Chapter 278: A Perfect Entry into the Desire Tower

Regarding Wen Xishu’s question, the killers thought about it at first, but none of them considered the direction of a Corruptor.

After all, in their understanding, there was no such thing as a Corruptor.

On the killer ranking list, there were indeed some who were quite deranged. They assumed it was a fellow killer.

Fortunately, Wen Xishu added:

"Among the people you have come into contact with, have you ever felt... that you were being deceived?"

"Perhaps they didn't look very evil, but were skilled at lying, perhaps even looking harmless; think carefully, as you've walked this path until now, has there been any hidden hand pushing you?"

"How exactly were you all captured?"

"Those people from the Ark, whether it's Lei Nuo or Feng Nuoyiman, logically speaking, should have had no grudges against any of you."

After this reminder, Ka Nong suddenly remembered:

"I met a person who gave me a contract to kill someone named Charles."

"It was also because of this person that I ended up being captured by Lei Nuo. My method of killing is sorcery, which is somewhat well-known in the industry. So, many times, people can recognize that certain dead targets were my work."

Upon hearing Ka Nong say this, Cannon also thought of some strange points:

"I was also targeted because I accepted a mission. My target was a girl in a wheelchair, disabled in both legs, but it seemed she was the daughter of some super wealthy merchant. I didn't investigate the background, but I had killed warlords before, so I figured a merchant's daughter was just another kill."

"But my mission failed. I didn't expect that place to have military-base-level defenses."

"And very quickly, the arms dealers were all summoned for questioning, and I was targeted by Feng Nuoyiman as well."

Similarly, Shadow and Night Demon had the same experiences.

They had all accepted a mission to assassinate a target, but soon started having bad luck, and thus were targeted.

"Do you know the names?" Wen Xishu asked.

"We don't know the employer's name," Cannon shook his head.

Night Demon added:

"Everything was contacted on the dark web. The employer would never show their face, but would provide a deposit; it is almost impossible to trace the source of the funds."

The trail went cold.

But there was no doubt that this employer was a troll. It fit Wen Xishu's judgment of a Corruptor.

First—

Players cannot attack people while climbing the tower, but these few killers are not players; in the eyes of the tower climbers, they are NPCs.

Using the dark web to hire killers can indeed avoid trouble.

Second, they must be very familiar with the Ark and the killers, perhaps having figured everything out through cycle after cycle.

Finally, they used the contracts to cause conflict between the killers and the experts of the Ark.

There is no need to question why they could afford to hire these top-tier killers, nor why they dared to offend those monster-level ability users of the Ark...

Because the Corruptor's cycle will only end in the hands of a player.

Every one of their deaths is the beginning of a new round of fun.

Perhaps even Zoe from the Investigation Bureau was being toyed with by the Corruptor; otherwise, Wen Xishu wouldn't even dare to imagine...

Why would a few killers be arranged to assassinate top-tier contestants in the Red House like Cain?

"Do you still have an impression of the time?" Wen Xishu asked.

The group of killers quickly provided the times and discovered that the time nodes were shockingly consistent.

They themselves realized something was wrong.

"So... we were all being played by some guy."

After hearing this, Wen Xishu was even more certain that this was a Corruptor.

However, the information chain was broken; he would have to head to the Desire Tower world himself to find this guy.

Having set his goal, Wen Xishu stopped worrying.

For him to go into the Desire Tower and achieve the results of the Trick Tower without the Death Quill was certainly impossible.

But possessing the Luo Pan and the Three-Phase Force, finding a Corruptor was as simple as could be.

"I must go, everyone. I have completed the mission here, and I will help you deal with the person who toyed with you."

"Your lives no longer have regrets, so in this apocalypse, please live on well."

Actually, it was meaningless.

Saying these words was not for the real people in the Desire Tower, but just for the obsessions.

But Wen Xishu felt that these obsessions were also very real.

After he finished speaking, he activated the invitation letter, preparing to charge into the Desire Tower.

However, an unexpected surprise arrived at this moment, so sudden that even Wen Xishu was stunned.

[Trick Tower level has reached a perfect ending. This time, the invitation letter is used to transfer to the tower; after meeting the attribute requirements, you will receive corresponding assistance.]

[Current luck value has met the requirement.]

[Assistance 1: You will be able to freely choose characters who died in the apocalypse and did not have a major impact on history as the characters for this Desire Tower traversal. If this method is chosen, the character's interpersonal relationships and memories will be fully inherited, your own abilities will not be affected, and all valuable character information and locations in this Desire Tower scene will be unlocked. And there will be no mandatory missions in this round of the Desire Tower scene.]

[Assistance 2: Choose to head to the Desire Tower with your current identity, unlocking all valuable character information and locations in this Desire Tower scene. And you can designate a single target to gain initial favorability. And there will be no mandatory missions in this round of the Desire Tower scene.]

Wen Xishu truly did not expect that this invitation letter would have such a surprise.

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is! I understand."

The scene around Wen Xishu had already begun to change; he had to make a choice as soon as possible.

Whether to play himself and explore the Desire Tower as Wen Xishu, or to traverse as a minor character.

"The Desire Tower can change the Trick Tower. If an ability user finds happiness in the Desire Tower, then the Trick Tower will undergo corresponding changes."

"All along, my strategy for breaking the game has been—explore the Trick Tower, find the invitation letter, and then head to the Desire Tower to subvert the Trick Tower."

"In this way, even if the Trick Tower level hasn't been fully explored, as long as I perform well in the Desire Tower, I can still get high rewards."

"But only today did I truly, for the first time, fully clear a Trick Tower level. So it turns out that after clearing a Trick Tower level, there is such a reward."

After playing the Trick Tower level to the extreme, Wen Xishu actually didn't want to enter the Desire Tower.

After all, he had coaxed several obsessions into being compliant in the Trick Tower, but he couldn't do that in reality.

But he realized at this moment—this game encourages you to use the invitation letter.

The invitation letter allows you to change reality, but correspondingly, playing the Trick Tower thoroughly can also make your invitation effect stronger.

If you get an invitation letter and feel there's no need to explore the Trick Tower... that might actually cause you to miss some things, or rather, some bonuses.

For example, an excellent entry point.

The two are mutually reinforcing.

"If I can clear the Trick Tower missions in places like the Human Cave and the Ark... perhaps the difficulty in the Desire Tower will drop sharply, right?"

"This information hasn't come too late; in the future, when exploring the Trick Tower, I will try my best to achieve a perfect ending first."

Right now, the problem facing Wen Xishu was whether to be himself or choose an identity to enter?

Being himself is naturally better, because in the future, when these 'Desire' prefixed ability users become 'Slaughter' prefixed, they will be able to recognize him in the Slaughter Tower.

But Wen Xishu was thinking that perhaps he could achieve this without being himself.

Moreover, he intended to test something.

Thinking of this, Wen Xishu had an idea in his mind, and he immediately made his choice.

Assistance 1.

And what appeared in Wen Xishu's mind were countless minor characters.

They were not truly pure bottom-feeders in the real sense; some even had high job ranks, and some were even wealthy enough to rival nations.

The reason they were evaluated as minor characters was that when the apocalypse arrived, their existence itself did not have a major impact on the apocalypse.

In other words, they might have had great energy, but in the end, it wasn't exerted.

Among them, it actually included "Zoe". This white woman who longed to join the Ark, after completing a series of missions, joined the Ark, but on the Ark, she quickly lost her utility value.

Coupled with the fact that Zoe knew some of the captain's dirty secrets, Zoe died quickly.

Wen Xishu did not expect that he could choose Zoe.

This was perfect. Of course, he did not choose Zoe, but chose to become the person in charge of the dark web.

After making the choice, Wen Xishu's image did not change, because he had not yet entered the Desire Tower.

He did not delay; there were actually quite a few acquaintances in the Desire Tower rest area this time.

But Wen Xishu did not greet any of them and directly started the Desire Tower journey.

……

……

Desire Tower, Free State, De City.

De City is less than three hundred kilometers away from Moen City, but compared to Moen City, there are too many people here.

Because there is a seaport here, and the Ark's first boarding point is here.

Memories flooded into Wen Xishu's mind; he was now a nobody named Yisen.

If there were no apocalypse, Yisen's life would actually be worth talking about.

He looked like a shut-in, socially anxious to the extreme; the clothes he wore when going out inevitably had hoods, and he would put on a hat and a mask, afraid of others seeing him.

He would blush when talking to women, but at night, he would fantasize about those women serving him in the most bizarre and humble ways, satisfying his fantasies and fetishes.

In reality, Yisen had no friends. As a super programmer, a hacker, Yisen once had friends, but his friends couldn't accept that Yisen always hacked into their computers without permission to view their privacy.

Once, Yisen had thoughtfully sent a friend a photo of the neighbor's girl in the nude.

There was even a note on it:

"Friend, I found in your private journal that you like her. If you need, I can also help you install surveillance on her computer, or install a pinhole camera in her bedroom."

Ethan felt he was a good person; there aren't many people who think of their friends like he does.

But the result was that his friend reported him.

After this, Ethan had no friends. He didn't understand why he was so good to his friends, yet they would report him.

Weirdo, shut-in, socially anxious but perverted, no emotional intelligence, no sense of boundaries...

These were Ethan's labels.

But these were only the surface of Ethan. Ethan had another side—

That was as a maintainer of the Dark Web. Honestly, Wen Xishu didn't think Ethan was that perverted.

After all, regarding those things on the Dark Web, Ethan only watched from the sidelines and never participated.

After seeing so many filthy things, Ethan only lacking a bit of boundary sense was actually quite decent.

Ethan later died in the apocalypse; he had the qualifications to board the ship, but he was afraid of Feng Nuoyiman.

He ultimately did not board the ship, and thus died in the apocalypse at the hands of a... most ordinary normal-type.

But from this moment on, Ethan's fate changed.

"You are called Ethan, but your body is now under my control."

"What I need to do is stop a few Dark Web transactions and find a person."

"Ethan, something terrible will happen in the Ark. If you don't want to enter the Ark in the future, and don't want to be killed by monsters in De City, then have no doubt, you can head to Feng City."

"Of course, there will likely be many dangers along the way, and you may not necessarily arrive at the destination alive."

"I need to borrow your body to do some things. I am not sure if these memories will be retained, but I think that from this moment on, our fates have intersected, and perhaps your future has also changed."

"Next, you will save Cosmos, Night Demon, Cannon, Shadow, and Canon in the assassin world."

"The fates of these few assassins will be transformed because of you, and this might even create a butterfly effect, having a huge impact on the future."

"Finally, my name is Wen Xishu. By the time you see this text, I will have already started my next journey."

Wen Xishu left this information on Ethan's computer.

And soon, he began to use the memories and abilities possessed by Ethan to lock onto several accounts on the Dark Web.

Naturally, these were the accounts of the five assassins.

According to the timeline, the assassins would soon receive their missions.

Wen Xishu peered into the information of the assassins' accounts, waiting patiently.

This was Ethan; his superpower was likely that wherever there was a network, there were no secrets to him.

For the assassins, the extremely hidden and safe Dark Web...

For Ethan, was not something difficult to crack.

About an hour later, Wen Xishu saw—

Cannon received a photo, a photo of a girl with disabled legs.

Following that was the deposit and the kill order.

Everything was the same as what Wen Xishu knew.

Wen Xishu felt that he was the one who was the Corruptor, being so familiar with these plot points.

He used Ethan's ability to intercept this message.

Because although the assassins could receive messages, they didn't read them the second they arrived.

The ability Wen Xishu obtained was not just Ethan's ability.

Whether choosing Assistance One or Assistance Two from the invitation, one could unlock the information and locations of important characters in this scenario.

Among these people, there was Zoe, various assassins, and even Ark experts like Feng Nuoyiman.

But these people were not who Wen Xishu was looking for.

Wen Xishu discovered that in the information for important characters in this scenario, there was a woman named Clara.

This woman's information note only had one sentence: "Familiar with the plot."

Unlike the long-winded notes for Zoe and others, Clara's note was extremely brief.

And Wen Xishu soon discovered that the location of the locked account and Clara's location almost overlapped.

That was a gambling club in the South District of De City.

Wen Xishu checked it over and was certain he had intercepted all of Clara's information.

In this way, the few assassins would not receive the order at all, and they naturally would not be noticed by monsters like Lei Nuo and Feng Nuoyiman.

The fate trajectories of the assassins had already undergone a huge change.

Finally, Wen Xishu headed toward that gambling club.

"As long as I kill the Corruptor, the trajectory line won't change erratically anymore."

It is easy to kill a Corruptor.

But Wen Xishu chose not to use his original body this time, but rather Ethan's identity, in order to attempt something harder to achieve and to obtain more information about high-level Corruptors.

The gambling club was on the ninth floor of an office building.

The eighth floor was the gambling area. But unlike those big casinos in Vegas City, the gambling places here were mostly for playing cards and slot machines and the like.

Wen Xishu could imagine that a Corruptor, someone in a loop, would definitely be a dimension-reduction strike if they went to gamble.

Have to say, this Corruptor really knew how to enjoy life.

(End of chapter)