The Tower That Came Late

Wen Xishu still knew too little about the common sense of this world.

This was because the memories of the original body's owner could not be fully extracted.

Albert seemed to understand this as well and didn't pay much attention to why Wen Xishu was unaware of such common knowledge.

"The importance of the Tower of Deception is self-evident, but exploring it comes with a sunk cost."

"You should know that the main groups currently exploring the Tower of Deception are death row inmates, terminally ill patients, or people at the end of their rope for other reasons."

"Normal people seem to prefer the Tower of Desire, and only go to the Tower of Slaughter when they have no other options, but they absolutely refuse to go to the Tower of Deception."

"Because, once you enter the Tower of Deception, all your previous sequences, abilities, and attributes from the other towers will be reset to zero."

Wen Xishu guessed that this wasn't the absolute reason why people were unwilling to explore the Tower of Deception.

As expected, Albert added:

"But you must be thinking, if you explore the Tower of Deception first, wouldn't that problem not exist?"

"What is the reason why people choose to explore the Tower of Desire and the Tower of Slaughter first?"

"Is it simply because the Tower of Desire is easier?"

"But the Tower of Slaughter is also very dangerous, so why are there still far fewer people exploring the Tower of Deception than the Tower of Slaughter?"

Wen Xishu nodded; he was indeed pondering this question.

Albert's answer surprised Wen Xishu:

"Because the Tower of Deception appeared later than the other two towers."

Wen Xishu was stunned.

He had considered many reasons. For example, the rules within the Tower of Deception were complex, and it had a Magic Resistance mechanism, meaning that besides familiarizing oneself with the boss's combat mechanics, one also had to remain vigilant at all times to prevent triggering certain eerie rules due to low Magic Resistance.

But he had never imagined that the truth would be so simple and brutal: the Tower of Deception...

had actually appeared last; the Three Towers did not appear simultaneously.

Albert said with some emotion:

"In this world, there are things that are right and things that are easy. Most people choose to do the easy things because the former is too difficult."

"But humans have resilience. Human civilization has not collapsed even after the apocalypse."

"With tens of millions of people in the bunkers... how could we not find someone willing to take risks for all of humanity?"

"But before I got as old as I am now, we didn't even have the qualifications to enter the Tower of Deception. If the Tower of Deception hadn't appeared, how could we have entered?"

"In my life, I've never liked doing things that were too easy. I rarely entered the Tower of Desire."

"I have no interest in the pasts of the monsters in the Tower of Slaughter."

"Because I discovered early on that before the Tower of Deception was born, even if you knew the pasts of those monsters... it seemed like a piece was missing, preventing the complete puzzle from being presented."

"No matter what you do in the Tower of Desire, it's very, very difficult to make the monsters in the Tower of Slaughter change."

"And in the early days, people exploring the Tower of Slaughter and people exploring the Tower of Desire had difficulty communicating."

"For example, people from the Tower of Desire might become monsters in the Tower of Slaughter in the future, but after becoming monsters, their appearance would change completely, making them difficult to recognize."

"But in the Tower of Slaughter, monsters would trigger combat upon meeting; to put it fashionably, they'd be instantly killed if they showed themselves."

"You couldn't figure out who they were from the Tower of Desire."

"How could you save them?"

Wen Xishu nodded.

That was indeed the case. Deception Jack's ghastly appearance was very different from Desire Jack's.

If Slaughter Jack didn't speak, and sufficient information couldn't be obtained... Wen Xishu couldn't have figured out that this was Jack from the Tower of Desire, no matter how hard he tried.

"So the Tower of Desire is the easy thing, but someone has to do the right thing. Before the Tower of Deception appeared..."

"For me, the right thing was to conquer the Tower of Slaughter."

Wen Xishu couldn't help but ask:

"Why did you think that way?"

Albert said:

"As you said, the Tower of Desire is the past; its timeline is earlier."

"If one day humanity returns to the world of the past, do you think they will return to the past? What they will face is likely a world occupied by monsters from the Tower of Slaughter."

"Although you can bring back supplies from the Tower of Desire, and it's easy to survive. But I always thought that the Tower of Slaughter allows humanity to gain strength, not just to experience a game."

"This strength might be humanity's only means of self-preservation."

"That's why I almost never challenged the Tower of Desire. In the era before the Tower of Deception, many of us, for the future of humanity, could only choose the Tower of Slaughter."

Wen Xishu slowly nodded.

As expected, not everyone was stupid, and not everyone didn't know about exploring the Tower of Deception; it was just that in that era, humanity had no choice.

At the same time, due to the delayed appearance of the Tower of Deception, it also led to sunk costs in humanity's overall survival choices.

Wen Xishu's perception of Albert shifted slightly; he was no longer just a crazy old man.

"So, without the assistance of the Tower of Desire and the Tower of Deception... you're relying solely on the Tower of Slaughter to accumulate stats and break through?"

"If I may be so bold, since you specialize in the Tower of Slaughter, how many floors have you reached?"

Wen Xishu finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask for a long time. He could vaguely sense that Albert was not simple.

But he still wanted to judge just how not simple the other party was through concrete numbers.

"I'm old, I'm useless. My aptitude is ultimately too mediocre."

Albert sighed.

Wen Xishu had a rough idea. He figured the old principal was probably around floor fifty, forty, or even a bit lower.

After all, for an old man, even reaching floor forty was an incredible feat. He was definitely qualified to be the principal of the Three Towers Academy.

Even if he hadn't explored many levels, his survival experience must be rich from living so long.

He figured this experience was valuable, enough to hold lectures and establish an academy.

Moreover, the top person on the Ladder Ranking was only at floor fifty or sixty.

Hearing Albert call himself dull-witted, Wen Xishu wanted to offer some comfort. Not everyone could be as monstrous as Xun Hui.

But the next second, his usually strong micro-expression management faltered.

Albert said with some reluctance:

"I've been stuck on floor 96 for some time now. I don't know if these old bones will ever break through floor 99 in my lifetime. I really want to know how many floors the Tower of Slaughter has in total."

"Whoa..."

After saying this, Albert's eyes suddenly widened. He saw a line of text floating above Wen Xishu's head:

[What an incredibly ancient immortal! A man's gotta reach a hundred floors? What kind of terrifying existence is this?]

Wen Xishu's emotions had genuinely undergone an extreme shift, an extreme shock.

It was the first time he had lost control, thus triggering a... negative effect of Weird Sequence 37: Mental Barrage.

Under certain extreme emotions, it would manifest his thoughts as floating text to the relevant target, which was the person who caused him to have extreme emotions.

Although Wen Xishu didn't know the specific Ladder Ranking, he roughly knew that the current strongest players on the ladder, Xun Hui in the Tower of Slaughter and Wen Renjing in the Tower of Desire, were both in their fifties or sixties.

He thought that was the ceiling for humans.

But now, he truly understood the meaning of the Guide's words.

There existed some terrifying beings among humans.

The old man in front of him was likely the most terrifying among them.

"Hahahaha, this is too fun. Your Weird Sequence is so interesting."

Albert's laughter made Wen Xishu realize... he might have exposed himself.

But he no longer cared.

What difference did it make if a naked newbie in the starter village was exposed to an elder who had been playing since the game's launch with max-level divine gear and was now playing the latest version?

At this moment, Wen Xishu also understood something else: why Albert hadn't explored the Tower of Deception even after it appeared.

Because people like him were the true legends of the Bunker. Exploring the Tower of Deception meant starting everything anew. For Albert himself, perhaps he inwardly yearned for new adventures.

But for the human faction, they would definitely fear such top-tier combat power accidentally dying in the Tower of Deception.

Albert was a powerhouse capable of changing humanity's fate, so the Bunker naturally wouldn't agree to such a person starting over by exploring the Tower of Deception.

This was a risk the Bunker couldn't tolerate.

After a short while, Wen Xishu's inner surprise gradually subsided.

Albert said:

"You're very good. I'm starting to look forward to your performance in the first semester."

"The Three Towers Academy allows stats from the three towers to be effective within the academy grounds."

"You can think of it as a super-powered academy composed of owners of the Desire Sequence and the Slaughter Sequence."

"Most of those who graduate from here fare quite well."

"However, the final exam difficulty is not low, and the probability of repeating a grade is high. Some rules are not set by us; they are inherent to the Three Towers Academy."

"In short, the academy welcomes you. You have passed my test."

Albert had actually been testing Wen Xishu all along.

Now he was convinced that Wen Xishu was a promising talent. Perhaps this child held some secrets of Wen Chaohua.

Perhaps Wen Xishu could clear the Tower of Deception with Wen Chaohua's help.

But that wasn't important. In Albert's view, Wen Xishu's own aptitude was also worth cultivating.

"Don't disappoint me."

Wen Xishu asked:

"You said this is a superpowered academy for owners of the Desire Sequence and Slaughter Sequence..."

"But it seems you didn't mention the Eerie Sequence?"

Albert laughed heartily:

"Yes, yes, that's why you're the one worth looking forward to! Hahahahahaha..."

Thinking about the mental barrage that had floated above Wen Xishu's head just now, and how Wen Xishu's gaze had shifted upwards at the very beginning, likely seeing his own mental barrage.

Albert felt that the Tower of Deception was damn fun.

It's a shame though...

He himself was too important; countless people in the Great Devourment depended on him for salvation.

He couldn't, as he had done decades ago, willfully choose the most dangerous, most difficult, yet most correct path.

This also meant he was destined to have no connection with the Eerie Sequence of the Tower of Deception.

To Albert, who possessed a bit of an old rascal's nature, these sequences were too much fun.

Therefore, he greatly anticipated Wen Xishu's performance in the first semester.

However, before that, to avoid some trouble, he still needed to have Wen Xishu do one thing.