Chapter 123: To Catherine

"I've remembered it. Also, brother, the apocalypse will definitely descend; you and I are both very clear on this point."

"That place will not become beautiful just because of a few words from you."

The Mysterious Tower?

Indeed, no matter how one awakens the kindness in others' hearts or gives them hope, the Mysterious Tower remains treacherous.

Wen Xishu did not really care; he had a premonition that he would be forced to leave soon. Before his final departure, Wen Xishu had not forgotten one thing.

"How exactly does one upgrade this thing?"

Wen Xishu pulled out the Scorpio's cheat knife.

Scorpio took a glance:

"My brothers and sisters occupy many regions, and so do I. Utilizing it in my region, or using it to open a breach in other regions, can both allow it to accumulate experience."

"When the right time comes, it will naturally evolve. I am looking forward to your performance, brother; don't let me down."

After saying this, Scorpio vanished.

It was not just Scorpio; even the surrounding scene began to disintegrate.

Wen Xishu knew this was the change that occurred when a new scene was forcibly constructed upon returning to the Mysterious Tower.

At this moment, he also received a prompt.

【John Leon has found true happiness. For him, true happiness is not actually being obsessed with making a game that makes players smile. He examined himself and discovered that life should not be trapped in the mistakes of others, but should instead embrace existing happiness.

John Leon has finally found something more joyful than playing Bomberman with his father in childhood—the process of making games with Catherine and other partners is what makes him happiest.】

【Due to the major transformation in John Leon's heart, many places in the Wind City apocalypse will change.】

【The exploration difficulty of Wind City will be significantly reduced. The Mysterious Tower floor of Wind City will be adjusted to the third floor after this exploration, but the person who reached the deepest point in the main storyline of this exploration will retain the rewards of the current floor.】

【Players who challenged the deepest progress of the game's main storyline will continue to retain the qualification to challenge the game's original appearance and obtain the game's original Easter eggs. Failing to clear the level will not result in death, but will involve experiencing the "New Apocalypse" from the beginning.】

【Players who paid asset values will experience brand-new levels, and their asset values will be refunded. Hidden classes will be canceled, but one can transfer from ordinary classes. The specific gameplay will be explored by the "players" themselves.】

Wen Xishu's heart skipped a beat. Ah? The person who challenged the deepest progress of the game's main storyline—isn't that me?

This means that while others will play a brand-new version of the apocalypse following this reset, I still have to continue challenging that dark apocalypse?

"How do I have the feeling of being retaliated against by John? This content seems so targeted at me."

But Wen Xishu was still quite gratified. He had been thinking earlier: since there is Slaughter Tower promotion, is there such a thing as demotion?

If the game's difficulty has changed and its core has changed, does it still have the qualification to remain on the fifteenth floor of the Mysterious Tower?

As it turned out, the prompt for this reset really gave him the answer.

Lower difficulty and floor demotion essentially indicate that John is using his own power to lower the survival difficulty of the "apocalypse" as much as possible.

It is just like that; the arrival of the apocalypse cannot be changed, and the apocalypse will definitely descend. Without John's zombies, there will still be normal types, rare types, elite types...

Wind City will only become more terrifying. But now, there might really be survivors in Wind City.

At least, John relied on his own power to make the arrival of the apocalypse become another kind of... less cruel way.

Of course, all of this is aimed at other players.

Mysterious Tower, fifteenth floor.

When Wen Xishu opened his eyes, the blood on Charles Yang's corpse was still warm.

His neck still wore the collar capable of explosion and electric shock. However, at this time, everyone still thought...

"Number 245" was enjoying a pleasant dinner with the boss.

Coupled with Wen Xishu's extremely fast movements, this assassination did not cause a stir.

Wen Xishu searched Charles's corpse unhurriedly; the boss-dropping-gold-coins segment was certainly not to be missed.

At the same time, Wen Xishu also took a look at the "chat interface."

Everything was as he had thought; everyone's memories had been reset.

Whether it was the overbearing CEO Ye Lingfeng, the urban soldier king Tong Lianlang, or the working stiffs Zhang Hai and Kate, they were all experiencing the new apocalypse.

The new apocalypse was also a survival game, but the art style had changed into... something similar to a zombie-siege game, a game of mowing down zombies.

【Tong Lianlang: My chainsaw has now been upgraded to level six. Facing me like this, if you release the demon in my heart, can you still suppress it?】

【Ye Lingfeng: Heh, interesting. My drone technology has been upgraded to level five. Do you think you can escape my sight? What era is this, and you're still using a chainsaw.】

【Zhang Hai: Is there any free weaponry to be obtained? I've earned 2000 asset values from working, but the rocket launcher is so expensive... Is there any place where wild rocket launchers are dropped on the ground?】

Tong Lianlang and Ye Lingfeng were both shocked. Zhang Hai had actually earned two thousand asset values from moving bricks?

The two of them had spent all their initial asset values, but others were actually earning money non-stop.

Zhang Hai really wasn't humble-bragging about having a rocket launcher; all along the way, the working stiff Zhang Hai had been using various free weapons...

The shop had paid knives, but he didn't want them; he would choose to collect raw materials himself to make a knife.

The shop had paid guns, but he didn't want those either; he would risk his life to choose to loot a gun shop that had already been occupied by zombies.

In short, one sentence: I help you do tasks, you give me money. What is the money for? Of course, it's for saving; don't tell me you're going to spend it.

For Zhang Hai, letting me risk my life is fine, but spending my money is not.

Because Zhang Hai always felt that the currency in the Mysterious Tower game might affect reality.

Kate over there was of the same ilk; the two sympathized with each other, and Kate shared a spreadsheet.

【Kate: Brother Hai, I have the recipe for a hand-crafted rocket launcher here, it's just that the raw materials are a bit hard to find.】

Both of them had currently encountered a high-level task: to clear an area with five skulls. The task recommended using a weapon: a rocket launcher.

The money saved by the two working stiffs was long enough to buy a rocket launcher, but they refused to buy one.

Both of them were thinking: either hand-craft one, or pick up a wild rocket launcher.

Wen Xishu was truly amused.

The last teammate was Blind Man. Blind Man's mentality had collapsed.

【Blind Man: You guys are lying to me, right? You're all deceiving me, aren't you? Where are there any zombies! Where is there any apocalypse? I haven't encountered anything here! When I'm hungry, a dog brings me food; when I'm thirsty, the stupid woman next to me suddenly stops crying and gets me water from who knows where.】

【Blind Man: I just want to die, why is it so hard? You guys are still deceiving me one by one, talking about some zombie apocalypse, some rocket launcher... Does this broken game need to use these? Isn't it enough to just lie down and wait for the game to end?】

Blind Man indeed had a feeling of "Could it be that I can't do anything? Could it be that I, damn it, can't even die in the Mysterious Tower?"

Wen Xishu found it funny and didn't expose it.

What surprised him was that he could actually still see the chats of teammates from different games.

Clearly, other people in the party had already headed to the new version, yet he could chat with them in the old version.

Wen Xishu did not test it this time; he already believed in the Three Towers' ability to distort memories.

His attention shifted to the other two people.

One was Tam, already dead.

One was Tokugawa Dahe, already dead.

People who had already died... could not be resurrected; even the Three Towers could not reverse the most important rules.

"Regardless, dead is dead. Even if the difficulty of their version has been lowered to the third floor, if they don't handle it well, they will likely still die."

With this thought, Wen Xishu also found the remote control on Charles's body. He first deactivated his own electronic collar. Then he twisted off both hands of Charles's corpse.

The door to Charles's secret room on the top floor required Charles's fingerprints.

After doing all this, Wen Xishu pushed open the door. There were no guards around.

Wen Xishu walked swaggeringly toward Charles's room, and using Charles's fingerprints, he opened the door.

Charles lived in the presidential suite, and on the coffee table in the living room, there was a computer.

Whether it was out of plot necessity or Charles's confidence in the security here... he had not set any password.

The apocalypse had one benefit, which was that it isolated everyone's interactions; almost everyone could only communicate wirelessly.

Charles didn't need to worry about some outsider suddenly breaking in here; those wealthy tycoons with more power than him had all gone to two distant places.

So Wen Xishu didn't waste much effort and directly browsed the secrets of the Golden Building.

The reason the Golden Building was bought by Charles was mainly because Charles had received a document very early on—the Island Guest Proposal.

Wen Xishu didn't know what the two characters "Island Guest" represented, but fortunately, he had a consultant.

【Wen Xishu: Blind Man, as a war correspondent, do you know about Island Guests?】

【Blind Man: Why haven't I died yet? Am I alive just to answer questions for you?】

【Wen Xishu: Unfortunately, in this game, you can only die once you find the courage to face life again. But then again, once you really find it, you won't want to die anymore.】

【Zhang Hai: Hey, Big Boss, did you find some Easter egg? How do you know? Then if I want to die now, does that make me invincible?】

【Wen Xishu: Probably not. The game's observer system can surely judge whether you really want to die.】

Wen Xishu didn't care much about Zhang Hai changing his form of address; after all, if he still couldn't tell who he was, he could donate his eyes to Blind Man.

【Blind Man: Dog-shit setting, why should I have courage for this dog-shit life? What kind of dog-shit brain came up with this dog-shit setting!】

【Wen Xishu: Before you complain, can you tell me first, as a war correspondent, whether you know about Island Guests?】

【Blind Man: You are exploiting a dying man!】

【Wen Xishu: Yes, you're going to die anyway, can you give me the information before you die? What's the matter, you think you're amazing because you want to die?】

Perhaps because Wen Xishu was too honest, Blind Man actually felt it was quite refreshing to be retorted.

【Blind Man: You shameless thing, Island Guests refers to the fact that a portion of the world's wealthy will regularly go to a certain island to hold a "Three-No" meeting: no cover, no secrets, no self.】

【Blind Man: You can understand it as a Zeus party among the wealthy. Only by becoming an Island Guest can you become a truly influential person, or... a plaything for influential people.】

【Blind Man: Island Guests often obtain certain information. Special information.】

Wen Xishu understood.

【Wen Xishu: Alright, wish you a good death.】

He stopped paying attention to Blind Man and instead began to read this Island Guest Proposal.

"Respected Mr. Charles, in view of your excellent performance at the party before, we will tell you a piece of news: three months from now, a disaster that will sweep the whole world will descend."

"Of course, for us, it is not a disaster; all of this is to wipe out the inferior genes of this world."

"And you, congratulations, your genes are excellent enough to have been recognized by us; you will be granted the qualification to be able to reproduce offspring in this world."

"I believe that years from now, there will no longer be inferior genes and lower-class people in this world. All over the world, there will be the descendants of us elites."

"You can start working on your apocalypse safe house now, but we hope you can be a bit more imaginative, instead of cowering in a stronghold waiting for death."

After reading all this, Wen Xishu seemed to understand.

"It seems that Charles obtained news of the apocalypse in advance by becoming an Island Guest. The arrival of the apocalypse, in the game's background story... is an extreme atrocity by a group of extreme racists. In order to wipe out other people, they created a kind of potion."

"Having found this out, the next step should be to go to one ten-skull location after another, witness the faces of one ugly person after another, and finally, find the initiator of the virus..."

Wen Xishu also quickly found evidence to support his guess. In Charles's computer, there were contact methods for various Island Guests.

Charles had made different tags for everyone.

Charles himself was responsible for gambling. At the same time, there were those responsible for food, those responsible for solving carnal desires, as well as those responsible for various tourism and entertainment, and providing high-tech equipment to enjoy the pleasure of slaughtering zombies.

The strange and peculiar props that players bought with asset values came from the players' desires...

But after players died, these things would become the property of these Island Guests.

Apart from Charles, Wen Xishu also found twelve other Island Guests who provided various apocalypse experiences.

There were thirteen of them in total, known as the thirteen "Disciples."

Above the thirteen Disciples, there was a "True God."

The story reached this point, and it actually had a bit of the feel of an apocalypse version of Assassin's Creed.

The assassination list had already appeared. But Wen Xishu was not optimistic:

"Looking at it this way, the game's process is much longer than I expected. Although the map is limited to Wind City, clearing stronghold by stronghold... I'm afraid I won't be able to in the time that follows."

Wen Xishu could imagine what he had to do next: take over Charles's enterprise—the Zombie Arena.

Then slowly mix in to become a person as much of a bastard as Charles, and only then could he step by step gain the trust of other Island Guests, and thereby, possibly find the qualification to assassinate these Island Guests.

Game players would also experience various "joys" in the apocalypse along with the different assassination lists.

Including but not limited to bloody slaughter, promiscuity, and various enjoyments.

Simply put, after killing Charles, the dragon slayer must let himself become an evil dragon to be qualified to enter the dragon's lair.

And because of this, he could kill other evil dragons.

At this moment, Wen Xishu suddenly felt the intention behind John's game design.

Actually, the apocalypse that descended in the form of "Apocalypse" was far from as unfun as Wen Xishu had said to John.

In this game, players needed to constantly make evil decisions, and players also slowly began to become evil, and even to clear the level, they became one of the evils.

This perhaps also indicated that John actually agreed with the world's operating rules. One must first obtain money to be able to defeat the group of people who possess money.

Perhaps John would be able to figure it out himself before long, but the arrival of the apocalypse would not give him time.

"Less than seven days... to do so many things, this is really not easy."

"Currently, it seems that if I want to achieve a level-six completion, then I still have to continue pushing the task forward."

"If I were just surviving... after killing Charles, no, actually, after defeating Duan Donghuo, I was already safe."

"Of course, it doesn't exclude the possibility that the game has other anti-AFK mechanisms."

Wen Xishu looked at the computer, thinking about where to go, thinking about how to kill all the Island Guests in the shortest time, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck his mind.

"How did I forget about it."

Wen Xishu remembered, didn't he still have an Easter egg? In the CG, he had seen the Easter egg that John gave to Catherine.

Wen Xishu did not hesitate and prepared to head to the place where the Easter egg was located.

Wen Xishu was no stranger to that place: an office building near Wind City University. It was also the place where John and Catherine and the other six people had worked together.

"Can't hide my strength and waste time anymore."

Although only three days had passed in the Mysterious Tower, and it was still early before the seven-day mark, Wen Xishu still felt that time was very pressing.

His way of leaving the Golden Building was extremely simple and crude.

The sixty-first to seventieth floors of the Golden Building were indestructible, but this design was actually very stupid.

Because once any floor below was destroyed, the building above would also be hard to spare.

The elevator on the seventieth floor could only reach the sixty-first floor, so Wen Xishu took the elevator to the sixty-first floor.

On the way, Wen Xishu also encountered many people; everyone was shocked at why there was no collar on his neck anymore.

But thinking of the boss's excessive fondness for Number 245, they seemed to feel that everything was reasonable.

Because Wen Xishu had been too cooperative earlier, everyone felt that Number 245 and the boss were the same kind of person.

They chatted happily and would not have any conflict.

And because of this, Wen Xishu didn't encounter any obstacles all the way. After arriving at the sixty-first floor, Wen Xishu began to head to the sixtieth floor.

There were not many zombies on the sixtieth floor because many had been cleared.

And the exterior of the sixtieth floor was a glass wall. Wen Xishu didn't have time to kill from the sixtieth floor to the first floor...

This was a ten-skull building, hiding too many zombies; Wen Xishu didn't think he could kill them all.

His approach was a limit kick to shatter the glass, and then jump directly from the sixtieth floor, from a height of about two hundred meters!

With the powerful leg strength of the limit kick and the attribute panel of a max-level human, Wen Xishu fell directly to the ground like a cannonball.

He just felt his brain a bit dizzy, but his legs had no feeling, and soon he had no discomfort at all.

"With these attributes, if I hadn't met Scorpio in the Desire Tower, I would simply be a great demon king."

Wen Xishu felt it was a pity; at the very least, he should have run over to give that teacher who stole John's work two slaps.

If there was any villain in this story, it would probably be this teacher.

Next, Wen Xishu would no longer hide anything; this game was almost becoming an out-of-print game.

He was equivalent to being in a special Mysterious Tower space, completing a challenge that no longer existed on the fifteenth floor.

In order to complete the task, Wen Xishu had no intention of holding back at all.

He ran wildly all the way, with zombies chasing behind. Occasionally, there were witch-level mutant species, and Wen Xishu would directly use the limit kick plus killer soccer combo skill.

The killer soccer with the golden trajectory drew an arc in the air, directly blowing up the witch's head.

As for other ordinary zombies, Wen Xishu didn't even bother to deal with them, directly relying on speed to widen the gap.

This was a wild run across Wind City, which also led to Wen Xishu attracting almost one-third of the wandering zombies in Wind City.

Behind Wen Xishu was a dark, vast tide of corpses.

But as Wen Xishu arrived at that old office building, the zombies suddenly disappeared instantly.

Only then did Wen Xishu discover...

It turned out that the campus at the beginning was the old campus of Wind City University, and the location of the game's biggest Easter egg was in this office building not far from Wind City University.

This was the place where countless college students had once cherished their dreams.

Wen Xishu discovered that there were also many zombies here, and even the office building itself was marked with two skulls.

But once he walked in, the zombies began to disappear continuously. Everything seemed like just a phantom.

Or rather, it was more like a device to protect the people inside the building.

When Wen Xishu arrived at the ninth floor, he knocked on the door gently.

No one responded. After a while, Wen Xishu knocked on the door again.

This time, perhaps the person in the room finally confirmed that this was not auditory hallucination or illusion, and she opened the door.

The boundary point between illusion and reality was found by Wen Xishu at this moment.

"You... who are you?" The woman was very surprised.

This door hadn't been knocked on for a very, very long time, and she had waited here for a very, very long time, but she had long known that the person she wanted to wait for would not knock on the door.

Wen Xishu of course knew the woman, although the woman had never seen him.

It was just that what surprised Wen Xishu quite a bit was...

Was Catherine an NPC? Was she not a real person? Above Catherine's head, an exclamation mark actually appeared.

"Catherine, I am John's friend, John Leon."

Hearing John's name again gave Catherine's melancholic eyes a little bit of vitality.

"So, besides John, there is someone else who can find this place. Come in quickly."

【Hidden Task: Catherine's Decision.】

Because he was still in the original version of the game, Wen Xishu knew very well that once this task appeared, players could not see any introduction.

But this time, unlike all of Wen Xishu's previous tasks, players did not need to bear the price of the choice.

Because there was only one task option.

Wen Xishu suddenly had a bad premonition. He walked into the door, and it was also at this moment that Wen Xishu clearly felt... his connection with the outside world was completely severed.

And the scene inside the room made Wen Xishu marvel.

"These... these doors are..."

There were many glowing doors in the room, giving Wen Xishu a feeling of having arrived at the place where the Guide was located.

Catherine smiled. She hadn't smiled for a long time, to the point that her smile was a bit stiff.

"These are the entrances to every game world he liked."

Wen Xishu was stunned.

Catherine began to introduce these doors one by one. At this time, her eyes had spirit again.

The worlds behind these doors were the game worlds. There was the world of Monopoly, the world of Tank Battle, the world of Contra, there was Eating Heaven, Hot-Blooded High School, there was Lode Runner, there was Kirby, there was Sonic, and there was Bomberman...

Behind every door, there was a fantastic journey. The doors would be updated from time to time; some new doors would appear, and some old doors would disappear. But occasionally, those old doors would also return.

This was the gift John left for Catherine, a peculiar space, a place where the apocalypse could not interfere as long as she didn't want to leave.

At the same time, John's everything was here; the happiest thing he could think of was traveling through various game worlds.

He gave the gift he thought was most interesting, his inner expectations, to Catherine.

Catherine said:

"I have played all the games many times. Those games that require jumping and running, I can clear them now with my eyes closed."

"Some of the games here are very serious, and some are very funny, but they are all very fun, the kind of simplest and purest fun."

Catherine suddenly looked at Wen Xishu:

"But John... is he already gone? I've waited for him for a long time."

Wen Xishu actually understood that both he and Catherine knew the answer to this question.

John was probably already dead.

Because his deal with Scorpio had already been reached, and everything was as Scorpio had said: a deal that had already been reached could not be changed.

And the price of changing the form of the apocalypse was not something an ordinary person could bear.

Wen Xishu didn't know how to answer Catherine, because he wasn't sure if Catherine was an NPC.

Catherine asked Wen Xishu a question suddenly at this time:

"Are you... from the apocalypse?"

This question was like a password. At this instant, Wen Xishu had a feeling of his soul being struck by something.

He remembered that not long ago, John asked him who he was, and he said to John, "I am from the apocalypse, a player in your game."

At this moment, Catherine's question was clearly testing something.

Wen Xishu nodded:

"I am from the apocalypse... a player in John's game."

Catherine revealed a joyful smile, like a happy little girl:

"Ah, I can finally open that box. You wait, I'll find it for you."

Catherine quickly found an iron box behind a door leading to the Bomberman world in the room.

She opened the box:

"John once told me that I must wait until someone claiming to be from the apocalypse arrives before I can open this box."

She seemed to be looking forward to something, as if opening the box would make John appear.

But after opening the box, Catherine was a bit disappointed. She really expected some kind of magical development, just like when the apocalypse descended, she recalled John's words and came to this room.

A letter was hidden in the box.

There was no envelope, just a lonely piece of white paper lying there, the words on the title appearing extremely conspicuous—To Catherine.

Wen Xishu also came to Catherine's side at this time, and he picked up the letter paper.

"Aren't you going to read it?"

"I'm a bit afraid... can you read it out for me?" Catherine suddenly lost the courage to read.

She had always known the truth in her heart, but she always believed in miracles.

Believed that this man who could turn the apocalypse into a game would have the ability to perform magic tricks.

But now, the suspense was about to be solved, and she suddenly didn't have the courage to read it.

Wen Xishu nodded and read this letter.

To Catherine.

My dear Catherine, I am very sorry, the disaster we are about to face, this beautiful world full of games, is about to face destruction.

I don't know how to tell you about this apocalypse that will inevitably come.

I also don't know if you will hate me. Because when the apocalypse is presented in the form of a game, especially... when it is presented as the game we created together, you will definitely think that it was I who made a deal with the devil and slaughtered everyone in Wind City, right?

But it is not like that.

Perhaps it is hard for you to believe, but the world has been destroyed, and humanity is about to head to another region.

I really want to save everyone, I really want to make my game less cruel, and I also really want to let the millions of people in Wind City survive.

But I can't do it.

I can only change the form, I cannot change fate. This is what that god said to me.

Those who become zombies must be presented in the way of zombies; otherwise, they will only become more twisted monsters.

No matter how I modify it, I cannot modify it into the way I ideally want. The number of people who die, or rather the number of people who become zombies, is not decided by me.

I am not a savior... I can only pray for a savior to appear.

In this deal with the god, my few permissions are to protect you.

When I finally reconciled with my past self, I realized how paranoid I used to be. I also realized the purity of when you stood up and expressed your desire to be with me during the lowest point of my life.

Relatives cannot be chosen, while a lover is the only relative one can choose for oneself.

My father once abandoned me and my mother, I am afraid of the breaking of all life relationships, I should cherish you more as you walk towards me.

So I am often terrified, how should I protect you? After the final apocalypse arrives, what should I do to let you live safely?

I can only find that god who gave me the ability to change the apocalypse environment again, and sacrifice everything of mine to him, in exchange for greater power.

I also finally know what I can leave for you in my barren life.

Catherine, I will pay with my life in exchange for your eternal happiness and safety, and let the apocalypse never be able to erode you.

But if one day, you are willing to walk out of that door... I will also absolutely respect you.

This is my everything, please forgive me for not being able to accompany you.

Loving you, John Leon.

The content of the letter was not much, just telling about John's hidden bitterness.

When the apocalypse descended, the game John made actually had parameter limits. For example, how many people would die in Wind City.

Wen Xishu could imagine that the kind-hearted John must have thought of countless plans to reduce the number of people who died...

But he failed in the end.

Wen Xishu now felt that perhaps letting John reconcile with his past self was actually a kind of cruelty.

If he hated this world, then no matter how many people died in this game he made, he wouldn't feel tormented.

But after being awakened by his own words, John must have modified the upcoming apocalypse over and over again, thinking about letting as many people survive as possible.

He might have really done it; the game was demoted from the fifteenth floor of the Mysterious Tower to the third floor, but the people in Wind City would still die as many as they were supposed to die.

After failing no matter how he tried, John could only give up the dream of being a savior... and instead pin his hopes on the appearance of a new savior.

At the same time, his focus also shifted from saving the world to saving Catherine alone.

After Wen Xishu told Catherine his understanding of John, Catherine's eyes were already red.

"His greatest pain is probably that no matter how he changes the game, he cannot change the fate of the Wind City people who are destined to die."

"And... he is afraid of being misunderstood by you. Afraid that you will think the apocalypse was brought by him."

Catherine shook her head, smiling through tears:

"How could I misunderstand him? A person like him is someone who would force himself to beg a teacher to complete 'Apocalypse' together for the sake of people with disabled legs."

"For the sake of players being able to play the game, he could not care about the teacher's deception of him at the beginning, only hoping to work overtime with everyone in the studio to present 'Apocalypse' in advance to that player who was about to pass away."

"After the apocalypse descended, we were all shocked at the time; we didn't expect that the content in the game would become real reality..."

"Actually, at that time, there were people in the team who were surprised: why is this disaster so similar to our game?"

"They did indeed suspect John, and some people cursed John, but I would never suspect him. My John could not possibly do such a thing."

Wen Xishu didn't know what to say, but if the apocalypse hadn't descended, perhaps in the future, with a partner like Catherine, John would have been a winner in life in everyone's eyes, right?

When everyone questioned John, thinking John was the initiator of the disaster, and even John himself worried about bearing such a misunderstanding...

Catherine actually never suspected John from beginning to end.

And John also responded to Catherine's trust.

When he discovered that he was not a savior and that no matter how the game was modified, it could not change the fate of millions of people dying... he discarded the opportunity that might have allowed him to survive and exchanged it for other power.

This power was the room Catherine was in at this time.

"I never dared to open this box. I felt that as long as I didn't open it, there was still hope inside."

"But now... the hope is gone, my John is already dead. I... I don't want to stay here anymore."

When Catherine said these words, Wen Xishu suddenly understood.

The key to this task was for him to make the decision for Catherine.

The reason Catherine was an NPC was because Catherine was in this special game world.

If Catherine walked out of this room... she would become a real person.

And whether to continue letting Catherine wait alone, or to let her return to the real world of the apocalypse...

Would be decided by Wen Xishu, this "player."

After Wen Xishu was silent for a while, he made a decision. He was never indecisive; he didn't think for too long about this decision that could affect Catherine's life:

"Catherine, John has not left you."

Catherine turned her head, looking at Wen Xishu in confusion.

Wen Xishu said:

"I know, you feel that John is already dead, that staying here is meaningless, that you are lonely here, no matter how interesting those games are..."

"But Catherine, in my eyes, you are already a part of the game. I don't want to hide it from you; you, as presented in my eyes, are like the NPCs in those games; I can even see the exclamation mark on your head."

"As a game creator, you should know very well what this means."

"I don't think John is really dead; his will has turned into every aspect, and in this city of Wind City, it is reflected everywhere."

"The apocalypse is an extremely cruel game; in this game, you cannot see any justice, kindness, or warmth."

"But as a player... I found the most incongruous Easter egg in the entire game."

Catherine trembled slightly:

"You mean... me?"

Wen Xishu nodded:

"Yes. You. In this absolutely dark game, you are the only warmth in the game, or rather, he stuffed all the beauty belonging to fairy tales into this room. If I were you... I hope you don't leave this room."

"Because John... really left his best everything to you. He became 'Apocalypse' itself, and the greatest romance belonging to a game creator that I can think of... is to let the person he loves most appear in his game."

"I am also not trying to moral-bind you, to make you lose your freedom and be trapped here forever. This decision is ultimately made by you. If you want to leave here, I will do my best to escort you to a safe place; I also know which places in Wind City hide supplies."

"But I want to say... there is no John outside of 'Apocalypse.' In John's life, if there were no Catherine, it would definitely be a regret."

"He is not dead; he just changed a way to accompany you. In this room, there is the greatest romance he had as a game lover... he shared all the games he loved with you."

"At the end of his life, he must have racked his brains to think about what he could bring you. And no matter what you longed to have, what he could give you must be the best gift he thought."

"Every door here leads to an interesting world. And every space in this world is John himself."

"I am very grateful that you never questioned John. But please also believe... he never thought about leaving you."

Catherine suddenly covered her face and cried. The crying was very faint at first, but gradually, she began to be unable to suppress her longing for John and wailed loudly.

Wen Xishu also saw the spiritual barrage; every barrage was love and longing for John.

All of this, from a very, very young age when John drew a Monopoly board on a white paper, had already been destined.

Although Wen Xishu didn't hear Catherine's answer, he knew that at this moment, Catherine already had a decision in her heart.

He became the game, and she became a character in his game.

The hidden task, Catherine's Decision, was also completed at this moment.

And with the completion of this task, Wen Xishu's "Apocalypse" journey also had new changes.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 124 =====