Chapter 76: The Miracle Building in the Tower of Desire

Wen Xishu naturally knew that human strength could not outrun an engine. So, after riding out of the Hujiang Park area and seeing the road for motor vehicles... he immediately made a decision.

48 hours had already passed by forty minutes, and he didn't even know where his mission target was. To prevent himself from dying in the Desire Tower... Wen Xishu decided to commit a series of crimes.

He planned to repeat what he had done to that A-Hui a few more times.

At the edge of the road, Wen Xishu hailed a taxi. After getting in, Wen Xishu said:

"Master, Miracle Building."

The taxi driver frowned:

"Customer, that place has had a bad reputation lately. Why don't you get out? I... I won't take this fare."

Wen Xishu was quite surprised.

"I'll pay extra, Master."

"No matter how much you add, I won't go... Sorry, sorry, please don't report me, I really don't dare to go there."

The driver seemed to feel it necessary to be clear, not wanting Wen Xishu to die in vain, so he said:

"I have a friend who interviewed for an elevator maintenance job there... and suddenly lost contact. Yesterday, he appeared on screen speaking up for Miracle Building."

"But the way he looked... it was too eerie. That look of pure happiness, when clearly... clearly he was a man with a short temper who didn't like to smile, and that kind of thing had happened in his family."

Wen Xishu immediately thought of the person in the elevator. It seemed these staff members had all suffered from a terrifying, eerie invasion and had completely changed. He asked:

"What kind of thing?"

Little people in the city are exceptionally sharp when it comes to survival. Whether it was A-Hui or this driver... they all avoided the place called Miracle Building.

Wen Xishu still admired them for this.

On the contrary, people like Jiang Yingce and Yin Junchi had all gone inside one by one.

"His family had some trouble; his child died, his wife ran away... but that smile of his, it was as if he knew nothing about it. No... even if he really didn't know, his life was a mess, he shouldn't have been wearing a smile like that. Customer, I really can't go there."

Wen Xishu nodded, understanding the driver, but he didn't intend to waste time:

"Sorry, Master, I'm in a rush to save the world."

After these words, Wen Xishu saw the multiple-choice question again.

[You have quickly seized an opportunity to get closer to the main objective; your boundary-crossing behavior has caused your alignment to change.]

[Now you decide:]

Wen Xishu chose to hijack the car; he didn't even consider the other options. Since his points were at 19, which counted as a great success, this carjacking was very smooth.

Wen Xishu's movements were textbook standard for an action movie.

He began a series of silky-smooth combos: an elbow strike to stun the opponent, kicking the person out of the car, gripping the steering wheel to make a sharp U-turn, and driving off with the stolen car.

All actions were completed in one go.

Very few people in the bunker could master driving skills, but Wen Xishu had the memories of his past life. He slammed on the gas and began to speed toward Miracle Building.

It was also at this moment that Wen Xishu saw a prompt again.

[Sin value +3, current wanted level: one star.]

[Some police have already heard about you; a small number of police will spawn in the area. They don't know your exact location, but they will keep closing in on you.]

[The wanted status lasts for five minutes. If you commit new crimes during this process, the wanted level will rise to two stars.]

Good grief.

Wen Xishu began to realize the terror of those who possessed the constellation names.

He didn't know the abilities of Eerie Virgo and Eerie Gemini yet, but Scorpio was real—it had injected a massive amount of game content into an incredibly realistic experience.

He had actually been wanted, just like in that Game 5.

However, Wen Xishu wasn't panicked. In his impression, the one-star wanted level in many games could be easily shaken off. He quickly determined the best route via navigation and headed toward Miracle Building at maximum speed.

"The area I'm in isn't far from the Jiangnan District... only about twenty-some kilometers. I hope I can find An Jincheng on the forty-second floor of Miracle Building."

That was what Wen Xishu thought; as long as he found An Jincheng, he would have a way to figure out the ins and outs of the entire Inverse Seven story.

But in the next half hour, he was exceptionally miserable; several times, he was forced to change his route.

In the gamified Desire Tower, Wen Xishu's navigation system could actually display the wanted range of police cars.

He had to find ways to avoid the red circles on the navigation map. This status was said to last only five minutes, but because he was forced into the wanted range several times, the timer to clear the wanted status had to restart every time.

This also made Wen Xishu quite miserable.

……

……

Jicheng, Jiangnan District, outside the main entrance of Miracle Building.

When Wen Xishu approached the building in the car, he saw a red Ferrari supercar parked outside the gate. The female driver in the supercar looked somewhat familiar to Wen Xishu.

Not long ago, Wen Xishu had shaken off the one-star wanted status and regained his innocent status. He honked the horn, and the female driver in the car turned her head to look at him.

The female driver immediately broke into a smile:

"A-Shu!"

Wen Xishu hadn't expected to meet A-Miao here; this was much earlier than he had anticipated.

Wen Xishu said:

"A-Miao, why are you here?"

"I had a hunch you would come here looking for clues, so I headed straight here," A-Miao said.

Wen Xishu asked again:

"What's up with this car?"

A-Miao said:

"I'm not sure either. It seems I just appeared in the car from the very beginning."

Wen Xishu was speechless:

"You know how to drive?"

A-Miao shook her head:

"No, but my initial identity does, and it seems to be quite impressive—I'm a race car driver. This is also my first time experiencing this kind of thrill."

Wen Xishu was speechless:

"And you drove all the way here without encountering any obstacles?"

A-Miao still shook her head:

"It went very smoothly... I drove at maximum horsepower the whole way, but the road conditions were quite good, and I basically never stopped."

Wen Xishu was very speechless:

"So, all the luck went to me, but all the good fortune went to you, right?"

Even so, Wen Xishu was still very happy. A-Miao had indeed grown a lot; he had originally thought she wouldn't easily reunite with him, and in his default plan, A-Miao wouldn't provide any help.

But now it seemed A-Miao's role was significant, whether it was the sports car or A-Miao's driving skills.

A-Miao looked at the fence and the gate ahead:

"A-Shu, what are we going to do now?"

Wen Xishu also looked ahead, and after a few seconds of silence, he slowly opened his mouth to ask:

"Is this Desire Tower experience any different from your last one? Do you suddenly get prompts and choices popping up?"

A-Miao nodded:

"Yes."

Wen Xishu said: "Then don't do anything. Just wait for the options to appear. You hide nearby for now and don't enter Miracle Building. Your race car driver skill is very useful; perhaps the key to our race against time lies with you."

"By the way, what's your phone number?"

A-Miao took out her phone, and they exchanged numbers. Wen Xishu's phone was stolen, but A-Miao's phone came with her identity.

A-Miao said:

"Do I just need to wait outside to pick you up? Don't you need my help? A-Shu, I'm still very useful now!"

Wen Xishu smiled. He indeed noticed that there was no more fear in A-Miao's eyes—not the kind stemming from blind joy, but true courage.

He shook his head and smiled:

"You can only help me if you're outside, because I'm going to become invisible to others from here on out; you following me will only affect me. But don't worry, you are not useless."

"Remember what I said? Even if it's just consuming action points to initiate a meeting, that person is valuable. And A-Miao, you've already done very well."

A-Miao nodded and said:

"Okay, then I'll wait for you. Just give me a call, and I'll dare to drive the car right in!"

Wen Xishu didn't doubt A-Miao's words at all:

"Good, wait for my news."

The two parted ways outside Miracle Building. A-Miao drove off, and after Wen Xishu got out of the car, he arrived at the entrance of Miracle Building.

In the past few days, Miracle Building had been exposed for having many negative reports, saying that many evil things had happened inside and many people had been harmed, but these people had all appeared on camera to personally debunk the rumors, stating that they were living very happily in Miracle Building.

Wen Xishu suddenly remembered this sentence mentioned in the mission prompt, which was also what he had said to Yin Junchi:

They gather, they revel, they begin to love one another, and gradually, they begin to know the contents of the apocalypse in advance, and they also begin to make preparations for the arrival of the apocalypse.

Did this "they" refer to the residents inside Miracle Apartments? These residents had nothing to do with the seven households affected by the Inverse Seven, but were all the ordinary people filling up the entire Miracle Apartment building.

They gather, they revel, love one another, and prepare for the apocalypse. Could this be interpreted as—they had been assimilated?

Had they turned into some kind of... eerie existence?

Just like the staff member Wen Xishu had encountered in the elevator last night.

Wen Xishu didn't think too much about it and walked toward the interior of the Miracle Apartment building.

At the entrance, security personnel soon approached, using very formulaic, stiff smiles and mechanical tones to say:

"Hello, this is Miracle Building. If you are not a resident or staff member of this building, please leave."

The two tall security guards smiled in unison, a smile that was somewhat goosebump-inducing. They were practically like machines.

But that was not the most terrifying part; what made one’s back feel cold was looking through the main entrance into the lobby on the first floor, where many building residents dressed in green clothing were present.

Some were sweeping the floor, some were getting water by the dispenser, and some were looking at each other, as if communicating.

If one didn't look closely, at first glance, the first floor of this Miracle Building in the Desire Tower appeared very lively and full of human presence.

Yet, all of this felt like a disguise.

The moment the two security guards discovered Wen Xishu and smiled at him, these people all turned their heads at the exact same time.

Wen Xishu only saw a split second where everyone stopped what they were doing, turned their heads in unison, and looked at Wen Xishu with the same smile as the guards.

If one were to ask what was wrong with this smile, it would be hard to say. But with everyone doing it, it would be fine in a photograph, but in a sudden, fleeting moment, it still made one feel strange.

Wen Xishu was no pushover either; he flashed the same smile back.

At this moment, options appeared.

[You see their smiles and are even more certain that things here are not simple. You decide—]

Among these options, there were three that interested Wen Xishu.

[Option 3: Attempt to interview for a security guard position.]

[Option 7: Awaken the security guards.]

[Option 12: Blend in. (This option is provided by the item "Gradual Indifference")]

Wen Xishu actually really wanted to try 3 and 7. But considering the low success probability of these two events and the slim chance of rolling a high number...

He ultimately chose 12.

That 24-sided die, which only he could see, spun once more. The result was 22.

[You rolled a 22. The necklace will deduct more of your health, but in return, it will grant you higher initial favorability and minimize your presence to the greatest extent.]

After a few times, Wen Xishu noticed that the rolls were quite high. He realized that if the choice made was correct, it would be easy to trigger higher rolls, bringing additional attribute bonuses.

Visibly, Wen Xishu began to grow weak; consuming thirty percent of his current health made his complexion turn pale in an instant.

The purple-grade necklace that Wenren Jing had bestowed upon Wen Xishu was already a bug-tier item, and combined with the unique game bonus under the Scorpio mode—

The smiles on the two security guards began to vanish rapidly.

At first, Wen Xishu thought there was a problem with the item... why did the original sweet smile disappear?

But suddenly, Wen Xishu realized that these two guards seemed to have ignored him entirely and returned to their original posts.

Wen Xishu stepped one foot into the entrance; the two guards saw it, but did not take any action against him.

Wen Xishu was stunned.

"They've completely mistaken me for one of their own, haven't they?"

The reduction in presence was, of course, not a bug-like invisibility as seen in basketball anime, but rather, when you walked past someone, they simply felt as natural as if an incredibly familiar person had walked by.

Wen Xishu did not delay; this necklace, which consumed a massive amount of health, had a duration. The duration was half an hour.

The range covered by the necklace was enough for Wen Xishu to move through the building unimpeded; he had to find An Jincheng within the duration.

Wen Xishu walked toward the interior of the building.

Along the way, the scene was completely different from that in the Ghost Tower. There were very few people in the Ghost Tower, but the building in the Desire Tower was full of people everywhere.

These people all had numb expressions, mechanically repeating their own actions.

Wen Xishu had a feeling that the Ghost Tower seemed more normal than the Desire Tower, and the Desire Tower seemed more twisted than the Ghost Tower. These people were all the same as the staff he encountered in the elevator, wearing green clothes.

They all ignored Wen Xishu, as if Wen Xishu were one of them.

In the elevator, Wen Xishu encountered that staff member again, but the other party acted as if they didn't see Wen Xishu, merely standing with their back to the elevator door.

The forty-second floor still required a keycard to press. So, Wen Xishu pressed the forty-first floor.

This time, the elevator in the Desire Tower had nothing strange about it. Wen Xishu arrived at the forty-first floor quickly, and without any delay, he headed toward the stairs to the forty-first floor.

The stairwell leading to the forty-second floor was guarded by two more people in green. But under the effect of Wenren Jing's necklace, these two let Wen Xishu pass directly.

Wen Xishu sighed with emotion; as expected of Wenren Jing, the gift was too generous.

This necklace's attributes were indeed powerful. But if he didn't leave this building in time after the duration ended, the consequences would be severe.

Because everyone in the entire building affected by the necklace would slowly develop a sense of disgust toward him.

Wen Xishu wasted almost no time and jogged toward 42-7.

At the entrance to 42-7, there were two more staff members in green guarding it.

"The configuration of the Desire Tower might be exactly the same as the Ghost Tower in some places. Looking at it this way... if I had rashly headed to the 42nd floor in the Ghost Tower, I would likely have encountered the ghostified staff directly."

If one's Magic Resistance was insufficient, even just the staff could easily kill a tower climber. Wen Xishu was fortunate that he did not force an exploration of 42-7 in the Ghost Tower.

This was the Desire Tower, and under the effect of the necklace, Wen Xishu knocked on the door directly.

The two guards first glanced at Wen Xishu, the smiles on their faces initially forming rapidly, but gradually, the smiles began to disappear bit by bit.

Finally, the two guards stood motionless, no longer paying any attention to Wen Xishu.

"If these people still had self-awareness... perhaps they would be very friendly to me, but now, they look as if their self-awareness has been erased by some power; everyone has become a puppet of this building."

"In the Ghost Tower, the other six households were all affected by the ghosts, and some places were abnormally exaggerated; as it stands now, they haven't moved in yet."

"And An Jincheng... who is the later An Zhenqi, was the first to move in; in other words, he has been affected for the longest time."

"I wonder what kind of state he has been twisted into by the effect of the Inverse Seven."

(End of chapter)