Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

(The story takes place in a purely fantastical and fictional world, the era is unknown and cannot be verified, and there is no connection to reality.)

Outside the tower. Unknown region.

The scorching ground forced Bai Wu to open his eyes.

He lay on his back, looking puzzled. More than the burning pain on his skin, he was concerned about the sky.

As he stared up, a strange dialogue box appeared in his vision.

[Stop looking at the sky, the temperature is fifty-nine degrees and rising by 0.2 degrees per minute. You're already medium-rare, I suggest sprinkling some cumin for a better flavor.]

Sss...

Throbbing pain shot through his brain.

Bai Wu got up, his palms, like other parts of his body, burned by the sun-scorched ground.

Under the searing heat, everything in his vision seemed to twinkle behind a thin veil of autumn water, slightly distorted.

When he focused on his palms, he saw another odd dialogue box.

[These pig trotters are so scorched they're falling apart, unable to rub out deoxyribose anymore, but of course, that's just temporary.]

What the hell?

Bai Wu's gaze shifted elsewhere, the scenery around him resembling the ruins of a city after an air strike.

Most buildings were long dilapidated, the ground pitted and uneven, and the so-called roads were mostly covered with debris on both sides with many strange plants growing in the crevices.

"What is this place?"

He looked towards a relatively intact building for about three seconds:

[A public restroom not used for seven hundred years, with a danger rating of three and a half stars. The Evil Fallen inside are moderately deformed, and the flush toilets have long lost their function. I suggest you hold it or relieve yourself right there.]

Moderate deformations, danger rating... concepts not yet clear.

Are there creatures hiding in this toilet?

Despite the many question marks in his mind, Bai Wu remained calm.

"Even though I'm not sure what's real, the temperature around here alone is enough to confirm I'm in a very dangerous environment."

Then, he glanced at other ruins and rubble.

After several attempts, he was sure he could see some form of information.

Whenever his gaze rested on an object for two or three seconds, a strange dialogue box would pop up, likely a comment or an explanation, none too serious in style.

After some contemplation, Bai Wu roughly figured out what was going on—

He had traveled through time.

His usual calm expression finally changed, his last memory fit the atmosphere of time travel perfectly, but he was puzzled.

"I've time-traveled, so why am I wearing handcuffs? Have I become a criminal in this life?"

The last noise he remembered from his previous life was a gunshot, coming from the real culprit of a murder case.

Bai Wu was not a police officer but a detective hired to assist in the investigation, trusted by the police force for his precise profiling abilities.

Many perverse criminals were caught with Bai Wu's help, in the police's words, it takes a freak to catch a freak.

"Not satisfied with my dying once, you want me to die again?"

His hands could move within a certain range, the handcuffs were not like the police handcuffs from his past life that kept his hands inseparable; they seemed mainly designed not to restrain the hands.

He looked at his wrists for about three seconds:

[Some handcuffs just can't keep it straight, appearing as handcuffs, but actually serving as surveillance devices for the high nobility. You'd better not destroy it; what's pressing now is to find some cumin, or you'll burn to a crisp.]

Surveillance, nobility... it seems I've time-traveled to a very strange world, and my situation doesn't look good.

The temperature had risen to 60 degrees. Unlike many others, Bai Wu was not frantic or desperate.

Normal humans in this situation would certainly be unable to think clearly, finding themselves hopping around to avoid getting burned, a state of self-preservation.

Bai Wu could feel his nerves working throughout his body, constantly sending "it's hot, jump up, don't think for now" signals to his brain.

However, he didn't move, continuing to think steadily like an old dog contemplating the current situation.

"The human body can persist for an entire hour in an environment of 71°C; at 82°C, it can last for 49 minutes. I don't have much time, I need to find a less scorching environment within thirty minutes, or my efficiency will be severely compromised," Bai Wu mused.

In his previous life, he'd been considered a freak, partly because he could analyze problems calmly even in extremely painful situations.

Heaving a sigh, Bai Wu's eyes rapidly scanned his surroundings, and notes kept popping up.

He looked north.

[There's no water source that way. If you take this path, you'll surely die of dehydration halfway. The quality of the meat will be greatly reduced.]

He glanced east.

[There are two Evil Fallen hidden 1,600 meters away. A slide tackle executed in extreme rage might just feed them well.]

Then he looked south.

[Bingo! You've found a correct answer. There's a surprise in that direction. That phrase is so true, when in doubt, choose C.]

Bai Wu didn't question the bizarre notes he was seeing.

He didn't know why these notes were appearing in his vision, but given the current situation, he'd be dead within an hour even if he did nothing.

He might as well take a gamble.

To the south of the street was still a row of ruined rubble. Bai Wu walked while observing his surroundings and calculating how much longer he could hold out.

...

...

Inside the tower, the Fourth Level of the High Tower.

If it were a game character, the health bar reaching zero would mean falling down. As long it wasn't zero, in most games, characters could still jump around lively, even pull off a comeback with critical health.

But reality wasn't the same.

In reality, if a person was in what you might call a critical health state, their consciousness, physical strength, and ability to act would all greatly decline.

Thus, at this moment, on the Fourth Level of the High Tower, the aristocrats and dignitaries were wearing puzzled expressions.

"Hey, hey, hey, is this a scam? Why isn't he dead yet?"

"Wasn't it said that the blue zone is an extreme temperature world? Why doesn't he seem to be in any pain?"

"Is this really a blue door exit? Up to now, he's survived for dozens of minutes! Why aren't there any monsters? I want to see a huge Evil Fallen!"

"Couldn't the house have gotten a Talent User to pose as a slave? My god, he looks so calm!"

"An acting master? This is totally a white zone, I could do it too!"

No wonder the gamblers suspected the house was cheating. A bottom-tiered wretch who should have died quickly was not only still alive but even more composed than the slaves who had previously exited through the white door. This was too abnormal.

There were six doors leading out of the tower, each a different color.

The white door was relatively the safest among the six, where past slaves could struggle for a while.

Exiting through the blue door, however, sharply increased the difficulty of survival, leading to a more twisted and bizarre world.

They bet money not to watch some room escape wild survival, but to see someone helplessly die!

The gruesome sight of Evil Fallen tearing apart their prey was more exciting to these people than the results of winning or losing.

In the VIP seats, a beautiful woman wearing half a bronze mask furrowed her brows.

This time, the slave seemed somewhat special.

...

...

Bai Wu was indeed special.

The more extreme the environment, the clearer his mind remained. However, up to this point, he hadn't recovered any of the host's original memories.

"The quality of this transmigration is like shoddy construction. Was the host's brain dug out by Dave? There's not a single memory remaining," Bai Wu thought to himself.

With these thoughts, Bai Wu saw something ahead and suddenly quickened his pace, while using his eyes to confirm if it was an illusion.

[This isn't a mirage. You've indeed found a water source. Don't be surprised to see water in this kind of weather. The physical rules outside the tower aren't governed by Newton and company.]