Chapter 179 Where Happiness and Pain Are Entangled

After passing through the portal, when Wen Xishu appeared again, he had returned to the auction site.

There were still quite a few people left at the auction. Although the auction had ended, many people had not left.

For example, there was Reina who was full of hatred towards Wen Xishu, the boy who had lost his perception ability, and Yoshida Daitake who had half a head.

“Why did you come back?” asked Yoshida Daitake.

“What’s going on?” asked Tanaka Shotasu, who had lost his eyes.

“Oh, you couldn’t bear the pain, so you gave up? Or were you scared after seeing the man cave?” Reina asked sarcastically.

Wen Xishu didn’t care about everyone’s gaze, he just realized…

Time must not have passed very quickly, otherwise this group of people would not have reacted like this.

It seems that although a very long time has passed in the human cave, in fact, the time in the strange tower has not fluctuated much.

“This is very interesting. This way, at least I don’t have to worry about exploring too many man caves and running out of time.”

Wen Xishu thought about it and looked at Xu 04:

“Where is your curator?”

Void04 said, “Go inside. Keep walking along this path until you lose your senses and you will see the curator.”

Xu04 stretched out his hand and pointed the direction for Wen Xishu. It was a safe passage.

All the employees of the auction appeared from that passage.

Whether it is Xu 04, the auctioneer responsible for introducing the items, or other staff of the Pain Auction.

Seeing Xishu walking towards the safe passage, some people who were still staying at the auction were even more confused.

Fortunately, at this time, Xu04 said:

“Just now the warriors have successfully destroyed a man cave.”

“He seems to be in the man cave and has encountered some problems, so he needs to consult the curator. The curator also agreed to his request.”

Xu04 always speaks with a smile, like a waiter with excellent service awareness.

But as she finished her words, there was silence all around.

Tanaka Shotasu, who lost his eyes, looked surprised even without them because his mouth was too wide open.

Even Reina, who had been cursing Wen Xishu, was the same.

Everyone in the field was shocked by the result.

“The man cave… was destroyed? In less than two hours?”

Many people do not leave the auction because the auction itself is a relatively safe place.

The demons in Hujiang are rampant, and Rendong Village is just an area in the huge Hujiang River.

Before this, Rendong Village was called District 19.

There are a total of 22 areas in Toe, and it can be said that each area has its own ghost story.

So even after the auction is over, everyone feels that this place can be used as a base.

Collecting pain, showing pain, and conquering man caves are the fate of the people in Districts 19 and 20.

Because if they don’t do this, when the curse appears next time, many of them will also become man caves. There is no escape.

But so far, many rare items have appeared at the pain auction, and many people have gained superpowers because of pain.

But no matter how rare the item is, no matter how rare the superpower is –

No one who entered the man cave has ever survived.

So when they suddenly heard that Wen Xishu had created a human hole, everyone was shocked.

Yoshida Dawu wanted to see Wen Xishu the most at this moment. He was very curious about the man hole that Wen Xishu had opened…

Is it the man cave of his grandson, Yoshida Koki?

If so, what did he go through in the man cave?
……

……

Wen Xishu couldn’t answer the question asked by the half-headed old man Yoshida Daitake for the time being.

Because Wen Xishu was walking towards the deepest part of the Pain Auction.

Originally, the light in the safe passage was green.

Wen Xishu also met a lot of people, such as cleaning staff, auctioneer No. 1, auctioneer No. 2, and auctioneer No. 3.

For example, virtual 01, virtual 02, virtual 03…

There are quite a few staff members at the Pain Auction, and there are even security guards to prevent robbery – Town 01, Town 02, Town 03, etc.

These people seem to accept their weird names.

They look like humans…but they are somewhat different from real humans.

To Wen Xishu, Xu 04 felt like an… artificial intelligence doll.

But these people soon disappeared.

The light of the safety passage turned red. Wen Xishu suddenly felt the surroundings become quiet.

“Why does this passage feel like a back room…”

Wen Xishu had been walking along the red channel for fifteen minutes.

The environment is constantly changing, without repetition. There are also some strange graffiti on both sides of the passage.

He was a little surprised, wondering if some kind of sequence power was used here to make the spatial structure complicated.

Otherwise, how big can an auction hall be?

Gradually, Wen Xishu found that his perception ability was beginning to weaken.

Even though he had swallowed Arnold’s finger, he could clearly feel that his perception was becoming slower.

Vision, touch, smell, everything began to become dull.

Even the most miraculous spiritual perception was suppressed.

The red light, visible to the naked eye, began to turn dark.

It’s getting darker and darker.

Finally, he seemed to come to a place where there was only darkness.

At the same time, Wen Xishu heard the sound.

“Hello, warrior.”

The sound has obviously been processed.

Wen Xishu said:
“Are you the curator of the auction?”

“Yes. I am the curator of the auction.” The curator’s voice was a mixture of multiple voices, but it still sounded hoarse.

Wen Xishu said:
“Is it necessary to be so mysterious?”

“I’m sorry, my identity is quite special, so I can’t expose myself. Once I’m discovered, I will most likely be hunted down,” said the curator.

Wen Xishu had formed a certain judgment about the curator in his heart.

He suddenly wanted to blurt out the curator’s true identity.

But considering that the other party might have a stress reaction and he couldn’t figure out the other party’s strength, Wen Xishu did not give the answer.

The Destroyer.

“Okay, I respect your idea.” Wen Xishu nodded.

The curator said:

“What do you need to know? Since you can come in, it means you have already broken into the first manhole.”

Wen Xishu nodded:

“I hope to know the secret of the Man Cave Village. Of course, I can also tell you how I broke into the Man Cave.”

The curator sighed:
“If you have a deep connection with that place, you will be cursed… I just hope to find someone to destroy the man cave. But I don’t know the internal structure of the man cave.”

“I don’t want to know either. So please don’t tell me how you survived from the man cave.”

Wen Xishu didn’t expect that the curator’s answer would be like this.

He remained skeptical about the authenticity of this statement and continued to ask:
“But you must know something about Mandong Village, right?”

The curator said:

“Yes, that place is the original Tojiang 19th District. It is a relatively backward area, completely different from the 20th District.”

“But the people in that place are all very successful and happy.”

“You only need to know one thing… everyone who comes out of District 19 is an elite, a winner.”

“Everyone there is a winner in life in people’s eyes.”

“Either you have an appearance that is so perfect that it makes people feel inferior, or you have wisdom that is so perfect that makes people feel their own ignorance.”

“Either they have incredible wealth, incredible luck… and of course, everyone is healthy.”

“It is said that in District 19 there is something that can make people happy!”

The curator’s words shocked Wen Xishu.

Although he knew that the theme of Rendong Village was related to happiness…

But isn’t it a bit too outrageous that in a place where everyone is happy?

“You seem to be holding something in your hand that I have never seen before.” The curator said.

In the absolute darkness, after Wen Xishu’s perception was deprived, he could not see the curator’s appearance…

But it was clear that the curator could see him.

Wen Xishu said:
“This is unfortunate. If you need me to help you break the curse of Mandong Village, then you must know something. Some causes and effects cannot be avoided.”

When the curator heard the word “unfortunate”, he was obviously surprised.

“Misfortune? Is this what you brought out of the man cave?” “Could it be that the condition for leaving the man cave is to collect misfortune? Collect enough misfortune… maybe you can enter the black vortex?”

The curator is very smart.

Wen Xishu said:
“Yes, digging out misery from an absolutely happy life. I think this is also a kind of key to the ultimate place.”

This sentence seems to have made everything clear.

The curator thought for a while and then said:
“I see. It seems this isn’t difficult for you.”

Wen Xishu shook his head:
“If I were to rate the danger of the holes, I’d give them a 10 out of 10.”

“If you’re interested, I can tell you the details of the man cave.”

The curator quickly stopped him:

“No, I don’t need to know. I’m already in so much pain. But even in so much pain, I long to live. I don’t want to die.”

Wen Xishu has almost concluded that this curator is a Honkai Impact 3rd.

He became more and more curious.

A Honkai Impactor who is afraid of death?
Doesn’t the death of a Honkai Impact 3rd start a new journey?

“What do you need me to do for you?” the curator asked again.

Wen Xishu said:
“Does the happiness of Rendong Village come from some supernatural power? You just need to answer yes or no.”

The curator said, “Yes.”

Wen Xishu asked again:
“Isn’t there a little boy in Rendong Village? He’s wearing a white kimono and has curly hair. He looks like a…little angel.”

The curator said:

“No. Neither yes nor no, I just don’t know. I know very little about the Mandong Village.”

Wen Xishu changed the subject:

“In other words, you don’t belong in District 19.”

“Yes, the people who originally belonged to District 19… have all been turned into man caves, surrounded by those floating ruins.” said the curator.

Wen Xishu nodded:

“So you belong to District 20?”

The curator fell silent again, but finally said:
“Yes, I belong to District 20. I should be a very happy person, I should be carefree. What I have to do every day is to make myself happy.”

Wen Xishu seemed to hear a hint of hatred in the voice.

Indeed, what the Honkaiju do every day is to play tricks on others. They are trapped in a cycle, repeating themselves over and over again, constantly creating accidents.

It’s really worry-free.

“But now…I am the one receiving all the pain!”

“All the pain you’ve endured, I will endure again as the curator of the Pain Auction!”

“I am in pain, very painful! But my pain is destined to serve others!”

The curator stood up visibly.

Wen Xishu’s sense of smell was infinitely weakened, so he could not smell the stench of flesh and blood rotting, then constantly regenerating, rotting, and then constantly regenerating.

But his hearing was not weakened, he heard it, when the curator stood up –

The sound of flesh and blood tearing apart.

“My identity has been fixed. I have become the curator of the Pain Auction. I have been given a mission to endure the pain that everyone has experienced, so that there will always be items with pain themes at the auction.”

“Our entire District 20! Is cursed!”

It was obvious that Wen Xishu could hear the director’s anger and humiliation.

“We have lost all our wealth. The only thing we can rely on is pain. All of us in District 20 are destined to live with pain for the rest of our lives. If one day we no longer feel pain, it means that we have lost our value!”

“but me!”

“It hurts the most out of everyone!”

The curator became so excited that he almost roared as he spoke these words.

“The pain you endured in order to win the items at the auction will happen to me again!”

“That bastard actually poked his own eyes out! And Hollow 04, how many times have I told her not to commit seppuku in the auction? But she never listened!”

Wen Xishu said:
“So why did District 20 become like this? Since you don’t know about the Rendong Village in District 19, then as a native of District 20, you should know something about the problems in District 20, right?”

Wen Xishu guessed that all this was related to the fusion of the Great Devouring vortex.

But the vortex fusion…is it possible that the root cause lies in the world of obsession?
Maybe it wasn’t because of the fusion of the vortex in the Great Devouring that caused the two areas to merge…

But it was because of the fusion of the two areas that caused the two whirlpools in the Great Devouring to merge?

Because one is in the 19th district and the other is in the 20th district, it seems that the two areas are very close.

One area is filled with happiness, and the other is filled with misery.

Is it possible that the two sources of happiness and pain…

Trying to merge?

The curator said:

“How could I know? I only know that suddenly one day, the end of the world came!”

“So many demons and monsters are starting to appear in Toe… The people in District 20 can only hide.”

“But gradually, people discovered that they could gain strength by making themselves miserable.”

“The most outrageous one…is me.”

“I don’t know why, but I was chosen as the curator of the Pain Auction.”

“When others endure pain, at least they gain something from it. They can gain strength from the pain.”

“But I am not… I take the pain and just inject it into the container. The more pain I inject, the better the items that appear in the auction.”

It is indeed rare to see Honkai Impact 3rd played like this.

Of course, Wen Xishu was just guessing that the curator was a Honkai Impact 3rd.

He was 99% sure.

But we cannot rule out the possibility that the curator is not a Honkai Impact 3rd.

Wen Xishu said:
“So, even when the pain rules of District 20 come, you can’t provide any clues?”

“Even if you are completely different from others, others may suffer but gain something, while you may suffer but you can only pay…”

“You are obviously being targeted by the creator of the rules, but you want to tell me that you have no idea?”

The curator’s attitude was firm:
“Of course, I have no idea. If you want to ask me why I am so special and targeted…”

“I think I might be able to tell you one of my guesses.”

Wen Xishu said:
“What guess?”

The curator said:

“My mission. I don’t know when a mission was implanted in me.”

“Only by accomplishing this mission can I leave here and get rid of my identity as the curator.”

Wen Xishu said:
“This mission…could it be related to the man cave?”

The curator nodded:
“Yes, it’s related to the man caves. As long as all the man caves are destroyed, I can be free again.”

“You don’t need to know the reason. I don’t know the reason myself…”

“You are a warrior. You come from an area that doesn’t belong to us, so… warrior, great warrior!”

“Hopefully you can disintegrate the man cave.”

“There is a theory that you can refer to. I reiterate that these are all speculations. They are not necessarily the truth.”

“And I don’t know any truth.”

Wen Xishu became interested and said:

“What do you mean? Please tell me.”

The curator said slowly:

“Everyone in Rendong Village is very happy, but their misfortune has been absorbed by people outside Rendong Village.”

“That’s why our region is in such pain. We are all paying off the debt owed to Rendong Village!”

“We have to eliminate the man caves!”

Wen Xishu is the kind of person who will complete a mission once he receives one, and he likes to explore the stories behind the missions himself.

He also tried asking NPCs to learn about the story… He enjoyed the feeling of piecing together fragmented information.

But if an NPC directly gave a long paragraph of information and showed a strong sense of justice and mission——

This would make Wen Xishu feel very uncomfortable.

In particular, Wen Xishu guessed that this curator was most likely a “Honkai Impact 3rd”.

After hearing the words “We must eliminate the man cave”, he felt…

There must be some kind of evil in Rendong Village, but is it really related to your District 20?
You, District 20, are really innocent for being subjected to the painful rules you have today?
Of course, Wen Xishu still said:

“Okay, I get it. It’s time to end our conversation. Finally, if I want to collect misfortunes as quickly as possible…which man cave should I choose?”

The curator thought for a moment and said:

“Deep. I can only tell you to go to the depths of Rendong Village… to the deepest part of District 19. You may be able to uncover the secret there.”

Wen Xishu thought to himself, it seems like you know a lot.

Are you just hiding it on purpose?
He did not show it, and asked again:
“Is there a way for me to always remain myself?”

This is the most critical issue. As long as this issue is resolved, the man cave will no longer be a threat, and the truth… will inevitably be revealed.

(End of this chapter)