Liu Zheng said a few words, then left his contact information.
Yu Tiezhu was the first to take it and jot it down.
Wu Yu and the others followed suit, showing no unusual reactions.
"Hey, young man! Give me your contact information. I'll treat you to sweet-and-sour carp when we get back!"
Yu Tiezhu looked at Wu Yu and smiled. "My daughter cooks it herself. It's absolutely delicious!"
"No need."
Wu Yu's reply was flat.
Seeing him refuse, Yu Tiezhu didn't dare press him. He could only say in his guileless way, "All right."
The countdown ticked away second by second, and silence filled the Tower.
Wu Yu checked the items in his Inventory and discovered that the [Dungeon Key]'s panel had changed.
[Dungeon Key] Type: miscellaneous. Quality: white. Description: the key to the dungeon in the Village Chief's home. No longer useful.
"The dungeon was in the Village Chief's house?"
He was a little surprised.
He had obtained this item in the Evil Tiger Stronghold, yet it belonged to the dungeon in the Village Chief's home. That was interesting!
"Looks like this was another hidden quest. I just never uncovered it."
"What a shame."
"If there's a True Great Ruins, then this [Newcomer Secret Realm] must be fake! An instance... or a stretch of past spacetime."
The Dungeon Key was no longer useful, so Wu Yu could only shake his head and put it out of his mind.
He had never been greedy. There were limits to what one person could do. Seizing enough opportunities was all that mattered; there was no need to achieve perfection.
Time passed quickly!
Creeeak!
The bronze Ancient Gate suddenly opened.
Wu Yu hurriedly looked over and discovered that beyond the Ancient Gate was the hallway outside his apartment. His security door stood open, just as it had when he left.
The box containing the [External Heavenly Spiritual Root] lay quietly on the floor.
"It's the construction site! There's a construction site outside!"
Yu Tiezhu sprang to his feet, surprised and delighted.
"I see the inside of the Inspection Bureau!"
Liu Zheng stood up as well and nodded. "Looks like we're all seeing different spaces beyond the gate."
"This Tower was mysterious to begin with. Whatever appears, there's no need to be surprised."
"Let's go!"
With that, Liu Zheng led the way out. He passed through the Ancient Gate, and his figure instantly vanished before their eyes.
Liu Yu rose unsteadily. As he passed Wu Yu, he raised an eyebrow at him, then glanced at the girl and smiled. "You actually didn't kill her. Quite the soft spot for a pretty girl."
"Huh?"
Wu Yu frowned.
Liu Yu offered no explanation and left with a lazy expression.
Bai Xiaotian put on an obedient front, said goodbye to the others, and left too.
Yu Tiezhu wasn't in a hurry. After a moment's hesitation, he looked at Wu Yu.
"Young man, you're a good person, but I can't shamelessly take so much from you."
"Consider it a debt I owe you. Contact me directly if you need anything."
With that, he recited his communication account number and hurried away.
After watching them leave, Wu Yu slowly rose, only to find the girl standing up at the same time.
"What, do you want to thank me too?"
Wu Yu smiled.
The girl pursed her lips in a smile and said, "Mister~! If you can catch me in the real world, I'll be sure to thank you properly."
"Sure."
Wu Yu chuckled and nodded. "If I catch you in the real world, I'll make sure I break you."
"Mister, what counts as breaking me?"
The girl looked puzzled, tilting her head with an adorably vacant expression.
Wu Yu knew she was pretending. Not bothering to waste any more words, he strode to the Ancient Gate and stepped through.
One step carried him across space and back into the hallway.
Dusk had yet to fade, and night was taking its time.
Wu Yu picked up the box from the floor. Recalling the information he had seen earlier, he couldn't help forming a guess.
He turned back. There was no bronze Ancient Gate behind him, only a hallway filled with darkness.
Whooosh!
Rain poured outside the window, and icy air swept in, brushing across his face.
But things were different now. This little bit of cold no longer bothered Wu Yu.
He walked to the end of the hallway and looked up.
Amid the dense, dark clouds, the Mysterious Tower was nowhere to be seen.
Wu Yu pondered briefly, then took his Communication Watch out of his coat and checked it.
The time... was roughly the same as when he had entered the Tower.
"Time synchronization. Looks like it doesn't just synchronize the times when different Tower Climbers enter the secret realm. It can probably alter time between the Great Ruins and the real world too."
"What incredible power!"
"Could this be a perk of the [Newcomer Secret Realm]?"
Wu Yu returned home and shut the door securely.
His little home was sparsely furnished, with a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It didn't even have a kitchen.
Having claimed his rewards not long ago, Wu Yu found that his current clothes no longer fit properly. Both his height and build had changed somewhat.
He changed clothes, lay down on the sofa, and closed his eyes to rest.
Late that night!
Wu Yu opened his eyes and abruptly sat up.
As he woke, the blood and vital energy throughout his body surged, and a wave of warmth drove away the surrounding chill.
"Nothing beats sleeping at home."
Wu Yu rolled his neck, took out his Communication Watch, and checked it.
Three in the morning!
"A few hours have passed. If there were more than nine Tower Climbers, word has probably already spread online."
Wu Yu nodded slightly and tapped his Wristwatch.
White light shone out, opening a virtual screen above the Wristwatch.
After the Great Cataclysm, humanity had rebuilt civilization.
But both lingering spatial gates and newly emerging ones remained dangerous. Chaotic spirit energy filled the wilderness beyond the cities, making networks difficult to establish.
The Spirit Network, for instance, only covered River City and its surrounding towns. It didn't extend any farther.
Wu Yu opened several major forums and websites and browsed the news.
"Breaking! Someone leaped from a building in Spirit Mountain Technology Park. Suspected suicide!"
"Mayor Gao criticizes Deep Space Bank's violent tax collection practices as a grave threat to Federation citizens."
"Mayor Gao pays twenty million in back taxes. Deep Space Bank drops further action."
"[Nine Dragons' Might] potion hits another record high! Three million per vial!"
"Lightning flashes and thunder rolls in Dragon Mountain District. A powerful figure may be undergoing a tribulation."
"Expert: Talisman Masters should take off their long robes and join factory assembly lines to mass-produce talismans."
"Nothing."
Wu Yu frowned slightly and opened several more forums to browse.
He didn't search for any keywords, simply browsing.
Finally,
he found traces on a short-video platform.
A Transcendent Martial Artist was showing off his Daoist arts, spitting a ball of lightning from his mouth and arrogantly declaring that Cultivators were obsolete, relics left behind by the times.
A boy had learned a martial arts technique overnight, and his parents had proudly recorded a video to share and show him off.
A hundred towns surrounded River City, which had eighteen million permanent residents within its limits.
Even in the middle of the night, the Spirit Network was still bustling.
"This is an age of transcendence. People who haven't entered the Tower will have a hard time telling what's real and what's fake."
"But even if half of it is real, that's good enough. It'll draw away plenty of attention."
Wu Yu breathed a sigh of relief, turned off his Wristwatch, and took out a few things.
The wine flask containing divine blood, the "Tiger Roar Soul-Refining Diagram," and the [Mountain Lord Soul].
These were the greatest gains he had obtained in the [Newcomer Secret Realm]!
But they were different types of items, so their value would naturally differ.
"Which should I use first?"
Wu Yu found himself faced with a delightful dilemma.
Before you continue