The East and the Parrot

The Bunker Security Bureau certainly went to great lengths.

To team up with Wen Xishu, one first had to enter the Rest Area, which meant entering the Tower of Deception an hour later.

The probability of matching with someone on the same level within the Tower of Deception was one in seven. The probability of matching within the same area was even lower. In other words, out of perhaps a hundred people, only one would successfully match with Wen Xishu. And that was only if they could calculate Wen Xishu's tower climbing time.

Furthermore, if Wen Xishu chose to breach the agreement and not team up with anyone, these people might fall into danger for nothing.

Even if they teamed up with these people… whether they could observe Wen Xishu's actions, whether they could find clues about Wen Chaohua, and whether they could bring them back alive after finding them…

All of it was uncertain.

Under such circumstances, the Bunker Security Bureau was still willing to arrange a large number of personnel to enter the Tower of Deception, consuming vast resources to provide some prisoners, low-level villains, and the poor with the opportunity to team up with Wen Xishu, essentially paying them to risk their lives.

Wen Xishu only needed to simulate it briefly to understand how terrifying the cost was.

At the same time, he was also acutely aware that with such an exorbitant cost, if he didn't cooperate, the Security Bureau would have plenty of excuses to make things difficult for him.

He hadn't yet demonstrated enough value for Albert to fiercely protect him.

So, after much thought, Wen Xishu raised his hand. He didn't know how the Bunker Security Bureau would ensure whether he teamed up with someone or not.

But ultimately, to avoid certain troubles, he decided to team up with others for this operation.

After all, for Wen Xishu, teaming up wasn't something he couldn't accept.

Thus, Wen Xishu raised his hand and even walked around a small area, saying:

"Sixth floor, is anyone else on the 'Fallen Parrot' mission? Want to team up? I feel like this is a mission suited for a team."

This time, Wen Xishu was not heading to a place inhabited by Westerners like Moen City.

The area he was about to travel to was a place called Jiangcheng City.

Judging by the name, this place should correspond to a city in his previous life, in his own country.

This was quite a surprise and a pleasant one for Wen Xishu.

Because he really wanted to eat some hometown dishes. However, the mission description made him feel it was somewhat obscure; he couldn't understand the content of the mission description at all this time.

This also made him think, perhaps teaming up could lead to a collective brainstorming?

The mission description was as follows:

[A parrot cage is a very interesting cage. It doesn't look like a cage at all, just a perch. It doesn't know what the world is like, thinking all perches are the same.

Other birds also don't know that living on such a perch is like this. Just like they don't know that parrots can be scared to death.

Please go to the parrot cage in Jiangcheng City to find at least one contaminated item. Perhaps you can change its fate, or perhaps you will die in it?

We also look forward to you finding all the contaminated items.]

The mission location was Jiangcheng City.

Wen Xishu didn't know what kind of place Jiangcheng City was. Did everyone there love raising birds? Was the target of this mission non-human?

If it wasn't about birds, but some kind of textual metaphor, it would be quite unfathomable, because the mission description on the sixth floor seemed even more obscure than the one on the twenty-first floor…

If that were the case, Wen Xishu could only attribute it to Eastern characteristics.

It was probably because Chinese people inherently feared speaking directly, as in the ancient environment, people often "couldn't speak their minds." But they loved to speak, so they liked to imply things, be sarcastic, and make people do reading comprehension. But this was definitely not a derogatory remark.

Because only in the great land of Kyushu could these two things be played to perfection, transformed into textual art, and made pleasing to the eye.

In terms of wordplay, Chinese could offer the most variations and depth of interpretation in the world.

"I want to see what kind of parrot you are."

Wen Xishu's interest was piqued.

And a few people gradually gathered around him.

"Wow, hi hi hi, hello hello~ My name is Kane, brother, we're really fated to meet, we're on the same mission."

Five people.

What Wen Xishu didn't expect was that five people would appear here. He knew his luck was bad, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

Accepting the team-up and not hiding his mission location was something Liu Jinsen had specifically instructed him to do.

Wen Xishu had also done as he was told. Although he outwardly accepted the team-up and wasn't resistant, he inwardly thought, would he really be so unlucky as to have someone on the same level and in the same area among so many areas on seven levels?

Wen Xishu had clearly underestimated his luck.

The Madman's Dice listed the option "Coincidence," which seemed like a hint.

The five people approached Wen Xishu. Including Wen Xishu, this team had six people.

Of course, it was not impossible that there might be seven or eight or nine people, but others were unwilling to team up.

Wen Xishu could vaguely sense that as the Three Towers Academy also announced a new credit reward mechanism, the Bunker Security Bureau and the Government Affairs Bureau would likely increase their efforts to stimulate people's exploration of the Tower of Deception.

It wouldn't be surprising if soon there would be a Tower of Deception Ladder Ranking, and perhaps then they could see which highest level Wen Chaohua had reached.

Wen Xishu shook hands with Kane:

"My name is..."

He hesitated. Naturally, he didn't want to reveal his name. But firstly, he thought that there would definitely be spies here who knew his identity.

Secondly, once they entered the Three Towers Game, their IDs would likely be exposed. Therefore, Wen Xishu decided to be forthright.

"My name is Wen Xishu."

His voice was soft, but in the next instant, everyone around him froze for a second or two.

"You... what did you say your name was?" The person speaking had an Indian accent, and his expression convinced Wen Xishu that he was definitely not a spy.

But Wen Xishu was also certain that this Indian man was no good. This was because, instead of the stereotypical curry smell, he carried another kind of stereotype...

The smell of animal feces.

One of the five people was a woman, and the Indian man looked at her with the gaze of a predator eyeing its prey.

Wen Xishu inexplicably recalled the many outrageous behaviors attributed to the "Ah San" race.

Why would a human carry the stench of animal feces?

Wen Xishu said, "It's just a common name, don't mind it."

This remark eased the tension for those around him, though some were also disappointed.

The fact that these people didn't doubt Wen Xishu's claim of a common name was due to the extensive efforts of Sha Ruijing's team, which had made the name "Wen Xishu" incredibly famous.

The level of fame was such that it was practically deifying him.

Among the lower strata, some individuals with religious backgrounds held superstitious beliefs. They believed that the name Wen Xishu could protect them.

Consequently, many who had learned of Wen Xishu's exploits recently decided to change their names to "Wen Xishu" plus a symbol. If they managed to return from the Tower of Deception, meet their Guide, and complete registration, the Bunker would likely be flooded with people named Wen Xishu.

It was akin to how Daniel Wu had branches all over the world in his previous life.

Another reason these individuals didn't suspect anything further was the ingrained stereotype that Wen Xishu wouldn't possibly be found at such a low tier.

Thus, when Wen Xishu mentioned having a common name, the people around him didn't react much. Some even seemed a bit crestfallen, thinking that if it had truly been the Wen Xishu from the Bunker, they would have considered themselves quite fortunate.

The Indian man said, "My name is Sita, friend. I used to be a zoo keeper, hehehe. I worked in the functional layers on the fourth floor because... because I did some 'loving' things to the animals, and I was arrested."

"What about you all? Why did you come to the Tower of Deception?"

Did some... loving things to the animals.

Wen Xishu forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

He wasn't surprised by the man's self-introduction or his confession. What surprised him was that, judging by the calm reactions of those around him, he realized—

There wasn't a single decent person here; they were all villains. Each likely possessed extraordinary skills.