The laughing face in the sky had become sinister, with an eerie crimson gleam in its eyes, staining the clouds red.
Jack hid in a somewhat disheveled state. He wanted to scream hysterically, but he ultimately didn't.
He merely waited for Anderson to leave and then silently took out the last bit of money he had.
The bills lay in his hand, silently observing his sorrowful face. As if pondering, who would this man give them to?
In this world, the wealthy have countless ways to express their love: a smile, a greeting, a post of gratitude on social media...
And countless people would rush to praise them.
But for the poor, it seems the only way to express love is with money. When you have no money, everything you do feels like an outdated circus act...
It won't make people laugh; it will only invoke disgust and mockery. It's not supposed to be this way.
Nevertheless, Jack held onto the money, preparing to give it to Jennifer and Yulia.
He called Yulia, wanting to say, Yulia, if you're busy, I can pick up Jennifer from school, okay?
But Yulia didn't answer. When he called again, her phone was turned off.
So he started walking towards the school. Along the way, Jack clutched his stomach, feeling a pain like the world collapsing into his gut, twisting and cramping.
At the school gate, he saw Jennifer, and he saw Yulia.
Yulia seemed to have finished work earlier today.
Perhaps it was because of Remian's call; Yulia looked at Jack with extra caution.
Jack didn't know how to face Yulia. He could only look at Jennifer:
"Little Jennifer, you'll come to watch my performance, right?"
"Jennifer can't make it tomorrow; she has extra classes." Yulia's disdain for everyone in this building was equal.
She considered herself a beautiful woman, only worthy of handsome white millionaires.
Living in the slums was merely temporary, like Cinderella eventually being found by her prince.
The domineering CEO will inevitably fall in love with the divorcee with children, like me.
"Then... then the day after tomorrow is fine too."
"The day after tomorrow, she has extra classes as well."
"What about the day after that? Is it okay the day after that? Even a few days later is fine..."
"No time, no time! There are always extra classes, and besides, Jennifer and I are moving out soon. Don't bother us anymore! Jennifer, let's go."
Yulia took Jennifer and left.
Jack had been holding back, but ultimately, he couldn't endure it. The pain made him fall to his knees, retching, but nothing came out.
He wanted to apologize to Jennifer, for not letting this child see him in such a pitiful state.
But Yulia had already walked away with Jennifer, decisively, like shaking off a plague.
Jennifer actually wanted to turn back and hug Jack, her eyes glistening with tears, but Yulia's hand held her back, sternly saying:
"Jennifer, don't turn back!"
These were the last words Jack heard from Yulia.
Then, laughter finally rose around him, but it wasn't joyous; it was mocking. Jack began to cry loudly.
A grown man kneeling and crying drew the ridicule of a group of children.
Jack suddenly felt like giving up his struggle, lying down to rest. But at that moment, a phone call came through.
"Mr. Jack, we're from Mo'en City Fourth Nursing Home. Your mother had an accident recently."
"We've... we've done our best. Perhaps you should come by the nursing home."
The cell phone fell to the ground, and the already cracked screen gained another fissure. But it made no sound, as if the world had stopped at that moment.
All the beauty and hope in life had died before his own life.
The massive laughing face in the sky had twisted into a terrifying form, the red light in its eyes illuminating the world, covering everything in a layer of blood red.
The mocking laughter ceased abruptly, but another insane laugh began to rise faintly.
Under immense pressure, the person who wanted to bring happiness to the world seemed alive, yet dead.
What Jack didn't know was that he had long been chosen by the tower. His fate wouldn't end here.
...
...
The two chairs stopped rocking.
Wen Xishu and Jennifer woke up at the same time. Jennifer's eyes were filled with tears, unsure if out of fear or pity for Jack's ordeal.
Wen Xishu, however, appeared calm, his attention focused elsewhere.
On the bare wall, two blood-red numbers appeared.
97, 61.
Wen Xishu frowned slightly, then smiled.
Annotations appeared in his eyes, but because his Anti-Magic Value was too low, it was still garbled.
Yet he still guessed the meaning of the numbers.
As an audience member, Jennifer scored 61 points for watching the performance, a passing score suitable for an NPC, neither high nor low.
And Wen Xishu got 97 points.
The reason he was so sure was that even though Wen Xishu couldn't decipher the garbled annotations, he received another prompt.
[You have repeatedly shared the same thoughts as Deceit Jack. Throughout the viewing process, you felt no pity for Jack but rather a desire for slaughter, except for one area of divergence. You are simply Deceit Jack's confidant.]
[You have obtained an Item: Invitation·Happy Jennifer.]
[Deceit Jennifer's Favorability has increased.]
In short, while watching Jack's miserable day from a special perspective, Wen Xishu did not, like Jennifer, cry and pity Jack.
He was even thinking, boring, what's there to cry about, I want to see rivers of blood, fast-forward to where he blackens tenfold and goes on a killing spree.
Thinking that Jack indeed went on a killing spree in reality later... he even felt thrilled during the viewing process.
Wen Xishu didn't expect that this would, in turn, earn him an incredibly high score:
"Because I resonated with the pervert, I received a unique item?"
In his pocket, there was indeed a strangely textured invitation. He opened the invitation and saw:
[Jennifer from the Mo'en City slums has not been happy lately; perhaps you can find a way to make her happy.]
[Press your handprint on the invitation to interrupt and pause the progress in Deceit Tower and enter the corresponding level of Desire Tower to obtain important items and unlock hidden plots in Deceit Tower and Slaughter Tower.]
Wen Xishu was taken aback.
He realized that the invitation might be something that only a rare few could trigger.
In his limited memory, it seemed that no one had ever mentioned this item.
This thing could actually bypass the limiter and forcibly transfer to another tower?
Even more surprising to Wen Xishu, the invitation not only mentioned Desire Tower but also Slaughter Tower. The connection between the Three Towers was tighter than he had thought.
He thought of the differing annotations for Deceit Jennifer and Desire Jennifer; could it be, there's a Slaughter Jennifer too?
Little Jennifer suddenly spoke, interrupting Wen Xishu's thoughts:
"Big brother... look, the stairs have appeared!"