Chapter 28: The Late-Arriving Tower

Wen Xishu still knew too little about the common sense of this world.

Because the memories of the body's original owner could not be fully extracted.

Albert seemed to understand this point and did not pay much attention to why Wen Xishu was unclear about these common facts.

"The importance of the Weird Tower goes without saying, but exploring the Weird Tower comes with sunk costs."

"You should know the main groups currently exploring the Weird Tower—death row inmates, the terminally ill, or those driven to a dead end by other factors."

"Normal people seem willing to go to the Desire Tower, and if they have no other choice, they go to the Slaughter Tower, but they are absolutely unwilling to go to the Weird Tower."

"Because, once you enter the Weird Tower, all previous sequences, abilities, and attributes in the tower system will return to zero."

Wen Xishu guessed that this was not actually the absolute reason why people were unwilling to explore the Weird Tower.

Sure enough, Albert added:

"But you must be thinking, if one explores the Weird Tower first, wouldn't such a thing not exist?"

"What is the actual reason people choose to explore the Desire Tower and the Slaughter Tower first?"

"Is it merely because the Desire Tower is easier?"

"But the Slaughter Tower is also very dangerous; why are there still far fewer people exploring the Weird Tower than the Slaughter Tower?"

Wen Xishu nodded; he was indeed pondering this question.

Albert's answer caught Wen Xishu somewhat by surprise:

"Because the Weird Tower... was born later than the other two towers."

Wen Xishu froze.

He had thought of many reasons. For instance, the rules in the Weird Tower were complex, and there was a mechanism for Magic Resistance values, meaning that besides needing to be familiar with the boss's combat mechanics, one had to be on guard at all times to prevent triggering certain weird rules due to low Magic Resistance.

But he never expected the truth to be so simple and brutal; the Weird Tower...

...actually descended the latest. The three towers did not descend at the same time.

Albert sighed with emotion:

"In this world, there are right things and easy things. Most people choose to do the easy things because the former is too difficult."

"But humanity has resilience. Human civilization has never fallen even after experiencing the apocalypse."

"With tens of millions of people in the bunker... how could it be impossible to find those willing to take risks for all of humanity?"

"It's just that when I wasn't as old as I am now, we didn't have the qualifications to enter the Weird Tower at all. The Weird Tower hadn't appeared yet, so how could we enter it?"

"In my life, I have never liked doing things that are too easy. I rarely enter the Desire Tower."

"I have no interest in the pasts of those monsters in the Slaughter Tower."

"Because I discovered long ago that before the Weird Tower was born, even if you knew the pasts of those monsters... it seemed that because a link was missing, it was impossible to present a complete puzzle."

"No matter what you do in the Desire Tower, it is very, very difficult to make the monsters in the Slaughter Tower change."

"And earlier on, it was very difficult for those exploring the Slaughter Tower and those exploring the Desire Tower to communicate."

"For example, people in the Desire Tower might become monsters in the Slaughter Tower in the future, but after turning into monsters, their appearance changes completely, making them hard to recognize."

"But in the Slaughter Tower, monsters trigger combat the moment they meet; to put it fashionably, they are killed on sight."

"You have no way of figuring out who they were in the Desire Tower."

"And how can you save them?"

Wen Xishu nodded.

That was indeed true; the ghostly appearance of Weird Jack was vastly different from Desire Jack.

If Slaughter Jack didn't speak, and one couldn't obtain enough information... Wen Xishu couldn't figure out that this was Jack from the Desire Tower even if he racked his brains.

"So the Desire Tower is the easy thing, but someone has to do the right thing. Before the Weird Tower appeared..."

"For me, the right thing was to conquer the Slaughter Tower."

Wen Xishu couldn't help but ask:

"Why do you think that way?"

Albert said:

"As you said, the Desire Tower is the past; the timeline of the Desire Tower is earlier."

"If one day humanity returns to the world of the past, do you think they will return to the past? What they will likely face is a world occupied by Slaughter Tower monsters."

"Although you can bring back supplies from the Desire Tower and it is easy to survive, I have always thought that the Slaughter Tower allows humanity to acquire power, not just to experience a game."

"These powers might be humanity's only means of self-preservation."

"That is why I almost never challenge the Desire Tower. In the era without the Weird Tower, many of us, for the sake of humanity's future, could only choose the Slaughter Tower."

Wen Xishu nodded slowly.

Sure enough, not everyone was stupid, and it wasn't that people didn't know about exploring the Weird Tower, but that in that era, humanity simply had no choice.

At the same time, due to the delayed appearance of the Weird Tower, humanity's overall survival choices resulted in sunk costs.

Wen Xishu's perception of Albert changed slightly; at the very least, he was no longer just a pure old lunatic.

"So, without the assistance of the Desire Tower and the Weird Tower... you alone relied purely on the Slaughter Tower to accumulate attributes and break through the Slaughter Tower?"

"If I may ask, specializing in the Slaughter Tower, what level have you broken through to now?"

Wen Xishu asked the question he had wanted to ask for a long time; he could roughly sense that Albert was not simple.

But he still really wanted to judge just how not-simple the other party was through specific numbers.

"I'm old and useless; I suppose my aptitude was mediocre after all."

Albert sighed.

Wen Xishu had an idea in his mind; he figured the old principal was probably at the fiftieth floor, the fortieth, or even lower.

In any case, for an old man, even being able to reach the fortieth floor was an incredible existence. He was definitely qualified to be the principal of the Three Towers Academy.

After all, although the exploration level wasn't high, having lived this long, his survival experience must be rich.

Presumably, this experience was also precious, enough to hold lectures and establish an academy.

Moreover, the number one person on the Heavenly Ladder was only at the fifty or sixtieth floor.

Hearing Albert say his aptitude was dull, Wen Xishu wanted to comfort him; not everyone could be as monstrous as Xun Hui.

But the next second, his usually strong micro-expression management had a problem.

Albert said with some unwillingness:

"I have been stuck at the 96th floor for some time now, and I don't know if these old bones of mine will be able to break through the 99th floor in my lifetime. I really want to know how many floors the Slaughter Tower has in total."

"Eh..."

After saying this, Albert suddenly widened his eyes; he saw a line of bullet comments floating above Wen Xishu's head:

[My god, this old immortal's development—if you're a man, go to the hundredth floor? What kind of terrifying existence is this?]

Wen Xishu's emotions had truly undergone an extreme change, an extreme shock.

So much so that he lost control for the first time, thus triggering what could be considered the negative effect of Weird Sequence 37: Mental Bullet Comments.

Under certain extreme emotions, one's thoughts would be presented in the form of bullet comments to the relevant target, and this relevant target was the person who caused him to have the extreme emotion.

Although Wen Xishu didn't know the specific Heavenly Ladder rankings, he roughly knew that the strongest players currently on the Heavenly Ladder, Xun Hui of the Slaughter Tower and Wenren Jing of the Desire Tower, were both at the fifty or sixtieth floor.

He thought this was the ceiling for humanity.

But now, he personally understood the meaning of those few sentences from the Guide.

There existed some truly terrifying beings among humanity.

The old man in front of him was very likely the most terrifying existence among them.

"Hahahaha, too fun, your Weird Sequence is too interesting."

Albert's laughter made Wen Xishu realize... he had perhaps been exposed.

But he didn't care anymore.

A newbie with nothing in the starter village, in front of an old-timer who had played from the server launch to the latest version with max-level god-tier gear... what difference did it make whether he was exposed or not?

At this moment, Wen Xishu also understood one more thing: why Albert hadn't explored the Weird Tower even after it appeared.

Because such a person was a true legend of the bunker; exploring the Weird Tower meant starting everything over. For Albert himself, perhaps his heart longed for a new adventure.

But for the human faction, they were certainly afraid that such a top-tier combat force would accidentally die in the Weird Tower.

Albert was a powerhouse capable of changing the fate of humanity; the bunker naturally would not agree to such a person starting over to explore the Weird Tower.

This was a risk the bunker could not tolerate.

After a short while, the surprise in Wen Xishu's heart gradually subsided.

Albert said:

"You are quite good; I have already started looking forward to your performance in the first semester."

"The Three Towers Academy can make the attributes from the three towers take effect within the academy grounds."

"You can understand this as a super-powered academy composed of owners of the Desire Sequence and the Slaughter Sequence."

"Most of those who graduate from here do quite well."

"However, the final exam difficulty is not low, and the probability of being held back is high. Some rules are not set by us; they are inherent to the Three Towers Academy."

"In short, the academy welcomes you; you have passed my test."

Albert had actually been testing Wen Xishu the whole time.

Now he was convinced that Wen Xishu was a good seedling; perhaps this child hid some of Wen Zhaohua's secrets.

Perhaps Wen Xishu's ability to clear the Weird Tower really had Wen Zhaohua's assistance.

But that was not important; in Albert's view, Wen Xishu's own aptitude was also worth cultivating.

"Don't let me down."

Wen Xishu asked:

"You said this is a super-powered academy for those who possess the Desire Sequence and the Slaughter Sequence..."

"But there seems to be no mention of the Weird Sequence?"

Albert laughed loudly:

"Yes, yes, that is exactly why you are worth looking forward to! Hahahaha..."

Thinking of the bullet comments that had just drifted over Wen Xishu's head, and how Wen Xishu had looked upward at the very beginning, he must have seen his own bullet comments.

Albert felt that the Weird Tower was fucking fun.

It’s a pity, though...

He himself is too important; countless people in the Great Devouring depend on him for salvation.

He can no longer, like he did decades ago, willfully choose the most dangerous, the most difficult, yet the most correct path.

This also destined him to have no connection with the Weird Sequence of the Weird Tower.

In the eyes of Albert, who possesses some traits of an old eccentric, these sequences are just too fun.

Therefore, he is very much looking forward to Wen Xishu's performance in the first semester.

However, before that, in order to avoid some trouble, he still has to have Wen Xishu do one thing.

(End of this chapter)