Bunker

Biodata

Background

Humans entered the Bunker only a few decades before the present story. Elderly residents still remember the outside world, including the sky and sea, while younger generations know them primarily through the Three Towers. 10

The Bunker originally consisted of only two layers: one Functional Layer and one Residential Layer. It has expanded as humanity explored the Three Towers, leading to speculation that tower exploration effectively “moves” the towers and may eventually allow the Bunker to reach the surface. 4

Its origin is initially unknown. Sha Ruijing cannot explain how humanity entered a structure with no exit, suggesting that the answer may lie within the Three Towers Game. 4

Jin Zhenyuan’s pioneering role

Mr. Jin, also known as Jin Zhenyuan or Old Jin, was the first person to enter the Bunker. According to his account, he awakened from a coma with knowledge of its entrance and reached it through a special passage constructed by the Guide. He subsequently guided others into it through the rifts between the Sky Dome Plan, Chosen Selection Plan, and Ark Project. Its initial population was very small compared with the millions involved in other countries’ survival plans. 247

Already immensely powerful when he arrived, Jin became the early Bunker’s master and unified its systems, languages, and currencies. Albert and Evelyn remember him as the pioneer who led humanity through uncertainty and established a new civilization. 247 274

Sagittarius later connects Jin’s knowledge of the Bunker to his involvement with Aries, Libra, and the Heart of Fusion. After gaining immense power and learning secrets surrounding the Bunker, Jin withdrew from contact with Longxia, established his own faction, and brought that faction into the settlement. Sagittarius does not know how he obtained its coordinates. 296

Later revelations about its origin

Information supplied by a stronger alternate version of Wen Xishu distinguishes the Bunker’s pioneer from its creator. Albert reports that, in that version’s universe, Jin had nothing to do with creating the Bunker: he was someone who received guidance toward it. The account associates that guidance with an Outer God’s attention and warns that the benefits of such gifts carry a price. 413

The Bunker is therefore not an unconditional refuge. Whether it functions as a safe haven or a trap depends on humanity’s actions. Remaining comfortable without sufficiently exploring the Three Towers ultimately leads to its destruction and humanity’s defeat in the Three Towers War. 413

Structure and Environment

The Bunker is a sealed, vertically organized settlement. At the time Wen Xishu receives his Level Six reward, it contains sixteen floors: eight Functional Floors and eight Residential Floors. Even-numbered floors are functional, while odd-numbered floors are residential. 17

The Bunker’s dome simulates a day-and-night cycle, producing strong daylight during the day and dim moonlight at night. 33

Animals and plants are maintained on Functional Floors, including a zoo. Before the arrival of the Fishing Ground, residents could see the sky and sea only inside the Three Towers. 4 226 227

Expansion and changes in layout

The Bunker creates additional floors when a newly acquired reward cannot fit within its existing space. The recipient can choose where the new floor appears rather than being restricted to adding it at the top. Wen Xishu chooses the bottom for the Fishing Ground so that residents who have never seen the sea can experience it. 226

Its internal arrangement is not permanent. Albert explains that the Great Devourment changes the Bunker’s layout, accounting for why facilities brought back by early explorers no longer remain concentrated on the original Second Level. Lower floors face greater danger from the disaster, and the threatened destruction of the First and Second Levels can force their populations into higher residential floors. 58 104 173

Society and Governance

The Bunker is governed through a rigid social hierarchy. Authority, identity, wealth, and status generally determine how high a person lives; upper floors receive better facilities and resources. 17

Exploring the Three Towers is the primary recognized route for social advancement. The Bunker maintains institutions intended to assess and assign citizens to suitable tower systems, including the Three Towers Academy, Three Towers Research Bureau, and Three Towers Game Allocation Office. 4

The population includes people of many countries and nationalities. Public institutions emphasize human rights and political correctness, although these stated principles do not prevent severe discrimination between social classes. 1 19

Major governing bodies

• Bunker Security Bureau — Handles security, interrogation, armed enforcement, and part of the Three Towers exploration effort. It has six branches; the Second and Sixth Branches are responsible for external affairs and tower exploration, while the other branches primarily act as Bunker guards. 20
• Bunker Administration Bureau — Oversees administrative functions and participates in resource distribution and public messaging. 19 21
• Bunker Elder Council — Can convene senior officials to address major changes in population, resources, and facilities. 19
• Bunker Health Bureau — Responds to public-health emergencies and administers medicine supplied through Bunker facilities. 19 21
• Bunker Facilities Planning Bureau — Registers facilities subject to placement restrictions and issues approval numbers specifying where they may be installed. 64
• Bunker Birth Administration Office — Manages Login Devices and their binding to citizens’ identity codes. 4
• Bunker Commerce Bureau — A subordinate department of the Administration Bureau. 115

The Level Seven Conference Room on the Sixteenth Level automatically produces data on population, health, birth and death rates, supplies, and Bunker structures, giving top officials a detailed view of internal conditions. 19

The Security Bureau also controls the Bunker Security Guard, an armed subordinate department used to suppress internal unrest. 19

Social inequality

Lower-level citizens have limited access to facilities and suffer disproportionately during crises. During the epidemic, the passage from the Second Level to the Third Level was largely sealed, trapping lower-level residents while upper-level personnel treated containment as preferable to risking wider infection. 19

Although Three Towers exploration provides a theoretical path upward, the allocation system is vulnerable to favoritism. Well-connected citizens can receive altered physical records or preferential placement, while ordinary people may be directed toward more dangerous tower assignments. 3

The same imbalance affects employment and official appointments. Comfortable, highly paid positions are difficult for ordinary citizens to obtain, while people performing necessary but dangerous work occupy lower social positions. Albert’s concentration on tower climbing and Jin’s withdrawal from public affairs allow these conditions to worsen over decades. 199 248

Albert later identifies the record number of Mutants and vortices during Wen Xishu’s Great Devourment as evidence of worsening misery within the Bunker, contrasting the increasing comfort of upper-level residents with the suffering below them. 196

Albert and Wen Xishu’s reforms

After the Great Devourment, Albert directly intervenes in Bunker politics and overrules the Five Elders. He recognizes the Xishu Divine Church and appoints Wen Xishu permanent special adviser to the Security Bureau, ranked above its directors. Wen Xishu receives access to every level and permission to use every facility, as well as a place at the same conference table as the Elders. Part of the Security Bureau is assigned specifically to Strange Tower exploration under his senior consultancy. 196

Albert also appoints Wen Xishu dean of the newly established Tower of Deception Academy, with authority equal to his own within that academy. These decisions shift the existing bureau directors from central decision-makers to peripheral participants in the Bunker’s leadership. 196

After Jin disappears, Albert becomes the Bunker’s foremost figure. The remaining Elders become more cautious about exercising power against him, and the later trading fair demonstrates cooperation between the academy, prominent families, and the Administration Bureau. 274 315

By the later Hunter City infiltration missions, the Five Elders’ old order has fallen and Albert and Wen Xishu have decisively taken control. Living standards, particularly those of the bottom levels, are steadily improving. 428

Religious and economic organizations

• Xishu Divine Church — Develops from public faith in Wen Xishu and becomes a major organization under Wen Xiange’s management. It participates in the Great Devourment response, publicizes Wen Xishu’s rewards, and later receives official recognition. 136 196 227 348
• Gambling Stone Association — Joins the Bunker’s major factions in mobilizing against the Great Devourment. 136 137
• Six Great Families — Promote the academy trading fair alongside the Xishu Divine Church. 315
• William Hockner — Offers investment in the sea and academy-controlled facilities, proposes improved student accommodation and services, and funds and organizes the trading fair. His support helps improve the treatment of Strange Tower climbers. 245 315 349

Connection to the Three Towers

The Bunker’s continued survival and expansion depend on the Three Towers Game. Exploration can return material supplies, technology, equipment, and facilities, while insufficient exploration risks the Great Devourment. 3 21

The Bunker’s adult population corresponds to the total number of Login Devices. These identity-bound devices provide access to one of the Three Towers. 4

Normal citizens seeking to switch tower systems must wait at least six months. The Bunker uses formal allocation institutions to prevent everyone from choosing the comparatively gentle Tower of Desire. 4

The Tower of Deception is particularly important yet feared: veterans entering it must begin again without their prior tower attributes, abilities, or sequences. This makes the Bunker more willing to send newcomers there than risk established specialists from the other systems. 4 28

Possessing more than one type of Login Device is exceptional because the standard distribution is one device per adult. Wen Xishu’s access to both Black and Red devices represents official acceptance that his exploration of multiple systems is valuable enough to justify the exception. 84 113

Influence on the Three Towers War

Bunker residents can alter the future through their exploration of the Three Towers. The Strange and Desire Towers permit direct changes to individuals’ fates, while Slaughter Tower achievements can redistribute luck and opportunities to people whose fates have already been changed. 113

Sagittarius describes the Bunker as a source of variables capable of generating enormous momentum on the Three Towers Battlefield. Even residents who are initially weak can, through the towers, profoundly influence the eventual war. This influence leads hostile Constellations to discuss restricting exploration and killing Bunker residents before they can discover more secrets or alter further outcomes. 296 308

Restrictions on supernatural power

Under ordinary conditions, Three Towers powers and item abilities cannot be used freely inside the Bunker. An item brought back can be carried or set down without retaining its tower functionality; Jabbar explains that even a tower knife cannot harm someone there. Designated areas, including the academy’s Department Zone and certain special facilities, provide exceptions. 104 196 315

The Level Seven Safe House allows Wen Xishu to inherit twenty-five percent of his Three Towers attributes inside it. Population-wide rewards can also directly strengthen residents, including increasing lifespan, disease resistance, and underwater breath-holding ability. 136 173 227

The Bunker can reject someone who no longer belongs to it. Albert explains that Jin avoids this rejection by remaining inside his own facility after paying a great cost in karmic fortune to bring Xiao Jin into the Bunker. Bringing in someone who does not belong requires someone who does belong to leave. 243

Great Devourment

The Great Devourment brings Strange Tower-like dangers into the settlement. It includes Mutants that can rapidly evolve by devouring people and vortices that swallow residents into mission scenes. The vortex stage does not replace the Mutant stage; both can occur simultaneously. Vortices are generally concentrated near the bottom, with fewer appearing on higher floors. 125 137

Because ordinary tower combat power is restricted in the Bunker, creatures that experienced climbers could easily defeat inside the Slaughter Tower can become lethal threats at home. The Safe House’s detection and intelligence capabilities allow defenders to identify Mutants and assess vortex threats. 136 137

Sufficient tower exploration eventually removes the Great Devourment as a recurring danger, but this does not make the Bunker permanently safe. Instead, further progress brings a different stage of threats. 413

The fourth tower and its stages

Albert reveals that the Bunker is itself the fourth tower. Its stages are determined by humanity’s progress in the Three Towers rather than by elapsed time. If residents stop advancing, it can remain in its early stage indefinitely, but prolonged failure to influence or reinforce humanity on the battlefield ultimately results in destruction. 413

Albert announces that the Bunker has entered its second stage after returning from a trial of the heart. When explaining the fourth tower’s mechanics later, he remains uncertain whether the specific threshold for Tower Challenger entry has already been crossed, but believes it is at least close. Actual infiltration subsequently establishes that the threat has arrived. 333 413 414

Outside Tower Challengers

Outside challengers treat the Bunker as a tower to climb. Their missions generally involve eliminating a resident, with higher levels corresponding to stronger or more important targets. They can remain for no more than seven days before returning to their original world. Some missions also accept stripping a target of a core ability or changing that person’s fate. 413 414 428

Albert’s information specifies that challengers enter the Bunker’s current timeline rather than traveling into its residents’ earlier past to kill them before they began climbing. From the outsiders’ perspective, however, missions can target Bunker residents before they attain their later influence on the Three Towers Battlefield. 413 414 428

Hunter City’s Merchants’ Guild obtains limited infiltration opportunities and directs challengers toward targets such as Wen Xiange and Jiang Xue. Successful missions increase the outsider’s climbing level and unlock eligibility to target more important figures. Wen Xishu theorizes that this access mechanism is a reflection of the Bunker’s own access to the Three Towers, arising from another derivative system connected to the conflict between Outer Gods and the gods of the Three Towers. 414 416 428

Power Progression

Facilities

Bunker facilities are graded by level. Higher-level structures offer increasingly transformative capabilities, with Level Seven facilities possessing special functions beyond ordinary infrastructure. 17 19

Placement and ownership

Facilities have maximum quantity limits, although some lower-level facilities can be obtained repeatedly. The maximum number of Level Six Hospitals is two. A climber can exchange part of a completion reward’s supplies for the consumables required by a newly selected facility. 17

A facility identifies the climber who brought it back as its owner, but this does not automatically prevent Bunker authorities from requisitioning or controlling it. Wen Xishu initially recognizes that his rewards could be forcibly purchased or simply seized. 17

Early facilities were placed without coherent planning, producing scattered buildings and excessive numbers of some low-level structures. Later policy requires facilities below Level Five to remain with the Guide until their owner registers them with the Facilities Planning Bureau and receives an approved location. Installation occurs after the next tower climb; unauthorized facilities can be destroyed. Level Five and higher facilities remain freely placeable. 64

Wen Xishu’s Level Six Hospital

Wen Xishu returns from the Tower of Deception with a Level Six Hospital and substantial supplies, placing the facility on the Second Level to serve lower-level residents. Its ownership display identifies him as the owner, though Bunker authorities quickly occupy and control the hospital. 17 18 19

The hospital’s medicine begins curing the epidemic within hours, and its equipment is expected to help the Bunker address future plague crises. 23

Level Seven Safe House

The Safe House can preserve three hundred lives and possesses additional observation and containment abilities. It regularly scans the Bunker for dangerous individuals, lists threat levels and attributes, and supplies information about certain Great Devourment vortices. Albert adopts it as the command center for the disaster response. 136

Wen Xishu retains authority over the facility and can expel unwanted occupants, as he does to Liu Zizai after the latter attempts to separate him from his teammates. 158

Three Towers Academy and Recollection Archive

Three Towers Academy is one of the Bunker’s most famous Level Seven facilities. Its establishment substantially accelerates tower exploration. Initially, its known schools include the Tower of Slaughter Academy and Tower of Desire Academy. 17

The Tower of Deception Academy requires an opener whose Magic Resistance exceeds fifty and is the highest in the Bunker. Wen Xishu alone meets these conditions when it is opened. He activates it through a blood offering beneath the Three-Leaf Clover, completing the academy’s previously concealed structure and becoming its highest authority alongside the principal. 197

Opening this area is also necessary to access Wen Xishu’s Level Seven Recollection Archive, which he has hidden there on the Guide’s advice. He proposes using Strange Tower figures from the Archive as teachers. A later prison facility appears in the inverted world overhead, with its exit connected to the Archive. 196 197 286

Fishing Ground

The Fishing Ground is a simulated ocean whose fish resources regularly respawn according to residents’ progress in exploring the Three Towers. Its installation creates the Bunker’s seventeenth floor, placed at the bottom at Wen Xishu’s request. 226

Its arrival gives residents direct access to a sea within the Bunker for the first time. The associated Iron Lung reward allows them to hold their breath underwater for extended periods. 227

Ten-Thousand Sword Manor

The Ten-Thousand Sword Manor supplies renowned swords, with prices decreasing as the Bunker population’s overall sense of chivalry increases. Its master periodically receives precious weapons of at least purple grade and can smelt unwanted weapons into Tower Power. 363

The facility attracts widespread attention, and leading climbers including Albert, Xun Hui, Wen Renjing, Zheng Zai, and Xu Manjin gather in its Swordcasting Hall to obtain suitable weapons. 364

Other documented facilities

Major Events

Wen family case and Wen Xishu’s execution order

The Bunker sentences the Wen family to death for grave crimes. Wen Xishu’s execution is delayed after authorities conclude that he may possess information concerning his brother, Wen Chaohua, described as the Bunker’s most heinous criminal. 1 2

Wen Xishu is permitted to enter the Strange Tower because the authorities hope tower exploration will reveal a lead on Wen Chaohua. 3 4

Second Level epidemic

An epidemic spreads through the lower levels, affecting younger residents as well as the elderly. The threat of losing future tower climbers makes the crisis politically significant, while upper levels initially restrict movement rather than prioritize relief. 5 19

As the epidemic comes under control, passageways from the lower levels gradually reopen. By July 17, 2061, academy students are again able to return to their dormitories ahead of classes beginning the following day. 30

Arrival of the Level Six Hospital

Wen Xishu’s first Tower of Deception exploration produces Level Six supplies and a hospital, exceeding the expected completion target. The hospital’s arrival transforms the Second Level’s medical capacity and makes Wen Xishu a symbol of hope among lower-level citizens. 17 18 22

Senior officials debate whether Wen Xishu should be treated as an asset or interrogated for presumed links to Wen Chaohua. 19 20

Public campaign around Wen Xishu

Sha Ruijing organizes a publicity campaign presenting Wen Xishu as the “saint of the Bunker,” its future, and a savior of lower-level citizens. Public gratitude helps raise the political cost of executing him after his return. 22

Security Bureau interrogation and rescue

Despite his contribution, Wen Xishu is interrogated with a lie detector and truth serum by the Bunker Security Bureau. Albert Napolitano ultimately rescues him with Liu Jinsen and agents from the Security Bureau’s First Branch. 20 26

The rescue is accompanied by an agreement that Wen Xishu will regularly enter the Strange Tower. Albert carries him back toward Three Towers Academy. 26

The academy later secures the return of the merit from Wen Xishu’s previous explorations and guarantees that he will receive the merit from future climbs, with the principal’s backing. 84

Defense against the Great Devourment

After returning with a Level Six Library, Wen Xishu warns Albert that the Great Devourment is coming. He subsequently brings back the Level Seven Safe House and a reward granting every resident two years of lifespan and temporary Magic Resistance. Albert rejects the Security Bureau director’s proposal to arrest and execute impoverished people merely because they might mutate. 124 136

Three Towers Academy, the Security Bureau, the Gambling Stone Association, the Xishu Divine Church, the Elders, and other fighters assemble to defend the settlement. Patrols and armed teams reduce the Mutant threat, while assault teams address the vortices. 136 137

Wen Xishu clears the first orange vortex, then takes Yue Yun, Nissen, Xiao Jin, A Miao, and Zheng Zai into the Maze Train. After clearing that second orange vortex, he enters the Ancient Castle Storytelling vortex alone. 147 158

The fall of the third vortex brings another population-wide reward: one year of lifespan and twenty-five percent greater resistance to disease. Repeated Level Six rewards also leave the Bunker with an extraordinary abundance of supplies. 173

The final orange vortex’s disappearance ends the Great Devourment. Although a small number of people die, the vast majority survive, and the threatened loss of homes on the lower floors is avoided. Albert describes it as the fastest Great Devourment resolution in recorded history despite its unprecedented number of Mutants and vortices. 196

Post-disaster reorganization

Celebrations spread throughout the Bunker, and Wen Xishu is credited with preserving lives and homes. The supply surplus reduces hunger and frustrates those who had hoped to profit from disaster-driven scarcity. 196

Albert uses the victory to establish Wen Xishu’s senior political position, recognize the Xishu Divine Church, and announce the Tower of Deception Academy. He subsequently devotes time to reorganizing the Bunker’s deteriorated institutions. 196 199

Arrival of the sea

Wen Xishu’s Fishing Ground reward expands the Bunker to seventeen floors and places an ocean at its bottom. The academy, church, and government institutions rapidly publicize the news, and elevators fill with residents eager to see the sea for the first time. 226 227

Academy trading fair

Albert and Wen Xishu establish a trading fair with market stalls and auction plans. William Hockner funds and organizes it, while the Six Great Families and Xishu Divine Church promote participation. The market opens in the academy’s Department Zone, where tower items can retain their abilities. 315

Wen Xishu’s disappearance and return

When Wen Xishu’s name disappears from the Ladder Ranking, public anxiety grows. Wen Xiange risks his life on the hospital roof to sustain faith in the church leader’s return, while the Miyamoto Family and allied aristocrats prepare to undermine Wen Xishu’s achievements and restore the old order. 347

Wen Xishu returns with a Level Seven completion reward granting Mystery-Desire Twin Resonance, enabling communication between the Desire and Strange Towers. The Bunker celebrates his return. Miyamoto Yoshiki is subsequently tortured to death, and the Miyamoto Family seeks reconciliation rather than openly resisting. 347 349

Rescue through the Golden Gate

During the Realm of a Hundred Selves, Wen Xishu 001 opens the Golden Gate and calls for help when Wen Xishu 046 becomes trapped in a lethal shattered-mirror space. Residents of the Bunker, people from the Three Towers Battlefield, and others accept the danger and enter vortices to rescue him. Their voices dispel the Black Dust and pull him out of despair. 410 412

The rescue also exposes the Bunker’s weakening separation from the Three Towers. Wen Xishu realizes that a figure operating through Strange Tower rules has reached into the supposed safe zone and transported its residents elsewhere. Albert treats this as evidence that restrictions between the Bunker and the towers are loosening. 413

Hunter City infiltration and Almi’s defection

After learning that outsiders can climb the Bunker, Albert and Wen Xishu agree to strengthen security, establish patrols, and seek ways to detect or prevent entry. The Elders and major bureaus begin drafting policies, but infiltration is already underway. 413 414

Almi enters from Hunter City with a mission to kill Wen Xiange or deprive him of his core ability. Because ordinary residents do not know that infiltration is possible and welcome apparent tower climbers as providers, he reaches the church without arousing suspicion. 414

On his sixth day, Almi confesses his origins to Wen Xiange and is brought to Albert and Wen Xishu. Wen Xishu welcomes his defection and proposes cooperation both to strengthen the Bunker and eventually liberate Hunter City. 415

To satisfy the mission evaluation without killing Wen Xiange, Wen Xishu plans for the elder to claim illness and announce a successor while pursuing qualification for the Desire Tower. He expects the apparent loss of Wen Xiange’s position to count as mission progress, allowing Almi to return and continue acting as an ally. 416

Later Hunter City missions target Jiang Xue, showing that even residents who appear insignificant in the current Bunker can attract assassination orders because of their future battlefield influence. Almi remains involved in these infiltration operations while cooperating with the Bunker. 428

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