Chapter 1 The Dungeon

Feng Bujue strode back to Cell Zero and went straight to the plastic bucket in the corner. He then lowered the magnet tied to the end of the cloth rope, trying to "fish" for the key or some other clue.

But unexpectedly, he didn't catch anything...

"What's going on? Not close enough?" Feng Bujue thought, because he didn't let the cloth rope or the magnet directly touch the contents of the bucket, but just suspended it in the air to fish.

"Wait... no... it's not here." He suddenly thought of something and quickly pulled up the cloth rope, taking the magnet in his hand. "If the system set the clues needed for my next step in Cell Zero, what if I found them before escaping the room? Then, in the game's progress, the dentures and the magnet would become clues that could be skipped."

He looked at the item description of the magnet again:

[Name: Severed Iron Grating]
[Type: Story-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Generates a magnetic field]
[Can it be brought out of this scenario: No]
[Note: This section of iron grating is made of natural lodestone.]

"The dentures can be taken out of the scenario and turned into puzzle cards, and theoretically could be useless, but this magnet is a story item that cannot be taken out of the scenario, so it must be useful somewhere," Feng Bujue muttered. "Hmm... since the magnet is necessary, then the clues needed for the next step can't be hidden here. Because without the magnet, I can still look for something hidden in the shit bucket, but the disgusting level will be higher..."

He held the magnet and began to reconsider: "What exactly... has to be..."

"Could it be..." Feng Bujue quickly had a new hypothesis. He trotted back to the door of Cell Four, looking at the iron door. "Is this how it is..." He chuckled dryly, tiptoed, and stretched his hand through the gap in the small iron window above.

With all five iron bars in place, the width of the gap in this small window was limited, allowing only the forearm to pass through. But after removing one iron bar, the entire arm could pass through.

Feng Bujue leaned his body against the door, reached his arm through the window, and groped upwards. Before long, he felt a key directly above the iron door, behind it.

[Name: Key to Cell One]
[Type: Story-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Disappears immediately after use, after which the door to Cell One can be freely opened or closed.]
[Can it be brought out of this scenario: No]
[Note: Suspended behind the door of Cell Four by a thin thread.]

"This note is nonsense. I already have the thing in my hand, and you still need to tell me?" Feng Bujue muttered unhappily.

The place where this key was hidden was truly insidious. Its position was slightly higher than the height of the door frame, almost touching the wall. Observing from outside the door, it was invisible from any angle. Even if the player could see through to the key's position, the hand could not reach it until a section of the iron railing was removed.

The only way was to remove that iron bar and reach in, allowing the elbow to pass through in order to retrieve the key.

"Damn it..." Feng Bujue cursed as he walked towards Cell One. "Does every step have to be like this? It would be better to hide it directly in the shit! Simple and clear!"

With a click, the door to Cell One opened.

Feng Bujue pushed the door open and entered, first standing at the door to observe for a minute. After confirming that opening the door did not trigger anything strange, he continued his actions with peace of mind.

There was also a small wooden cabinet in this cell. So, needless to say, open the drawers...

In the top drawer, there was a newspaper clipping, only the size of a palm. The text on it was close to English, but not quite. Feng Bujue couldn't recognize which language it was. Of course, Thriller Paradise's system came with a built-in translation function, which did not affect reading.

As soon as Feng Bujue saw this thing, he was like an addict seeing powder. He couldn't wait to get it in front of him and read it.

The article's title was "The Demon Remains Active." The article read, "Since the Tarantula Moon, the number of missing persons in this town has exceeded forty. The National Wizarding Association and the Church have both declared themselves helpless. The official spokesperson stated that the seals throughout the town are intact and there is no obvious evidence of demons appearing. Victims' families and local nobles have issued high rewards. Anyone who solves the incident or provides assistance can receive a reward of up to 20,000 Sathis.

"Recently, this newspaper obtained reliable information from a bounty hunter that the instigator of the missing persons incident is a descendant of the 'Xing Clan.' The perpetrator..."

The text stopped abruptly here, and the rest of the content was unknown.

"What's going on... is this news or a novel?" Feng Bujue turned over the newspaper clipping, wanting to use the information on the other side to confirm, but unfortunately, the writing on the back was blurred and unrecognizable. However, judging from the material of the paper, it should be a newspaper without a doubt.

"Hmm... after all this time, this scenario is still a fictional setting. This world has a Wizarding Association, demons, and bounty hunters... Sathi should be the currency, but it is unclear how much purchasing power 20,000 really has. The method of counting dates is also unclear. Although there is a concept of months, it is impossible to determine how many days there are in a month, how many hours there are in a day, and even how many meals they eat in a day... It is now difficult to say how long the carvings on the walls of Cell Zero represent..." A series of deductions had already unfolded in Feng Bujue's mind. "This piece of paper is undoubtedly explaining the story. If nothing else, this place where I am now is where those missing people are imprisoned. And the small figure in the opening CG is the main culprit of the missing persons case, that is, the 'Xing Clan' descendant mentioned in the newspaper."

Feng Bujue unconsciously sat on the ground, thinking with great interest: "Since it's this kind of setting, then it's not surprising that he can drag me with one hand. Perhaps it's because the Xing Clan people are naturally stronger than ordinary people, or perhaps even the 'ordinary people' in this world have this kind of power." He stroked his chin. "Hmm... speaking of which, it's still hard to say what the so-called 'people' in this world look like. Maybe they all have three eyes, and both men and women have beards, or maybe their faces are covered with hair..."

At this moment, a normal person's thinking should be: This should be a scenario with a Western magic civilization and a technological level after the Industrial Revolution, right?

But Feng Bujue's mind, which had broken through the sky, was pondering something else... He had only seen one person in the opening CG so far, and he hadn't seen his face. From a scientific point of view, a single individual obviously couldn't be used as the basis for confirming a theory. He had to see at least a hundred residents of this world before he could draw a preliminary conclusion about who belonged to the "ordinary people." Before that, Feng Bujue could propose hypotheses for any "unseen" thing.

He hadn't seen the face of anyone in this scenario world, so he could assume that these people had any appearance; he hadn't seen people in this world do addition or subtraction, so he could also assume that these people used a base-twelve system; he hadn't seen what Sathi currency looked like, so maybe this stuff was made of animal tongues...

In short, the world is limited, but imagination is infinite. What imprisons people's thoughts is only thought itself. In Feng Bujue's view, "worldview" is something that can be whatever you want it to be. Countless transmigration novels depict transmigrators going to another world dominated by humans, but with different civilizations or histories. But in the eyes of people like Feng Bujue, if people can travel in parallel universes, then transmigrating to a place ruled by a group of apes or rhino people is the normal situation.

He sat on the ground for a long time, using the limited content on the newspaper, combined with what he had seen and heard since entering the scenario, to reorganize his thoughts.

Those daily necessities, the size of the bed, the size of the door, the size of the plastic bucket... were all his basis.

"Hmm... still no clue." More than ten minutes later, Feng Bujue shrugged with a smile on his face. "Interesting."

He put away that small piece of newspaper and pulled the first drawer out of the wooden cabinet, checking it three hundred and sixty degrees. After confirming that there were no words or carvings anywhere on this drawer, he opened the second drawer.

The things inside were enough to make people cry with joy.

[Name: Key to Cell Two]
[Type: Story-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Disappears immediately after use, after which the door to Cell Two can be freely opened or closed.]
[Can it be brought out of this scenario: No]
[Note: A key that is very easy to obtain.]

"I always feel that this note has no guiding significance and is just mocking the player..." Feng Bujue muttered and put the key away. He then looked at the second drawer in detail and opened the bottom drawer.

This drawer was empty, but the Arabic numerals 38 were written inside in blood.

"According to the general puzzle-solving routine... this should be a section of a password." Feng Bujue said, pulling out this drawer to check it. After confirming that there was only this clue, he stood up and searched the entire room again.

Before leaving the room, he made a new discovery, which was that on the inside of the iron door, the side facing the room, there was an arrow drawn. The arrow was painted with oil paint, just like the number outside the door.

The line segment of this arrow was not straight, but an arc that bulged upwards, and the direction of the arrow was to the right.

"Oh, oh... I see, I seem to understand." Feng Bujue said with a smile as he looked at the clue.

After that, he entered Cell Two. There was another newspaper clipping in the top drawer of the same small wooden cabinet, but its content was not continuous with the one in Cell One.

"With the death of Sheriff Karl in the pursuit, rumors about the 'Xing Clan' have been further confirmed. The Royal Arcanist Corps has finally taken action and has dispatched three armed alchemists and five mechanical legion officers to this town. The amount of civilian reward has reached an unprecedented 100,000 Sathi. According to sources, the mysterious bounty hunter who uses black magic—Corvus Monedula—has also appeared in town."

"Heh... it's getting more and more interesting." Feng Bujue commented.

Similar to Cell One, the middle drawer of the small wooden cabinet in Cell Two contained the key to Cell Three, and the bottom drawer also had Arabic numerals written on it, this time 69. The inside of the iron door of this cell also had an arrow drawn on it. This arrow pointed to the left, and the line segment was also an upward-bulging semicircle.

The designs of Cells Three, Four, and Five were similar.

The three newspaper clippings were as follows...

"The corpses of Corvus Monedula and three armed alchemists were found on the outskirts of the town. Officials refused to comment on this matter, and panic is spreading in this town. This morning, the new sheriff announced an emergency call for troops from the neighboring town and the Iron Blade Knights to come to support, and issued a nighttime curfew. Anyone who leaves home and walks on the streets at night may be arrested, and those who resist may be directly suppressed with force."

"The curfew has been in effect for two weeks, and the situation has been effectively controlled. According to the latest official news, the number of missing persons has remained at sixty-seven and has not increased further. However, the curfew is unlikely to be lifted until at least the Badgerbird Moon."

The third newspaper clipping also had a title, which was: "The Xing Clan Captor, Dead?"

"Yesterday, the long curfew was finally lifted. The Iron Blade Knights have all withdrawn from the town, and the troops from the neighboring town are also withdrawing in batches. The investigation team from the Royal Arcanist Corps has rushed to this place. All signs indicate that the case has been solved, but officials remain silent. The shadow of terror that has plagued this town for nearly a star-moon season seems to have dissipated, but none of the missing persons have returned, and there are no reports of finding bodies. Has the Xing Clan's mastermind been captured? Or is he temporarily lurking in the darkness?"

Feng Bujue stacked all the newspaper clippings he found in order and put them in his pocket. As for those numbers and arrows, he remembered them all in his mind.

He took the key to Cell Six and walked in. As expected, there was no small wooden cabinet in this cell, but a large safe.

"Hmm... mechanical combination lock, eighty graduations... automatically destroys the combination after unlocking, leaving no trace, small size, fully mechanical structure, no power required, can adapt to various harsh environments... classic is classic." Feng Bujue muttered in front of it, "It's a pity I know the password..."

"So... first clockwise, 38, then... counterclockwise..." As he said this, he began to operate the lock.

After seeing the clue in Cell One, he had roughly guessed the nature of this puzzle. The curved arrows and numbers were the direction of rotation and the graduations, and the room number represented the steps.

After fiddling with it a few times, the safe's lock was opened. Even a fool could guess that inside was the key to the prison door on Basement 1.

But unexpectedly...

"What the hell..." Feng Bujue looked at the thing in front of him and felt a sense of being played.

It turned out that the large safe contained a small safe...

This small safe was only half the size of the large one. On top of the box was also a small glass bottle. Feng Bujue took the glass bottle in his hand and looked at the item description:

[Name: Perfume]
[Type: Story-Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: Unknown]
[Can it be brought out of this scenario: Yes]
[Note: Fragrant, with a lingering aroma.]

"What is this... I thought it was 'Fragrant forever, one bottle lasts a lifetime.'" Feng Bujue said, "Hmm... but this is already the third item that can be brought out of the scenario. Soap, dentures, perfume... what's going on? Is the next one a toothbrush?"

This item was not suitable to be put in his pocket, so he put it in his knapsack. Now Brother Jue was also a person with a fifteen-slot knapsack, which was indeed much more convenient than the tight-fisted days of having a ten-slot knapsack.

"Okay, let's see how to open this small one..." Feng Bujue immediately tried the password of the large safe, but it failed.

"Ha! As expected." He said, resetting the lock and trying the same password in reverse, but it still failed.

"Can't underestimate you..." He divided all the graduations by two and tried again, failing miserably.

"Ah!!!" Feng Bujue was now starting to envy those purely martial arts players. He held his fist the size of a sandbag, looked at the small safe, "All martial arts under heaven... can be broken by force..." In the next second, he activated his title ability [Watch This] with his fighting specialization.

After punching the small safe, a burst of energy bloomed, with impressive power.

Three seconds later, the skill stopped, and the object remained still. The box was unscathed, but Feng Bujue's survival value dropped by 3%, and the surface of his fist was sore.

"Okay, I just wanted to say that line." Feng Bujue quipped to himself.

After sighing, he continued to try using the method of unlocking... But as he himself said, the design of this lock was very classic, with millions of possible combinations. Could this be figured out? Taking a step back, even if this was just a six-digit combination lock, there were theoretically nearly a million combinations. With Feng Bujue's luck, he would have to try at least five hundred thousand times...

"Ah..." An unnamed fire rose in Feng Bujue's heart, "Is this scenario... forcing people to commit suicide by crushing their own balls?"

He simply stopped trying, stood up, and re-entered deduction time, "What other information have I overlooked? Reversing numbers... addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division... whether it's a prime number..."

He pondered for a while, tried again for a while, and unknowingly half an hour passed. In these thirty minutes, he had tried almost all possible combinations, thus confirming one thing... the password of this small box had nothing to do with the big box.

"Damn it!" Feng Bujue, in a fit of anger, dragged the small safe out of the big one, "If only I could use grenades..." Before he finished speaking, the box pressed down on his instep due to the inertia of his movement.

Feng Bujue didn't expect that the weight of this box was much heavier than it looked. With his current strength in the game, he could snatch a hundred-kilogram barbell without any problem, so he didn't think much when carrying the box outwards, resulting in the situation of lifting a piece of iron and smashing his own foot.

With this smash, he lost another 3% of his health. Don't underestimate this bit of survival value. Feng Bujue was now at least level twenty-seven, not the kind of level where he would lose health from breaking a rotten wall with his elbow.

"I went... so heavy..." Feng Bujue said, "Lead-antimony alloy?" As soon as he said this, a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, "Wait... could it be..."

He sat down and pushed the box over to check. Sure enough, he saw a small circular hole at the bottom...