Level Four Completion

"Name."

"Wen Xishu."

"Age."

"Eighteen."

"Gender."

"Bottom-tier version."

"What the hell?" The clerk at the Three Towers Game Allocation Office froze for a moment.

"I mean male. Isn't that obvious from my appearance?" Wen Xishu answered with a smile.

"No, no, no. There are currently twenty-nine known genders in the Bunker... If you're male, you'd better explicitly say that you're male."

This clerk was the same one who had interviewed Park Young-so not long ago.

He was thirty, much like the corporate interviewers Wen Xishu remembered: a little greasy, amiable when he smiled, yet numb-looking whenever his face went stern.

"Under normal procedure, shouldn't you first assign me to a tower?" Wen Xishu asked.

The clerk answered rather gently:

"Students from Tower of Desire Academy and Tower of Slaughter Academy are assigned directly according to their academies."

"As for everyone else, generally speaking, first-time Tower Ascenders are asked to complete some questionnaires."

"Those who are combative by nature, or show great aptitude for combat, are sent to the Slaughter Tower."

"And those who make others feel comfortable when handling matters are assigned to the Desire Tower."

Wen Xishu added with a smile:

"And those who are exceptionally well-endowed?"

The clerk rubbed his forehead.

"Yes. Every so often, I see ones of all different sizes..."

"On the Dopamine Pleasure Ranking, smoking ranks third, at 220. Paying off a debt ranks second, at 225."

"But love between a man and a woman ranks first, at 550. The pleasure it brings is far ahead of everything else."

"That has led people to generally believe that the most direct way to please the Three Towers people is to make them experience love."

"So all kinds of people think they're suited for the Desire Tower."

"Uh, most importantly, the Bunker's upper ranks think that makes perfect sense."

"Indeed, quite a few men and women have brought abundant supplies back from the Desire Tower... You could say they've made considerable contributions to humanity."

"That's why I became an expert appraiser of endowments at such a young age."

This clerk was quite talkative.

Generally speaking, clerks were impatient and stern.

For instance, Park Young-so, the Korean Bunker citizen who had applied to transfer from the Slaughter Tower to the Desire Tower earlier, had made him extremely impatient.

But Wen Xishu was different. It was not because he was kind, or because of his handsome looks.

The real reason was—someone higher up had put in a word.

A few hours earlier, Wen Xishu had undergone an interrogation.

Perhaps because the higher-ups feared he would descend into madness again, the interrogation had not actually been very intense.

At the very least, brain-damaging things like truth serum had not been used on him.

That was also thanks to Wen Xishu's performance, half-mad and half-clearheaded. Throughout the interrogation, he had given only one answer:

"I can only remember clues about Wen Chaohua after entering the Strange Tower."

It was, of course, a stalling tactic, and a clumsy one at that.

But Wen Xishu was certain there were only two possible developments.

First: the Bunker's higher-ups were not that stupid and did not believe Wen Xishu's nonsense at all.

Then he would not live to see Chapter Four. The protagonist died. The whole book ended.

Second: Wen Chaohua was exceedingly important.

To find Wen Chaohua, the Bunker's higher-ups were willing to take any risk.

Even with such a lame excuse as "I can only remember clues after entering the Strange Tower," they were willing to believe it might be true and take a gamble.

Wen Xishu chose the second possibility.

Anyone capable of leaving those three bizarre "dice" in his idiot younger brother's mind was definitely no ordinary person.

He had won the bet, but that did not mean his situation had become safe.

Not long after the interrogation ended, a high-ranking official from the Bunker Security Bureau came to find Wen Xishu.

He was a man with an especially stern face, a burly build, and the air of a soldier.

In that cramped, dim room, the cold-tempered official said:

"From today onward, I will be responsible for your affairs. My name is Liu Jinsen. You can call me Officer Liu."

Officer Liu got straight to the point.

"If you want to escape death, you need to do two things."

"First, survive the Strange Tower. Otherwise, you're just dying somewhere else."

"Second, Bunker citizens can stay in the Three Towers for no more than seven days."

"You must recall clues about the heinous criminal Wen Chaohua within seven days."

"I don't believe someone like Wen Chaohua would leave clues on you."

"But my superiors are adamant. Since that is the case, I hope you truly do have clues."

Wen Xishu did not dislike Liu Jinsen, his temporary superior. At least the man's two pieces of advice were clearly laid out.

Wen Xishu did not waste the opportunity.

"Hypothetically, and I mean hypothetically, if I refuse to provide clues about Wen Chaohua, will I still die even if I successfully explore the Strange Tower?"

Liu Jinsen was not surprised that Wen Xishu had said "refuse to provide clues about Wen Chaohua."

In fact, he was certain Wen Xishu knew nothing. He was merely trying to gamble for a slim chance of survival by exploring the Strange Tower.

"The likelihood of that exceeds ninety-nine percent."

"The remaining one percent is if you bring back something extremely important."

Wen Xishu asked:

"For example?"

Liu Jinsen remained as hard and cold as ever, but he did not begrudge him an answer.

"Disease has been rampant in the lower levels of the Bunker lately, and medicine is in short supply. If you can achieve a level-four reward, you will survive no matter what."

Wen Xishu pressed on:

"A level-four reward?"

Liu Jinsen fell silent for a second at this question, which was practically common knowledge.

"Looks like you've never ascended a tower before."

Wen Xishu shrugged.

Liu Jinsen spoke as if reciting a textbook.

"Exploring the Three Towers earns different reward levels based on your performance."

"At level-one completion, you receive basic rations and supplies sufficient to sustain a family of three for three days."

"At level-two completion, you receive basic rations and supplies sufficient to sustain an extended family for three days, including some daily necessities."

"At level-three completion, in addition to the first two levels, you bring back certain items, equipment, and facilities."

"At level-four completion, you bring back basic supplies sufficient to sustain a residential complex for seven days, along with some advanced-civilization items, equipment, and facilities."

"At level-five completion, on top of level four, you bring back certain era-defining technologies, or items, facilities, and equipment."

"At level-six completion, you receive supplies sufficient to sustain an entire Bunker level for a certain period of time."

"And you bring humanity's Bunker civilization items, technologies, or facilities capable of sparking transformation."

"As for gaining skills, attributes, and items from within the Three Towers, that is judged by another set of standards."

"There is actually a level-seven completion, but it can only be attained in Three Towers of a specified level."

"You're entering the Three Towers for the first time, so your starting level will not be very high."

Liu Jinsen paused briefly.

"If you cannot provide clues about Wen Chaohua and want to survive, you cannot hope to trade one life for one life. You need to trade one life for a hundred lives."

"Perhaps even more."

Wen Xishu thought of the Su Brothers: the younger brother served as a prime minister at court, while the elder brother desperately caused trouble and the younger desperately patched up the holes.

Right now, he had the feeling that his real elder brother had courted death, and the younger brother had to foot the bill.

He had to bring back enough supplies to sustain at least several hundred people and save several hundred lives before he could survive.

Of course, there was a shortcut: fabricate clues about Wen Chaohua.

But the higher-ups were not fools. The credibility of his claims could not be overdrawn many times.

And so many experts on the Ladder Ranking had failed to change the miserable living conditions of the people in the lower Bunker levels...

That meant even for experts, obtaining a level-four reward was absolutely no easy task.

To survive the Strange Tower and attain a level-four reward as a newbie—it seemed like pure fantasy.

Wen Xishu found Liu Jinsen increasingly pleasing to the eye.

On the one hand, the man was extremely reliable and answered every question from a death-row prisoner.

On the other hand, Officer Liu actually believed his odds of success were as high as one percent.

Three Towers Game Allocation Office.

The clerk's words pulled Wen Xishu back from his thoughts.

"You look quite good. Appearance is actually more important. You're very suited for the Desire Tower."

"If you come back alive from the Strange Tower, I can alter some of the information in your physical data."

"People watched over by important figures have that privilege. As long as the figures aren't altered too outrageously, it's fine."

"Like Officer Wang from the Bunker Commerce Bureau. His son is one meter fifty-eight, but I wrote eighteen for him in the relevant field, and he still thought it wasn't enough."

The children of officials received guaranteed placement in the Desire Tower? Ordinary people, meanwhile, were sent to the Slaughter Tower to work like beasts? The Bunker's corruption was truly severe...

But cleaning up the Bunker's atmosphere was not something Wen Xishu needed to consider right now.

He interrupted the talkative clerk.

"Arrange for me to ascend the tower first. I want to contribute to the people of the Bunker today."