Chapter 39: The East and the Parrot

The Bunker Security Bureau has indeed made a massive investment.

To form a team with Wen Xishu, one must first enter the rest area, which means having to enter the Strange Tower in one hour.

Entering the Strange Tower and matching into the same level has a probability of one in seven; matching into the same area makes that probability even lower. In other words, perhaps out of hundreds of people, only one can successfully match with Wen Xishu. And even then, one would have to calculate Wen Xishu’s tower-climbing time.

Furthermore, if Wen Xishu chooses to breach the agreement and not form a team, these people would likely be thrown into danger for nothing.

Even if one manages to form a team with him... whether one can observe Wen Xishu’s actions, whether one can find clues about Wen Zhaohua, and whether one can bring them back alive if found...

...are all unknowns.

Under such circumstances, the Bunker Security Bureau is still willing to arrange for a large amount of manpower to enter the Strange Tower, expending vast resources on some criminals, low-level villains, and poor people, essentially paying them "life-buying money" to get them to form a team with Wen Xishu as much as possible.

Wen Xishu only had to simulate it briefly to realize how terrifying this cost is.

At the same time, he is also acutely aware that with such an expensive cost, if he does not cooperate, the Security Bureau will have plenty of excuses to make things difficult for him later.

He currently has not yet demonstrated enough value for Albert to protect him at all costs.

So, after much thought, Wen Xishu raised his hand; he does not know what method the Bunker Security Bureau uses to ensure whether he has formed a team with anyone.

But ultimately, out of consideration for avoiding certain troubles, he decided that for this operation, he would choose to form a team with others.

After all, for Wen Xishu, forming a team is not something he cannot accept.

Thus, Wen Xishu raised his hand and even walked around a small area, saying:

"The sixth level, is there anyone else who received the task 'The Falling Parrot'? Do you want to team up? I just feel like this is a task suitable for a team."

This time, the place Wen Xishu is heading to is no longer a place where Westerners live, like Moen City.

The area he is about to head to is a place called Jiangcheng.

Judging by the name, this place should correspond to a certain city in his home country from his past life.

This actually caught Wen Xishu by surprise and gave him a pleasant surprise.

Because he really wants to eat some hometown food. However, the task description makes him feel a bit obscure; this time, he cannot understand the content of the task description at all.

This also makes him think, perhaps teaming up could allow for collective wisdom?

The content of the task description is as follows.

[A parrot cage is a very interesting cage; it doesn't look like a cage, just a landing spot. It doesn't know what this world is like, thinking that all landing spots are the same.

Other birds also don't know that life in this kind of landing spot is like this. Just as they also don't know that parrots can fall to their deaths.

Please go to the parrot cage in Jiangcheng and find at least one contaminated item. Perhaps you can change its fate, or perhaps you will die inside?

At the same time, I also look forward to you finding all the contaminated items.]

The location of the task is Jiangcheng.

Wen Xishu does not know what kind of place Jiangcheng is; could it be that everyone there loves keeping birds? The target of this task is actually non-human?

If it is not a bird, but some kind of textual metaphor, this is a bit mind-boggling, because the task on the sixth level actually looks more obscure than the task description for the twenty-first level...

If that is truly the case, then Wen Xishu can only interpret it as an Eastern characteristic.

It is probably because Chinese people fear speaking directly in their bones, as in the ancient environment, people often "could not speak," but everyone loved to speak, so they liked to point at the mulberry tree to curse the locust tree, liked to be sarcastic, and liked to make people do reading comprehension. But this is definitely not derogatory.

Because the only ones who can play these two to perfection, turn them into a literary art, and make them pleasing to the eye, are the people of this great Nine Provinces nation.

In terms of wordplay, the tricks that Chinese can play, or rather the depth of interpretation, are absolutely the best in the world.

"I want to see what kind of parrot you are."

Wen Xishu became interested.

And around him, several people gradually gathered.

"Whoa, hey hey hey, hello hello~ My name is Kane, brother, we are really fated; we are actually on the same task."

Five people.

What Wen Xishu did not expect was that five people actually appeared here. He knows his luck is bad, but he did not expect it to be this bad.

Accepting a team and not hiding his task location was something Liu Jinsen specifically exhorted him to do.

Wen Xishu also followed suit; although he accepted the team on the surface and was not resistant, he was thinking inside: it wouldn't really be that unlucky, right? Out of seven levels and so many areas, someone just happened to be on the same level and in the same area as me?

Wen Xishu clearly underestimated his own luck.

The Dice of Reversal listing the "Not Alone" option seems to be a hint.

Five people approached Wen Xishu; counting Wen Xishu, this team has six people.

Of course, it does not exclude the possibility that there are seven, eight, or nine people, but the others are unwilling to form a team.

Wen Xishu roughly sensed that as the Three Towers Academy also announces a new credit reward mechanism, the Bunker Security Bureau and the Administration Bureau will likely increase their efforts to stimulate people to explore the Strange Tower.

It is hard to say if it will be long before one can see the Strange Tower Leaderboard, and by then, perhaps one will be able to see which level Wen Zhaohua headed to.

Wen Xishu shook hands with Kane:

"My name is..."

He hesitated for a moment; naturally, he is unwilling to tell his name. But firstly, he thought that there must be spies here who know his identity.

Secondly, once he enters the Three Towers game, it is very likely that his ID will be exposed, so Wen Xishu decided to be honest and said:

"My name is Wen Xishu."

His voice was very soft, but the next instant, the few people around all froze for a second or two.

"You... you said your name is what?" The person speaking was someone with an Indian accent; his expression made Wen Xishu believe that he is definitely not a spy.

But Wen Xishu is also certain that this Indian man is not a good bird. Because the other party does not have the stereotypical "curry smell," but rather has another kind of stereotype...

The stench of animal feces.

There is one woman among the five, and this Indian man’s gaze toward the woman has a sense of staring at prey.

Wen Xishu inexplicably thought of the many outrageous behaviors of the Indian race.

Why would a human have the stench of animal feces on them?

Wen Xishu said:

"Just the same name and surname, don't mind it."

These words made the people around relax quite a bit; of course, some were also disappointed because of this.

Wen Xishu mentioned the "same name and surname" explanation, and these people actually did not suspect it. In fact, the three characters "Wen Xishu," under the operation of the Sha Ruijing team, are already very famous.

The degree of fame is heading straight toward god-making.

Among the bottom-level people, some who have religious culture carry some superstition. They believe that the three characters "Wen Xishu" can protect them.

Therefore, many people who have recently learned of Wen Xishu's deeds have decided to change their names to Wen Xishu plus a symbol. If they can successfully return from the Strange Tower, meet the guide, and complete the registration~ there will probably be a bunch of Wen Xishus in the bunker.

Just like in his past life, where Daniel Wu had branches all over the world.

Furthermore, another reason why these people did not suspect much is that—it is impossible for Wen Xishu to appear at such a low level; this is people's stereotype.

So after Wen Xishu mentioned the same name and surname, the people around did not have much of a reaction. Some even appeared a bit disappointed, because if it really were that Wen Xishu of the bunker, they thought they would at least count as a lucky person.

The Indian man said:

"My name is Sita, friend, I used to be a zookeeper, hehehe, I hung around the functional layer of the fourth level, because... because I did some loving things to the animals, I was arrested."

"How about you guys? For what reason did you come to the Strange Tower?"

Did some... loving things to animals.

Wen Xishu smiled without mirth.

He is not surprised by the other party's self-disclosure and crimes; he is surprised that he can see it now, judging by the calm reactions of the people around—

There is not a single good person here; everyone is a villain. It is likely that each one possesses unique skills.

(End of chapter)