Three Towers Game

Chapter 34: Chapter 27: Old Madman and Young Madman

Awake.

Wen Xishu felt a bit thirsty. When he woke up, he thought about finding some water to drink. But then he realized this wasn’t his home.

In his previous world, he had a decent apartment. In a small fourth-tier city, he would habitually reach for the nightstand upon waking up.

Because he would put water there.

But now, as Wen Xishu opened his eyes, he saw the sharp, angular face of an old man.

It seemed somewhat familiar to him.

Wen Xishu tried to smack himself but was instantly overcome with pain all over his body.

”Did they really beat me to death, and then I crossed over to the world of One Piece!?”

Albert Napolitano uttered a puzzled ”Hmm?”:

”Hmm? What’s that? Is it a popular novel? I love reading novels, share it with me.”

Wen Xishu looked more closely... and finally realized that this wasn’t the world of One Piece, and he wasn’t dead.

The old man in front of him just looked like the misleading character Pluto Rely from the One Piece manga in the previous world.

”Who are you? And where am I...?”

Before Wen Xishu could finish his question, he suddenly saw a barrage.

[Hahahahaha, does this kid think he’s dead and has had a transmigration like in a novel? That’s hilarious.]

Spirit barrage.

When the other person is in an extreme emotional state, such as extreme happiness, extreme sadness, extreme fear, or extreme anger, their specific thoughts appear as a barrage.

So, Wen Xishu saw a barrage floating above the old man’s head, followed by a long stream of ”Hahahahaha.”

And Wen Xishu also heard the ”Hahahahaha” in his ears.

In Wen Xishu’s eyes, this handsome old man was indeed very happy, utterly happy.

It was as if his waking up was something worth celebrating.

Wen Xishu was a bit confused.

He knew that the barrage he just saw was the effect of Deceit Sequence 37: Spirit Barrage.

But that thing should only be effective in the Deceit Tower of the Three Towers.

Wen Xishu widened his eyes, momentarily at a loss.

At this moment, Albert said:

”Interesting, interesting, kiddo. Does your sequence allow you to see some special spiritual phenomena? Your eyes show that you saw something.”

”You just looked at the top of my head.”

Wen Xishu was shocked again; his eyeballs had shifted just slightly and quickly, without any head movement.

How sharp are this man’s observation skills?

”Is it the kind of eyes I read about in novels that can see annotations? The content and style of the annotations vary.”

”So, how do the annotations evaluate me, a handsome old man? How many more years do I have to live? Will my fetishes be exposed? Which level of the Deceit Tower did you obtain this from?”

”By the look of surprise on your face, don’t tell me I guessed it right. I’ve read similar novels. Gosh, there are no secrets in front of such eyes. Should I dig out your eyes?”

Albert leaned closer to Wen Xishu, as if observing some rare species.

For the first time, Wen Xishu felt offended by a mad old man. He was usually the most eccentric, teasing others.

Now it was this old man teasing him.

He took a deep breath:

”No, my sequence is pretty ordinary. Shouldn’t you tell me where we are and who you are?”

Albert really wanted to dig out Wen Xishu’s eyes.

So, his actions now made Wen Xishu feel like he had crossed into the world of Naruto, becoming Er Zhuzi with Uchiha Itachi trying to dig out his eyes.

Albert was already prying open Wen Xishu’s eyelids with his fingers:

”Wouldn’t it be great if things in the novels came true?”

Wen Xishu resisted letting the veins on his forehead pop out:

”Where am I, and who are you?”

He didn’t want to repeat this question anymore. Albert laughed heartily, then said:

”When talking to your savior, be more polite. I am Albert, an ordinary old man. As for this place, it’s the Three Towers Academy.”

Three Towers Academy, a level seven facility...

Wen Xishu suddenly understood the marvels of a level seven facility.

He didn’t know about other level seven facilities, but the Three Towers Academy, although in the Bunker, allowed the use of the powers from the Three Towers within the academy.

That’s why he could see Albert’s spirit barrage.

Wen Xishu’s mind moved quickly and immediately realized it was Albert, a person from the Three Towers Academy, who took him from Xie Changfeng of the Bunker Security Bureau First Bureau.

He looked at Albert, thought for a moment, then said:

”Are you the principal?”

”Yes, but I don’t handle much; that’s up to the people below.”

”Thank you for saving me. What do I need to do to repay you?”

Being rescued and indebted, Wen Xishu thought of what he had to pay.

He felt no sense of security; to him, the rescue must have been for a benefit exchange.

No one would do something unprofitable and offending others.

Albert stroked his chin:

”What can you offer, kid?”

”First, tell me what you need,” Wen Xishu skilled at bargaining.

Albert looked at Wen Xishu:

”Thankfully, you’re not a monster from the Deceit Tower; otherwise, your heart would be quite twisted. How insecure and distrustful can you be?”

This made Wen Xishu uncomfortable. The discomfort came from feeling that the other had hit the mark.

Inexplicably, he found that in front of Albert, he had a feeling of being seen through.

Albert saw Wen Xishu not speaking, knowing that this was a defensive posture.

”Don’t be nervous, since I saved you, I won’t kill you anytime soon.”

”I really like young people’s culture. Unfortunately, there isn’t much anime in the Bunker, and few people read novels. I love imitating the characters in various stories. Lately, I’m playing a kind role.”

What is this, an old otaku in terms of age?

Wen Xishu really didn’t expect the principal to have these young hobbies.

”I don’t expect you to do anything for me, so... just be a good student first. In the midterm assessment of Slaughter Tower Academy, I need you to produce results worth my protection.”

”I don’t care what secrets you bear. I could have easily asked when you were unconscious.”

Wen Xishu secretly thought this was bad.

At that time, he was injected with too much Truth Serum... he was in a state where he would answer anyone’s questions.

Although Albert said this, Wen Xishu didn’t know what kind of person Albert really was.

He didn’t trust Albert.

”You probably already asked, right?”

Albert still had that hearty smile:

”I’m not interested in Wen Chaohua’s secrets.”

Wen Xishu didn’t quite believe him but still asked:

”Why? Isn’t the value of saving me to get information about him?”

Albert shook his head:

”Why can’t it just be to confirm if there’s a student worth enrolling in the academy?”

Wen Xishu didn’t speak, and Albert sighed:

”It seems that if I don’t get you to reveal some secrets, you’ll find my actions illogical.”

This time, Wen Xishu nodded. Albert found it interesting, he also wanted to test Wen Xishu:

”Then tell me, in your view, the relationship between Deceit Tower, Desire Tower, and Slaughter Tower. Although it’s your first time climbing a tower, I want to know if you already have your understanding of the Three Towers.”

Wen Xishu didn’t refuse, after all, he didn’t need to describe his experiences.

Albert seemed to deliberately avoid this point, allowing Wen Xishu to retain some of his privacy.

At the same time, although Wen Xishu didn’t know how legendary this old principal was, someone who could rescue him from the Bunker Security Bureau must be extraordinary.

He decided to cherish the opportunity and show value outside of Wen Chaohua’s clues in front of this old principal.

After thinking for a while, Wen Xishu said:

”At first, it seemed to me that Desire Tower and Deceit Tower have a cause-and-effect relationship, with Desire Tower being the cause and Deceit Tower the effect.”

”Because as far as I know, what happens in Desire Tower should be before Deceit Tower.”

”The Desire Tower World is a normal world, and the Deceit Tower World is a twisted world. Normally, things are normal first, then get twisted, right?”

Wen Xishu purposely acted as if he hadn’t been to Desire Tower, as if he was just speculating.

He continued:

”But this is just on the surface; actually, they are mutually causal.”

”If we explore the Desire Tower first in chronological order, it might be impossible to find the source of the crisis.”

”Hmm... let me give a random example.”

”Who would think that in the Desire Tower World, a destitute circus performer would kill all his neighbors?”

”But in the Deceit Tower, you might face this bizarre existence who has killed all his neighbors right from the start. The task info would directly tell you that this person is the big boss.”

”So, if you got the chance to go to the corresponding area in the Desire Tower, wouldn’t you know better what to do than others?”

”So from this perspective, Deceit Tower becomes the cause, and the Desire Tower, which comes before Deceit Tower in the timeline, becomes the effect.”

”It’s like a yin-yang fish, hard to tell which is the cause and which is the effect.”

”The meaning of the Deceit Tower is like giving a direction to investigate the Desire Tower. Maybe with this direction, we can change the fate of the creatures in Deceit Tower from the source?”

”There are stories behind all those bizarre creatures. The ending of the story is obviously bad, but maybe the Desire Tower can change their endings.”

”So here, the Desire Tower becomes the cause. But ultimately, you have to find key figures in the Deceit Tower first.”

”Therefore, I think exploring the Deceit Tower should come before the Desire Tower.”

Albert felt a bright light before his eyes, such insight on a first tower climb was very rare.

He could hear that this child was deliberately hiding some things.

But that didn’t matter, this kid on his first tower climb could already have such understanding; he must be very good at thinking and summarizing.

Albert was very pleased.

He didn’t know that not long ago, Wen Xishu’s understanding of Desire Tower and Slaughter Tower was still ”one you do it, another you do it.”

Wen Xishu continued:

”As for Slaughter Tower, I’m not sure, but from what I understand, the targets in Slaughter Tower have become more desperate and hateful of the world, to the point of killing anyone on sight. So the timeline should also be after Desire Tower.”

”From my understanding of Slaughter Tower, it’s full of monsters. When you meet monsters, it’s fight or kill.”

”The information fragments you obtain are seriously insufficient, making it hard to know what these monsters went through.”

”So, you can only choose to battle and kill them.”

”But in Deceit Tower, though they are also monsters, if you can find the patterns, you can get many clues.”

”This helps us... to reverse everything in Desire Tower?”

”So in my view, among the Three Towers, the one most worth exploring, or the one that should be explored first, might be Deceit Tower.”

As he said this, Wen Xishu made a caveat:

”Of course, all this is just my guess. After all, I am not qualified to enter Desire Tower.”

Albert applauded, his eyes full of praise:

”Very good, it seems admitting you was the right choice. Your understanding of the Three Towers far exceeds my expectations.”

”But humans are not as dumb as you think. We are not unaware of the exploration order of the Three Towers.”

Wen Xishu’s expression unconsciously became more serious, Albert continued:

”There’s just one very crucial point that you probably don’t know.”

”And it’s precisely because of this point that our progress in exploring Deceit Tower lags far behind the other two towers.”