Chapter 28: The Late Tower

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

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

Albert seemed to understand this point and didn't pay much attention to why Wen Xishu was unaware of these common facts.

"The importance of the Mysterious Tower is self-evident, but exploring the Mysterious Tower has sunk costs."

"You should know that the main groups currently exploring the Mysterious Tower are death row inmates, terminally ill patients, or people who have reached a dead end due to other factors."

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

"Because once you enter the Mysterious Tower, all sequences, abilities, and attributes from previous tower systems will be reset to zero."

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

Sure enough, Albert added:

"But you must be thinking, if you explore the Mysterious Tower first, wouldn't this issue not exist?"

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

"Is it just because the Tower of Desire is easy?"

"But the Slaughter Tower is also very dangerous. Why are there still far fewer people exploring the Mysterious Tower than the Slaughter Tower?"

Wen Xishu nodded; he was indeed thinking about this question.

Albert's answer surprised Wen Xishu:

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

Wen Xishu was stunned.

He had thought of many reasons. For instance, the rules in the Mysterious Tower were complex, and there was a magic resistance mechanism, which meant that besides being familiar with the boss's combat mechanics, one had to be on guard at all times to prevent triggering certain strange rules due to low magic resistance.

But he never expected the truth to be so simple and brutal: the Mysterious 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 experienced the apocalypse and has not fallen."

"With tens of millions of people in the bunker... how could we not find people 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 Mysterious Tower at all. The Mysterious Tower hadn't appeared, so how could we enter?"

"In my life, I haven't liked doing things that are too easy. I rarely enter the Tower of Desire."

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

"Because I discovered very early on that before the Mysterious Tower was born, even if you knew the past 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 Tower of Desire, it is very, very difficult to make the monsters in the Slaughter Tower change."

"And earlier on, people exploring the Slaughter Tower and people exploring the Tower of Desire found it difficult to communicate."

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

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

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

"So how can you save them?"

Wen Xishu nodded.

That was indeed the case; the ghost-like appearance of Jack the Mysterious was very different from Jack the Desired.

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

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

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

Wen Xishu couldn't help but ask:

"Why do you think so?"

Albert said:

"You also said that the Tower of Desire is the past; the timeline of the Tower of Desire is earlier."

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

"Although you can bring back supplies from the Tower of Desire and it's 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."

"So I almost never challenge the Tower of Desire. In the era without the Mysterious 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 Mysterious Tower, but that in that era, humanity had no choice at all.

At the same time, due to the delayed appearance of the Mysterious Tower, it also led to sunk costs in humanity's overall survival choices.

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 Tower of Desire and the Mysterious Tower... you alone, relying purely on the Slaughter Tower to accumulate attributes, broke through the Slaughter Tower?"

"May I ask, since you specialize in the Slaughter Tower, how many floors have you broken through to now?"

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

But he still wanted to judge exactly how not simple the other party was through specific values.

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

Albert sighed.

Wen Xishu had a number in his mind; he figured the old principal was probably at the 50th floor, 40th floor, or even lower.

In any case, for an old man, even being able to reach the 40th floor was an incredible existence. Being the principal of the Three Towers Academy was definitely qualified.

After all, although the exploration level wasn't high, being able to live this long meant his survival experience must be rich.

It stood to reason that this experience was also precious, enough to open an altar to give lectures and establish an academy.

Moreover, the number one person on the Heavenly Ladder was only at the 50th or 60th floor.

Hearing Albert say he was dull-witted, Wen Xishu wanted to comfort him; it wasn't as if everyone could be as perverted as Xun Hui.

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

Albert said with some unwillingness:

"I've been stuck on the 96th floor for some time now, and I don't know if this old bone of mine can 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 barrage float out of Wen Xishu's head:

【My god, this old immortal's development, if you're a man, you go to the 100th floor? What kind of terrifying existence is this?】

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

So much so that he lost control for the first time, thus triggering the... negative effect of the Strange Sequence 37: Mental Barrage.

Under certain extreme emotions, one's thoughts will be presented in the form of a barrage to the relevant target; this relevant target is the person who triggered his extreme emotions.

Although Wen Xishu didn't know the specific Heavenly Ladder ranking, he roughly knew that the current strongest players on the Heavenly Ladder, Xun Hui of the Slaughter Tower and Wen Renjing of the Tower of Desire, were both at the 50th or 60th 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 terrifying existences among humanity.

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

"Hahahahaha, too fun, your strange sequence is too interesting."

Albert's laughter made Wen Xishu realize... he might have been exposed.

But he didn't care anymore.

A newcomer with nothing in the novice village, in front of an old man who had played from the server launch to the latest version with max-level god equipment... 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 Mysterious Tower even after it appeared.

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

But for the human camp, they were certainly afraid that such top-tier combat power would accidentally die in the Mysterious Tower.

Albert was a powerhouse capable of changing humanity's fate; the bunker naturally wouldn't agree to such a person starting over to explore the Mysterious Tower.

This was a risk the bunker couldn't tolerate.

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

Albert said:

"You're not bad; I've already started looking forward to your performance in the first semester."

"The Three Towers Academy can make the attributes in the Three Towers take effect within the academy's scope."

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

"People who graduate from here mostly live quite well."

"However, the difficulty of the final exam is not low, and the retention rate is very 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 all along.

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

Perhaps Wen Xishu could clear the Mysterious Tower, really with Wen Zhaohua's help.

But that didn't matter. 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 superpower academy for owners of the Desire Sequence and the Slaughter Sequence..."

"But it seems you didn't mention the Strange Sequence?"

Albert laughed loudly:

"Yes, yes, that's why you are worth looking forward to! Hahahahahaha..."

Thinking of the barrage that had just floated over Wen Xishu's head, and the fact that Wen Xishu had looked up at the beginning, he must have seen his own barrage.

Albert felt that the Mysterious Tower was really damn fun.

It was a pity...

He himself was too important; countless people in the Great Devouring depended on him to be saved.

He could no longer be like he was decades ago, willfully choosing the most dangerous, most difficult, yet most correct things.

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

In the eyes of Albert, who had some old-child attributes, these sequences were too fun.

So he was very much looking forward to Wen Xishu's performance in the first semester.

But before that, to avoid some trouble, he still had to have Wen Xishu do one thing.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 29 =====