Chapter 1

The four entered through the main entrance of the building. The first floor was a very spacious area, the floor covered with marble tiles, with support columns standing regularly around; numerous circular lights embedded in the ceiling illuminated the entire lobby.

At a glance, apart from the four walls and pillars, the first floor was empty, except for a white door in the middle of the far wall, directly opposite the entrance.

Because the walls were gray, the spot of white in the distance was particularly conspicuous.

"Hmm... there aren't any hints even after coming in..." Qiu Feng said.

"At least we can confirm that the 'Mystery Club' doesn't refer to this entire building," Ji Chang added.

Honghu looked around, left and right: "So it's somewhere in this building..."

Feng Bujue interjected at this moment, "Is it possible... that the 'Mystery Club' isn't in this building at all? But somewhere else?"

Honghu thought for a few seconds and replied, "Hmm... that is indeed possible, but..."

Ji Chang took over his line of thought and said, "But, so far, the opening CG is our only clue. Since the only clue points to this building, there must be something here that can advance the plot."

Qiu Feng also added from the side, "Even if the Mystery Club really isn't here, there should be some mission-related hints in the building. Otherwise... wouldn't that be the system maliciously misleading us? Anyway, since I started playing this game, I haven't encountered or heard of the system deliberately leading players to some meaningless place, wasting their time and energy."

"Oh... I see." Feng Bujue put on a look of sudden realization, while thinking in his heart: *Not bad, their analytical abilities are quite reliable, and they're also quite confident. But... is it really a coincidence that four puzzle-solving players with considerable skill are gathered together in a random queue? If so... what kind of script would the system have to generate to be of a 'difficulty that matches the players' abilities'..."*

*Buzz—*

Suddenly, a strange noise came from behind the four of them.

They almost all turned their heads in unison, discovering that the entrance had been sealed off by a blue wall of light.

"As expected, the exit is blocked..." Honghu muttered.

Qiu Feng said, "Hmph... it doesn't have much impact on the situation, though."

He was right; the faces of the three strategists all wore a calm expression, without the slightest hint of panic caused by the sudden blocking of their retreat.

Ji Chang walked a few meters closer and looked at the wall of light: "This shouldn't be a physically generated laser." He pointed to the four edges of the light wall, respectively, "There are no devices on the top, bottom, left, or right that can generate a beam."

Honghu stroked his chin and said, "A wall of light that appears out of nowhere and is attached to a specific area..." His eyes under his glasses lit up, "A hyperphysical barrier, is it magic or..."

*Whoosh—*

A glowing playing card suddenly flew into everyone's view, hitting the wall of light directly.

It was seen that the Death Poker seemed to be swallowed up, disappearing the instant it touched the surface of the light wall.

After witnessing this scene, everyone turned their heads and looked at the man who had thrown the card.

"It can directly 'swallow' this kind of Spiritual Energy-constructed poker, so it's definitely non-physical energy," Feng Bujue said. "If this was a laser or something, my poker, when hitting it, would either 'explode', be 'bounced' away, or be 'cut', and wouldn't be 'swallowed' like this."

"I'm telling you..." Ji Chang looked at Feng Bujue with a helpless expression, "Before doing something that might be dangerous, how about asking for everyone's opinion first?"

"If the setting of this light wall is... that attacking it will trigger some kind of destructive mechanism, or that it can reflect attacks or something, we'll all suffer together," Qiu Feng also said.

"Ah... haha... sorry, sorry," Feng Bujue said, "Because I heard you say that this isn't a physical light beam, so I wanted to test it out... Besides, my poker doesn't have much power."

"Is that a Spiritual Energy Weapon?" Honghu didn't dwell on what had just happened, but looked at the deck of Death Poker in Feng Bujue's hand with a serious expression and asked.

"Huh?" Feng Bujue was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, it's a Spiritual Energy Weapon."

Upon hearing these words, both Qiu Feng and Ji Chang's expressions changed slightly.

"Interesting..." Honghu said, "You said that you were more inclined to puzzle-solving, but I didn't expect that in terms of combat, you've already obtained a Spiritual Energy Weapon."

Faced with this rather obvious probing, Feng Bujue's face didn't reveal the slightest flaw. His expression was very natural, neither stiffening nor changing abruptly. He simply responded to Honghu's words in a very normal way, smiling and replying, "Oh, this? Just got lucky, hahaha..."

This sounded like perfunctory, but it was actually the most reasonable response.

Obtaining a Spiritual Energy Weapon originally depended on opportunity; there were many players with quite strong combat abilities who hadn't been able to get one. Therefore, there was no conflict between "possessing a Spiritual Energy Weapon" and "being a puzzle-solving player."

At this moment, if Feng Bujue had offered some kind of explanation for possessing a Spiritual Energy Weapon, it would have seemed suspicious instead.

Brother Jue understood very well... a matter-of-course tone, a somewhat proud laugh, and a meaningless, empty sentence – the combination of these three was the reaction that an ordinary person should have. As for other answers, they would mostly be hiding something.

"Hmm..." Honghu paused slightly for two seconds, then said, "Oh, that's a good thing. Now that everyone can't use the items in their knapsacks, encountering combat will be more difficult. If you have a Spiritual Energy Weapon, then it feels much safer." After saying a meaningless platitude, he immediately changed the subject, "So... now that the way back has been blocked, we have no choice but to explore further in, right?"

"The appearance of the wall of light has basically proven that we're on the right track," Qiu Feng added. "If the 'Mystery Club' is in this building, then we really don't need to go out again."

Ji Chang said, "For the time being, let's carefully explore the first floor, and see if there are any secret entrances or other settings besides that white door."

Honghu nodded and said, "When you're exploring, everyone, please pay attention to the positions of these support pillars, the patterns on the marble floor tiles, and the length, width, and height of this floor, etc.... Although it may not be useful information, it's always good to collect it."

"Understood."

"Got it."

"Hehe..."

After discussing, the four separated again and began to investigate the surrounding environment.

However, they quickly noticed that there really wasn't much to see on this floor. Therefore, about seven or eight minutes later, the four gathered back together and came to the white door.