Leaving the Tower

When the girl got the same line thrown back at her, her face turned red, then pale.

But Femme Fatale lived up to her name. Her mental fortitude was on a completely different level from an ordinary person's.

Her expression was stormy for only a few seconds before she switched to a sweet, coaxing smile and said to Wang Wen, "All right, big brother, I know I was wrong. Don't be mad, okay? I'll let you punish me however you want after we leave the tower. You can make me do anything!"

Wang Wen's eyes lit up at that. "Really? Anything?"

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

So Wang Wen nodded too.

Then he generously shared his plan with her.

It turned out that Wang Wen had been beating the bugs to figure out why they were growing larger.

From the moment he started, he'd deliberately left one bug alive, watching it closely as it "grew."

After observing for a while, he'd determined that there seemed to be some kind of connection among the bugs. Each time one died, the bugs that awakened afterward grew another size larger.

Their speed and physical strength increased as well.

The change wasn't obvious if you watched them continuously.

You could only see the difference if you waited a while before checking again.

That was why no one else had noticed anything wrong.

Now that they understood the mechanism, the girl and Wang Wen stared at each other.

The rule made both of them think of a similar situation on the upper levels of the World Tower.

It was a special challenge on Level 590.

There were countless enemies to defeat, and each one you killed made the rest stronger.

The fight grew harder and harder, and on top of the enormous physical toll, it was easy to get injured, leave the tower, or even die.

It was a nightmarish challenge.

Unless you found a shortcut or another way to clear it, even Wang Wen's team at its peak would have struggled if they encountered it.

But that was a level above five hundred!

It wasn't surprising for the challenge to be that difficult.

How many levels up was this one?

How twisted would the World Tower have to be to put a challenge like that on a level this low?!

Was it crazy??

There had to be a shortcut!

Wang Wen pressed his lips together, returned to the center of the hall, and carefully examined every wall, trying to find another way to clear the level.

As for the girl...

The moment she confirmed the rules of this level, she sank into despair.

As one of the world's top Tower Climbers, she understood better than anyone except Wang Wen just how terrifying these rules were.

There was no way to beat it.

The level was clearly meant to drive climbers away. If you were unlucky enough to encounter it, all you could do was end your climb and wait until next week.

Then you could hope to get lucky and avoid this kind of dead-end level.

She watched Wang Wen continue searching and couldn't help feeling a pang of regret. He's a great guy. He's got decent skills and a good temperament, too. What a shame he's not very bright.

"Hey, handsome." The girl pulled a pen from who knew where, took Wang Wen's hand, and wrote a number on the back of it. "Not every effort is worthwhile. You can't climb the tower on passion alone, running on love and good intentions. I got unlucky and ran into this level, so I'm leaving the tower. Memorize my number and remember to contact me, okay?"

Wang Wen glanced at the number on his hand and said helplessly, "Since you have a pen, why didn't you write it on a piece of paper? I'm still climbing the tower. A little sweat and it'll smudge."

The girl smiled sweetly. "I'm sure you'll be out of the tower soon, big brother."

Seeing how she kept trying to charm him, Wang Wen couldn't help telling her the truth. "Actually, I'm old enough to be your dad."

At that, the girl's eyes widened in surprise. "I call you big brother, and you want to be my dad?"

"???"

Wang Wen watched speechlessly as the girl skipped away.

She said something to the two men on the other side, and then the two of them began waving goodbye.

The tall man and the girl both vanished in flashes of white light.

Left behind, the big-headed young man glanced hesitantly at Wang Wen, then went back to killing bugs by the girl's wall.

Apparently, he couldn't bear to give up the temptation of earning a hundred points per bug.

After all, the tall guy was leaving to go on a date with the girl, and he didn't have a chance with her.

If there was no beautiful girl, how could he give up money too?

Right.

Rather, with no romance, how could he give up his career too?

Wang Wen had been about to remind him to be careful, since the bugs would keep getting stronger the more he killed.

But after thinking it over, he let it go.

They were just strangers who'd happened to meet. He shouldn't stop someone else from making money.

Besides.

He shouldn't stop someone else from earning money; he was currently just as broke as anyone else.

He ought to join the ranks of those working hard to make money, too.

Wang Wen smiled carefree.

He raised his stick and brought it down on the swarm.

Not every effort is worthwhile?

??

Who cared if it was worthwhile!

"President Cheng, the tower guards still haven't seen the target leave the tower," Xiao Liu reported respectfully, standing in front of the redwood desk.

President Cheng nodded to show he'd heard. He was browsing documents on his computer.

Xiao Liu waited a moment. When no further instructions came, he quietly left the office.

President Cheng stared at the screen for a while, lost in thought. Then he closed the computer, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

A girl's voice came through the other end. "Dad, are you getting off work?"

"Xiao Yi." President Cheng adjusted his glasses, his voice heavy. "It's been two days, and that kid still hasn't come out. Could he already be..."

"No, he won't." On the other end, Cheng Queyi clutched her phone, her eyes red, but spoke brightly into it. "The great hero in my heart will come out of the tower riding a seven-colored cloud, sweeping away every villain!"

President Cheng froze for a moment, then shook his head with a bitter smile. "Sweep them away? Silly girl..."

But the girl on the phone didn't give him a chance to continue. She cried out, "Dad, what time are you getting off work today? Mom and I are planning to make dumplings with pork and pickled cabbage for dinner! Do you want yours steamed, boiled, or pan-fried?"

President Cheng thought it over, then mischievously said, "None of those. I'll have them tossed with sauce. I'll peel the garlic when I get home. Just help me mix up some dipping sauce."

He hung up.

President Cheng sat in silence for a long time.

At last, he let out a long sigh. Silly girl, that's Tiansheng. How could he possibly sweep them away?

"Department Head, Wang Wen still hasn't left the tower." Tong Xiaolei counted the days and analyzed the situation. "If we calculate using the normal climbing pace, could he have already reached Level 100?"

The old man kept his head down, looking at the paper documents. "Given that he was evenly matched with Mo Ran, what's so strange about him reaching Level 100?"

"Even so, it's terrifying for someone who's never entered the tower to climb straight to Level 100 on his first try." Tong Xiaolei clicked her tongue. "Is that guy a monster?"

The old man stopped writing and looked up at her. "Xiaotong, you've been paying a lot of attention to Wang Wen lately. Now that he's entered the tower, there's no need to keep watching him. Whether things go well or badly, it's his choice. We should turn our attention to the work we need to do. We're behind on gathering intelligence about the World Tower's upper levels, and there are voices of dissatisfaction coming from the Group's senior management."

Tong Xiaolei lowered her head respectfully. "Understood. I'll go find Team Leader Luo for a meeting and get things moving."

He watched her leave the office.

The old man lifted his teacup and blew on it, picturing the reckless young man in his mind.

He shook his head for no particular reason and thought with some self-mockery:

"I'm getting old. I can't keep my resolve."

"I know Tiansheng will crush him to pieces no matter what, but I still can't help wanting to give him a hand."

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

"Dean, the students who could make it have all arrived over the past two days. What should we do now?"

"Set out! We're going to demand an explanation from Tiansheng Group!"

"But Wang Wen is still in the World Tower."

"Why do we care about him? What difference would it make if he did come out? How high do you think someone on his first climb can get? Do you really expect him to be any help? We thought he had ties to the First Consortium, but they haven't even shown their faces. We'll have to rely on ourselves again this time!"

"Fine... Everyone, move out! We're going to demand an explanation from Tiansheng Group!"