Chapter 6: Tell You Something Unpleasant
"Mister, what's your name? Our team leader is on the phone right now, telling us to take good care of you and not to neglect you.
Fortunately, the two of them were the first to greet him.
Wang Wen relaxed and nodded. "You're welcome. Just tell me to sell the information. "
"Okay, mister."
One of the tall men reached out and shook his hand. "Don't worry. We're not going to limit your freedom. We just want to make sure you are not bothered by irrelevant outsiders before the team leader finishes his call."
He was afraid of being intercepted by someone with ulterior motives.
Wang Wen smiled to show his understanding.
On the other hand, Luo Shan, hiding in the crowd and making a phone call quietly, patiently waited for the voice on the other end of the phone to stop.
The First Consortium's intelligence department was divided into three teams—upper, middle, and lower. The lower team was in charge of collecting and trading information on the spot, the middle team was in charge of checking and analyzing the information, and the upper team was in charge of deducing and testing the information.
After receiving a call from Luo Shan, the middle team convened an emergency meeting to discuss the significance of that piece of information.
The World Tower's 69th floor was relatively special.
It was the gas chamber!
The gas would be released the moment someone entered the floor. As the concentration increased, different degrees of damage would occur—coughing, dizziness, suffocation, shock, and, finally, death.
Holding one's breath or simply filtering will have some effect, but that level was always a race against time if one was without an oxygen mask or protective clothing.
Death was only a matter of time if there was no faster way to unlock the mechanism and progress to the next level.
That was why the 69th level was known as the Harvester of Life.
So far, the fastest time to unlock all the mechanisms had been eight minutes, the final plan refined over and over again from the three-arrow trap approach by countless generations.
Later, tower climbers focused solely on surviving those eight minutes.
Nobody considered changing the plan.
The existing strategy was the best way to begin from the three-arrow trap.
There was no faster way.
Unless they gave up on the most straightforward trap, the three-arrow trap, and studied other more complicated routes.
That way, countless lives would be spared.
Furthermore, no one dared to pat their chest and say there must be a faster route than the three-arrow trap.
What if countless people died and finally discovered it was just a trial and error attempt?
That was not the same as counting decimal points to prove that a circle did not exist. It would be nothing more than a circle transforming into a polygon if it were sent to the end of a cycle.
If the route beyond the three-arrow trap proved not to exist, then the people who died...
That was a terrifying proposition.
Initially, there had been no way out, so everyone could only brace themselves to find a way out.
Then, there was a way out. Who would waste their lives trying to find another way out?
Even if that route was a little easier?
The 69th floor was not so difficult.
Eight minutes was enough. It was just enough to test the strength of each tower climber. If someone could not withstand it, they just had to stay below the 69th floor.
Other tower climbers would conquer the upper levels.
However...
Then...
Someone said they had information to deal with the mechanism on the 69th floor quicker.
If that was true, how much was the information worth?
The people in the middle team discussed it for a long time, but they still could not decide.
That information was probably worth a lot of money because of its rarity or difficulty.
However, it was only information for a floor below the 100th floor.
No matter how precious it was, there was a limit.
It could not be more expensive than information on the 400th or 500th floor, right?
The most they could do with that kind of information was to train more low-level personnel to climb the tower.
Those high-level tower climbers were unquestionably the most valuable ones.
A 100 millionth floor could never compare to the 700th floor!
Luo Shan held the phone and listened to the voice on the other end, his heart burning with anxiety.
He did not know what the guys from the middle team were fighting. He only knew that if they did not set the price soon, the trade might fail!
Many intelligence hunters in the square had always been drawn to the members of the First Consortium.
The young man could see through his identity, and the group of sharp-eyed guys outside could also see it.
If there were no movement, it would not be a big deal. However, he and the young man exchanged a few words before he made that phone call. A discerning person could tell at a glance that they had encountered something good.
Many self-proclaimed powerful organizations liked to intercept the First Consortium's potential trades.
Someone else would approach that young man soon.
The people he had sent would not be able to delay for long.
He could not wait any longer!
Luo Shan did not have the time to listen to the middle team's analysis. He immediately turned around and walked toward Wang Wen. Wang Wen listened attentively when he pulled the young man's arm and said softly, "I will give you 5,000 points to buy that piece of information from you! It's the highest price we reserved for information about the 100th floor."
He thought that that was a show of sincerity.
After all, it was only a piece of information for the 69th floor. It should be enough!
After Wang Wen heard that, he looked at him with a strange expression. "Is that the First Consortium's final offer?"
Luo Shan shook his head. He felt that there was no need to argue about that. He smiled and said, "That was my personal offer to you. Why? Do you think it's too little?"
Wang Wen could not help but laugh. He raised his eyebrows. Out of pure kindness, he said, "It's not a problem. I still have time to wait. You'd better go back and discuss this with your boss. Don't be stubborn."
"There is no need to discuss anything!"
Luo Shan finally became impatient. He waved his hand and interrupted Wang Wen. "We've wasted too much time. I have 5,000 points if you're willing to sell it. Otherwise, don't—"
"Are you sure?" Wang Wen interrupted him.
When Luo Shan approached him, he smiled like a shrewd weasel. "Young man, you can't be too greedy. How much do you want for it? 8,000? 10,000 points? I can tell you something unpleasant. Even if I don't offer a single point for it, I already know it's the five-finger diagram. If we test it, won't it be free? Why should I waste anything on you?"
Wang Wen was shocked. "Big Brother, shouldn't you have some class?"
"What?"
Luo Shan could not beat around the bush.
"Thirteen mechanisms. Even if you know the five-finger diagram, there are still hundreds of millions of ways to arrange it. How many lives do you plan to use to try it?" Wang Wen suddenly felt sorry for Luo Shan.
He could tell Luo Shan did not know the true value of that information.
If it were not for the fact that he was short of money and needed to sell the information urgently, and because of his old employer, he did not need to waste time talking to Luo Shan. He would just disclose the information to the public and let the highest bidder get it.
Such information was not considered high-level, but it was very practical. Any organization would snatch it if it were on a small scale.
Any information on levels within the first hundred floors would not affect one's life. After all, it was something that could be bought with money.
Wang Wen paused for a moment before patiently disclosing some information to Luo Shan. "It is not incorrect to switch from the three-arrow trap to the five-finger diagram. Furthermore, I guarantee that taking that route will save you at least three minutes!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Aiya, what the hell were you?" Luo Shan was still discussing the previous topic when he became aware of a common problem. "What did you say? Reduce three minutes? Are you saying that the disordered mechanisms on the 69th floor only needed five minutes to be solved?"
Wang Wen shrugged and looked at him.
Luo Shan opened his mouth and made a gurgling sound from the back of his throat. Then he took the phone in his hand and said to the person on the other end of the line, "He said that the new route only takes five minutes."
The chaos on the phone suddenly quieted down.
Then, a deep voice on the phone said, "Wait a moment. The team leader will head there personally. You're in the main square, right?"