[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-three-towers-game":3,"chapter-the-three-towers-game-the-three-towers-game-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Three Towers Game",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2294235,4488,"Chapter 98: The Lost Inventor","the-three-towers-game-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>Ding Dong’s return made everyone very happy. The atmosphere in the room was clearly much better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, with that statement \"I am a fugitive,\" it suddenly became strange again. By this time, many bizarre phenomena had already appeared in Jiangcheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long ago, Jiangcheng had also experienced a rainstorm; many strange things occurred during the downpour, and some people died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, these things did not affect this hospital. Everyone sat and waited for Ding Dong to continue his story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong had never talked about the past before. Although the five people, including Granny Wu, had all benefited deeply from Ding Dong’s kindness, in reality, they knew nothing of Ding Dong’s past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To each of them, Ding Dong’s appearance was like a miracle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also the first time Ding Dong was willing to speak about his own past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let me think, where should I start? Let’s... start with the things between my father and me when I was a child.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When I was little, I lived in a rather secluded place. Everyone there wore white clothes, which was somewhat similar to a psychiatric hospital. But I was the only patient.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father told me that I used to have sixteen brothers and sisters, and there were seventeen of us in total. We used to live in the same orphanage, but my other brothers and sisters were all separated from me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, we weren't related by blood; we just lived in the same place together and contracted the same illness together.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father had also been looking for them, and in fact, I have been looking for them recently too. Father told me they are very dangerous; if they are not guided by kindness, they could very likely become some kind of terrifying existence.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The reason I left in such a hurry this time, not even having time to tell you all how to use certain things, is because I heard someone calling me. My body then moved toward him uncontrollably. Although I had never met him, I could feel that he was one of my brothers or sisters.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The content of this passage was actually very obscure. Wen Xishu noticed that while Ding Dong was saying these things, he was actually staring at him the whole time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mo Yuan, Granny Wu, Lele, and the others just lowered their heads and listened intently, without speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Back to my father and me. Father was very good to me, truly very good. Aside from imprisoning me, he never did anything to hurt me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He would always tell me that the reason he wouldn't let me go out was because everyone has a heart, and my heart... was still growing. Everyone's heart is influenced by their environment, and this influence lasts a lifetime.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Some hearts rot very easily, even in an extremely comfortable environment.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And some hearts are very resilient, even when surrounded by filth. Father said my heart was still growing and needed to be watered with enough love; the outside world did not possess the soil for a good heart to grow.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sometimes, I would even be curious about certain behaviors; if I were to perform these behaviors, it would certainly lead to many people dying. Father would patiently tell me not to do those things. Because harming people who have no malice makes the heart exist in a rotting environment.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I often asked Father what I had to do to get out. At those times, Father would always buy me some toys, and he would enter the room where I was to play with me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I like to mold things, and Father seemed to have known this for a long time; all the toys he gave me were related to clay or building blocks. At first, I would make some jars and pots. Father liked these jars and pots very much and said he would display them in his home.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wanted to go to his home to see; I wanted to know what it looked like outside the research institute. He told me to wait a little longer, saying that once my heart began to grow resilient and took on a beautiful shape, he could take me away from that place.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I asked Father to what extent my heart had grown, and Father said it was very clean, pure, and flawless, but because it was too young, it was easily contaminated.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Some of the things I molded looked like living creatures, while others possessed extra abilities. Father liked watching me make these things very much; he told me it felt like the beauty of watching a creator create.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My skills got better and better. The little figures I molded out of clay began to act according to my wishes; they lived in the houses I molded out of clay and would do all sorts of things to keep me company. And the houses I molded out of clay also possessed various functions to make these clay figures happy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father was never stingy with his praise. In fact, aside from letting me leave, Father would satisfy all my various requests. He also often taught me things, always telling me to have creativity and imagination so that I could produce sufficiently interesting items.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the year I turned fourteen, Father hoped I could make a compass Luo Pan. I really did make that compass, and according to Father's requirements, I endowed that Luo Pan with the corresponding abilities.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking of this, Ding Dong smiled and took out the compass. It looked plain and unremarkable, no different from an ordinary compass, and because there was a crack on it, the compass didn't look very new.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I call it the Compass of Fate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The process of making this Luo Pan was very painful. Several times, my ears, eyes, nose, and mouth were bleeding. And the production process took me half a year.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because my ability was not enough to endow the Luo Pan with the power of fate. Many times I wanted to give up, and many times I felt... did Father not love me anymore?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But every time, Father would tell me, 'No, that's not it...' He said I needed this Luo Pan to guide me, and one day in the future, this Luo Pan would be able to help me avoid misfortune and find good fortune.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He also said that one day in the future, when I walked out of the room, the Luo Pan would tell me the direction. The outside world is very big and not on the same scale as the research institute; he was afraid I would get lost, afraid I would be at a loss, and afraid I would walk into a place full of filth.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That was the tenth year I spent with Father, and he was still... still worried that my heart would grow into a strange shape.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu was slightly moved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This story was a bit strange, but he could tell that Ding Dong seemed to have had this special ability for a very long time?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several years ago, or even more than a decade ago, in that era when the bizarre had not yet descended, Ding Dong already possessed the ability to endow objects with special attributes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there were sixteen others like Ding Dong. Among these sixteen, there might even be existences whose ability ratings far exceeded Ding Dong's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the national-level entities had already noticed many bizarre situations more than a decade before the end of the world arrived...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one views the world as a patient and the end of the world as the outbreak of some disease, then indeed, this patient would not become terminally ill all at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would certainly have revealed certain pathological areas very early on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After the Luo Pan was completed, my ability failed. Because of over-expenditure, I was unable to endow any objects with attributes for a long time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was actually quite happy about this. Because I thought I had become a normal person, and once I was normal, I could leave.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"From the time I was a few years old, I started asking Father when I would be able to grow a pure heart. I asked this question until I was fifteen, and Father's answer was always to wait a little longer.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I really wanted to go out, but actually, being able to accompany Father was not bad either. I wanted to leave with Father.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After my ability failed, I still liked to mold clay.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sometimes strange people would come to watch me play with clay. I didn't really like these people; they were different from Father. Father would always enter the room to keep me company, but they just wore masks and watched me from a distance.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That look made me feel very uncomfortable, as if they were looking at some kind of... object.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father told me they had no malice, but what Father didn't know was that I could hear some of their conversations.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hmm... let me imitate those conversations.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong smiled and looked at everyone, his gaze finally landing on Wen Xishu, and his voice began to turn deep:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Professor Jin, his blood samples now are no different from those of an ordinary person in every way. I think we need to analyze him more deeply and stimulate him. The Swan Project cannot be delayed any longer.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, he is just a child, are you crazy! That project will make him loathe us. He is still young; the hatred planted in his childhood will destroy him, and it will also destroy us!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Scientific progress is inherently full of setbacks. The Swan Project is the best means for us to understand him. His ability has disappeared; the Swan Project might help him recover, or it might help us unlock certain secrets.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But this is the only one of those seventeen children that belongs to us. I know that some bizarre things are related to those children. But he is different. I can feel that the way he responds to the world is the simplest and most rustic: responding to love with love, and responding to evil with evil. We shouldn't use such extreme methods. And... that would kill his creativity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Professor Jin, we need to figure out the source and figure out the truth of the Tower! This is not the place for you to play father. I know your child died not long ago because of that accident, but you cannot project that emotion onto this child! You must know how important he is!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No! No! Absolutely not! As long as I am here for one day, I will absolutely not allow such a thing to happen! This child will have great use in the future; his heart... cannot be contaminated.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was a faint regret and nostalgia in Ding Dong's eyes:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I heard the argument between Father and them. Father clearly had a certain amount of authority, and relying on his tough attitude, those people eventually left. I don't know what kind of project the Swan Project actually was. But listening to Father's tone, it seemed like it would hurt me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Once, I told Father that I was willing to go to the Swan Project. I actually heard those conversations; I didn't want Father to be scolded by them. He looked at me blankly, then hugged me and shed tears. That was the first time he shed tears.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He kept saying sorry to me, but from time to time he would show a smile.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, I still didn't understand why Father would shed tears. Why on earth? I had clearly just told him that I didn't want him to endure scolding.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But Father's words soon gave me the answer. He told me that my brothers and sisters had problems with the growth of their hearts for certain reasons.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I was different; I was more complete than them. Father didn't shed tears because he was under too much pressure. He shed tears just because I had learned to care for him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"From this moment on, Father believed that I possessed the qualifications to leave the research institute.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father never lied to me; he was truly preparing for my departure. I still remember that one day, Father told me many stories.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The protagonists of these stories were all children, and their circumstances were all different. Some overcame difficulties, changed their own predicaments, and became scholars; some had affluent family backgrounds but eventually fell into being drug addicts or went to prison; and others hardly changed at all.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Some people's families were just too good, and even if they fell, they could eventually be pulled back to the right track by a series of events. There were also those who were very righteous at first, but slowly, they headed in the completely opposite direction.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Some were not very kind from the beginning, had antisocial personalities, were said to be the embodiment of evil from the start, and in the end, they indeed... maintained that persona until death.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But likewise, there were also prodigal sons who returned. Father was observing my expression; he asked me to state my feelings after listening to each story.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My answer... was that I had no feelings. The only feeling was that I couldn't understand the people in the stories.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I didn't know why they changed like that. I didn't know what kind of influence the environment had on people, and I didn't know if the good and evil of this world were things beyond one's own control.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At that moment, I thought I wouldn't be able to pass Father's test, especially when Father asked me which kind of life I envied, I was even less clear about how I should choose.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In dozens of stories, in the final outcomes, many villains had a good end, and many good people had a good end, but by comparison, looking at the span of a whole life, the villains who had a good end seemed to benefit more.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In my view, Father's stories were deliberately showing a result: those who possess a pure heart might not necessarily all get a good ending.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father said that deceiving me had no meaning. He could mold me and tell me what kind of person I should be in this world, but when I discovered that the world was not like that, I would be disappointed because of it. He didn't want me to be disappointed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He hoped I could choose a life, and he hoped this was a promise between him and me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My answer was to choose to become a person like Father. In these dozens of stories, the fourth one was based on Father as the prototype.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Simply put, Father was a person from a poor family who changed his fate by relying on his own efforts and kindness. Father said his life trajectory was an extreme outlier, but I didn't change my choice.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father shed tears again; he hoped I could keep the promise and remember today's choice.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Afterward...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong looked at Wen Xishu again:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Afterward, Father told me a crucial rule. He didn't explain where he knew that rule from. He just told me that this rule was real, but it was a reality that needed to be broken.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu always felt that Ding Dong's words were directed at him. He asked subconsciously:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What rule is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Regarding the seventeen special existences including me, all seventeen of us have been hit by a curse.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The content of this curse is that among us, every time one person dies, the power of the remaining sixteen will increase. No matter who dies, no matter how they die, or who kills them, the power of the other sixteen will be amplified.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Among the seventeen of us, five have milder symptoms, and their power is clearly weaker than the other twelve. I am one of those five. Father said there is another one who grew up in the research institute like me, who is also one of the five mild cases, only they are in another country.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the end, the twelve most powerful people will kill each other, and the one who survives in the end will become a god in the apocalypse, the only supreme god.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father told me to definitely avoid them and let me follow the instructions of the Luo Pan to meet the people I am supposed to meet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It was also at that moment that I discovered that the secrets Father knew were far more than anyone else in the research institute.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At the same time, he also said that this curse can be resolved, but that is not my responsibility. He just let me follow the guidance of the Luo Pan and told me to look for a way to get rid of my identity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu naturally thought of the twelve constellations. Now he was more and more certain...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason Scorpio Little Knife was restless just now must be related to Ding Dong's true identity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Wen Xishu noticed that the father in Ding Dong's mouth, this Professor Jin, seemed to play the role of some kind of prophet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong himself didn't know about the curse, but Professor Jin knew it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong remained silent for a long time before he began to continue his story:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I did indeed leave the research institute, and only after leaving did I realize that it was a lonely island. Father had prepared everything, and when it was time to leave, he kept apologizing to me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He said it was a pity that the world about to unfold before my eyes was a crumbling one, and a pity that the ugliest side of human nature would be constantly revealed. Before the apocalypse arrived, it was my last time to experience beauty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He told me not to worry about him, and perhaps in the future, we would meet in another way.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I also asked Father where he was going, but Father did not tell me. He only told me to feel the world well and follow the guidance of the Luo Pan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So, you followed the guidance of the Luo Pan and came here?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong nodded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I followed the instructions of the Luo Pan, and I didn't encounter any danger along the way. The Luo Pan guided me to many places; during that time, I was like a traveler.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"During my days of travel, I also made quite a few things and experienced many novel and interesting things, such as drinking alcohol, or singing with many people. The Luo Pan would bring me many strange dreams, allowing me to encounter these people.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In addition, in the dreams bestowed by the Luo Pan, I have also seen the deaths of many people and the changes in many people's lives.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Luo Pan seemed to want to tell me that these people are important and that these people have value in being saved.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So I made many items, but these items... have no special abilities. In order to avoid certain fates and not be discovered by other brothers and sisters, the items I made would only take effect after the apocalypse arrived.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But this place is an exception. In the dreams bestowed by the Luo Pan, if I wanted to become the real me, I had to come here. There is a very dense... eerie aura here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I cannot describe this aura clearly, but this aura can mask my existence. So I made many items here. I think, perhaps this is because... Granny Wu, Mo Yuan, Lele, Brother Xiang, Brother Yihong, you all possess some kind of power similar to mine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the story reached the psychiatric hospital, Ding Dong's tone became gentle:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I did not give instructions to the Luo Pan; I only let the Luo Pan guide me to find someone who could help me shape a 'heart.' Because this was my agreement with Father.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I accept all the guidance of the Luo Pan, even if it means making me a 'villain' in the eyes of the public.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I am very glad that the people the Luo Pan guided me to meet were you, Granny Wu.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu could now understand why this Luo Pan had cost Ding Dong years of effort to complete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This thing could, according to the user's requirements, guide the user to achieve the best trajectory of fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he admired that Professor Jin. It was different from the stories Wen Xishu had heard in the past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Superpowered children being locked in a research institute, being studied in various ways, having various cells and blood extracted, and then undergoing various dangerous tests... eventually turning into a Homelander.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This story actually went the other way around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu then realized that he had guessed wrong; Ding Dong was not a person with a kind foundation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the contrary, Ding Dong actually had a very weak concept of good and evil. Such a person, if they lacked love in their childhood, would actually be very dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But under the guidance of that Professor Jin... Ding Dong did not hate this world and truly felt kindness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This simply did not sound like a story he could hear in the Desire Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stories in the Desire Tower were either about experiencing a miserable day, or suffocating parents, or a grandfather planning to sacrifice his grandson...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet in this story, Ding Dong, as a test subject and research object, was actually protected so well by Professor Jin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, that professor did not use love as some kind of weapon; he objectively used a large number of stories containing real-life archetypes to tell Ding Dong the role of good and evil in life. Finally, he handed the choice to Ding Dong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This respect and care hidden in his bones also allowed Ding Dong's Luo Pan to guide Ding Dong to meet people who possessed five ultimate hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, this story was not over yet; this story still had an extremely malicious part.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Wen Xishu did not appear, or rather, if no Tower Climber appeared, then Ding Dong's rebirth would have failed, and Granny Wu, Mo Yuan, and the others would all have died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the true trajectory in history was that Ding Dong suddenly left and eventually died. And he hadn't had time to tell Granny Wu and the others the method to resurrect him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there was one most critical point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Dong left behind the resurrection ritual; did he know he would die? Or did he seek death himself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So now, Ding Dong has been resurrected; will that existence that killed Ding Dong let him go?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xishu also asked the most critical question:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have a curse on you, and you are one of the five people among the seventeen who are easier to kill.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Killing you, your other brothers and sisters can become stronger...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So what about now? After your rebirth, are you still plagued by the curse? And who is the person who killed you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your real name shouldn't be Ding Dong, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of this chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",3879,"2026-06-20T04:46:41.185Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","0b57a0745aa36d2d3777883044d3f109565b60a66600854e80ebe0a3678a5e28","the-three-towers-game-chapter-99","the-three-towers-game-chapter-97",281,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-three-towers-game-cover.jpg"]