Yan Wei stared at the numbers beneath his feet for a long while.
The first thought that flashed through his mind was “as expected,” but in the next moment, a strange and inexplicable feeling surfaced.
It was too easy to figure out. In the entire maze, apart from the puppets replicating Lin Zhen, this woman was the only person they had encountered. The Man in Black Robe who had entered earlier had left no trace, and this woman had appeared on her own initiative, making her highly suspicious.
Yan Wei had already felt that even if it were Lin Zhen who had arrived at the small castle instead of him and Yan Mingguang, Lin Zhen would have likely wondered for a moment—whether this woman was the Man in Black Robe without his robe. Even if she wasn’t the Man in Black Robe, it was impossible for every word she said to be true. If that were the case, the difficulty of this instance would have become too low after entering the maze.
Before entering the small maze, it was a contest of wits and strength, but after entering, could they really obtain the solution to break the situation so easily? That would be too strange.
They had never seen what the Man in Black Robe looked like, so it was possible that this woman was the Man in Black Robe who had overexerted himself and came in to rest. The half-truths she had spoken earlier might have been to set a trap for them. But this speculation was a bit too straightforward. It was also possible that she had only lied to them about being a puppet, and her true identity still needed to be guessed.
Regardless, this woman was definitely problematic, which was why Yan Wei had checked the number of puppets around.
…But Yan Wei still felt a sense of unease—was it a bit too simple?
However, no matter what, once they went out, the hidden dangers such as the Morning Star, Manjusaka, this woman, and the Man in Black Robe would all erupt together. At that time, it would likely be a life-and-death gamble.
On the ground, by his feet, the dark red “0” glowed faintly, its meaning crystal clear. This action consumed a significant amount of perception, so he slowly withdrew his perception, and the “0” beneath his feet instantly disappeared. In front of him, Yan Mingguang and the others had already walked halfway.
Yan Mingguang turned his head, glanced at him, as if urging him.
Yan Wei said, “I’m coming down now.”
Without waiting for him to move, Yan Mingguang just looked back to ensure the woman wasn’t causing any trouble, then turned and walked up the steps towards Yan Wei.
The steps were too high. Yan Wei had just stood on the next step when Yan Mingguang had already reached him, extending a hand from the step below.
“This is hard to walk on,” Yan Mingguang said calmly, “I’ll hold your hand.”
He spoke so steadily, as if it were just an ordinary action, yet it made Yan Wei’s heart race for a moment.
Ahead, Lin Zhen was watching the woman, and for the time being, nothing would go wrong. Lin Zhen seemed more interested in moving alongside such a dangerous NPC, walking on the steps ahead, completely unconcerned about Yan Mingguang and Yan Wei.
Yan Wei looked down at Yan Mingguang.
This man raised his hand towards him, palm slightly open, a faint strength visible at his wrist. But from the outside, he appeared gentle and calm, exuding a sense of closeness that made one want to rely on him.
But in the eyes of others, the pure black eyes behind his glasses were only cold. This sense of closeness was something only Yan Wei felt—a subconscious trust and intimacy forged through life-and-death experiences together. Though he didn’t remember, some memories were etched into his body.
Like now, he had just glanced at him, and before his thoughts could catch up, he had already raised his hand, palm pressing against Yan Mingguang’s.
His body had agreed to Yan Mingguang’s request to hold his hand faster than his mind.
Yan Mingguang’s hand that was holding his seemed to tighten for a moment, firmly enveloping Yan Wei’s hand, but then loosened slightly.
Yan Wei, using Yan Mingguang’s strength, stepped down a step with his hand and said, “Yan Mingguang.”
Yan Mingguang paused.
Yan Wei continued, “Lin Zhen told me privately that you’re quiet, reserved, hard to understand, and even made him a bit afraid to talk to you. But I think you’re too easy to understand. You just hinted at me, I figured it out, and now you’re doing nothing but playing assistant to me? Can’t you be more straightforward? Just tell me what you know, and we’ll figure out the rest together. Don’t treat me like a child, guiding me through this.”
Yan Mingguang looked at him. He had been staring straight at Yan Wei’s face the whole time, whether in moments of danger or this brief calm.
Yan Wei took a step forward, closing the distance between them. As he slightly lowered his gaze, he saw Yan Mingguang’s chin, and a little higher, his lips.
…His taste wasn’t bad.
From the memory fragment of their kiss in the water, he and Yan Mingguang… must have done everything. Beneath this man’s gentle and cold exterior, what kind of body was hidden? He must have seen it, but he had forgotten.
Yan Wei instinctively blinked, taking advantage of the dim light in the stairwell so Yan Mingguang wouldn’t notice what he was looking at, and let his gaze linger on the corner of Yan Mingguang’s mouth.
“Is it necessary?” he whispered, his breath almost brushing against Yan Mingguang’s chin. “What was our relationship before? Isn’t it tacitly understood? I prefer honesty.”
“You should understand me better than them. I’ve always been someone with a high need for control. I don’t like anyone or anything manipulating me. Lin Qing worships me, Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen rely on me, but you treat me like a child, giving me formulas to solve when I can’t figure things out.”
Yan Mingguang’s Adam’s apple bobbed a few times.
This man lowered his gaze, meeting his eyes, and for the first time, there was a strong aggressiveness in his words: “That’s why I’m different from them.”
“Quite the improvement, Teacher Yan. Weren’t you hiding and pretending to be my friend before?” Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, lifting his hand and lightly pressing his fingertip against Yan Mingguang’s Adam’s apple as if venting. “I thought you were going to keep playing the ‘tacit understanding’ game with me until we reached the higher floors before revealing yourself.”
Yan Mingguang suddenly grabbed his hand.
But Yan Wei didn’t stop: “You’ve remembered more than I have, and your strength should have recovered more than mine. Only the Tower can perform a complete wipe, but we must have set up some contingency plans, right?”
He struggled slightly, his fingertip sliding down, slowly stopping at the swallow pendant Yan Mingguang always wore.
“I found this pendant in the Tower World’s store. It’s ordinary, cheap, just a few invitation letters can exchange for it. Its only use is that it can be opened to place small things inside—notes, for example. This is your contingency plan, isn’t it? During the Death Schoolhouse instance, you relied on this and your familiarity with the instance to regain your memories.”
“So, in this instance, for us, it’s a matter of life and death, but for you, is it like watching children learning to walk? Your Benevolent Automaton hasn’t made a move yet—did you kill it?”
Yan Wei pressed heavily on the swallow pendant.
Under the movement of his fingertip, Yan Mingguang’s breathing suddenly became heavier, and he abruptly pressed Yan Wei’s shoulder, pushing him against the railing at the edge of the steps, trapping him in this small space, staring straight at him.
He repeated what he had once said: “You’ve always been smart.”
“Lin Zhen is almost at the bottom of the steps. We need to get out. Once we’re out, it’ll likely be the final moment to break the situation. I just wanted to have some certainty in my heart before that.”
“What else do you know about this instance?” Yan Wei asked, but his hand didn’t stop moving. His fingertip moved away from the pendant and slowly, gently crawled up Yan Mingguang’s neck, tracing his contours.
The thought that Yan Mingguang remembered more than he did made him a bit angry, and when he got angry, he wanted to vent in this teasing way—after all, this man only dared to kiss him when he was “asleep.”
Yan Mingguang took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “That woman is problematic.”
“I already know that.”
“The first person to break the situation needs to choose a puppet to take with them. Using the puppet, they can open the castle gate and see the stairway to ascend.”
“Do you know which puppet to choose?” Yan Wei’s hand had already stopped on Yan Mingguang’s cheek. His fingertip was slightly cold, and Yan Mingguang’s face wasn’t warm either, but he didn’t want to pull away, feeling secure.
After all, Yan Mingguang wouldn’t do anything.
Yan Mingguang nodded and said, “Yes. The Tower is formed from the emotions of people, a gathering of all good and evil. It can create instances and maintain the Tower World, but it can’t simultaneously create countless unique instances. So, all instances below the 90th floor are formed from the decomposition of 90th-floor instances or are reconstructed from the items or even corpses of high-floor players. This is common knowledge among ultra-high-floor players, an open secret.”
Yan Wei instantly understood.
It was like the Death Schoolhouse instance, which must have been formed from the remaining energy after they had broken a high-floor instance. In that instance, he had likely shattered the Moon Wheel at a life-and-death moment, and the Moon Wheel merged with this energy, forming everything in the Death Schoolhouse.
The original instance of the Death Schoolhouse was probably the one where he and Yan Mingguang had kissed in the hot water. Although it was a close call and he had lost a Legendary Item, they had ultimately broken the situation.
“Why bring this up now? Is this instance also…?”
As soon as he asked, Yan Wei knew the answer.
Only if this instance was formed in the same way would Yan Mingguang have mentioned it. Moreover, the first-place reward for this instance was the last Moon Wheel Fragment. How could it not be related to high-floor instances or high-floor players?
Yan Mingguang’s voice was steady and low as he answered: “This instance was formed from one of your Swallow Coins and the last Moon Wheel Fragment.”
This answer unexpectedly caught Yan Wei off guard.
A coin… the coin he had lost??
“My contingency plan was the swallow pendant. I left some instructions inside,” Yan Mingguang said. “Your contingency plan was this coin and the last Moon Wheel Fragment. This should have appeared in a high-floor instance later, but the Tower didn’t want you to live, so it threw it into the 49th floor to lure you in. This instance is dangerous for you, but if you clear it, the Tower can’t go back on its rules and has to give you the coin and Moon Wheel Fragment as rewards.
“The Moon Wheel Fragment is the first-place item reward, and the coin is the puppet you need to exchange after breaking the situation—your Benevolent Automaton. Killing your Benevolent Automaton will turn it into a coin, or if you exchange it after breaking the situation, it will also turn into a coin. The coin contains all your memories and strength. This entire castle, the coins and crows, are manifestations of the Swallow Coin. The Moon Wheel represents division, so…”
Yan Mingguang didn’t finish, but Yan Wei understood.
So, this castle was a cage woven from real and fake puppets, illusion and reality. The coins were the trap, the crows were the omen, and the puppets were the intertwining of truth and falsehood.
That’s why Yan Mingguang had been so ruthless when he first saw his Benevolent Automaton, but after he and the Benevolent Automaton reached an agreement to cooperate, he stopped taking action.
“So, that’s why you’re willing to tell me all this, right? Because after breaking the situation, I’ll remember all this anyway.”
Yan Wei understood now. This man wasn’t confessing out of honesty earlier—he was thinking that after Yan Wei broke the situation, he would regain his strength and memories, so telling him now wasn’t much different.
He let out a slightly annoyed chuckle, his fingertip lightly tracing Yan Mingguang’s cheek, saying in a retaliatory tone: “Fine, you’re quite impressive, arranging everything so thoroughly. Since you’re so capable and our relationship was so good, before the big battle, I should give you some reward.”
Yan Mingguang seemed to freeze for a moment.
Yan Wei had already leaned in, planting a quick, fleeting kiss on the corner of his mouth, then immediately pulled back.
—After all, this man had only dared to kiss his eyelid stealthily. This little peck might just make Yan Mingguang flustered.
With a red face, he laughed and said, “The other day, when I broke the Dream Realm, you asked me what I was doing, right? I’ll answer you now—I was kissing you, Teacher Yan—”
Yan Wei’s voice suddenly cut off.
In front of him, the man abruptly pressed his shoulders, pinning him firmly against the railing behind him, his heavy breath suddenly close.
In the next moment, the lips he had just lightly kissed suddenly pressed against his own, cold and burning at the same time.
Yan Wei seemed to hear a “boom” in his mind.
