Chapter 250: Brothers (Part 6)
Chapter 250 Brothers (Part 6)
"Heh... Heh-heh..." Feng Bu Jue's lips twitched as he pulled the magnet from his pocket and held it near the small hole. The size matched perfectly.
He cautiously inserted the magnet into the opening. When about a third of it had gone in, a powerful magnetic force suddenly yanked it forward, sucking the entire piece inside. The next second, the safe clicked open.
So this tiny vault didn't require a password at all. The lock on its front was merely a decoy. The real mechanism was triggered by the hidden magnetic ore inside the small hole. This safe's construction was 80% ordinary metal, but the section around the hole contained high-density magnetic ore with a built-in locking wedge. The only artifact capable of disengaging this mechanism was precisely that magnet segment.
"Changing the puzzle-solving rules constantly, huh... Clever", Feng Bu Jue muttered. Though slightly annoyed, he quickly regained composure. Just because the outer safe used a password didn't mean the inner vault would follow the same logic. He could only blame himself for falling into the trap of conventional thinking.
Feng Bu Jue retrieved the [Cell Door Key to Basement Level 1F] from the small safe before leaving Cell Six and heading toward the staircase leading upward.
As he opened the black iron-barred door, the key vanished. At that moment, the system prompt activated: [Current task completed. Main quest updated.]
The task "Explore Basement Level 2F and open the upper passage door" was checked off, replaced by new instructions: [Proceed to Ground Floor 1F].
"Hmm?" Feng Bu Jue felt something odd about this new task. Logically, it should have read "Explore Basement Level 1F and find a way to the surface", yet the current directive was surprisingly simple - as if...
"Could it really be this straightforward?" he wondered aloud.
Gripping the rusted iron bar (which had reverted to tattered quality), he cautiously advanced along Basement Level 1F's corridor. This floor mirrored Level 2F's layout - six cells arranged three on each side near the staircase. However, these iron doors differed from those below. No food slots or small iron windows adorned them, nor were there painted numbers. These six iron doors were solid slabs of metal with only keyholes and handles visible. Their thickness remained uncertain, and no clues about the interior could be discerned from outside.
Testing each door proved futile - all were locked, and no sounds emerged when he pressed his ear against them. He mused, "It's unlikely this entire level is just decoration. That means... I'll probably have to return here later."
Lost in thought, he reached the corridor's far end where an upward staircase awaited. Calculating based on his stride length, he determined the staircase directly above corresponded to Cell Zero. However, this calculation only confirmed the equal corridor lengths between Basement Levels 1F and 2F - seemingly insignificant.
The staircase before him was made of decaying wood, its steps stained with pungent residues. The odors originated from spilled food, excrement, or perhaps blood and bodily fluids from people dragged up and down these steps. Combined, they created a nauseating stench that wasn't overpowering but still repulsive.
Feng Bu Jue ascended the staircase, turned at the landing, and faced a wooden door. He reached out, cautiously turned the handle, and the door opened smoothly.
Beyond lay Ground Floor 1F. From the staircase, he could see a storage room-like space with brick-and-timber walls. Bulging burlap sacks lined the floor, while three rows of round wooden wine barrels occupied one wall.
Surprisingly, this room was dimmer than the basement levels. The sole light source was a kerosene lamp resting atop the wine barrels. Feng Bu Jue naturally hesitated before entering this shadowy environment. First, he extended his iron bar into the room, tapping carefully in all directions to confirm no physical-contact traps existed before stepping through.
[Current task completed. Main quest updated.] The system prompt activated again, revealing a new directive: [Explore Ground Floor 1F. Retrieve the red, yellow, blue, black, white, and gray keys, then return to Basement Level 1F to unlock the six iron doors.]
Feng Bu Jue glanced at the new task before continuing forward. His first action was retrieving the kerosene lamp - acquiring a light source was critical without flashlights available.
He had barely taken three meters forward when suddenly - Bang! The door behind him slammed shut.
Feng Bu Jue spun around, seeing only the closed door and his shadow on the wall. He listened cautiously for over ten seconds, but only suffocating silence remained.
At this moment, he decisively activated his adamantine bell's "Death Warning" special effect. For the next five minutes, any hostile force threatening his life would trigger the bell's reaction.
Twenty seconds passed with no sound from the bell.
"Hmph... What's going on?" he muttered. "This place has no breeze, and the door couldn't possibly have spring-loaded hinges... How did it close without external force?"
A normal person with fear would hesitate under these circumstances. But Feng Bu Jue wasn't ordinary. Even if a ghostly face suddenly appeared behind the door, his Terror Value wouldn't budge. He only concerned himself with threats to his vitality, ignoring terror entirely.
As long as the adamantine bell remained silent, he felt no fear. Striding forward, he reached for the door - only to hear the system prompt: [This door has been sealed by special forces. Only those possessing the six-colored keys may open it.]
"Oh... So the system locked it." He exhaled in relief, immediately understanding the message. This door closure prevented players from returning to the basement with only one or two keys, disrupting the game's progression.
"Good. While the death warning effect remains active, I'll scout ahead first." With this thought, he retrieved the kerosene lamp, placed the iron bar on the ground, and quickly approached another door in the room.
Pushing it open revealed a pitch-black corridor where the kerosene lamp's glow barely reached. Incidentally, the lamp's description noted: [Don't question how long it will burn - it will extinguish when the time comes.]
Unlike the basement levels, Ground Floor 1F primarily consisted of brick-and-timber construction with multiple rooms, winding corridors, and furniture - resembling an ordinary residence.
"A mad scientist building a dungeon beneath his home..." Feng Bu Jue mused. "Perhaps only the six cells on Basement Level 2F were for holding prisoners, while Basement Level 1F served as some laboratory?"
Holding the kerosene lamp, he sidled forward. To maximize the death warning's protection, he temporarily avoided detailed exploration. Instead, he quickly moved through corridors, opening each room's door, briefly entering before exiting to the next.
During this process, the floor's overwhelming stench left the strongest impression. For unknown reasons, the air here felt worse than the basement cells - as if the house stood between a slaughterhouse and chemical plant with windows permanently open.
After spending over three minutes checking every room on this floor without the adamantine bell ringing, Feng Bu Jue concluded: While not absolute safety, at least no immediate danger existed from simply moving through the mansion until triggering new flags.
After thoroughly exploring this floor, Feng Bu Jue found two impassable locations.
The first was the staircase leading to the second floor, completely blocked by a massive meat wall. Yes, a grotesque wall of flesh. It resembled a colossal meatball formed from countless corpses' flesh, fused together by some unknown force into a solid barrier sealing the staircase.
Since the adamantine bell hadn't rung, Feng Bu Jue carelessly approached the fleshy mass, even poking it with his finger. At that moment, the system voice warned: [Sorcery-controlled barrier. Appears to be constructed from accumulated corpse flesh.]
The second impassable location was the exit door of this room, accessible via the corridor. Though it appeared to be an ordinary wooden door, touching the handle triggered the system prompt: [Unopenable].
These three words were likely the most common notification players encountered when facing doors in horror puzzle-solving games. Even Feng Bu Jue had long since stopped caring to complain about it.
"Ah... It's already been an hour and a half since entering this scenario." After exhausting the death warning's time limit, Feng Bu Jue respawned in the storage room connecting the basement levels. "Feels like I haven't even completed half the game yet..." he muttered, already beginning his search anew.
He spent five minutes scouring the storage room but found no useful items. Dust and cobwebs filled every corner, while sand-filled burlap sacks lined the walls. Every wine barrel in the rows against the wall was empty.
Initial observation confirmed there was no key in this storage room. Even if one existed, it would be hidden in an inaccessible location under normal conditions, requiring clues to uncover.
Feng Bu Jue then returned to the first-floor corridor with his kerosene lamp, heading toward the next room.
The adjacent study room had carpeting on its floor. But this was no ordinary carpet. To describe it vividly... it was as if the loom that wove it had cursed the creation itself. As Feng Bu Jue stepped on it, the material felt plant-like, having degenerated into lush, thriving lichen nourished by the fetid air, spreading like moss across the floor.
On the left wall near the entrance were two niches, their decorative contents long vanished. If flowers had once graced these alcoves, they had perished in the polluted atmosphere. If saints' effigies had been displayed, their holy figures had likely been dragged into some malevolent abyss beneath the house by devils lurking in the darkness.
Feng Bu Jue approached the window and pulled the curtain aside. Through the glass, he could only see thick, impenetrable darkness. Even raising the kerosene lamp to the pane proved useless. Attempts to open the window failed, and striking the glass with a pipe wrench only left his hands numb from the vibration.
Pressing his face against the windowsill, he sniffed. Unfortunately, no outside air seeped in—only the damp, moldy stench of the mansion itself, reminiscent of oilcloth and decaying wood.
"Looks like escaping through the window is impossible", Feng Bu Jue muttered, walking toward the desk at the room's center.
The desk was in disarray, clutter scattered haphazardly. He picked up each object, checking their attributes, but all were worthless trash.
Only one drawer remained closed—the others had been yanked out and lay scattered on the floor, their contents of papers strewn across the corners and beneath the desk. A fallen inkwell had spilled its contents, leaving dark stains on nearby papers and an explosive splatter of ink on the carpet.
Opening the last drawer, Feng Bu Jue found a magnifying glass. He chuckled immediately: "Heh... If I had a pipe to go with this, I'd really look the part."
Most people his age would consider such a pose either outdated or a textbook case of middle school syndrome. But Feng Bu Jue firmly believed that holding a magnifying glass while smoking a pipe was undeniably cool—a romanticism uniquely his own.
Now invigorated, Feng Bu Jue held the kerosene lamp in one hand and the magnifying glass in the other, turning toward a bookshelf lining one wall of the study room. The shelves groaned under the weight of countless books—an irresistible treasure trove for Feng Bu Jue.
This scenario had no time limit. If uninterrupted, Feng Bu Jue could conceivably spend hours reading every volume. The only thing that could stop him was the Gaming Pod's connection time limit, which would forcibly log him out once his real-world nerve connection time expired.
Fortunately, the system had implemented a clever restriction—99% of the books were untranslated. Not only were they untranslated, but the text itself blurred into illegibility. Every book's contents, including titles on covers and spines, appeared as indistinct smudges.
This frustrated Feng Bu Jue greatly, as he had a particular interest in deciphering codes. Ever since reading "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" in Sherlock Holmes during elementary school, he'd spent at least six months obsessed with cryptography puzzles involving letter patterns. The text in this scenario bore a striking resemblance to English, giving him high hopes to crack this world's linguistic code. Now, those hopes were dashed.
Of course, 1% of the books had been conveniently translated by the system—intended clues for players.
"Advanced Alchemy..." Feng Bu Jue read the title of a navy-blue bound book. "Hmm... Why would they want me to read this?" As the words left his mouth, a paper slipped from the pages.
Bending down to retrieve the slip, he held it under artificial light, only then realizing it wasn't paper at all—it was a faded photograph.
The yellowed photograph, already monochrome, blended its borders and center into a uniform gray. In the image, two boys of about ten years old stood side by side, grinning foolishly at the camera. The shorter boy on the left had his hand playfully pressed against the taller boy's head. Even through the photograph, Feng Bu Jue could almost feel their innocent joy.
He stared at the photograph for several seconds, unaware that something unexpected was about to happen.
The next moment, he was suddenly pulled back into the state he'd experienced while watching the opening CG. A faded scene materialized before his eyes—no longer purely black and white, but still washed out.
A grassy field. A pasture. Sparse fences. Cattle and horses leisurely grazing. A sheepdog darting across the landscape. The peaceful scene panned sideways, revealing a barn. Nearby, not far from the barn, stood a two-story house.
Feng Bu Jue had no doubt this was the very mansion he occupied. Though he'd only spent three minutes exploring the first floor, those seemingly casual wanderings had gathered an immense amount of information.
He'd already estimated the house's area, counted windows and doors, mentally constructed the entire first-floor layout, and analyzed whether the basement corridors overlapped with rooms above. He'd even considered the possibility of hidden chambers within the walls.
In short, the mansion's first-floor blueprint was already etched into his mind. So when he saw the mansion's external contours in this vision, he immediately made the connection.
Laughter. Children's laughter.
The scene didn't cut inside the house as Feng Bu Jue expected. Instead, it panned sideways to a nearby lawn. There stood a swing, occupied by a blond boy. A woman—presumably his mother—pushed him gently. The boy's joyous laughter filled the air as his mother's face radiated happiness.
Nearby, under a tree, sat another boy with brown hair. He held a book with a navy-blue cover—clearly the same copy of Advanced Alchemy Feng Bu Jue had just found.
"Arthur, won't you come play for a while?" the mother turned, addressing the boy under the tree.
Feng Bu Jue never heard the tree-sitting boy's response—the vision ended abruptly. He returned to the study room, game controls restored.
"Hmm... Could it be..." Feng Bu Jue's first reaction after watching the CG was to grab his own hair in frustration.
(End of Chapter)
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