By the time the three of them reached the top, sweat had appeared on Yue Yun's forehead, while Wen Xishu's breathing had grown uneven and slightly ragged.
Only Nissen was still hopping around, laughing and singing, without even breathing hard.
Wen Xishu had now witnessed Nissen's terrifying physical talent.
If he really entered the Slaughter Tower and trained for a while, he would probably become a tank-like monster.
At the top of the library was an enormous open space, resembling the helicopter pads atop high-rises from Wen Xishu's previous life.
After arriving, the three of them kept looking around, only to discover... there was nothing.
Yue Yun said, "I hope neither of you has shaky legs. Looks like we came up here for nothing. We'll have to head back down."
Anyone who had climbed a mountain knew that the hard part was not going up. The scary part was having weak legs and still needing to go back down...
Nissen found nothing either and looked somewhat disappointed.
"Bro, looks like we had the wrong idea tonight. We got excited for nothing."
Wen Xishu said nothing. He looked up at the sky.
"Have you noticed that the clover has slowed down?"
The enormous brass clover looked even larger from the top of the library.
Yue Yun nodded.
"It does seem slower."
Wen Xishu said,
"Good things come to those who wait. Let's watch a little longer."
The brass clover continued to turn.
But as time passed, it spun slower and slower.
After a long while, it was probably somewhere between midnight and dawn—
The differences between the three leaves could now be seen clearly with the naked eye. It was like the final rotations of an electric fan after the power had been turned off.
Round after round, it spun more and more slowly until it finally came to a stop.
When the enormous brass clover... truly stopped spinning, Wen Xishu walked to the edge of the library's top floor.
He first looked toward the brass clover in the sky.
The moonlight simulated by the dome passed through the veins of the clover leaves... making the night hazy.
But the massive clover leaves also blocked much of the simulated moonlight, casting shadows.
One shadow fell upon the gate to the Tower of Slaughter Department Area. Another fell upon the gate to the Desire Tower Department Area.
Standing atop the tallest building, Wen Xishu, Yue Yun, and Nissen could all see this.
And the final shadow... fell upon the library's top floor.
The enormous leaf-shaped shadow resembled an entrance to hell.
At that moment, Wen Xishu needed no explanation. Yue Yun and Nissen had both guessed it... the shadow falling across the library roof looked exactly like a door opening there!
Of course, it might have been a coincidence, merely a geometric arrangement of light and shadow.
Though it looked like a door, nothing happened when they stepped into the shadow on the top floor...
Still, Yue Yun and Nissen both believed this was very likely where the treasure had been hidden.
Because when their gazes fell upon that shadow resembling a door...
They saw a note. A string of gibberish.
They could not recognize a single character. Every symbol was strange, and those symbols filled Yue Yun and Nissen with irritation.
Yue Yun thought of his mother, of that great woman humbly begging for a bite to eat in the lower levels.
Nissen thought of the father who had abandoned him and his mother. He thought of the dark joke told in the lower levels about why Black people did not celebrate Father's Day.
Gradually, they began to grow agitated.
"Look away."
Wen Xishu shouted.
That shout actually brought them back to their senses. Yue Yun and Nissen turned their heads away in unspoken coordination, looking elsewhere.
"W-What the hell was that?" Nissen still felt lingering fear.
It was as though some invisible force had seized him just now, stirring up a tremendous restlessness within him.
Yue Yun looked at Wen Xishu, surprised that Wen Xishu was still staring at the gibberish yet appeared extraordinarily calm.
"How many characters can you recognize?"
Wen Xishu looked away as well, turning his head in another direction.
Nissen shook his head.
"Bro, what characters? This stuff looks like some damn ghost scribbles, like garbled code and talismans. I can't recognize a single one. Ah, I can't look at this thing anymore."
Yue Yun also shook his head.
"I can't recognize any of them. Not one character. You can?"
After thinking for a moment, Wen Xishu finally answered honestly.
"I can recognize a few. There's a lot of gibberish in there, and it can corrupt your state of mind."
"Don't stare at it. Focus on the characters you recognize. If you don't recognize a single one... look away and stop looking entirely."
Yue Yun's eyelid twitched slightly, his heart churning. Just who was Wen Xun? Why could he recognize them?
Could it be that the person fated to claim this treasure was actually Wen Xun?
Wen Xishu ignored the barrage in Yue Yun's mind: Impossible. Why should it be him?
He continued,
"The characters I can recognize are few too: teacher, core, supreme, authority, cleanse. Just those."
Teacher, core, supreme, authority, cleanse.
A single character could still be interpreted, but strung together, they seemed as incomprehensible to Nissen and Yue Yun as the gibberish itself.
Yue Yun said,
"Why can you recognize some of them, while Nissen and I cannot recognize even one?"
Wen Xishu said,
"Everyone has secrets. I have mine too. I won't ask why you're so obsessed with surpassing everyone else."
"Nor will I ask why Nissen likes singing so much."
"Of course, you can tell us if you want. But that would be your goodwill, not your obligation."
Yue Yun nodded. He accepted that explanation.
No one who could enter the Tower of Slaughter Academy was ordinary. Though the threshold for the Slaughter Tower was much lower than that of the Desire Tower.
The academy was different.
Even those entering the Slaughter Tower would become formidable figures if they graduated from Three Towers Academy.
In the future, slipping into the Security Bureau and securing some official position would not be surprising either.
This place was full of geniuses. Having a few secrets was only natural.
"After the midterm exam, I'll tell you my secret. If we do not come to dislike each other by then, I think we'll become very good friends."
Yue Yun felt as though he's even better at putting on airs than I am, but he was not jealous. He had a competitive spirit, yet he simply wanted to become stronger.
Nissen said,
"Wen, I knew you weren't ordinary. I love people with stories. My mom always told me that men should have stories."
Yue Yun looked at the shadow again.
"This thing looks like a door... You can make out some of the characters. Do you think they mean anything?"
Teacher, core, supreme, authority, cleanse.
Wen Xishu vaguely guessed that the characters could expand into—teacher, core, power, purification.
Then what about supreme?
He thought of earliest.
If those words were expanded and combined...
A sentence had already formed in Wen Xishu's mind.
Before you continue