Now it seems, Xiaojin... might have existed even before the bunker appeared, when humanity was still fleeing from doomsday.
And Old Jin... probably had contact with Xiaojin since that time.
The purpose of Old Jin's frantic tower climbing was very likely to attract the attention of Capricorn.
Old Jin may know something about the origin of the bunker.
This speculation and inference gave Albert the urge to find Old Jin again.
Even if he has to use violence, he must find Old Jin and get some answers.
Wen Xishu said:
"Mr. Jin has paid the price for mocking the gods. He's been targeted by Sagittarius."
"Though Capricorn's smuggling ritual was deceived, it might have had some effect."
"While Mr. Jin can now enter the bunker, I suspect his identity is caught between two extremes."
"Once he leaves the bunker, the login device might not allow him to return."
"And once he enters the Three Towers, it might draw Sagittarius' attention."
"The situation might be worse than I expected, which is why he doesn't dare leave the Healing House at all."
"Moreover, there might be more to this."
Albert asked:
"Continue."
Wen Xishu had been guessing—whether the vacuum from the seventieth to the ninetieth floors of the bunker, where there's nobody else, has something to do with Albert, Mr. Jin, and the Five Elders.
He looked at Albert and Evelyn:
"Perhaps one of the floors after the seventieth is a catastrophe."
"I wish to know, when you both reached the ninetieth floor before Senior Wenren and Senior Xun had grown up..."
"Did anyone reach the sixtieth floor?"
Albert hadn't expected Wen Xishu to bring this up, and he was slightly surprised.
He recalled Old Jin saying not to let his disciples—Xun Hui and Wenren Mirror—climb too fast.
At this moment, Albert gradually began to understand.
"In fact, there were, as you said, many of my old friends."
"They didn't survive, most of them died on the seventieth-and-above floors."
"William, Luo Feng, Liu Zhizai, and Matthew were different; they followed Old Jin early on."
"And I only met Old Jin after the bunker was established."
"Initially, they were all ahead of me, and it wasn't until I reached the sixtieth-something floor that I caught up with Luo Feng and the others."
"Entering the seventieth-and-above floors, I began to surpass them."
"By the eightieth floors, it was just me and Old Jin."
"Those old friends still lingered around the fifties or sixties."
"When I reached beyond ninety floors, Old Jin's progress was beneath mine. However, Old Jin, instead of persisting in climbing, focused on getting Luo Feng and Liu Zhizai into the ninetieth floor."
"My old friends ended up in the sixty-eight or sixty-nine floors."
"I was thinking... perhaps the slow progress beyond the ninetieth floor might reduce the gap in our levels."
"Later... Old Jin vanished, and so did several of the other elders."
"And on the Celestial Ladder List of the Slaughter Tower, one by one, my friends fell on the seventieth floors."
Although these events transpired many years ago, Albert still deeply lamented the fate of those people.
While they were not geniuses like Albert, they could have been the backbone of the bunker.
Wen Xishu pondered that perhaps it was the loss of those old friends that made Albert focus even more on tower climbing. He and Mr. Jin, for various reasons, stopped managing the bunker, which eventually led to its current state of chaos.
Wen Xishu added:
"Principal, it's not that your friends weren't great; they were very formidable. Though they might not have matched you, they could have followed your steps to higher levels steadily."
"But they all perished around the seventieth floors, and now... there's nobody between the seventieth and ninetieth floors."
"Whether they are young or old."
"Perhaps there's a conspiracy hidden here."
Albert had an epiphany:
"Old Jin... paid a huge price for the sake of this child Xiaojin."
Wen Xishu sighed:
"These are my conclusions. Successfully deceiving the constellations is remarkable, but it may not have been much of a bargain in the end."
"At least, for now, I don't see the particularity of Xiaojin."
"Mr. Jin, before entering the bunker, likely already knew many secrets."
"But all these are beyond my knowledge."
Wen Xishu turned around:
"Principal, it is up to you to unravel the mystery. You should seek out Mr. Jin. The information from today might make him realize that hiding is pointless, and with the exploration of the Deceit Tower and Desire Tower, things will eventually surface."
Albert made up his mind that even if it means torturing Old Jin, he would find out the truth.
Evelyn said:
"This time, I won't stand with Old Jin. Albert, I support you in uncovering the truth."
Albert nodded:
"Alright, let's disperse. Furthermore, Dean Wen, you might consider setting up scenarios you've experienced to help students develop a way of thinking like yours."
Wen Xishu said:
"Just in the past couple of days... the Academy Spirit has offended quite a few people from Desire Tower Academy."
Albert shook his head:
"Offending people is no big deal. Are we in some normal societal system here? In a world where strength speaks, what is dignity?"
Albert also turned and left.
Seeking the entire truth from Mr. Jin is unlikely to be resolved in a single day.