Chapter 226: The Curtain Falls on the Ark

When the journey to the Tower of Desire ended and Wen Xishu returned to the Ark once more, the surrounding scene had not actually changed much.

Yet some who had died were now alive—such as the Ark’s General, Lei Nuo. This was quite logical, as changing certain things at the source had caused the future to shift.

Thus, Lei Nuo had not died in the small world of Sirius.

The content of the Tower of Deception challenge had now shifted from awakening Sirius to awakening the masses of the Ark. This even included Antoine, Nikolai, and Lei Nuo, the original ability users.

But it did not include Feng Nuoyiman.

In other words, the Captain’s weakness path in the future had become even more powerful, but it was no longer targeted at Sirius alone; it was targeted at everyone.

It was just that Wen Xishu had already completed all the challenges.

Wen Xishu was not unfamiliar with this scene at all.

If the Tower of Desire changed the source, then the Tower of Deception would change accordingly; it was possible the difficulty of the levels would be downgraded, or perhaps, because there were still too many unexplored factors, it would not be downgraded but merely changed.

Wen Xishu’s current experience was not much different from his previous experience in the Tower of Deception; he needed to find lost concepts in worlds with strange rules, only now, avoiding the beasts of the Sea of Sin had become avoiding the mental sweeps of the Captain and Feng Nuoyiman.

But because Sirius was gone, these worlds of strange rules were purely mental worlds. For Wen Xishu, who possessed a certain degree of mental resistance and was equipped with Nightmare Absolution and Personality Party, the difficulty was far lower than the previous version of the Tower of Deception.

Furthermore, although the patterns on the blue sun had, from a historical perspective, effectively never appeared... Wen Xishu still remembered them.

And Yin Junchi’s sacrifice had brought a reward; that pattern on the blue sun indeed had a miraculous effect, seemingly highly effective at restraining the Captain’s weakness path.

Therefore, Wen Xishu had already retrieved the most important concept and knew how to return this concept to everyone’s minds.

When Wen Xishu opened his eyes, he immediately grasped the results after the simulation.

"The storyline of the Tower of Desire has been changed. The current Tower of Deception mission has become to awaken everyone. Just like before, as the journey to the Tower of Desire ends, the journey to the Tower of Deception is effectively completed as well."

"But I have now returned to the correct timeline; compared to the Tower of Desire, this is a future version of the Tower of Desire..."

"Then, is Horn here?"

"Did I awaken Horn again?"

Wen Xishu very much wanted to try to contact Horn, but he did not possess such an ability. As more and more people awakened, the Ark soon began to bustle with life.

The Captain, who attempted to enslave everyone and turn them all into "nutrients," and the Ark’s number one expert, Feng Nuoyiman, clearly had even more evil plans. After Sirius was rescued, they seemed to have found some alternative method.

But now, everything had been ruined by Wen Xishu again.

Wen Xishu suddenly understood why Pisces’s favorability had been deducted even more...

"So that’s how it is. I understand. I didn’t expect there to be such a layer of causality."

"I know very well that Horn’s obsession is to save the Ark and liberate the Ark. He can risk his life for this."

"In the Tower of Desire, although I abducted Sirius, if I had chosen to take Horn with me, then Horn would not have become the later Slaughter-Horn."

"Naturally, Horn’s subsequent fate would not have existed. Then the Captain, Feng Nuoyiman, and even those gods like Pisces, although they lost Sirius, would have had no obstacles to their subsequent corrective plans."

"But because I used the save-loading ability left to me by Scorpio..."

"Horn’s fate had a continuation. He changed certain things, which also led to Scorpio’s favorability toward me increasing more, and Pisces’s favorability toward me decreasing more."

"How truly interesting."

"Horn must still be on this Ark. This awakening must be of great help to Horn."

Wen Xishu really wanted to stay for a while longer; that way, he could use the time-delay nature of the Tower of Deception to know what Horn had done.

Horn’s experiences were indeed very rich.

As a non-Longxia person, someone whose legs could not move, Horn had also entered the time turbulence, but Horn was different from Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu’s main mission was to save Sirius.

And Horn’s mission was to explore the world outside the Ark and find a means to check and balance the Captain and the others.

The Free State’s doomsday avoidance plan was the Ark Project, while Longxia’s doomsday avoidance plan was the Long Yin Heaven-Chosen Project and the underground fortresses.

When everyone chose to abandon the fortresses and head to Wind City for refuge—

Even though Horn also entered Wind City, and even though Horn also knew that staying in Wind City would be safer... he still chose to leave Wind City.

It was simple: Wind City was a safe haven, and the ordinary people stationed there felt that they were protected by monsters with red auras.

But those monsters might have had the same thought. This place was already a refuge, already changed into a correct answer by some powerful existence.

All the creatures here, although there were many powerful ones, seemed to have personalities inclined toward guarding rather than expanding.

So Horn left Wind City and headed to an extremely dangerous place.

But Wen Xishu did not know all of this; even in the future timeline, the Wen Xishu of Wind City did not know all of this.

As the countdown to his return appeared...

Wen Xishu suddenly realized that this did not seem to be a journey that belonged to him.

At least this time, the Ark’s rule would not be truly overthrown. Perhaps in the future, at a higher level, he would come to the Ark again.

Or rather, on the more distant battlefield of the Three Towers War, he would see the forces of the Ark.

But Wen Xishu knew very well that since time did not allow him to do more, it meant he had already reached his limit.

Let everything be left to fate.

Just as Wen Xishu was about to leave, everyone within the Ark regained their will. Gradually, the Ark was no longer lifeless.

This Ark would also usher in a new resistance and uprising.

Wen Xishu smiled:

"Horn, I wish you all the best. May we meet again in the future."

The familiar, crisscrossing white lines began to disintegrate and weave the scene.

In a trance, Wen Xishu seemed to see a golden-haired, elegant figure in the disintegrating scene.

But that was only for an instant.

Subsequently, the familiar door and clock appeared in Wen Xishu’s line of sight.

The Place of Reception.

Before Wen Xishu opened his eyes, he heard the new version of the exaggerated laughter, but at the end of the laughter was a reprimand—

"Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang~ You really don’t listen to advice at all," the black deceptive head of the Receptionist said.

Wen Xishu raised an eyebrow and habitually began to check his panel. (Note 1)

The harvest was bountiful. Due to the cross-level challenges brought by the "three highs," the slots in Wen Xishu’s item inventory and sequence list had both increased.

Wen Xishu was no longer a newbie. Regarding his access permissions, except for certain specific items and facilities that would be transferred to him by the Receptionist, Wen Xishu could normally view other items directly.

This time, in addition to the comprehensive improvement of his level and panel, Wen Xishu also harvested a very interesting rune.

The Receptionist said:

"You seem to have a way to bypass certain mechanisms to challenge levels that don’t currently belong to you. This is very good; the Tower of Deception will grant you things to overcome the Tower of Deception."

"This is the fun of exploring the Tower of Deception."

"But you should still remember what I said: don’t jump too fast. Why not try to move forward in small steps? Taking steps that are too large carries risks."

Wen Xishu nodded:

"I’ve remembered it. Don’t worry, I also realized through this journey that some levels are indeed still too early for me."

The red slaughter-head spoke: "That is indeed the case. Although you have changed certain futures once again, if your own strength is very powerful... then you should understand that you could do more."

Wen Xishu did not deny it. If his own strength were a bit stronger—

Then perhaps the way to open many situations would be much easier. Wen Xishu thought for a moment; he had no choice regarding the results brought by the Crazy Die.

He couldn't just not use it, could he? Not using it seemed like too much of a waste.

But he had indeed learned his lesson this time.

The black deceptive head also cut back to the main topic:

"You encountered a powerful existence again. Although the harvest wasn't as good as that time at the mental hospital, you can't say he was stingy with what he gave you... No, actually, he was very generous."

Wen Xishu had already checked his panel and indeed felt the generosity.

Rare Unique Rune: Earthly Advantage Trapped Beast.

Although it was a rare unique rune, it could be applied to any sequence. It was best used on a sequence that could function in any tower system, such as the Three Towers sequence.

As for the effect, it was also simple and crude.

Rune Introduction: Sirius likes to create strange and bizarre worlds. In various worlds, he always appears to be like a fish in water because he seems to be able to adapt to all strange worlds. Now, you also have this ability.

Rune Effect: When your physical state is below the average line, the lower your state, the greater the "Geographical Advantage" rule bonus you receive.

This description was somewhat vague, but Wen Xishu seemed to understand.

Heavenly timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony. If one possesses all three, one can be invincible in a hundred battles.

And this thing bestowed by Sirius was a constant granting of geographical advantage to himself.

When facing a powerful enemy, causing oneself to be in an injured state—then one would gain a geographical advantage.

"According to the description, what I obtained is a rule bonus... which is to say, when facing a strong enemy, the more severely I am injured, the more rules favorable to me will be generated in the surroundings."

As for what the specific rule effect of the geographical advantage actually was, Wen Xishu did not know.

But he could feel the importance of this rune.

This was a passive, constantly active rune. Combined with Sirius’s Three Towers sequence, Realm-Arrival Creation, Sirius was actually very powerful in combat.

But now, Sirius had given a very important component to him.

Wen Xishu had to sigh; although these constellations, gods, and such were very dangerous, they were all very generous.

Just like Scorpio.

"If... I had chosen Pisces at the Reverse Seven Apartment, I wonder what I would have obtained?"

In the Three Towers War, the twelve constellations each operated in their own camps. With intersecting interests, some constellations were hostile to each other, while others secretly formed alliances.

Wen Xishu knew very well that there was no perfect solution.

He did not dwell on it:

"There are other rewards this time, right?"

"Bang bang bang bang~ Of course. Your overall evaluation is a Level 6 completion. In fact, a Level 7 completion was possible this time, but your strength was insufficient to trigger deeper-level tasks."

"However, even so, it is remarkable that you were able to leap across levels to achieve this degree of completion and save an extremely important character."

"You have obtained technology and facilities."

Wen Xishu said:

"Level 6?"

He thought for a moment and could roughly understand.

He had liberated Sirius, but he had not truly liberated the Ark in a real sense; his abilities were limited... waking everyone up might have resulted in Horn being able to threaten the Captain again.

This was also the future of the Ark, no longer a dark ending enslaved by the Captain.

In other words, he had opened up the situation.

But then again, if he had been honest and climbed up step by step, perhaps by the time he reached the sixtieth floor... his foundation would have been enough to fight the Captain and Feng Nuoyiman.

At that time, perhaps it would not just be opening up the situation, but directly achieving a perfect ending.

Admittedly, one can skip levels by utilizing destiny and strategy. But in fact, by playing it steady and having stronger strength, there will always be more ways to clear the level.

Wen Xishu thought of one point: in the rest area of the Three Towers, Jiang Xue said the old principal had broken through the ninety-seventh floor—perhaps the old principal could have done it long ago, but what he pursued was playing it steady, rather than aggressive adventurism.

The Three Towers Guide said:

"The Bunker will give birth to a new level to house the facility you obtained—the Fishery. And everyone in the Bunker will gain the ability 'Iron Lungs'."

"Everyone in the Bunker will be able to gain the ability to hold their breath underwater for a long time. When you return to the Bunker, they will sing your praises."

"You must know, many Bunker residents have never seen the sea in their lives~ The Fishery can be considered a simulated ocean. It will periodically refresh various fish resources inside based on the Bunker residents' exploration progress of the Three Towers."

Wen Xishu was shocked:

"You mean the Bunker will go from sixteen levels to seventeen?"

The Guide laughed:

"Bang bang bang bang~ That is correct. The Bunker will constantly acquire various things, and when certain things can no longer fit, it will create new levels."

"Of course, you can choose whether it is the seventeenth level, the first level, or some other level."

Wen Xishu did not think much:

"Arrange it for the bottom level. Never having seen the sea is a great regret in life."

The Guide shrugged, its three heads shaking together.

As the Guide made the arrangements and as Wen Xishu's decision fell into place—

The Bunker began a massive transformation.

At this moment, the elevator at the bottom level suddenly had an area it could descend to. And very soon, the news that there was a sea in the Bunker would reach everyone's ears.

Wen Xishu thought that Sirius and the others knew about the Three Towers; Sirius's ability was to create a certain small world.

He smiled; now, Sirius had gifted him a sea... a sea without the aura of scarlet, rich in resources.

Wen Xishu was suddenly very expectant of Hercules, Qilin, and Lyra.

Unlike the twelve constellations, these five relatively weaker constellations looked more like... five special gifted individuals.

"Alright, everything has been settled, you should return to your own world."

Wen Xishu thought about it; that was indeed true. He still had to hurry back to check, lest Tang Rui play those "visitors" from the Weird Tower Academy to pieces.

(Note 1: Considering some readers feel that updating panel level changes is suspected of padding the word count, future finale chapters will have panel data updated in the "Work Related" section. It is free and will be updated with every finale chapter. After finishing this chapter, everyone can click on the table of contents and scroll to the very front to see the panel chapter.)

(End of chapter)