Recaps

After changing Ghost Knocking and clearing the fifty-second floor, Wen Xishu unlocked the Trial of the Heart and answered questions about his choices, strength, and companions. His reward was the Slaughter Sequence 57: Self-Only State, a powerful ability that weakened nearby allies in exchange for boosting his own strength.

• Wen Xishu changed Ghost Knocking into a trial that tested whether Chen Ming could recognize his wife, while the change weakened Aquarius's influence over good and evil.
• The Black Deception Head told Wen Xishu that his high completion level seven unlocked the Trial of the Heart as a new reward option for tower climbers.
• Wen Xishu entered the Trial of the Heart and answered questions about Ghost City, right and wrong, personal strength, and his view of companions.
• The Trial of the Heart awarded Wen Xishu Slaughter Sequence 57: Self-Only State, which weakened nearby allies and let him gain their abilities while greatly increasing his attributes.
• Wen Xishu considered using future heart inquiries to obtain upgrades for existing items such as the Madman's Dice.

After reaching Completion Level seven, Wen Xishu rested before returning to the Wen Family Old Residence, where a message from Wen Chaohua’s photograph confirmed that Wen Xishu and the fool were both his younger brothers. Wen Chaohua began explaining his search for a way to make his brother whole, but the chapter ended before he revealed who had given him the method.

• Wen Xishu learned that his Completion Level seven achievement had unlocked richer Three Towers exploration rewards for Bunker residents.
• After resting, Wen Xishu warned Instructor Yin Ze’s students not to underestimate the Strange Tower and learned that his Sequence’s aura made others reluctant to approach him.
• Wen Xishu visited the Wen Family Old Residence and saw that the Old Principal had arranged for the Wen family’s belongings to be restored.
• Wen Xishu’s increased Magic Resistance caused Wen Chaohua’s image to step out of the photograph and speak with him.
• Wen Chaohua confirmed that Wen Xishu and the fool were both his younger brothers, then recounted his search for a way to make his brother whole.

Wen Xishu learned that Wen Chaohua had become Gemini’s Twinborn and that Gemini’s plan involved a deception, but the recording cut off before revealing the truth. Meanwhile, Albert completed his questioning of the heart and discovered that it had restored some of his lost youth, prompting him to seek out Wen Xishu.

• Wen Chaohua explained Sinland’s role in sending souls into other worlds and revealed that Gemini had asked him to become the other Twinborn.
• Wen Chaohua said Gemini promised that their combined authority could solve Wen Xishu’s problem, but the recording ended before he could explain the deception.
• Wen Xishu resolved to keep climbing the towers and waited several days in the Bunker for the Old Principal.
• Albert returned from floor 98 of the Slaughter Tower and answered questions about his martial path, the gods, and what he valued most.
• Albert noticed that the wrinkles on his forehead had disappeared and realized the questioning of the heart had given him more years.
• Albert thanked Wen Xishu for the surprise and left to speak with his fellow traveler.

Evelyn shared what she had learned about the Ruinbringers and prepared to resume climbing the Desire Tower, leaving Wen Xishu to help Xiao Jin recover. Wen Xishu reunited with Xiao Jin in the Healing House, and the two began to reconnect.

• Evelyn told Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing that the Ruinbringers had an organization and a source connected to Pisces, and she planned to investigate further in the Desire Tower.
• Evelyn urged Wen Renjing to learn from Wen Xishu and support him, then shared her experience climbing the Desire Tower before taking Wen Xishu to the Healing House.
• Evelyn explained that Xiao Jin had regained his composure but was weighed down by self-doubt and guilt over trying to kill Wen Xishu, then left to resume her journey without waiting for the Old Principal.
• Wen Xishu found Xiao Jin in the Healing House and reassured him that he did not blame him, then asked him to share his secret and suggested they go meet Nissen and Yue Yun.

After Xiao Jin recovered his memories, he explained his origins and chose to leave the Slaughter Tower for the Strange Tower, where his new transformation ability might serve him better. Albert returned with renewed youth, and Wen Xishu asked whether he had noticed anything inexplicable around several key events in Wen Xishu’s past.

• Xiao Jin told Wen Xishu, Nissen, and Yue Yun that he had been created from fused powers, split into good and evil twins, and conditioned by Old Jin and Evelyn to restrain his violent nature.
• Wen Xishu concluded that Xiao Jin had tried to kill him after sensing the Heart of Fusion, and he reassured Xiao Jin that he remained their friend and Mr. Jin’s family.
• Xiao Jin revealed that he could assume other people’s appearances and gain some of their powers, then announced he wanted to transfer to the Tower of Deception Academy and climb the Strange Tower.
• Albert returned younger after completing a trial of the heart and told Wen Xishu that the Bunker had entered its second stage.
• Wen Xishu asked Albert whether he had witnessed anything inexplicable around Wen Xishu’s brother’s Strange Tower climb, Wen Xishu’s imprisonment, or the year Wen Xishu was born.

Wen Xishu questioned Albert about his brother and the Strange Tower, then entered a new survival mission in the Land of Dust. When the Bunker saw his name vanish from the Ladder Ranking and feared he was dead, Wen Xishu was still alive, facing a swarm of Hanged Men in the mission’s opening stage.

• Wen Xishu told Albert that the Wen Family Old Residence contained Strange Tower-like phenomena, and Albert explained how tower power could give obsessions physical form.
• Albert could offer no explanation for Wen Xishu’s unusual birth or imprisonment, and Wen Xishu showed him the Lionheart Brand Leo had left behind.
• After Wen Xishu left, the Bunker saw his name disappear from the Ladder Ranking and feared he had died, while Zheng Zai, A Miao, and Wen Xiange urged everyone to keep faith.
• Wen Xishu began the mission “The Child in the Land of Dust” with the risky Dare to Try Four option and the Fourth Evil option.
• Wen Xishu entered a dusk-shrouded alley and encountered Hanged Men whose gravitational field forced him to retreat.

Wen Xishu died in the Land of Dust while confronting the Hanged Men and awakened in the Eternal Hunger Kitchen, where he uncovered clues to Charlie’s childhood and began planning a rescue. The chapter left him swinging toward the enormous refrigerator, which he believed was the first obstacle to overcome.

• Wen Xishu fought the Hanged Men, inferred that their stage held clues to the Land of Dust’s story, and mutated near death to hear sounds from nine locations before the Hanged Men killed him.
• Wen Xishu awoke in the Eternal Hunger Kitchen with new rope-producing holes from his death-related curse and used them to hang from the ceiling.
• Wen Xishu observed the Glutton, his mother’s voice, and the kitchen’s objects, then interpreted them as signs of Charlie’s unmet need for love and his parents’ material demands.
• Wen Xishu concluded that the Glutton embodied Charlie’s longing for love and resolved to rescue Charlie, beginning with the dangerous refrigerator.

Wen Xishu survived the Eternal Hunger Kitchen, gained the Glutton’s power through death, and reached the Wall of Refusal, where he recognized Charlie’s despair and chose to retreat rather than force his way through. After dying there and absorbing the wall’s power, he returned to the Clock Tower with his resolve to save Charlie intact.

• Wen Xishu learned that Charlie had written “spark” as his best friend and headed for the refrigerator as the Glutton finished eating.
• Wen Xishu’s shadow was sucked into the refrigerator but pulled its door shut, stopping the food from appearing; the Glutton remained hungry and unleashed a devastating attack.
• Wen Xishu mutated into a centipede, deliberately let the Glutton kill him, and woke in the Land of Termination with the Glutton’s hunger and strength.
• Wen Xishu found Charlie’s crying beyond the Wall of Refusal and realized its arms embodied the child’s fear of being hurt, so he chose not to break through by force.
• The Wall of Refusal absorbed Wen Xishu, and after his third death he returned to the Hanged Man stage with the wall’s many-armed power.
• Wen Xishu resisted despair by remembering his purpose, then set off toward the Clock Tower to save Charlie.

Wen Xishu defeated the Hanged Men again and explored the Clock Tower, uncovering Charlie’s guilt over the death of his puppy, Spark. After repairing Spark’s teddy bear, he brought it to life, and the chapter ended with Wen Xishu asking Spark how they could leave the Clock Tower.

• Wen Xishu used the Scorpion Dagger and his shadow to defeat the Hanged Men, then entered the Clock Tower while the enemies slowly re-formed behind him.
• Wen Xishu found an unsent letter to Anya and learned that Charlie blamed himself for failing to save her.
• Wen Xishu repaired a tape recorder and heard Charlie’s memories of his puppy Spark and his father refusing to help save the dog.
• Wen Xishu repaired Spark’s teddy bear, and a ray of sunlight fell on it before the bear came to life and introduced itself as Spark.
• Wen Xishu defeated two Hanged Men attacking Spark, then asked Spark whether it knew Anya and how to leave the Clock Tower.

Wen Xishu and Spark entered Dreamland Academy, where mirrors lured them with illusions of rescue, desire, and hidden truths. Wen Xishu resisted the Faceless Girl and reached a biology classroom that suggested Charlie had been harmed by shame-based puberty education, where he began searching for a way to open the lock over the heart.

• Spark led Wen Xishu through a hidden door behind the Clock Tower, clearing its first chapter and entering Dreamland Academy.
• Wen Xishu entered a corridor of mirrors that invaded his mind with illusions of Albert and women he knew, while Spark saw a beautiful Samoyed.
• Wen Xishu resisted the mirrors' temptations and ignored illusions of Old Jin and Wen Chaohua offering answers about his past and authority.
• The Faceless Girl approached Wen Xishu, but he used the Wall of Refusal to knock her away and continued down the corridor.
• The mirrors revealed a mocked boy Wen Xishu suspected was Charlie, then led him to a biology classroom displaying a locked heart and shame-focused puberty lessons.
• Wen Xishu inferred that Charlie may have been scarred by shame-based education and began searching the classroom for a way to open the lock.

Wen Xishu uncovered Charlie’s traumatic memories of being mocked and shamed for an innocent love letter, then crossed a deadly corridor of Faceless Ones. He opened the gymnasium door and found Mourning Shadow · Anya waiting inside, as the unsent letter began to glow.

• Wen Xishu found a paper key in Charlie’s desk and used it to unlock the heart on the anatomy chart, recovering Charlie’s memories of the humiliating love-letter prank and its aftermath.
• Wen Xishu and Spark entered a corridor of shifting Faceless Ones, and Wen Xishu deduced that they represented the unpredictable mockery and punishment Charlie feared at school.
• Wen Xishu sent his shadow ahead to discover the corridor’s pattern, then stabbed himself with the Scorpion Dagger and sprinted through without touching the Faceless Ones.
• Wen Xishu reached the gymnasium, opened its chained door, and entered a mourning hall where Mourning Shadow · Anya appeared.
• The unsent letter in Wen Xishu’s hand began to glow as he faced Anya and wondered why she had become a monster.

Wen Xishu endured Mourning Shadow Anya’s attacks and relived the painful history of Anya and Charlie, discovering that facing her grief rather than evading it opened a path into her heart. After Charlie’s apology letter reached Anya’s diary and revealed that she had forgiven him, Wen Xishu understood how to reach the self-loathing child in the Land of Dust.

• Anya repeatedly struck Wen Xishu with Mirror Blade Storm, black thorns, and Embrace of Mourning, while he endured the attacks to experience her memories.
• Wen Xishu discovered that surviving Anya’s attack pattern opened a passage into her memories, where he witnessed Charlie’s loneliness, his friendship with Anya, and his fearful retreat when she asked for a hug.
• Wen Xishu learned that Anya had died by suicide after Charlie stepped back, and that Charlie buried his guilt over her death and Spark’s departure inside the clock tower.
• Wen Xishu entered a dusty attic and used Charlie’s apology letter to illuminate Anya’s diary, revealing her affection for Charlie and her final despair.
• Wen Xishu realized Anya had forgiven Charlie and determined how to break through the wall of refusal to reach the self-loathing child in the Land of Dust.

Wen Xishu brought Anya’s doll and Charlie’s apology letter out of the school, then reunited Spark, Anya, and the Glutton with Charlie’s other childhood keepsakes to satisfy the Glutton’s hunger. After entering the Wall of Refusal and obtaining the Invitation Letter, he was pulled into the Constellation Meeting, where the Constellations prepared to persuade him to choose a future for Charlie.

• Wen Xishu left the mirror world with Anya’s doll and led Spark and Anya through a door into the Eternal Hunger Kitchen.
• Wen Xishu showed the Glutton Spark and Anya, and their affection eased its hunger until it became a doll resembling Charlie as a child.
• Wen Xishu gathered Teddy, the Doll, and the Toy Doll, then entered the Wall of Refusal and received the Invitation Letter.
• The Wall of Refusal transported Wen Xishu to the Unknown Land, where Scorpio welcomed him to a Constellation Meeting attended by sixteen figures.
• Scorpio told Wen Xishu that nearly all the Constellations wanted to persuade him to make a choice that favored them and changed Charlie’s fate.

Wen Xishu met the Constellations, who each tried to recruit him by offering a vision for Charlie and the Land of Dust. He rejected Leo’s demand to pursue strength through isolation and, at the chapter’s end, questioned whether Scorpio’s imagined happy ending could satisfy Scorpio too.

• The Constellations convened to discuss Charlie, and Aries, Taurus, and Gemini each described what they wanted Wen Xishu to do.
• Aries asked Wen Xishu to spread Charlie’s influence and help him become a god, while Taurus offered power in exchange for expanding the Land of Dust.
• Gemini told Wen Xishu to follow his heart and warned him to think carefully within the Bunker rather than speak openly in the Three Towers.
• Leo urged Wen Xishu to join him and pursue strength without relying on emotional bonds, but Wen Xishu refused.
• Virgo asked Wen Xishu to help give the women who had suffered a good ending and encouraged him to follow his heart.
• Scorpio offered to create a game world where Charlie could live happily with Spark and Anya, and Wen Xishu asked whether a fabricated happy ending could satisfy Scorpio personally.

Wen Xishu met with Scorpio, Aquarius, and Pisces while deciding how to save Charlie. He rejected Aquarius’s plan to turn Charlie evil, then accepted Pisces’s Time Annotation and returned to choose how to save him.

• Wen Xishu confronted Scorpio about using him in a game, and Scorpio left after calling them partners and promising his knife would help him.
• Sagittarius forfeited his meeting, so Wen Xishu spoke with Aquarius instead.
• Aquarius tried to persuade Wen Xishu to let her turn Charlie evil during the apocalypse and good again afterward, but Wen Xishu refused, insisting that past atrocities could not be erased.
• Aquarius angrily vowed to turn Charlie evil anyway, and Wen Xishu ended their meeting.
• Pisces revealed that Wen Xishu had changed Charlie’s future and gave him a Time Annotation that could take the Invitation Letter back to a critical point in time.
• Wen Xishu accepted Pisces’s gift, returned to the conference room, and prepared to choose how to save Charlie.

Wen Xishu entered the Desire Tower before Anya's suicide and helped Charlie overcome his fear long enough to reach her. Their reunion resonated across both worlds, freed Anya and Charlie from the dust, and left Wen Xishu watching their embrace.

• Wen Xishu found Charlie trapped behind the dust in the Wall of Refusal, where Anya and Spark struggled to pull him free.
• Wen Xishu used Pisces's Time Annotation on the Invitation Letter, entered the Desire Tower early, and raced to find Charlie as time continued to pass in the Strange Tower.
• Wen Xishu rescued Charlie from his tormentors at Dreamweave Academy and urged him to run to Anya, giving him the Compass to guide him.
• Charlie ran to Anya, while Anya and Spark continued resisting the Dust Hands; Anya regained her resolve after hearing Spark's thoughts.
• Charlie reached Anya on the rooftop as she faced suicide, and they embraced as their worlds resonated and the dust arms vanished.
• Wen Xishu watched the children embrace beneath a beam of light and felt relieved that everything had changed.

Wen Xishu helped Charlie reunite with Anya and encouraged them to face the future and develop their abilities. After returning to the Strange Tower, he found that Charlie’s story had changed into one where he and Anya survived, leaving Wen Xishu to wonder why Charlie was so extraordinary.

• Charlie found Anya with the help of Wen Xishu’s Compass, and the two embraced as sunlight broke through the dust.
• Wen Xishu reclaimed his Compass, explained that Charlie’s fear had created the Land of Dust, and urged Charlie and Anya to protect each other and learn to use their abilities.
• Wen Xishu learned that Charlie was living four years before the apocalypse and realized Charlie had created the Land of Dust before it began.
• Wen Xishu vanished, and Charlie and Anya took heart from their reunion and the miracles they had experienced.
• Wen Xishu returned to the Strange Tower and saw that Charlie’s simulated story had ended with Anya waking him, the two embracing, and the Dust disappearing.

After completing his four-day tower climb, Wen Xishu returned to the Guide and underwent Heart-Questioning, earning powerful rewards that could enable cross-tower cooperation and let him swap roles with a Strange Tower boss. He prepared to return to the Bunker, where people believed him dead, and discuss the new possibilities with Wen Renjing.

• Wen Xishu returned to the Three Towers Guide, learned that the Bunker had thought him dead, and discovered his climb had taken four days.
• Wen Xishu answered Heart-Questioning’s questions about Charlie, Sagittarius, and his choices in the towers, then received the Heart of Miracles and other rewards.
• Wen Xishu learned that mystery-desire twin resonance could let climbers in the Strange Tower and Desire Tower communicate during corresponding missions.
• Wen Xishu examined peak of madness and found he could swap attributes with his next Strange Tower boss or exchange roles with it and defend the floor.
• Wen Xishu decided to return to the Bunker to resolve the confusion over his supposed death and discuss cross-tower cooperation with Wen Renjing.

While Wen Xishu was missing from the Ladder Ranking, Wen Xiange staked his life on the Church Leader’s return and helped steady the Bunker as factions prepared to restore the old order. Wen Xishu returned with a level-seven completion reward that linked the Desire and Strange Towers, and the Bunker celebrated as he learned how the Old Principal and Wen Xiange had acted in his absence.

• As Wen Xishu’s name vanished from the Ladder Ranking, the Elders waited while the Miyamoto Family and other groups reacted, and Wen Xiange insisted the Church Leader would return.
• After Wen Xishu remained missing for days, Wen Xiange climbed onto the hospital roof and risked his life to convince the Bunker’s residents to keep faith.
• As public confidence faltered, Miyamoto Yoshiki and the Miyamoto Family rallied aristocrats to undermine Wen Xishu’s legacy and restore the old order.
• Wen Xishu reached level-seven completion and returned, triggering a message that granted the Bunker Mystery-Desire Twin Resonance and enabled communication between the Desire and Strange Towers.
• Wen Xiange led the Bunker in celebration, and Wen Xishu spoke with the Academy Spirit about his return, the Old Principal’s absence, and Wen Xiange’s efforts.

Wen Xishu teamed up with Wen Renjing to explore the Desire and Strange Towers together and ordered Xun Hui to punish those who had schemed against him while he was gone. Miyamoto Yoshiki was killed in a staged supernatural death, and a string of similar killings left the Bunker’s elites terrified of Wen Xishu’s revenge.

• Wen Xishu met with Wen Renjing and Xun Hui, discussed his disappearance from the Ladder Ranking, and agreed to cooperate with Wen Renjing in the Desire and Strange Towers.
• Xun Hui gave Wen Xishu a list of people who had plotted against him, and Wen Xishu told him to spread fear through gradual, mysterious punishments, starting with Miyamoto Yoshiki.
• Miyamoto Yoshiki returned to his dormitory, where a strange gust struck and left him dead, though his roommates later saw him leave campus alive.
• Miyamoto Yoshiki’s roommates found his head and blood-covered body in their room, and investigators established that he had been dead for hours despite witnesses seeing him afterward.
• More prominent people died under similarly bizarre circumstances, while rumors linked the killings to the Xishu Divine Church and Wen Xishu’s retaliation.
• The Miyamoto Family and other Bunker elites suspected Wen Xishu was behind the deaths but were too frightened to protest.

While Wen Xishu waited in the Bunker for his friends to return, his level seven completion unlocked a reward that connected Strange Tower and Desire Tower climbers. The connection reached Zheng Zai just as he neared a mental collapse, and A Miao helped him find a way to investigate the Mystery Court cases together.

• William Hockner took money from the Miyamoto Family while telling Wen Xishu they wanted to meet, but Wen Xishu refused because he claimed he had started climbing the tower.
• Wen Xishu waited in the Bunker for Evelyn and the Old Principal, while Zheng Zai climbed the Strange Tower’s Twenty-Fourth Floor and repeatedly misjudged families in the Mystery Court mission.
• Zheng Zai’s wrongful verdicts gave him stacks of Madness, and the voices in his head pushed him toward sentencing the fourth family to death.
• Wen Xishu’s level seven completion granted the Bunker the Mystery-Desire Twin Resonance reward, which allowed Zheng Zai to hear A Miao in the Desire Tower.
• A Miao comforted Zheng Zai and offered to investigate the families with him, so he used Recess to begin piecing together the truth.

After Wen Xishu’s gift gave Sagittarius a new power, Albert returned to the Bunker rejuvenated but soon left to climb the tower while worrying about Evelyn, who had been missing in the Desire Tower for six days. Wen Xishu entered the Strange Tower using the Peak of Madness authority and discovered that he had become the Heart-Questioning One, able to question and select an enemy.

• Wen Xishu’s help granted Sagittarius an epiphany about dust, exciting him with the possibility of strengthening his arrows enough to challenge Leon.
• Wen Xishu met the rejuvenated Albert and told him that Evelyn had not returned from the Desire Tower in six days.
• Albert decided to climb the tower again, hoping to endure his worry about Evelyn and reach her if she needed help.
• Wen Xishu entered the Strange Tower, where the Peak of Madness authority canceled the usual stage, level, and dice roll and led him through the reversed Heart-Questioning door.
• Wen Xishu learned that he was the Heart-Questioning One and could ask a question to select an enemy for the encounter.

Wen Xishu chose to swap identities with a time-wielding ancient swordsman, then entered a new Rivers and Lakes challenge as its creator, the Martial Alliance Leader. He began the game surrounded by powerful martial artists and the Martial World's Number One Beauty, ready to learn the rules and discover whose story needed redemption.

• Wen Xishu questioned the tower guardians and identified an ancient swordsman with time powers, tower power, and a pessimistic view of the world.
• After weighing the swordsman against a pair of twins, Wen Xishu chose to swap identities with the swordsman and arrived on the Strange Tower's seventy-first floor.
• Wen Xishu read the Rivers and Lakes challenge descriptions and learned that, as its creator, he could set deadly obstacles for challengers and clear the level by killing one.
• Wen Xishu activated the Login Device and entered the challenge as the Martial Alliance Leader, seated in an opulent pavilion with the Martial World's Number One Beauty beside him and renowned masters below.
• Wen Xishu began considering the challenge's mechanics and wondering whose story he would need to redeem.

The author reflected on his simple wedding, his relationship with his wife, and his fears about marriage before deciding to embrace their happiness. He asked readers to excuse two days without updates while he got married and hosted friends.

• The author described the modest wedding planned for the next day, with five people attending and no bride price or dowry.
• He recalled how his wife accepted his habits, supported his writing and gaming, and cared deeply about what mattered to him.
• The author admitted that he depended on his wife emotionally and chose marriage rather than risk regretting a life without her.
• He thanked readers for supporting his work and said he wanted to set aside his anxiety to enjoy his wedding.
• The author announced that he would not update for two days because of the wedding and visiting friends.

Wen Xishu used the Scorpion Dagger’s predictive simulation to discover that Liu Jianxin was rising through the Rivers and Lakes by betrayal and ruthless scheming. He began to suspect the game had a harder, more righteous path tied to Ye Jianxin and Beginner’s Swordsmanship, and resolved to disrupt Liu Jianxin’s rise.

• Wen Xishu summoned the Scorpion Dagger and learned it could simulate Liu Jianxin’s predicted actions over the coming days.
• The simulation showed Liu Jianxin robbing the Birthday Tribute, learning Water Margin Swordsmanship, and planning to betray the Outlaws to the Six Doors.
• Liu Jianxin befriended Xiao Jianglong, drugged him, crippled him, and stole the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm and the complete Dragon-Seizing Claw.
• Wen Xishu learned that Ye Jianxin had retired after avoiding a duel with him, leaving Wen Xishu in control of the Rivers and Lakes.
• Wen Xishu connected Liu Jianxin’s path, Ye Jianxin, and Beginner’s Swordsmanship to a more righteous route through the game and vowed to stop Liu Jianxin.