Chapter 328: Invading Brain Cells (Twenty-Eight)
Chapter 328: Invading Brain Cells (Twenty-Eight)
After saying this, Professor Moriarty paused for two seconds before continuing, "Oh, regarding your Inquiry." He looked at Hong Hu. "Clearly, we won't answer."
As he made this declaration, an Inquiry card on the table automatically flipped over and moved toward Hong Hu. The front of this card bore the word "Exemption."
From this moment, it was Qiu Feng's turn.
"Let me think..." Qiu Feng said.
From the opposite end of the table, Ji Chang reminded him, "This round, it's best to choose 'Inquiry' first—draw an Exemption card as insurance."
Hong Hu nodded in agreement. "Right. The information we currently have is too limited. Speculation is unsafe, and Deduction might trigger severe penalties."
At this moment, Professor Moriarty interjected, "Let me clarify—regarding intensity, the penalty for Implication ranges from mild to moderate. However, if you face penalties for Inquiry or Speculation, the damage will be moderate to severe. And for Deduction... the penalty could be severe to fatal."
"Following conventional strategy", Sherlock Holmes added, taking a puff of his pipe, "an Ignorant player should start with Implication, then choose Inquiry in the second round to secure an Exemption right. By the third round, attempt Deduction. Even if your Deduction is wrong, you can use the Exemption to negate the penalty." He exhaled smoke. "Of course, if you're confident in your Speculation ability, you could try Speculation in the third round. But if your Speculation is completely off, your Exemption right will be consumed... leaving you to perform Deduction in the fourth round with no safety net."
"Hey... we're supposed to be opponents", Qiu Feng said. "Why are you two so eager to help us analyze?"
"What I'm sharing is just basic strategy", Sherlock Holmes replied. "I believe any of you, with a moment's thought, would naturally arrive at the same sequence—Implication, Inquiry, Deduction, Speculation—for the first four rounds."
"If you feel our kind reminders are actually misleading, you're free to ignore us", Professor Moriarty said.
"They're right", Ji Chang turned to Qiu Feng. "Surviving until the fifth round is our top priority. The strategy Holmes and Moriarty outlined is the safest and most logical."
"They're merely stating strategies we'd have figured out ourselves anyway", Hong Hu interjected, adjusting his glasses. "It's not real help. If you reject their advice out of stubbornness, you're playing into their hands."
Qiu Feng pondered for a moment before declaring, "Inquiry—" He fixed his gaze on the two professors. "Besides the Ignorant group's death and solving the Space's rules, are there any other ways to end this game?"
The two bosses exchanged glances. This time, they chose to answer.
Sherlock Holmes smiled, "Of course. You could try killing the professor."
Professor Moriarty added, "If you manage to kill me, this entire game—and this room—will disappear."
As their answer concluded, an Inquiry card slid toward Qiu Feng.
Qiu Feng took a deep breath and flipped the card. Its front was blank.
"You should have more confidence, young man", Professor Moriarty remarked. "That was a good question."
Qiu Feng exhaled sharply. "Seeing your unconcerned expressions, I already suspected something..." He turned to his teammates. "Obviously, we can't kill the professor with our current strength. But if we deduce the Space's rules, we might have a chance..."
Hong Hu continued, "But once we've deduced the Space's rules, there's no need to risk combat. Simply stating your Deduction to win the game would suffice."
"Unless..." Feng Bu Jue suddenly spoke up, "one of us already knows the truth but refuses to use Deduction, insisting on killing the professor instead."
Three pairs of eyes shot toward him.
"What?" Feng Bu Jue leaned back in his chair, spreading his arms.
"Feng Bu Jue", Ji Chang said, "I think only you'd do something like that."
Qiu Feng and Hong Hu nodded in agreement.
"Fine then", Feng Bu Jue said, pulling an object from his satchel. "Let's skip the games—I'll try the killing method first."
The other three gasped as they saw Feng Bu Jue's hand move toward his satchel.
"What?!" The trio recoiled in shock.
Their satchels had reverted to sealed states upon entering this room. As players, Feng Bu Jue should have faced the same restriction.
But now, Feng Bu Jue was holding an anti-gravity launcher. He retrieved a Nokiacell phone from his pocket as ammunition, aiming it at Professor Moriarty. "Any final words, professor?"
"Hahahaha!" Sherlock Holmes burst into laughter, setting down his pipe to applaud.
Professor Moriarty remained calm, seated at the table. "Incredible... Halfway through the second round, and you've already deduced the answer."
"Games lose their fun when opponents are too weak or too strong", Feng Bu Jue grinned.
"What's going on?!" Hong Hu demanded.
Feng Bu Jue lowered his launcher confidently. "The Space's rule is simple—believing something to be true makes it true."
"Unbelievable... How did you figure that out?" Qiu Feng was completely lost.
Feng Bu Jue set down the launcher. "Start with the most basic clue... Language is power." He tapped his temple twice. "Remember those five messages?"
Before his teammates could respond, he continued, "Those messages weren't commentary after events—they were the causes of events."
"You mean... the things we saw while ascending the tower..." Hong Hu was the first to catch on.
Ji Chang followed, "The messages came first, then the events occurred..."
"When we leapt into the waterfall on the sixth rooftop", Feng Bu Jue explained, "those five phrases became part of our 'memory.' Thus, some experiences in our memory Spaces fulfilled those messages."
His gaze swept across his teammates. "I'm guessing the Match, Pointed Hat, Broom, and apple you carried were all consumed in your memory Spaces for puzzle-solving or plot progression?"
The three nodded slightly—they had indeed used all their story items in their respective memory Spaces.
"These items share two traits", Feng Bu Jue continued. "First, they were all obtained inside the Testing Building. Second, for various reasons, they were consumed before entering this room. This made me suspect—someone didn't want us bringing these items here." He pointed at the cell phone floating before his launcher. "Notice how the cell phone, pocketknife, and notebook I obtained outside the Testing Building are all here."
"This is the final room", Ji Chang countered. "Isn't it normal for story items to be consumed before reaching here? Your tools like the pocketknife and notebook are just equipment that can be taken out of scenarios—they weren't plot-critical."
"Your explanation seems plausible", Feng Bu Jue smirked, "but Professor once told me something that stuck with me. He said, 'This isn't just my personal mental world—it's a Space formed by collective will.' Combining that with current events, I realized the memory Space episode's main purpose was to force us to consume items we shouldn't bring here."
"Why?" Qiu Feng asked.
"Because those items were 'creations' of other wills", Hong Hu deduced, finally catching up. "Bringing them here would affect the professor somehow."
Feng Bu Jue grinned. "Professor, you won't deny this, will you?"
"Correct", Professor Moriarty admitted. "Those items could threaten me—assuming you knew how to use them."
"Hmph... Since they're gone now, it doesn't matter anyway", Qiu Feng scoffed.
“Let’s talk about what happened after the Round Table Game started,” Feng Bu Jue continued. “We four entered the game as required, and were all injured by the power of ‘language’—nothing special there. Then it was Professor Moriarty’s turn. He immediately revealed an inconsistency.”
“What are you talking about?” Professor Moriarty’s tone shifted slightly as he frowned.
“No, no, what I said doesn’t matter. What matters is what you said,” Feng Bu Jue countered. “His Implication—【There are no lies in this world.】”
As soon as these words fell, Sherlock Holmes’ hand trembled slightly as he held his pipe. He murmured, “Hmph… It seems Professor’s Implication was too obvious.”
Professor Moriarty asked, “Did you figure out the truth just from that sentence?”
“I made a Deduction, but I couldn’t confirm it,” Feng Bu Jue shrugged, sighing. “Ah… Since your Implication wasn’t punished, it means it carried meaning. If you gave me a meaningful clue, I’d have to dig something out of it to do you justice, right?”
Qiu Feng interjected, “Believing something as truth makes it true. In other words… if you firmly accept something as real in your mind, it becomes reality.”
Ji Chang added, “So the statement ‘There are no lies in this world’ could actually hold true.”
Combined with Feng Bu Jue’s conclusion, both naturally understood the reasoning process.
“What brought me closer to the truth was Sherlock Holmes’ Deduction,” Feng Bu Jue continued. “He said… ‘Professor Moriarty is an idiot.’” He smiled. “I tried thinking from another angle—As the Knower, during a 【Deduction】, he naturally couldn’t state a conclusion directly related to the truth, because that would mean admitting defeat. Therefore, Sherlock Holmes would definitely make a Deduction unrelated to the truth.”
“In fact, he could’ve just said something like ‘The sky is blue’ or ‘Snow is white’—pointless statements—and accepted the punishment. But he didn’t… As you, Professor, said, Sherlock Holmes is ‘extremely arrogant, impulsive, and unrestrained.’”
“So he said, ‘Professor Moriarty is an idiot.’”
“Hehe… Now that’s interesting. Why didn’t he say something like ‘Giraffes spit fire’ or ‘Pigs fly in the sky’? Because he knows… if he said those things, there’s a chance they’d become reality.”
Feng Bu Jue raised a hand, gesturing around. “You two understand this Space’s rules very well and have long been accustomed to manipulating them. If you convince your minds that something is true, it becomes true. Like just now—Sherlock Holmes only needed to ‘believe’ the bomb couldn’t harm him, and he emerged unscathed.”
“This kind of self-hypnosis technique can be mastered through training. It’s not difficult for you. But the statement ‘Professor Moriarty is an idiot’ is something Sherlock Holmes could never convince himself to believe. So he said it with a mocking attitude.”
“Your ‘Nice try’ and his ‘Trying won’t cost you anything’—as soon as I heard those, I understood. His action was an attempt to use language to turn you into an idiot. When he failed, you two half-jokingly exchanged those lines.”
“Up to that point, I’d basically confirmed the truth.”
“Then why didn’t you directly choose Deduction during your turn?” Sherlock Holmes asked.
“That’s risky,” Feng Bu Jue replied. “What if I was wrong?” He waved a finger. “At that moment, I needed more time to verify my conclusion. So I first chose Inquiry and asked a Perfect Calibration question.”
“You initiated Inquiry before I’d fully explained its rules. The question you asked was truly precise and brilliant,” Professor Moriarty commented.
“Flattery,” Feng Bu Jue responded. “In any case… I knew clearly that verifying my conclusion didn’t necessarily require using my turn in the Round Table Game. I could complete it while sitting in my seat.”
Hong Hu stared at Feng Bu Jue in disbelief. “In such a short time, you mastered a way to manipulate these rules without using ‘language’?”
“It’s certainly difficult, but not impossible,” Feng Bu Jue said. “I silently gave myself a psychological Implication—telling myself… I have two tongues.”
“Huh?”
Everyone at the table, including Professor Moriarty, suddenly changed expressions.
“It worked,” Feng Bu Jue said, opening his mouth wide. Under his original tongue, an identical one emerged. “This way, I completely confirmed the truth—As long as I convince myself something is ‘real,’ it becomes real.”
“Uh… I mean…” Qiu Feng couldn’t help but interject. “Why didn’t you test it with something like ‘My face is unharmed’?”
“That would expose me, wouldn’t it?” Feng Bu Jue countered.
“Hah…” Professor Moriarty’s lips curled into a menacing grin. “So after confirming that killing us could end the game, you decided to strike? Hehe… Forgive my bluntness, but isn’t that somewhat unwise?” He glanced at Ji Chang. “Why not have your companion simply use 【Deduction】 to state the truth and win?”
“Fufu—” Sherlock Holmes puffed his cigarette. “Retrieving items from your dimensional pocket is indeed impressive, but do you really want to fight us? For us, rewriting reality here through ‘thought’ and ‘language’ is second nature. Give me a few seconds, and I could convince myself ‘Mad Bu Jue is a stone’ or ‘Mad Bu Jue has turned to meat paste.’” He pointed at Feng Bu Jue. “And you… convincing yourself your dimensional pocket was usable already took considerable time, didn’t it? How could you possibly defeat us?”
“Feng Bu Jue… they’re practically giving you good advice,” Ji Chang remarked.
“They’re just pretending to be calm,” Feng Bu Jue chuckled. “As long as I firmly believe ‘Mad Bu Jue won’t die,’ nothing will happen to me. When others’ believed ‘truths’ clash with mine, it becomes a simple battle of willpower.”
“Feng Bu Jue… why must you…” Hong Hu still didn’t understand. At this moment, as long as Ji Chang made a Deduction, the game would be won. Why was Feng Bu Jue insisting on confronting the two Bosses?
“Still don’t get it?” Feng Bu Jue interrupted. “This place is merely a mental world. That’s why language and thought hold such power here—even the power to reverse Order.” His facial wound healed as his tongue returned to one. “In reality, our bodies are likely already in the ‘Reasoning Club.’ Our spirits are imprisoned in this so-called ‘Testing Building.’”
What Feng Bu Jue said next couldn’t be heard by the Boss side. “I’ll ask you all one question… Do you want to clear the game quickly, or come with me to see this scenario’s truth?”
Hong Hu, Qiu Feng, and Ji Chang exchanged glances.
As Classplayers, sometimes one must choose between fun and efficiency. Deep down, all three shared something similar with Feng Bu Jue—a near-pathological curiosity…
“Fine, we’ll follow your lead,” Hong Hu said.
Ji Chang added, “I’ll risk my life accompanying this madman.”
Qiu Feng still lounged in his chair. “I’m trying to convince myself ‘my chest has no wound,’ so I can’t stop you.”
“Hehe…” Feng Bu Jue laughed. He raised his 【anti-gravity launcher】 again, aiming the Nokia shell at Professor Moriarty. “Professor, I regret to inform you—no matter which dimension, physical laws, or biological cognition we consider… being hit by this thing means certain death!”
Whoosh—
The cell phone screamed through the air, launched by the Catapult. Professor Moriarty’s face twisted in shock as the black shadow hurtled toward him…
Almost instantly, system prompts rang out one after another: 【Current task updated. Main quest updated.】
【World view cracked. Player: Mad Bu Jue received 2700 skill points. Team may now view this scenario’s world rules in the task menu’s expansion options.】
【Hidden plot sequence activated.】
In the task bar, the objective 【Defeat Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty in the “Round Table Game”】 was struck through with a line. Below it appeared a new task: 【Defeat the true ‘Boss’ or escape the Reasoning Club.】
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
