The black stairway seemed endless, but as soon as Yan Wei took a few steps, the dark castle, shattered glass dome, and flocks of crows vanished before his eyes, leaving only darkness.
In his current memory, this was already the fourth time he had set foot on the ascending stairway, so the sensation was not unfamiliar.
However, unlike before, the various prompt sounds that usually accompanied his steps did not immediately ring out this time. The surroundings were eerily silent. It felt as if something was dragging its feet, and it wasn’t until Yan Wei had fully adjusted to the impenetrable darkness before him that a faint, eerie prompt finally echoed from all directions.
[Congratulations, player, for successfully clearing the Arena Instance: Puppet Castle.]
The voice paused.
After days of intense pressure, finally, everything had come to an end, and a sense of calm began to settle. Yan Wei’s tightly wound nerves relaxed completely at this moment. He yawned casually and said, “Why the silence? Are you upset?”
Dead silence.
Yan Wei chuckled softly. “Are you the Tower itself, or a consciousness born from the Tower’s malice? I’m guessing you’re just a consciousness born from the Tower, so you can’t change the rules of the instances or the Tower World. That’s why you’re not throwing a tantrum now, reluctant to give me my rewards but forced to do so anyway.”
Still, there was only silence.
Even though the surroundings were dark and silent, and it seemed as though nothing had changed, Yan Wei could almost feel an unspoken anger in the air.
He found it somewhat amusing. “You lured me into this instance with bait, but since I didn’t bite, naturally, I’ll take the bait with me.”
“The Tower has been running the Gambling Tower for so long. Surely you know the meaning of ‘you win some, you lose some,’ right?”
A moment later.
Before Yan Wei, the data panel for the instance’s settlement floated into view once again, and the same faint, eerie, and emotionless voice echoed in his ears: [Congratulations, player, for unraveling the main storyline of Puppet Castle. Mainline completion rate: 100%. Organization buff bonus: 14%. Side quest completion bonus… Total completion rate: 164%. Points and data will be multiplied accordingly.]
This was followed by a series of summaries. The Puppet Castle instance included both arena and puzzle-solving elements, so there were far more rewards to settle than in other instances. Yan Wei grew bored listening to the data and didn’t pay much attention. After a while, the prompt paused again.
[Congratulations, your organization has secured first place in the Arena Instance. Your organization will receive corresponding resource bonuses for this instance. The highest-scoring player in the organization will receive an additional reward.]
[After evaluation, your score is the highest in the organization. You have received the following additional reward: a legendary item—Moon Wheel Fragment.]
In the dim surroundings, a faint white glow suddenly appeared. The light floated slowly toward Yan Wei, and under its soft radiance, a white fragment became visible.
Yan Wei lightly brushed his Black Ring and retrieved the incomplete Moon Wheel.
Without him needing to do anything, the final Moon Wheel Fragment trembled and suddenly merged with the incomplete Moon Wheel.
In the next moment, a bright white light erupted, and Yan Wei’s mind was flooded with more usage methods and related memories of the Moon Wheel, along with some vague, fragmented images.
[Puzzle-solving Reward: Players can use the Gold Coins earned from the arena to exchange for corresponding Puppets. The selected Puppet will open the castle’s gates, bringing the Puppet Castle instance to a complete end. Note: If the wrong Puppet is selected, all current rewards will be forfeited, and the instance will be considered a failure.]
[Below is the list of Puppets available for exchange.]
Yan Wei’s eyes immediately landed on his own Benevolent Automaton in the list. It was positioned quite low, and if he hadn’t been specifically looking for it, he might not have scrolled that far—typical of the Tower’s petty tricks.
He reached out and tapped on the option for his Benevolent Automaton.
In the end, he had earned double the total points in the Arena Instance. According to the rules, the number of Gold Coins earned was ten times the points, amounting to over 5,000 Gold Coins. The most expensive item here was their corresponding Benevolent Automaton, priced at a maximum of 2,000 Gold Coins, so Yan Wei had more than enough to spare.
The surroundings fell silent once more.
Then, a plain and unremarkable coin slowly descended before Yan Wei’s eyes.
It looked no different from any other metal coin, but its luster was rather dull, and its edges were smooth, clearly having been carried around for some time. On one side was a simple “v,” and on the other was a sparrow in mid-flight.
It was identical to the coin Yan Wei often played with in his hands.
Yet, at this moment, that very coin lay quietly in his pocket.
This one… was his “lost” coin.
He reached out, carefully opening his palm, and grasped the coin.
[Settlement complete.]
As the prompt sounded, the data on Yan Wei’s Information Panel, already significantly boosted by this instance, surged once again. His vision spun, and along with the flood of images pouring out from the coin, he was overwhelmed. Yan Wei could feel himself being completely transported out of the instance, but his mind was instantly bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information, leaving him no time to notice his surroundings.
He frowned, his eyes tightly shut, and let out a low, uncomfortable groan.
His closed eyes seemed to sense the change in the environment, and a sudden sense of light covered him. Yan Wei raised his hand to shield his eyes. The flood of images and memories in his mind crowded together, threatening to explode his brain. For a moment, he felt dizzy and nauseous.
The crisp chirping of birds reached his ears, and a breeze brushed against his face, bringing a cool sensation.
As he adjusted to the light, Yan Wei opened his eyes, but his gaze remained vacant and unfocused, unable to process the sheer volume of information.
He found himself in a house ten times larger than his previous apartment. Before him was a large floor-to-ceiling window, half-open, with the high-altitude wind blowing in, bringing a slight chill.
Yan Wei looked out the window, and his movements suddenly halted.
—The towering black stone tablet, reaching into the clouds, was right before his eyes.
It was the Endless Stone Tablet, which recorded the achievements of all classic instances and the players with the Best Player titles.
In the Tower World, the Endless Stone Tablet was the center, and the further outward you went, the weaker the players. As players ascended floors, their residences would gradually move inward, closer to the Endless Stone Tablet. The population there would grow sparser, and eventually, you might not even see a single soul.
Yan Wei raised his hand, looking through his fingers as if he could already touch the tablet. The long, black tablet stretched into the clouds, its darkness intertwining with the white of the sky, both dark and light.
So close.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, peering out the window, and could even see the players’ titles written in blood red on the tablet below the clouds.
Among the top few, one title was extremely short, and extremely… familiar.
v.
The memories sealed within the coin finally merged in Yan Wei’s mind, forming a complete picture.
The first time Yan Wei had ascended the Tower, though not as intense as now, compared to other players, his approach was anything but gentle—some might even call it reckless.
He had thought that creating the Blackbird and obtaining the Moon Wheel were high-floor achievements, but in reality, they happened much earlier. Within three months of entering the Tower, Yan Wei had already cleared the 37th floor and pieced together the Moon Wheel in one of those instances.
The Moon Wheel had originally been assembled from five fragments.
Yan Wei had always assumed that this was a legendary item he had obtained during his last ascent, like other high-floor players. He hadn’t realized that the Moon Wheel was something he had created himself back in the lower floors.
These five fragments were originally pieces of other legendary items. While powerful items were rare in the lower floors, some fragments from high-floor instances that had shattered and reformed occasionally appeared. However, these fragments were just small pieces of legendary items, somewhat useful but not overwhelmingly so—more like ordinary items for lower-floor players.
By the time Yan Wei reached the 30th floor during his first ascent, he had collected five such fragments.
At that time, he had a sudden idea and decided to fuse these five fragments together. On the 37th floor, he unexpectedly created a new legendary item. This was how the Moon Wheel came to be, with its abilities of severing and merging—both tangible and abstract things could be split or combined. The Severed Space and other functions he had used in these instances were just the tip of the iceberg.
When fully utilized, the Moon Wheel could even sever a person’s soul.
With the birth of the Moon Wheel, Yan Wei’s strength skyrocketed during his first ascent. In the instance where he met Lin Qing, he effortlessly secured the Best Player title and formed a bond with Lin Qing. Together, they established the Blackbird around the 30th to 40th floors.
Meeting Yan Mingguang happened after the Moon Wheel was assembled.
After meeting Lin Qing in that instance and co-founding the Blackbird, Yan Wei’s ascent was so rapid that few in the organization could keep up. As he continued to enter instances, he often went alone or teamed up with higher-floor players temporarily.
During his solo ascent in the 40s, his first-ascension skill of partial immortality was fully upgraded to its highest level—one-half.
The first time Yan Wei used the one-half immortality, he flaunted it, boldly facing the Ghost/Monster in the middle of the night while everyone else hid. But when he continued investigating past midnight, the Ghost/Monster, thoroughly provoked, turned its wrath on him. He turned and ran.
He had a backup plan, but before he could use it, he noticed a man with silver hair and glasses standing ahead, casually smoking a cigarette, leaning against the wall with a calm demeanor, as if the approaching Ghost/Monster meant nothing to him.
—Who was this? Another hidden NPC or Ghost/Monster?
Curious, Yan Wei dropped his backup plan and rushed toward the man, crashing into his arms and crying out, “Help!!”
The man frowned slightly and said indifferently, “No.”
The skull chasing Yan Wei was already upon them.
As the man uttered his refusal, a crisp cracking sound rang out, and the chilling presence behind Yan Wei vanished.
He turned to see a pile of pale Bone Fragments on the ground. The man’s hand was still mid-air, holding the shattered remains. The veins on his arm suggested the strength he had used to crush the skull.
“…No?”
“…”
Yan Wei subtly examined the man but didn’t get a chance to say more before the man wiped his glasses and walked away in silence.
Yan Wei called out, “Who are you?”
The man turned back, his calm expression showing a hint of confusion, perhaps wondering why Yan Wei would ask such a meaningless question.
Yan Wei rephrased, “What’s your name?”
The man paused.
“No name.”
Yan Wei: “…Could you at least try to be more creative with your evasions?”
