Old Madman and Young Madman

Awake.

Wen Xishu was a little thirsty. After waking up, he wanted to find some water, but then he realized this was not his home.

In his previous world, he had owned a fairly decent house. In some small fourth-tier town, whenever he woke up, he would habitually feel around the bedside cabinet.

Because that was where he kept his water.

But now, when Wen Xishu opened his eyes, he saw the sharply defined face of an old man.

The man actually looked somewhat familiar.

Wen Xishu immediately wanted to slap himself, but pain shot through his entire body.

"Did they really beat me to death, and then I transmigrated into the world of One Piece!?"

Albert Napolitano gave a puzzled hum.

"Hm? What's that? Some popular novel these days? I love reading novels. Share it with me."

Wen Xishu took another careful look... and finally realized this was not the world of One Piece. He was not dead.

The old man before him merely resembled Pluto Rayleigh, the misleading mentor from the One Piece manga in his previous world.

"Who are you? Where am I—"

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

Hahahahahahahaha, this kid doesn't think he died, does he? Then, like a character from a novel, he transmigrated? This is too hilarious.

Mental Barrage.

When someone was in an extreme emotional state—extreme joy, extreme sorrow, extreme fear, extreme rage—their specific thoughts would appear in the form of barrage comments.

Just like that, after Wen Xishu saw the barrage floating over the man's head, a long string of "hahahahaha" comments followed.

And Wen Xishu could hear "hahahahaha" in his ears as well.

This handsome old man in Wen Xishu's eyes was indeed happy. Ecstatically happy.

As though Wen Xishu waking up was something immensely worth celebrating.

Wen Xishu, meanwhile, was somewhat dumbfounded.

He knew that the barrage he had just seen was the effect of Weird Sequence 37: Mental Barrage.

But wasn't that thing only effective in the Strange Tower among the Three Towers?

Wen Xishu widened his eyes, at a loss for a moment.

At that moment, Albert said,

"Interesting, interesting. Little friend, does your Sequence allow you to see some kind of special mental manifestation? Your eyes tell me that you saw something."

"You just looked above my head."

Wen Xishu was startled again. His eyes had merely shifted extremely quickly; he had not even raised his head.

What kind of observational ability was that?

"Could it be some kind of eyes I read about in a novel, able to see annotations? With content and style that vary?"

"Well? How did the annotation evaluate me? A handsome old man? How many more years can I live? Surely my sexual preferences haven't been exposed? Which floor of the Strange Tower did you obtain it on?"

"Looking at how stunned you are, don't tell me I really guessed right. I've read similar novels. Ah, there are no secrets before eyes like that. Should I dig your eyes out?"

Albert leaned close to Wen Xishu's face, as though observing some rare species he had never encountered before.

For the first time, Wen Xishu felt offended by an old lunatic. Usually, he was the crazier one, the one teasing others.

Now this old man was teasing him.

He took a deep breath.

"No. My Sequence is quite ordinary. Shouldn't you tell me where this is, and who you are?"

Albert really wanted to dig out Wen Xishu's eyeballs.

His behavior now gave Wen Xishu the sudden feeling that he had transmigrated into Naruto and become Sasuke, about to have his eyes dug out by Uchiha Itachi.

Albert had already used his fingers to pry open Wen Xishu's eyelids.

"How wonderful would it be if things from novels became real?"

Wen Xishu resisted the urge to let the veins on his forehead bulge.

"Where am I? Who exactly are you?"

He did not want to repeat himself again. Albert laughed heartily and said,

"Be more polite when speaking to the person who saved your life. My name is Albert. I'm an ordinary old man. As for this place, it's Three Towers Academy."

Three Towers Academy, a Level Seven Facility...

Wen Xishu suddenly understood the marvel of a Level Seven Facility.

He did not understand the other Level Seven Facilities, but although Three Towers Academy was within the Bunker, one could use the powers of the Three Towers within the academy's grounds.

That was why he could see Albert's Mental Barrage.

Wen Xishu's mind raced, and he immediately realized that Albert, someone from Three Towers Academy, had taken him away from Xie Changfeng of the Bunker Security Bureau's First Division.

He looked at Albert, considered for a moment, then said,

"You're the Principal?"

"Yes, but I don't really handle matters. The people below take care of those."

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

Having been rescued and owing someone a favor, Wen Xishu's first thought was the price he would have to pay.

He had no sense of security. In his eyes, saving him had to be for an exchange of benefits.

No one would do something that brought them no benefit while offending others in the process.

Albert stroked his chin.

"What can you pay, kid?"

"Tell me what you need first." Wen Xishu was skilled at bargaining.

Albert looked at Wen Xishu.

"Good thing you're not some monster from the Strange Tower. Otherwise, your heart would definitely be terribly twisted. Just how insecure and distrustful of people are you?"

Those words made Wen Xishu uncomfortable. He was uncomfortable because he felt the man had hit the mark.

For some reason, he found that standing before Albert gave him the feeling of being seen through.

When Albert saw Wen Xishu remain silent, he knew it was a defensive posture.

"Don't be nervous. Since I saved you, I certainly 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 enjoy imitating characters from all kinds of stories. Recently, I've been playing a merciful character."

What was this, an old otaku in the literal sense of age?

Wen Xishu truly had not expected the Principal to have such youthful hobbies.

"I can't think of anything you can do for me, so... be a good student for now. For the Tower of Slaughter Academy's midterm assessment, I need you to produce results worthy of my staunch protection."

"I don't care what secrets you carry. While you were unconscious, I could have easily questioned them out of you."

Wen Xishu silently cursed. This was bad.

At the time, he had been injected with too much truth serum... He had been in a state where he would answer whoever questioned him.

Even though Albert said that, Wen Xishu still had no idea what kind of person Albert was.

He did not trust Albert.

"You've probably already asked, haven't you?"

Albert still wore that bold smile.

"I have no interest in Wen Chaohua's secrets."

Wen Xishu did not quite believe him, but he still asked,

"Why? Wasn't the value in saving me to obtain information about him?"

Albert shook his head.

"Why can't it be because I wanted to confirm whether there was a student worth admitting to the academy?"

Wen Xishu said nothing. Albert sighed.

"It seems that if I don't make you hand over some secret, you'll feel that my actions don't make sense."

This time, Wen Xishu nodded. Albert found it amusing, and he happened to want to test Wen Xishu as well.

"Then tell me how you see the relationship between the Strange Tower, the Desire Tower, and the Slaughter Tower. Although this was your first time ascending a tower, I want to know whether you already have your own way of understanding the Three Towers."

Wen Xishu did not refuse. After all, he did not need to speak of his own experiences.

Albert seemed to have deliberately avoided that point as well, allowing Wen Xishu to retain some privacy.

At the same time, although Wen Xishu did not know how legendary this Old Principal was, someone capable of taking him from the Bunker Security Bureau could not be simple.

He decided to cherish this opportunity and show this Old Principal some value beyond clues about Wen Chaohua.

After thinking for a moment, Wen Xishu said,

"At first, I thought the Desire Tower and the Strange Tower had a causal relationship. The Desire Tower was the cause, and the Strange Tower was the result."

"Because from what I understand, the events in the Desire Tower should take place before those in the Strange Tower."

"The Desire Tower's world is a normal world, while the Strange Tower's world is a twisted one. Logically, normal should always come first, followed by distortion, right?"

Wen Xishu deliberately acted as though he had never entered the Desire Tower, as though he were merely making deductions.

He continued,

"But that is only superficial. In truth, they are mutually causal."

"If you explore the Desire Tower first according to chronological order, you will likely be unable to find who the source of the crisis is at all."

"Hmm... Let me give a random example."

"Who would have thought that in the Desire Tower's world, a destitute circus performer would slaughter all his neighbors?"

"But in the Strange Tower, you may face this bizarre existence that slaughtered his neighbors right from the beginning. The mission information will directly tell you that this person is the big boss."

"So, if you have the chance to visit the corresponding area in the Desire Tower, wouldn't you know better than others what you should do?"

"From that perspective, the Strange Tower becomes the cause, while the Desire Tower, which comes before the Strange Tower on the timeline, instead becomes the result."

"It's like a yin-yang symbol. It is hard to say who is the cause and who is the result."

"The meaning of the Strange Tower seems to be that it provides a direction for investigating the Desire Tower. Perhaps with that direction, one can change the fate of Strange Tower creatures at the source?"

"Those bizarre creatures all have stories behind them. The endings of those stories were obviously bad, but perhaps the Desire Tower can change their endings."

"Then here, the Desire Tower becomes the cause again. But in the end, you still have to find the key figure in the Strange Tower first."

"So I think exploring the Strange Tower should come before the Desire Tower."

Albert felt as though his eyes had lit up. To gain such an insight on his first tower ascent was extremely rare.

He could tell that this child was deliberately concealing some things.

But that did not matter. This was only the child's first tower ascent, yet he already possessed such understanding. He was clearly exceptionally good at thinking and summarizing.

Albert was very satisfied.

Although he did not know that not long ago, Wen Xishu's understanding of the Desire Tower and the Slaughter Tower had still been, "Just do it," and "Just do it."

Wen Xishu continued,

"As for the Slaughter Tower, I don't understand it, but I imagine that the mission targets within it have already become more desperate and more disgusted with the world, to the point that they kill anyone they see. So its timeline should also be after the Desire Tower."

"Based on my understanding of the Slaughter Tower, it is full of monsters. Meeting a monster means fighting and killing."

"The information fragments obtained are severely insufficient, making it difficult to know what those monsters have experienced."

"So you can only choose to fight them, to kill."

"But in the Strange Tower, although they are monsters too, if you can find the pattern, you can obtain quite a few clues."

"That helps us... reverse everything from within the Desire Tower?"

"So in my opinion, the tower most worth exploring among the Three Towers—or rather, the one that should be explored first—might be the Strange Tower."

Having said that, Wen Xishu added a caveat for himself.

"Of course, this is all merely my speculation. After all, I do not have the qualifications to enter the Desire Tower."

Albert applauded, his eyes full of approval.

"Excellent. It seems admitting you was the right decision. Your understanding of the Three Towers far exceeds my expectations."

"But humanity is not as foolish as you think. It's not that we don't understand the order in which the Three Towers should be explored."

Wen Xishu's expression unconsciously became more serious. Albert continued,

"It's simply that there is one crucial point you probably don't know."

"And it is precisely because of that point that our progress in exploring the Strange Tower lags far behind the other two towers."