Chapter 252: Brothers (Viii)
Chapter 252: Brothers (Viii)
Feng Bu Jue stared at the itembackground and said, "Though it feels a bit nonsensical, this must be some kind of clue." He rubbed his nose. "The Red Key is hidden in a red place. So, the yellow, blue, black, white, and gray keys must be hidden in places corresponding to their colors, right?"
He carefully put away the Key. His first thought was, "Don’t tell me the yellow one is buried in poop?" With this suspicion, he left the kitchen and headed toward the third room.
This room was across the corridor. It had only a small window sealed shut with wooden planks. While the other rooms’ windows also let in no light, this one felt especially gloomy.
The room reeked of fetid odor. A layer of dust coated the wide wooden floor. Feng Bu Jue had switched his gloves to detection mode, freeing one hand to cover his mouth and nose against the dust and stench.
The room was empty. Though faint traces of furniture remained near the walls and corners, it was impossible to discern the room’s original appearance.
Feng Bu Jue speculated that when the mansion owner first began his evil deeds, he hadn’t yet built a dedicated prison. This room had likely served as a temporary Cell. Now, with the basement levels’ facilities, the criminal operation had become "professional."
"The Black Key or Gray Key must be here", Feng Bu Jue mused.
Lantern in hand, he began a meticulous investigation. The emptiness of the room made it easier to search—walls, ceiling, floor, all visible at a glance. After circling the room, he quickly found a severely corroded section of the floor directly beneath the sealed window.
He squatted down, knocked the wooden plank twice with his fist, and heard a crack as it split. Reaching into the dark hole beneath the floor, he soon felt an item:
[Name: Black Key]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Permanently unlocks the Black Iron Door; disappears after use]
[Can be taken out of scenario]
[Background: Hidden in a pitch-black place]
"Something feels off… These keys in this task are all hidden so casually", Feng Bu Jue muttered. "Compared to those maddening puzzles underground, this is just testing patience and attention to detail."
The fourth room he visited was the foyer. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a room—it connected directly to the corridor, with no internal door. The only external door was the unopenable mansion entrance.
The foyer’s furniture lay scattered and broken. A Wall Clock hung on the wall, seemingly broken. Feng Bu Jue had noticed during his last pass that its hour and minute hands hadn’t moved.
He stood before the Wall Clock for a long time before suddenly muttering, "Could this… only look like a clock but actually track dates instead?"
He was again obsessing over the world’s logic. The Wall Clock clearly followed a 12-hour cycle, identical to real-world clocks. Yet he insisted on speculating that the twelve numbers and two hands represented a calendar.
After rummaging through the foyer without finding a key, he discovered another story item:
[Name: Feathered Leather Cap]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Unknown]
[Can be taken out of scenario: Yes]
[Background: A poorly crafted leather cap. Even adorned with a bright feather, its shoddy quality remains obvious]
"This is the fourth story item I can take out of the scenario", Feng Bu Jue remarked. "Soap, False Tooth, Perfume, Feathered Leather Cap… What does this mean?"
After leaving the foyer, he went to the last unexplored room on the first floor—the bathroom.
Whether due to the world’s skewed technology tree or system limitations, the lower floor had electric lights, but the upper floors only had kerosene lamps. The kitchen had a gas stove, yet used a chimney for ventilation. The bathroom had a flush toilet but no lightbulb. Beside the door stood a small table with an empty dish, its interior stained with residual wax.
"Going to the bathroom at night would require lighting a candle. How terrifying", Feng Bu Jue joked, closing the toilet lid and standing on it to test if the small window could open. "Oh, right—there’s no mirror here, so no horror to speak of." He tapped the frosted glass. It was sturdy, and the size was too small for him to crawl through.
"Alright, alright. Which one’s the White Key and Yellow Key?" Feng Bu Jue had already checked the toilet’s interior—only clean water. As he spoke, he opened the toilet tank.
Bang! The door behind him slammed shut.
"Again? What’s opening the tank supposed to trigger?" Feng Bu Jue quickly turned to open the door but found it immovable, as if someone outside was gripping the handle. Worse, no system prompt appeared.
"This time, not even a death warning… What’s going on?" Feng Bu Jue knew the nightmare-level difficulty was brutal. Instant-death flags were routine—even a wrong word to an Npc could mean instant death.
His previously relaxed nerves tensed. He prepared to use his skills at a moment’s notice. His vitality value had recovered to over 40%, but in a nightmare scenario, survival odds were always uncertain.
Step by step, Feng Bu Jue cautiously approached the toilet. His mind conjured possible horror scenes: the toilet suddenly transforming into a monster, its gaping maw biting him, or spewing something that would flood the bathroom. Either case would justify the "Horror" label.
Imagination aside, the reality was… nothing else happened.
He leaned closer to the tank. At the bottom, he found a key:
[Name: Blue Key]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Permanently unlocks the Blue Iron Door; disappears after use]
[Can be taken out of scenario]
[Background: Hidden in water]
"This changes the rules again… By this logic, the Red Key should’ve been hidden in fire?" Feng Bu Jue grumbled, pocketing the key.
His mind raced. He quickly realized why the door had shut. "I get it… There are six keys total. Three on the first floor, three on the second floor. When I found the last key on the first floor, the plot triggered. Something must happen now, and then I can go to the second floor."
"The foyer connects to the corridor, so there’s no key there. The kitchen, empty room, and bathroom all have doors. No matter which of these rooms I was in when finding the third key, I’d be locked inside." He analyzed further, "The question is… what will happen? When I’m locked in briefly, will the flesh mass blocking the second floor stairs move or disappear on its own?"
Patta, patta… A strange sound echoed through the corridor.
Feng Bu Jue’s expression shifted. He stepped forward, pressing his ear to the door.
Patta patta… patta patta… Something was moving rapidly across the wooden floor.
The sound grew faster, denser, as if a swarm of fat, cat-sized rats were surging down the corridor.
"Seriously?" Feng Bu Jue swallowed, imagining the fused flesh masses writhing and squeezing through the corridor. "Someone with a fear of crowds might already be shivering from this psychological horror." He said lightly, "But for me, this setting is…"
Bang Bang Bang!
"Hey! It’s knocking now!" Feng Bu Jue hadn’t finished speaking when the bathroom door was struck three times. The impact was high on the door panel. "Wait… this door doesn’t even lock…"
Indeed, the bathroom door had no lock. It could be opened by turning the handle. However, inside, there was a latch bolt that could be manually locked. But the latch wasn’t engaged now.
"Oh… I get it. The thing outside has no fingers to grip the handle." Feng Bu Jue muttered, sliding the latch shut. "Haha… Can’t get in now, can you?"
Bang Bang Bang Bang!
The thing outside rammed the door urgently, emitting muffled sounds: "Cough… cough… urgh…"
"Hey? Is it trying to negotiate with me?" Feng Bu Jue asked. "Hmm… No, probably just a monster’s growl."
The patta patta sounds resumed. The creature seemed to circle the room, then head toward the main entrance. It couldn’t open the door, and two minutes later, it returned to the bathroom door, ramming it again.
This time, its muffled sounds turned strange. Feng Bu Jue faintly detected a tone of sobbing and pleading.
"Something’s off…" Feng Bu Jue thought.
Suddenly, another sound emerged—ten clear, human footsteps. They came from the second floor staircase, approaching along the corridor.
The door-battering grew frantic. The thing outside roared.
Click. The bathroom door opened.
Feng Bu Jue opened it.
In the past minute, he’d naturally noticed the handle could turn again. He’d deduced this was a choice—a decision that might affect the scenario’s outcome.
The creature at the door was mostly human from the waist up, but lacked hair, fingers, tongue, and jaw. Below the waist, it connected to over a hundred "legs." Each leg was composed of human finger joints—about ten joints per leg, roughly the length of three fingers.
Seeing it, Feng Bu Jue said nothing. He silently stepped aside to observe its reaction. The creature swiftly darted past him, fleeing to the bathroom’s corner, trembling.
"Running for its life, huh…" Feng Bu Jue held the kerosene lamp, peering out to confirm the approaching footsteps’ source. "So… what does the real monster look like?"
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
