Three Towers Game

Chapter 337 The Not-So-Beautiful Dreamland

Wen Xishu's guess was correct. In a desk that was heavily graffitied and covered with drawings of a clown with a red nose, he found a note.

The note was tucked inside a book about health and physiology, and it had been cut into the shape of a key.

There were some words written on it, probably expressing affection for a girl. However, the girl's name was not visible.

But Wen Xishu guessed it wasn't Anya. He always felt that Anya would appear later.

"Damn it, how did you know this would happen?" Spark was surprised.

Wen Xishu said:
"As long as people grow up normally, they will develop feelings for the opposite sex when they reach a certain age."

"We saw many torn-up love letters with blurred handwriting as we passed by the school gate."

"The campus is the cradle of all budding emotions, and at the same time, it is the slaughterhouse of all budding emotions."

"In fact, shame education makes children feel that some things are shameful, but what often suppresses this sense of shame is the attraction to the opposite sex."

Spark didn't understand, but it seemed to make some sense.

Wen Xishu guessed that this might be Charlie's desk.

Charlie once fell in love with a girl and confessed his feelings to her. But then some unpleasant things happened.

Wen Xishu took the key from the note tucked inside the book, approached the physiology chart on the blackboard, and noticed that the red X next to the heart was slowly fading.

Gradually... that locked heart began to slowly open.

At the same time, Wenxi Tree and Spark both heard the sound of a door opening.

It was like a heavy stone door slowly opening.

And then, the heart actually fell out of the poster.

Wen Xishu clutched the red heart, and in that instant, a flood of memories rushed back.

It happened before biology class started. Before class began, someone noticed the envelope hidden in Charlie's desk.

"This is Charlie's love letter, let's read it together!"

"My God, Charlie, how could you write such lewd sentences!"

"Tsk tsk, look at this sentence, this sentence, you actually want to bite Sylvie's earlobe! Oh, Charlie, I really didn't see that you were such a pervert."

"Do you also want to smear your filthy saliva all over her body?! Hahahaha."

The classroom was filled with laughter. The girl named Sylvie was blushing, but it seemed to be because of anger.

Charlie kept explaining:

"No, no!"

No, that's not it. He didn't write those sentences. He just wrote: Sylvie... I want to be your friend. If we can't, that's okay too. I hope you can always be happy.

But due to a classmate's prank, the story was exaggerated.

Then the teacher arrived, and the biology teacher quickly discovered the children's prank, but he simply said:
"Charlie, I'm so disappointed in you! How could you have such thoughts! How could you act like an animal?"

His words sounded like a public execution, as if they confirmed something.

Coincidentally, the course content discussed the differences between men and women, and at that moment, the teacher confused what should have been pure, innocent, and naive emotions with purely physical desires.

Throughout the class, people would occasionally glance at Charlie.

Charlie was distracted; he even wondered... if he really was despicable?
Why did you think of writing a small note?

Even though he himself knew best that the contents of the note were actually quite normal.

The bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class, and Charlie tried to apologize and explain to the girl.

Sylvie just blushed and ran away.

Not long after, Charlie was called to the meeting with his parents. His father remained as cold as ever, slapped Charlie across the face, and said, "You've really embarrassed me."

From then on, Charlie also had a nickname: Charlie the Ear-Biter.

Later, one day in the corridor at the school gate, Sylvie suddenly stopped Charlie and asked him if he liked her.

If so, I hope Charlie can say it out loud.

Charlie didn't do that; he just looked at Sylvie with some sadness.

Unlike many teen dramas where Charlie loudly confesses his love and then Sylvie suddenly starts mocking him, with a bunch of people around joining in the mockery.

Charlie did like Sylvie, but he easily spotted the group of people lurking nearby, waiting to mock him.

He simply offered a sad explanation:
“Sylvie, that’s not how I wrote it that day. I’m sorry.”

"But I think... that's no longer important to you."

A chorus of boos erupted; everyone found it uninteresting. The plot hadn't unfolded as they'd imagined.

Charlie silently ran to a secluded corner and shed tears without a sound.

He wasn't stupid; he realized that Sylvie and the boy who bullied him were plotting against him. Even if he actually shouted "I love you" out loud... Sylvie wouldn't accept his feelings. She would only join those people hiding in the shadows in mocking him.

Faced with this situation, Charlie felt only sadness, so much so that he didn't even have the strength to be angry.

He thought to himself that no one would like him. If he hadn't written that note, his father wouldn't have been disappointed in him, and Sylvie wouldn't have hated him like she did now.

Don't believe that someone will be kind to you for no reason, and don't easily... express your desire to be kind to someone.

That would cause injury.

That concludes my recollection for now.

There's a saying on the internet about Wen Xishu's past life: "One act of extroversion leads to a lifetime of introversion."

Charlie probably felt the same way at the time.

Wen Xishu tossed the heart to Huohua. Huohua held the heart and quickly felt the same memory.

"My poor little Charlie! Why does everyone have to bully him!"

Wen Xishu said:
"Let's put aside our emotions and move on."

Spark said:

"Are there really no monsters here?"

Wen Xishu thought for a moment:

"We encountered danger in the very act of passing through the illusion corridor."

"Generally speaking, after you pass through a dangerous area, there will be a relatively safe area where you can decrypt the code."

Wen Xishu picked up Spark again. Just as he had guessed, Anya had not yet appeared in this part of Charlie's past.

He decided to continue exploring.

The heart fell out of the picture, which unlocked the path ahead.

Stepping out of the back door of the classroom, there is a long, narrow corridor filled with "Faceless Men".

Unlike the initial illusionary corridor, which symbolized love and desire.

But fear permeates this corridor.

The faceless beings here include not only girls, but also men, and even a teacher wielding a ruler.

They differ from the faceless ones in one other way: the faceless girl in front of them did not have any facial features.

But the faceless ones here all have mouths.

Mouths are not for speaking; they do not make any sound.

However, you can see everyone's expression by looking at their mouth.

The boy and girl both had smiles on their lips, but those were mocking, prankish smiles.

The teachers holding the teaching equipment all looked very angry.

Their silhouettes were constantly changing positions.

There are probably hundreds of Faceless Ones here. They haven't charged at Wenxi Tree yet, but their positions are constantly changing. If Wenxi Tree recklessly moves forward...

You might accidentally bump into a faceless being who suddenly appears.

Without a doubt, these Faceless Ones... will cause terrible things to happen if you touch them.

This time, Wen Xishu must find a way to discover the pattern in their changing positions.

"Do you know what this means?"

"Master Hua knows everything, but Master Hua doesn't want to answer. Let me test you. Do you know what this means?" Spark retorted stubbornly.

Wen Xishu sighed:
“These people don’t love Charlie. Boys and girls alike mock him.”

"When the teacher saw Charlie, he also expressed his disgust directly."

"And the fact that these people kept changing their locations meant that, in Charlie's mind, they were unpredictable."

He didn't know if he might accidentally anger them.

"I wonder if I'll do something again that will make me the subject of ridicule."

"He tried his best to avoid them, but throughout his college years, these people seemed to be everywhere, and there was no way to avoid them."

"And once you encounter them, something bad always happens."

"Perhaps it was the teacher's complaint against his parents that made him unable to hold his head high in front of his father." "Or perhaps it was the ridicule from his classmates that hurt his self-esteem."

"If I'm not mistaken, something very bad will happen if we get involved with these people."

Spark couldn't laugh anymore.

Tears suddenly welled up in its eyes. It was indeed just a dog, but in its obsessive world, it possessed human language and emotions.

At that moment, it began to feel sad for Charlie, its only companion in life.

It suddenly remembered that it was the same when it was a dog.

I am a stray dog. Sometimes my tail gets cut off by some naughty child, and sometimes I encounter people walking other big dogs, and those big dogs bark at me.

Sometimes, near the trash cans, you might encounter other fierce stray dogs that will fight you to the death.

It was always very scared.

Life is random, random with misfortune, and it dares not foresee... what kind of suffering it will encounter.

But it's just a dog, and everything it endures seems perfectly reasonable.

Charlie, on the other hand, is a noble man.

But it turns out that even a human being like my little master can live such a painful life in the human world.

Spark fell silent. It was filled with sorrow and anger, and once again felt the urge to bite those people to death.

Wen Xishu, on the other hand, was thinking... if he could go to the Tower of Desire, he would definitely change Charlie's life.

Wen Xishu took a deep breath:

"I will use my shadow to pave the way. Now, keep quiet."

Yes, when in doubt, one can summon one's shadow.

When Wen Xishu faced this corridor, his first thought was to suspend himself with a rope... but there was no point of suspension.

So he could only summon his shadow to clear the way.

The shadow descended quickly.

In just a moment, Shadow figured it out: it was another damned trap.

Wen Xishu even saw the comment above the shadow's head: "This idiot has put me in this kind of place again."

After giving his owner the middle finger, he rushed into the corridor once again.

Soon, Wen Xishu observed the pattern: once the shadow stepped on a certain spot, a random faceless person would appear at that spot 0.5 seconds later.

And at the same time, a Faceless One will appear in front of the shadow.

"It has to keep making sharp turns."

The shadow was quickly embraced.

Once the Faceless One embraces its shadow, its mocking mouth will emit laughter.

The laughter made the shadow disappear instantly.

Wen Xishu's expression was solemn; any contact would be fatal.

"One touch and you're dead..."

"But I can't die, or my Dao heart will collapse."

"We need to slow down these Faceless Ones."

Once again, Wen Xishu took out the Scorpion Knife and, without saying a word, repeated Zhonglou's actions, stabbing himself in the stomach again.

This scene terrified Spark: "Oh my god, please don't let the knife pierce your stomach and end up piercing me instead!"

The intense pain caused his body to begin to mutate, and at the same time, it made the terrain and other favorable conditions, such as gravity, work in his favor.

With the shadows paving the way, the patterns were discovered, and then came the carnage, mutations, and the trapped beasts in the swamp...

Wen Xishu gritted her teeth and rushed into the corridor.

His speed and reaction time are incredibly fast.

Like a bolt of lightning, it made a series of turns and changes of direction, quickly passing through the corridor.

After passing through the corridor, Wen Xishu gritted his teeth and collapsed to the ground.

He's not made of iron; his self-healing ability isn't strong. The full-speed running he did earlier caused his wound to reopen.

Wen Xishu had to admit that this was the most difficult game he had ever experienced.

But it's highly likely that Charlie's Dust Land shouldn't have been this difficult in the first place.

It is very likely caused by being willing to try new things.

Choosing the "Dare to Try" option grants a death immunity, but it also increases the chances of dying.

Many things in the levels are designed to kill you.

However, Wen Xishu remained optimistic.

He even wondered what would have happened if, back in Kashima, he had thrown out the "Dare to Try Four" challenge...

That must be really exciting.

In fact, Wen Xishu felt that he hadn't lost out. As long as the rewards were good, he could stab himself a couple more times.

If the reward is some kind of god-level reward, he might even keep the knife stuck in the ground.

Closer to home.

After passing through the second long corridor...

Wen Xishu arrived at the new scene of the Dream Academy.

After the danger passes, there will be a safe zone where you can obtain key items or information.

What appeared before Wen Xishu's eyes was yet another scene, with a somber, clock tower-like hue.

Two doors.

A huge door appeared before Wenxi Tree and Spark.

The gate was originally locked, but now the chains have been opened.

The door was covered in a thick layer of dust. Spark exclaimed in surprise upon seeing it:
"Wow, the entrance to this stadium is really... huge."

Yes, this is the entrance to a stadium. Presumably, many stories have unfolded within this stadium.

Wen Xishu did not immediately push open the door.

Because he smelled a... eerie scent, a smell of paper ash.

That's the smell of the funeral hall.

On the heavy door, dust could not cover two printed letters: A and Y.

Without a doubt, this is an abbreviation for Anya.

"Looks like it's a boss battle."

This design is popular in many games: a heavy door blocks your way, and you can see the boss when you push it open.

Often, there's a campfire next to the gate, which allows you to resurrect directly in front of the gate after you die.

Of course, there was no bonfire in front of the stadium.

Wen Xishu pushed open the door, and what came into view was not an ordinary sports field.

This used to be a stadium, but it has been transformed into a huge funeral hall made of distorted mirrors. In the center sits a platform covered with a white sheet.

A bone-chilling cold and mournful sobs filled the air; the final boss of Dream Academy…

Even one of the ultimate bosses of the entire Dust Lands has finally made his appearance.

Anya: A Shadow of Mourning.

Unlike the other monsters in Dream Academy, Anya is not a phantom.

Anya, above the spiritual platform, is a girl's form composed of broken lenses, black thorns, and pale dust.

Her face was a constantly spinning shard of mirror, reflecting Charlie's terrified face, Anya's lifeless countenance, and Wen Xishu himself.

Her body was entangled in thorns, dripping with a black, viscous liquid.

"Charlie, why won't you hug me?"

The final piece of Charlie's dark life puzzle, and also one of the few people in Charlie's life who, like Spark, could be considered a friend...

It then appears in the form of a monster.

Wen Xishu didn't understand why. From that letter, he roughly knew that Anya was dead...

But why is Anya different from Spark? Anya has become a monster.

While Wen Xishu was puzzled, the letter in his hand that had never been sent began to gradually emit light.

That was the light that dispelled the dust.

(End of this chapter)