Chapter 24 A Fortuitous Find

The only place at the bottom of the gasoline pool untouched by light was directly beneath the iron cage containing the puppet. Because the cage was suspended near the ceiling, the shadow it cast was quite large, but by the time it reached the pool floor, the shadow was only of moderate size.

After Feng Bujue pinpointed the approximate location and jumped down, his initial sensation was a shiver down his spine from the cool water, followed by the gurgling sound of gasoline filling his ears and the unpleasantness thereof. He pinched his nose and kept his mouth tightly shut, so he didn't have to worry about damage to his oral cavity or respiratory system for the time being. However, even with his eyes tightly closed, he could still feel a burning sensation through the gaps in his eyelids.

He had only two things to do. The first, which he absolutely had to complete and which was somewhat difficult, was to find the reagent. The second was to suppress his survival instincts, assuming he found the reagent, and quickly drown himself.

If he failed at the first, he would never be able to obtain the reagent. Therefore, he couldn’t afford to fail during this one minute he held his breath at the bottom of the pool.

Soon, Feng Bujue reached the bottom. He had jumped down standing, but as he sank, the center of gravity of his body caused his head to tilt forward slowly, so he touched the bottom of the pool in almost an *orz* posture. Fortunately, he had one hand free to support himself, otherwise his knees and face would have hit the ground.

[Main Quest Progress Updated]

[Find the Chemical Reagent (24)]

As soon as his hand touched the bottom of the pool, Feng Bujue heard the system prompt, and the reagent bottle appeared in his palm as if on cue. This time, he obtained the [Chemical Reagent of Unknown Composition (D)].

"What's going on? Did I get lucky?" Feng Bujue thought in amazement. *With my luck, how could I have landed right on the flag where the item was when I sank to the bottom of the gasoline pool?*

At the same moment, in the iron cage high above the room…

Billy the Puppet’s face tilted slightly downward, and a gleam seemed to flash in his eyes.

*Chh*—

Immediately followed by the sound of gasoline splashing and flowing everywhere.

Before the floor resealed, a vaguely crimson figure leaped out of the gasoline surface. Feng Bujue had activated Spiritual Sense Gathering Technique. Using pure brute force, he pushed off the bottom of the pool, easily broke through the resistance of the liquid, and shot into the air. The height he reached was just enough to grab the iron cage where the puppet was held.

Feng Bujue used both hands to quickly climb up until he was on the side of the cage, crouching with his toes wedged into the gaps in the cage bars.

"Looks like… a medal and the time it would take to run back from the end of the corridor can both be saved." As Feng Bujue spoke, he swept his hair back and rubbed his face hard.

He opened his eyes, his pupils were bloodshot, and his expression looked quite terrifying. He tilted his head to each side once, letting some of the gasoline drain from his ears, and then said, "Hey buddy, how does this cage open?"

In reality, it wasn’t a question at all, because at the same time as he asked, Feng Bujue pulled a pipe wrench from his bag. But he didn't dare smash it, in case the metal sparked and ignited his gasoline-soaked body. He clamped the wrench onto the lock of the iron cage and used force to pry it open.

This cage was only held by a single chain above, not four, so it had already started swaying when Feng Bujue climbed up, and now it was moving back and forth in the air like a swing.

Even under these circumstances, Feng Bujue steadily snapped open the lock on the iron cage. He reached into the cage and pulled Billy the Puppet out like a piece of trash.

Throughout the entire process, the puppet did not make any movements of resistance. The feeling he gave off was that Billy's combat ability was equal to… um… a puppet.

Clearly, Billy was neither a mechanical beast nor a combat puppet. He didn't even have a nose that could grow longer. At most, he could record videotapes and pedal a tricycle. Perhaps he possessed skills to create death chambers and the like, but beating people was probably not within his capabilities.

"That was really easy…" After grabbing the puppet, Feng Bujue expected to receive some kind of system prompt, but there was none. He tried to put the puppet into his bag, but this time the system prompted him: [Storage failed. You have not gained complete control over this life form, or this life form is not permitted to enter the bag.]

Since he had to hold a puppet that might resist at any moment, Feng Bujue waited cautiously until the floor was completely closed before jumping down from above. By now, the swaying of the iron cage had gradually lessened, so Feng Bujue landed quite steadily.

The Spiritual Sense Gathering Technique just now had been activated for only a moment. Feng Bujue deactivated it after grabbing the iron cage, so it didn’t consume much survival value. Only the effects of the gasoline had not yet dissipated. He now felt a burning pain in his eyes, his nasal cavity was full of the smell of gasoline, and his body was soaked. Not only was he covered in blood and dirt, but his wet clothes stuck to his body, bringing a considerable amount of discomfort.

But Feng Bujue… as I’ve mentioned many times, was a person with great endurance. This level of discomfort was nothing at all. He nonchalantly strode out the door, carrying the puppet under one arm, and began to sprint madly toward the end of the corridor.

This game of retrieving the reagent from the bottom of the gasoline pool took less time than he imagined. Whether it was finding the reagent or capturing Billy the Puppet, everything went unexpectedly smoothly. It was just that the length of the second half of this fourth corridor was a bit of a trap, taking nearly ten full minutes to run.

But this also confirmed what Rabbit said about the eighty minutes... It took Feng Bujue exactly eighteen minutes to reach the prison cell at the end of the fourth corridor.

"Hey! I've caught your prisoner! Give me the thing!" Feng Bujue shouted as he ran out of the corridor, heading toward Rabbit.

Rabbit sat behind a large desk, glanced at him, and then at Billy: "Oh! Traveler from another world, you actually caught Billy! Haha!" Rabbit laughed. "Great!"

"Stop the nonsense, puppet for goods." As Feng Bujue spoke, he pressed Billy onto the desk.

"Although I don't know why you would bring me the person I wanted to catch, but…" Rabbit shrugged, stroked his little mustache, took a bottle of reagent from the drawer, handed it to Feng Bujue, and said, "Since you caught him, then as you said, puppet for…"

"How did you know I wanted the reagent?" As Feng Bujue asked this question, he grabbed the quest item and stuffed it into his bag with lightning speed, while simultaneously taking out the [One Hit Kill Handgun].

"Uh… you asked me for…" Rabbit's expression changed visibly, and his reply was hesitant.

"Asked you for what? I didn't mention the word 'reagent'. I said 'thing'…" A cold smile appeared on the corner of Feng Bujue's mouth as he aimed the gun at Rabbit's rabbit face.