Chapter 66: The Future of the Xishu Divine Sect

The Miracle Apartment, the first day of the seven-day survival, has begun. This is also a day with almost zero risk, akin to a tower of desire.

After the five of them—Wen Xiange and Wen Xishu included—all moved into the apartment building, all the options appeared in everyone’s eyes.

[Explore the Miracle Apartment building: Consumes 50 Action Points.]

[Initiate a new resident meeting: Consumes 25 Action Points.]

[Explore your own room: Consumes 25 Action Points.]

[Interact with neighbors: Consumes 50 Action Points.]

[Note: Exploration content and interaction content are not fixed.]

It is already past noon, and for Wen Xishu, the morning time was somewhat wasted.

He is currently testing everything in the room.

When Wen Xishu chooses to return to the bed, or chooses to prepare a meal, or chooses to tidy up the room... none of these trigger the prompt for consuming Action Points.

But when Wen Xishu prepares to observe the room carefully, and his mind begins to ponder the room's structural layout or hidden secrets—when such mental activity occurs...

Then [If you continue this type of action, it will automatically select "Explore your own room" and deduct the corresponding 25 Action Points] will appear.

Wen Xishu is not yet sure whether Action Points are abundant or tight in this "Reverse Seven Plan."

He just discovered a key point in the mission prompt, but now he is struggling with whether to initiate a meeting and consume 25 Action Points to tell everyone.

"If I treat this as a pure single-player game... then I can ignore whether they live or die."

This is actually the most comfortable and natural approach for Wen Xishu. However, the problem is that the benefits of uniting others are very high.

"Assuming everyone has one hundred Action Points per day... then everyone can explore the building twice."

"Exploring the building consumes the most points, which also means that exploring the building can yield the most intelligence."

"If I choose to act alone, then exploring the building and interacting with neighbors can only be done once at most. But if we act as a group, other people's intelligence can also be acquired."

Ultimately, Wen Xishu makes a decision: to cooperate with his teammates.

He prepares to consume 25 Action Points, which would leave him with only seventy points remaining...

But seventy points is effectively only 50 points, because the two remaining options that require Action Points have values of 25 and 50 respectively.

To maximize gains, one can only choose 50. The remaining 20 points cannot be used for anything.

Wen Xishu could be said to be taking a huge loss, but after calculating the gains of playing solo versus teaming up, although it pains him, he does not hesitate.

However, just as Wen Xishu is about to initiate the meeting... he suddenly sees the following prompt.

[A fellow resident, ID Wen Xiange, has initiated a meeting. Do you choose to join?]

Someone has beaten Wen Xishu to it and initiated the meeting. Wen Xishu’s Action Points are thus saved.

It must be said that this move surprises Wen Xishu somewhat. Because Wen Xishu defaults to assuming all business partners are idiots. He defaults to assuming his own teammates are simple-difficulty AI.

This is not arrogance, but rather the only way to place himself in the worst possible environmental atmosphere, forcing himself to exert his full potential.

Wen Xishu chooses to join the meeting.

The moment he makes the choice, four floating squares appear before Wen Xishu’s eyes, as if projected.

The four squares correspond to Xiao Wu, A Miao, Wu Xiangjiao, and Wen Xiange, respectively.

[Meeting duration: fifteen minutes.]

Too stingy. Wen Xishu cannot help but lament; spending 25 Action Points only buys fifteen minutes of talk time.

"Everyone, everyone, I’ve discovered that these Action Points seem very tight... We need to save seven households, but we can only interact with them twice a day..."

"I’m thinking, we really need to cooperate well, so I spent some Action Points, hoping we can set some rules."

Wen Xishu is now convinced that this big bald guy isn't just good at bluffing; he truly has some sense of the big picture.

Wu Xiangjiao suddenly speaks up at this moment:

"Venerable One, I actually... wanted to explore the room just now. My thought was, this thing doesn't consume too many Action Points, but, it's where I live, and what if there’s something weird in this place..."

"I don't even dare to think about it; I can't even sleep well. This mission of ours, it might not necessarily take seven days, but it certainly won't be completed in a day or two..."

"But I found that if I really want to explore the room, I’m quite confused, because... many items appear as garbled text to me."

Upon hearing "garbled text," A Miao also says:

"Me too... When I was tidying the room, I found that some items could pop up notes, but they were all garbled text."

"This... I think even if I consume Action Points, I’m afraid I won't be able to do anything. How about you guys?"

A Wu says:

"I can see some characters, but they are also covered by a lot of garbled text; the meaning of many things cannot be determined."

"Actually, me too..." says Wen Xiange.

Wen Xishu, however, has not discovered any abnormalities; one six-level completion at the twenty-first floor and one six-level completion at the sixth floor gave him fifteen points of Magic Resistance.

Facing the seventh floor, Wen Xishu encountered almost nothing with excessive garbled text, so he hadn't noticed this point.

"Me too, I can see a little text, and there is a lot of garbled text, but I can roughly guess what combinations there might be. If you trust me, the exploration task can be left to me," says Wen Xishu.

"However, my personal suggestion is that we collectively choose to interact with our neighbors first today."

"After the interactions are finished, one person will initiate a meeting, and then we can exchange the intelligence gathered from the interactions."

"Although I can explore and can barely decipher some items, I cannot rule out the possibility that my neighbors are indeed very important."

"If I only do the exploration work, it will very likely lead to information blind spots."

Wen Xishu’s logic is very clear, and Wen Xiange feels it makes a lot of sense:

"Worthy of having an ID with the same name as my Lord, what you say makes a lot of sense. I agree."

"I agree too."

"Agree."

"Agree."

The other three also express their stance.

Wen Xishu continues:

"Then let’s draft an order. First, let’s be clear: since initiating a meeting requires deducting Action Points, and everyone has Action Points, there are no useless people in the team."

"Even if someone does nothing else but is responsible for initiating the meeting, their value is important. Do you agree?"

Wen Xiange is very moved:

"A-Shu, you are simply the pillar of my Xishu Divine Sect! Such words that are so conducive to unity must be spoken more often!"

Tsk, if you and Sha Ruiqing were to team up, the two of you could surely have your conversations compiled into a textbook on moral education.

Wen Xishu is still satisfied with Wen Xiange’s perspective. Logically speaking, as the "Venerable Wen" in the mouths of others, he should be the leader. But Wen Xishu’s current behavior has quite a bit of a power-grabbing feel to it.

Yet Wen Xiange does not feel offended in the slightest; he even feels that what Wen Xishu said is very correct.

Wen Xishu continues:

"Today, everyone should uniformly talk to their neighbors first, and then tomorrow we will make additional divisions based on the usefulness of the gathered intelligence."

"Finally, I want to ask about everyone’s mission descriptions."

Wen Xiange cooperatively says:

"Before the apocalypse descends, there is also a portion of people who do not possess the qualifications for evolution who have also noticed the clues..."

His description is mostly similar to Wen Xishu’s. The other three also indicate that their mission descriptions are no different.

But Wen Xishu discovers that Wen Xiange’s description is still somewhat different from his own.

Wen Xiange’s mission description is missing the beginning and the end. Wen Xishu realizes that those are the mission descriptions exclusive to him—

You have gradually discovered that after a certain time node, the apocalypse will descend. At the same time, you have also discovered that a small number of people are changing, while the majority have not noticed.

Combining the mission descriptions of the others and the final character—"Demon"—Wen Xishu has actually already formed a preliminary analysis of this mission.

"Everyone, pay attention to this sentence: 'Before the apocalypse descends, there is a portion of people who do not possess the qualifications for evolution who have noticed the clues.'"

"This means that there are people in this world who possess the qualifications for evolution; they are very likely the monsters in the later Slaughter Tower and Trick Tower."

"But there are also some ordinary people who have noticed the apocalypse descending."

"And think about it: this building comes from one of the top financial conglomerates in Jicheng, yet it only charges an extremely low rent."

"Think carefully: that staff member said we are the lucky ones, because land in Jicheng is worth its weight in gold, and because this building has extremely high-end configurations with low rent, so many people must want to move in."

"This means we were screened to get in. Including the seven households that are about to die, they were also screened. This kind of screening should not be random, but contain some kind of trait."

"If we interpret the mission carefully, we can actually reach a conclusion—"

"The apocalypse is coming, there are many strange phenomena, and there are many abnormal people. No matter how rich you are, after the apocalypse descends and the world order collapses, you are just a piece of meat to be carved up by monsters."

"In order to survive the apocalypse, if you are a super-rich person... after already knowing about some strange phenomena that cannot be explained by science, you suddenly choose to spare no expense to build a building, and in the building, there are seven households you carefully selected..."

"Seven households you carefully selected, and they will all die."

"What do you all think this looks like?"

A Miao, Xiao Wu, and Wu Xiangjiao do not answer; they are still somewhat bewildered, but Wen Xiange, as a cult leader, as the Venerable One of the Xishu Divine Sect...

He thinks of this behavior, which fits the actions of some evil cults. Wen Xiange says with a trembling voice:

"This... could this be... a sacrifice?"

Wen Xishu nods:

"Correct answer. The reason I said all this is that I hope everyone can understand that we need to find the strange points about these seven households."

"Interact with your neighbors and ask them as much as possible about the strange things they have felt. Do not engage in idle chatter."

"Once we figure out the commonality of these seven households, we may be able to prevent their deaths and terminate this sacrifice."

Wen Xiange laments:

"A-Shu, you are absolutely suitable to be the High Priest of our Xishu Divine Sect! You are truly the future of the Xishu Divine Sect!"

Xiao Wu also says:

"Although I didn't think of any of this at all, what you said makes a lot of sense."

A-Miao gave a hum:

"I understand. You're right, we'll do as you say."

Wu Xiangjiao said:

"Time is running out, shall we start now?"

Wen Xishu thought for a moment, and having nothing else to add for the time being, the meeting concluded.

At this point, Wen Xishu had 95 points of Action Power remaining; he could choose to explore the apartment or interact with neighbors.

Wen Xishu decided to explore the apartment later.

He walked decisively toward the door, and as he touched the handle, a prompt offering two choices appeared in his mind.

[You are about to step out of the room. You seem to have some leads; what do you decide to do?]

[1: Explore the Miracle Apartment building: Consumes 50 Action Power.]

[2: Interact with neighbors: Consumes 50 Action Power.]

Wen Xishu chose two. At this moment, his body actually began to move on its own.

At the same time, A-Miao and Wu Xiangjiao also chose two. Wen Xiange and Xiao Wu decided to do some preparatory work first.

A-Miao was terrified, never expecting to lose control over her own body. Wu Xiangjiao also cursed under his breath; this Weird Tower was truly bizarre. If the Weird Tower possessed this kind of power to control one's body...

Wouldn't there be a possibility of being manipulated by mysterious forces to commit acts that harm one's own body?

No wonder that although the monsters in the Slaughter Tower are very strong, the mortality rate for exploring the Weird Tower is even higher.

Wen Xishu, however, adapted quite quickly, feeling that this was actually rather convenient.

His body began to move, walked to the door of 14-1, and then knocked on the door.

The door opened.

The man who opened the door was a man with quite delicate features. He wore glasses, his hair was somewhat sparse, and his hairline was high. He looked to be in his thirties, with excitement in his eyes, but also heavy dark circles:

"Hello, I just moved in, I'm your neighbor, my name is Wen Xishu."

Wen Xishu extended his hand:

"If you need help with anything in the future, you can come to me; I especially love helping others."

The man also smiled, appearing quite polite:

"My name is Yin Junchi."

Wen Xishu said:

"I don't know why I was chosen, but I'm fortunate to move in here. I'm the type of person who really likes dealing with people. By the way, I know a bit about Feng Shui; if some things aren't placed correctly, you might not sleep well."

"Perhaps that's why I was chosen? Hahaha, anyway, we're all neighbors, if there's anything you need help with, remember to find me. I'll be very happy to help you."

Up to this point, Wen Xishu had not discovered any weird elements.

When he opened the door and saw Yin Junchi, he hadn't expected the other party's state to be so normal.

This place was almost like the Desire Tower.

But no matter how similar it was, this was still just the Weird Tower. Wen Xishu was certain that weird elements existed here.

And judging by Yin Junchi's dark circles, this person definitely did not sleep well.

Not sleeping well, combined with the presence of weird elements—these traits combined led Wen Xishu to quickly fabricate a profession as a Feng Shui master for himself.

Sure enough, when Yin Junchi heard that the other party understood Feng Shui, his attitude immediately became even friendlier.

"Oh, really? That's great... Honestly, I moved in here yesterday and felt something was wrong; I just couldn't fall asleep."

A lead right from the start; Wen Xishu was very satisfied with this opening. He feigned a solemn expression:

"Would it be convenient for me to come in and take a look?"

Yin Junchi nodded:

"Welcome, welcome. Ah, no need to take off your shoes; I'm only staying for a short while. Once I finish my manuscript, I'll be moving out."

Wen Xishu said:

"What do you write?"

"I write weird fiction," Yin Junchi said with a hint of pride.

In Wen Xishu's past life, the country of South Korea had many drawbacks, but one thing was true: the status of authors in this country was indeed relatively high.

Wen Xishu said:

"This place must give you a lot of inspiration?"

Yin Junchi's expression became a bit strange. He did not deny it; this place did indeed give him inspiration.

Even... a sense of being there in person.

(Correcting an error: previously the floor residents were written as 15 households, but after recalculating, it was discovered it should be 13 households. Correcting it here; it doesn't really affect your reading.)

(End of chapter)