Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 204: Chapter 8: The Previous Generation and the Next Generation

If we compare the new life in this twisted High Tower World to a journey,

then before climbing onto the Bridge of the Dead today, Bai Wu had always thought that it began the moment he was woken by the scorching heat outside the tower on some street in Food City.

But now, this guy who was shot and traveled through by a bullet, is very likely to have come from the "Farm." Does this mean...

that the two worlds are actually not that far apart?

If one crossing is coincidence, two crossings must necessarily have some connection—what is that connection?

Or could it be that what he saw in the Bridge of the Dead was just the embellished figments of The Undead?

"Are you filled with many questions? Just ask me, and you can know anything you wish. I have no secrets, and I can tell you everything; although you can see through my true nature by making it this far, my abilities as a being who has lived here for hundreds of years are greater than you imagine. I indeed play the person you have in mind. Even though I am not him, I can provide the information he knew!"

Black Spade Ten.

He showed his tattoo at the wrist, the mark of the Black Spade Ten confirmed Bai Wu’s thoughts.

Countless questions surged up in an instant, but Bai Wu did not speak. After dealing with Mr. Bai, he had already learned to suppress his bursting desire for knowledge.

Even, he made a face like "I’m about to ask, so just give me a little more."

Black Spade Ten had been waiting for seven hundred years. For them, passing through the Bridge of the Dead region was the simplest route for the entire island, but for the purely living, this area was the most difficult to cross.

There were hardly any living people here. In seven hundred years, there were indeed some, but they mostly died in the first two areas or were stolen by The Undead who were even closer to the front.

Finally, someone made it here, and he did not want to let Bai Wu go:

"Don’t you wonder how I managed it? Ask me quickly! Let me tell you all the causes and effects! I can feel your thirst for knowledge."

Many clues in Bai Wu’s mind were connected. His father’s words, indeed, were not merely said in passing.

"Death is only the beginning of the next journey..."

He had heard this sentence many times, and Bai Wu suddenly felt... perhaps the role his father played was not just that of an abuser?

Did his father have knowledge of this twisted, perverted world of today?

Bai Wu should not have any expectations for such thoughts, the pain of his childhood experiences made him harbor intense hatred for Mr. Bai. But deep down, he still hoped that everything could have a reasonable explanation.

Coming back to his senses, he reviewed all the clues he had so far:

"The Masked Strange Person fusion disease causes a space-time fluctuation, which is evident from the words ’before time runs out’ mentioned previously by the Masked Strange Person, proving that he had experienced more than one outbreak."

"And he mentioned an old adversary, and Cain was that adversary’s disciple."

"If the person in front of me is not deliberately fooling me, then the Black Spade Ten tattoo on his wrist is enough to indicate that he is Black Spade Ten."

"It turns out that what I said back when I mistakenly entered The Farm really made him escape from The Farm..."

"But why would Black Spade Ten go to another world? And why would Black Spade Ten turn into a serial killer, sending me to the Otherworld?"

The distance between the two worlds may be far less than he thought.

"At least he’s not Cain."

This answer surprised Bai Wu as well. If Black Spade Ten were Cain, then Cain would have seen him, and he would not have failed to recognize him.

Because his face, having lived in two worlds, was not much different.

Even Yin Shuang could tell at a glance... his face bore some resemblance to his father’s.

So Black Spade Ten and Cain are two different people.

At this moment, "Black Spade Ten" also realized that Bai Wu’s focus was here:

"Aren’t you curious about what lies beyond the wall? Don’t you want to know the deepest secrets of this world? Aren’t you at all curious about the relationship between you and me? Is the justice you pursue so fragile under scrutiny?"

Bai Wu took three steps back, and with each step—the terror in the Ten of Spades’ eyes intensified.

This evil spirit was too eager to make Bai Wu speak.

But Bai Wu was certain of one thing: the evil spirit’s knowledge was limited.

As Bai Wu was about to leave the Club Two area, the expression on "Ten of Spades" turned bitter:

"By missing me, you will never unearth many secrets! Don’t go! Don’t you dare leave!"

Gunshots rang out repeatedly as the evil spirit tried to keep Bai Wu there, but the bullets were completely ineffectual.

Bai Wu remained unfazed, and with one more step, he could leave this area.

His current location was the intersection of Club Two, Club Three, Heart Two, and Heart Three areas.

Seeing the composed expression on Bai Wu’s face and the distance that would allow him to leave the area in one step, the evil spirit finally gave in.

"If you can save me, if you have any other way to save me, help me... I don’t want... I don’t want to stay here anymore! I beg you... I beg you, please..."

Black hands reached out again from the polluted earth, as "Ten of Spades" was slowly dragged underground.

"The undead can only become the undead... The people you see in this area, they are all deceased... I can tell you even more information... Please be sure to come back... save me!"

Bai Wu gave no indication of his stance.

This evil spirit was not like the one that pretended to be his father, its will to live was very strong, and evidently, this area was a torment for them.

After the undead was completely swallowed by the ground, Bai Wu stepped into the Heart Three area.

In an instant, every trace on the tainted soil vanished.

It was as if he had just walked through an empty wasteland. To his slight surprise, Yin Shuang and Lin Wurou were also there.

They had actually moved faster than him.

The Heart area was a stone forest.

The strange rocks were rugged and variously shaped steles were irregularly arranged among them, the giant stele in the center very similar to those inside High Tower.

[You successfully crossed the Bridge of the Dead, I must say it’s a quite interesting place, but a new storm is already brewing, we should hurry into the next area.]

Finally at a safe zone, Lin Wurou and Yin Shuang’s emotional wristwatch values also dropped below twenty-five.

In addition to the three of them, there were more than a dozen Evil Fallen in this area.

Because they were very close, there was no need for perception—the foul smell emanating from them was enough to confirm their presence.

The three moved in unison, observing the actions of these Evil Fallen.

"What are they doing?" Lin Wurou asked.

"Watch their eyes," Yin Shuang reminded.

She noticed that after the Evil Fallen touched the steles, their eyes became much more vivid.

Bai Wu revealed the truth:

"Cards can be exchanged for initial resources; they have regained part of their memory and also supplemented some of their wisdom."

Lin Wurou’s eyes widened as she pointed at one of the Evil Fallen:

"Look, that one has more than one card."

Next to a stone resembling a siren, an Evil Fallen held four cards in its hand.

As his cards disappeared one by one, Bai Wu noticed that the strength of the Evil Fallen was increasing, and even its skin color started to change...

Soon, the originally filthy and foul-smelling body began to lose its stench, and the skin turned into that of a normal human.

Bai Wu turned towards the stele:

"Each stele conceals many goods that can be exchanged. You have fifteen minutes left to prepare. After you’re ready, you can proceed to the next area through the central stele. Nobody knows what kind of survival test the next area will present, but it is certain that you are gradually uncovering the truth.

Lastly, as the observer, I must remind you, Yan—that you are incredibly lucky not to have triggered a hundred percent difficulty +1. But if you choose to continue playing this game, the danger level may gradually spiral out of control. Anyway... I already know your choice. Cough cough cough, I can’t help but laugh like a creepy old man."

So that was it.

Bai Wu gave Lin Wurou three cards, and then gave Yin Shuang three cards, briefly explained their functions, and then started selecting various "spoils of war" with them.

During the process, Lin Wurou, who had been holding her tongue for a while, started babbling again:

"So, what did you guys hear just now? I met some people who asked me all kinds of weird questions, like ’Have you seen my cat?’ Utterly nonsensical. And, and, someone asked me what kind of rope to buy for hanging themselves, are they sick or something?"

Yin Shuang sometimes envied Lin Wurou for being so beautiful yet so unburdened by thoughts, spared from many worries.

She already knew that those they encountered in this area were people who had committed suicide, but Lin Wurou was oblivious to it.

"Oh, and, and, I met my grandmother! I almost spoke to her! But then I thought, hey, that’s not right, my grandma has been dead for many years! I covered my ears, shut my eyes, and just charged forward. Heh, when I made it out, you two were still dawdling in the middle."

Listening to Lin Wurou’s proud bragging, Bai Wu even envied Lin Wurou’s brain. Wang Shi still had some self-awareness, but Lin Wurou didn’t have any at all.

Simply obeying and doing as told allowed Lin Wurou to take the lead and pass through the most difficult area.

But it was also a relief; having both teammates emerge from the Bridge of the Dead before him was comforting for Bai Wu.

As for the appearance of his father and the Club ten in the Bridge of the Dead, he quickly filtered it out.

While he had learned some clues, even more doubts had arisen.

And if what that evil spirit said was true... it meant that both Club ten and his father were deceased.

They had truly died, regardless of what they had done in life. They were but riddles buried in history. Perhaps in this era, aside from himself, nobody else knew of them.

Bai Wu had an intuition that he had unwittingly inherited the legacy of the Masked Strange Person, and Cain seemed to have inherited Club ten’s legacy in some way, too.

His intuitions were usually accurate, but this time it was truly just a hunch.

Club ten, the Masked Strange Person, they likely belonged to the previous generation, just like his father. Bai Wu and Cain were of this generation.

For Bai Wu, Club ten and the Masked Strange Person were not really of concern, at least not compared to his father.

He was very curious to know if the strange adventures he was experiencing now had any connection to his father.

But these questions were doomed to remain unanswered.

Often in life, much like the Bridge of the Dead they had just crossed, one must choose between the desire for knowledge and the instinct of survival.

When it was impossible to have both, Bai Wu always chose the latter.

"Speaking of which, what did you experience? I saw you walking even slower than Bai Wu at first, but then you suddenly sped up?" Lin Wurou looked towards Yin Shuang.

"It’s none of your business." Yin Shuang glared at Lin Wurou.

"What a petty woman." Lin Wurou had only asked casually and wasn’t really curious.

From this sentence, Bai Wu could roughly guess what Yin Shuang had experienced.

She must have encountered an obsession, which had nearly brought her to a standstill, but after overcoming it, the other Undead could no longer hinder her.

The obsession of a revenger, likely seeing someone extremely cherished and lost.

Bai Wu said:

"Let’s not bring up this topic again," urged Lin Wurou. "Let’s quickly touch the stele and pick out things you feel might be useful. By the way, I’ll say it once more, if anyone wants to go back, you can leave early. The next game will be harder."

Yin Shuang did not pretend to be stronger than she was; she knew all too well the gap between Bai Wu and her group:

"If I feel it’s too hard, I’ll leave on my own," she said.

Bai Wu nodded his head. He didn’t know what the next game was, as the arrangement of the scattered stones was too random to decipher.

Their shapes were also very peculiar, resembling various things like a lion with two heads, a harpy, or even humans in specific poses, such as climbing or praying.

They only looked similar in outline; the rest of the stele were not as meticulously carved as sculptures, devoid of details that would help identify what they symbolized, making them appear somewhere between natural ornaments and the result of human chiseling. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

But Bai Wu had a great imagination, and these outlines automatically led him to conjure up all sorts of strange totems in his mind.

He arrived at a stele that looked like a succubus with ram’s horns.

Touching this stele alongside him was a foul-smelling Evil Fallen that resembled a woman.

Evil Fallen didn’t have genders, but they did have sexual characteristics.

"Once you touch a stele, it means you have accepted the second round of the game. If you fail the game, everything on you will be taken by these stones. Of course, I’m the exception~ Each one of these steles holds some belongings, Sequences, powers, or special artifacts of those who failed the previous round. And this particular stele contains an item of interest to you—Hidden Edge."

Talent Sequence No. 936—Hidden Edge.

This ability allowed one to hide their Sequence, rendering others unable to observe it. It seemed pointless, at least to most people, for it was hard to obtain and offered no help in battle.

After all, in true combat, one’s Sequence must be revealed.

Nevertheless, Bai Wu exchanged three cards to obtain it.

"This place is somewhat similar to a casino, but the participants are quite special; they all seem to be deceased... That person just now turned from a state of corpse filth to normal by using a card, right?"

Bai Wu speculated that the island, which seven hundred years ago was known to solve all problems, might also be under the jurisdiction of a powerful Evil Fallen.

There might be unknown major powers involved, but he wasn’t afraid. At least, this place was more generous than the casino, as the first reward he received for clearing the game was permanent.

The first level of the game, Zombie Island Escape, seemed simple. It was a rare, normal difficulty blue zone. Bai Wu was looking forward to subsequent scenarios, assuming risk and difficulty were proportional.

With only one card left, Bai Wu examined many steles and realized they were either for basic combat attributes or Sequences he couldn’t exchange, which were mostly useless and ranked very low. Combat attributes were also a trap, only applicable to the Evil Fallen, frёewebηovel.cѳm

What remained were numbered, pre-death memories.

For the Evil Fallen, somewhat akin to walking corpses, these memories were crucial. Losing parts of their life memories meant they couldn’t harness intellect in the following games and would only act on instinct, to be deceived and killed by Bai Wu, as happened in the first round.

Bai Wu, Yin Shuang, and Lin Wurou, however, were participating in the game as living beings; they didn’t need these memories.

In the end, Bai Wu chose a card depicting a big mouth devouring a smaller one:

"Steal another player’s turn, speaking on their behalf."

He didn’t know what the next game was, but he always had a fondness for functional artifacts.

Yin Shuang selected a fireproof suit that could grant thirty-second immunity to flames and a mirror that could reveal invisible items.

Lin Wurou chose a potion capable of randomly removing a negative attribute, as well as a Clown card with its mouth sealed with tape.

Looking at the bizarre artifacts, Bai Wu pondered. If the casino was influenced by Legendary Tier Entries causing a series of tradable items, then what was the cause for Zombie Island?

It was another question without an immediate answer. All he could do was continue to gather more clues.

After selecting their items, the trio and the Evil Fallen gathered at the central stele.

The moment their hands touched the stele, all the strange stones seemed to come to life, twisting weirdly as the next survival game officially began.

(In most instances, the narrative portrays both the bright and dark sides of human nature in the apocalypse. This type of instance is no exception, although at the opening stage, it’s not fully demonstrated. The story of this island will gradually unravel with each game. Fell asleep last night and couldn’t resist, so today it’s still two updates.)