Chapter 53: A New Anchor

A series of notifications left Wen Xishu somewhat dazed. The primary reason was that it caught him completely off guard—had the mission really been completed just like that?

He hadn't even killed those two people.

At the same time, this was the first time Wen Xishu realized that a happiness value of zero could actually constitute a completed mission state.

Yet, after a little pondering, he found the underlying principle not difficult to comprehend. Releasing the desire for hatred was also a part of the Tower of Desire. What Tang Rui needed was hatred, and a reason to keep on hating.

If he had directly killed the couple, Tang Rui might have retained some lingering illusions in her heart, preventing her from truly hating them from the bottom of her heart.

It was a true embodiment of the saying: loving in confusion, and hating in a tangled knot.

However, by interpreting the mission beforehand, Wen Xishu had learned of Tang Rui's inner struggle in advance. That was why he had devised such a perverted game.

In fact, Wen Xishu had no interest in torturing Tang Rui's parents. Instead, this game had provided Tang Rui's father and mother with numerous opportunities to survive.

Had Tang Rui's parents shown even a tiny bit of compromise or concession during this game, expressed the slightest bit of affection, or displayed even one percent of a parent's heartache for their child in the final choice...

Perhaps this mission would not have been completed.

Yet, on the other hand, had that truly been the outcome, Tang Rui would never have become a mission target of the Tower of Desire.

Everything was destined; there was no room for luck.

The outcome of this game also forced Tang Rui to see through the very truth she had refused to admit—

They truly do not love me, and they don't even care about me.

In the storyline before Wen Xishu's arrival, Tang Rui, failing to realize this truth, would have fallen into extreme predicament when the apocalypse arrived shortly after.

Few people, when yearning desperately for love, can distinguish whether they are truly loved or simply needed.

The value of the ability possessed by the Spectral Tang Rui led to her being needed by many people, but she mistakenly believed that meant she was loved, and mistakenly thought it was an opportunity to reconcile with her parents.

In the end, however, as more and more monsters bearing the prefix "Slaughter" gathered in Jiangcheng, and the despair of the apocalypse deepened, she experienced yet another betrayal and abandonment.

This also caused her to lose the status that should have belonged to her.

Fortunately, with Wen Xishu's arrival, a new trajectory of fate would be anchored.

……

……

Thunder rumbled continuously, and torrential rain poured down. The thunderstorm tonight felt like a grand ceremony.

This was a residential building in a housing estate. Actually, the commotion made by Wen Xishu and Tang Rui had already aroused the suspicions of the residents in the building, but in the end, no one called the police.

Everything went as smoothly as if it were meant to be.

The knife in Tang Rui's hand was stained with blood. The crying and howling inside the room had turned into dead silence. When she walked out of the door, she suddenly felt a strong urge to smoke.

Wen Xishu stood beside her:

"Actually, things like doing the killing can be left to me. If you regret it in the future, you can pin the guilt on me. I don't mind if you come looking for me for revenge."

Tang Rui shook her head:

"It's fine. Thank you, Butcher of the Rainy Night."

Wen Xishu shrugged:

"I feel more like a lookout for the butcher; you are the real butcher. I'll gift this nickname to you. I've always been generous to my friends."

Although Wen Xishu had participated as well, the ones who ultimately delivered the blows were all Tang Rui.

He had actually thought Tang Rui wouldn't really strike, at most acting as a silent witness.

Yet the result quite surprised Wen Xishu. Deep down inside, this girl was ruthless.

When the hidden mission was completed, and when Tang Rui walked out of her parents' room, her entire temperament had changed.

The first and second times, it had been Wen Xishu who initiated, but this time, Tang Rui said:

"Alright, Mr. Sentinel, let's not drag our feet. There is still one last knot in my heart. Let's go solve it!"

She clutched her knife and charged into the rainy night like a harbinger of doom.

Amidst a whirl of conflicting emotions, Wen Xishu felt a murderous intent... even more unbridled than his own.

……

……

Jiangcheng, Jiangcheng Youth Talent Apartment.

In Jiangcheng's commercial district, there were several huge office buildings gathering people from all walks of life. Most of them were sales representatives outsourced by insurance companies, banks, telecom operators, and China Unicom, along with some real estate salespeople.

Actually, Lin Huiru was not having a good time. After she spread rumors out of jealousy against Tang Rui, that boss had quickly fired Lin Huiru as well.

In her heart, the boss actually felt that a girl like Tang Rui who worked earnestly did not deserve such treatment.

In fact, the boss himself was also a victim of the rumor.

When Lin Huiru's remark—"Doing those things is just to fetch a good price from the boss"—spread, the boss's own reputation was damaged as well.

Lin Huiru was fired. Had it not been for her rumors, perhaps Tang Rui would have truly gained appreciation, her life would have been entirely different, and she wouldn't have always encountered the wrong people.

Of course, there are no "ifs" in this world. For Lin Huiru, she loathed Tang Rui for the rest of her life, believing that being fired was all Tang Rui's fault.

More than once, she cursed Tang Rui for causing her to lose her formerly good job.

Nowadays, she worked as an after-sales customer service representative for a health product company, because her only advantage... was a sweet voice.

In this stormy night, the Youth Talent Apartment was hit quite hard.

The power was out here.

Thinking about how she now lived in a dump like the talent apartment, and thinking about how she could have lived in a much better place... she started cursing Tang Rui once again.

"Damn bitch! Damn bitch! You caused all this! It's all your fault!"

She cursed like this from time to time, and at every dining table, she would recount how she had pitied Tang Rui back then, only to be harmed by an ingrate.

Suddenly, however, Lin Huiru stopped cursing.

She shivered, and a wave of intense fear washed over her, making Lin Huiru feel as if her throat was being choked.

Another loud bang, another instance of "forgetting the key" to smash the door open, another duo of the Butcher of the Rainy Night and his navigator.

"Xiao Ru, I've come to see you."

The difference was that this time, Wen Xishu was no longer the first one to speak.

In Tang Rui's hoarse voice, there was a hint of excitement.

Without needing much introduction, under the effect of the conflicting emotions, Lin Huiru could already feel the chilling breath of death.

It was as if her whole body had descended into the depths of an ice cellar, and a giant evil ghost covered in ice thorns appeared behind her.

In a single instant, she recognized the drenched woman standing before her.

"It's you... why are you here? Why are you here?! What are you going to do! What are you doing!"

Goosebumps erupted all over Lin Huiru's skin! She saw the knife held tightly in Tang Rui's hand.

"Xiao Ru, we are good sisters. The rain is too heavy, so I came to see you."

She's graduating into a pro now.

Watching Tang Rui's demeanor, Wen Xishu felt that she nailed the vibe perfectly, already displaying a bit of his own flair.

Saying "I'm here to kill you" would narrow the imagery too much. But saying "the rain is too heavy, so I came to see you" left a lingering, chilling aftertaste.

Outside was bitter rain and desolate wind; inside was a resentful woman in the dark.

Lin Huiru wanted to scream, but in the next second, Tang Rui grabbed Lin Huiru's hair and yanked it hard, dragging her entire body down from the bed.

"Shh!"

A finger was pressed against Lin Huiru's lips as Tang Rui whispered softly:

"Be quiet, Xiao Ru. If only you had learned how to keep silent all these years."

The sharp blade carved a crimson trace across Lin Huiru's skin.

Lin Huiru wanted to wail in agony, but when her eyes met Tang Rui's ferocious gaze, and when the chilling dread of conflicting emotions multiplied...

She suddenly didn't dare to make a sound.

Wen Xishu had to admit that Tang Rui was simply a genius at mastering Sequence powers.

She seemed to already be able to wield conflicting emotions, making the other party feel precisely the emotions she wanted to project.

She should have felt pain, screams, and wails. Yet Lin Huiru simply couldn't cry out; she was enveloped by boundless cold, plunged into utter despair.

Before the rumor started, Tang Rui had naively believed that her life was finally turning for the better, that bitterness really could turn into sweetness.

Yet she never expected that everything she had earned through her own hard work would be destroyed by her best friend. At that moment, she truly felt like she had fallen into an ice cave.

The knife pierced into flesh.

"Why aren't you smiling? Go on, give me a smile. Your smile is so sweet; maybe I'll stop." Tang Rui asked softly.

On that day in her memory, when the rumors were flying everywhere, Lin Huiru had simply smiled as if nothing had happened.

It was as if the collapse of Tang Rui's world didn't affect the peaceful passage of time at all, and the air even became more fragrant.

She still smiled sweetly at Tang Rui, thinking it was just a casual joke, completely oblivious to the kind of damage her actions inflicted upon Tang Rui.

Recalling this kind of smile now made Tang Rui feel sick. Every time she was bullied in college, she had seen that exact smile on Lin Huiru's face.

That was not a reassuring smile; it was the smile of a plot succeeding. If one thought carefully about it, perhaps many of the malicious acts she suffered back in college were related to the owner of this smile.

Lin Huiru was extremely obedient; fear forced her to smile. And that smile was as hideous as it could possibly get.

Tang Rui smiled as well, with a somewhat bewitching charm.

Seeing this, Wen Xishu knew that the hardships and stories belonging to Desire Tang Rui had truly come to an end.

The knot in her heart was gone. Scumbags had met a scumbag's end, and villains a villain's end.

As for whether she would coexist with slaughter and kindness after the arrival of the freezing apocalypse, or turn into an out-and-out demon, that was not something Wen Xishu needed to care about.

Wen Xishu only knew one thing: as a player, what he needed to do was survive the game and continuously grow stronger.

And all of this manifested in the Three Towers game as—accepting missions, understanding missions, and completing missions.

……

……

The sound of the torrential rain covered up too much clamor and sin. When Tang Rui walked out, the blood stains on her face looked like a blooming flower.

The heavy rain quickly washed away that crimson flower, but the smile on Tang Rui's face did not vanish.

"This is truly a crazy and long night. Thank you for coming. Tonight, for me... has been truly crazy, starting from the moment I drank that glass of wine, everything felt surreal."

Originally, the craziest thing Tang Rui was supposed to do after today was to end her own life, like a parrot falling to its death.

Although influenced by the supernatural power, she hadn't truly died, every single day thereafter had been lived in torment and self-doubt, a fate worse than death.

Wen Xishu didn't think this was all that crazy:

"This is just an ordinary night. Don't mind it too much."

"If order doesn't collapse, and if the apocalypse doesn't arrive, then to you and me, this indeed is a crazy and sinful night."

"However, as I said, the apocalypse is coming, and compared to the real end of the world, everything tonight is nothing."

"Soon, you will witness plenty of real bloodshed."

A storm in a teacup is nothing worth mentioning when placed in a bathtub. Although Wen Xishu didn't know what kind of impact that apocalypse would have on the human world...

Yet if the Bunker Era could be regarded as the center for human survivors in the post-apocalyptic era, then that apocalypse would destroy at least ninety percent of humanity.

Of course, one couldn't argue that since most people were going to die anyway, killing a few ahead of time was harmless.

However, the value of the Tower of Desire lay in altering the fate trajectories of the bosses in the Tower of Spells and the Tower of Slaughter.

Once these trajectories were altered, the macroscopic destiny of humanity might also be positively influenced.

For instance, he had unlocked the conditions to recruit Slaughter Jack and Slaughter Jennifer. Should he actually recruit them in the future, it would surely be a tremendous surprise for humanity's decoding of the Three Towers.

Today was no exception.

For Wen Xishu, killing a few scumbags and villains on the eve of the apocalypse in exchange for the promotion of the Tower of Slaughter boss and the rewards of the Tower of Desire mission was simply thrilling and cost-effective.

Of course, he couldn't spell these things out clearly to Tang Rui. Between players and NPCs, there was always an insurmountable boundary.

Tang Rui suddenly spoke:

"Will we... meet again?"

"Hard to say, but with high probability, we won't meet again."

Wen Xishu answered very bluntly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see Slaughter Jack, Slaughter Jennifer, or Slaughter Tang Rui again.

Rather, he wouldn't be able to touch the Tower of Slaughter in the short term; exploring the Tower of Spells was his primary melody. Even if he did explore the Tower of Slaughter in the future, he wouldn't necessarily encounter them, given how vast the tower was.

Tang Rui felt a deep sense of reluctance, but she could sense that this madman would appear out of nowhere and disappear just as suddenly.

Rather than looking back suddenly only to find the place empty and deserted, it was better to part ways gracefully. Tang Rui extended her hand:

"Then let's get acquainted properly and say goodbye properly. My name is Tang Rui. I believe what you said about the apocalypse coming."

"I think your sudden appearance must be a wish for me to survive the apocalypse. Rest assured, I will live. I will live until the day we meet again. I have a hunch that we will see each other again."

"Perhaps by then, you will really need me."

Wen Xishu smiled and extended his hand as well.

"My name is Wen Xishu. This rainstorm doesn't seem simple at all; in Jiangcheng, there might be... Awakened ones hiding with a higher aptitude than yours."

"The world will soon descend into chaos, and your abilities will become increasingly prominent. Tang Rui, protect yourself, conceal yourself, and don't trust people easily."

The heavy rain hadn't stopped yet, but this rainy night had reached its end. The farewell of two killers did not involve excessive hesitation or words.

"Alright, I'll remember that. Goodbye, sentinel of the Butcher of the Rainy Night."

"Goodbye, Butcher of the Rainy Night."

The two shook hands, and then parted ways.

……

……

The heavy rain showed no signs of abating, and Wen Xishu hadn't guessed wrong—this rain was indeed unusual.

In the Tower of Desire, not every mission target was destined to be abused by those around them, experiencing pain and mutilation.

There were also some extremely special existences.

But those did not belong to the story of the parrot; they were other people and matters. Although Wen Xishu sensed something was amiss, he didn't want to create extra complications.

When Tang Rui's figure completely vanished into the rainy night, he reviewed the characteristics of the three people who had been killed.

"The three items corresponding to those three people... I actually already know them. At least for three scenarios, I am confident I can speedrun them."

"But there are four doors."

"How strange, during the truth-or-dare game, Tang Rui's implication was that there was no fourth thing that made her incomplete."

"But there should be one..."

Wen Xishu couldn't quite figure it out. Actually, he had already heard the answer from the hints, but at this moment, he had overlooked a certain piece of logic.

Fortunately, when his hand pressed against the invitation letter, preparing to return... he suddenly understood.

Wen Xishu chuckled:

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is... This way, there won't be any problems at all. Not only can I speedrun the Tower of Desire, but I can also speedrun the Tower of Spells."