But the woman, the child’s mother, only cried for help, lacking the courage to dash forward and pull the child out herself.
At this moment, Nissen wanted to save the person, but Wen Xishu refused to agree.
"Everyone must pay for their actions."
Wen Xishu remained calm.
Ling Fu observed Wen Xishu’s expression and thought to himself, so it is indeed.
Someone capable of climbing the Deceit Tower couldn’t possibly be some noble hero.
Ling Fu felt somewhat disappointed, and his vigilance grew.
No one stepped forward to help the child, and the woman realized that to rescue her child, she had to do it herself.
At that moment, she probably experienced the cruelty of the Deceit Tower for the first time.
As she approached the black shadow, it suddenly expanded.
"Help! Help! Save me! I’m begging you! Save me!"
No one could save them.
When the woman tried to pull the child out, the black shadow seemed to sense the presence of prey and instantly expanded its range, swallowing the woman as well.
The woman’s and child’s screams of agony continued for two minutes.
During these two minutes, not a single person extended a helping hand. Everyone slowly watched the woman and child being "executed."
It was like witnessing a slow execution by slicing.
Finally, after the woman and child were completely swallowed... the black shadow lingered for about fifteen seconds, then disappeared.
It was only then that Wen Xishu spoke to Nissen:
"It’s not that I don’t want to save them, but this is not the Slaughter Tower, nor the Desire Tower. Remember, when facing the strange, unless you have a definite way to counter it, unless you have understood it completely, don’t approach it."
"Even if you are Albert or Xun Hui, if you’re meant to die, then you will die."
Nissen was still recalling the previous scenes, heart pounding. Xiaojin was evidently also frightened...
People trapped in a swamp, struggling for their lives without rescue, while around them... were all onlookers.
Such a scene was eerily similar to the fresco in the prayer room.
Wen Xishu seemed to have thought of something and suddenly returned to the prayer room.
However, before he left, he turned and said:
"Everyone, except for my guards and a few squad leaders, must stay put, do not touch the jars, and sit quietly in your own areas. No one is to move now! Otherwise, I will kill."
Wen Xishu’s tone made the already chilly cellar feel even colder.
Everyone felt fear, and combined with what had just happened, everyone felt anxious.
As a result, no one moved recklessly, nor dared to touch anything in the room.
Wen Xishu turned and quickened his pace. Yue Yun was certain that Wen Xishu had clearly thought of something...
So the group followed Wen Xishu, quickly returning from the hall to the prayer room.
Wen Xishu didn’t look elsewhere but directly at the corner of the fresco.
The person facing the audience, holding a sign, had a facial expression that seemed to have subtly changed, from terror to slowly transforming into joy.
Meanwhile, the number on the sign changed from 29 to 28.
Lang Haidu and Ling Fu both noticed this scene.
Yue Yun did too, and he said:
"The number has changed!"
Wen Xishu nodded:
"It seems that the danger wasn’t untriggered; rather, from the moment we entered, we were surrounded by danger."
"Two people have died, but the number only decreased by one point..."
"This indicates that it has nothing to do with the number of deaths but is related to the jars. Do you remember, at the beginning, that child broke a jar."
Yue Yun understood:
"So the decrease in the number is related to the jars. But what does 29 mean? Is it saying that we must ensure no more than 29 jars are broken in a day?"
"No... no, that would be too simple." Yue Yun clearly had realized the truth.
At that moment, he seemed a bit frightened.
Wen Xishu said:
"It seems that you have guessed. We are not to ensure the number of jars... remains unbroken, but to ensure that a minimum of this number of jars are opened each day."
At this, everyone was shocked.
Lang Haidu said:
"That child just now opened a jar... but was directly... directly dragged in!"
Wen Xishu nodded:
"The good news is, everyone, we seem to have found the rules of the game. The bad news is... the number of deaths in this game will be far beyond expectations."
"I didn’t call those people in because I hoped everyone would keep this confidential... to avoid unnecessary panic."
Yue Yun tried to think from Wen Xishu’s perspective.
"From the task briefing we got from the safe house... it said there was a woman here who obtained a pair of shoes, and then, to find a way to maintain the shoes, began to act strangely, and the population here began to decline."
"And here, the task name is called the Evil Object Sealing Room."
Evil object is also a homonym for ’shoe object.’
Yue Yun couldn’t help but ask:
"Does this have something to do with the jars...? Could it be that the jars contain the evil objects?"
Wen Xishu nodded:
"Not bad, here are some of my guesses."
"First, we are facing a dilemma, which is the number 29 changing to 28. Notice, the person in the fresco, his face is no longer as frightened."
"And the people around, they are all swayed by the woman wearing shoes, only he is facing us."
"So he is the only one trying to resist the shoes."
"And the decrease in numbers means jars have been opened."
"So, in a way, we have to open the jars... a specified number of jars."
Fang Tianhen was confused:
"But opening the jars will get people killed!"