Chapter 53: New Anchoring

A series of messages left Wen Xishu feeling a bit dazed. It was mainly because it was so sudden—the mission was just completed like that?

He hadn't even killed those two people.

At the same time, it was the first time Wen Xishu learned that a happiness value of zero could actually be a state for completing a mission.

But after pondering it slightly, he found the principle wasn't hard to understand. Releasing hatred and desire was also a part of the Desire Tower. What Tang Rui needed was hatred, and a reason to keep hating.

If he had directly killed the couple, Tang Rui might still have harbored some illusions in her heart, causing her to be unable to truly hate.

It was just as the saying goes: loving in a muddled way, hating in a twisted way.

But by interpreting the mission, Wen Xishu had known in advance about the struggle in Tang Rui's heart. That was why he designed such a twisted game.

In fact, Wen Xishu had no interest in torturing Tang Rui's parents. This game, on the contrary, gave Tang's father and mother many chances to survive.

If only in this game, Tang Rui's parents could have made the slightest compromise or concession, could have shown the slightest bit of love and pity, could have had one percent of a parent's heartache for their child in the final choice...

Perhaps this mission would not have been completed.

But then again, if that had been the result, Tang Rui would not have become a mission target of the Desire Tower.

Everything was inevitable; there was no luck involved.

The result of this game also let Tang Rui see clearly the fact she didn't want to admit—

They really don't love me, and they don't even care about me.

In the storyline before Wen Xishu arrived, Tang Rui, who hadn't recognized this scene, would have fallen into a great predicament when the apocalypse arrived shortly after.

Few people, when desperately craving love, can distinguish whether they are being loved or being needed.

The value of the ability of Tang Rui (Trick) led to her being needed by many people, but she mistakenly thought that meant she was loved, mistakenly thinking it was a chance to reconcile with her parents.

But in the end, as more and more monsters with the "Slaughter" prefix gathered in Jiangcheng, and as the despair of the apocalypse deepened, she experienced yet another betrayal and abandonment.

This also caused her to lose the status she should have had.

Fortunately, with the arrival of Wen Xishu, a new trajectory of fate would be anchored.

Thunder rumbled, and the rain poured down. Tonight's thunderstorm felt like a grand ceremony.

This was a residential building in a housing complex; in fact, the commotion Wen Xishu and Tang Rui made had already made the residents of the building suspicious, but in the end, no one called the police.

Everything went as smoothly as if it were meant to be.

The knife in Tang Rui's hand was stained with blood. The wailing that had originally filled the room turned into dead silence. When she walked out the door, she suddenly wanted to smoke.

Wen Xishu stood beside her:

"Actually, things like doing the deed can be left to me. If you regret it in the future, you can pin the sin on me. I don't mind if you come to me for revenge."

Tang Rui shook her head:

"It's okay, thank you, Rainy Night Butcher."

Wen Xishu shrugged:

"I'm more like the one keeping watch for the butcher; you are the real butcher. I'll gift you this nickname; I've always been generous to friends."

Although Wen Xishu had participated, the one who ultimately did the deed was Tang Rui.

He had actually thought Tang Rui wouldn't really take action, at most acting as a silent witness.

But the result surprised even Wen Xishu. Deep down, this girl was a ruthless person.

When the hidden mission was finished, and when Tang Rui walked out of her parents' room, her entire temperament had changed.

The first and second times, it was Wen Xishu who invited her, but this time, Tang Rui said:

"Alright, Mr. Sentry, let's not dawdle. I have one last knot in my heart; let's go solve her!"

She rushed into the rainy night holding the knife, like a star of baleful influence.

Under the influence of "All Feelings Combined," Wen Xishu felt a kind of... killing intent even more unbridled than his own.

Jiangcheng, Jiangcheng Youth Talent Apartment.

In the commercial district of Jiangcheng, there were several huge office buildings where people from all walks of life gathered. But most were insurance company, bank, telecom, and Unicom outsourced sales agents, as well as some real estate sales personnel.

In fact, Lin Huiru was not doing well. After she spread rumors about Tang Rui out of jealousy, that boss soon fired Lin Huiru as well.

That boss actually felt in his heart that a girl like Tang Rui who worked steadily shouldn't be treated like that.

In fact, the boss himself was also a victim of the rumors.

When Lin Huiru's words, "Doing these things is just to sell for a good price to the boss," spread, the boss's own reputation was also damaged.

Lin Huiru was fired. If not for her rumors, perhaps Tang Rui would have truly been appreciated, her life would have been different, and she wouldn't always have met the wrong people.

Of course, there are no "ifs" in this world. For Lin Huiru, she hated Tang Rui for a lifetime, thinking that being fired was all Tang Rui's fault.

She cursed Tang Rui more than once for causing her to lose her original good job.

Now, she worked as an after-sales customer service representative for health supplements, because her only advantage... was a sweet voice.

On this rainy night, the impact on the Youth Talent Apartment was somewhat significant.

The power was out here.

Thinking about how she now lived in a dump like the Talent Apartment, thinking about how she could have lived in a better place... she started cursing Tang Rui again.

"Damn bitch, damn bitch! It's all your fault! It's all because of you!"

She cursed like this from time to time, and whenever she was at the dinner table, she would recount how she had pitied Tang Rui back then, only to be harmed by an ungrateful wretch.

But suddenly, Lin Huiru stopped cursing.

She shivered, and an intense feeling of fear struck, making Lin Huiru's throat feel as if it were blocked.

Another bang, another "forgot the key" break-in, and another Rainy Night Butcher and Rainy Night Butcher navigator duo.

"Xiao Ru, I've come to see you."

The difference was that this time, Wen Xishu was no longer the first to speak.

Tang Rui's hoarse voice carried a hint of excitement.

No excessive introduction was needed; under the influence of "All Feelings Combined," Lin Huiru had already felt the chill of death.

It was as if her whole person had arrived in the depths of an ice cellar, and then a huge, evil ghost covered in ice thorns appeared behind her.

In just an instant, she recognized the soaking wet woman before her.

"It's you... how could you be here? Why would you appear here?! What are you doing! Doing what!"

Lin Huiru's goosebumps rose! She saw the knife held in Tang Rui's hand.

"Xiao Ru, we are good sisters. The rain is too heavy, so I came to see you."

She's learned the ropes.

Wen Xishu looked at Tang Rui's temperament and felt it was handled very well, already possessing a bit of his own style.

Saying "I've come to kill you" was too narrow in imagery. But saying "the rain is too heavy, I came to see you" made people ponder it quite a bit.

Outside was bitter rain and desolate wind; inside was a resentful woman in the dark.

Lin Huiru wanted to scream, but the next second, Tang Rui grabbed Lin Huiru's hair and pulled hard, dragging her off the bed.

"Shh!"

A finger pressed against Lin Huiru's lips, and Tang Rui said softly:

"Be quiet, Xiao Ru. If you had learned to keep silent all these years, how good that would have been."

The sharp knife carved a scarlet mark on Lin Huiru's skin.

Lin Huiru wanted to wail in pain, but when her eyes met Tang Rui's ferocious gaze, and when the chill of "All Feelings Combined" multiplied...

She suddenly didn't dare to speak.

Wen Xishu had to admit that Tang Rui was simply a genius at mastering sequence powers.

She seemed to be able to command "All Feelings Combined" to make the other person feel the emotions she wanted to create.

It should have been painful, should have been screaming, should have been wailing. But Lin Huiru just couldn't shout; she was enveloped in endless cold, situated in total despair.

Before that rumor arrived, Tang Rui naively thought that life was really getting better, that "bitterness ends and sweetness begins" actually existed.

But she didn't expect that everything she earned through her own efforts would be destroyed by her best friend. At that time, she truly felt like she had fallen into an ice cave.

The knife pierced into flesh.

"Why aren't you smiling? Smile a little; your smile is very sweet, and I might stop." Tang Rui asked softly.

That day in her memory, when the rumors were flying, Lin Huiru had smiled as if nothing had happened.

It was as if Tang Rui's world collapsing didn't affect the peaceful days, and the air even became more fragrant.

She still smiled sweetly at Tang Rui, thinking it was just an ordinary joke, completely unaware of the harm her actions would cause Tang Rui.

Now, whenever Tang Rui recalled this kind of smile, she felt disgusted. Every time she was bullied in college, she saw such a smile on Lin Huiru's face.

That wasn't a smile of comfort; it was a smile of a scheme succeeding. If one thought about it carefully, the many malicious acts suffered in college might all have been related to the owner of this smile.

Lin Huiru was very obedient; fear forced her to smile. That smile was as ugly as it could be.

Tang Rui also smiled; she even smiled with a hint of charm.

Seeing this, Wen Xishu knew that the suffering and story belonging to Tang Rui (Desire) had indeed come to an end.

The knot in her heart had disappeared. The scum had the ending of scum, and the degenerate had the ending of a degenerate.

As for whether she would coexist with slaughter and kindness or become a thorough demon after the cold apocalypse arrived, that was not something Wen Xishu needed to care about.

Wen Xishu only knew one thing: as a player, what one had to do was survive in the game and keep getting stronger.

And all of this was reflected in the Three Towers game as—accepting the mission, understanding the mission, and completing the mission.

……

The sound of the torrential rain masked too much clamor and sin. After Tang Rui walked out, the blood on her face looked like a flower in full bloom.

The heavy rain quickly washed away that scarlet flower, but the smile on Tang Rui's face did not disappear.

"This really is a crazy and long night. Thank you for coming. Tonight, for me... it really is crazy. From the moment I drank that glass of wine, everything has seemed unbelievable."

Originally, after today, the craziest thing Tang Rui was going to do was end her own life, like a parrot that had fallen to its death.

Although under the influence of the bizarre power, she did not truly die, every day thereafter was lived in pain and self-doubt, a life worse than death.

Wen Xishu did not think this was all that crazy:

"This is just an ordinary night. Don't take it too much to heart."

"If order were not to collapse, if the apocalypse were not to arrive, then for you and me, this would indeed be a crazy and sinful night."

"But as I said, the apocalypse is coming, and compared to the real apocalypse, everything tonight is nothing."

"You will see a lot of real slaughter before long."

A storm in a teacup is not worth mentioning when placed in a bathtub. Although Wen Xishu was not clear about what kind of impact that apocalypse would have on the human world...

But if the Bunker Era could be considered the center for human survivors in the post-apocalyptic age, then that apocalypse would at least destroy about ninety percent of humanity.

Of course, one cannot say because of this that since most people are going to die anyway, it does no harm for me to kill a few in advance.

However, the value of the Desire Tower lies in changing the fate trajectories of these bosses in the Bizarre Tower and the Slaughter Tower.

Once these trajectories are changed, humanity's fate on a macro level might also be influenced for the better.

For example, he had unlocked the conditions to recruit Slaughter Jack and Slaughter Jennifer; if he were to actually recruit them in the future, that would surely be a huge surprise for humanity in deciphering the three towers.

Today was the same.

For Wen Xishu, killing a few pieces of human scum on the eve of the apocalypse to exchange for the promotion of a Slaughter Tower boss and the rewards of a Desire Tower mission was simply satisfying and cost-effective.

Of course, he could not explain these things clearly to Tang Rui. There is always a huge boundary between players and NPCs.

Tang Rui suddenly spoke:

"Will we... meet again?"

"Hard to say, but in all likelihood, we won't meet again."

Wen Xishu said it very bluntly.

It was not that he did not want to see Slaughter Jack, Slaughter Jennifer, or Slaughter Tang Rui again.

It was that he could not access the Slaughter Tower in the short term; exploring the Bizarre Tower was his main theme. Even if he did explore the Slaughter Tower in the future, he might not necessarily encounter them; after all, the Slaughter Tower was vast.

Tang Rui was quite reluctant, but she sensed that this crazy man would appear suddenly and disappear just as suddenly.

Rather than looking back suddenly only to find the place empty, it was better to have a dignified farewell. Tang Rui reached out her hand:

"Then let's get to know each other properly and then say goodbye properly. My name is Tang Rui. I believe what you said—the apocalypse will descend."

"I think that since you appeared suddenly, you must have hoped that I would survive the apocalypse. Don't worry, I will live. I will live until the day I meet you again. I have a premonition that we will meet again."

"Perhaps by then, you will really need me."

Wen Xishu also smiled and reached out his hand.

"My name is Wen Xishu. This heavy rain doesn't look simple. In Jiangcheng, there might be 'Awakened' hiding who have even higher potential than you."

"The world will soon become chaotic, and your abilities will become increasingly prominent. Tang Rui, protect yourself, hide yourself well, and don't trust people easily."

The heavy rain had not yet ended, but this rainy night had reached its conclusion. The farewell between the two killers did not have too much awkwardness or chatter.

"Alright, I'll remember that. Goodbye, sentry of the Rainy Night Butcher."

"Goodbye, Rainy Night Butcher."

The two shook hands and then went their separate ways.

……

……

The heavy rain showed no signs of weakening. Wen Xishu had not guessed wrong; this rain was indeed not simple.

In the Desire Tower, not every mission target was meant to be abused by those around them and experience pain and incompleteness.

There were also some extremely special existences.

But that did not belong to the parrot's story; those were other people and other matters. Although Wen Xishu sensed that something was wrong, he did not want to create extra complications.

After Tang Rui's figure completely disappeared into the rainy night, he reviewed the characteristics of the three people who had been killed.

"The three items corresponding to the three people... I actually already know them. At least for three of the scenes, I am confident I can speedrun them."

"But there are four doors."

"It's strange. In the truth-telling game, Tang Rui's meaning was that there was no fourth thing that made her incomplete."

"But there should be one..."

Wen Xishu could not figure out why. In fact, he had already heard the answer in the hints, but at this moment, he had overlooked a piece of logic.

Fortunately, when his hand pressed onto the invitation and he prepared to return... he suddenly understood.

Wen Xishu was delighted:

"So that's it, so that's it... Now there are no problems at all. This way, not only can I speedrun the Desire Tower, I can also speedrun the Bizarre Tower."

(End of chapter)