Wen Xishu looked around, unable to recognize where this was. After all, he wasn’t very familiar with the Three-Tower World, but he remembered this scene.
A vast lake, still as a mirror when calm, rippling like an old man’s face. Mountains opening their eyes, a church ascending to the sky, groups of people jumping into the lake to commit suicide, and a flock of sheep in the sky.
Wen Xishu committed all these elements to memory, thinking that he might find some clues someplace in the future, or perhaps from the constellations Vela, Lyra, Qilin, or Sirius.
...
...
The fourth floor of the hospital.
When Wang Ying returned, he also noticed the scene on the TV. That eerie scene also made him feel uneasy.
But he assumed it was the tenth level until Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai returned, and until the new hint appeared. It was only then that Wang Ying suddenly realized that these two monsters had cleared all the remaining levels in one go while he was tackling the sixth and ninth levels.
[You have completed all the level challenges, proving your profound understanding of the museum’s owner and your precise judgment. Next, the usage restrictions on identified items are lifted. Anyone who has participated in identifying items three or more times, or completed one hundred kills in a single identification, may choose one item they identified as an additional reward for this mission.]
Note 1: Failure to leave the hospital successfully will still be considered a mission failure, and the items will be forcibly returned to the museum. After a successful mission, all memories regarding the functions of items will be forcibly erased.
Note 2: The items brought out this time cannot be traded. However, they can be temporarily shared under special circumstances.]
This hint made some people happy and others worried.
Wen Xishu recalled that it was mentioned at the beginning of the mission that memories would be altered after clearing the levels. Now he understood.
This museum is either influenced by the ability of the Three-Tower World’s owner or Ding Dong’s ability... In any case, there is a mechanism to prevent exploitation.
Wang Ying stayed in place, and despite wanting to save face and his excessive pride, he had to admit the overwhelming performance of Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai:
"Brother Wen, Brother Zheng, I truly did not expect you two to have such incredible abilities. I was blind to think I was worthy of being your captain."
"I really lacked the insight."
Wang Ying’s words were heartfelt. Although he wasn’t particularly arrogant, it was rare for someone to earn his sincere admiration.
When he came out, he happened to see Zheng Zai kicking and instant-killing a dozen monsters.
He didn’t know that Wen Xishu had directly brought down divine punishment in the tenth and eleventh levels. So, from his perspective, Zheng Zai’s combat ability was astounding, and Wen Xishu’s insight was astonishing.
The capabilities of these two were clearly a notch above his own.
Wen Xishu smiled:
"Captain Wang, you are too kind. And we appreciate the efforts you put in during the first, fifth, sixth, and ninth levels. Actually, you’ve been involved in quite a few levels yourself. I hope you can choose an item that satisfies you. In the future, when exploring the Deceit Tower, you will become stronger."
Aspasia suddenly spoke up at this moment:
"What does the final hint mean? By the way, has the mission ended? Does this final hint mean that each of us can take one item with us? What does ’failure to leave the hospital successfully will still be considered a mission failure’ mean?"
Wen Xishu didn’t answer the stupid question.
Zheng Zai was the one who answered. He said:
"My understanding is this: The mission is over, the museum’s mission is over, but our survival mission isn’t. The place we’re in shouldn’t be very safe."
"Initially, there was a rule here, that is, the item identification had both a function exploration phase and a usage phase."
"The usage phase is dangerous, so... the monsters near the hospital or various eerie creatures didn’t approach us. They know they can’t steal the things here."
"Or rather, they stole some things, which led to this rule. This museum should be waiting for ’destined people’ as mentioned in the mission brief."
"So after some things were stolen, the museum activated its defense system. Only those who are familiar enough with the items here or truly understand the designer’s intentions can disable the defense system."
"The good news is that we did it. The defense system is disabled. Now we can freely identify items and take one item with us."
"The bad news is, after disabling the defense system, the monsters might also smell us and come over... We’re in for a tough fight!"
After going through two missions with Wen Xishu, Zheng Zai’s analytical abilities had greatly improved.
Wen Xishu nodded:
"Yes, Old Zheng is right. Everyone, let’s try to take a combat weapon, remember what was said at the beginning of the mission?"
"In this level, the composition of our Anti-Magic Value changed, increasing resistance to rules but decreasing the ability to interpret items."
"This means that in this level, the Anti-Magic Value won’t allow monsters or some rule-based curses to easily kill us. It’s just that we find it hard to decipher the items."
"Next, we won’t be easily killed by monsters due to low Anti-Magic Value, but the monsters themselves might be quite powerful."
"In this mission, we’re not only facing the various strange puzzles of the Deceit Tower but also battles similar to the ones in the Slaughter Tower. What’s on TV is a rehearsal, the real battle is coming up."