Free Web NovelChapter 538: Chapter 155: The Crucial Ten of Spades
The world may not be what one thinks it is, but the people in the world are undoubtedly real.
Although when he was a child, the young Bai Wu thought these people were blind, admiring such a scumbag as Bai Yuan, always telling himself how excellent his father was.
But as he grew older, the more he understood Bai Yuan’s methods, the less he blamed these people.
Even without the Power of Twist, this world’s Bai Yuan was still an overwhelming force to the people of this world.
People are real, yet the world might be filled with enormous lies.
Of course, all this is just speculation.
"This is just a patient, Li Xiaorui’s speculation, no... it can’t even be considered as speculation, it’s more like a delirious rambling. I think maybe you’re overreacting,"
Jing Liu didn’t think so in his heart and Bai Wu didn’t beat around the bush:
"My eyes, although the notes they see are strangely styled, and sometimes intentionally misleading, have never let me down."
"Since the Sequence has led me to find clues in the patient records, there must be clues here."
Jing Liu now understood how strong the power Bai Wu had mastery over was.
Although Prayle’s Eye could not, like him, see the causality of the entire world.
But this eye, it seemed, was filtering out the unnecessary causality and only telling Bai Wu the useful information.
What I used to see, though much, might not all have been useful.
Of course, no matter how powerful a Sequence, it also depends on how it is used.
In the dialogue between the Ten of Spades and Bai Wu, Jing Liu vaguely felt that Prayle’s Eye wasn’t the type of Sequence that directly provided intelligence.
There was some kind of "thinking and style" involved, and if that was the case, one had to consider whether the Sequence would be less effective in someone else’s hands.
Bai Wu was an extremely rational madman, skilled at calculating, yet daring to be crazy at critical moments.
His emotions hardly fluctuated, but at certain points, he could explode with immense emotion.
Perhaps this made him unsurprisingly compatible with Prayle’s Eye.
"So, shall we finish reading all the patient records before we draw any conclusions?"
"That makes sense."
Bai Wu and Jing Liu temporarily reached an agreement, partly because Jing Liu was also curious about this world.
Is this really a return to the past or a return to a memory scene?
Bai Wu was an "outsider", an outsider to the Well World and an outsider to the High Tower World as well.
Even though he knew a lot about Bai Wu, Jing Liu was completely ignorant about some of the workings of this world.
Causality could not peer into this place; what exactly had the Golden Generation from the two farms, the King of Spades and the King of Hearts, done in this place?
Jing Liu was very interested in all of this as well.
Of course, the most important thing was that Bai Wu was always holding his elder brother’s Sequence Agreement.
And this Sequence Agreement, Bai Wu had not yet attempted to comprehend, at least not for the time being.
Jing Liu also guessed that the power of this Sequence was crucial and might enable Bai Wu to undergo a metamorphosis.
Due to these various considerations, Jing Liu was not going to stand on the opposite side of Bai Wu under the current circumstances.
And so, in the following time, Bai Wu began to go through the patient records one by one.
The patient records on the shelf were thick, with complex and simple cases, which all seemed extremely boring to Bai Yuan.
The annotations were simple, but Bai Yuan had summarized a lot of the spiritual eccentricities of various people.
In the end, after reading through all the patient records, Bai Wu had not found any more useful information.
"The only thing that caught my attention was what Li Xiaorui said... that this world is a tower."
Bai Wu murmured, his gaze turning to Jing Liu, seeking an answer.
Jing Liu raised a question:
"How could you be sure that the tower Cain wants to destroy isn’t the High Tower?"
After a slight pondering, Bai Wu shared his opinion:
"Cain is a peculiar man, for seven hundred years he has detested the rulers, but the rulers are just incidental targets he wishes to eliminate."
"He even has one of the seventy-two candidates under him."
"If you say Cain wanted to run for the ruler of High Tower, I believe he would have definitely had a better chance than those eight families at the top."
"But Cain... he climbed to the sixth level of the High Tower."
"I once asked Cain why he went to the sixth level, but he didn’t answer my question."
"Now, I’ve thought of some possibilities; maybe he was searching for something." freeweɓnøvel.com
"He wanted to find the second tower, so he went to the sixth floor."
"Cain sets up his own power outside the tower, those Angel Envoy, not necessarily very strong, but each with unique traits."
"I have always wondered, what is Cain’s purpose in developing his power outside the tower? And why has he not taken any further action?"
At this point, Jing Liu also found it peculiar:
"So everything is directed towards another tower he mentioned?"
"Do you think the other tower is this world? The basis for your judgment is Li Xiaorui’s sleep-talk, isn’t your imagination... a bit too absurd?"
Bai Wu shook his head and said earnestly:
"You must have an absurd imagination, not... not just for the future, but for any moment in time."
Jing Liu found these words quite interesting and became increasingly curious about how Bai Yuan had taught Bai Wu, while also saying:
"So should we look for Li Xiaorui? Seek out Li Xiaorui and see why she said those words?"
It seemed like the correct approach, but Bai Wu shook his head:
"If Li Xiaorui spoke in her sleep, then it was just sleep-talk. Perhaps she saw the truth in her dream, but that’s only the truth within the dream..."
"Locating Li Xiaorui might reveal some information, but I am sure this woman is just an ordinary lady."
Bai Wu still had some impression of Li Xiaorui.
This woman was quite beautiful, fond of Bai Yuan, to the extent that even a blind man could see it.
But Bai Yuan liked no one; the perfect Dr. Bai moved through myriads of flowers, yet not a leaf stuck to him.
Later, Li Xiaorui got married.
Now, Bai Wu actually felt some sympathy for Li Xiaorui’s husband.
"This woman only caught our attention with a sentence she uttered in her sleep. If I were Bai Yuan, I would have already investigated it. Since there are no further remarks in the medical records, it means... Li Xiaorui’s sleep-talk cannot be investigated deeply."
Fingering his chin, Bai Wu continued:
"Let’s reason it backward. Suppose this world really is a tower stripped of the Power of Twist and all other supernatural powers. Bai Yuan, who lost his Sequence powers, hasn’t noticed anything... then how could Cain have possibly noticed?"
"Not that I’m underestimating Cain, but comparing him to Bai Yuan... is probably like comparing Jing Wu to you."
Jing Liu acknowledged with a sound, not particularly fond of comparing Jing Wu with herself.
Therefore, she easily understood the gap between Cain and Bai Yuan and said:
"So it’s strange that Cain knows something your father doesn’t."
"It is strange, but if the one who knew was the Ten of Spades instead of my father, that wouldn’t be strange."
Jing Liu started, suddenly realizing:
"The second tower wasn’t discovered by Cain, but was revealed to him by the Ten of Spades?"
Bai Wu’s gaze became sharp:
"That’s right, the only ones who came to this world were the Ten of Spades and Bai Yuan. Bai Yuan came first, the Ten of Spades later. I don’t know how they opened the gateway to the Otherworld, but it’s mostly related to The First Generation."
Upon the mention of The First Generation, Jing Liu consciously shut her mouth, not wishing to disturb the fleeting peace between herself and Bai Wu because of this person who she had once tormented with causality.
This time, Bai Wu truly didn’t mind, his thoughts were wholly focused on the matter of "the second tower."
Bai Wu sat down cross-legged, chin propped in his hand, entering a state of contemplation that seemed to transcend the self:
"If the Ten of Spades knows, yet Bai Yuan doesn’t, it could be possible. After all, Bai Yuan is not a god; he also has blind spots and cognitive barriers."
"But why didn’t the Ten of Spades tell me these things in the Well World?"
"Wait... I remember the Ten of Spades said something very strange."
"What did he say?" Jing Liu asked.
Bai Wu replied:
"Firstly, it’s the penultimate thing he said before disappearing, ’I must go now, give my regards to Bai, he really is a coward.’"
Jing Liu didn’t understand—the world of the riddle speakers was still too foreign to her.
Bai Wu, Bai Yuan, the Ten of Spades, these three were old riddle speakers.
Such an ordinary phrase was not something Jing Liu couldn’t penetrate, but that she had yet to develop the habit of thinking needed to interact with riddle speakers.
Bai Wu explained:
"I always thought that when the Ten of Spades called someone a coward, it was related to what The First Generation mentioned about avoiding the world... but it might not be just that."
"Perhaps, Bai Yuan actually knew something, something about the truth of this world, but he retreated, didn’t delve into investigating? Choosing to let the world deceive himself."
"Until his death, Bai Yuan didn’t delve into investigating."
Jing Liu said: freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"If one does not want to wake up, then it’s not pretending to sleep. And the Ten of Spades?"
Bai Wu picked up the conversation:
"The Ten of Spades must have delved into investigation. Before the Ten of Spades disappeared, he said two very strange things—’Whoever initiates the cause must bear the effect.’
"’The journey ahead is interesting, although I would like to experience it again, after all, the joy of live watching is different from replaying.’
At the time, Jing Liu also felt there was something odd about these two statements.
Bai Wu said:
"I can’t interpret the first statement, but the second one, I’m beginning to understand faintly."
Jing Liu remained silent.
Bai Wu also fell silent for a long while before slowly saying:
"Prayle’s Eye had previously hinted to me, telling me to find the key person in this scene."
"I thought the key person was Bai Yuan."
Jing Liu shook her head, she already knew what Bai Wu was thinking. Yet Bai Wu still posed a question to which he already knew the answer:
"The Ten of Spades has already disappeared, Jing Liu, so how can he experience the journey ahead with us?"
Jing Liu cooperated with the response:
"You already know, don’t you? The phantom of the Ten of Spades that accompanied you has disappeared; he has already gone through the journey ahead. In his memory, he has this experience, and the provider of this memory is himself."
"In other words, the Ten of Spades from seven hundred years ago met you, and what happens next is you searching for the Ten of Spades of seven hundred years ago."
"Therefore, the Ten of Spades who disappeared not long ago, just seven hundred years later, possesses this memory and can tell you: he has already lived it once."
Bai Wu nodded:
"It seems that this world, whether or not it is a tower, truly exists. I didn’t return to a memory scene, but have actually arrived in the past life... seven hundred years ago."
"And the key figure that Prayle’s Eye wanted me to find—is the Ten of Spades."
Once his thoughts were clear, Bai Wu no longer delayed.
He certainly wanted to observe Bai Yuan from a distance and learn some of the stories of "the perfect neighbor" Bai Yuan from his childhood that he didn’t know about.
But all of these things could wait until he met with the Ten of Spades, finished his important business, and figured out the connections between this world, Well World, and High Tower World.
Soon, Bai Wu carefully restored everything back to its place and cleaned up all traces of his presence.
Then, together with Jing Liu, he left the clinic.
Bai Wu decided to first find a place to stay overnight, finding the Ten of Spades was not urgent.
In this world, Bai Yuan was the perfect neighbor, while the Ten of Spades was a crime master.
Finding the Ten of Spades and getting answers would take some effort.
As he walked along the road, Bai Wu suddenly thought that maybe there was no such thing as past lives.
Maybe there was no such thing as a truly safe world.
The place where he grew up might itself be a deception.
Instead, Well World or High Tower World might be the most real.
But if this world was a tower... then what was below and above?
At the top of High Tower lived Alpha.
What, then, resided at the top or the bottom of this world’s tower?
All questions that only finding the Ten of Spades could answer.
...
...
Town, clinic.
When the door on the second floor of the clinic opened, Bai Yuan checked the dust below the door and found it arrayed just as when he had left.
He felt somewhat relieved.
Not long ago, he had received a call from a town resident and had gone out with his medical kit.
This was a tedious affair for Bai Yuan, but he, who enjoyed observing humans, always managed to find pleasure in the tedium.
This time, the patient had a rebellious child at home. While the patient was not paying attention, he scared the child—testing the limits of human rebellious psychology.
Now, that child would likely have nightmares for many days to come.
This world was quite nice, though a bit too peaceful and dull.
But compared to the previous world, with its extreme twists, where humans could become monsters due to emotional outbursts... it seemed fresh at first, but eventually it got boring.
He preferred worlds where humans didn’t become monsters, so he could more directly observe people’s reactions under extreme emotions.
Becoming monsters... seemed like an emotional release.
Bai Yuan decided to open the medical record book and record the day’s visit.
But just as he reached for an empty record on the shelf... his hand suddenly stopped.
No matter how careful an intruder was to restore everything to its place, they should consider the homeowner’s powers of observation and muscle memory.
Bai Yuan, undoubtedly, had almost perverse skills in these areas.
Even in this world, he no longer had superpowers enhanced by the Power of Twist.
He revealed a charming smile, and after a scrutinizing look, his gaze finally landed on Li Xiaorui’s medical record:
"Tsk, it seems our guest has taken a special interest in Li Xiaorui. But will he go looking for Li Xiaorui, I wonder?"
Bai Yuan quickly made a call to Li Xiaorui, inquired about certain things, and instructed her to inform him immediately if she encountered any strange individuals.
But soon after, Bai Yuan contemplated another possibility: If the person didn’t look for Li Xiaorui, yet observed her medical record longer than the others...
Bai Yuan’s smile deepened.
