Chapter 94: The Most Easily Obtained Invitation Letter

Wen Xishu’s worry was correct; even without intelligence, being purely some kind of test product within the television world, there might still be avoidance mechanisms.

If a trap is too direct, it will only cause the monsters to avoid it, and it won't count as a kill.

For this reason, Wen Xishu manipulated the joystick on the controller, making Zheng Zai crouch down, and then gently pressed a certain button.

Zheng Zai then took the wrench and began to gently tap the surface of the bridge.

A miraculous scene occurred.

Under the extremely light tapping, the place on the bridge that had been trampled began to be repaired bit by bit. But it really was just a little bit.

Those steel bars and concrete that had originally fallen into the sea, as if time were flowing backward, began to slowly splice themselves back into their original positions in reverse.

Wen Xishu never tapped hard, because he needed to ensure he didn't use too much force and repair the bridge completely.

He needed to pin down a time node, which was to keep the repair progress in a state of being on the verge of breaking.

Zheng Zai watched, stunned:

"This wrench... can actually be used like this?"

He had originally thought the wrench's ability was to make items new, but now he realized that wasn't the case; the wrench's ability was to restore items to their optimal state.

In other words, an item that has been completely destroyed can, through the wrench, return bit by bit to a critical point of destruction.

However, the bridge is a massive super-structure that can be broken down into multiple objects.

So Wen Xishu noticed that Zheng Zai’s wrench had a range. The range was roughly a circle with a radius of four meters, centered on Zheng Zai.

After about five minutes or so, Wen Xishu had already, through Zheng Zai, filled in the places on the bridge that had been trampled.

But this area was extremely fragile; if it received a relatively significant impact, it would collapse again.

Yet this was exactly what Wen Xishu was aiming for.

"Time is very tight, let's hurry up and try to create a few more traps. And each trap must be far enough apart."

If they weren't far enough apart, it was very likely that one Earth-Moving Core from Zheng Zai would directly lead to a chain reaction of the road surface collapsing.

Zheng Zai said:

"Alright! It’s all up to you!"

At this moment, Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu were like two players with tacit cooperation; although Zheng Zai was controlled by Wen Xishu the entire time, after releasing the Earth-Moving Core several times and experiencing the power of these skills from the first-person perspective of the controlled, he would appropriately give Wen Xishu some force feedback.

Wen Xishu then tried to adjust the skill's power by reducing the pressure on the buttons.

The two cooperated seamlessly. The creation of the second trap was forty seconds shorter than the first.

The third trap was another fifteen seconds shorter than the second.

They were getting faster and smoother.

Outside the television, Wang Ying and Aspasia felt envy welling up in their hearts; they were simply a pair of twin stars—could even twins be this in sync?

Both of them admired Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu’s courage and imagination at this moment.

Just like that, ten-plus minutes later, the figures of the monsters could already be seen two or three hundred meters away.

They were a pitch-black mass, charging toward Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai.

The two also officially stopped trap production, with two traps in front and two behind.

As the monsters drew closer and closer—

The first trap located in the front took effect; under the impact of the monsters, the road surface collapsed.

In this instant, dozens of monsters, unable to react in time, fell directly into the sea.

Wen Xishu even paid special attention to the fact that those monsters died without even making a sound.

Their bodies simply vanished; one couldn't even see any process of struggling.

It is evident that in the Tower of Deception, the most terrifying thing is the rules themselves; being killed by the rules truly gives one no chance at all.

But fortunately, the rules are fair; as long as one utilizes the rules well, one can achieve a perfect counter-kill. The second trap, the third trap, the fourth trap... were triggered consecutively in just over ten seconds.

In the previous levels, the combat portions were relatively long, but this time it was completely the opposite.

After Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai spent nearly twenty minutes of boring floor-stomping and wrench-tapping, the battle they thought was coming didn't even take half a minute—

Because, there was no battle at all.

The four collapsed sections of the road, under the impact of tens of thousands of mid-tier common species, continued to expand, and the collapsed areas kept spreading.

Everything was as Wen Xishu had imagined; the monsters would avoid the pits, but the pits that appeared unexpectedly still caused over a hundred monsters to be filled into the sea in an instant.

There were indeed monsters that bypassed the pits or jumped over them with extreme speed, and they were indeed incredibly close to Wen Xishu.

But that was as far as it went. Before the monsters could touch Wen Xishu—the game had already ended.

[You have successfully demonstrated the value of this item after the apocalypse. You are about to return to the museum; may you be able to show people more items. Upon this return, your stamina will recover by fifty percent of its maximum value.]

No hidden mission was triggered, which actually surprised Wen Xishu a little, but successfully using the item and breaking a hundred kills was itself worth being happy about.

Zheng Zai shouted excitedly:

"Little brother, you were right, indirect kills also count as kills! I understand now, as long as an item has been used, as long as it was used correctly, and it showed a valuable side in the process of killing monsters, then it counts as a kill!"

"In this way, we can challenge ourselves to use more items that don't possess weapon attributes!"

Wen Xishu nodded.

Now that he thought about it, if that crazy child Tong Ming had used the Non-Killing Blade to attack himself, then after recovering his physical state and going to kill enemies, even if he didn't use the blade, it might have counted toward the kill count.

Wen Xishu didn't dwell on it too much; Tong Ming being dead was a good thing for him.

He and Zheng Zai soon returned to the fourth floor of the Zhuyuan Force.

Wang Ying quickly composed himself and revealed a not-so-charming smile:

"Brother Wen, you did a great job! You are truly so wise; I think the Stone Gambling Society will definitely be very willing to accept you! Once we return to the bunker together, I will definitely introduce you to our leader. If you come to our Stone Gambling Society, you will absolutely be a fierce warrior!"

Wang Ying even changed his form of address, but Wen Xishu was not too polite this time, only smiling:

"Alright, Captain Wang, but we have to find a way to survive first. Let's find props that can handle the fifth level."

Wang Ying seemed to sense the slight coldness in Wen Xishu’s attitude, but he pretended not to notice, still wearing an enthusiastic smile:

"Brother Wen, can I ask you for a favor?"

Wen Xishu said:

"Captain Wang, you are the captain; just give orders if you have any requests."

Wang Ying waved his hand:

"It's not a request, it's just... look, you asked me for that desk lamp and I gave it to you; can you lend me this gadget in your hand to use as well?"

"Don't worry, I'm just borrowing it to use; I'll return it to you when I'm done! When it comes to the final item distribution, I definitely won't take this thing."

What Wang Ying was talking about was the controller in Wen Xishu’s hand.

Wen Xishu feigned generosity and said:

"No problem, but... you two had better decide first who will be responsible for controlling it."

"This thing has four joysticks to control the field of vision, the body, and the perspective, plus twenty-four buttons; one body part has several different ways of pressing. Besides, if the person being controlled doesn't trust the controller... the power of this thing will be discounted, and it's very likely no moves will be pulled off."

"If you really feel that you can use it if you get your hands on it, then I'll give it to you. I am a very generous person."

"But Captain Wang, I must remind you, if you can't control this well, you might not even be able to perform at your normal state."

"Losing an item in the television world is a small matter, but it would be a real pity if a person died inside."

After these words were finished, Aspasia and Wang Ying both fell silent. Aspasia assumed she would be the one controlling Wang Ying. But Wang Ying believed that since he was the captain, he should be the controller rather than the one being controlled.

When their eyes met, both of them knew they had a disagreement.

Plus this overly complex design...

Wang Ying finally shook his head:

"It was presumptuous of me; this thing is indeed good, but even if you gave me a few days, I might not be able to do what you did. Forget it."

Wang Ying and Aspasia returned to 4-10.

Wen Xishu just smiled and took Zheng Zai toward 4-11.

The item in 4-11 was a vase, and the flowers in the vase were still blooming. Wen Xishu thought this was probably a fresh-keeping vase.

The function of this thing was indeed not for killing monsters, so he gave up on it.

Soon the two went to 4-12.

Now Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai were full of energy, forming a sharp contrast with Wang Ying and Aspasia.

……

……

4-12 was a hospital room.

This made Wen Xishu very excited.

"Brother Wen, someone lived in this room too!"

Zheng Zai had already started searching the bedside cabinet; having watched Wen Xishu operate twice, he had also gained experience.

Sure enough, this time Zheng Zai found a third small note in the bedside cabinet.

Zheng Zai couldn't interpret the content of the note, so he handed it to Wen Xishu.

Wen Xishu took one look and immediately frowned.

The content of this note depicted a guy riding an electric scooter, and above the guy's head was something that looked like the Earth.

And in the center of the Earth, there was a boot pattern.

"What's wrong, Brother Wen? Is the new clue unfavorable to us?" Zheng Zai noticed that Wen Xishu’s expression wasn't quite right.

Wen Xishu nodded:

"I think I judged wrong."

Zheng Zai didn't ask, waiting patiently. Wen Xishu pointed to the item on the bedside cabinet:

"Shoes, shoes with a 'footprint' pattern printed on them; this is the item we need to identify."

The item placed on the nightstand was a pair of running shoes. The pattern on the shoes was two footprints.

The content Wen Xishu saw this time made it impossible to determine the function of the shoes. Amidst a pile of garbled text, he only saw four characters: "Boundary," "Arrival," "Gaze," and "Painting."

With just these four characters, it was difficult to speculate on the shoes' purpose; of course, this was not the key point Wen Xishu needed to explore.

Wen Xishu said:

"Eyes and ears made me think the elements were related to the five senses, but now I see feet have appeared... which means it is very likely there are more elements than I thought. There might be eyes, ears, mouths, noses, bodies, hands, and feet; the number of elements is greater than I anticipated."

Zheng Zai asked again:

"This... is there something wrong with that?"

Wen Xishu said:

"I wouldn't say wrong, but this way, the possibility of identifying these items decreases, and one might even be able to rule out the possibility of identifying them altogether. You have to understand, if there are still ears, mouths, noses, bodies, hands, feet... or even more elements, then the minimum number of stages one must go through is already quite high."

"We have already reached the fifth stage. I originally thought that by identifying these items, I would be able to find hidden clues."

"But if I finish identifying all these items... this mission will be nearing its end."

Zheng Zai did not quite understand, because he did not know about the invitation letter. Wen Xishu did not explain either.

"If all items containing human body elements are identified, there might already be twelve stages. This does not fit the pattern of the stages I have experienced before."

What Wen Xishu cared about was the method of obtaining the invitation letter; only by obtaining the invitation letter could he figure out the trajectory of fate and re-anchor it.

But if he were nearing the end of the level, or had already cleared it, there would be no chance.

"Perhaps my guess was wrong. I overcomplicated it... it is not that I need to identify so many items, but that these items containing body elements hide a secret."

Wen Xishu began to think carefully.

Footprints, eyes, ears—these elements were imprinted on the running shoes, the desk lamp, and the radio.

He had a guess in his heart, but the amount of information supporting this guess was still too little at the moment.

After about half a minute, Wen Xishu closed his eyes and began to recall the mission description. The whole process was quiet, and Zheng Zai did not even dare to speak.

Suddenly, Wen Xishu opened his eyes:

"Let's go, follow me to continue searching the other rooms!"

"Oh, oh, okay!"

Zheng Zai held the desk lamp and left the room with Wen Xishu.

Next, Wen Xishu's efficiency clearly became much higher. If it was not a room where a patient had lived, he would almost just push the door open, take two looks, and leave.

From 4-13 all the way to 4-22, Wen Xishu only stopped in three rooms.

In these three rooms, Wen Xishu found three items: a rice cooker, a pipe, and a pair of gloves.

The patterns on the pipe and the rice cooker corresponded to the nose and mouth, respectively, while the pattern on the gloves corresponded to the hands—it was a pair of palm prints.

Of course, the rooms where these three items were located also had small notes. These items could only be taken away after being identified, but Wen Xishu could take these notes directly.

In the room where the pipe was found, the content of the note was a drawing of a drooling child raising both hands, looking very happy.

And in the room containing the rice cooker, the note found was of a chef holding a dinner fork.

As for the third item, the gloves, although they had palm patterns, the content of the small note was the strangest.

It was a stick figure; the stick figure's head was a simple circle, and its body was a somewhat narrow hexagon.

The blindfolded girl being tied up, the old lady with big ears listening to the action, the young man riding a bike, the stick figure, the chef waving a fork, the drooling child...

Zheng Zai was completely unable to find a connection between the contents of these notes. Each note seemed to have nothing to do with the others.

Finally, Wen Xishu found a patient room at 4-26.

This room had clearly been lived in, but it only contained a pen and a sheet of white paper.

There was still a note in the nightstand, but when unfolded, it had no content—it was completely blank.

Wen Xishu looked at the pen, and his face, which had been frowning the whole time, finally revealed a smile.

"Brother Wen, looking at you like this... have you found the key item you were looking for?"

"You could say that."

Zheng Zai carefully observed the pen and found that it did not have any elements.

None of the body elements like eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hands, or feet were present. The pen was a fountain pen, but it had no patterns, looking like a thin, long iron tube.

"Does this pen... have any functional code?"

"No, this pen is not an item that needs to be identified."

"It isn't?"

"Yes, it isn't. The most valuable thing in this room is not the pen, but this note."

"Eh? Then the previous items..."

"The previous items were. In the rooms with notes earlier, the notes already had content, and the items were the ones that needed identification, but this room is not."

Zheng Zai did not understand, so he asked humbly:

"I don't understand."

Wen Xishu said:

"Didn't you notice... that this pen didn't pop up any remarks?"

Zheng Zai stared at the pen, and it was true.

The items placed on the nightstands earlier were basically all items that needed identification; with a little gazing, a remark box full of garbled text would appear.

But not this time; this pen did not have any remarks.

It was evident that the pen was just an ordinary pen.

On the contrary, this time the paper was completely blank, with nothing inside. But likewise, no remarks appeared for the paper either.

Wen Xishu smiled and said:

"I still don't know for now what the eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hands, and feet represent... and correspondingly, I am also unclear about the content drawn on the papers in these rooms. Although I have some guesses, they are only guesses."

"Old Zheng, I have been looking for something, something that would allow me to understand the source of everything. I previously thought that this thing might be related to eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hands, and feet. But I was wrong. These items containing body part elements are indeed important, but they point to another hidden element."

Zheng Zai seemed to understand but not quite:

"Then now... have you found the clue to the thing you were looking for?"

Wen Xishu said:

"Yes, it's very simple. The answer was written directly in the question. I completely overcomplicated it, and I actually ignored such an important element."

"Think carefully, in your mission introduction, is there a particularly strange symbol?"

Zheng Zai had memorized the mission seriously, so he felt he could not have ignored the mission introduction.

But when Wen Xishu said the keyword "symbol," Zheng Zai suddenly thought of a sentence:

"Five-※ review?!! Could it be that I need to give his items a five-※ review?"

Wen Xishu smiled:

"Excellent. We both ignored this sentence in the mission introduction—people don't care that he died, nor do they care about his final words: 'Remember to give me a five-※ review.'"

"Don't you think that deliberately using this symbol instead of the text for 'five-star review'... is a hint? He is emphasizing this symbol."

Zheng Zai nodded; it really was.

"So... what should we do now?"

Wen Xishu picked up the pen; this pen was surely still capable of writing. Then he used this pen to draw five "※" symbols on the white paper.

"This is actually... the easiest invitation letter to obtain, right?" Wen Xishu thought to himself.

When the five "※" symbols were finished, Zheng Zai suddenly felt the desk lamp in his hand tremble slightly.

At the same time, Wen Xishu finally received the prompt he wanted.

[You are certainly not the first person to recognize his items. In that hospital that only had abnormal humans, there were a few people who were particularly grateful for the great inventor's inventions. But he still longed for a five-star review, a five-star review on paper, even though he had poured his heart and soul into it, he could not verify it.]

[Obtained item: Invitation Letter · The Deceased Inventor.]

Wen Xishu's smile stiffened for a moment. The deceased inventor?

He knew that in the Tower of Weirdness, this inventor was already dead, but he had actually died in the Tower of Desire too?

He had finally obtained the invitation letter, but Wen Xishu did not seem very happy. According to past missions, it should be that these guys were nearing death and then started to mutate, so their mindset underwent a major change.

What he had to do was change some of their encounters so that they would no longer have hatred for the world.

This was Wen Xishu's thought, but now, he guessed that perhaps even if he entered the timeline of the Tower of Desire... the target was already dead.

If they were dead, there was naturally no way to redeem or reverse the target's fate trajectory. Just like how he appeared in the scene where Tang Rui died, how could he possibly save Tang Rui?

And it was very strange; Jack and Tang Rui had actually experienced death, but under the power of the weirdness, neither of them died. How did it come to be that the great inventor actually died?

Wen Xishu could only think:

"I hope I guessed wrong."

At this moment, Zheng Zai suddenly spoke up:

"Brother Wen, why do I feel like this thing... has changed a little bit?"

Wen Xishu also noticed that the desk lamp seemed to have a faint luster. But the remarks presented in Wen Xishu's eyes had not changed at all; they were still those same few characters.

But as Zheng Zai's voice fell... the desk lamp actually lit up on its own.

Wen Xishu suddenly had a feeling: these were not dead objects; these things... had life.

However, since he had obtained the invitation letter, Wen Xishu would at least be able to investigate all of this at the very source.

"Old Zheng, go outside and keep watch. I need to be alone for a while. I won't keep you waiting too long; it might only be a minute or two for you."

"I need to be by myself and have some quiet time here."

Zheng Zai did not doubt him, immediately stood up, left the desk lamp behind, and said:

"Okay, if you need any help, tell me. I'll go outside and guard for you."

After saying that, Zheng Zai went to the door and even closed it.

Wen Xishu took out the invitation at this moment:

"I hope you are still alive, great inventor."

(End of chapter)