Chapter 102: Phoenix Relics

At the entrance of 4-30, it wasn't just Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai; Aspasia was there too.

Since Aspasia had no items to identify or use, all she could do was keep wandering around the various rooms.

Wen Xishu, Zheng Zai, and Wang Ying had a total of nine items. Aside from these nine, there were also unidentified items like a radio, shoes, a pipe, a rice cooker, and a wine glass.

There were only about a dozen items left, so it didn't take Aspasia much time to look through them.

She didn't have a single item, so naturally, she couldn't do anything, but that didn't stop Aspasia from calculating in her mind.

Her calculations had two parts: first, to coast to victory. With the help of Wen Xishu, Zheng Zai, and Wang Ying, she hoped to successfully muddle through this challenge in the Tower of Deception.

Now that the One-Eyed Hawk Wang Ying had entered the zone, given her relationship with Wang Ying, she presumed Wang Ying would still provide some extra protection.

Moreover, Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai had also agreed to her request; once they returned to the bunker, she would just need to pay a certain reward.

The second part was to find a weapon that could absolutely dominate the field. She had long noticed that the door to 4-30 was locked.

Presumably, one needed a prop like a key to open the lock. And right now, Wen Xishu had the key in his hand.

In that instant, several thoughts flashed through Aspasia's mind.

She even considered the idea of snatching it, but the dangerous aura exuded by Zheng Zai ultimately stopped her from doing so.

She then wondered if she could ask for the items inside 4-30. She would try to "borrow" them from Wen Xishu and the others by playing the role of the vulnerable.

But at this moment, Wen Xishu spoke up first:

"The things in this room are the most valuable treasures in this museum. Aspasia, if I were you, I would suggest you say nothing right now and have no such thoughts."

Wen Xishu's gaze was very cold.

It was completely different from his smiling, polite, and humble demeanor earlier. He was slightly taller than Aspasia, and he tilted his head back slightly, looking down at her as if he were looking down on her.

In this instant, all the words Aspasia had organized in her mind were wiped clean.

Looking at that gaze, she felt an inexplicable sense of fear.

"You might as well go back to any of the previous rooms and stay there for now. After the twelfth level ends, we will likely need to leave this hospital. We will have to face quite a few monsters then."

"But I can guarantee you this: monsters are not the most terrifying thing. If you have thoughts you shouldn't have, you will die before you even see a monster."

With Wang Ying absent, Wen Xishu didn't need to put on an act for Aspasia. If Wang Ying returned, Aspasia wouldn't dare tell Wang Ying about Wen Xishu's reaction at this moment.

She didn't dare gamble on whether Wang Ying would choose to believe her or Wen Xishu at this juncture.

So, at this moment, she truly felt the sensation of having a knife held to her throat.

Aspasia said, trembling:

"I... I understand."

The expression on Wen Xishu's face softened:

"Then you can get lost to another room and stay there now, don't you think?"

Wen Xishu's image changed too quickly, which made Aspasia feel even more terrified.

She didn't hesitate and trotted off to hide in another room.

Zheng Zai silently noted his younger brother Wen's behavior, thinking to himself... If I act fierce, I look uglier than younger brother Wen, plus with this iron-mouthed look of mine, hmm, I should be even more intimidating, right? Maybe I could scare Aspasia until she cries. I win!

Wen Xishu glanced at Zheng Zai:

"Old Zheng, what are you snickering about?"

This reaction caught Wen Xishu off guard; he had originally been wondering if Old Zheng would be shocked by this side of him.

Not only was Old Zheng not shocked, but he was also smiling:

"Oh, nothing. I just suddenly thought about how we're about to clear the level, and I feel happy."

Wen Xishu didn't say anything more and decisively used the key to open the door.

There were no hospital beds in room 4-30; two items were displayed on a pedestal.

A fiery red feather, emitting a certain luster, and a fiery red gemstone.

Zheng Zai quickly discovered the extraordinary nature of the items:

"Little brother, I can see the names of these two things, but there's no description. Can you see it on your end?"

Wen Xishu shook his head. Even he couldn't tell the function of these things this time. Because he could see the item names, but there was absolutely no description. He couldn't even see garbled text.

[Heart of the Phoenix].

[Phoenix Feather].

Whether it was the gemstone or the feather, both emitted a crimson luster, as if they were in a state of combustion.

"Does this... does this thing not need to be identified?" Zheng Zai asked.

Wen Xishu didn't answer Zheng Zai's question. He looked at the Phoenix Feather, and the moment he touched it, the Phoenix Feather actually vanished.

Zheng Zai's reaction was huge:

"Wait, what about our big feather? How did it disappear?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Wen Xishu's mouth: "It seems this feather is a consumable."

Zheng Zai looked at Wen Xishu:

"What do you mean? Do you know the feather's function?"

Wen Xishu shook his head:

"I don't, but I imagine it's a good thing that will play a useful role at a critical moment."

As he spoke, Wen Xishu's hand had already begun to touch the gemstone.

This time, Zheng Zai saw the change clearly. The gemstone began to fuse with Wen Xishu's glove, and in the blink of an eye, a fiery red, lustrous object resembling a ring appeared on the index finger of Wen Xishu's glove.

Wen Xishu looked at his finger, and a description soon appeared. A complete description.

[Item Name: Phoenix Glove · Dissolve.]

[Item Description: Only when fused with the Phoenix Glove · Weapon will it become the complete Phoenix Glove, but even as the Dissolve glove, it possesses extremely powerful abilities. This is a token of friendship, gifted only to those fated individuals worthy of gratitude and remembrance.]

[Item Attributes: Function One — Disintegrate. This glove can cause all items created by the Phoenix Constellation to lose their eerie power and become ordinary items. This process is irreversible. Once Disintegrate is activated, all items created by the Phoenix Constellation, except for those of the "Born One," will permanently lose their eerie effects. This ability has no cooldown and no cost.]

[Function Two — Activate Armor-Dissolving Mode. You can force an enemy's prop to temporarily lose its effect for fifteen minutes, even if the item was not created by the Phoenix Constellation. Cooldown: fifteen minutes.]

[Function Three — Primitive Fairness Mode. For five minutes after activating this mode, the opponent's item slot is directly disabled. Cooldown: twenty-four hours.]

"How is it, younger brother Wen? How is this thing?" Zheng Zai was very eager to know the effect of this ultimate prop.

Wen Xishu said:

"Now, all the monsters we encounter when we leave the hospital, as long as they are holding weapons, are basically no threat to us. Of course, if the monster itself is very formidable, that's another story."

"The ability after this gemstone fuses with the glove is quite good; it's definitely worthy of being a trump card. It's just that the destructive power is a bit lacking, leaning more towards defense. But clearing the level is no longer a problem."

"Let's go, let's go test it out."

Wen Xishu was satisfied with the attributes of this glove; it possessed both PvP and PvE attributes. When facing enemies holding powerful props, he could keep the opponent's powerful props neutralized for almost the entire duration.

With this thing, whenever Wen Xishu faced an enemy pointing a gun at him in the future, he could calmly say: "I bet there are no bullets in your gun."

The most interesting ability was the third one, Primitive Fairness Mode, which could disable the opponent's item slot, directly preventing them from drawing their gun. Wen Xishu always felt...

This ability was something Ding Dong used to target bunker people.

He wasn't sure if, besides bunker people, there were other units—like the Collapsers, the Three-Tower People, or the Twelve Constellations—that also had the concept of an item slot.

But presumably, this ability could be effective against bunker people.

This counted as a very powerful trump card. It was just that Wen Xishu still didn't understand what the effect of the Phoenix Feather was.

The Phoenix Feather seemed to have completely vanished, as if it had melted into his body.

Wen Xishu didn't dwell on it, and soon he and Zheng Zai started the tenth level together.

……

……

The tenth level.

Wen Xishu wore the Phoenix Glove · Dissolve, holding the controller, maneuvering Zheng Zai, who held a chainsaw in one hand and a wrench in the other.

The scene for this level was inside a prison.

The massive walls prevented the creatures in the prison from leaving, or perhaps they simply didn't want to leave.

One-third of the monsters were rare species with special abilities, and the others were high-level Tier 4 normal species that Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai couldn't possibly have encountered in the Slaughter Tower at their current stage.

For ordinary humans, high-level normal species were already equivalent to demons, ghosts, and other supernatural existences.

They possessed physical fitness, speed, and strength far exceeding humans—attributes that not only far surpassed humans but also far surpassed the various exaggerated animals people were familiar with.

It could be said that in front of a high-level normal species, a human without Slaughter Tower attributes and without a Killing Sequence would have absolutely no chance of winning.

Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu were in the playground enclosed by the massive high walls; this was where the prisoners usually rested.

And deep within the prison, there were several rooms marked with the word "Forbidden." The most terrifying prisoners lived in those rooms. They were all elite-level, and there was even one leader-level.

This lineup made Zheng Zai break into a cold sweat.

"This isn't even the final level yet... how did so many high-level normal species appear? And the number of rare species is too shocking, right?"

Zheng Zai was facing a formidable enemy; the difficulty gap between the ninth and tenth levels was too huge. He wasn't sure if they could kill the monsters cleanly before the elite-level and leader-level ones noticed them.

Now he could only hope that younger brother Wen's glove would have a miraculous effect.

The battle began quickly.

A monster with a silhouette almost identical to a human female, but with only one face and no facial features, dragged a massive axe and, with a single leap, instantly closed in on Zheng Zai.

Zheng Zai shouted:

"My god! Use the Blood Qi quickly, younger brother Wen! How is it that a rare species is the one charging first right at the start!"

This monster, which looked very similar to a human female, had an extremely exaggerated and hot figure, with long legs wrapped in silk stockings on the lower body, and a prison guard uniform from some unknown country on the upper body. His first reaction made Wen Xishu think of those call girls who were stuffed into prisons to be enjoyed by certain prison kingpins.

It was just that although this monster had a hot figure, the massive axe it was carrying really couldn't stir up a man's desire.

That massive axe weighed at least a hundred pounds, but the female-bodied monster carrying it leaped like a flea, jumping over ten meters at a time.

Its long hair danced, and it let out a scream from its mouth; this sound reminded Wen Xishu of the Witch from Left 4 Dead.

The difference is that the witch has no weapons in her hands, only claws like those of a harpy capable of tearing enemies apart, while this female-bodied monster has a heavy, clumsy axe.

If it were only this, Zheng Zai, strengthened by the controller, though unable to withstand the attacks of a rare species, could still hold his own for a while.

But there are over thirty of these female-bodied monsters, leaping ten-plus meters and reaching Zheng Zai's side in the blink of an eye.

Looking at these female-bodied monsters leaping ten-plus meters, Zheng Zai felt as if he were seeing dozens of missiles firing toward him.

In this instant, he even had the urge to just give up.

He told Wen Xishu to hurry and use the blood Qi, that powerful technique capable of easily slaughtering low-level normal species without leaving even a corpse behind.

But Wen Xishu just stood where he was, with no intention of fiddling with the controller at all.

The speed of the female-bodied monsters was simply too ferocious; Zheng Zai felt that in an instant, those black, foul-smelling long hairs had already reached him.

He thought to himself that it was over, that he and Brother Wen were going to meet their end here.

Yet at this moment, something that left Zheng Zai dumbfounded happened.

Wen Xishu did not fiddle with the controller, but instead snapped his fingers.

Snap.

The sound of the snap was crisp and pleasant, and at the knuckle of Wen Xishu's right index finger, a dazzling red light burned like a crimson star.

In this instant, Zheng Zai discovered that all the incomparably powerful female-bodied monsters around him... had all stopped simultaneously.

The luster of rotting flesh on the monsters' bodies gradually faded; not just the luster, but even the color began to fade, taking on the appearance of soil.

Subsequently, not only these female-bodied monsters that had charged over, but even other rare species, and even the elite species and leader-level existences in the forbidden lands in the distance...

...all of them, as if their lives had been taken away by some mysterious power, turned the color of soil.

The battle was over.

In the span of a finger snap, Wen Xishu's kill count directly reached five digits, far exceeding the stipulated one hundred.

Zheng Zai touched his forehead and said in a daze:

"Holy... shit."

He was actually a rather polite person, but looking at this scene now, he could only say this one sentence.

"Even in the Slaughter Tower, when the legendary Albert kills monsters, it isn't this exaggerated; this thing is truly too terrifying," Zheng Zai said, still shaken.

When it came down to it, he did not know the ability of the Phoenix Glove.

This snap of Wen Xishu's fingers gave off the vibe of Thanos, but Wen Xishu knew very well that this effect could only be achieved within the scenario designed by Ding Dong.

The reason was simple... whether it was these monsters or the scene itself, no matter how vivid they appeared, they were essentially all props, molded out of soil by Ding Dong.

And Ding Dong was created by the Phoenix Constellation. The Phoenix Constellation died, and Ding Dong was born; it could be said that Ding Dong was actually a doll that inherited the memories of the Phoenix Constellation.

Therefore, what Ding Dong created naturally counted as being created by the Phoenix Constellation.

With this glove, these twelve levels no longer held any difficulty for Wen Xishu.

The eleventh level or the twelfth level both contained quite a few bosses and quite a few rare species.

Currently, Zheng Zai's abilities were fine for facing normal species, but he was completely outmatched when facing rare species.

But all of this was no longer a problem; Wen Xishu could first use a snap to eliminate all the powerful existences, leaving only the weak ones behind.

In this way, Zheng Zai could easily pass the remaining two levels.

That was how Wen Xishu planned it, and that was how he did it.

After clearing the tenth level at an unimaginable speed, Wang Ying was still fighting a bloody battle in the ninth level.

Wen Xishu did not pay any attention to Wang Ying; he decided to finish the process first and clear all twelve levels before doing anything else.

At this time, Wang Ying was still thinking that Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai must still be fighting a bloody battle in the tenth level, right?

(End of chapter)