"A brass medal, looks like it must be for third place?"
All of these items were covered in a layer of dust.
Wen Xishu sighed and headed upstairs.
The only path to the top floor was a decaying wooden staircase and platform. The structure was extremely unstable, with many broken and missing steps, and the handrails were precarious.
If this were in a game, there's no telling that you might fall through while walking, and then be attacked by several Hanged Men.
Fortunately, Wen Xishu is not the protagonist of a game; he can solve any treacherous terrain with jumping and ropes.
In the middle level of the clock tower, there was only one place that caught Wen Xishu's attention.
In the niche of the staircase, there was a letter.
Undoubtedly, in such exploration games, textual information is the most valuable.
Wen Xishu also became excited, after a second battle and finally defeating the Hanged Man, he could finally unlock some clear textual information.
Beside the niche, Wen Xishu picked up the letter.
The handwriting on the letter was already quite blurred, not because of time, but because of... tears.
Even so, there were still many things that could be recognized; this letter was written to a girl named Anya.
But clearly, this letter was never sent.
It was still inside the envelope, with words visible that said "for Anya".
Wen Xishu opened the envelope.
At that moment, a massive surge of emotions hit him.
He sensed some images.
Countless failed exam papers, the ridicule of numerous peers, and his father's cold response...
And finally, the news of Anya's death.
All of this made Wen Xishu feel an overwhelming sense of oppression.
He opened the envelope and began to read.
It was a confession letter, with only one theme throughout.
"Anya, I'm sorry, I didn't come to save you. If I had cared about you a bit more, would you not have died?"
Inside the envelope, there was only self-reproach, and the longing and guilt towards Anya.
No other information. Only the knowledge that a girl named Anya had died.
And Charlie was very cowardly, not making any changes before Anya died. He also blamed himself for the cause of Anya's death.
But the specifics, Wen Xishu still didn't know.
He headed towards the top floor of the clock tower, knowing that the truth must be in there.
The decaying top floor of the clock tower was small, the cold wind howling. The floor was full of cracks, through which dizzying alleys below could be seen.
The only thing worth noting in the top floor was a tape recorder.
The static noise Wen Xishu heard earlier was coming from this device.
It seemed to have decayed, eroded by the dust tears of the Hanged Man, producing a sizzling sound.
Wen Xishu thought for a moment and decided to repair the tape recorder.
He touched the area covered by dust tears, flicking the tears away, which caused some pain to Wen Xishu as those tears were corrosive enough.
But Wen Xishu's strength was such that he could easily withstand such pain.
Soon, after the dust tears were cleared away, the tape recorder started playing.
It was the sound of a dog barking.
Including but not limited to barking, and those whining sounds of acting spoiled.
"Huohua, Huohua, you're the only one who doesn't despise me."
"Huohua, Huohua, we'll always be best friends."
"Huohua, I named my teddy bear Huohua too."
"If one day... I can't hold on, please wag your tail for me, and I will live on for you."
Without a doubt, it was Charlie's voice on the tape recorder.
Charlie sounded a bit choked with sobs.
Wen Xishu remembered the images he saw when touching the envelope, among them was a stack of failed exam papers.
And the ridicule of many peers.
"Perhaps these were pressures from his childhood? Under this stressful environment, he began to collapse, channeling his emotions onto a dog named Huohua."
The tape recorder continued.
After a while, the last sound played by the recorder was Charlie's cries of despair.
"No... Dad! Please save Huohua."
"You should focus on your studies! That's just a stray dog near the clock tower; I don't consider it a part of our family."
"Dad... please save it, it's my friend!"
"Charlie! I bought you expensive children's clothes, a watch that your classmates envy, and had teachers tutor you privately, not for you to befriend a dog!"
"Dad... it's… it's really almost dead."
"Charlie, this dog might be fifty bucks on the market? No, maybe cheaper. Do you know how expensive the reference books I bought you are? If you want a dog, fine, I can buy you an expensive purebred one, as long as you win a gold medal in the next math competition."
The static noise came, after a burst of sizzling static, the tape recorder played the earliest sounds again.
It was the sound of Charlie's only friend, the deceased dog "Huohua."
Listening to the dog's whining on the tape recorder now, Wen Xishu felt it was no longer whining, but the last gentle goodbye from Charlie's only friend in the world.
Wen Xishu finally knew how to fill the ever-hungry stomach of the glutton demon.
He picked up the unsent letter addressed to Anya.
He put it in his pocket as if it were an item.
This letter should be an important item for clearing other chapters.
But next, Wen Xishu did another thing.
He searched in the clock tower for a while, found some needle and thread, and also found the eye of the teddy bear "Huohua" in the corner.