Chapter 266: How to Leave the World of the Dead

Wen Xishu felt Mr. Jin was very contradictory, yet he also felt... that he and Mr. Jin were actually somewhat similar.

When Mr. Jin displayed a willingness to die heroically, sacrificing something for the sake of the Bunker, he suspected Mr. Jin had an ulterior motive.

After truly discovering that Mr. Jin did indeed harbor hidden intentions and part of the conspiracy was revealed... he inexplicably felt a sense of identification with this man.

Longxia was not the motherland of Wen Xishu’s past life, but if there truly were a concept of parallel worlds corresponding to one another, then Longxia and his own country likely corresponded.

Because of this, Wen Xishu carried more or less a bit of partiality toward this country.

Mr. Jin’s partiality was far more obvious than his, yet under his operation, the Bunker could be said to have very harmonious relations among all ethnic groups. The people of Longxia were not held in higher regard.

Mr. Jin longed for those around him to be Longxia people, and he kept saying, "Those not of my race must have a different heart"...

Deep down, he must have also been longing for the Long Yin project to succeed.

But around him, only Luo Feng was a pure-blooded Longxia person.

He could also become friends with someone like Albert, and he could allow a child like Nisen to not be discriminated against.

At the time when the Bunker should have been uniting all of humanity, he held no prejudices and united everyone he could.

Wen Xishu could imagine that in the early days of the apocalypse, when the doomsday response plans of various countries had many problems, for one person to lead people from various countries to a Bunker in an unknown location, while also having to face the Three Towers that were enough to collapse faith and scientific views, how one would have to rebuild human civilization step by step.

The humans of that time must have been terrified, just like primitive people suddenly thrown into a city full of steel and concrete.

This process was incomparably arduous, yet Mr. Jin accomplished it all.

If after this, he could stop dwelling on the Long Yin project, perhaps he would be the first person in this world to save humanity.

But as it happened, after he had built everything up... he was still thinking about the Long Yin project of Longxia.

It was like a person who, after finding an ideal partner, still misses that first love who was incompatible in every way and had hurt them deeply.

Of course, whether it was purely patriotic sentiment or if there were unavoidable reasons, Wen Xishu truly did not know.

Wen Xishu tried to put himself in Mr. Jin’s shoes and found that if he were Mr. Jin... he would most likely choose the Bunker as the new starting point for human civilization and abandon Longxia.

This was not because he lacked patriotism, but precisely because there was something that transcended patriotism.

Because a wrong choice would lead to the destruction of the entire civilization.

Wen Xishu, in the end, did not understand Mr. Jin well enough, and many things could not be concluded too early.

His interrogation had also not yet ended.

The third memory arrived.

……

……

It was a familiar scene again.

Liu Zhizai was staying in Mr. Jin’s "convalescence room," sitting quietly.

Unlike before, although Liu Zhizai’s position had not changed, Mr. Jin was unexpectedly gone.

Wen Xishu could feel Liu Zhizai’s fear through the "Hundred Feelings" technique.

However, he did not yet know where the fear came from.

Before long, footsteps came from the facility.

"Zhizai, come here."

It was Mr. Jin’s voice; he had appeared in the room at some point.

Liu Zhizai stood up and approached Mr. Jin with a respectful demeanor.

Mr. Jin patted his shoulder and said:

"I gave up one of your things; the Miyamoto family is being supported by you, right?"

Liu Zhizai nodded:

"I have nothing of my own; everything I have is yours. You may decide as you please."

Mr. Jin smiled:

"You are still too reserved, Zhizai. Here with me, there is no need to be so repressed."

"Yes!" Liu Zhizai bowed.

Mr. Jin continued:

"Aren't you curious which item it is?"

Liu Zhizai said:

"The blade."

"Yes, your blade. That blade, you went to great lengths to obtain it back then. Now, I want the kid from the Miyamoto family to use this blade to challenge Wen Xishu," Mr. Jin said.

Liu Zhizai understood:

"No wonder... you turned into my appearance."

Mr. Jin laughed:

"Sorry, Zhizai. Perhaps one day in the future, you will also turn into my appearance."

"Becoming a part of me—perhaps in this way, you won't be so reserved in front of me."

Liu Zhizai became increasingly terrified:

"I am just confused... you once said that those not of my race must have a different heart. So, are you still not trusting me? You could have completely entrusted this matter to me!"

"I understand that you don't think much of the Miyamoto family's child; his aptitude, in the end, does not catch your eye."

"But you turned into my appearance and also let the Miyamoto family's child... challenge Wen Xishu. This will offend Albert, won't it?"

"Not to mention that Wen Xishu’s current achievements are not low. After the Great Devouring ends, he will only be stronger."

Mr. Jin nodded:

"I need to confirm some things. Turning into your appearance was just because I needed to confirm it personally—for example, if the Miyamoto family's child becomes a sacrifice, whether it is too much of a pity."

"Zhizai, I will compensate you in the future."

Liu Zhizai relaxed slightly. First, he had been summoned to this room and forbidden from leaving, and then he saw his master turn into his own appearance...

He was very afraid that he would be replaced.

Liu Zhizai was very afraid of Mr. Jin. Afraid to the depths of his soul. Because Mr. Jin’s phrase "those not of my race must have a different heart" was actually never said to others. It was only something he often muttered to Liu Zhizai.

He vaguely felt that everyone had their own position.

William, Ma Xiu, and Evelyn—the three of them were veterans, but they were different from him; their positions were completely different from his.

As for Luo Feng... he was the old subordinate Mr. Jin favored the most.

And what about himself?

Liu Zhizai was grateful for Mr. Jin’s rescue, and he also knew through climbing the Slaughter Tower what kind of chaotic mess his former hometown, Hujiang, had become outside the Bunker.

So Liu Zhizai was very grateful that Mr. Jin could let him reach his current position.

But deep down, he was so afraid of this mysterious man.

This memory ended here.

In these three memories, there was Mr. Jin’s life-saving rescue, as well as the fear in Liu Zhizai’s heart.

For Wen Xishu, the third memory was even more shocking than the previous two.

"Miyamoto Yoshiki challenged me, and it was actually because of Mr. Jin?"

Wen Xishu was indeed shocked.

He knew Mr. Jin could turn into other people, but he had not expected that Miyamoto Yoshiki’s challenge to him was actually Mr. Jin’s arrangement.

He had turned into Liu Zhizai and observed Miyamoto Yoshiki, determining that Miyamoto Yoshiki’s aptitude was the kind of genius in the eyes of ordinary people, but if one set aside the family’s support, it was not too rare.

Therefore, Miyamoto Yoshiki could be sacrificed.

But this was not the key point.

The key point was, at that time, had Mr. Jin already started testing him?

Once one connected the "Inverted Dice" with Mr. Jin and the various ties to the Wen family...

Wen Xishu was certain that perhaps Mr. Jin had set his sights on him shortly after he transmigrated, or even earlier.

But before, it was all observation.

After all, even earlier, the protagonist of the Bunker was named Wen Zhaohua.

But as he kept climbing the tower and changing his fate... Mr. Jin gradually changed from observing and paying attention to testing.

Wen Xishu actually felt it was all too coincidental.

"The matter of sending the blade... it just happened to land exactly on the node where I had no Tower Power. What was he confirming?"

One moment he had exhausted his Tower Power in the Great Devouring, and the next moment someone had immediately replenished it.

Looking at it this way, Wen Xishu felt that this was Liu Zhizai—or rather, Mr. Jin—helping him.

So at the time, he didn't even mind his hatred for Liu Zhizai. He also didn't deliberately make things difficult for the Miyamoto family.

Now he knew that there was an even more complex "peering" involved.

Liu Zhizai was on the verge of death. In the process of Wen Xishu’s contemplation after prying into the memory, he seemed to have recovered a bit of his sanity.

He seemed to have sensed that Wen Xishu appeared to have some kind of method to detect some of his information.

This also made Liu Zhizai feel fear.

"I absolutely must not hold him back; it absolutely must not be me who delays Mr. Jin’s plans!"

Although Liu Zhizai could not harm Wen Xishu and could not escape from Wen Xishu’s hands, as a spiritual entity, he still had a final trump card.

The already ruined spiritual entity of Liu Zhizai suddenly began to become illusory.

Wen Xishu vaguely felt that the Qi began to intensify, reaching a feeling as if a wind were blowing.

"Self-destruction!"

Spiritual entities in the Upper Spirit District could not attack each other, and upon arriving in the Upper Spirit District, as long as one was willing to earn merit, one could always satisfy quite a few desires.

There is no high pressure here, and for some spirits—they can feel exactly what it means to be "worse off dead than alive" here.

Some spirits indeed feel that the world after death is better than the world before death.

Moreover, for a spirit to self-destruct, it requires enduring immense pain; it is, in the true sense of the word, erasing oneself from the world.

[Spirits in the Lower Spirit Zone cannot even self-mutilate; they must endure enough pain before they can return to the Upper Spirit Zone, though once they return to the Upper Spirit Zone, they often do not choose to self-mutilate. Spirits in the Upper Spirit Zone can indeed self-mutilate, but such situations are truly rare.]

Text prompts appeared appropriately before his eyes.

Wen Xishu wanted to stop Liu Zhizai, but it was already too late.

Wen Xishu had not expected that the fear Mr. Jin had implanted deep within Liu Zhizai’s soul would make Liu Zhizai afraid to betray Mr. Jin even in death.

The Qi of the spirit’s self-destruction blew over.

In this instant, Wen Xishu saw a death scene that even Liu Zhizai himself did not remember.

He felt as if he had substituted himself for Liu Zhizai.

That immense pressure locked Liu Zhizai firmly in place.

Liu Zhizai was completely unable to move.

Subsequently, a powerful force of causality struck, as if to destroy time and space.

"Save me! Save me!"

No response. Mr. Jin was completely unable to save Liu Zhizai this time.

Wen Xishu discovered that Mr. Jin’s figure was not even around, and at this moment, he had turned into the likeness of Mr. Jin.

He wore Mr. Jin’s usual clothes, as if to replace him in bearing an unbearable fate.

A terrifying arrow struck.

One of the five elders of the Bunker, a powerhouse of over eighty levels of the Slaughter Tower, perished just like that under a single arrow.

The wind-like Qi blew across Wen Xishu’s face.

Liu Zhizai no longer existed in the Underworld; he existed only in the memories of the living.

Wen Xishu felt a sense of melancholy; he truly had not intended to kill Liu Zhizai. Since he was already dead, the grievances were settled. He really did not have enough hatred for the other party to pursue and kill him again in the Underworld.

But he also did not have much time to mourn this Bunker elder.

Because following the two blasts of Qi from the spirit’s destruction... Wen Xishu seemed to have attracted some attention.

[Regarding your affairs, I turn one eye open and two eyes closed, but if a spirit does not die at the hands of an enforcer, then some strange sights will appear. Plus, the world of the dead already rejects you; I told you, you would encounter some obstacles. But the great Brother Crow doesn't mind giving you help once more. For the things about to appear, you also turn one eye open and two eyes closed, but don't actually close your eyes; just pretend you didn't see them.]

The text message arrived a bit late, but overall it was still timely, just as Wen Xishu was lamenting the elder’s death...

Dozens of pale, smiling faces suddenly appeared all around Wen Xishu.

This was a group of children; their bodies looked like infants, but their walking posture was not crawling like an infant, but rather jumping like a frog.

Although their bodies were like infants, their heads were all adult heads, and every face wore an eerie smile, the skin as white as if painted with oil paint.

If not for the Seven-Colored Crow’s text prompt, Wen Xishu would certainly have shown an expression.

These were Spirit Examiners.

Spirits do not die for no reason; if a spirit does not die at the hands of an enforcer, these terrifying-looking Spirit Examiners will appear around the dead spirit.

They used their heads, topped with smiling faces, to look in unison at Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu felt a chill, but he did not move at all, merely pretending to be dazed as he looked ahead.

Two Spirit Examiners jumped onto Wen Xishu’s shoulders; they were as light as nothing, and Wen Xishu could not even feel their weight.

Subsequently, one Spirit Examiner climbed onto Wen Xishu’s head, then lowered its head, engaging in a terrifying face-to-face collision with Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu just acted as if he hadn't seen it.

These Spirit Examiners fussed over Wen Xishu for quite a while, mostly making some scares to test him.

Their scares are invisible to normal spirits.

Only "Sinful Spirits" can see them. But when a Sinful Spirit sees a Spirit Examiner, they feel incomparable cold.

Logically, Wen Xishu should also feel the cold; he is sinful, but he has not died. His sensations are different from those of the Sinful Spirits.

Spirits in the Upper Spirit Zone can only commit suicide or be killed by enforcers, plus Wen Xishu’s reaction of seemingly not seeing the Spirit Examiners...

Soon the Spirit Examiners felt everything was normal and left.

One wave had not yet subsided when another rose; just as Wen Xishu thought the Spirit Examiners had left and it was time to think about who else in the vast Underworld he could get information from...

He suddenly felt a pain in his palm.

Wen Xishu was somewhat surprised.

[The chill of the Spirit Examiners has invaded, resisted by the powerful 'Yang Qi' you possess as a living person. But this has also caused your Yang Qi to seem overly depleted. You don't have much time left; although I have been saying this, from now on, you will see a specific countdown. Once the Seven-Colored Flower blooms, you will become a dead person.]

[The more petals there are, the more aura you have on you that can attract the attention of Underworld officials. You can continue your journey to find the person to be taken away, or you can choose to flee here now. The method to flee is to praise Brother Crow.]

On Wen Xishu’s hand, a petal appeared; the petal was green.

Green, blue, gold, red, purple, black, white.

Seven colors; once the final white petal appears, Wen Xishu will die.

Although he had not attracted the attention of the Underworld administrators, the rules of the Underworld itself were still rejecting Wen Xishu.

Liu Zhizai’s resolute soul-destruction had ultimately brought some trouble to Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu looked at his palm and could faintly feel... a blue petal slowly "taking shape."

In about thirty minutes, the second petal would appear.

The green petal had not brought Wen Xishu any negative effects, but once the blue petal appeared, he would feel a cold that turned his breath into frost.

Yet Wen Xishu discovered that although he had figured some things out, he still did not know who he should take away in this vast Underworld.

Now he was almost certain that Mr. Jin was not dead, so taking Mr. Jin away was impossible.

Then who to take away?

Wen Xishu thought of the Wen family.

If he took the Wen family away at this time, even if he returned to the Bunker, he could protect them, and the secret of the old Wen residence... perhaps it could also be solved?

Just at this moment, footsteps suddenly came from the basement that should have been empty.

Wen Xishu immediately became alert, but soon, the alertness on his face vanished, replaced by slight surprise.

"You really are... a living person!"

Wen Tingyun did not know what method he had used, but he had actually found Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu asked:

"How are you here?"

Wen Tingyun’s gaze was complex:

"If I tell you... I have been tracking you, would you believe me?"

Wen Xishu froze.

Wen Tingyun said:

"After I went back, I realized something was wrong. I suddenly received merit; heh, how could this thing appear out of thin air? I met someone who looked like you today, and that night I received your merit; it was too coincidental. So I immediately contacted the head of the family."

"Then I went to the central Yin-Yang Building, and I found you waiting there. I was suddenly very curious about what you were actually going to do."

"So I used a disguise. Not only are you not a dead person, you can even cause damage to spirits..."

Wen Xishu had not expected that he had actually been tracked. This Wen Tingyun really had some tricks.

Fortunately, Wen Tingyun was not an enemy.

Wen Tingyun sighed:

"You are doing a very dangerous thing. I shouldn't have pried, after all... I don't want to delay you."

"But I must advise you, A-Shu, I don't want to see you on the register, no matter what you want to do... but absolutely do not try to bring a dead person back to the realm of the living."

Wen Xishu was slightly moved; Wen Tingyun had actually guessed even this? He looked at Wen Tingyun with some disbelief.

"The head of the family said that if you really made a name for yourself in the world of the living, then you already possess the ability to break the rules. Honestly, I really envy you; congratulations on your success."

"But no matter how powerful you are, whatever rules you want to break... never try to break the rules of life and death."

Wen Tingyun looked at Wen Xishu and slowly walked to his side:

"A-Shu, if what you are doing is not this, if you came to the world of the dead just to investigate intelligence, then consider me meddlesome, but if you want to take someone away... listen to me, A-Shu, absolutely, absolutely do not take anyone away! Hurry back yourself."

Wen Tingyun patted Wen Xishu on the shoulder.

Wen Xishu remained silent throughout.

He was thinking, examining the problem.

He needed to make a choice of great significance. Wen Xishu had been thinking about who to take away.

After all... since he was already here.

But now, he was suddenly wondering, if one could really reverse life and death, if such an absolute rule could really be broken because of a "bug."

Had none of those powerful gods ever managed to do this?

The many obsessions in the Land of Obsession constructed the rules, allowing Wen Xishu to come to the land of the dead.

Then who exactly did he need to save to appease these obsessions?

Perhaps there was no answer at all. The countless obsessions longing for resurrection would not be appeased by the resurrection of a single individual.

After thinking for a short while, Wen Xishu said earnestly:

"I have always cared about you all. What if I could bring you back to life? What if I... am much more powerful than you imagine?"

Wen Tingyun waved his hand almost without hesitation:

"A-Shu! Did you listen at all! I don't regret my death. If I caused your death because of trying to revive me, then I would truly regret it. Don't do anything stupid! Don't do anything stupid!"

"I don't know what you want to do, but please... don't stay in this world. Everyone misses you, but they definitely don't want to see you too soon!"

Such a response was truly surprising to Wen Xishu, yet he felt it was very much in the style of the Wen family.

A warmth stirred within Wen Xishu, yet it was accompanied by a faint sorrow:

"I know what I must do, thank you. I will leave this place, and you should leave as well."

Wen Tingyun remained uneasy:

"Are you certain? You must absolutely not do anything overstepping!"

Wen Xishu nodded:

"I understand. Rest assured, I will not do anything foolish."

He had truly thought it through. The countdown to death brought by the Seven-Colored Flower had already made Wen Xishu inclined to retreat.

And the appearance of Wen Tingyun felt more like a favor from fate.

Although he had not encountered any major obstacles, it was easy to imagine that infiltrating the Kingdom of the Dead and taking a dead person back to the world of the living... were not on the same order of magnitude in terms of difficulty.

Not to mention whether the rules of life and death could be broken, even if he did manage to break them, it might not necessarily be a good thing.

Wen Tingyun did not linger; after persuading Wen Xishu, he left again, fearing he might delay Wen Xishu's plans.

After Wen Tingyun left, Wen Xishu stood in the basement and muttered to himself:

"I am starting to envy you; your family... are all very reliable."

He was speaking to the Fool.

The Fool did not reply to Wen Xishu, and Wen Xishu did not mind.

He began to silently think about the appearance of the Seven-Colored Crow and recited some words of praise for the crow.

Before long, Wen Xishu felt his body beginning to turn transparent.

That seven-colored feather which had merged into his body was actually slowly withdrawing from it.

And the words of the Seven-Colored Crow finally stopped appearing in text form, appearing instead as a voice.

"Oh, you actually intend to go back, tsk tsk tsk, you've found the correct answer again."

The Seven-Colored Crow had appeared on Wen Xishu's shoulder at some point.

Wen Xishu said:

"The correct answer?"

The Seven-Colored Crow said:

"Greed is a great taboo; being able to come to the Kingdom of the Dead is enough to prove that you possess extraordinary abilities in your own world."

"Such people often feel that they can achieve miracles."

"You must have had a similar mindset, but in the end, you made the right choice."

Wen Xishu was startled:

"If I had truly decided to take someone with me... would I have died with high probability?"

The Seven-Colored Crow laughed:

"I could not have told you that before you made the decision, but since you have made it... then I will tell you."

"It wouldn't be a high probability; you would definitely have died. Tell me, why did you suddenly give up? If the Jin Zhenyuan you are looking for... really existed here, would you have taken him with you?"

A chill ran down Wen Xishu's back; he suddenly felt that this journey itself was a conspiracy.

"Perhaps I would have? I'm not sure. Indeed, the reason I gave up on taking anyone is, firstly, there is no one here I would risk my life to take..."

"Secondly, my relative warned me never to attempt to take a dead person away from here."

"His warning was very meaningful."

"Before, I didn't examine the question carefully. Now that I think about it, did the answer have hints from the very beginning?"

"You mentioned earlier that this is a bug, and that this bug would not happen a second time."

"I was wondering at the time why you, as a member of the Underworld, didn't fix this bug. Which god in the world of the living was bribing you?"

"But later I realized something was wrong... because it was too free. You even gave me a three-year time difference."

"There were too many people to choose from here, and you gave absolutely no hints or prompts. It seems you just wanted to see me leave with a dead person; as for who that dead person was, it was completely unimportant."

"If a god from the world of the living were really in contact with you... he should have had some motive."

"Now it seems that perhaps you aren't failing to fix it, but rather wanting to use this bug to run a test? Your care for me wasn't because I'm a living person, but because you are the one who set the test."

"Along the way, you provided text explanations for many of the puzzles I encountered. When the first person's soul scattered, logically, that Minotaur should have come for me, but he didn't..."

"You also prompted me through text to not seek revenge and to do my own thing."

"You helped me a lot because I hadn't entered the testing phase yet, so I couldn't die."

The Seven-Colored Crow let out a 'wow':

"Very good. I'm suddenly curious about your adventures in the world of the living. But unfortunately, I cannot see them, and I will tell you clearly: no one bribed me~"

"It's just that in the world of obsession, some obsessions have indeed seeped into the Underworld, but the Underworld is a world with stronger rules."

"We wanted to test the gap between the two worlds. The absolute nature of life and death cannot be shaken; if you truly tried to shake it—"

"Then, as I said, I would have taken care of you. Provided you were dead."

"Only by letting go of your obsession with the dead can you leave this journey of obsession alive. You are quite good."

Wen Xishu smiled. So that was really it?

"Since I didn't take anyone with me, then the process of me going back... should be relatively smooth, right?"

"Also, can you tell me what your status is in the Underworld?"

(End of chapter)