Chapter 27: The Old Madman and the Little Madman

He woke up.

Wen Xishu was a bit thirsty; as soon as he woke, he thought about finding water to drink, but immediately, he realized this was not his own home.

In his previous world, he had a fairly decent apartment. In a small, fourth-tier town, he would habitually reach out to touch the bedside cabinet every day upon waking.

Because he would keep water in that spot.

But now, Wen Xishu opened his eyes and saw the sharp-featured face of an old man.

He actually found it somewhat familiar.

Wen Xishu immediately wanted to slap himself, but was instantly overcome with pain.

"They actually beat me to death, and then I transmigrated into the world of One Piece!?"

Albert Napolitano asked with a puzzled "Hmm?":

"Hmm? What is that? Is it a popular novel these days? I love reading novels, share it with me."

Wen Xishu looked carefully again... and finally discovered that this was not the world of One Piece, and he had not died.

The old man before him just happened to look like the Dark King Rayleigh, the one who led people astray in the One Piece manga from his previous world.

"Who are you? Where am I..."

Wen Xishu was startled; before he could finish his question, he suddenly saw a barrage of text.

[Hahahahahaha, this kid doesn't think he's dead, does he? And that he's had a transmigration like a character in a novel? Too hilarious.]

Mental barrage.

When the other party is in a state of extreme emotion—such as extreme joy, extreme sadness, extreme fear, or extreme anger—their specific inner thoughts will appear in the form of a barrage.

Just like that, Wen Xishu saw a barrage float over the man's head, followed by a string of "Hahahahaha" barrages.

And in Wen Xishu's ears, he also heard the sound of "Hahahahaha."

The handsome old man in Wen Xishu's eyes was indeed very happy, extremely happy.

It was as if his waking up was something very worth rejoicing over.

Wen Xishu, however, was a bit dumbfounded.

He knew that seeing the barrage just now was the effect of Weird Sequence 37: Mental Barrage.

But shouldn't that thing only have an effect within the Weird Tower of the Three Towers?

Wen Xishu widened his eyes, at a loss for what to do.

At this moment, Albert said:

"Interesting, very interesting. Little one, does your sequence allow you to see some special mental products? Your eyes indicate that you saw something."

"You just looked at the top of my head."

Wen Xishu was startled again; he had only shifted his eyeballs extremely quickly, without even tilting his head.

What kind of observation skills did this person have?

"Is it some kind of eye that can see notes, like I've read about in novels? The content and style of the notes are inconsistent."

"How about it, how do the notes evaluate me, this handsome old man? How many more years can I live? My sexual preferences won't be exposed, will they? Which floor of the Weird Tower did you get this from?"

"Looking at your stunned expression, don't tell me I actually guessed it. I've read similar novels; oh my, there are no secrets in front of eyes like that. Should I gouge your eyes out?"

Albert's face leaned close to Wen Xishu, as if observing some rare species he had never seen before.

For the first time, Wen Xishu felt offended by an old lunatic. Usually, he was the craziest one, the one who teased others.

Now, this old man was teasing him.

He took a deep breath:

"No, my sequence is very ordinary. Shouldn't you tell me where this place is? And who are you?"

Albert really wanted to gouge out Wen Xishu's eyeballs.

So his current behavior gave Wen Xishu the feeling of having suddenly transmigrated into Naruto, becoming Sasuke and having his eyes gouged out by Itachi Uchiha.

Albert had already used his fingers to pry open Wen Xishu's eyelids:

"Wouldn't it be great if the things in novels came true?"

Wen Xishu resisted the urge to let the veins on his forehead pop out:

"Where am I, and who exactly are you?"

He did not want to repeat this sentence again. Albert laughed "Hahaha," and then said:

"You should be more polite to your savior. My name is Albert, I'm just an ordinary old man. As for this place, it's the Three Towers Academy."

Three Towers Academy, a Level 7 facility...

Wen Xishu suddenly understood the wonder of a Level 7 facility.

He didn't understand other Level 7 facilities, but the Three Towers Academy, although located in a bunker, could utilize the power within the Three Towers throughout the academy grounds.

That was why he could see Albert's mental barrage.

Wen Xishu's mind raced, and he immediately realized that it was Albert, someone from the Three Towers Academy, who had taken him away from Xie Changfeng of the Bunker Security Bureau's First Division.

He looked at Albert, thought for a moment, and said:

"Are you the headmaster?"

"Yes, but I don't really manage things; the people under me are responsible for that."

"Thank you for saving me. What do I need to do to repay you?"

Having been rescued and owing a debt of gratitude, all Wen Xishu could think about was the price he would have to pay.

He had no sense of security; in his view, saving him must be for the sake of a transactional exchange.

People could not possibly do things that offered them no benefit while offending others.

Albert stroked his chin:

"What can you pay, little one?"

"Tell me what you need first," Wen Xishu was skilled at bargaining.

Albert looked at Wen Xishu:

"It's a good thing you aren't some monster from the Weird Tower, otherwise your heart would surely be very twisted. How insecure and distrustful of people must you be?"

These words made Wen Xishu feel somewhat uncomfortable. The reason for his discomfort was that he felt the other party had hit the nail on the head.

Unaccountably, he found that in front of Albert, he felt as though he were being seen through.

Seeing Wen Xishu remain silent, Albert knew this was a defensive posture.

"Don't be nervous. Since I saved you, it's impossible for me to kill you in the short term."

"I really like youth culture, but unfortunately, there aren't many anime in the bunker, and few people read novels. I like to imitate characters from various stories. The role I'm playing recently is that of a benevolent character."

What was this, an old "otaku" in terms of age?

Wen Xishu really couldn't have imagined that this headmaster had such youthful hobbies.

"I don't expect you to do anything for me, so... just be a good student for now. For the Slaughter Tower Academy's midterm assessment, I need you to produce results worthy of me protecting you."

"I don't care what secrets you carry; I could have easily asked for them while you were unconscious."

Wen Xishu thought to himself, "This is bad."

At that time, he had been injected with too much truth serum... he was in a state where he would answer anyone who asked him a question.

Although Albert said that, Wen Xishu didn't know what kind of person Albert really was.

He did not trust Albert.

"You've probably already asked, haven't you?"

Albert still wore that bold smile:

"I have no interest in Wen Zhaohua's secrets."

Wen Xishu didn't quite believe it, but he asked anyway:

"Why? Isn't the value of saving me to obtain information about him?"

Albert shook his head:

"Why couldn't it be that I just wanted to confirm whether there was a student worth admitting to the academy?"

Wen Xishu didn't speak, and Albert sighed:

"It seems that if I don't let you hand over some secrets, you'll feel that my actions are illogical."

This time, Wen Xishu nodded. Albert found it interesting; he also happened to want to test Wen Xishu:

"Then tell me, what is the relationship between the Weird Tower, the Desire Tower, and the Slaughter Tower in your eyes? Although this is your first time climbing the tower, I want to know if you already have your own way of understanding the Three Towers."

Wen Xishu did not refuse; after all, he didn't need to recount his own experiences.

Albert also seemed to deliberately avoid that point, letting Wen Xishu retain a portion of his privacy.

At the same time, although Wen Xishu didn't know how legendary this old headmaster was, anyone who could snatch him away from the Bunker Security Bureau couldn't be simple.

He decided to cherish the opportunity and demonstrate some value beyond the clues regarding Wen Zhaohua in front of this old headmaster.

Wen Xishu thought for a moment and said:

"At first, in my view, the Desire Tower and the Weird Tower were a causal relationship; the Desire Tower was the cause, and the Weird Tower was the effect."

"Because as far as I understand, the events that occur in the Desire Tower should be before the Weird Tower."

"The Desire Tower world is the normal world, and the Weird Tower world is the twisted world. Logically speaking, it should always be normal first, then twisted, right?"

Wen Xishu deliberately acted as if he had never been to the Desire Tower, as if he were merely deducing.

He continued:

"But that's only on the surface; in reality, they are mutually causal."

"If you follow the chronological order and explore the Desire Tower first, it's very likely you won't be able to find who the source of the crisis is at all."

"Hmm... let me just give a random example."

"Just like who could have imagined that in the Desire Tower world, a destitute circus performer would slaughter all of his neighbors?"

"But in the Ghost Tower, you might face this eerie existence who slaughtered his neighbors right from the start. The mission information will tell you directly that this person is the big boss."

"So, if you have the opportunity to go to the corresponding area of the Desire Tower, wouldn't you know better than others what to do?"

"Therefore, looking at it from here, the Ghost Tower has become the cause, and the Desire Tower, whose timeline is placed before the Ghost Tower, has instead become the effect."

"This is like the yin-yang fish; it is hard to say clearly which is the cause and which is the effect."

"The significance of the Ghost Tower is like providing a direction for investigating the Desire Tower. Perhaps with this direction, one could change the fate of the Ghost Tower creatures from the source?"

"Behind those eerie creatures, there are their stories. The ending of this story is clearly not good, but the Desire Tower might be able to change their ending."

"And so here, the Desire Tower becomes the cause again, but in any case, you must first find the key figures in the Ghost Tower."

"Therefore, I think exploring the Ghost Tower should be prioritized before the Desire Tower."

Albert only felt his eyes brighten; having such insights during his first time climbing the tower was extremely rare.

He could tell that this child was deliberately concealing some things.

But that was not important; this child was only climbing the tower for the first time, yet he was already capable of such cognition, so he must be very good at thinking and summarizing.

Albert was very satisfied.

Although he did not know that not long ago, Wen Xishu's understanding of the Desire Tower and the Slaughter Tower was still "one is just go and finish it, the other is just go and finish it."

Wen Xishu continued to explain:

"As for the Slaughter Tower, I am not clear, but I imagine that the mission targets in the Slaughter Tower have become even more desperate in their hearts and more disgusted with the world, to the point where they kill anyone they see. Then the timeline should also be after the Desire Tower."

"According to my understanding of the Slaughter Tower, the Slaughter Tower is full of monsters, and meeting the monsters means fighting and killing."

"The information fragments obtained are severely insufficient, and it is hard to know what these monsters have experienced."

"So you can only choose to fight them, to slaughter."

"But in the Ghost Tower, although they are also monsters, if you can find the patterns, you can obtain quite a few clues."

"This would help us... to reverse everything from the Desire Tower?"

"So in my view, among the three towers, the one that should be explored the most, or rather the one that should be explored first, might be the Ghost Tower."

When Wen Xishu said this, he added a caveat for himself:

"Of course, this is all just my guess. After all, I am not qualified to enter the Desire Tower."

Albert applauded, his eyes full of approval:

"Excellent, it seems that letting you enroll was the right choice. Your understanding of the three towers far exceeds my imagination."

"However, humanity is not as stupid as you think; we are not unaware of the order of exploring the three towers."

Wen Xishu's expression unconsciously became a bit more serious, and Albert continued:

"It is just that there is a very critical point that you should not know."

"And it is precisely because of this point that our progress in exploring the Ghost Tower lags far behind the other two towers."

(End of chapter)