slightly raising his head to look at the projection, his expression growing more serious.

He thought of the few encounters he had with Yan Wei in the 49th-floor instance. He hadn’t truly faced Yan Wei in combat, but he had to admit that throughout the entire instance, he had been on the defensive against Yan Wei’s group. No matter what he did, it seemed like a mere scratch to Yan Wei, easily brushed aside with a flick of a finger.

This feeling…

Was very similar to the legendary V.

“Kid,” Xiang Ying smiled, “Do you still want to bet your life with me?”

Inside the instance.

In a residence in Guanyin Town.

A scholar, holding an almost empty wine pot, stumbled into his courtyard. The entire courtyard was empty, only the candlelight in the bedroom flickered. He was heavily drunk, tripping as he entered and falling to the ground with a loud crash, the wine pot shattering into eight pieces.

He didn’t get up, just lay there, murmuring his beloved’s name.

His beloved had rejected his marriage proposal a few days ago, and he had been drowning his sorrows in the brothels for several days, only returning today when his money ran out.

The ground was icy cold, alleviating some of the heat from the warm wine. The scholar caught a whiff of an intoxicating floral scent, rolled over, and through half-closed eyes, saw a crimson hem.

He looked up and, in his daze, saw the face of his beloved.

She slowly crouched in front of him, the floral scent growing stronger. The candlelight beside them suddenly extinguished, the surrounding air grew colder, but the scholar remained oblivious, just staring at the woman in red before him, murmuring his beloved’s name.

“I love you…” he said, both sorrowful and laughing, “But you don’t love me.”

The woman laughed.

The scholar felt the scent grow sweeter, the “beloved” before him leaning closer, the cold around him turning into endless spring. After a long while.

The figure in red slowly stood up, chuckling softly: “Such cheap unrequited love.”

Yan Wei stepped into the small courtyard.

Perhaps because everyone knew it was dangerous, the courtyard gate wasn’t locked, and Yan Wei pushed it open easily.

Upon entering, he was met with thick, tangible black Resentment rushing towards him, carrying deep malice and thoughts, instantly enveloping Yan Wei as he took a few steps inside. He could feel this malice and thoughts, heavy as a mountain, capable of taking lives in an instant.

But with his skill, this black aura coiled around him, stopping an inch away, unable to advance further.

Even so, he still felt the overwhelming Resentment. This evil aura pressed on his nerves, chaotic and muddled, as if mixed with countless narratives, yet too jumbled to make out clearly.

Like ink stones thrown into clear water, instantly exploding into a sky-covering mass of greed, hatred, and evil, all rushing towards Yan Wei. Even though this black aura couldn’t harm his body physically, Yan Wei felt the mental oppression.

A slight wavering of the mind could lead to temporary madness. Someone with weaker perception standing here wouldn’t need the black aura to kill them; they would likely go mad and die first. No wonder those two thrown in here showed no reaction; they probably didn’t even have time to use Items before losing consciousness.

He swayed slightly, then steadied himself, his perception slowly spreading out, examining everything in the courtyard.

The courtyard was dilapidated, with only one house ahead, the surrounding weeds already knee-high, the ground covered in dust. This place hadn’t been visited in a long time.

Yan Wei followed the path, stepping through the weeds, slowly walking into the open house.

Inside, he saw a large, pitch-black coffin, appearing even more profound amidst the swirling black aura, as if absorbing all light, with just a glance one could sink into an endless abyss. The coffin lid was tightly sealed, surrounded by nail heads, clearly reinforced multiple times. The inside was calm, as if it only held a peaceful corpse, nothing malevolent.

Yan Wei’s perception, against the black aura, scanned the room twice, then found a white porcelain vase in the right corner.

—The Guanyin Vase!

He quickly stepped forward, bending to pick up the vase, but as he looked down, he saw thick blood had drawn several clearly patterned thick lines on the dusty ground beneath the black aura.

Yan Wei paused, enduring the pain from the black aura, and following the lines, scanned the floor of the room, suddenly realizing—this was actually a formation.

Thinking of the suppression and reversal formations Song Cheng’an had discovered in the Guanyin Temple, Yan Wei knew this might be another formation with some purpose, and silently memorized the pattern.

The surrounding black aura churned, as if a wind had blown through, yet for some reason, even the Resentment was stirred. Except for the inch around Yan Wei, the black aura inside the room surged, eerily silent yet full of strange omens.

“Hiding in the shadows…”

Yan Wei endured the deepest, heaviest negative emotions from the black aura, his face already pale, but he stood straight before the Guanyin Vase, calmly saying: “Since you’ve already let me know you’re here, are you still going to skulk around pretending to be mysterious?”

Before his eyes, the swirling black aura suddenly paused, then a patch of it quickly condensed into a blurry human form, a ghostly, eerie voice coming from all around Yan Wei.

“Just haven’t figured out how to greet you yet…” the malevolent thought let out a few sharp laughs, “He’s been guarding you so tightly, every time I wanted to see you, he blocked me. Tsk, this time he’s more experienced than before, afraid I might confuse your judgment, not even letting me enter the instance. If it weren’t for the overwhelming malice in this room, allowing me to descend through it, I wouldn’t know when I could see you again…”

Yan Wei’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart was in turmoil.

He?

The malevolent thought mentioned someone… could it be Yan Wei!?

Yan Wei had been blocking the malevolent thought from entering the instance!?

This was not something a Player could do.

The black aura-formed figure took two steps forward, Yan Wei steadied his mind, concealing all emotions, coldly watching it, saying: “If you have something to tell me, to obstruct or disturb me, just say it here. Since it’s so hard for you to descend this time, if I walk out, you won’t get another chance.”

The malevolent thought laughed heartily: “You’re still as interesting as ever.”

“What, I do as you say, shouldn’t you be satisfied?”

“Do you know what I want to tell you?”

“Regardless, you’re just trying to survive.”

The malevolent thought spread its hands: “That’s such an unpleasant way to put it. How can it be just me trying to survive? Isn’t it also giving that one, who shares my roots—ah, right, you call him Yan Wei, isn’t it also giving him another choice?”

“Yan Wei, you’re so determined to break the game this time, completely disregarding his life… He must not have returned all your memories to you.”