Returning From Level 900

Chapter 228: Something’s Wrong

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

They left the man’s house.

Wang Wen and the other two headed toward the carriage according to the directions that the man’s family had enthusiastically pointed out.

While on the road…

Zhu Xingguo looked at Wang Wen, who was frowning silently, and asked curiously, “Master, are you still thinking about what happened just now? It’s all in the past, so don’t worry about it. Speaking of which, why did you spend so much effort to make copper coins?”

When she heard about that…

Ren Ruoruo also said regretfully, “We used up so many gold coins not long ago, and you haven’t recovered yet. Then we had to spend all those copper coins again. Captain, can we still pass this floor in your current state?”

Wang Wen snapped back to his senses and looked at the two curious teammates. He laughed mockingly and said, “If I don’t spend that mental energy, we won’t be able to pass the challenge just now except by killing people. Even if we kill people, we might not be able to pass it. If we leave by force, we’ll definitely take a few lives.”

Zhu Xingguo and Ren Ruoruo looked at each other.

Their faces were filled with question marks.

Wang Wen recalled his experiences from his previous life.

He shook his head and said, “This is getting uglier. It’s either trying to get me to leave or persuading me to leave by exhausting my spiritual power. This is making me want to swear.”

“Master, what are you talking about?” Zhu Xingguo looked at Wang Wen, stunned.

Ren Ruoruo’s eyes flickered as she lowered her head in thought.

Wang Wen looked at Zhu Xingguo, and his eyes revealed the love of a master.

He said patiently, “You’ve reached the 500th floor, so I should share some of my experience with you. You must know that no matter how unreasonable the checkpoints in the World Tower are, they will not be completely blocked. Even if 99 of the 100 roads ahead were blocked, there should still be one last road left for passage.”

Seeing that Ren Ruoruo had also raised her head and listened to his words quietly, Wang Wen did not hold back and shared it generously. “Even those well-known extreme levels might be considered difficult at the time, but people eventually found a way to clear them. The two best examples were the gas chamber and the Square Formation.”

“Yes.” Ren Ruoruo nodded in agreement with that statement. “Those two levels were indeed classic examples. From what I know, the gas chamber was recognized as the most difficult lower level many years ago. If you’re unlucky enough to encounter it on the 69th floor, you’ll have to leave immediately. No one had ever thought of going through the gas to solve the mechanism. Unless you’re lucky enough to find protective clothing, gas masks, or other items in the previous levels, you’ll die from the poison. It was only when someone broke through the 300th floor that they began to rely on holding their breath to pass that level.”

Wang Wen looked at Ren Ruoruo with delight and said, “No wonder you’re a master of scientific decipherment. Your theoretical foundation is excellent. That’s right. Previous tower climbers had to hold their breath to explore the gas room; some even managed to hold their breath for an hour. Things would not have been so easy now without their hard work.”

“Wow, now that I think about it, those tower climbers must have been so miserable back then before they figured out the steps to dismantle the gas chamber.”

Zhu Xingguo said, “They have to keep looking for protective items on the first floor! Some people who found protective items did not encounter the gas chamber, and those who encountered the gas chamber might not have been able to find protective items.

“It was slightly better for those who found the protective items after the 60th floor. What if they found some on the lower floors? How did they climb the tower with such heavy items?

“Yes, yes, yes, and they might even encounter a speed mechanism halfway through!”

“Just thinking about it makes my scalp go numb! Would they leave all the items? Running with those items will consume so much energy!”

As he spoke, Zhu Xingguo suddenly became sad.

“Master, it’s so difficult to climb the tower,” he said softly to Wang Wen.

Wang Wen smiled, his eyes slightly blurred.

He shook his head and said, “That’s why we should cherish everything we have today. Everything that looks simple came from the blood, sweat, and even the lives of many generations of predecessors.”

Zhu Xingguo was silent.

He fell into deep thought, which was a rare sight.

Ren Ruoruo’s throat was dry and hoarse as she asked, “What kind of situation did you encounter before?”

Wang Wen put away his emotions and continued to say somberly, “As I mentioned earlier, some people might believe they were not strong enough. However, they were not completely blocked. This kind of progress is called self-consistent. In other words, as we progress through the levels, many of our actions will be recognized as self-consistent, allowing us to make steady progress. If we can’t achieve progress, then it’s our problem. However, if we aren’t allowed to progress, then it’s the tower’s problem.”

“You’re saying…” Ren Ruoruo’s eyes flickered as she scanned her surroundings.

A thought rose in her heart.

That thought caused her hair to stand on end as if she had been frozen from her tailbone to her scalp.

Ren Ruoruo shuddered and guessed, “The World Tower did not respond to our actions. Instead, it’s slowing our progress?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Wang Wen shrugged his shoulders and smiled faintly. He said, “That snake at the beginning—if we had not acted decisively, who knows what would have happened after that?

“When it realized that we were unreasonable and violent, it simply stopped showing any progress and left a bunch of non-progressing characters in front of us.

“When we wanted to take the initiative to find progress, we spent much time climbing to the top of the mountain and were inexplicably ignored.

“At the foot of the mountain, a casual meal caused a series of time-wasting problems.

“Any part of that mess would be self-consistent in a typical environment!

“For example, buying meat with gold.

“Or buying sheep as compensation.

“Or changing the gold coins into copper coins as compensation.

“In fact, the whole thing should not even happen. That family was so poor that they had no meat, vegetables, rice, or soup.

“Or maybe that family was so generous that they treated us to a meal without taking any payment.

“The characters might also recognize gold like that old man. Perhaps they knew how to spend it. They didn’t have to be so timid. Everything was too peaceful.”

Then, Zhu Xingguo suddenly interrupted him and asked, “Master, could it be a local custom? They might not dare touch high-value items.”

“Even so, there are still 10,000 self-consistent methods.” Wang Wen looked at him as if he were looking at an idiot. “It could have just told us to use copper coins.

“It could have also let us buy meat to compensate for them.

“It could even let us find our way to exchange the gold for copper coins and then give them to those people.

“Anyone intending for us to push forward would not have delayed our time at all.

“If I did not use my spiritual power to make the copper coins, we would’ve encountered many more time-delaying incidents. It might’ve even led to more side issues, intentionally or unintentionally.

Ren Ruoruo gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. “If I knew that would happen, I would have robbed them from the start! Or just kill them and advance!”

“No.”

Wang Wen shook his head. “It’s still the same. If you’re self-consistent, you can push any progress forward. If you’re not self-consistent, you’ll just delay time. If we follow the rules, it might be easier for us. If we force ourselves, we’ll likely fall into the 99 paths we can’t take. If we lose our progress, we’ll have no choice but to leave the tower or jump levels. Then, we’ll have to retreat.”

Unwilling to give up, Ren Ruoruo asked, “What are the benefits of that?”

“Do you still remember what I said a long time ago?” Wang Wen looked at the two calmly. “Tower climbers are parasites. The World Tower will only hate and reject tower climbers. Perhaps due to some rules, it can’t interfere with us openly, but it can set up some obstacles to stall for time. Either it stops us at that level, or it makes us waste a lot of time on that level, leaving us no time to advance to the higher levels. Both are very likely results.”

Zhu Xingguo looked at Wang Wen, dumbfounded.

He looked down at his hands and stammered, “Then that extraordinary skill was a trap!”

“Hmph, a fair exchange?” Wang Wen’s lips curled into a faint smile. “Fair, my *ss! Didn’t you notice that other than some dead things, all the additional value had been quietly exchanged? Just like that snake, when you first carried it, it was still a woman, but when you got to the skill information, it was only a dead snake. A lot of additional value was cleared in the process. I guessed that the body may have had some energy that maintained the transformation, but after the exchange, the energy was used, leaving only a dead snake.”