Chapter 19 After Action

Having regained the ability to move, the first thing Brother Jue did was… naturally, to observe his surroundings.

At the moment, he was in a hexagonal prism-shaped space. Beneath his feet was a smooth, solid floor. Surrounding him on all six sides were bookshelves… or, more accurately, six bookshelves, each about 2.5 meters wide and 7.5 meters high, their edges tightly joined, leaving almost no gaps…

Both sides of these bookshelves were filled with books, separated by partitions in the middle. Even if a book were pulled out, one could not see the space next door, only the partition.

The tops of the bookshelves were a certain distance from the ceiling. If Feng Bujue climbed onto the top of a bookshelf, he would see… surrounding this hexagonal area, tightly adjacent to it, were six identical hexagonal areas. And beyond those six hexagons was another ring, a total of twelve hexagonal areas…

And so on, these hexagons continued to multiply and expand… forming a boundless, honeycomb-like, vast space.

"Hmm… no way…" Feng Bujue muttered to himself, "The Deduction Club?"

"Yes, this is the Deduction Club." Not far away, a voice suddenly rang out, answering Brother Jue.

"Who?" Feng Bujue was startled by the sound and turned to look.

Lo and behold… where there had been nothing a moment ago, now stood a giant armored doll, two and a half meters tall and weighing nearly a ton.

The doll's body was made of an unknown deep blue metal. Its torso was V-shaped, its arms were as thick as thighs, and its legs were also as thick as thighs… It had a mahjong tile-like square head on its neck, and its entire face was a display screen, constantly showing emoticons.

Speaking of which… you've probably remembered by now, this is Billy the Puppet's younger brother—Bill.

"Who?" Bill's face displayed a (￣(工)￣) expression. "You barge into someone else's place and ask them who they are?"

"Oh~ I get it." Feng Bujue relaxed. "Zhuanjiezun, right? Heh heh…" He smiled, took two steps forward, and patted the other's arm. "You're quite the player… last time you were changing into balls, birds, and old men, this time you've turned into a mechanical monster, huh."

"Mr. Feng…" Suddenly, another voice rang out, "Even if you hadn't mistaken me for someone else…"

Feng Bujue abruptly turned his head and saw a mouth (a human mouth) suspended in mid-air.

"Even if you hadn't mistaken me…" the mouth said, "this is only our second meeting… where does that overly familiar attitude of yours come from?"

"Uh…" Feng Bujue froze in place, looking at the mouth. "Zhuanjiezun?"

Chilala—

A strange noise came, and the large mouth in mid-air twisted and transformed into a Leprechaun (a little Irish fairy in green clothes, green pants, a green hat, and green boots, guarding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow). Then it replied, "Yes, it's me."

The next second, Feng Bujue awkwardly looked up, gave Bill, who was making a (￣口￣) face, a dry laugh, and took his hand away.

Zhuanjiezun continued, "You can already see the 'Truth Sequence (data stream),' and you're still mistaking people…"

"Nonsense… I didn't have this ability the last time I saw you," Feng Bujue said. "How am I supposed to know what your data form looks like…"

"Oh… right." Zhuanjiezun said, "I almost forgot, when you inferior intelligent beings establish a 'recognition' mechanism… you need at least two contacts."

"Say… who is he?" Bill interjected at this moment. "Should I crush him and throw him out?"

"No!" Zhuanjiezun suddenly shouted, as if his fur was standing on end. "Don't just crush things and throw them away anymore!"

"Okay~ okay~" Bill put on a ╮(﹀_﹀)╭ face. "Calm down, Brother Zun."

"Heh heh… Brother Zun… is that the kind of nickname you so-called top-tier intelligent beings usually use?" Feng Bujue said in a mocking tone. "Brother Zun, are you from Mong Kok or in charge of Causeway Bay?"

"Sigh…" Zhuanjiezun sighed helplessly. "Let me introduce you…" He pointed at Bill. "Feng Bujue, this is Bill, Billy the Puppet's younger brother, currently working here as a security guard…" He rolled his eyes. "By the way… if being small is fashionable, then Bill's brain is probably the trendiest thing I have here."

"What does that mean?" Bill asked with a @_@ face.

"I understand…" Brother Jue looked at Zhuanjiezun with a sympathetic gaze. "He can't pronounce two of the three characters in your name, can he…"

"Sigh…" Zhuanjiezun responded to the question with another sigh, then pointed at Brother Jue and looked at Bill. "Bill, this is the famous Feng Bujue."

"Oh, so it's you." Bill took a slight step back and looked Brother Jue up and down. "You are indeed strange… different from the others."

"The others?" Feng Bujue keenly caught something. He immediately looked at Bill and asked, "Do you know where the five people who came with me are?"

"They are…" Bill was about to answer, but Zhuanjiezun interrupted him. "They are… where they should be."

He successfully used a piece of useless information to prevent Feng Bujue from getting any information.

"Alright, Bill, this is none of your business. Go to the 'Military and Scientific Education Area' and pick out a few books you can understand and flip through them…" Zhuanjiezun then waved his hand, signaling Bill to leave.

As soon as the words fell, Bill made a (￣.￣) expression and turned to leave without saying a word. The moment he stepped away, his entire figure became transparent and ethereal, as if he had never existed in this space.

"Let me guess…" After Bill disappeared, Feng Bujue turned back to Zhuanjiezun with a displeased look. "Their bodies are still somewhere in this 'Deduction Club,' and their consciousness… is already in your 'brain'."

"Hmph…" Zhuanjiezun snorted coldly. "Originally… you were already in my 'brain' too. I did something to let you stay here."

"Speak… what do you want from me?" Feng Bujue asked directly. "Or rather… what's the deal?"

These were both smart, understanding people…

Seeing that the other party was so straightforward, Zhuanjiezun responded without hesitation, "You should have noticed… my body is much smaller than the last time you saw me."

"Your size isn't freely adjustable?" Feng Bujue replied.

"It used to be, but now… I can only adjust it within a range of less than one cubic meter," Zhuanjiezun replied. "Because…" He tapped his temple with his finger. "Something strange got mixed in…" His face showed a solemn expression. "I don't know what 'it' really is… I only know… if it's not dealt with soon, the consequences will be severe."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue gave a dry laugh. "You want me to take 'it' out?"

"Yes…" Zhuanjiezun replied.

"Why don't you let your 'security guard' take it out?" Feng Bujue asked with a smile.

"Letting Bill enter my mind and giving him 'activity privileges'… ha… I might as well just give myself a prefrontal lobotomy." Zhuanjiezun said with a bitter smile.

"I see…" A look of demanding a high price quickly appeared on Brother Jue's face. "It's not impossible for me to go, but…" He squinted at Zhuanjiezun, gave him a suggestive look, and rubbed the three fingers of his right hand together, "…there are no conditions?"

"Don't worry, wealth and glory… aplenty." Zhuanjiezun replied expressionlessly.

"Heh heh… let's be more specific…" Feng Bujue straightened his expression. "…Are you going to give me the gold at the end of the rainbow?" Although his expression returned to normal, what he said was still sarcastic.

"I will assist you in clearing scripts… to the best of my ability," Zhuanjiezun said.

"That's not much of a benefit," Feng Bujue replied.

"I will also guide you… to acquire many valuable items and skills," Zhuanjiezun added.

"Hmm… that's not bad," Feng Bujue said. "It's just… it seems… this… that…" He was still testing the other party's bottom line.

"Sigh…" Zhuanjiezun sighed again. "How about this… you get 'it' out, and I'll tell you… the effect of [Nan Zhi Ru Yin]."