"But in the Deceit Tower, it becomes difficult to complete the action, no matter what you do. Your physical control ability deteriorates, as if your body has become extremely clumsy."
"Judging from the eye indicator, as the red markings accumulate, it will become increasingly difficult for us to control our bodies."
Zheng Zai and Park Mi-hye were both taken aback, with Zheng Zai marveling at Wen Xishu’s analytical capabilities.
This was just like the state early Longxia children were in when doing reading comprehension exercises—why the window was blue, how to interpret three consecutive rainy days, etc. They could come up with a detailed explanation.
Park Mi-hye, on the other hand, was horrified by the eerie mechanism of this house and terrified of her own situation.
Wen Xishu observed all this but continued explaining:
"For now, it seems we can’t let the blue markings cover the red ones. However, I speculate that purifying objects might reduce our red markings accumulation."
"Of course, you know the cost—if we purify the wrong object, it might be fatal."
"We still don’t know what the instant-kill mechanism of this level is. Unless our Anti-Magic Value is very high, we won’t be able to counteract these things in the Deceit Tower."
"Lastly, if we still can’t find the object before the red completely devours the blue... then, clearly, the three of us will become puppets."
"Just like in Chinese horror stories, those children who completely abandoned their autonomy and were entirely manipulated by their parents."
Park Mi-hye said:
"So what should we... do to break this? Wen Xishu, you, you do have a clue, right?"
Wen Xishu nodded:
"The answer is simple. In fact, this level is easier to guess than the last one. Because from the beginning, we already have a prop."
"What we are experiencing is what the girl in the house originally went through."
"So in this second scene, the object that needs to be purified is the diary."
"Find the diary, purify the diary, and it’s over."
Zheng Zai started searching, and Wen Xishu also began to look for it. Park Mi-hye, after a moment of hesitation, joined in.
Wen Xishu was very pleased with Zheng Zai’s willingness to take the lead.
"Zheng Zai, find the diary, and I’ll purify it."
Zheng Zai said:
"No need, no need, I trust you. I wouldn’t have made it through the first scene without you. I’m willing to take the risk and handle the purification myself."
Wen Xishu smiled:
"I appreciate the sentiment, but just listen to me—I’ll do it."
Zheng Zai was somewhat moved. He thought that he was quite brave, but he didn’t expect the youngest among them, Wen Xishu, to be the most daring.
Of course, Wen Xishu wasn’t doing this out of bravery, responsibility, or courage.
He couldn’t openly tell Zheng Zai that he wanted to claim the reward, dear brother.
They said to think with a player’s mindset. If you fought the monster for so long, and the last hit wasn’t yours, wasn’t the credit stolen? This merit needed to be solely his.
Although it wasn’t certain if there was an observer mechanism, Wen Xishu had to assume the worst-case scenario.
The Deceit Tower would rate the challengers based on their performance. Therefore, sorry, but all three items had to be his.
Wen Xishu was lucky enough to know where the diary was hidden because, under the influence of mixed emotions and the cup of truth, he had seen the answer.
Although it was presented from a weird perspective, nothing was too different from Tang Rui’s memory.
"I found the diary."
Wen Xishu held the diary in his hand. He flipped through it and found that the girl had indeed written everything in it.
He was somewhat touched—what an obedient child.
People can easily form conditioned reflexes to suppress their instincts. The simplest example—sex. Since it got linked with a sense of shame, it caused some people to feel that showing arms was indecent, a disgrace.
The consequence of doing this is...
More and more people began to perversely satisfy those desires of shame hidden in their hearts later on. Therefore, people’s fetishes became increasingly bizarre. For example, in Sita.
Wen Xishu seemed to understand why Tang Rui was able to kill all the people she wanted to kill.
Because it was too oppressive.
[This item harbors unforgivable sins. Are you sure you want to purify it?]
The prompt appeared again, and Wen Xishu didn’t hesitate, choosing to purify it directly.
At that moment, the eyes floating above Zheng Zai and Park Mi-hye’s heads disappeared. Park Mi-hye felt a surge of relief, and Zheng Zai also felt he had regained control of his body.
"He’s like he’s got divine sight. Up to this point, I haven’t noticed anything wrong at all..."
"They told me to find the source of his power to clear the Deceit Tower..."
"But he has no special powers. He only has a terrifying ability to connect the dots, which doesn’t even count as reasoning because many aspects are still very far-fetched."
"But he just manages to find the correct answers. It’s terrifying. This person is terrifying."
"If I report truthfully... will they believe me?"
Park Mi-hye had fallen into profound anxiety. She feared dying in this level. But having survived, she began to worry about other things.
The door appeared once again in the middle of the scene.
Wen Xishu said:
"Next, we face the final level. As long as we purify this level, we can go back."
"We’ve worked efficiently; we didn’t wait for the three levels to overlap."
Zheng Zai said:
"Three levels overlapping... what does that mean? Is it the simultaneous appearance of three anti-idle mechanisms?"
Wen Xishu nodded:
"Imagine, the tentacle monster in the first stage can one-shot us, but its vision range is limited."
"But the eyes in the second stage can correct that limitation..."
Following Wen Xishu’s line of thought, both Zheng Zai and Park Mi-hye felt a chill down their spines.