Chapter 324: Invading Brain Cells (24)
Chapter 324: Invading Brain Cells (24)
After over an hour of puzzle-solving, Ji Chang finally broke free from his memoryspace. The sudden burst of white light around him announced the environmental shift. Before he could fully adjust to the brightness, Qiu Feng’s voice cut through the air: “Looks like everyone’s here now.”
Ji Chang turned his head sharply, startled.
Right before him, a short sword pierced through Qiu Feng’s chest, pinning his body to the chair like a butterfly specimen. Blood still trickled from the wound.
“Don’t panic. He’s fine… for now,” Hong Hu said, his tone as calm as ever.
Ji Chang shifted his gaze to the other side.
Hong Hu wasn’t impaled, but his entire head was trapped inside a metallic cage—a cube slightly larger than his skull, with a circular opening at the bottom snugly fitted around his neck. The bizarre contraption resembled a permanent helmet, its grotesque design somehow comically absurd.
“What the hell is going on?” Ji Chang quickly took in the scene. He realized he was sitting at a round table scattered with strange cards. Six chairs surrounded the table—four occupied by players, two by unfamiliar figures.
The two Npcs—or bosses—looked unscathed and composed, but the players’ conditions were far worse.
“The task should’ve updated by now,” Feng Bu Jue remarked.
Indeed, Feng Bu Jue’s situation wasn’t ideal. His cheeks had been sliced open, leaving upward-curving wounds at both corners of his mouth, as if permanently etched with a grinning mask.
“You’re channeling the Joker’s madness, huh?” Ji Chang couldn’t help but comment.
His choice of “channeling” wasn’t random. Feng Bu Jue held a bloodstained folding knife, confirming this “smile” was self-inflicted.
“Hmph… call it whatever you want,” Feng Bu Jue replied with a cold chuckle.
The system prompt chimed in perfect timing: 【Current task completed, main quest updated】.
On the players’ task bars, the line 【All surviving players enter the "Reasoning Club"】 had finally been checked off.
As for 【Escape the memoryspace and return to the Seventh Floor of the "Testing Building"】—though every player shared this objective, it wasn’t a group task but four identical personal quests. Each player had completed theirs individually.
“Oh… so that’s how it works,” Feng Bu Jue mused, reading the new task flashing on his interface: 【Defeat Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty in the "Round Table Game"】. “This one’s definitely a tough nut to crack…”
“You’re complaining about difficulty while grinning like you’re enjoying this?” Qiu Feng deadpanned.
“Ha! Aren’t you having fun too?” Feng Bu Jue shot back.
“Where’s the fun? I’m still bleeding out here,” Qiu Feng retorted.
Feng Bu Jue shrugged. “Heh… Hong Hu seems the most comfortable.”
Hong Hu scowled through the bars. “I feel like I’ve already lost something irreplaceable wearing this iron cage.”
Ji Chang scratched his head, thoroughly confused. “What exactly is going on here?”
“This’ll be explained later,” Feng Bu Jue said. “First, tell us one of the ‘unencountered messages’ from the memoryspace.”
“Unencountered…” Ji Chang’s eyes flickered, wondering if Feng Bu Jue was hinting at something.
During the memoryspace puzzles, Ji Chang had indeed encountered situations closely matching several of those “messages.” Only two remained unexperienced.
Sherlock Holmes puffed his pipe, his British accent ringing out: “I trust you, like these gentlemen, remember the five messages clearly. Please share one to keep the game moving.”
Professor Moriarty added, “But avoid repeating messages you’ve already triggered. Their ‘Implication’ effects have been consumed and can no longer serve as game conditions.”
Ji Chang glanced around, mind racing. His teammates sat quietly, even with swords through their chests. Clearly, brute force wouldn’t resolve this.
“When You Think You’ve Gained What You Want, You’ve Already Lost More,” he finally declared.
This message’s implicit meaning hadn’t manifested in his memoryspace journey yet.
As the last word left his lips, one card on the table began sliding toward him, moving as if guided by invisible hands.
“Fwah—” Sherlock Holmes exhaled a smoke ring. “Turn it over, Mr. Yu.”
The card lay face-down, its back displaying only a blue patternless background and the word 【Implication】.
Ji Chang glanced at his teammates. Hong Hu and Qiu Feng looked grim, while Feng Bu Jue’s bloody grin remained.
“If I’m guessing right…” Ji Chang’s hand hovered over the card. “Feng Bu Jue chose the message about welcoming misfortune with a smile and facing it with courage. Hong Hu picked ‘There’s No Place Like Home.’”
“Correct deduction,” Sherlock Holmes smiled. “Indeed, the cards activate effects based on their ‘Implication’ content.”
Ji Chang snorted, then turned to Qiu Feng. “I can’t guess yours.”
“Genuine kindness, no expectation of return,” Qiu Feng muttered listlessly.
“Hmph…” Ji Chang mused. “Seems like no message brings good news.” He faced the two bosses. “What happens if I refuse to flip this card?”
“What else?” Feng Bu Jue answered for them. “The game stalls on your turn indefinitely. We’ll all wait until the system flags you for passive play or we disconnect from time-out.”
Qiu Feng added, “By the way, our satchel items are useless here. If you stall another hour, I might bleed out for real.”
Hong Hu chimed in, “And if you’re thinking of attacking Professor Moriarty or the detective, remember that energy wall sealing the first floor. Care to guess who conjured that?”
Ji Chang chuckled dryly, shaking his head. “Fine, I’ll flip it. At worst, I take some damage…” Muttering, he turned over the card before him.
(End of Chapter)
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