The Mysterious Youth Reappears

(It was time for a late-night bonus update again.)

Desire Tower Rest Area.

Wen Xishu came to this place once again. Unlike last time, the sixth floor was a level most people could reach.

Below the twentieth floor of Desire Tower were basically risk-free areas.

Those familiar cries rang out again.

"Looking for a guide on how to turn Miyazaki Takagao gay!"

"Twelfth floor! Selling tips for the 'Business War: Destroy Jingdong' mission! All I need is a stand-up comedian! Guaranteed to work! Come find me if you need a name!"

Wen Xishu could not help sighing. This was the Desire Tower Rest Area. The atmosphere was great.

It was worth mentioning that after most people arrived in a particular part of the Rest Area, they were unwilling to leave it.

After all, each area indicated that the people there were at similar levels. During that brief hour, everyone naturally preferred exchanging information and forming teams with people close to their own level.

Of course, a small number of people would visit the Rest Areas of higher-level zones and ask veterans for their opinions.

But there were not many like that.

Yet Wen Xishu really did plan to take a look at the Tian Yuan Area.

Along the way, he spotted quite a few people from Desire Tower Academy. These students were very willing to display their Three Towers Academy student IDs. There were both men and women.

Wen Xishu did not care. He headed toward the Tian Yuan Area, wondering whether he might run into someone interesting.

He was not particularly interested in academy students, unless there was a Tower of Deception Academy someday.

He soon arrived at the Tian Yuan Area.

What Wen Xishu had not expected was... this time, he ran into acquaintances.

"Well, young man. I didn't expect to see you again."

The man speaking was still all smiles, making him seem very approachable.

The woman beside him was still as cold as ice, but when she saw Wen Xishu, she smiled and nodded as well.

By coincidence, these two were precisely the pair Wen Xishu had met last time—

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan.

Wen Xishu smiled as well.

"We meet again, you two. I'm just taking a walk this time. What floor are you two on now?"

Liu Ruyan said,

"The twenty-sixth floor."

Wen Xishu remembered that Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan sold all kinds of guides and intelligence, so he wondered whether he should ask around first.

Unlike last time, Wen Xishu had received an Invitation Letter and immediately learned that the mission target was Desire Jennifer.

But this time, the Invitation Letter had been given at the start, so he had not unlocked the mission target's name.

He could only obtain clues after entering the Desire Tower world.

So Wen Xishu said,

"I wonder whether you two have any intelligence this time. I'd like to ask about some strategies."

Ji Boda smiled.

"My young friend, are you still planning to trade guides for guides this time?"

Wen Xishu suddenly noticed something else: the badges pinned to Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan's chests.

"You two... are teachers at Desire Tower Academy?"

Ji Boda nodded in great satisfaction.

"Last time, I was wondering why such an outstanding young man like you wasn't from our academy."

"Since you recognize our accessories, I suppose you're from Desire Tower Academy too?"

Wen Xishu did not answer that question. Instead, he asked another.

"Did you two... borrow some kind of item from the Materials Department? Why are you always able to match together?"

Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda were now even more certain that this child was from Desire Tower Academy.

Liu Ruyan's expression softened considerably.

"A purple item, the Mandarin Duck Lock. It allows two people of different genders to enter the same area and carry out the same mission. It must be used before entering the Three Towers."

Wen Xishu had learned something new.

"This item... does it belong to you two, or to Old Principal Albert?"

Ji Boda said,

"It's ours. My wife and I received it after consecutively completing ten missions related to love."

"I heard there's also the Comrade's Wristband. It has a similar effect, but it only works for people of the same gender."

"It seems the Old Principal has that one."

Wen Xishu suddenly smiled.

"Hypothetically, and I mean purely hypothetically, if I were an academy student, could I borrow that item from you two?"

Ji Boda burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, absolutely not. The Materials Department has asked us for this thing several times, and we refused to lend it out."

"The atmosphere at Desire Tower Academy isn't very proper... Sigh, students these days are becoming increasingly fond of shortcuts. This culture of shortcuts has only encouraged all sorts of other bad habits."

"Exploring Desire Tower is a sacred matter. Other items are fine, but an item that lets a man and woman enter an area together? Students like you... would only use it for that sort of thing."

Wen Xishu could roughly guess what that sort of thing was.

Things like, "Come on, I'll take you to get a room in the Desire Tower world."

Liu Ruyan also said,

"Exploring Desire Tower may be easy, but it should not be turned into entertainment. In this regard, the children of Desire Tower Academy are inferior to those of Tower of Slaughter Academy."

Because they lacked any sense of crisis. Wen Xishu made that assessment inwardly.

He did not intend to waste any more time and asked,

"I am indeed a Three Towers Academy student, but I don't have any intelligence to trade this time. Still, I truly want to know the strategy for a certain area in Jiangcheng City on the sixth floor."

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan exchanged glances. They had not expected this youth's tower-climbing range to be so vast.

At the same time, the two decided to ask the question they had not asked last time.

"My young friend, what Completion Level did you achieve last time?"

This was a very important question. Wen Xishu thought, If I say Level Six...

Wouldn't that basically be exposing myself?

But saying Level Five or Level Four did not seem appropriate either, because he did not know whether any Level Five or Level Four facilities had appeared in the Bunker recently.

Yet these two might know.

In that case, lying might leave them with a bad impression of him.

A person's value was sometimes something they assigned to themselves. Wen Xishu was the kind of person who would never stay low-key when it was time to stand out.

For example, at this very moment, he knew that if he acted modestly, he might instead end up being looked down upon.

In a place like an academy, people either respected your background or your talent. If you were too ordinary, even teachers would look down on you.

Wen Xishu thought for a moment and said,

"Sorry, although you two are my teachers, I really can't answer that question."

Ji Boda was visibly somewhat displeased.

The academy had not been open last time, so it was understandable that you, as a prospective freshman, did not know who I was. But now that you had enrolled and knew I was a teacher, why were you still putting on airs?

Naturally, his expression did not change. He still wore a smile.

However, Wen Xishu's next sentence immediately changed Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan's attitudes.

"I promised the Old Principal that all my results would remain confidential. But I do have some connection with you two teachers."

"So, if Teacher Ji and Teacher Liu truly need to investigate, you can only trouble yourselves to ask Principal Albert."

Liu Ruyan was the sort of person who could observe subtle changes in facial expressions. When she noticed Wen Xishu's calm composure as he mentioned Albert's name, she immediately realized that the child was not lying.

Ji Boda also looked to Liu Ruyan for confirmation, and Liu Ruyan nodded slightly.

Ji Boda was stunned.

What kind of freshman would be personally handled by the Old Principal?

Keeping results confidential was unheard of! If this youth had not left such an excellent impression on Ji Boda before, and if his wife Liu Ruyan had not hinted that the other party was not lying...

Ji Boda would have thought he was showing off.

But showing off at the academy usually meant things like, "My father is some bureau official." No freshman would dare use Albert as backing so directly.

"Then at the very least, you should tell us your name."

Wen Xishu still shook his head.

"Teacher, even my name contains secrets. I'll still have to ask you two to inquire with the Principal."

He remained calm and composed, neither humble nor overbearing.

This greatly piqued Ji Boda's interest. Ji Boda thought, Even his name is a secret?

Was there really such an influential family in the Bunker? Even the Wenren family or the Xun family could not manage something like this.

Wen Xishu's name really was a secret.

Because a simple check would reveal that Wen Xun was a student of Tower of Slaughter Academy.

A Tower of Slaughter Academy student appearing in the Desire Tower Rest Area was inherently unreasonable.

So Wen Xishu tossed the question to Albert. At the same time, he was making use of Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan.

Before Albert, Wen Xishu was not afraid of exposing his secrets. Merely facing someone of that level gave him the feeling of being seen through.

As it happened, Wen Xishu also wanted to use Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan to test Albert's attitude and appropriately demonstrate some of his value before Albert.

When everyone suspected that you possessed some secret that could let you survive a hopeless situation... you had better truly possess such a secret.

"What do you want to know?" Ji Boda could tell that he would not get anything out of him.

So he might as well help this youth. After completing the Desire Tower mission, he could ask the Old Principal about it.

But the Old Principal was elusive, and that crazy phone call, "Mysterious CEO Call," could not be reached at all. Who knew whether he would happen to encounter the Old Principal?

Wen Xishu said,

"I don't know much about this area's mission... but the general keywords are: sixth floor, young girl, falling, parrot, Jiangcheng City."

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan exchanged glances once again. Wasn't this the mission that had made Wen Renjing feel guilty for so long?

Wen Renjing had many regrets in his life, but this mission was practically his white moonlight.

It was the greatest regret from his earliest days of climbing the towers.

"We do know a little about this mission, but unfortunately, I can't tell you what to do."

"That little girl named Tang Rui didn't want love."

"You know Wen Renjing, right?"

Wen Xishu nodded. Ji Boda continued.

"This academy's heartthrob, Desire Tower's number one. He displayed enormous talent very early on."

"He always remembered that Desire Tower was a tower of love. He used love to heal others."

"Of course, not the kind of... vulgar methods many students today imagine."

"Wen Renjing was very good at comforting people, and combined with his peerless looks, he seemed like a man who had stepped out of a dream."

Wen Xishu thought, Peerless elegance could be used to describe a man? This Wen Renjing must really be something.

"When he dealt with Tang Rui, he discovered that she had thoughts of suicide. At the time, he was arrogant. He believed all suicidal thoughts stemmed from not being accepted or valued by the world."

"He believed it was all because of problems with a person's upbringing and family education, which led the girl to seek death."

"There certainly were reasons like that, but Wen Renjing was very naive at the time. He thought every problem could be solved as long as someone loved you."

"Over seven days, he took Tang Rui to experience every romantic thing imaginable."

"She loved food, so Wen Renjing cooked the most delicious meal she had ever eaten in her life."

"She loved singing. Although her voice was not very good, Wen Renjing still invited her to sing with him in an open-air park, drawing applause from many visitors."

"She wanted to see distant places, but because of the area map restrictions, there were places they could not go. Wen Renjing could not make that happen, so in the shortest time possible, he personally painted several scenes he considered the most beautiful in the world on enormous canvases."

"He gave that girl named Tang Rui... what countless women could only dream of: love."

"And he truly did see light appear in Tang Rui's eyes."

"But in the end, Wen Renjing paid the price for his recklessness. The mission Completion Level was Level One."

"Even though that girl had been incomparably happy and loved by a man so outstanding he seemed unreal, it was still—only the lowest Completion Level."

Ji Boda said,

"Wen Renjing was depressed for a long time. In the end, he understood that what the girl wanted was not love, or perhaps... she was not such a shallow person."

"The suffering she endured was another kind of suffering."

"Wen Renjing later said—

Every Desire Tower mission requires sincerity. I overestimated my own charm and believed that love could sweep away every shadow in a girl's heart.

But that wasn't true. Many people's lives are filled with suffering. They never even get the chance to experience love, much less suffer because they lack it.

I was saddened by my own perfunctoriness. I had become that bastard who asked, "Why not eat meat porridge?" I was even more saddened by her ending."

Wen Xishu did not understand.

"How did he know her ending?"

Wen Xishu now knew that the mission target was named Tang Rui, so he added,

"Normally, once the mission is completed, we return immediately. We don't actually know the target's final outcome, do we?"

Ji Boda nodded.

"That is indeed true. But Wen Renjing later learned of the girl's ending through other missions in Jiangcheng City, further down the timeline."

"You may not know this. You're still a freshman who has only recently begun climbing the towers, right?"

"Actually, Desire Tower has the possibility of anchoring outcomes. Wen Renjing blamed himself greatly and thought that if he had been more sincere and anchored that story..."

"Perhaps the girl would not have died."

At that moment, Liu Ruyan suddenly spoke.

"Wen Renjing... may have felt some affection for that girl as well."

Ji Boda was slightly taken aback and looked at Liu Ruyan.

Liu Ruyan sighed.

"In the process of loving others, one often comes to feel loved in return."

"He cared so much about that little girl because she must have meant a great deal to him as well. But he knew there was a deep chasm between them."

"Many Bunker people fell for Three Towers people, but Wen Renjing knew he could not do that."

"Later, he said that he sincerely hoped someone could anchor that story and change the girl's fate."

"But to this day, no one has done so. No one has changed that little girl's ending."

(The content of two chapters should help you sleep~ But don't panic, hold on tight, there will still be updates during the day.)