Chapter 10: The Tower of Lustful Love

Humanity had entered the bunker for only a few decades.

The elders in the bunker still remembered the world where humans once lived and used to tell the younger generation stories of a world with skies and oceans.

But people cannot truly imagine things they have never seen.

Only upon entering the Desire Tower and looking up at that moment could they feel what it meant for the stars and seas to stretch boundlessly.

Yet, this was not why people loved the Desire Tower.

People loved the Desire Tower because of the brutal bloodshed in the Slaughter Tower and the terrifying strangeness of the Deceptive Tower, making the pursuit of desires in the Desire Tower feel infinitely gentler.

Here, there was no need for fighting or killing, nor any bizarre rules. As long as those chasing desires found happiness, they could obtain a certain amount of survival supplies.

When Wen Xishu first entered the Desire Tower, he saw a special dialogue box.

[Welcome to the 21st floor of the Desire Tower, located in Moen City. The Desire Tower is a place of love; please climb this tower with love and responsibility.]

How loving, how warm—the style was completely different from the other two towers.

However, Wen Xishu did not know that the full rule was actually:

[Welcome to the 21st floor of the Desire Tower, located in Moen City. All violent behavior is prohibited inside the Desire Tower. The Desire Tower is a place of love; please climb this tower with love and responsibility.]

The rule prohibiting all violence did not apply to Wen Xishu; the warning itself had been erased.

To be precise, it had been erased by the chaotic Dice of Madness. Wen Xishu was unaware of this.

Before his eyes appeared a bustling city.

Tall skyscrapers towered, elegantly dressed people filled the streets, exquisite cream cakes displayed in gourmet shops, dazzling billboards, and the scent of women's makeup filled the air.

All of this made Wen Xishu feel a deep sense of familiarity, as if he had returned to the world before his journey.

Yet this world was not entirely real.

For example, the red lines in the distance forming the boundaries of the area, or the so-called air walls, and the information that Wen Xishu saw:

[Jennifer's current happiness value: 0. Task status: incomplete.]
[Time remaining: 47 hours 54 minutes 16 seconds.]

These details pulled him out of the hazy nostalgia for his original world and instilled a sense of urgency.

Ordinary tower climbers had seven days, but Wen Xishu entered the Desire Tower through an invitation and had only two days.

He had to find clues to unlock hidden content in the Deceptive Tower within a very short time and make Jennifer happy.

There were many ways to make someone happy.

People had decades of experience climbing the Desire Tower, whether earning money in this world to provide material value or bestowing emotional value.

In the early years, when entry qualifications were lax, some emotionally clumsy brutes died in the Desire Tower.

And a few abstract geniuses who uttered phrases like “Uncle Ni’s charge” or “Xuanxuan, I’m about to use my ultimate on you” also perished there.

Fortunately, such cases were decreasing.

Those entering the Desire Tower had increasingly comprehensive qualifications because the competition grew fiercer.

They mastered more and more ways to please others, including but not limited to “How to rapidly escalate relationships to reveal secrets.”

Now, survival rates in the Desire Tower were nearly 100%.

But this applied only below the 20th floor. Above the 20th floor, difficulty soared, and conditions grew harsher.

However, for most people, the exploration within the first 20 floors was enough to cover their entire lifetime.

Wen Xishu was on the 21st floor, and he could already sense the real challenge of pleasing Jennifer.

Walking toward the slums, Wen Xishu pondered his next moves.

Making Jennifer happy was easy.

Whether by comforting Jennifer or courting Yulia, he could smoothly complete the task.

But that would only yield the bare minimum—a “family of three” food ration.

That was not what Wen Xishu wanted.

“The biggest difficulty in this task is that no matter what, Jennifer’s happiness will be wiped clean.”

“Because soon after, Jennifer will suffer calamity, and all the happiness now only serves to highlight the ensuing tragedy.”

“All of this stems from Jack.”

Wen Xishu was no saint; of course, he considered killing Jack in the Desire Tower.

Without Jack, all of Jennifer’s ties in that old building might survive.

But killing Jack could very well be the wrong choice.

Jennifer treasured Jack deeply; killing him would only cause the girl unbearable pain.

Most crucially, Deceptive Jack had a necessary existence.

Wen Xishu still remembered Jack’s words to Jennifer—

“Can you handle the outside world alone? This is only the beginning.”

Outside the old building, the dangers only grew fiercer. Jack was merely a boss of some region on the 21st floor.

Countless beings of equal level existed in the Deceptive Tower.

“To survive in that world, Jennifer must have a powerful protector.”

“And notably, I saw two Jennifers in the game hints.”

“Desire Jennifer and Deceptive Jennifer.”

“If the two Jennifers are the same person… then why deliberately distinguish them?”

“Is it only because one Jennifer is in the Desire Tower and the other in the Deceptive Tower?”

Wen Xishu shook his head slightly.

“How foolish must the designers of the Three Towers game be to invent such a redundant setting?”

“Assuming there’s another reason—then Desire Jennifer becoming Deceptive Jennifer must go through some process.”

“Similarly, so must Jack.”

Wen Xishu’s intuition told him that the different prefixes for Jennifer were a critical clue.

“In the Desire Tower, Jack believed he would die because of stomach cancer.”

“But in the Deceptive Tower, not only is he still alive, after a day of despair, he transforms into Deceptive Jack.”

As Wen Xishu walked the street, he paused for a second—he felt he was about to find the key.

“First, he endures betrayal by colleagues, deception by friends, and disdain from a loved one; then he turns dark, ten times stronger, and kills them all. It’s almost unreal how satisfying that is.”

“If the world is so idealistic, wouldn’t it just be a contest of who suffers more?”

Few people pondered why the world had become so mad.

Most were merely adapting and surviving.

Wen Xishu was adapting too, but he felt that the appearance of the Deceptive Tower and Jack’s transformation required an explanation.

Only by uncovering this reason could he decide what to do next.

…

Half an hour later, Wen Xishu arrived at the slums.

Living in Chongqing, Wen Xishu always felt that the online world was like a peacock spreading its feathers.

Behind the beautiful plumage lay an entirely different scene.

It was like a subway passing through buildings—on the left, modern tourist spots where internet celebrities vied for photos; on the right, a desolate ruin, as if from the last century.

Of course, one might say this embodied old Chongqing’s charm, a nostalgic aura.

But that was only from a lofty perspective. When that old, worn atmosphere enveloped you, all you wanted was to escape.

Moen City was the same. Its prosperous CBD district intoxicated people, but it also had barren areas.

Wen Xishu stood at the entrance of that old building.

In the Desire Tower world, the building showed no strangeness. It looked like a giant, dust-covered, decaying tomb.

At this moment, Jack had just returned to his room, preparing to write something expressing his desire to be a good man in his final days.

By observing the medical report in Jack’s hand, Wen Xishu deduced the timeline:

“Next, Jack will go apologize to Remian but soon find that Remian is incorrigible.”

“Then, he will face a brutal truth from his good friend Anderson.”

“Finally, he will beg Yulia to let Jennifer watch his performance but fail again.”

“Is this a special effect of the invitation? This truly is a… turning point that can change everything.”