Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 166: Chapter 166: Former Vice Commander of the Investigation Corps

Bai Wu seemed not to have heard clearly:

"What did you say?"

"The person on the other end of the phone was called Bai Wu," Yin Shuang repeated, word by word.

Bai Wu squinted his eyes, saying:

"Judging by your expression, it seems that this Bai Wu isn’t just someone who happens to share my name..."

"Yes, I hope you’ve truly forgotten your past because what I experienced on the phone... was horrible."

The words "was horrible" were a display of Yin Shuang’s incredible fortitude. At least compared to Lilith, she had done a very good job.

Bai Wu’s expression unconsciously changed, that sketchy look diminishing significantly, he himself not even realizing it:

"What did the Bai Wu on the phone go through?"

What Bai Wu had gone through, he knew best. He hoped it was a coincidence, because he didn’t want to burden Yin Shuang with his awful past.

Yin Shuang was thinking...

What kind of person could go through such torture and still integrate with everyone, not hate the world, and even become good friends with the captain because of similar values?

Normally speaking, wouldn’t that child called Bai Wu... become a demon?

"He went through inhuman torture."

Yin Shuang didn’t want to explain too much, merely saying:

"Maybe it’s just a coincidence in names... but I feel that the person is very much like you. The person inflicting the violence seemed older than you, yet there was an unexplainable similarity."

This point made Bai Wu feel puzzled too; logically after having traveled across, his face somehow looked very similar to his previous life.

Having heard about the violent person and the unexplainable similarity, Bai Wu’s heart was starting to believe... Yin Shuang had indeed received a phone call from himself.

But how could that be possible?

Bai Wu couldn’t imagine it.

He had never heard of the names of these cities: Baichuan City, Xuanhui City, Food City, Denglin City...

The culture of his previous life and the Pre-Tower Era of this world were completely different; in such a scenario, how could Yin Shuang possibly receive a call from him?

Just at this time?

He suddenly remembered when he had entered this area and seen the phone booth, he had received a hint from Prayle’s Eye—You might receive calls from different times and spaces. Piece together the truth of this area from these messages.

"It seems I was misled by that sentence... Normally, the phones in these booths correspond to a fixed time and space—seven hundred years ago in Food City and the harbor. But occasionally there are a few disruptions from other times and spaces? This explanation makes more sense. By the way... have I made a call?"

Bai Wu did remember that one time he had dialed a call, but that was a call to the Universe Defense Team. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

He suddenly laughed:

"This is really an interesting matter... Oh, no, I don’t mean it’s funny that you were tortured in a dream, but rather that you received a call from a person who shares my name."

"Are you saying it’s a coincidence?"

"Of course, it’s a coincidence. There just happens to be another person also named Bai Wu who might be seeking redemption from suffering."

Bai Wu’s expression was indifferent, as if he was indeed talking about something unrelated to himself.

Yin Shuang was very observant and could feel that Bai Wu was off.

But remembering the pain that Bai Wu had gone through in the world of the phone booth, she didn’t want to make him recall it in reality.

Bai Wu had amnesia. Perhaps that was a good thing, too?

"I’m not as good as you. You managed to soothe a soul that had been obsessed for seven hundred years, but I couldn’t save that child. Maybe if I had endured the pain and answered that man’s questions right, he would have accepted the child."

"Enough! There’s no use talking about it. As we see it now, all we need to do is answer the phone. Whether we can solve everything perfectly is not important. This world is full of miserable people; that child isn’t even close in terms of suffering, so don’t feel guilty inside. Or are you saying that because he’s named Bai Wu, you feel compelled to solve it perfectly?"

Bai Wu’s last remark was teasing.

It was as if the issues of his childhood could no longer cause him any harm. However, Yin Shuang still heard the intentions of Bai Wu wanting to put a stop to this topic.

She nodded and said:

"Let’s continue on our way."

"Okay."

The man and woman proceeded onwards, with the woman trailing just a bit behind the man. Yin Shuang was only slightly shorter than Bai Wu. Looking at Bai Wu’s back, she remembered similar times in the past, like at the Ninth Psychiatric Hospital when the captain walked in front, with herself and Bai Wu being protected by Lin Wurou and Shang Xiaoyi.

It felt like an illusion, but she thought that back then, Bai Wu seemed a little bit shorter.

The sound of the telephone ringing shifted from being distant and faint to becoming clear and audible.

Suddenly, Yin Shuang spoke:

"Do you think if both of us picked up the same receiver, we would both enter the world of the phone booth together?"

"Unless you can guarantee that you work as efficiently as I do, otherwise I refuse," Bai Wu promptly declined the chance to share the "seven hundred years ago Food City time travel adventure" with someone else.

Yin Shuang didn’t mind much, only afraid that if she received a certain call, she might mess it up.

Although it seemed, for now, that merely picking up the receiver was enough, whether the obsessions within the calls were dispelled or not didn’t matter.

After proceeding for about sixty meters and passing several phone booths, Bai Wu and Yin Shuang arrived at the booth from where the phone ringing emanated.

"Want to try regaining some confidence?" Bai Wu asked.

"I empathize easily and could be influenced by these obsessions. You answer it, and I’ll keep track of the changes outside. Maybe the street reacts in some way while you’re on the phone?"

"Now that’s something I hadn’t considered, alright, let’s do that."

Yin Shuang’s suggestion was sensible. Indeed, she could easily empathize with those obsessions, or to put it in other words, compared to Bai Wu, anyone could easily sympathize with the obsessions in the phone.

Bai Wu just couldn’t feel them; else he would have felt the resentment of being abandoned by his parents when he picked up the first call.

And during the second call, he would have felt a great sense of injustice and sorrow.

Unfortunately, he was just a golden customer service agent devoid of negative emotions, greeting danger with a smile, where dreams coming true was not far off.

Thinking this, Bai Wu said:

"If something happens outside the phone booth, just pull me out directly."

"Okay."

Yin Shuang nodded her head.

Bai Wu’s perception spread out around him, and after confirming that there was indeed no danger, he picked up the receiver.

"Hello... This is Gu Hailin... requesting support! Requesting support! We can’t get back..."

Requesting support, could it be that this Gu Hailin encountered the Evil Fallen? Are they the humans responsible for fighting against the Evil Fallen?

Well... first things first, I need to empathize, then think about my cooking pot.

It indeed seemed like a tried-and-true method.

Watching the scene around him dissolve and reassemble like a puzzle, Bai Wu certainly hadn’t expected that, due to his disdain for a cooking pot, he would resonate with the scene in the telephone call twice.

By the time the items in his consciousness began to clearly manifest, in front of Bai Wu stood a tall figure.

The man was dressed in a blue and white uniform, with a neat crew cut hairstyle, and his weapon was a steel spear. Even with the loose uniform on, Bai Wu could sense the man’s body possessed great strength.

Soon, the surrounding scene was completely assembled, and Bai Wu looked around to find himself in a thin red mist.

The mist was not dense enough to obstruct Bai Wu’s vision, but it did render the distant scenery somewhat hazy.

It was like a red veil had been draped over the distance, and beyond that veil lurked a monster with nine heads.

Looking from afar... it resembled a Hydra — a super gigantic Hydra.

The elements within view began to increase, and the colors were no longer monotonously red; the nine heads of the Hydra began to attack the area.

Red flames, white frost, purple poison gas, yellow lightning.

It was like a super-sized killing machine; countless humans in blue and white uniforms, wielding various cold weapons, charged at it, only to be devoured by the terrifying force, leaving no bones behind.

In just a few short seconds, Bai Wu could feel death’s presence spreading rapidly.

The charging warriors were vastly outmatched in strength by the distant Hydra. Their only advantage was their number...

And as for the humans charging at the monster in the distance, Prayle’s Eye provided Bai Wu with a startling piece of information:

[Go for it, ants! You can definitely kill an elephant — as if. The blue uniforms are from the Investigation Corps out of the Tower, and the white uniforms are from the Garrison Corps of Gao Ta Town; what does the blue and white uniform represent then? Ah-ha, of course, it’s the joint action team of both corps! They are the brave warriors who made the first historical expedition into the red zone in High Tower history. And so you quickly have a second question, what does this have to do with something 700 years ago?]

Bai Wu was stunned.

The information provided by Prayle’s Eye was overwhelming...

The first human expedition into the red zone in High Tower history was a joint operation between the Investigation Corps outside the Tower and the Garrison Corps of Gao Ta Town.

This all happened ninety years ago, and the residents inside the Tower eagerly hoped for the heroes of both corps to return victoriously, marking the start of a new era in humanity’s exploration beyond the Tower.

Regrettably, the largest joint operation in history resulted in an unbelievably devastating defeat.

The elites of the full Investigation Corps and Garrison Corps, hundreds of top experts from within the High Tower, perished without a single survivor outside the Tower.

Far from diminishing people’s fear of the outside, the battle served only to reinforce their conviction that the High Tower was the only sanctuary for humanity.

But as the ’eye’ mentioned, this event occurred in some red zone ninety years ago, far removed from something that happened 700 years ago. The first two phone calls seemed to be related.

But this call... the timeline seemed to leap too far...

"So it seems that the common thread between these phone calls isn’t time... Could it be space?"

A glint of light flashed through Bai Wu’s mind.

He looked around, and through the thin red mist, he could still make out the outlines of the city ruins surrounding him.

"Wait... could this be Food City?"

Speaking of which, Bai Wu noticed something.

"When I was playing the role of a family of three with Yin Shuang and the others in the manor, there was news of giant, mutated rats migrating in the sewers under Food City—they must have undergone Evil Fallen Transformation."

"And in the story from the last phone call, Lin Rui and his group were being hunted by a lizard, which was not human, but had also become Evil Fallen."

"Unlike other cities, the Evil Fallen rampaging through Food City are not humans, but animals..."

Bai Wu couldn’t imagine what kind of Mutation Entry could turn a human into a huge Hydra. He vaguely thought of some clues and felt he was about to connect everything together.

He looked toward the enormous Hydra in the distance:

"[Level 9 Mutant, Perfect Mutation Entry: Super Gigantism, Explosive Poison Mist, Death Cold Light, Divine Punishment, Flame Dragon Tidal Wave, Extreme Cold Curse Mark, Devouring Evolution.

A lucky little fat snake that grew into a colossal creature by slowly devouring mutated rats. It once nearly became a competitor on your career path, but it was passed over by the interviewer, Little Dwarf, because it was too large.]"

Bai Wu remembered something—Jing Wu seemed to want to recruit him as an Evil Fallen, which also meant that he might have been looking for other Evil Fallen before but never found the right one.

Through this giant Hydra, Bai Wu had confirmed that this place was indeed Food City.

Ninety years ago, the region that the Garrison Corps and the Investigation Corps entered... was this very area of Food City.

"Speaking of which, why is it called Food City? Why are so many of the Evil Fallen here animals? Is it just a coincidence..."

Bai Wu had a vague idea and felt he was about to connect everything together. But first, as a gold-medal customer service representative, he had to resolve the obsessions in this phone call.

His gaze finally rested on the tall figure ahead.

This man was undoubtedly Gu Hailin, Bai Wu couldn’t see his expression, merely sensing that this man, watching his subordinates continually charge into battle, must be filled with despair.

"[As the former deputy commander of the Investigation Corps, Gu Hailin possessed great strength and commanding ability. Ninety years ago, there weren’t good people like Little Dwarf, but he wasn’t truly a bad person either. He indulged in all vices but was good to his subordinates and to the people at the bottom of High Tower, especially... he longed to breathe the air outside the Tower. He was indifferent by nature but also had a fiery passion that he despised in himself. He had long anticipated that operation and with his special Talent Sequence—59: Instant Shadow, he was hailed as the fastest warrior in over six hundred years of High Tower’s history. But no matter how fast a person is, they can’t escape the obsessions within their heart. He could have been a temporary survivor but ultimately, he chose to rush toward death.]"

No matter how fast a person is, they can’t escape the obsessions within their heart. A temporary survivor, in the end, chooses to face death.

Bai Wu didn’t know what would happen next, but these two sentences had already made him guess the ending of this deputy commander of the Investigation Corps.

Bai Wu had memorized the Talent Sequence list, and 59’s Instant Shadow was even more terrifying than the captain’s Extreme Shadow. It allowed one to instantaneously move by ignoring a certain distance.

With such a Sequence, no matter how powerful the Hydra in front of them, it couldn’t keep Gu Hailin from escaping.

Therefore, a question emerged in Bai Wu’s mind at that moment—

If Gu Hailin could escape, why didn’t he choose to return to High Tower?

Even these elites from both armies, why didn’t they choose to go back? The crushing defeat ninety years ago had always instilled fear in people, because they didn’t even know what had actually happened.

But now, in Bai Wu’s view... although these people were no match for the Hydra, it didn’t mean they had no chance to return to High Tower.

Unless... due to some other factor, they couldn’t go back to High Tower.