Rich Family Scion

Wen Xishu didn't look at the door outside immediately.

He first examined the strange walls and the two unsettling chairs.

Finally, he looked at the foul-smelling refrigerator.

The dilapidated refrigerator in the corner of the room didn't seem to be just for show.

This was Jack's former safe, and now it likely contained someone's corpse.

Wen Xishu guessed that watching the movie could help him evade Jack's pursuit outside, but the movie itself carried immense risk.

If his score dropped below sixty points... he might be stuffed into the refrigerator to "share a room" with Anderson.

He was almost certain the corpse in the refrigerator was Anderson's.

He quite liked Jack's methods, but he didn't want to be stuffed into a refrigerator himself.

Fortunately, his score was high now, and an escape route had appeared.

This also meant that after surviving the initial onslaught, patrols, the spiral building, and previous performances...

There should only be one final hurdle left before clearing the stage.

"Let's go, let's see what else is next."

Wen Xishu didn't use the invitation letter immediately, deciding instead to continue progressing with the Tower of Deception's mission.

The madman Jack seemed to have gone to another floor.

After leaving Jack's room, the two heard Jack's laughter again. The laughter had faded a bit, but something more terrifying than laughter followed.

On the walls on both sides of the stairs, countless black lines appeared.

They seemed alive, like strands of moldy noodles, their gray-black bodies writhing continuously.

Millions of worms writhed, gradually forming a sentence on the wall.

Dense, overwhelming, and covering almost every visible surface was this sentence:

"Jennifer! Where are you!"

This scene made even Wen Xishu's scalp tingle, as if he had fallen into a nest of black spiderwebs or been surrounded by countless strands of hair.

From the moment he called Remian, Wen Xishu had noticed something:

"Jack's superpower seems to be the ability to materialize certain thoughts from his mind."

"The sound of the phone in his head could broadcast in all directions, and his thoughts could also drive these strange worms to arrange themselves into words..."

Up to this point, this ability seemed to have no offensive capabilities.

Perhaps it was because, deep down, Jack didn't want to kill Jennifer.

However, Wen Xishu felt increasingly that Jack's patience was wearing thin. He trusted his judgment.

The reason was probably that only someone equally twisted could achieve a score of 97.

Wen Xishu had actually thought that if this world ever forced him to become a monster: he would definitely kill, kill, kill, kill, kill...

Forget about Guan Yu's great saber not striking the old and young, or the idea of not killing beautiful and kind people – none of that existed.

The greatest respect for revenge was to err on the side of killing too many rather than letting anyone go.

So, Wen Xishu wouldn't be surprised if Jack killed Jennifer.

The worms on the wall grew more numerous, and the layers upon layers of "Jennifer, where are you" that filled his vision reached a point that would make someone with trypophobia vomit and faint.

Wen Xishu picked up Jennifer and began typing as he went downstairs.

"From now on, no matter what you hear or see, just ignore it. I'm here, don't be afraid."

[Oddity - Jennifer's Affection Increased.]

Jennifer's body was cold and a little stiff, but she still nodded, biting her lip tightly.

Wen Xishu descended the stairs at a very fast pace.

As a former extreme sports enthusiast and parkour expert, even with his new body after transmigration, he could perform many professional moves based on his memories.

He practically leaped down the stairs, moving with incredible speed.

The worms' spread was clearly unable to keep up with Wen Xishu's descent.

Jack's voice also grew weaker.

This building wasn't tall, and Wen Xishu soon noticed something was wrong.

"This isn't right. Logically, an old building like this shouldn't be this tall... but I've gone down over ten floors, and I still haven't reached the first floor."

The endless stairs seemed to lead to hell.

The temperature was also dropping, and Jennifer's exhaled breath turned into white mist.

A thin layer of frost coated the stair railing.

Jack's voice was indeed growing fainter, and he seemed to be getting further away, yet the end of the stairs remained unseen.

"Jennifer... don't leave me, are you going to Yulia's?"

"You'll choose me, won't you? Or... do you want to be a child who listens to their mother? You have a mother, are you showing off to me?"

Jack's latter half of the sentence clearly turned ferocious. Although his voice grew fainter, Wen Xishu still caught the crucial information within it.

"As expected, there's one more hurdle."

Wen Xishu, who had been unsure before, now moved with firm steps.

Shortly after Jack finished speaking, a warm breeze brushed past Jennifer.

It was gentle and warm, and compared to the biting cold, it felt like paradise behind her.

Wen Xishu immediately became alert.

"Jennifer... Jennifer... my poor daughter, come to your mother!"

The woman's voice seemed capable of dispelling the terrifying chill.

In front of Jennifer lay an endless staircase, descending into an unknown depth, accompanied by a cold that seeped into her bones.

But behind Jennifer, this narrow and oppressive stairwell seemed to widen, as if a bright and warm path had opened up behind her.

Wen Xishu instantly recalled the "performance" he had seen not long ago.

He then realized that Jack was indeed very much like him – holding grudges and seeking revenge, a classic case of an eye for an eye.

When Jack had begged for Jennifer to watch his performance, Yulia's words, "Jennifer, you're not allowed to look back," had utterly crushed Jack.

Now, forced by the situation, Wen Xishu uttered similar words.

"Jennifer, don't look back!"

Jack's inner thoughts would materialize. His greatest hatred for Yulia wasn't her disdain for the poor, but her forbidding Jennifer from watching his performance.

At this moment, this hatred also materialized, embodying an eye for an eye.

The woman behind them wasn't Yulia at all, but the materialized mental projection of Jack.

Just as Wen Xishu thought Jennifer was about to fall victim to the "look back" trap, leading to a bad ending with a low score for him—

Jennifer actually didn't look back.

A prompt appeared in his mind, much to Wen Xishu's surprise.

[Your stable emotions have given the Deceptive Jennifer faith. Her affection has reached the required level, and Deceptive Jennifer has chosen to believe you at this moment.]

Raising her affection three times actually had this kind of effect.

Jennifer was actually quite smart.

She probably guessed that her mother wouldn't be nearby at this moment.

When her mother told her to stay under the bed and then left herself...

Jennifer had wondered if her mother was abandoning her. Was she just a tool hiding under the bed to attract Uncle Jack?

But if Wen Xishu hadn't performed so steadily before, in this kind of situation, Jennifer might still have turned back.

The woman continued to call out, her voice growing more desperate, even starting to turn ferocious.

"Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer..."

The speed of the voice increased, becoming distorted.

But Jennifer simply closed her eyes, clutching Wen Xishu tightly with her small hands. Wen Xishu remained vigilant, but his evaluation of Jennifer had significantly increased internally.

He had to admit, this little girl was indeed a qualified target to protect; she completely lacked the trait of unintelligent NPCs forcing extra tasks onto the protagonist.

What excited Wen Xishu even more was that he finally saw the exit of the staircase.

As the woman's calls gradually faded into inaudibility, the endless stairs finally reached their end. Wen Xishu had successfully arrived at the first floor of the building.

From the staircase entrance on the first floor, the exit of the building was only a few steps away.

The mission was about to end.

"Jennifer, do you think you can escape me just by leaving this building? Can you handle the outside world alone? This is just the beginning."

"I will be with you forever!"

Jack's voice echoed from a distant floor.

Wen Xishu suddenly stopped. He looked at Jennifer and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, Jennifer, you go ahead and leave. I have something else to take care of."

Escorting Jennifer out of the building and successfully leaving himself would complete the mission.

More precisely, his successful departure was the key; Jennifer's ability to leave only affected the final completion rating.

Combining this with the hints from the Invitation Letter, Wen Xishu was utterly convinced that there were still aspects of this mission that could be explored further.

Therefore, he didn't intend to complete the mission at this moment.

After Jennifer reluctantly left the building, he first covered his Login Device with his sleeve.

Then, he took out the Invitation Letter and bit his finger, pressing his fingerprint onto it.

The patterns on the Invitation Letter began to wriggle.

In that instant, everything around him went still. Time itself had completely frozen at that moment.

[Proceeding to [Rest Area]. Trial progress in the Tower of Deception is paused. All objects within the area, including players from the other three towers, will enter a time-stop state.]

[Entry into the Tower of Desire via the Invitation Letter channel is limited to forty-eight hours. After forty-eight hours, you will be forcibly returned to the Tower of Deception. You may also return to the Tower of Deception early via the Invitation Letter.]

Two sets of information appeared in Wen Xishu's mind.

What pleased him greatly was that if it were a group mission and one person obtained an Invitation Letter, everyone else would also enter the time-stop state.

This meant that even if he teamed up with others to explore the Tower of Deception in the future, he could use the Invitation Letter without worrying about being discovered.

However, Invitation Letters were clearly not easy to find, and the conditions for obtaining one were likely different for each mission.

The surrounding scenery began to blur, and Wen Xishu found himself unable to move.

He had initially wondered if, by interrupting the mission progress with the Invitation Letter and causing everything in the Tower of Deception to enter a time-stop state, he could do things like the protagonist in those island nation movies during the time stop.

Now, it seemed he couldn't.

Compared to the other time-stopped objects in the area, Wen Xishu wasn't much better off.

The only thing he could do was think.

But he didn't have much time to think. Before he could even savor this stillness…

His brain felt a wave of dizziness, and then he entered the next area.

"Floor six, that mission to help the basketball player find happiness, any big shots know the details? I heard you need to learn to fly a helicopter?"

"I'm eighteen, age eighteen, length eighteen, about to head to floor nine. Mission objective: bring happiness to game producer Miyazaki Takagao. Can anyone tell me if this guy's a pervert? How do I bend him to my will? I only know how to persuade with my… handle!"

"Floor four, the sky-high wedding mission. Selling strategy guide. I'll teach you how to act like a rich and handsome guy in front of the mission target, guarantee to make her happy, make her take the initiative, and unlock hidden actions."

Shouts from the distance reached him, confusing Wen Xishu for a moment.

But he quickly understood. It seemed he hadn't entered the Tower of Desire yet, but rather some kind of transit area.

The Rest Area for the Tower of Desire.

Those entering the Tower of Desire, Tower of Deception, or Tower of Slaughter for the first time would directly enter the corresponding tower's area.

However, from the second time onwards, they would first enter the "Rest Area."

All players from the three towers could stay in the Rest Area for a maximum of one hour.

During this hour, they could ask other players present about strategies for certain levels, or inquire about similar missions to seek teammates.

Alternatively, they could sell items, strategy guides, or special props needed for certain scenarios here.

Of course, they could also choose to enter the tower early and not stay in the Rest Area.

The Rest Area as a whole resembled a marketplace, with many booths and shelves.

But if viewed from above, the area looked more like a chessboard, with nineteen vertical and nineteen horizontal intersecting pathways.

Many people occupied a booth, selling various goods.

Wen Xishu's sudden appearance also drew attention.

"Whoa, you look barely an adult, young man. Which family are you from?"

The area where Wen Xishu appeared was the tenth vertical and tenth horizontal section, the center of the Rest Area, the Tianyuan position on the chessboard.

The person who greeted Wen Xishu was a portly uncle with kind features and a smile that exuded a sense of profiting from good fortune.

His smile was even kinder than Sha Ruijing's, but it carried a hint of sly flattery, perhaps due to his excessively round double chin.

Beside him stood a woman who was as cold as ice, with sharp eyes, but whose features were undeniably exquisite.

"Oh, forgive my manners. Let me introduce myself first. I am Ji Boda, and this is my wife, Liu Ruyan."

"We have all the information you could possibly want. May I ask which family you hail from, young sir?"

Ji Boda was very polite.

In his opinion, someone around eighteen years old, a person of color, who could directly enter the Tower of Desire at such an age…

This was definitely not an ordinary family.

However, there was one thing Ji Boda couldn't quite understand: why was this young man in the Tianyuan position?

This was not a place where newcomers typically appeared.

Wen Xishu smiled and said:

"Just a newbie who just started climbing the tower. I'm not some young master. I'm just a citizen from the bottom of the Bunker."

Ji Boda waved his hand:

"You jest, young sir. The fact that you've reached the Tianyuan area proves that, at this point in time, your climbing tier is among the highest."

Hearing this, Wen Xishu knew there was more to it and didn't stand on ceremony, directly asking:

"So, the closer the starting position here is to the center area, the higher the level?"

Ji Boda scrutinized Wen Xishu, seeing that he genuinely didn't seem to be faking it, and felt a bit curious.

"You really don't know?"

Wen Xishu shook his head.

"I really don't know."

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan exchanged a look. This time, it was Liu Ruyan who spoke. Her tone was very indifferent, but her voice was beautiful.

"It's normal if you don't trust us. We sell information, and we have a lot of intelligence up to the thirty-seventh floor."

"If you have any questions, you can ask us."

Wen Xishu looked around. Indeed, only he and this couple were in the Celestial Origin Zone.

His own level corresponded to the twenty-first floor of the Tower of Desire.

Although there were noisy shouts from outside, proving that the Rest Area was crowded...

With so many people, their exploration levels were not high, likely only between the first and tenth floors.

And he had already reached the Celestial Origin position.

This meant that within this current hour, his twenty-first floor was the highest. Only Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan were around his level.

Unless someone of a higher level entered here and pushed him out.

Wen Xishu had a general idea of which areas ordinary tower climbers usually frequented.

For this couple to sell information up to the thirty-seventh floor, they must be top experts.

He said, "I need to go to the twenty-first floor to help a child named Jennifer and bring her happiness."

Upon hearing the words "twenty-first floor" and "Jennifer," Ji Boda's heart was thrown into turmoil.

Because the young man before him was simply too young, appearing to be just at the age when one is permitted to climb the tower.

Someone so young had already explored to the twentieth-something floor; this was truly a genius of the Tower of Desire.

He became even more convinced that this young man was a rich kid from the Bunker.

Two large chapters, exactly ten thousand words! I'm so strong!