Leaving the Tower

Being retorted with the exact same words, the girl's face flushed red and then turned pale.

But the Femme Fatale was worthy of her name; her temperament was on an entirely different level from that of an ordinary person.

Her expression flickered uncertainly for only a few seconds before she immediately switched to a sweet, coquettish smile, coaxing Wang Wen, "Good brother, I know I was wrong, so don't be angry, okay? At worst, once we leave the World Tower, I'll let you punish me however you like—I'll do anything you want!"

Hearing this, Wang Wen's eyes lit up, and he asked for confirmation, "Anything at all?"

"Mm-hmm!" The girl nodded vigorously with a grin.

So, Wang Wen nodded along as well.

He generously shared his plan with her.

It turned out that Wang Wen had been fighting the bugs to observe the reason behind their growth.

After he started, he had specifically left one bug alive from start to finish, just to watch it "grow."

After watching for a while, he determined that there seemed to be some connection between these bugs; every time one died, the bugs that woke up afterward would be a size larger.

Their speed and physical strength would both increase accordingly.

This change wasn't obvious if one stared at it constantly.

Only by observing them after a period of time could one see the difference.

This was the root cause of why no one else had noticed anything amiss.

Once the mechanics of this floor were figured out.

The girl and Wang Wen looked at each other in dismay.

This rule made a similar situation in the super-high levels of the World Tower surface in both their minds.

It was a special difficulty level on the 590th floor.

Countless enemies had to be eliminated, and every time one was destroyed, the remaining enemies would grow stronger.

The further you fought, the harder it became; not to mention the massive stamina consumption, it was also very easy to get injured or even be forced out of the World Tower or die.

A nightmare-tier difficulty.

Unless a shortcut or another way to clear the stage was found, even Wang Wen's team in their prime would have found it a headache.

But that was a super-high level above five hundred!

It wasn't strange for that level to have such difficulty.

But what floor was this?

Just how twisted did the World Tower have to be to feature this kind of difficulty on such a floor?!

Was it insane??

There had to be a shortcut!

Wang Wen pursed his lips and retreated to the center of the hall, carefully observing every wall in an attempt to find another way to clear the level.

As for the girl...

Once the rules of this floor were confirmed, she had already fallen into deep despair.

As one of the top climbers in the world, she knew the terror of these rules better than anyone except Wang Wen.

It was unsolvable.

This rule was clearly a "gatekeeper" floor; if you were unlucky enough to encounter it, you could only interrupt your climb and wait until next week.

Hoping that next time, luck would be on your side and you could avoid such a gatekeeper floor.

She looked at Wang Wen, who was still persisting in his thoughts, and couldn't help but sigh silently in her heart: He is an excellent boy, his strength is good, and his temperament is decent, but it's a pity his brain is a bit lacking.

"Little brother." The girl pulled a pen from somewhere, grabbed Wang Wen's hand, and wrote a number on the back of his hand, urging him, "Not every effort is meaningful, and climbing the tower isn't something you can succeed at just by relying on hot-blooded passion and love. Since we were unlucky enough to run into this kind of stage, I'm preparing to leave the tower. Keep my number safe and remember to contact me."

Wang Wen looked at the number on the back of his hand and said with some helplessness, "Since you have a pen, why didn't you find a piece of paper to write it on for me? Writing it on my hand like this—I'm still climbing the tower, and it'll just smudge the moment I break a sweat."

The girl smiled enchantingly, "I believe brother will be leaving the tower soon enough."

Seeing her acting like she was constantly casting a spell, Wang Wen couldn't help but say the truth, "Actually, given my age, I'm old enough to be your father."

Hearing this, the girl's eyes widened in surprise, "I call you brother, and you actually want to be my father?"

"???"

Wang Wen watched speechlessly as the girl skipped away into the distance.

She said something to the two men on the other side, and both parties began to wave goodbye.

The tall man and the girl transformed into white light and vanished together.

The big-headed youth was left behind, looking at Wang Wen with hesitation before he began to fight the bugs alone by the girl's wall.

Presumably, he still couldn't bear to give up the temptation of one hundred points per bug.

After all, the tall man was leaving the tower to go on a date with the girl, but he had no such opportunity.

Since there was no beauty, how could he give up the money?

Mm.

I suppose that's it; without love, how could one give up their career as well?

Wang Wen had originally intended to warn him to be careful, as the bugs only grew stronger the more one fought them.

He reconsidered and let it go.

They were just strangers meeting by chance; he shouldn't be the one to stop others from making money.

On the contrary.

Not only should he not stop others, but he himself was currently just an impoverished, ordinary person.

He ought to join the ranks of those working hard to earn money as well.

Wang Wen smiled nonchalantly.

He raised his club and smashed it into the pile of bugs.

Is it true that not all effort is meaningful?

??

Who cares if it's meaningful or not!

"President Cheng, the tower guards still haven't seen the target exit the tower," Xiao Liu reported, standing respectfully before the mahogany desk.

President Cheng, who was browsing documents on his optical computer, nodded to show he had received the information.

Xiao Liu waited for a moment, and seeing no further instructions, quietly exited the office.

President Cheng stared at the optical computer screen for a while, then finally closed it and picked up his phone to make a call.

A girl's voice came from the other end: "Dad, are you getting off work soon?"

"Xiao Yi." President Cheng adjusted his glasses and said in a heavy tone, "It's been two days, and we still haven't seen that boy exit the tower. Could he have already..."

"He hasn't." On the other end, Cheng Queyi, clutching her phone, had red-rimmed eyes but spoke into the receiver with a cheerful voice: "The great hero in my heart will definitely step out of the tower on colorful auspicious clouds and sweep away all the evil enemies!"

President Cheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and gave a wry smile: "Sweep them away? You silly girl..."

The person on the other end didn't give him a chance to continue, shouting excitedly: "What time are you getting off work today, Dad? Mom and I are planning to make sauerkraut and pork dumplings tonight! Do you want steamed, boiled, or pan-fried dumplings?"

President Cheng thought for a moment and said with a playful smile, "I don't want any of those three. I'll have them dry-tossed. I'll peel the garlic myself when I get back; just help me mix some sauce."

He hung up the phone.

President Cheng remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he let out a long sigh: Silly girl, that is Tiansheng Group; how could anyone sweep them away?

"Department Head, Wang Wen still hasn't exited the tower," Tong Xiaolei said, analyzing as she counted the time. "If we calculate based on normal tower-climbing efficiency, could he have already rushed past the hundredth floor?"

The old man didn't even look up from his paper documents as he replied, "With the strength he showed in tying with Mo Ran, what's so strange about him reaching the hundredth floor?"

"Even so, for someone who has never entered the tower before to go straight to the hundredth floor on his first attempt, isn't that too terrifying?" Tong Xiaolei gasped. "Is that guy a monster?"

The old man stopped his pen and looked up at her: "Xiao Tong, you've been paying a bit too much attention to Wang Wen lately. Since he has already entered the tower, there is no need to continue observing him. Whether it turns out good or bad is his own choice. We should shift our focus back to the work we need to do. The progress on gathering intelligence from the ultra-high levels of the World Tower is dragging, and there are voices of dissatisfaction from the group's top brass."

Tong Xiaolei bowed respectfully: "Understood. I'll go find Team Leader Luo for a meeting to speed up the progress."

He watched her leave the office.

The old man picked up his teacup and blew on it, the image of that young and frivolous boy appearing in his mind.

He shook his head inexplicably, thinking with a touch of self-mockery:

"I'm getting old, and my resolve is wavering."

"Knowing full well that he will be crushed into pieces by Tiansheng Group no matter what, I still can't help but want to give him a hand."

"But, the First Consortium really needs time right now."

"Dean, it's been two days. All the students who could come have arrived. What do you think we should do next?"

"We set out! We go to Tiansheng Group to demand an explanation!"

"But Wang Wen is still inside the World Tower and hasn't come out."

"Oh, why bother with him? Even if he does come out, what can he do? Do you really expect someone who has only entered the tower for the first time to be of any help? We originally thought he had a connection with the First Consortium, but the First Consortium didn't even show their faces. This time, we have to rely on ourselves!"

"Alright... then, everyone set out! We're going to demand an explanation from Tiansheng Group!"