Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 521: Chapter 138: Strange "Well World

Bai Wu didn’t think too much. When the answer was right in front of his eyes, there was no need to waste time.

The two of them, Spade Ten and Jing Liu, were not of any use at the moment. Bai Wu was also curious, would bringing two accompanying NPCs be of any help on this journey?

Were the words spoken by Old Qian referring to Spade Ten, or someone else?

He pushed open the door to the blacksmith’s shop, where thick cobwebs had formed several layers in the corners. This ghostly place seemed to be completely devoid of any twists or dangers, and the spiders themselves had become as cute as baby spiders.

What caught his eye first were the furnace and the forging table. The weapons laid out on the table naturally did not catch Bai Wu’s interest.

There were no clues like notes to be found here either.

He recalled that in his many previous explorations, he was always able to find written records.

But not this time.

This time, Bai Wu’s gaze fell on a bloodstained forging hammer.

[Congratulations on finding a clue. Times have changed. You no longer need to look for written records. I can now tell you the story.

There was once a blacksmith who specialized in forging weapons for people, because opening the door to the next level required a weapon to pierce a heart.

Doesn’t that sound strange? But that’s the rule.

You, holding a Divine Artifact, naturally don’t need those weapons, but you do need to pierce a heart, whether with a weapon or your fists. Only this act can trigger the next rule of the game.

As for this town... you can think of it as a black dot on a blank page. The town is especially made to provide a resting place for outsiders.

But people from the previous civilization have not appeared for a long time, which has led to its abandonment.]

Bai Wu read out his findings to Jing Liu and Spade Ten, intending to hear their opinions.

Although the eyes had already pointed out the method to go to the next level, these two were after all intelligent people, so it was worth trying to use their brains.

After listening, Spade Ten glanced at Jing Liu:

"Ladies first?"

Jing Liu, expressionless:

"First of all, let me clarify, I don’t believe that the Well is the Inner World, and Spade Ten is a swindler. Although in some ways I am your enemy, sometimes swindlers are more dangerous than enemies."

"Tsk tsk, at this point, there’s no need to drive a wedge between me and Little Bai," said Spade Ten with just a smile.

Jing Liu continued:

"Now that we know what to do, the value of interpreting this message lies in whether it can help us predict our next actions."

"I don’t believe there could be such a pure place in the Well, so I’ve been very resistant to it until you described what you saw with your eyes, and only then did I finally feel it was normal."

Jing Liu turned to Bai Wu:

"Piercing a heart, don’t you find that this act is at odds with the atmosphere here?"

Bai Wu nodded, he and Jing Liu thought alike.

In such a pure place, even the animals had no desire to kill.

Maybe these creatures were immortal, maybe they didn’t need to feed.

But the fact that they lacked even the slightest desire to attack still felt incongruous to Bai Wu.

"So, I hypothesize that if there really are many layers to this place, then perhaps the method for moving to the next layer in each level may involve murder or actions that defy the atmosphere of the area."

"So in your description, this town is like a black dot on a white page, because no matter how vast the blank space is, it’s not as captivating as the focal point. The focal point is where the repulsion is, implying that the place coming up is related to slaughter."

Bai Wu very much agreed with Jing Liu’s analysis.

Jing Liu looked towards Spade Ten.

Spade Ten waved his hand:

"Well said, I don’t have much to add. The only thing I care about is, who is the blacksmith here?"

"You mentioned people from the previous civilization, and clearly, that civilization is not human."

"I also reiterate that I insist the connection between the Well and the world is that of the Inner World and the Outer World."

"In the Inner World, as opposed to the Outer World, there might be things that don’t exist in the Outer World, such as someone who has lost their mother, but in the Inner World, their mother might become eternal because of it."

"Of course, this is just an example. My point is to suggest—perhaps in the lower levels, we might encounter many... beings from the previous civilization?"

Spade Ten’s remarks were always wildly imaginative, and Bai Wu responded:

"So you think the previous civilization, having perished in the Outer World, might in contrast be thriving in the Inner World?"

"Correct answer," Spade Ten clapped his hands.

Bai Wu asked further:

"Then, what exactly is the previous civilization?"

"It’s Alpha, the High Tower Creators."

Jing Liu’s body trembled; this person really dared to dream big.

Bai Wu stroked his chin:

"You mean to say, Alpha and the High Tower Creator belonged to the previous civilization, and their civilization was destroyed, leaving them as the only survivors?"

"Yes, or rather, they were the two most powerful beings in the previous civilization. Everyone else died, but these two strongest individuals lived on."

It was somewhat reminiscent of the Twilight of the Gods.

A civilization of gods, because of a catastrophe, saw the death of various deities.

The two most powerful gods avoided this disaster, but later, due to differing ideologies, engaged in a war.

One died, one was sealed away.

In this gap, human civilization began to develop.

"You shouldn’t be a con artist; you should write stories. I have my reservations about your speculations—no, they can’t be called speculations, they’re more like fantasies."

Spade Ten didn’t mind, merely feigning helplessness:

"In truth, limitless imagination is the most authentic part of me. When I speak of something highly credible, that’s when I am actually deceiving."

When Spade Ten uttered these words, his gaze briefly met with Bai Wu’s.

In that moment, Bai Wu felt as though Spade Ten was trying to hint at something.

"Why would he want to hint at something?"

"We are alone here with Jing Liu... Does it mean there are some things he can’t say in front of Jing Liu?"

Bai Wu didn’t dwell on it:

"Let’s not waste time here; let’s get started. We’re about to enter the next level."

"You could choose to pierce through the heart of an animal—"

Spade Ten made a suggestion, but it was already too late. freёwebnovel.com

Bai Wu directly reached towards his own heart.

"—organ." Just as Spade Ten finished his sentence.

Bai Wu touched his beating heart, numerous blood vessels ruptured, he seemed like an immortal monster:

"It’s not that I don’t want to kill, I’m just too lazy to make the trip."

Jing Liu and Spade Ten exchanged glances.

Jing Liu suddenly began to understand why, during the flight, Bai Wu had the courage to launch a surprise attack in front of his elder brother and banish himself.

"So he’s a madman..."

It made sense for a smart person to lose to a madman.

Bai Wu, clutching his own heart, had an air of tragic valor, as if he were splitting his torso open, then pulling out his intestines for others to see just how many bowls of noodles it made.

But in reality... there was no tragedy at all.

His heart was like a puzzle piece, removed and then reinserted; the puzzle remained intact, as if nothing had happened.

Bai Wu had killed no one, but he certainly completed the ritual.

The azure sky suddenly turned black.

Strange Sequence characters emerged in midair like High Tower’s defensive barriers.

Bai Wu vaguely recognized that these Sequence characters recorded history.

Large blocks of Sequence text floated in the sky like a history book, much of which even Bai Wu could not understand.

It was like someone who knew modern Chinese suddenly encountering the earlier Seal script.

Nevertheless, Bai Wu found a segment that he could understand, a prophecy not of history.

"The existence bearing the Seven Sins in the subsequent civilization will enter the depths with a scroll to complete the sealing."

Bai Wu had mastered the Sequence text not long ago, so his translation was akin to that of machine translation.

As he voiced these words, something suddenly came to mind—

"Back when I was in the mine, I encountered the Traveler that came before Nie Chongshan. Looking at it now, the Traveler is probably Jing Er’s Guardian..."

"At that time, the Traveler said there was a prophecy hidden in the Well! Could this be that prophecy?"

This might be the reason Jing Er regarded him as a threat.

Could it be that Jing Er had also experienced this region in the past?

Bai Wu was unsure.

He looked towards Jing Liu:

"What were the memories like that you experienced in the shell?"

Jing Liu said,

"They’re completely different from yours. The Well we saw is nothing like what you have seen."

Jack of Spades added,

"Maybe each person sees something different. Take the six siblings, for example. Despite sharing some common memories, each one has a different perspective."

"Perhaps, you’re even more special than them?"

There were too many puzzles about this area, and now Bai Wu didn’t even know how to solve these puzzles.

And as those Sequence characters appeared... his consciousness began to blur.

Before completely losing consciousness, Bai Wu received a warning from his eyes—

[Do not reveal your uniqueness, but if you do, you must kill those who know. Unless... you meet someone you can trust forever.]

A series of puzzles emerged, starting with the eerie way to open the lower level of the Well, followed by the choices involving souls mentioned by the eyes.

Lastly, there was this incomprehensible note.

Bai Wu couldn’t think, nor could he ask Jack of Spades or Jing Liu in time.

Because he had completely fallen into a coma.

...

...

The urgent knocking shattered the blankness in his mind. When Bai Wu woke up, he instinctively patted his head.

In his memory, he had passed an interview yesterday afternoon; it was for a venture capital firm. He was somewhat overjoyed and got drunk.

Fortunately, when he opened his eyes, Bai Wu checked the time. There were still three hours until the interview. Was it only five in the morning now?

The urgent knocking brought Bai Wu to his senses a bit.

"Please open the door. We’re from the Order Faction. There’s been a murder in the community, and we suspect it’s the work of a member of the Seven Sins Association. We’d like to ask you a few questions."

The Order Faction... it sounded very familiar.

Bai Wu found he had drunk excessively the night before. He hadn’t even taken off his clothes, which made getting up easier, so he went straight to the door.

The apartment was rented, simply decorated, 65 square meters in size, and had two bedrooms.

He opened the door and saw two men dressed in neat suits, shining shoes, and sunglasses.

Both had the same face, crew cuts, stern expressions, and were big and tall, looking quite similar to each other.

Bai Wu felt something was off, but he didn’t recall what it was at that moment.

A normal person seeing members of the Order Faction would be scared. Bai Wu thought he should be scared too, but his first reaction was remarkably calm.

He couldn’t feel fear as if he lacked that capacity. So, he quipped,

"Why so serious? Why the long faces... It’s only five in the morning."

The two burly members of the Order Faction furrowed their brows at the same time, their expressions and movements almost perfectly synchronized.

"Long faces? What do you mean? Can you see our faces?"

Bai Wu was taken aback. Wasn’t that obvious? The men weren’t wearing stockings over their heads or masks; how could he possibly not see their faces?

Bai Wu sensed something was wrong and his instinctual alertness kicked in.

Would normal people ask him, "Can you see our faces?"

And... what was this tremendous sense of discord?

Am I the kind of person who would get drunk just because of passing an interview?

Just then, one of the members of the Order Faction stepped back as if to draw something from his waist.

"Kill the two of them. You’ve exposed yourself. Quick! Or you’ll be the one to die!" a voice came from behind.

In that moment, Bai Wu’s instincts and the meaning conveyed by the voice coincided.

Bai Wu, who had always been an upstanding citizen, suddenly found his mind filled with memories of combat.

His hands shaped into eagle claws as he thrust towards the throat of one of the burly men.

As his figure moved forward, he swung the other elbow in a 135-degree arc, using momentum to his advantage.

In the blink of an eye, he had killed two members of the Order Faction.

He heard the sound of bones cracking, crisp and pleasing, and the two imposing figures from just a second ago were now dead.

Bai Wu looked at his hands in disbelief. He felt none of the fear a normal person would after killing someone.

Then he turned his head and saw Jack of Spades and Jing Liu.

"Spade Ten... Jing Liu... Hss..." Bai Wu’s head ached a little.

Squinting his eyes, Jing Liu said,

"Seeing you like this, it’s as if you’ve lost your memory. But since you still remember our names, it shows that the amnesia isn’t so severe."

Bai Wu realized that it was Spade Ten who had just ordered him to kill someone.

Indeed, upon seeing Spade Ten and Jing Liu, their names had surfaced in his mind, but he couldn’t quite remember who exactly they were.

However, Bai Wu was certain that he was the only one who could see these two individuals.

Because Spade Ten had been standing right behind him the whole time,

"It seems your memory has been tampered with, but that’s also good. You’ve awakened your autonomous consciousness, which could be related to your control over the distortion or possibly to how you entered this place—piercing your own heart... Have you noticed? You are different from the others."

"What do you mean?" Bai Wu did not understand.

Jing Liu explained,

"Could you see the faces of those two people just now?"

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

"There is, and it’s quite a big issue. Although Spade Ten and I still appear as phantoms, we are now within the rules."

Jing Liu added,

"The two people we saw have no facial features."

In Bai Wu’s subconscious, he felt that these phantasmal beings were on his side.

But the words of Jing Liu and Spade Ten were beyond his comprehension.

Even though these two bulky figures had nondescript faces, they didn’t lack faces entirely.

As Bai Wu grappled with his confusion, outside the Well, in the real world, changes were happening.

...

...

Outside the Well, an unknown area.

With the Twisted Master’s descent, the distortion level in all regions around the world had sharply increased.

This also caused the rules in many places to become strange.

Extreme temperature zones were even more terrifying, and the physical laws warped dramatically.

Not long ago, in a pharmaceutical factory on Aulora Island, about ten human survivors relied on the factory’s drugs and saline solutions to barely keep alive.

Because of its secluded location, it did not attract the attention of the Evil Fallen.

But escaping the Evil Fallen did not necessarily mean escaping the rules.

This was an extreme temperature zone, cold.

As the temperatures continued to approach absolute zero, these people faced the danger of being frozen to death.

Not long ago, they huddled together, each on the verge of being frozen to death. Yet, at the moment when they were about to succumb to the cold... the temperature suddenly warmed up.

Those who were about to be frozen to death were granted a chance at life.

...

...

Well World.

Not long ago, a middle manager from an air conditioning company died. He lived next door to Bai Wu. This manager was responsible for an air conditioning installation project in a community.

The air conditioning company was nervous because the public security in Well City was usually good. If someone suddenly died, it must have been murder. Thus, they called the police and had the Order Faction handle the investigation.

However, because the Order Faction responsible for the investigation was killed by Bai Wu, the case was put on hold.

The air conditioning company believed that the crisis against their firm had not been resolved.

Therefore, the air conditioning contract for the Fuyuan Community in Well City West District, although signed,

was thus shelved.

This caused the newly built Fuyuan Community residents to be unable to move in for a long time.

Because the summer temperatures were too high, it was unsuitable for living without air conditioning.

In the pharmaceutical factory outside the Well, people were thankful for the miraculous warming of the temperature.

Inside the community in Well World, residents were complaining that their homes were too hot to live in.

(I’ve been busy these past evenings, cough cough, so the updates will temporarily be shifted to daytime.)