Windfall

A Windfall from the Sky

It is understandable for a girl to be afraid of insects.

With so many bugs that look ugly, fierce, dirty, and foul-smelling, even men would feel repulsed, let alone a girl.

However.

The Enchantress?

Looking at her eyes, which were red and brimming with tears, and her pitiful appearance, Wang Wen placed a question mark in his heart.

A dignified Master of Mental Power would be afraid of bugs?

It would be a laughingstock if word got out.

Among the several major categories, Mental Power is the one that requires the most brutal tempering of one's will.

Even if one were truly afraid of bugs, one would likely force themselves to eat them until they became numb just to achieve the rank of Master.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to reach the pinnacle of Mental Power and earn the title of "Master."

The Enchantress's Mental Power was thick and solid, clearly extraordinary; with his years of experience, Wang Wen would not judge wrong.

The only answer for her being scared to tears by bugs was that she was acting again.

Wang Wen's eye twitched, and he felt a chill run down his arms, his feet involuntarily shifting slightly away from the Enchantress.

Fortunately, there was no time to think too much right now.

One of the three men, a tall guy, was quick; as soon as he saw the wall turn into bugs, he immediately pulled out a large kitchen knife and hacked at them.

The knife was sharp, and the first bug was instantly sliced in two.

The tall man skillfully summoned his drone to check his points, a look of incredulous surprise appearing on his face.

He then began hacking at the bugs frantically.

His actions piqued the curiosity of the others.

The man with gold-rimmed glasses took out a small, hairdryer-like device from his person and tried aiming it at a bug before pressing the switch.

The bug targeted by the "hairdryer" gradually stopped moving, turning withered and cracked.

Confirming that the bug was dead, the man with gold-rimmed glasses put away the device and summoned his drone to check his points.

He, too, wore a look of surprise.

The performance of two people in a row aroused the curiosity of Wang Wen, who had originally only wanted to coast and win without any interest in fighting.

Just then, a bug fearlessly spread its wings and flew toward him.

He casually swung his rod, smashing it to the ground and killing it.

He summoned his drone to check his points.

Seeing that his account had increased by a full one hundred points, Wang Wen's mouth fell open.

Are you kidding me?

This is only the twentieth floor!

How could there be such a high point reward?

They were just some slow, non-threatening bugs; how could they be worth one hundred points each?!

One had to know that the living human biker gang on the tenth floor only rewarded a few dozen points each.

The mechanical giant bull that Wang Wen had accidentally killed on the first floor, which looked like a boss-level monster guarding the level, was also only worth one hundred points.

Whether it was the biker gang or the mechanical giant bull, it was clear that the reward points more or less corresponded to the individual's strength.

So what was going on with these bugs?

Strength that could be killed with a casual swing of a rod, worth one hundred points??

Wang Wen's worldview was shaken.

He had climbed the twentieth floor thousands of times in his past life.

This was the first time he had encountered such a strange phenomenon.

The World Tower is indeed ever-changing, as the rumors say.

He looked around; palm-sized bugs were constantly falling from the walls, dense and numerous, covering the floor!

If all these bugs were cleared out, it would probably be impossible to stop before reaching one hundred thousand points.

In fact, the others were already unable to stop.

Upon discovering that the bugs, which could be killed so easily, were actually worth one hundred points, even the Enchantress stopped pretending to be afraid, wielding a pair of hedge shears half her height and stabbing them into the pile of bugs.

Juice splattered everywhere as she sheared!

Wang Wen instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what the problem was.

He could only repeat the act of fighting the bugs that slipped through the net while keeping his eyes on all six directions and his ears on all eight, observing every detail he could capture in the entire hall with all his might.

He found no problems.

The bugs continued to fall, and they continued to die.

With the four people other than Wang Wen firing at full capacity, the speed at which the bugs fell could barely keep up with the speed at which they died.

In the blink of an eye.

The ground was piled high with sticky, white bug carcasses.

The four individuals—three men and one woman—had a clear division of labor, each guarding one of the four walls, tacitly excluding Wang Wen from their money-grubbing army.

Wang Wen didn't bother fighting them for it.

If this trip really was the World Tower showing mercy and handing out a massive windfall of points, he would accept it.

He had never relied on luck to make money.

Gains earned through solid, hard work were far more reassuring.

He would just leave this unexpected fortune to those fated to receive it.

Wang Wen stood in the center of the hall, watching the four busy people quietly, his gaze pausing for a fleeting second as it swept over the swaying, perky backside of the enchantress ahead.

Realizing what he was doing, he quickly squeezed his eyes shut, terrified that her mental power might seize the opportunity to invade his mind.

Just then.

An abrupt scream erupted from the left.

Opening his eyes to look, it was the tall man who had been the first to start attacking.

The kitchen knife in his hand didn't seem very convenient for chopping bugs.

The bugs, when fully extended, were about the size of a shoe.

How big was a kitchen knife, anyway?

When he chopped down, his palm was dangerously close to the bug.

As luck would have it, this particular bug had an exceptionally strong will to survive; even after being chopped in half, it twisted its body and bit down on the tall man's finger.

That single bite had an unexpectedly lethal effect.

The thumb that had been bitten was missing more than half its length.

Amidst the mangled flesh and blood, a terrifying, jagged bone stub was vaguely visible.

A finger's pain reaches the heart.

The tall man couldn't help but scream out in agony from the sudden, severe injury.

The others were so startled that they stopped what they were doing and retreated to a safe distance before turning to look at him.

After learning what had happened.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses sneered disdainfully, "Are you useless? You scared the hell out of me! A grown man screaming his lungs out over half a finger? Which Tower Climber hasn't suffered injuries worse than this?"

Having said that, he ignored the tall man's embarrassment, turned around, and went back to the wall to continue "collecting his fortune."

The tall man awkwardly explained to the remaining few that he had only screamed because it happened so suddenly and he hadn't been mentally prepared.

Wang Wen shrugged and continued to observe the hall.

The girl nodded understandingly and urged the tall man to be careful, even taking out some medicine and clean gauze to help him clean and bandage the wound.

The tall man was so moved he nearly offered his hand in marriage.

He promised that once they were out of the World Tower, he would definitely treat the girl to a grand feast to show his gratitude.

The girl smiled sweetly, saying it was just a small favor and he shouldn't be so polite.

Then, she hurried back to her own wall to continue "picking up money."

The third male, aside from the gold-rimmed glasses man and the tall man, was a youth with a large head and a shiny, bare forehead.

He was the one with the least say among the three men.

He usually had a very low presence and didn't interact much with others.

When the tall man got hurt just now, he hadn't even gone over to take a look.

Knowing there was no danger, he had buried his head in killing bugs, looking like an otherworldly master detached from the mundane world.

His strength was likely the lowest among those present, save for the girl.

After smashing a bug flat with his blunt weapon once more, he realized the bug wasn't dead yet.

So, he gathered his strength and smashed down again with force.

Splat.

The bug finally burst.

He tilted his head, feeling a bit strange, but didn't think too much about it; the temptation of a hundred points per bug left him no time for excessive reflection.

He hurriedly turned his target to the next one.

Just as he raised his blunt weapon, aimed, and swung, the basketball-sized bug suddenly flew up, nimbly dodging his strike.

His own strength was low, and this had happened a few times before; besides, he had known from the start that the bugs could fly, so he just assumed he hadn't aimed correctly and, unbothered, raised his blunt weapon again to take aim.

Unexpectedly.

This time, the moment he looked up, he found the bug had already flown right in front of his face, less than a fist's distance from the tip of his nose.

The mouthparts, which had looked small before, were now wide open, appearing entirely capable of swallowing his large head whole.