Chapter 100: If You Can Use a Cheat, Don't Use Your Brain

【Due to changes in the plot of the Desire Tower, the eighth floor of the Weird Tower, "The Late Great Inventor," will be restarted.】

【All players currently participating in this mission (excluding invitation holders) will have their memory modules synchronized and updated.】

【Memory module update in progress.】

【Weird Tower opening logic repair simulation.】

【Simulation started.】

【Phoenix is dead, but Ding Dong has truly been born. With Ding Dong's help, Wu Huixin, Lei Yihong, Mo Yuan, Qian Lele, Xiang Yang, and others are heading toward the safe place Ding Dong longs for in his heart.】

【Due to the unique nature of Ding Dong's team, they did not participate in the Three Towers War.】

【However, under the intervention of an unknown force, Ding Dong left enough treasures in the fourth floor of the original Fourth Psychiatric Hospital's inpatient department, and this museum, which should have been cleared out, still exists.】

【After the apocalypse descended, those who had once received help from Ding Dong discovered that Ding Dong's items could truly help them. They inquired about the place where Ding Dong once stayed, and countless people flooded into the museum, attempting to loot it clean.】

【But this triggered the museum's protection mechanism. After many items were stolen, the museum triggered an even more stringent deep-layer protection mechanism.】

【The Fourth Psychiatric Hospital has become a stronghold for weird creatures, and only the fourth floor of the inpatient department is a place they dare not easily approach. Until one day, you and your partners parachuted onto the fourth floor of the inpatient department, starting a new round of purification and exploration missions. And those weird creatures on the lower three floors are also waiting to hunt for the fruits of your labor.】

【Relevant memory modules replaced, scene loading...】

【Your favorability with Weird Wu Huixin has increased to 100.】

【Your favorability with Weird Mo Yuan has increased to 100.】

【Your favorability with Weird Xiang Yang has increased to 100.】

【Your favorability with Weird Lei Yihong has increased to 100.】

【Your favorability with Weird Qian Lele has increased to 100.】

【Your favorability with Ding Dong has increased to 80. (Can be further increased through extra missions)】

【Due to the special nature of the destination these characters are heading to, they did not participate in the Three Towers War, so they cannot be recruited for the time being (recruitment prerequisite phase two can be unlocked through extra missions).】

The surrounding scene began to change; this was the prelude to returning to the Weird Tower.

Wen Xishu could not suppress the corners of his mouth at this moment. The old principal Albert was right; the bunker people are the true beings capable of determining the final trajectory of fate.

Compared to the bunker people, what are the twelve constellations?

Originally, Wen Xishu only guessed that perhaps he could deliberately instill certain consciousnesses to make key characters perform certain behaviors.

It was just that this idea was perhaps a bit too bold.

But after these prompts appeared, Wen Xishu finally confirmed that players can truly change the content of the Weird Tower's levels by influencing subsequent anchors.

"Under the intervention of an unknown force, the museum that should have been cleared out still exists."

Wen Xishu could not help but recite this sentence in his mind.

The "unknown force" inexplicably gave him a feeling of being satisfied. In the Three Towers' mission prompts, they actually used "unknown force" to describe the player's intervention.

Although Wen Xishu had already sensed it when facing Jin Zaimin, An Rong, who was behind Jin Zaimin, was very eager to get the help of the bunker people to prevent being devoured by the "Giant Whale" Pisces in the future.

But now, Wen Xishu felt that power even more intuitively.

"However, what is worth noting is that they actually found a place of concealment. Since they did not participate in the Three Towers War, this also led to... their prefix not changing from 'Weird' to 'Slaughter'."

"In other words, the monsters of the Slaughter Tower, besides having great malice toward humans... actually have other criteria for judgment."

"Or, the 'Slaughter' prefix has nothing to do with hatred for humans at all, but is simply because they participated in the 'Three Towers War' and had to take a side?"

With his gradual deepening into the Three Towers, Wen Xishu had gradually mastered the advanced gameplay of the "Three Towers Game."

Now he was certain that the bunker people were influencing the already-started "Three Towers War" through mysterious power.

Those monsters with the "Slaughter" prefix who originally had a stance, or rather, were standing on the hostile side of humanity, already had a small portion that could be recruited by the bunker humans.

At the same time, as a bunker person, one could also change the level design of the Weird Tower in the Desire Tower.

Weird Tower, eighth floor.

The white light of the scene reconstruction gradually faded. At this time, Wen Xishu had an extra Luo Pan in his hand.

However, Wen Xishu did not use the Luo Pan immediately, but put it away first.

He looked back; the room number had not changed, it was still 4-26, and Zheng Zai was standing at the door, guarding for Wen Xishu very seriously.

Wen Xishu turned his head and discovered Zheng Zai's figure:

"Old Zheng."

"Brother Wen, what's up? Any other instructions?"

For Zheng Zai, Wen Xishu had just finished giving instructions for him to stand guard at the door.

Wen Xishu still habitually confirmed:

"I need to ask you something."

"Then should I come in?"

"Yeah, come in. No need to stand outside anymore, it's not necessary."

Zheng Zai was a bit confused, but as the saying went, every action of Brother Wen had a deeper meaning.

"What is it?"

"What happened before? I need you to recap it for me." Wen Xishu asked directly.

Zheng Zai asked seriously:

"Start from the beginning?"

"Yes, start from the beginning."

So Zheng Zai cooperated very well and began to recount the various things that had happened, including the Desk Lamp God of War Wang Ying forcibly killing one hundred first-tier normal-type monsters with a desk lamp.

Including Tong Ming being tricked to death by a knife, and including Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai solving two levels with a controller and a wrench.

And also including Wen Xishu writing a five-star review.

Almost everything was exactly as Wen Xishu thought.

Wen Xishu said:

"Okay, very good. One more question, what is the mission introduction?"

Zheng Zai nodded:

"It's that an inventor opened a museum here, and then many people came to rob it, but the items in the museum are risky to appraise. The mission hopes that we can rely on courage and wisdom to find the items, or if we are lucky enough, we can meet the fated person."

Wen Xishu was very satisfied after hearing this:

"Let's go, Old Zheng, we are going to the next room."

Everything was the same as before he left, only the mission description had changed.

That fated person, Wen Xishu of course knew who it was.

Zheng Zai was a bit puzzled:

"Brother, you said before that there is a very powerful thing hidden here that can help us leave this place. Now it seems it has something to do with the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, and feet on the radio and desk lamp."

"Then we searched all the way here. I figured you must have had a clue. Now, have you already solved that puzzle?"

Wen Xishu smiled and said:

"Not solved, the plan has changed."

Zheng Zai's expression became serious:

"Our line of thinking was wrong?"

"Not wrong, it's just that as the fated person, I don't need to use my brain like others anymore. I'm directly using a cheat." Wen Xishu did not avoid Zheng Zai.

Zheng Zai was a bit surprised:

"You mean, you are that fated person?"

Wen Xishu told the truth:

"Yeah."

Zheng Zai was a bit confused. But looking at Brother Wen's expression, it seemed serious, thinking that things shouldn't be heading in a bad direction?

Wen Xishu took out the Pseudo-Fate Luo Pan.

The Pseudo-Fate Luo Pan has two functions: one is to directly tell you the direction of the opportunity, and the other is to predict through dreams to avoid misfortune. Basically, it is the same as the real Fate Luo Pan, only the effect is much weaker.

Wen Xishu was currently experiencing the first function.

"Hey, brother, where did this thing come from?"

"A friend gave it to me. It can increase my luck and always guides me to find useful items. Using one's brain is certainly good, but I just want to put my brain down and rest for a while now."

As Wen Xishu spoke, he had already followed the direction pointed by the needle and walked out of the house. The needle of the Pseudo-Fate Luo Pan was constantly changing, changing every two seconds.

Wen Xishu followed the needle and soon arrived at the door of room 4-29. After opening the room, what was presented before Wen Xishu was a vacuum cleaner.

The content of the note was a string of garbled code, and Wen Xishu could see a little bit of 【Suction, positive, empowerment.】

These words could not accurately determine the function of the item, but Wen Xishu said:

"Old Zheng, go notify Team Leader Wang and the others, let them come to appraise it. If they don't intend to appraise this item, then we will appraise it."

Zheng Zai was secretly surprised; Brother Wen's tone was too firm, as if he had predicted that this item could kill through the fifth level.

"Are you that sure, brother? This item... has the ability to clear the fifth level?"

"Guaranteed."

"Then why don't we use it ourselves?"

"No rush. They might not dare to appraise it. I want to see how they will choose."

Wen Xishu paused and continued:

"I have absolute confidence that I can find better items later. But if Team Leader Wang and the others don't have the guts to appraise it, then what I do later will be a matter of course."

The biggest dilemma for tower climbers challenging this level is not knowing the item's attributes; appraising items is like opening a blind box.

If one could know the attributes of an item, then coming to the eighth floor, compared to others, would be like Jiang Boyue fighting Cai Xukun, like Jiang Wei fighting a chicken.

The reason Wen Xishu was willing to offer a multiple-choice question to Wang Ying and the others was that he completely trusted that this small Luo Pan could find true treasures, at least in this mission, without a shred of doubt.

Once things become manageable, one naturally has more energy to do other things.

For example, observing teammates.

In Wen Xishu’s view, the survival value of a teammate depends first on the teammate’s relationship with himself, and second on the teammate’s own quality.

He believed it was still very necessary to test Wang Ying and Aspasia.

After all, during the last Reverse Seven mission, Wen Xishu discovered that the total mission reward is fixed; the more people there are, the less the reward is when split equally.

In a place like the Strange Tower, Wen Xishu would not accept certain overly selfish people taking away his rewards. Unless the other party contributes to completing the mission.

Moreover, this time, he and Zheng Zai were actually risking their lives the whole time.

Zheng Zai said in a low voice:

"Little brother, you said earlier that as long as they are willing to pay a sufficient price, we can also do more things."

Wen Xishu said with a smile:

"Don't worry, Old Zheng, what I said earlier still stands. As long as they can afford the remuneration, we can do more work for more pay."

But the problem is, they might not be able to afford the remuneration, and this remuneration is very likely just a pie in the sky. Wen Xishu did not say this sentence out loud.

Zheng Zai nodded:

"Good, then I will go notify them!"

Zheng Zai was efficient in his work; soon, Wang Ying and Aspasia arrived at the room where Wen Xishu was.

After listening to Wen Xishu’s explanation, Aspasia asked:

"Brother Wen, are you that certain?"

"I am. If you don't use this thing, I will use it myself, but I thought that since you gave me the desk lamp earlier and you have nothing in your hands, I must repay you with an item," Wen Xishu said with a smile.

He was actually telling the truth. But Aspasia felt it was unreasonable:

"You are certain it can clear the fifth level... yet you are still giving this thing to us to use?"

Wen Xishu said patiently:

"If you explicitly don't want to use it, I will choose to use it. I’ve made myself very clear, haven't I? Do you want to use it or not?"

The game of human nature is a very interesting thing.

In Zheng Zai’s eyes, this was almost a no-brainer; they would surely agree immediately. But Zheng Zai did not expect that Wang Ying and Aspasia would actually hesitate.

Zheng Zai’s thought was, could Little Brother Wen possibly harm you?

But Aspasia felt that in a place like this, after the incident where Tong Ming died yet still counted as having cleared the level, the possibility of mutual help was already very low. Wen Xishu’s behavior looked more like he was unsure if this thing was useful, so he simply found two people to test it first.

If he were truly that certain, shouldn't he keep a good thing for himself? After all, there are so many levels ahead; having a few more items to fall back on would be the most reasonable, right?

This was Aspasia’s thought.

Wang Ying was smarter than Aspasia.

He was indeed aware that Tong Ming dying on the second level and still counting as a pass had led everyone to have some dark thoughts in their hearts; he admitted he had thought about it too.

But Wang Ying felt that this was only the fifth level; Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai wouldn't let him go to his death just yet.

Logically speaking, since a person dying can forcibly advance to the next level, choosing later levels would better utilize the value of a dying person.

Moreover, Wen Xishu had saved him before, so Wang Ying felt that Wen Xishu would not harm him. Additionally, he had a feeling before—that Wen Xishu seemed to have his own method of judging the value of items.

Deep down, he felt he should try.

But Tong Ming’s death made him feel that there were no so-called "chosen ones" in the Strange Tower. Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai might also suddenly die in the next level. The Strange Tower’s "boxed meals" never reason with anyone.

All of Wang Ying’s thoughts were correct; what truly hindered him was actually cowardice.

Wen Xishu urged:

"Have you decided? If you are sure you don't want to identify it, then Old Zheng and I will use it. It doesn't matter."

Aspasia gave a charming smile:

"You have that controller that can manipulate Old Zheng; relying on that thing to fall back on, you could even face the monsters head-on."

"Brother Wen, it’s not that we don’t trust you, but we don’t have anything to fall back on. So... could we trouble you to carry us?"

"I promise, after returning to the bunker, the Gambling Stone Society will definitely repay this favor. You will always be a friend of our Gambling Stone Society."

Wen Xishu feigned a frown:

"But if I die, the friendship of the Gambling Stone Society will have no meaning to me. In a sense, this is the fifth level, but it is also the simplest level among the ones we will face next..."

Aspasia paused, her voice dropping:

"You won't have any trouble. I believe you can definitely pass all the levels!"

Wen Xishu nodded:

"Okay, thank you for the blessing, no problem. Then Old Zheng and I will identify this item. You can go look for others. Good luck."

Wen Xishu smiled again, polite and refined, but Zheng Zai suddenly felt... Little Brother Wen seemed to have already treated these two as dead people. That smile actually made him a little scared.

Just as Wen Xishu was preparing to identify it, Wang Ying suddenly said:

"Brother Wen, let me do it! Let me! I trust you. I’ve been to this fifth level!"

Wen Xishu gave an unexpected "Oh":

"Team Leader Wang, are you sure? The level of danger on the fifth level might be several grades higher than the fourth."

Aspasia was also shocked: "Brother Wen already agreed to carry us, why are you still..."

Wang Ying glared at Aspasia:

"I don't want to be looked down upon. Little Brother Wen, since I’ve become the team leader, I can't trouble my team members with everything. Let me do it, I can handle it."

Actually, Wang Ying was terrified inside, but he had felt earlier that there seemed to be other living things beneath this hospital.

Wen Xishu smiled:

"Team Leader Wang, have you decided?"

Wang Ying nodded:

"Decided. You’re right, although the next is the fifth level, among the levels ahead, this is the simplest one. I’m taking advantage of this."

Wen Xishu was truly a bit surprised.

He actually didn't like Wang Ying. Earlier, when he spoke several times, Wang Ying was unhappy inside, almost explicitly telling him not to steal the team leader’s thunder.

However, even though Wang Ying was terrified, he would still do what a team leader should do for the sake of the title. Although he couldn't stand people under him being better than him, because of this, he would truly stand in front of his subordinates when something happened.

What drove Wang Ying to overcome his fear was actually his self-esteem. Some people live for the substance, some for the appearance. In this world, being able to take responsibility and willing to take responsibility is not easy.

"Then I wish you all the best, Team Leader Wang."

Aspasia looked hesitant:

"You... are you sure you want to identify this? Old Ying, have you thought it through?"

Wang Ying nodded; he either doesn't do it, or he doesn't regret it once he does:

"Let's go, shall we go together?"

After hesitating for a few seconds, Aspasia slowly shook her head:

"Old Ying, why don't you... why don't you identify it alone."

Wang Ying looked at his partner in astonishment, and Wen Xishu was very satisfied with this result.

"We are both from the Gambling Stone Society... Old Ying, if we both die... who will go and report to the boss? Now, I think it’s better if we act separately."

After Wang Ying was silent for a short while, he finally nodded:

"Fine, what you said is also right. Then I’ll do it alone."

Zheng Zai noticed that the smile on Little Brother Wen’s face seemed to have become even brighter.

(End of this chapter)