Chapter 92: Perfect Display

Wen Xishu’s eyes lit up. He immediately manipulated Zheng Zai to unleash two consecutive crescent-moon Qi slashes, forcing the monsters back while using the recoil to jump backward repeatedly, landing directly beside him.

At the same time, Zheng Zai found his body uncontrollably removing the iron mask.

"Brother Wen! What are you trying to make me do!"

As Zheng Zai spoke, his hands, under Wen Xishu’s control, began to press down on Wen Xishu’s shoulders.

He was already full of astonishment, and now with his mouth hanging wide open, he looked even more shocked.

"Don't! I'm not hungry! And I definitely don't want to hurt you!"

"Of course I'm helping you recover health; what else would I be doing? Besides, you can't hurt me."

Wen Xishu spoke with great ease and composure. But to Wang Ying, Aspasia, and even Zheng Zai himself, this act was horrifying.

"Is this kid crazy? Does he intend to feed his own flesh to Zheng Zai?"

"Brother Wen, don't! You'll die—gulp!"

Zheng Zai had already begun to gnaw on Wen Xishu’s flesh. His teeth were comparable to a wild beast’s, instantly biting off a large chunk of meat.

At this moment, Zheng Zai’s health points began to recover rapidly.

Judging by his expression, Wen Xishu did indeed feel a moment of pain, but then a bizarre phenomenon occurred.

The piece of flesh bitten off from Wen Xishu healed at the speed of light! It was at a rate almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Zheng Zai hadn't even finished chewing, the meat still in his mouth, but Wen Xishu’s arm had already recovered!

Zheng Zai was stunned. He had no idea what the principle behind this was. Wen Xishu revealed a smile:

"So it really can be used this way. Great, the recovery speed is quite fast. Next, I need to increase my hand speed. Don't be afraid, Old Zheng, just keep eating. You need to recover to your best state as quickly as possible!"

Giving Zheng Zai no room to refuse, Wen Xishu’s fingers pressed the controller rapidly.

The performance of these two perverts left Wang Ying and Aspasia dumbfounded.

Zheng Zai feasted on Wen Xishu’s arm, while Wen Xishu was constantly bitten and constantly recovering.

In fact, Wen Xishu had once imagined a scenario: for those superheroes who could instantly recover their bodies and didn't have an impossibly huge appetite, wouldn't eating themselves be a true form of perpetual motion?

Now that he was exploiting a rule bug, that was exactly how it felt.

This rule came from outside the mission: the cheating knife of Scorpio.

Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu were in a teamed state. They could not inflict any damage on teammates.

In Wen Xishu’s past-life memories, there had been such scenes; when you turned off friendly fire and shot at a teammate, you would see flesh and blood splatter, but the opponent’s health bar would simply not drop.

It was the same now; Wen Xishu’s arm could indeed be bitten to shreds by Zheng Zai, but it would be repaired the very next second.

Manipulating Zheng Zai to hurt himself, utilizing the rule to negate the damage...

Yet, in this process, Zheng Zai was indeed recovering in earnest.

Wang Ying was shocked:

"That kid... he has Sequence power! And it’s not a Sequence from the Slaughter Tower, it’s a Sequence from the Trick Tower!! Otherwise, it would be impossible to recover this fast just by eating!"

"Or could it be a function granted by an item? Is it that appraisal item? Or the iron mask?"

Aspasia watched, stunned, feeling an inexplicable urge to vomit.

At this very moment, the monsters finally closed in.

Under the passionate, high-energy music, each of them was approaching the level of a Tier 1 Level 4 Normal-type!

But Zheng Zai had already recovered to full status.

Wen Xishu shook his arm:

"I’ve kept my promise now. Is my meat any good?"

Zheng Zai didn't know how to respond to such manic rambling, so he nodded subconsciously.

"But don't get any ideas. I have no idea if this rule will exist next time."

Wen Xishu had already begun to input combos.

"This controller is truly excellent. It’s a pity I can only take one item with me..."

"I wonder if it’s possible to keep it until the end."

Whether it was the Adventure Goblet or this controller, Wen Xishu found them quite interesting.

Under Wen Xishu’s operation, Zheng Zai released another blood-based move.

The terrifying blood-red Qi vaporized the monsters directly, and the kill count quickly reached seventy.

At this point, Zheng Zai still remained in an uninjured state.

At least compared to the previous demonstrations of using items, Zheng Zai had not been touched by the monsters.

Wen Xishu once again input a crescent-moon slash to jump backward, precisely manipulating Zheng Zai to continue eating meat.

With no burden left, Zheng Zai ate with peace of mind.

The two of them were indeed cooperating well, though Wang Ying and Aspasia outside the television felt a bit nauseated watching it.

The third blood-based move was also executed.

The red Qi once again forced back the monster tide. This time, after releasing the move, Wen Xishu immediately arranged for Zheng Zai to unleash consecutive crescent-moon slashes.

His hand speed was getting faster and faster. To Wang Ying and the others, Zheng Zai’s movements were extremely fluid, almost like a pre-programmed sequence.

It was as if the previous move had just been sent out, and the primary motion for the next move had already been performed.

In fighting games, this is called move canceling.

Only very experienced veterans can utilize certain game mechanics to cancel out the recovery frames of a "projectile" move and the startup frames of the next move.

Once canceled, it looks extremely rapid. As if frames were being dropped, Zheng Zai’s movement transitions were hard to capture with the naked eye.

This further saved time for Zheng Zai to eat, and the monsters were kept further and further away from him.

Although Zheng Zai didn't understand these gaming things, he could feel that Brother Wen’s technique was still improving.

Every action he performed seemed to omit the startup and ending frames, which was shockingly fast.

Zheng Zai even discovered that Brother Wen had started trying some flashy maneuvers.

He actually completed a double jump in mid-air!

He couldn't help but think... if this could be used in the Slaughter Tower, combined with the attribute panels there, how perverted would it be to have Brother Wen manipulate him?

But that was just a thought; things from the Trick Tower could never be brought into the Slaughter Tower.

After the fourth blood-Qi explosion, Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai thought the game was over.

But at this moment, a prompt appeared.

【You have received an excellent rating for the item usage segment. Do you accept the hidden challenge for this level?】

Wang Ying and Aspasia outside the television saw this prompt as well.

They had never even considered that there would be a hidden challenge. But Wang Ying vaguely guessed the trigger mechanism.

It was likely determined by the proficiency in using the object and the degree of injury sustained when facing the monsters.

In a sense, Wen Xishu had cleared the level without taking damage.

These two things were actually linked; without extremely high proficiency, it would be impossible to clear the level without injury.

That was why the hidden challenge appeared.

Wang Ying also guessed the content of the hidden challenge.

The electric guitar skull-face at the center of the stage.

That was an Elite-type.

Even with the augmentation of that strange, handheld prop, Zheng Zai’s strength had been significantly enhanced...

But facing a Rare-type was already a life-or-death struggle; facing an Elite-type made survival impossible.

Wang Ying shouted:

"Refuse! You two don't know the terror of an Elite-type! That is not something we in the Trick Tower can deal with! Refuse quickly!"

Aspasia was startled, but immediately realized that if Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai died now, it would indeed be very disadvantageous for them. She began to shout as well.

But it was useless; Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai inside the television world could not hear them.

Wang Ying’s shouting stopped quickly because Wen Xishu had made his choice.

【You have accepted the hidden mission challenge. Now, please proceed to the center of the stage.】

Wang Ying thought, "It's over."

Aspasia also felt it was over. Now she couldn't rely on this perverted duo to coast to victory.

Zheng Zai, on the other hand, was not that afraid. He now felt that the weight of the phrase "Trust Brother Wen, he has a deep meaning behind everything he does" was increasing.

So, even though he knew the monster at the center of the stage couldn't be defeated, he still felt it was worth a challenge.

For no other reason than his near-blind faith in Brother Wen.

Wen Xishu was no longer the newbie who had just transmigrated.

Of course he knew the terror of an Elite-type; he had learned in the library that Elite-types were second only to leader-level monsters like Jack and Jennifer.

At Wen Xishu’s current level, he might not even be able to pass a Rare-type, let alone an Elite-type that possessed Sequence power.

But he wasn't panicked.

"In the Level 1 and Level 2 stages, besides the most basic Normal-types, there were a few higher-level Normal-types besieging Wang Ying and Tong Ming."

"Wang Ying almost encountered a mid-tier Normal-type in the first stage. This shows that these monsters attack continuously. It’s just that the stage difficulty places them later..."

"If the stage isn't completed within the allotted time, the difficulty increases."

"But my current situation with Old Zheng is different from the Level 3 stage. Although this guy at the center of the stage uses music to control the monsters' attacks, it shows no anger when these Normal-types die."

"It is fully capable of killing me and Old Zheng directly; it doesn't need to arrange for minions to charge..."

"My feeling is that it just wants to show off its music. So, this hidden mission is highly likely a test of my control over the controller, rather than a battle of attributes!"

"Additionally, the hidden mission might be linked to the invitation. If I can enter the Desire Tower, I will be able to know what the ultimate item is from the source."

After considering various factors, Wen Xishu decided to take a gamble. Then again, in the Trick Tower, any decision itself is a gamble.

Fortunately, this time, Zheng Zai was also quite calm.

The two arrived at the center of the stage.

Along the way, these Normal-type creatures actually all cleared a path.

This left Wang Ying and Aspasia stunned once again; Wen Xishu had certainly given them quite a shock.

"These monsters, they actually aren't attacking them?"

"It's bizarre. Could he have known all this beforehand?"

Wang Ying recalled that not long ago, Wen Xishu had actually saved his life. At that time, if it hadn't been for Wen Xishu reminding him to use the identified item to kill the enemy, he might have realized it much later...

That was a race against time; if he had been any later, those mid-tier Normal-type creatures in the distance would have arrived.

Thinking about it now, Wen Xishu seemed to have had a very smooth journey all along.

Wang Ying couldn't help but wonder, could this kid have some kind of item on him? An item capable of interpreting rules?

Otherwise, how could the journey be so smooth?

The center of the stage.

When both Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai arrived on stage, the Skull Face actually began to speak:

"My song requires choreography. If you want to live, dance within my notes in a way that meets my expectations."

"Otherwise, I will kill you."

The electric guitar emitted a note, and Wen Xishu only felt as if something like a very sharp blade of Qi had flown past his ear.

"Humans, do you understand?"

"Understood." Wen Xishu's reply was neither humble nor arrogant.

According to Wen Xishu's current understanding of the apocalypse, most of the Elite-type creatures in this world were existences from the Slaughter Tower.

They detested humans intensely. Regarding the Slaughter Tower, there were a few survival tips: do not attempt to communicate with the monsters, and do not attempt to play the emotional card.

In the Slaughter Tower, doing so would already be too late.

The monsters of the Slaughter Tower basically started fighting the moment they met; there was no such thing as an opening line.

Currently, this was the Trick Tower, and since this Elite-type could still speak, it was clear it hadn't reached the level of the Slaughter Tower yet.

One only needed to act according to the other party's requirements.

Wen Xishu took out the controller:

"You may begin."

The Skull Face nodded, and then its hands began to touch the guitar.

The frenzied song began.

Wen Xishu didn't know much about music, but in his past life, he had watched many street dance videos and remembered some very explosive moves.

He had originally thought that this hidden mission was to control Zheng Zai to perform these moves...

But he suddenly realized he had overcomplicated it.

In reality, this hidden mission was actually quite simple.

"Huh? So that's how it's played?"

When the notes sounded, Wen Xishu actually saw a row of directional arrows. ←←↑←→→...

His reaction was fast; he immediately realized that he needed to press these directions rapidly according to the rhythm.

It is worth mentioning that the four joysticks were different colors, and the arrows in his field of vision also carried different colors.

He understood that arrows of different colors had to be pressed using the corresponding colored joystick.

This increased the difficulty significantly.

However, this still couldn't stump Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu's fingers moved rapidly, and Zheng Zai also began to dance.

But the dance moves... were truly hard to compliment. For some reason, Wen Xishu thought of Nisen.

Nisen's awkward dancing was also something else. It had quite a "Peak of the Forbidden City" vibe.

But the Skull Face was actually exceptionally satisfied.

The directions gradually increased, and the joysticks switched more and more frequently. Wen Xishu handled it with great composure.

In fact, this was just a complex version of a QTE game.

Wen Xishu perfectly handled the direction represented by every note; gradually, he could even know which direction it was just by listening to the notes.

His adaptability amazed even the Skull Face, who was the boss.

The difficulty of the game was also constantly escalating.

On some of the arrows, the word "Reverse" began to appear.

This meant that an arrow originally pointing left needed the joystick to be flicked to the right, and an arrow originally pointing up needed the joystick to be flicked down.

Anything marked with "Reverse" had to be done in the opposite direction.

However, Wen Xishu didn't feel it was difficult; his hand speed was indeed a bit slow, but he could still keep up with the notes.

Beside him, Zheng Zai—if Nisen were there—the two of them could have danced with the feeling of "You guys stop fighting already."

Wen Xishu felt the game's difficulty was fine; it was just that Zheng Zai's dance moves were too painful to watch and caused him great damage, otherwise he definitely could have pressed faster...

Just like that, the song ended quickly.

Wen Xishu completed the challenge with zero errors.

The Skull Face tilted its head and looked at Wen Xishu:

"You are quite good. You are indeed suited for this item. Good luck to you. You may leave."

Outside the television, Wang Ying and Aspasia looked at each other, both somewhat surprised.

At this moment, everyone also received a notification. This notification made Zheng Zai happy.

[You have completed the expansion mission. The Best Friend Controller will no longer consume item carrying capacity.]

Zheng Zai discovered that he could now see the complete information by staring at the controller.

[Item Name: Best Friend Controller.]

[Item Description: Do you have that kind of good friend who is willing to let you decide everything? If you do, perhaps you can rely on it to overcome difficulties.]

[Item Attributes: Depending on the degree of trust the controlled party has in the controller, as well as the initial ability of the controlled party, gain partial auxiliary abilities and skills. However, these skills require completing corresponding commands to be used.]

The item was purple. If this weren't at the Three Towers Academy, it could almost be said to be something an ordinary person would never see in their lifetime.

Zheng Zai was overjoyed:

"With this, Brother Wen, it will be much more convenient for us to team up in the future! And it doesn't take up carrying capacity!"

In other words, after clearing the twelfth level, choosing this item called the "Best Friend Controller" meant it could definitely be taken away, and it wouldn't affect carrying other items.

This was a good thing. Wen Xishu had also seen the controller's attributes; they were very good. Zheng Zai's trust in him could also be considered one of the conditions for achieving the hidden mission.

But what surprised Wen Xishu was... where was his invitation letter?

This was only the third level, and he had already started using out-of-bounds rules. If it weren't for the Scorpius Cheating Knife, he might have cleared it in a very sorry state, and there was no guarantee Zheng Zai wouldn't have been injured.

Based on the difficulty span of these few levels, Wen Xishu could imagine how difficult the later levels would be.

If he didn't have an invitation letter to enter the Desire Tower to investigate the source, Wen Xishu wasn't confident he could be this lucky every time.

So the fact that the hidden mission didn't give an invitation letter gave Wen Xishu a headache.

The two soon returned to the Zhuyuan Force.

The way Wang Ying and Aspasia looked at the controller was somewhat greedy.

But when Aspasia noticed the details of the controller, she wasn't as eager anymore...

The design of this controller was too complex.

They didn't know about the row of directional arrows for the final hidden mission in Wen Xishu's field of vision.

Nor did they know the true attributes of the item; those were only visible to Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai.

Wang Ying said:

"Congratulations, you guys did great. I am ashamed to compare myself to you. Brother Wen, Brother Zheng Zai, that was amazing! With you guys here, we will definitely all be able to survive and go back! When we get to the bunker, you will be friends of our Stone Gambling Association!"

Wang Ying said:

"From now on, if we have any difficulties, just say so. If I can help, I absolutely won't refuse. We have already sacrificed one teammate; let's not have any more sacrifices!"

Wang Ying's words were extremely sincere, and his attitude was completely different from the "I'm the captain, don't talk" style from before.

Wen Xishu knew the reason for Wang Ying's change in attitude, but he didn't care about that. Circumstances are stronger than people, right? Being able to bow one's head is not bad either.

However, what he valued was not the attitude.

Unlike previous levels, such as the parrot cage level, Wen Xishu didn't mind others getting a free ride because the survival logic was different; as long as one person did it right, everyone would enter the next stage, and there was no risk in doing it right.

But this time it wasn't like that. This time there was no such thing as doing it right or wrong. No matter how suitable your item was for combat, no one could guarantee they could win the survival challenge.

When Wen Xishu got the controller, he didn't have absolute certainty either. In other words, every time he identified an item, he did so with the resolve to risk his life.

If the other party didn't contribute and just waited for a free ride, that would be going too far.

Due to Wen Xishu's words, Zheng Zai was already somewhat wary of Wang Ying and the others.

However, Wen Xishu still said:

"Don't worry, Captain Wang, I will."

Wen Xishu headed toward 4-8. Originally, 4-8 was being searched by Wang Ying. But because Wang Ying was walking toward 4-9, Wen Xishu headed to 4-8.

Wen Xishu didn't plan to miss a single item.

Wang Ying actually had his own secret agenda. In the current situation, the other party should have some kind of intelligence he didn't know about, mainly reflected in interpreting items.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to be this smooth all the way. Of course, the other party also had a lot of guts. Wang Ying had to admit that Wen Xishu might be even more abnormal than that guy called Tong Ming.

Zheng Zai was also abnormal; those teeth could be described as sharp, no wonder he had to wear an iron muzzle.

If these were two weak guys, that would be one thing. He could forcibly torture them and make them hand over the means to identify items.

But now, he really had no confidence in being able to beat these two guys.

Since the method of "black-on-black" robbery wouldn't work, he could only honestly follow the rules for now and find a way to explore the next level.

As of now, there were no rule prompts regarding whether each person or team had a hard requirement for identifying items.

What if there was?

So Wang Ying couldn't say anything now; he could only bite the bullet and search for more items.

It was just that before he knew it, the level had reached Lv4, and the monsters would only get stronger; it really made one's scalp tingle.

……

……

4-8 finally satisfied Wen Xishu.

The item in this room that needed to be identified was a radio. This item didn't look like it could be used for combat.

But this room had been occupied by a patient. Just like in 4-1, there was a hospital bed and bedding here. In the nightstand, there was also additional information.

It was a small slip of paper.

Zheng Zai asked suspiciously:

"Little brother, does this slip of paper also need to be identified?"

Wen Xishu shook his head:

"This involves something else; up until now, we haven't found anything related to the 'plot'."

"The Weird Tower looks like a survival game, but in fact, behind every game, a story is hidden."

"The necessity of finding this story is actually higher than the necessity of us identifying items."

Zheng Zai asked:

"What's on this slip of paper?"

Wen Xishu unfolded the slip of paper. This was his second slip; the first small slip showed a girl with her hands tied and eyes blindfolded.

This slip of paper showed an old grandmother with her ears perked up, her face full of smiles.

And on the radio, there was indeed an ear pattern printed on it.

Zheng Zai couldn't understand it, so Wen Xishu said:

"It seems to be related to the five senses?"

(End of chapter)