Recaps

Albert rescued the unconscious Wen Xishu from the First Bureau interrogation room with Liu Jinsen and his agents providing cover. He carried Wen Xishu back toward Three Towers Academy after agreeing that Wen Xishu would regularly enter the Strange Tower, and began considering his next admission interview.

• Albert warned Xie Changfeng that he would take Wen Xishu, while the fifty-four guards outside lay unconscious.
• Liu Jinsen arrived with elite First Bureau agents and claimed they were protecting Albert, allowing Albert to carry Wen Xishu out.
• Liu Jinsen told Albert that Wen Xishu had to enter the Strange Tower regularly, and Albert accepted the arrangement.
• Albert carried Wen Xishu toward Three Towers Academy and reflected that he had already wanted to rescue him and was satisfied with his first interview.

After Albert rescued Wen Xishu and brought him to Three Towers Academy, he asked the young man to explain his understanding of the Three Towers. Albert praised Wen Xishu’s insight but revealed that an unknown crucial factor had made humanity’s exploration of the Strange Tower lag behind the others.

• Wen Xishu woke in Three Towers Academy and realized Albert Napolitano had rescued him from the Bunker Security Bureau.
• Albert identified himself as the academy’s Principal and asked Wen Xishu to repay his protection by performing well in the midterm assessment.
• Wen Xishu explained that the Strange Tower and Desire Tower were mutually informative, and that exploring the Strange Tower first could help change the fate of its creatures.
• Wen Xishu speculated that the Slaughter Tower offered fewer clues and argued that the Strange Tower might be the most important tower to explore first.
• Albert praised Wen Xishu’s reasoning, then said a crucial point he did not know had caused humanity’s exploration of the Strange Tower to fall behind the other towers.

Albert explained that the Strange Tower appeared later than the Desire and Slaughter Towers, leaving humanity committed to the other systems before it could explore the Strange Tower. Wen Xishu learned that Albert had reached the Slaughter Tower’s ninety-sixth floor, and Albert welcomed him to Three Towers Academy while looking forward to his first semester.

• Albert told Wen Xishu that entering the Strange Tower reset abilities and attributes, and that the tower had appeared after the other two.
• Albert explained that he had focused on the Slaughter Tower because he believed its powers would help humanity face its future.
• Wen Xishu asked how far Albert had climbed, and Albert revealed he was stuck on the ninety-sixth floor.
• Wen Xishu’s shock triggered Mental Barrage, exposing his thoughts to Albert, who delighted in the Eerie Sequence.
• Albert welcomed Wen Xishu to Three Towers Academy, confirmed he had passed the test, and said he expected great things from him.

Albert warned Wen Xishu that powerful families might target him because of the Wen family’s past and urged him to uncover the truth for himself. He gave Wen Xishu the temporary name Wen Xun and challenged him to become strong enough to reclaim his real name by the first semester’s midterm, leaving his academy placement unresolved.

• Albert told Wen Xishu to change his name and explained that some major families knew the Wen family’s secret.
• Wen Xishu asked what crimes Wen Chaohua and the Wen family had committed, but Albert encouraged him to investigate rather than accept others’ accounts.
• Albert said Wen Xishu would need to grow strong enough within half a semester to reclaim his name and hinted that the academy had a hidden way to help him.
• Albert named Wen Xishu Wen Xun, a name reflecting his expectations and his three former students.
• Wen Xishu asked whether he would be assigned to the Tower of Slaughter Academy or the Tower of Desire Academy, and Albert smiled without answering.

Wen Xishu met his new roommates, Yue Yun and Nissen, at Three Towers Academy and learned about a hidden academy treasure that generations of students had failed to find. He joined them in searching for it that night, suspecting the treasure might be the way Albert had mentioned to help students grow stronger.

• Wen Xishu introduced himself to Yue Yun, who revealed that he aimed to surpass Wen Xishu.
• Nissen arrived at the dorm rapping, introduced himself, and explained that he had been admitted to Tower of Slaughter Academy after excelling in simulations.
• Nissen told Wen Xishu and Yue Yun that freshmen would soon take a low-level Slaughter Tower trial and that the academy had a long-hidden treasure.
• Nissen invited Wen Xishu and Yue Yun to search for the treasure with students from neighboring classes that night, and Yue Yun agreed.
• Wen Xishu remembered Albert's hint about a way for students to grow stronger and agreed to join the search.

Wen Xishu, Yue Yun, and Nissen toured Three Towers Academy and planned to search for its nighttime treasure. In the library, Wen Xishu discovered that he could still see Mental Barrage in the academy area and began to suspect the treasure was connected to the eerie.

• Nissen explained that the treasure appeared only at night and that special signs would reveal an entrance, so Yue Yun suggested they explore the academy first.
• The three toured the department and academy areas, learning where Tower powers were permitted and visiting the library.
• At the library, Luo Xian silently insulted Jiang Xue, and Wen Xishu noticed her Mental Barrage despite being in an academy area.
• Wen Xishu wondered whether the Eerie Sequence worked throughout Three Towers Academy and whether the treasure was related to the eerie.
• The three settled down to read: Nissen chose a freshman guide, Yue Yun a sequence compendium, and Wen Xishu a monster compendium.

Wen Xishu discovered that Slaughter Jack was a powerful, unconquered Leader whose second phase involved an Eerie Sequence resembling his Mental Barrage, and he worried about what giving Jack the ability had cost him. After learning how the academy’s credit system and Slaughter Tower training worked, Wen Xishu planned to test whether Slaughter Tower equipment could be used in other towers.

• Wen Xishu read the monster compendium and found that Slaughter Jack was a Leader-class monster whose curses could alter fate through an Eerie Sequence.
• Wen Xishu wondered whether Jack had lost Mental Barrage by giving the sequence to him and realized he needed to learn more about his body and the world.
• Nissen explained that academy students earned credits through independent Slaughter Tower exploration and combat tests, and proposed that he, Wen Xishu, and Yue Yun team up.
• Wen Xishu agreed outwardly but realized he needed a Slaughter Tower Login Device, so he would have to ask Albert to get one for him.
• Wen Xishu considered borrowing Slaughter Tower equipment and using it in the Strange Tower before taking it into the Desire Tower to overpower weaker opponents.

Wen Xishu tested where his Eerie Sequence worked and concluded that the academy’s treasure might be an invisible area above the ground. He and Yue Yun and Nissen climbed toward the library rooftop to investigate the brass clover and the strange aura overhead.

• Wen Xishu went to the academy boundary and confirmed that his Sequence stopped working there, narrowing its effective range to areas where Three Towers attributes could be used.
• Yue Yun, Wen Xishu, and Nissen reunited outside the library and compared their observations about the academy at night.
• Wen Xishu argued that the library’s brass clover represented the academy’s layout and suggested that a missing department area might be suspended in the sky.
• Wen Xishu proposed that the treasure was an invisible area detectable only by approaching it, and the three decided to climb the library.
• Nissen led Yue Yun and Wen Xishu up the library exterior, while Wen Xishu sensed a familiar aura as they neared the rooftop.

Wen Xishu, Yue Yun, and Nissen waited atop the library until the brass clover stopped and cast a door-shaped shadow. Wen Xishu recognized a few characters in the strange writing and began to suspect they formed a message, but the door’s purpose remained unknown.

• Wen Xishu noticed the brass clover slowing, so he, Yue Yun, and Nissen waited on the library roof until it stopped.
• The clover’s shadows fell across three places, including a door-shaped shadow on the library roof, where Yue Yun and Nissen saw strange writing.
• The writing disturbed Yue Yun and Nissen, and Wen Xishu warned them to look away unless they could recognize its characters.
• Wen Xishu said he recognized a few characters: “teacher, core, supreme, authority, cleanse,” while Yue Yun and Nissen could read none.
• Yue Yun promised to reveal his secret after the midterm exam if they remained friends, and Wen Xishu began forming a possible meaning from the characters.

After Wen Xishu and Yue Yun abandoned their attempt to open the sealed treasure beneath the library, Albert summoned Wen Xishu and assigned him to explore the Strange Tower instead of attending his first class. Wen Xishu learned the Bunker Security Bureau also wanted to speak with him and answered a call from Liu Jinsen.

• Wen Xishu, Yue Yun, and Nissen ended their treasure hunt after deciding they needed greater Magic Resistance to decipher the clues and open the hidden entrance.
• Two days later, Jabbar brought Wen Xishu to Albert’s office under the pretense of completing his records.
• Albert told Wen Xishu that a new rule would award double credits to students who explored the Strange Tower and declared it his first-class assignment.
• Albert used his Level Six Mysterious CEO Call to connect Wen Xishu with Liu Jinsen and Sha Ruijing, who had things to say to him.
• Wen Xishu picked up the phone and greeted Officer Liu.

Liu Jinsen told Wen Xishu that powerful factions still wanted to seize him because of Wen Chaohua’s secret, and that he must enter the Strange Tower every seven days. Wen Xishu learned that the higher-ups planned to place potential teammates around him as watchers, leaving him to prepare for the next expedition.

• Liu Jinsen explained that the Old Principal and the directors of the First Bureau and Sixth Bureau had secured Wen Xishu’s temporary freedom, with Sha Ruijing helping protect him through his reputation in the lower levels.
• Liu Jinsen said Wen Xishu was caught in a struggle between factions and would have to grow stronger by exploring the Strange Tower every seven days.
• Wen Xishu asked what Wen Chaohua had done, and Liu Jinsen said Wen Chaohua had caused countless deaths and nearly irreversible losses during Three Towers explorations.
• Liu Jinsen warned Wen Xishu that the next expedition would begin in the Rest Area, where the higher-ups hoped he would accept team invitations from people they had arranged to monitor him.
• Wen Xishu asked what would happen if he killed his teammates, and Liu Jinsen urged him not to harm people who might be risking their lives to atone or change their fate.
• Wen Xishu told Liu Jinsen he would not use violence against teammates, while privately acknowledging he would show no mercy if they threatened his life.

Wen Xishu learned from Albert that Wen Chaohua had excelled across the Strange, Slaughter, and Desire Towers, then prepared to enter the Three Towers Game for special coursework. He left his dormmates a vague note, borrowed an unassuming pair of gloves from the Materials Department, and arrived in the Rest Area with access to Floor 7.

• Albert told Wen Xishu that Wen Chaohua had used another Three Towers identity, ranked around the twenties in the Slaughter Tower and Desire Tower, and might have been the Strange Tower’s top explorer.
• Albert said Wen Xishu’s talent made him suited to exploring the Strange Tower before tackling the Slaughter Tower, then privately remarked that Wen Xishu was even crazier than Wen Chaohua.
• Yue Yun and Nissen found Wen Xishu’s note about confidential special coursework, and Yue Yun took it as motivation to push himself harder while Nissen eagerly awaited Wen Xishu’s return.
• Wen Xishu went to the Materials Department and borrowed the white-card gloves Forgot My Keys, which had Attack +5 and dealt extra damage to doors.
• Wen Xishu activated his Login Device and entered the Rest Area, where the system detected his Madman’s Dice and offered to roll it.

Wen Xishu rolled three sixes on the Mad Dice and chose abilities that let him use three tower systems and begin with an Invitation Letter. He entered the Strange Tower’s sixth-floor Rest Area, where the hostile crowd and his own premonition suggested the coming mission would be deadly.

• Wen Xishu rolled triple sixes and reviewed seven powerful Mad Dice effects, including an extra choice that did not consume a selection.
• Wen Xishu chose Three-Phase Power and Unimpeded Passage, hoping to access abilities from the Slaughter Tower and Desire Tower and unlock hidden storylines with an Invitation Letter.
• Wen Xishu arrived in the Strange Tower’s Rest Area, positioned dozens of meters from the center among people exploring the sixth floor.
• Wen Xishu noticed the rough, threatening crowd watching him and sensed that the mission had a high mortality rate.

Wen Xishu agreed to team up for the Strange Tower mission Falling Parrot in Jiangcheng City, despite realizing the Bunker Security Bureau had spent heavily to arrange the opportunity. He met five other players and revealed his name, then learned the team appeared to consist entirely of criminals.

• Wen Xishu decided to cooperate with the people the Bunker Security Bureau had arranged for his mission.
• He announced that he was seeking teammates for the sixth-floor Falling Parrot mission in Jiangcheng City.
• Five players gathered, bringing the team to six members, and Wen Xishu accepted Kane's handshake.
• Wen Xishu gave his name, but the others dismissed him as someone who merely shared the famous name.
• Sita introduced himself as a former zoo manager arrested for abusing animals, and Wen Xishu sensed that the other teammates were also dangerous criminals.

Wen Xishu learned the crimes and pasts of his new companions in Strange Tower while weighing whether Park Mihee was an informant. The group’s attention turned to their final prisoner, whose mouth was sealed by an iron mask.

• Kane described luring thirteen women with promises of a better life and killing them to sell their organs, while Wen Xishu considered how Level Five hospitals enabled such an industry.
• Kane asked Wen Xishu about his crime, and Wen Xishu gave a strange account of his family’s deaths that unnerved the group.
• Mendemuer insisted his ex-wife had falsely accused him of abuse, and Kane offered to teach him how to deal with her.
• Park Mihee said she had bribed and extorted officials, then described how powerful people exposed her blackmail scheme and took her videotapes.
• Wen Xishu suspected Park Mihee was being too honest, and the group turned to the last prisoner, whose mouth was locked behind an iron mask.

Wen Xishu’s team entered a Strange Tower mission built around finding and purifying objects, after Park Mihee became their captain. In a giant study, Sita chose to purify a tempting item and triggered a hidden threat, leaving the team facing their first death.

• Wen Xishu welcomed Zheng Zai to the team and chose Park Mihee as captain, then asked her about parrots and Wen Renjing’s memories of a colorful bird.
• Park Mihee recalled Wen Renjing’s regret over a bird that wanted true freedom, and the six teammates entered the parrot-themed mission together.
• The team found four doors leading to separate scenes, and Wen Xishu led them through one after Sita sensed an appealing scent.
• Wen Xishu and the others arrived in a giant study, where Sita rushed toward oversized women’s clothes while Zheng Zai began losing control and craving meat.
• Sita received a prompt identifying the clothes as an item bearing traces of sin and chose to purify them, triggering a hidden threat as Wen Xishu searched for a place to hide.
• Sita screamed as the first teammate died.

After Sita died from purifying the wrong item, Wen Xishu recognized that the room’s game required finding the right item and hiding from its monster. He approached Zheng Zai as the man devoured Sita’s body, leaving Zheng Zai moved by Wen Xishu’s apparent acceptance.

• Sita chose the wrong item to purify, and tentacles emerged from it and killed him.
• Park Mihee told everyone to hide, and Wen Xishu, Park Mihee, Kane, Mendemuer, and Zheng Zai took cover until the monster retreated.
• Wen Xishu concluded that the room contained many contaminated items but only one item that needed purifying, and that hiding was essential to survival.
• Zheng Zai began eating Sita’s body, and Wen Xishu guessed that Zheng Zai possessed an Eerie Sequence with severe side effects.
• Wen Xishu encouraged Zheng Zai to accept and control his urges, and Zheng Zai teared up at the reassurance.

Wen Xishu deduced that the group needed to purify a cursed item in the room, likely the music box, and used the others’ reluctance to volunteer to pressure them. He prepared to open the box himself and take Zheng Zai with him, leaving Kane, Mendemuer, and Park Mihee to face the danger without his help.

• Wen Xishu fed Zheng Zai meat, helping him regain control and earn his gratitude.
• Wen Xishu decided to keep killing his teammates despite Zheng Zai’s recovery.
• Wen Xishu explained that the group were playing exorcists, that purifying a cursed item would draw the monster, and that the music box was the likeliest target.
• Kane, Mendemuer, and Park Mihee hesitated to volunteer to purify the music box.
• Wen Xishu warned that the closing doors would soon release more monsters and said he would open the box and take Zheng Zai if no one else acted.

Wen Xishu maneuvered Kane into attempting to purify the music box, but an unexplained mechanism summoned monsters that killed Kane before he could reach it. After the others hid, Wen Xishu claimed the room punished delays and began climbing, only for Mendemuer to drag him down as he fought to survive.

• Zheng Zai volunteered to climb to the music box, but Wen Xishu persuaded him to give way when Kane offered to go.
• Kane climbed the bookshelf toward the music box, but it began playing before he could purify it.
• Black smoke filled the room, and tentacles killed Kane atop the bookshelf before he could reach the music box.
• Wen Xishu and the others hid among the books until the music stopped, then Wen Xishu claimed that delaying purification triggered an anti-idling mechanism.
• Wen Xishu began climbing toward the music box, but Mendemuer grabbed his leg and pulled him down.

Wen Xishu watched Mendemuer die after he reached for the music box, then let Park Mihee believe he might spare her if she proved useful. As the survivors prepared to move on, Park Mihee offered what she knew about Zheng Zai, while Wen Xishu focused on finding the true contaminated object.

• Mendemuer touched the music box, received a prompt about purifying an item bearing immense sin, and was killed by the tentacles before he could escape.
• Park Mihee realized Wen Xishu had been steering his teammates into danger and begged him to spare her.
• Wen Xishu told Park Mihee to get up and implied he needed his teammates to help him analyze the remaining rules.
• Park Mihee promised to be useful and offered to share what she knew about Zheng Zai and his father.
• Wen Xishu told Park Mihee to tell Zheng Zai everything she knew and reached for the Invitation Letter.

Wen Xishu learned how the Invitation Letter worked and prepared to use it in the Desire Tower. After Zheng Zai revealed the injustice and loss that had shaped him, Wen Xishu decided to keep him alive, but time stopped as he activated the letter.

• Wen Xishu learned that the Invitation Letter allowed three successive traversals and decided to use it to investigate the Desire Tower.
• Park Mihee told Zheng Zai that his father, Zheng Yi, had died in prison, and Zheng Zai refused to believe her.
• Zheng Zai recounted years of striving as a javelin athlete and tower explorer in hopes of saving his father, only to lose him despite his sacrifices.
• Wen Xishu saw Zheng Zai’s fury and the flood of revenge-filled bullet comments, and decided he would keep Zheng Zai alive.
• Wen Xishu activated the Invitation Letter to enter the Desire Tower, and time stopped with Park Mihee and Zheng Zai frozen.

Wen Xishu met Desire Tower Academy teachers Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan in the Tian Yuan Area and asked about the sixth-floor mission involving a girl, a fall, and a parrot. They explained how Wen Renjing once failed to save Tang Rui despite giving her love, and revealed that no one had yet changed her fate by anchoring the story.

• Wen Xishu reunited with Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan, learned they were teachers, and asked about the sixth-floor mission in Jiangcheng City.
• Ji Boda asked Wen Xishu about his previous Completion Level, but Wen Xishu said his results and even his name were confidential under a promise to Principal Albert.
• Wen Xishu shared the mission clues, and Ji Boda recognized it as the mission involving Tang Rui that had haunted Wen Renjing.
• Ji Boda recounted how Wen Renjing spent seven days giving Tang Rui romantic experiences, yet achieved only Completion Level One because she needed more than love.
• Ji Boda explained that Wen Renjing later learned Tang Rui's fate through another mission and regretted not anchoring her story.
• Liu Ruyan suggested Wen Renjing had fallen for Tang Rui, and said no one had yet anchored the story or changed the girl's ending.

Wen Xishu entered the Desire Tower’s sixth floor to investigate Tang Rui’s connection to four scenarios and used a Strange Tower item to question her quickly. After meeting her in a bar, he began a dice game with the Truth Serum Wine Cups, unaware that the investigation would turn bloody.

• Wen Xishu left Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan after learning more about Wen Renjing, and they wondered whether he was the missing Wen Xishu.
• Wen Xishu entered Jiangcheng City with a mission to raise Tang Rui’s Happiness Value from zero within forty-eight hours.
• Wen Xishu sensed hidden weird power in a bar and identified Tang Rui as the mission target.
• Wen Xishu offered Tang Rui the Truth Serum Wine Cups, and she readily agreed to drink with him.
• Wen Xishu and Tang Rui moved to a secluded seat and started a fast dice game to determine who would drink.

Wen Xishu and Tang Rui played a truth-forcing dice game that exposed the painful childhood memories they shared through the wine cups’ strange effects. After Tang Rui revealed how her parents and a tutor abused and controlled her, the chapter left her memories focused on how she had been forced to abandon singing and become a parrot who repeated what others wanted.

• Wen Xishu drank from the Truth Serum Wine Cups and learned that Tang Rui’s Eerie Sequence Feelings made the game reveal memories to her.
• Tang Rui asked Wen Xishu whether anyone had loved him, and the cups showed her warm scenes with his parents that contrasted with his belief that no one had loved him.
• Wen Xishu asked Tang Rui what Professor Yan had done to her, and the cups revealed how her parents had entrusted her to him and dismissed her abuse allegations.
• Tang Rui smashed the cups onto the table, then drank again and told Wen Xishu that she had loved singing before her parents forced her to give it up.
• The cups revealed that Tang Rui’s mother had given her medicine that damaged her voice, while her parents threatened her with Professor Yan to keep her obedient.
• Tang Rui’s memories portrayed her as a parrot barred from singing and expected to repeat whatever her keepers said.

Wen Xishu listened as Tang Rui revealed how her best friend Xiao Ru had humiliated and slandered her, then shared the truth about his own loveless childhood. He urged Tang Rui to stop accepting her suffering and offered to take her to confront the people who had wronged her.

• Tang Rui described how Xiao Ru mocked her singing, later spread cruel rumors about her at work, and drove her to adopt the very behavior people accused her of.
• Tang Rui denied that a fourth event had caused her to collapse, and Wen Xishu drank from his cup to reveal a secret of his own.
• Wen Xishu showed Tang Rui how his parents had used him for online videos and planned to abandon him once they had their own child.
• Wen Xishu told Tang Rui that the approaching collapse of the world would break society's restraints and urged her not to reconcile with those who had hurt her.
• Tang Rui asked where they were going, and Wen Xishu said they were going to find the people responsible.