Chapter 6: The Strange Building and the Strange Man
The footsteps and sinister laughter of the madman grew louder, drawing closer. He was in the hallway outside the room.
This old-style building resembled an outdated hospital from the 1990s, with numerous rooms on each floor separated by a straight corridor running down the middle. The bathrooms and laundry facilities were communal, typically located at the end of the hallway near the stairwell.
Wen Xishu lay quietly under the bed, patiently waiting. He wore a gentle smile, his calm demeanor imparting an unusual sense of security even to Jennifer. Her heart, which had been pounding wildly with fear, gradually settled back into a normal rhythm. Yet, despite this, the madman’s footsteps never ceased.
Wen Xishu remained unflustered.
He had avoided the first fatal trap—the opening kill—confirming to him that the dangers here followed a discernible pattern. He noticed everyone in the bunker referred to exploring the Three Towers as the “Three Towers Game,” implying that each perilous situation was like a game with a way to clear it.
“Never lose your composure just because the footsteps are approaching,” Wen Xishu reminded himself as he continued waiting patiently.
As the footsteps drew nearer, Jennifer was once again gripped by fear. Wen Xishu signaled her to be quiet with a finger to his lips.
His past experiences, where he couldn’t rate things poorly, had given him an almost superhuman calmness of heart.
Then, Wen Xishu pulled out his phone, swiftly opened the notepad, and typed with one hand:
“Don’t be afraid. Stay quiet and do exactly as I say. If you understand, blink your eyes.”
Jennifer blinked.
“Good child,” Wen Xishu said, feeling reassured.
Having calmed Jennifer, he resumed waiting.
Just as the madman’s footsteps seemed to have reached the door and was about to open it—
The madman spoke again:
“Dear Jennifer, do you want to be as quiet as Remian?”
“He hid for a while, but I smashed his brain, hehe.”
“He won’t be able to slander me over the phone anymore. Never! Now he’s the Silent Remian!”
His footsteps pounded the floor, and when he mentioned the last phrase, his anger was palpable.
Wen Xishu felt as if the entire building was shaking.
This made him realize the monsters in this sinister tower might possess supernatural powers.
But he remained calm:
“Unlike previous encounters, this time the madman mentioned someone named Remian.”
“He is furious because Remian often slanders him over the phone.”
“The key information is ‘Silent Remian’ and the phone.”
As if reading the boss’s telegraphed move, Wen Xishu sensed a breakthrough.
He decisively opened his phone again, sliding his finger slowly through the contacts.
Sure enough, he found Remian.
When his gaze fixed on Remian’s name—a phantom dialogue box suddenly appeared.
But the content inside made his head spin.
It was a jumble of garbled characters.
“So it really is a game. Certain special places or items provide hints.”
“Probably because my anti-magic resistance is too low, I was supposed to see some information about Remian here…”
“But now, this info is completely blocked, and staring at it even affects my thinking.”
Wen Xishu looked away.
“No matter. Even without Remian’s info, I can guess what to do.”
The doorknob began to turn; the madman was about to enter the room.
Jennifer’s pupils trembled, terror-stricken to the extreme. She feared a hideous face would suddenly peer under the bed, excitedly declaring, “Found you.”
But at that moment, Wen Xishu dialed Remian’s number.
Silent Remian, slander over the phone, the madman’s rage—all these clues told Wen Xishu exactly how to counter the boss’s next move.
Suddenly, phone rings echoed from upstairs, and the madman’s footsteps abruptly halted.
Not just upstairs—once the first phone rang, the entire building was filled with ringing phones from all directions.
It sounded like a thousand phones waking from slumber simultaneously in the dead of night.
“Another supernatural phenomenon... This building seems to amplify the madman’s inner turmoil,” Wen Xishu analyzed silently.
The overwhelming cacophony of ringing drove the madman into a fury:
“Re! Mi! An! You’re still alive! I’ll kill you! I’ll crush your brain!”
“So noisy! So noisy! You little backbiting pest!”
In a flash, his voice shifted from this room to several floors above.
Wen Xishu smiled at Jennifer and typed swiftly with the speed of a lifelong bachelor:
“See? I told you it’s fine. Now we can leave this room.”
Calmly, Wen Xishu crawled out from under the bed like a man who had just survived a nightmare and regained his vigor.
Tears glistened in Jennifer’s eyes; the madman’s footsteps had clearly shaken her deeply.
Yet once again, Wen Xishu brought her a sense of safety.
[Sinister Tower: Jennifer’s favorability slightly increased. Desire Tower: Jennifer’s favorability slightly increased.]
A message appeared in Wen Xishu’s mind.
He was puzzled—both the Desire Tower and Sinister Tower had Jennifer?
Was his mission in the Desire Tower also to rescue Jennifer?
He didn’t dwell on this question. He needed to lead Jennifer toward the exit downstairs and quickly leave this building.
Having evaded the opening kill and found a way to draw the madman away, he had already avoided two death traps.
As they made their way out, Wen Xishu began reading the notes on his phone:
“I am playing the role of someone rescuing Jennifer.”
“When I arrived, the person I’m portraying had already met Jennifer.”
“They must have communicated.”
His guess proved correct. The notes contained the following:
“Uncle Jack suddenly went mad for some reason. He killed Uncle Remian and many others in the building!”
“I’m very scared and want to leave. But Mom told me to hide under the bed and not leave.”
These were Jennifer’s words.
The little girl was clever; she knew to use the phone to communicate from the start. The rescuer also asked a question:
“Are you close with Jack?”
Jennifer’s response was:
“Uncle Jack likes Mom; both he and Uncle Remian like Mom. But Mom doesn’t like them…”
“Mom said she would take me to live in a brighter building. She doesn’t want to be connected to the poor people in this building. She wants to live in a villa.”
“But…I really like the people here, especially Uncle Jack.”
“Uncle Jack used to be a good man. He often played with me—not just to make Mom happy.”
“He really liked playing with me. I liked playing with him, too.”
“I don’t know why Uncle Jack turned into what he is now.”
Wen Xishu quickly finished reading all the notes.
“Looks like this is the backstory for a certain area on the 21st floor of the Sinister Tower.”
A good man suddenly went mad, gained supernatural powers, then massacred all his neighbors...
Wen Xishu had a feeling that simply leaving might only achieve the lowest completion rating.
Ensuring Jennifer’s survival might yield a secondary or even tertiary completion.
But to reach the highest level of completion, more had to be done.
Just then, he discovered yet another problem—
A looping corridor.
At the end of the hallway, there should have been stairs leading to the next or previous floor.
Yet, after walking for a long time with Jennifer, Wen Xishu found himself back at the starting point.
Like a ghostly maze, the stairs had vanished.
At that moment, the entire building trembled lightly again. The eerie ringing of phones vanished completely.
Because Remian’s phone, along with his corpse—already twice destroyed—had been trampled to pieces.
“Damn you, Remian! You backbiting little pest! Damn! Damn!”
“Jen-ni-fer! Let’s go watch my show together! I’ve been rehearsing at home for a long time. You’ll come, right?”
The madman’s words targeted Jennifer once more.
Wen Xishu sensed that madman Jack was now very close.
His strange, perverse laughter reminded Wen Xishu of sticky spider webs clinging to his skin—infuriating.
Jennifer could no longer see the exit. Tears filled her eyes. She didn’t know what to do and thought about hiding once again under the bed.
But Wen Xishu suddenly grabbed her gently, calmly turning his phone screen toward Jennifer:
“Good girl, don’t be afraid. I’ve got this.”
“Now tell me, where is Jack’s room? Let’s go watch his show.”