"Before the midterm exam of the first semester, you must change your name," Albert said.
Wen Xishu immediately understood the purpose of this action.
"In the academy... some noble children know about the Wen Family's affairs?"
Albert nodded:
"There are many major families in the Bunker. The matters of the Wen Family are secret, but some families do know about them."
"I won't tell you which families those are, that would be too boring. Your sequence is so interesting, you can figure it out yourself."
Wen Xishu almost had black lines appearing on his forehead; this old headmaster did have a bit of a playful nature.
Albert continued:
"If you don't want to die at their hands, you'd better live with a different name for half a semester."
Wen Xishu asked the question weighing most on his mind:
"Wen Chaohua... what exactly was the crime he committed, and what crimes did the entire Wen Family commit?"
The old headmaster laughed heartily again:
"Hahahaha, you're bright now, but you don't remember many things? Oh right, you used to be an idiot, you wouldn't have been involved in the Wen Family's matters, so naturally, you wouldn't know."
Wen Xishu's blood pressure rose slightly, but thinking it over, it seemed that the other was just being objective, not insulting.
Wen Xishu indeed used to be an idiot. He said helplessly:
"It seems you must know."
"Judging by the Security Bureau's attitude towards me, it seems... they not only want to dig up some secrets but the Wen Family must indeed have done something heinous?"
Albert shrugged:
"I do know. There are many things I don't know in this bunker, but there are more things I do know."
"But so what -- it's none of my business, none of your business, child, study hard and strive for improvement every day."
Albert said pompously:
"I've decided to uncover all the mysteries through exploring the Three Towers. I won't ask you about Wen Chaohua's secrets."
"Similarly, if you want to know everything, you'll have to use the same method."
"If you rely on verbal descriptions, the things you know are all based on others' established understandings."
"This may cause you to start with a certain bias."
"Just like you've already assumed that the Wen Family did commit heinous crimes, but in fact, you don't know what happened, do you? What if they didn't?"
"Of course, I'm not implying anything with this statement; I'm just listing possibilities."
Wen Xishu responded with a hum. He knew the old headmaster was giving him a hint.
He shouldn't let others' perceptions form his own bias. This did make sense.
No matter how despicable the Wen Family might be and how heinous Wen Chaohua's crimes, at least his first exploration of the Deceit Tower and his achievements were directly related to what Wen Chaohua had left behind.
So, he had no need to hate Wen Chaohua.
It was best to discover the truth about what kind of person Wen Chaohua was for himself rather than listen to others.
Wen Xishu said:
"I understand. I'm willing to change my name. But why only until the midterm of the first semester?"
Albert laughed:
"Hahahaha, if you can't take your name back in half a semester and live with your real name in the second half... then you're still an idiot."
"Similarly, if they can't discover your real identity in half a semester, they're idiots too. But it seems they're not idiots."
"Some of these people are your seniors, and among them, there are some sequence ability users who might uncover your secret in less than half a semester."
"So, if you don't want to be the idiot they kill, you must become powerful enough within half a semester."
"The academy does have some methods to help you become stronger. It's a little surprise, but no one has found the right direction yet."
"You could give it a try."
Wen Xishu was speechless: "..."
The midterm exam was to reclaim his name and live truly as a member of the Wen Family.
This test would involve facing many sequence holders. Besides the test, he might also be forced to explore the Deceit Tower several times.
Wen Xishu had to admit, his test was indeed hardcore. But... it wasn't bad, it gave him that thrill and anticipation of a challenging extreme sport.
He was now quite famous; at this time, Wen Xishu was already a new legend in the lower levels of the Bunker.
Countless people had a new future because he brought back the Level Six Hospital.
But unfortunately, the scent of this fame would only be discernible after half a semester of fermentation.
Albert gave Wen Xishu a new name: Wenxun.
The name was a homophone for Wen Xun.
It carried the "Wen" from both the Wen Family and the Xun Family. Naturally, the homophone also carried the "Wen" from the Wen Family.
This name reminded Albert of his three most accomplished students.
Wenren Mirror, Xun Hui, and Wen Chaohua.
The name Wenxun also contained a certain expectation Albert had for Wen Xishu.
Albert couldn't explore the three towers at the same time. He once lamented to Wen Chaohua about how time was unforgiving, and responsibilities left him with no choice.
Throughout his life, he could only explore the Slaughter Tower. If he could, he wished to experience all three towers.
In the end, he chose to cultivate three different gifted people.
But dividing into three, he wondered when it would be possible to unify them into one. Wenxun, actually carried this layer of expectation.
Wen Xishu seemed to understand the meaning behind this name, somewhat surprised. Thus, before Albert left, he asked:
"To be personally recruited by the headmaster of the Three Towers Academy, I feel honored. I am very fortunate to be a student of the Three Towers Academy."
"But... my guide has a black head, which means my exploration tendency is towards the Deceit Tower."
"I guess, even if you want to protect me, the Bunker Security Bureau won't be that agreeable. I will likely still have to carry out exploration tasks for the Deceit Tower, right?"
"Moreover, judging from your reaction upon learning about my sequence, you also expect me to explore the Deceit Tower and gather more unknown, strange sequences."
"But as far as I know, there is no Deceit Tower Academy within the Three Towers Academy."
Albert nodded: "There definitely can't be."
"Although the Deceit Tower has been around for several years, think about it, both the Slaughter Tower and Desire Tower have patterns to follow."
"The Desire Tower focuses on the emotional connections between people. The Slaughter Tower focuses on combat skills, methods, and various sequence combinations."
"These are all researchable."
"But there's really no way to research the Deceit Tower. Do you have any confidence that you can survive next time? Do your previous experiences have any use in the next Deceit Tower?"
Indeed.
Wen Xishu truly had no confidence, and he couldn't predict the next Deceit Tower's mission at all.
As for the Desire Tower, the changes in human emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, could be traced.
The Slaughter Tower was the same, heed details like fur density for fire, body size for gate vulnerability, wideness for movement vulnerability, and heavy armor for thunder vulnerability; combat rules could be summarized.
But strangeness is strange because it cannot be summarized into rules.
Wen Xishu said:
"Since Three Towers Academy has no Deceit Tower Academy, and I specialize in the Deceit Tower..."
"How do you plan to arrange me? Do I go to the Slaughter Tower Academy or the Desire Tower Academy?"
Albert smiled but said nothing.