Chapter 69: The Truth of the Inverse Seven

Although he had reached a conclusion in his mind, Wen Xishu still did not know what to do next.

After all, the amplified traits of these seven households had not actually been figured out yet.

Wen Xishu followed this household with light, cautious steps.

Upon hearing the sound of the anti-theft door closing, he quickened his pace slightly and followed the source of the sound to the door of room 49-3.

"My neighbor is 14-1. A-Miao's neighbor is 35-13, Venerable Wen's neighbor is 7-5. Xiao Wu's neighbor is 28-11, Wu Xiangjiao's neighbor is 21-9."

"The pattern here... seems easy to find. The remaining two people who will die in six days must be either a 49-3 and 42-7 combination, or a 49-7 and 42-3 combination."

"As it stands... this 49-3 is very likely one of the seven mission targets."

Standing at the door of 49-3, Wen Xishu did not knock. The time was now 12:47.

He had to go back.

"Interacting with neighbors before forced the mission to end in about an hour, making me return to my room... I must go back now; if the time runs out, my body will be forcibly controlled by the eerie power."

Wen Xishu was not sure if he would die in the elevator during the return to the 14th floor if his body were forcibly controlled.

He arrived at the elevator entrance, and when the doors opened, that "staff member" was once again standing in the corner of the elevator, completely facing away from Wen Xishu.

Having the experience from the first time, Wen Xishu immediately summoned his attribute mirror.

The elevator began to move toward the 14th floor, and the "staff member" never moved.

Wen Xishu also absolutely refused to be impulsive and touch the other party or speak to them.

"There is no need to verify things that bring danger to myself but serve no purpose."

Wen Xishu successfully returned to his room.

Yin Junchi, next door, was still constantly revising his manuscript. From time to time, he would let out:

"There are more and more typos, damn it, Yin Junchi, you cannot make such low-level mistakes!"

"Yes, yes, yes, that's it, that's it. If I write it like this, the readers will definitely leave comments here, right?"

"Can they guess my arrangement?"

Yin Junchi kept muttering; his voice was not loud, but not quiet either. However, because the entire floor was too silent and the other residents were all like dead people...

...it resulted in Wen Xishu being able to hear Yin Junchi's voice very clearly as long as he stood near the wall.

"Truly full of energy... just like me."

Wen Xishu could not help but remark.

He was actually still unsatisfied; if it weren't for today being clearly more dangerous than yesterday, he intended to forcibly explore until the eerie power took over his body.

It was past one o'clock now, and after fifty points of action energy were deducted, Wen Xishu was still full of energy, without any sleepiness.

He sat by the bed, listening to Yin Junchi's constant muttering, finding it quite interesting.

But suddenly, Wen Xishu realized something was wrong.

"No, it shouldn't be like this."

After taking a few deep breaths, Wen Xishu calmed himself down:

"My energy is a bit off. This is not my normal state."

"I should have noticed it yesterday. After the meeting ended, logically speaking, I should have been resting, but I had absolutely no desire to rest."

"Under the condition of limited action energy, the most correct thing for me to do is to clear my mind and get some good rest first."

"But I have absolutely no desire to go rest!"

It is difficult for a workaholic to voluntarily make themselves rest.

"I have also been affected by something!"

When this thought appeared, a slight sense of fatigue finally washed over him.

Wen Xishu opened his mouth wide, closed his eyes, and let out a yawn.

Before the yawn was finished, a flash of light crossed Wen Xishu's mind.

He stood up abruptly.

The act of yawning actually became the key for Wen Xishu to connect everything together.

While yawning, he had closed his eyes, but because of his desire to continue exploring, he felt he should open his eyes again.

Under the influence of that very thought, Wen Xishu suddenly understood one thing.

"It's not a hallucination... it's not an auditory hallucination! That was yawning, yawning with eyes wide open! The terrifying scene described by Yin Junchi is actually just yawning."

In Yin Junchi's description, as soon as he closed his eyes, he would see hundreds of faces with wide-open eyes and wide-open mouths looking at him.

This action, when performed, is an expression of extreme terror and shock; Wen Xishu had been thinking in that direction from the start.

But just now, he suddenly realized that this was actually yawning.

Because of the amplified desire to work, Yin Junchi refused to close his eyes, and then, because his body was too exhausted, he had an extreme desire to close his eyes by yawning to relieve the fatigue.

But the eerie part was that, mentally, he resisted closing his eyes. So, under the projection of his subconscious, what Yin Junchi saw was a group of people yawning with their eyes open...

The reason he looked deranged and performed those actions toward himself was not that he was possessed, but that he was subconsciously starting to yawn—yawning with his eyes wide open.

It was exactly the same as the people in Yin Junchi's hallucinations. The "ah" sound emitted was also exactly the same.

"He is already... unable to close his eyes. Affected by some kind of eerie power, he now does not allow himself any action of resting."

"As time passes, this influence will be amplified, and fear will further deepen this influence."

"Therefore, as his neighbor, I have also been affected by this power. I have also, because of thinking too deeply and noticing all the eerie things in this building, actually harbored a slight fear deep in my heart."

"Similarly, as time passes, this influence on me will continue to deepen, and if I feel fear during this process... then the influence will deepen further."

"I will be unable to sleep, extremely hyperactive, craving work, and will have hallucinations if I close my eyes. I was thinking earlier, how could a bestselling author with a desire to create die?"

"Now I understand... he died of sudden cardiac death."

The fear in Wen Xishu's heart deepened by a layer.

After all, he was not a monster completely devoid of negative emotions or the ability to perceive fear.

The more one delved into this building, the more terrifying it became.

"A-Miao's neighbor, joy was amplified... for this period of time, it looks like a good thing."

"But if he also dies, then it is a tragedy born from excessive joy. This fate will very likely also appear in A-Miao."

"Then what about Wu Xiangjiao? He can be considered to be in a better state than me. This guy is simple-minded, and his brain isn't particularly good, so he didn't feel that anything was wrong."

"But the states of Xiao Wu and Venerable Wen are already very bad."

Wen Xishu forced himself to close his eyes.

He had already begun to feel that it was very easy to recall things that made him upset when he closed his eyes.

For example, the fire that caused him to lose his foster parents.

"It seems this fear is irresistible. I can only delay its influence on me, but I cannot stop it."

Wen Xishu opened his eyes and began to learn from Yin Junchi, finding paper and a pen.

He began to draw the structural diagram of this building.

"Don't rush, don't rush. My mental state is still okay for now; I'm just tired, but my body can hold up."

Wen Xishu was, after all, a student of the Luta Academy; his physical foundation was naturally beyond question.

"But in two or three days, I might be just like Yin Junchi next door, starting to have hallucinations. I must speed up."

"Stay calm, stay calm. Stay calm..."

Wen Xishu muttered softly, and accompanied by slow, long breaths, the inner unease gradually disappeared.

His eyes remained open, and in this way, he would not lose focus by seeing past events that upset him:

"Not bad, craving work and resisting rest; in the short term, this can even be treated as a positive buff."

"What Xiao Wu encountered was a lawyer. From what is known, this lawyer has severe mysophobia; because the room is too dirty, he doesn't want you, Xiao Wu, to go there."

"But Xiao Wu has also become very eager to bathe, as if he has caught the mysophobia."

"Wait... Xiao Wu mentioned this—he should be an excellent lawyer, there are many trophies in the room."

"Would an excellent lawyer have an inferiority complex? Xiao Wu keeps emphasizing that he wants to bathe..."

"Inferiority, mysophobia, inferiority, mysophobia... delaying updates, urging for manuscripts, desire to work, inferiority, mysophobia..."

Wen Xishu repeated this several times, and he suddenly narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself:

"Perhaps this isn't mysophobia, but because Xiao Wu feels he is too dirty; due to his inferiority, he wants to be cleaner before dealing with us!"

"That lawyer is the same! Great, I completely understand!"

"I finally know the meaning of seven! I finally know! Why such a luxurious building would only charge such low rent!"

Regarding what the seven things represented, Wen Xishu understood completely.

But the problem now placed before him was—

How was he going to break it.

The next day, early morning.

Wen Xishu did not sleep all night.

A-Miao had a beautiful dream, in which she was laughing and talking while undergoing surgery.

The doctor told her the surgery didn't go very well and the cancer cells had spread. She laughed "ha ha ha," scaring the doctors. Then she woke up.

As for Wu Xiangjiao, he didn't feel much; he just felt a bit of inner restlessness.

Xiao Wu's skin was red and swollen.

He frantically wiped his body with a bath towel until his skin turned red, and then, under the sweep of sleepiness, he put on a bathrobe sprayed with disinfectant and fell asleep.

Venerable Wen was in the kitchen, slapping himself several times.

The meeting was initiated by A-Miao.

For A-Miao, the ability to take action was no longer that important; it was as if wasting that ability was a trivial matter, not worth worrying about.

When four frames appeared before Wen Xishu’s eyes...

Wen Xishu discovered that apart from Wu Xiangjiao, the other three all had some problems.

This was only the second day.

Admittedly, there were no monsters chasing them in this building, and no rules that would immediately take your life... but if one could not find the key point, living here would lead to death without even realizing it.

Thinking of this, Wen Xishu ultimately decided to try his best to save these people.

At the very least, he still needed these people's help before finding the invitation letter.

"Everyone, I actually wanted to hide something yesterday to slow down the erosion of your fear..."

"But today, perhaps some of you have already noticed that something is wrong with yourselves."

The meeting began, and Wen Xishu spoke directly.

"I will state the conclusion first."

"We are currently in a building that has a great connection to the number seven; as we mentioned earlier, this is a sacrifice."

"New clues now point to the content of the sacrifice being related to the Seven Deadly Sins."

Wu Xiangjiao was puzzled:

"Seven Deadly Sins? Wait, is it Greed, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, and Envy? Are you talking about these seven?"

"Where can you see that? These things don't fit us or our neighbors at all!"

Wen Xishu said:

"Don't be impatient, let me explain slowly."

"My neighbor is named Yin Junchi, and his pen name is 'Three Days Two Living Bananas Wearing Armor'."

"He should be a very lazy author. The type who, as long as he isn't short on money, doesn't want to type a single word; his readers might even think something happened to him."

"Although his computer is expensive, it rarely has any content on it, and his phone receives nothing but calls urging him to finish his manuscripts."

"Such a person is definitely a very lazy person."

"But what you cannot imagine is that he is now diligent to the point of death—literally, to the point of death."

Wu Xiangjiao summarized:

"Does he correspond to Sloth!"

Wen Xishu nodded:

"Then on the 49th floor, I met a mother and son. The mother is very doting on her child; no matter what he does, she is very tolerant."

"But according to what that child said... his mother wasn't like this before."

"Not long ago, I happened to hear a friend tell a tragic story: her parents made her go to a tutor to study because her parents were vain and liked to compare her to other people's children."

"Such parents are actually not rare. When other people's children are excellent, they will feel—"

It was Wu Xiangjiao who blurted out the answer:

"Envy!"

Wen Xishu nodded. It had to be said that as the only one not yet affected, or rather, not significantly affected, Wu Xiangjiao was very suitable as the straight man for this meeting.

"Now, she has completely lost her envy, and it has been twisted into a form of love without any constraints. She no longer has any discipline for the child, only bottomless indulgence."

Wen Xishu paused slightly, then said:

"Next, let's talk about Xiao Wu. According to what you said, Xiao Wu, your neighbor is a lawyer and is very excellent; you saw many trophies."

"You might not know that for the profession of a lawyer, if one is truly excellent, that confidence comes from the bones. Because confidence is a momentum; if a person is not confident, how could they win repeatedly in court?"

"I was previously misled by the lawyer's mysophobia, but in fact, his problem is not mysophobia. Just like you, Xiao Wu, do you think your problem is mysophobia now?"

Xiao Wu was timid; after being told this by Wen Xishu, he seemed to be freed from a certain special state, but only for a brief moment.

"Because of the fear of being disliked by others for having an unclean home... it is not mysophobia in essence. Mysophobia is the rejection of dirt; he does not reject dirt, he is afraid of being disliked."

"Just like you, Xiao Wu."

Wen Xishu looked at Wu Xiangjiao, and Wu Xiangjiao said 'oh', having realized:

"It's inferiority! He corresponds to Pride, but now, he has become abnormally inferior!"

Wen Xishu nodded:

"That's right, congratulations on getting it right!"

"Speaking of this, I think everyone understands now, right? Venerable, and Xiao Wu, you should understand now what exactly has been taken from you."

(Still ten thousand words, continuing tomorrow.)

(End of chapter)