Chapter 1 Honghu

Honghu entered the industry in his teens, fighting alone in the gaming world without relying on the support of any studio. He had long been accustomed to the pressure of life and the contemptuous looks from family and friends, and these were nothing…

He had been suppressed, deceived, encountered vicious competition, and even intimidation… So, when dealing with people he was not familiar with, he would often be extra careful.

He knew best the bitterness and hardships of the past ten years.

As an experienced person, Honghu was not young, but his scheming was already deep. Faced with Feng Bujue's perfunctory remarks, he immediately understood that the other party was obviously unwilling or unable to tell the truth.

Therefore, Honghu was also sensible and did not continue to ask, nor did he reveal his suspicions about the Derivative. He quickly began to talk about other topics with the three people beside him as if nothing had happened.

Feng Bujue spent five minutes explaining the principle of ***-233 to his three teammates in detail, and briefly explained the settings of ****** to answer the questions of these curious guys.

After that, the four of them came to the side of the wall together.

The section of the ground next to the wall had not been repaired by the system, so there was a rectangular gap about nine meters long and one meter wide on the ground. When observing from a distance before, it was difficult to determine its depth. Now that the four of them walked to the side, they realized that the space under the gap was not very deep, only less than a meter.

"In the entire hall, only the distance between these two pillars is exactly nine meters. The distances between other pillars, walls, and other objects are not related to 'nine', whether the unit is decimeters, feet, or something else… If you really want to force a connection, then the angle between the walls, pillars, and the ground is ninety degrees." Feng Bujue supplemented the previous plan, "But from the perspective of solving the puzzle, the unique answer is obviously more likely to be correct. Therefore, I judge that the breakthrough point must be here."

Honghu then opened his mouth and said, "Although I suggested that you pay attention to distance and other information during the inspection, to be honest… I didn't do this very seriously myself." As he spoke, he turned to look at Jue Ge, "I didn't expect Brother Feng to be able to determine the precise length between objects just by visual estimation. This is really…"

"It's not visual estimation, I have measurement skills." Feng Bujue replied, "Every six months, I measure my stride when walking, which is my ruler." He looked around, "For larger buildings like this, the measurement error will be correspondingly larger. But if it were a normal house, I could measure the size of each room by walking around once. If there are interlayer walls, or if the building structure has any strange features, I can basically see through it immediately."

When they heard the sentence "Every six months…", the expressions of Qiufeng, Ji Chang, and Honghu had already become quite surprised, but Jue Ge still went his own way, ignoring his teammates' reactions and continuing, "In fact, the human body itself is a very useful measuring device. Heartbeat, pulse, and breathing can all be used for timing; while height, stride, and arm span can be used for measurement. As long as you go through reasonable training, the judgment of weight can also reach a very accurate level." A fanatical look gradually appeared on his face, "If you are interested, I can teach you how to calculate the average density of a bucket of shit without using tools…"

"Brother Feng… No… Big Brother." Qiufeng was completely shocked, "May I ask what you do in real life?" At this moment, his inference was something like a crazy scientist.

"Artist." Feng Bujue had been holding these three words in his heart for a long time, and he was waiting for it here.

"Well…" The three teammates squinted their eyes and looked at Feng Bujue with meaningful gazes, their minds already in a mess.

"In short, since we already know that the location pointed to by the mission is upstairs." Feng Bujue brought the topic back to the right track and looked up, "Then our goal is clear."

Corresponding to the ground, there was also a rectangular gap in the ceiling against the wall, which was wide enough for the players to pass through. But Feng Bujue would naturally not rush up directly, he had to test it first.

Jue Ge casually picked up a large piece of building debris from the gap in the ground, waved his arm, and threw it towards the gap above. The debris flew upwards at an angle and landed on the floor tiles on the second floor two seconds later. Judging from the sound, it didn't seem to trigger any traps.

"Looks like nothing happened, I think… I'll go up first." Qiufeng said. In similar situations, he would usually choose a more proactive approach.

From this choice, one can see the difference between strategists. Both are wise men, but the two represented by [Wise and Courageous] and [Steady Strategist] are clearly two different styles of doing things.

If it were Yu Zhongji Chang, he would think about things in the worst possible way like Jue Ge. He would try all kinds of tests as much as possible, and when there was really nothing else to do, he would risk his own life.

And Qiufeng's principle is that when facing an unknown situation, as long as he doesn't see any unfavorable factors, he will assume that it is safe.

With a shout, Qiufeng rose from the ground, only stepped on the wall once, and with the sound of his shoes rubbing against the wall, he kicked back and jumped to the second floor.

When the teammates saw this scene, their expressions were relatively calm. Obviously, for these players who were nearly level thirty, this level of movement was nothing. After level twenty, if you couldn't jump five meters high by stepping on the wall, you wouldn't even be embarrassed to say hello to people in the team.

"How's the situation?" Ji Chang asked.

"Well… there shouldn't be any danger." Qiufeng replied, "Come up and I'll tell you."

The three people below exchanged glances, and no one expressed any objection, so they all stepped forward, stepped on the wall, and jumped to the second floor.

The environment on the second floor was basically the same as on the first floor. The style of the floor tiles, the position of the support pillars, and the lighting equipment were all the same as on the first floor. The most significant difference was that the height from the ground to the ceiling on the first floor was more than four meters, while the height from the ground to the ceiling on the second floor… was estimated to be close to eight meters.

There was no door on the wall at the far end of this floor. Of course, the players were also clear that behind that wall was the 23x23x23 room on the first floor.

After the four of them roughly scanned the surroundings, their gazes all fell on the center of the ceiling on the second floor. There was actually a circular hole about two meters in diameter, and a steel pipe extended from the hole and connected to the ground on the second floor. Through this steel pipe, one could directly reach the third floor.

"Judging by this… are we supposed to climb up that pipe?" Honghu pondered.

"You don't expect you to dance next to it or something, do you?" Feng Bujue replied.

"Brother Feng… please… be careful…" Ji Chang earnestly advised.

"Damn, after you mentioned it, I've already started to imagine that scene." Qiufeng said, "This is definitely an unnecessary increase in scare value."

Honghu pushed his glasses: "Brother Feng, your wisdom is worth affirming, but your thinking is really a bit…"

"Without limits?" Feng Bujue answered, he smiled, "A sense of humor is something that is innate, it can't be changed…" As he spoke, he walked towards the steel pipe, "I'd rather not say jokes like 'Will there be a firefighter sliding down from here?'"

"So… the point you want to make is that you have the ability to be elegant, but you would rather be vulgar…" Honghu was indeed a smart person and instantly understood what Feng Bujue meant.

"Thank you for the compliment." Feng Bujue replied shamelessly.

"Is that a compliment, hey!"

While the four were talking, they had already arrived below the round opening. Looking up, they could see that there was no light source on the third floor, and the area around the hole was pitch black. With the light from the second floor, they could see that the top of the steel pipe was welded to the ceiling of the third floor and did not lead to a higher floor.

"Although it looks like we can go directly to the third floor, let's explore this floor first." Qiufeng looked at his teammates, "Also, you've all noticed, right… From the outside of the building, each floor of this building is the same height and has windows, but you can't see anything inside through the glass. But the actual situation inside is…"

"That's easy to explain. The scenery seen from the outside of the building is likely just a disguise." Honghu said, "It's also possible… that from the moment we stepped into the door, we have already entered another space."

"The moment the light wall appeared, these questions no longer needed to be considered, not to mention that ***-233 and Brother Feng's NPC friend…" Ji Chang said, "Anyway, I haven't encountered many purely science fiction scripts since I started playing this game, and basically every script has some supernatural settings."

Feng Bujue said: "It doesn't matter how these things are… Can I go and get that piece of concrete debris now and throw it at the third floor to try?"

"Heh…" The corner of Qiufeng's mouth twitched as he laughed dryly, "No one's stopping you…"

He was right, no one would stop Feng Bujue, and they couldn't stop him even if they wanted to.

After a few words, the four of them still took the attitude of giving it a try and went to check around in different directions. Since the second floor was almost the same as the first floor, this time they spent even less time confirming that there were no triggerable settings around.

Before long, the four of them returned to the steel pipe.

Feng Bujue raised the piece of concrete that he had thrown up from the first floor and threw it at the third floor again. He still only heard the sound of the object landing, without any other anomalies.

"If you still want to go up first, bring a flashlight." Feng Bujue said to Qiufeng with a calm expression.

"I volunteered once, and you're going to trick me to the end…" Qiufeng replied helplessly.

"I'll go this time." Honghu interjected, "Qiufeng has already taken several risks. From now on, it's more reasonable to take turns exploring." He paused at this point, as if to give his teammates time to object.

Two seconds later, seeing that no one responded, Honghu continued, "Judging from the situation on the second floor, not every floor is dangerous, and not every floor needs to be solved to pass. My initial guess is that… there are problems on odd-numbered floors, while even-numbered floors are areas for rest and buffering." He turned to look at Feng Bujue and suddenly said, "Brother Feng, you should have a usable flashlight on you."

"Yes." As Feng Bujue spoke, he really took a flashlight out of his jacket pocket.

In fact, when Feng Bujue said the words "bring a flashlight" to Qiufeng, Honghu had already guessed this.

"Oh?" When Honghu took the flashlight that Feng Bujue handed over, he glanced at the item and then said, "The trademark and instructions on it are all in German…"

Qiufeng and Ji Chang immediately understood something when they heard this.

Feng Bujue said bluntly, "Because I bought it at a convenience store nearby."

"Didn't you say you only bought some snacks?" Qiufeng said.

"I didn't say I only bought snacks." Feng Bujue shook his head, "I also bought a folding knife, a lighter, a palm-sized notebook, a ballpoint pen, and two of these flashlights with batteries."

"You just bought some snacks by the way, right!" Qiufeng roared.

Ji Chang said: "I said… you don't understand German, how did you know how much money to pay when you checked out?"

"The cash register in the convenience store displays Arabic numerals." As Feng Bujue spoke, he took out a wallet from his pocket, took out a 20 euro bill, and said with a smug look, "The euro is also printed with Arabic numerals."

"What are you showing off for with stolen money!"

"Oh, by the way, the kid I robbed was using a Nokia phone." Feng Bujue put away his wallet and took out a phone, "Look, it's worthy of being a military-grade communication device, it actually has a signal here."

"Not only did he admit that he was a robber as if nothing had happened, but he also started showing off his loot!"

Qiufeng trembled, another victim who was induced by Feng Bujue to unleash his soul of complaining…

"I suddenly don't feel any tension because of you guys…" Honghu was too lazy to continue watching. He clamped the flashlight between the index and middle fingers of his right hand, held the steel pipe with his palm, and climbed upwards with the help of his left hand and legs.

The height that needed to be climbed was only a few meters, and Honghu's upper body quickly reached the plane of the third floor. However, he did not rush into the darkness, but stayed on the steel pipe, stabilized his body with his legs, held the pipe tightly with one hand, and shone the flashlight around with the other.

The space on the third floor was also very wide, and the height was the same as on the first floor, also more than four meters. Since there was no light source on this floor, and the distance that the flashlight could illuminate was limited, Honghu could only observe the area within ten meters of the round opening.

"At least the area that the flashlight can illuminate is empty." Honghu said to his teammates below, "Oh, except for the piece of building debris that Brother Feng threw up." As he spoke, he stretched his legs out and jumped out, officially stepping onto the third floor, "Come up, it's okay."

"Don't you consider turning around a few times and doing a large-scale exploration before letting us come up?" Feng Bujue asked.

Honghu felt that this guy was getting more and more shameless, but he couldn't say anything: "If I had eyes on the back of my head and two flashlights, I could consider this plan."

Feng Bujue smiled and took out another flashlight from his pocket. Without saying a word, he stepped on the ground and jumped up more than four meters, and then used his hand to brace himself on the steel pipe, and jumped to the third floor.

With a click, Feng Bujue turned on his second flashlight and shone it in another direction, "Are you scared?"

Honghu was stumped by this question…

That's right, he was scared.

In such a spacious, dark, and unfamiliar environment, holding a flashlight and checking around alone would make anyone feel a little scared.

"Hehe… then you stay here and don't move, stay alert, and I… will go around and have a look first." Feng Bujue said in a relaxed tone.

This sentence was unexpected by Honghu. From the beginning of the script until now, Feng Bujue had basically been shrinking behind, leaving the risks to his teammates. He didn't expect him to show surprising courage at this time.

"Hey… this is not the time to pretend to be brave and act like a hero…" Honghu kindly advised.

"Do you think I look like someone who would do that?" Feng Bujue asked.

To be honest, Honghu also didn't think so.

Fear is not only an expression written on the face, but also a contagious pheromone. Therefore, it is actually easy to distinguish between those who pretend to be unafraid and those who are really unafraid.

And Feng Bujue was obviously really not afraid…

When Jue Ge walked into this environment filled with a terrifying atmosphere, the expression on his face was like walking into a maid cafe. This was fundamentally different from those guys who took their girlfriends to play in haunted houses, frowning, glaring, shouting loudly, and always posing as if they were going to fight the staff.

"I'll be right back." Feng Bujue shouted to the two people below, "You two come up first, and stay with Honghu near the hole. In case I encounter anything, the three of you will be responsible for helping me when I run back."

While Ji Chang and Qiufeng were climbing up the steel pipe, Feng Bujue had already walked away without looking back. He walked further and further away and soon became a spot of light in the darkness.

Jue Ge's willingness to take the initiative to explore the road was also after multiple considerations.

First of all, he was a person with Soul Intent, and he also had spirit energy weapons for self-defense. Even if he could not use the items in his bag, his close combat ability was also at the top level of the game. At the very least, he was definitely more capable of fighting than the three strategists in front of him.

Secondly, he was basically unaffected by the environment. Whether it was the depressing, eerie atmosphere, the sense of oppression and fear brought by the darkness, or the sudden screams and ghosts… nothing could interfere with him.

Third, he would definitely not get lost, because he always measured his steps in his mind. His sense of direction and distance were both extremely accurate. After all, no one knew what was on this floor… If there were black walls that could move silently, maybe after the players walked for a while and turned around, they would not be able to see the entrance they came up from.

In short, it was very appropriate for Feng Bujue to first explore the situation on this floor alone. His observation and thinking would not be biased by fear; if he triggered a monster or trap, he would not be easily killed; and he would not be scared offline… The three teammates only needed to wait for his news at the round opening where they could retreat at any time.