Chapter 18 The Key to the President's Office

In the end, Feng Bujue still didn't manage to buy the beer.

After all, the taskbar specifically stated "iced beer," and if he brought back a warm can, he likely wouldn't complete the task.

Furthermore, even if he wanted to buy the beer and immediately return to finish the task, he needed a way to get back. The corridor he used earlier to reach the first floor was undoubtedly one-way, and with his current physical abilities, he couldn't possibly jump back, so he had to find another way out.

Therefore, Brother Jue temporarily didn't touch the vending machine but chose to explore elsewhere.

This hospital didn't have a basement; the only underground facility was the blood bank, so the blood bank's location was marked on the 1F map.

Feng Bujue had memorized the map, so he was aware of this. He left the restaurant from the north exit, entered Building B on the first floor, and quickly walked through the corridor, heading straight for his destination. In just over three minutes, he arrived at a freight elevator. Next to the elevator door, a line was written on the wall: "Access to Underground Blood Bank."

Brother Jue glanced up at the floor indicator above the elevator, which currently showed "1F." He took a half-step back, stood sideways facing the elevator door, picked up the cleaver in one hand, and pressed the elevator button with the other.

With a "ding," the door opened, and it was empty inside. The four walls and floor of the elevator were made of heavy metal, not the kind that could be used as a mirror; the lighting was also working normally. At first glance... there seemed to be nothing unusual.

For the sake of caution, Feng Bujue quickly took out his sunglasses again, leaned in, and carefully observed. It seemed that even ghosts weren't present...

After confirming it was safe, he walked in.

This elevator had two control panels, located diagonally opposite each other. The control panels had standard buttons such as open door, close door, and emergency stop. There were three floor buttons: "2F," "1F," and "B1."

"Hmm... can't go to 3F..." Feng Bujue didn't press the B1 button but instead pressed 2F first, wanting to see if he could go up.

The elevator door closed smoothly, and a rumbling sound echoed around. Seconds later, when the door reopened, the words "2F" appeared on the wall of the corridor outside.

Feng Bujue peered out left and right, then walked out of the elevator. He walked along the corridor and soon found a fork in the road. He remembered that he had passed this intersection when Chad was chasing him, but he hadn't turned then.

Having found the old route, Brother Jue quickened his pace. A few minutes later, he returned to the T-junction with the 2F map.

"Good, this way, the terrain of the first and second floors is generally clear." He stood in front of the map and looked at it for another few dozen seconds. This time, it wasn't to piece together a puzzle in his mind but simply to memorize and deepen his impression.

In less than a minute, Brother Jue moved away, turned around, and left, to avoid attracting Chad again if he stood there for too long.

Next, he returned to the elevator he had taken at the beginning of the script, wanting to see if it could go to the third floor, but unexpectedly... when he pressed the elevator switch, he received the following system prompt: [This elevator has malfunctioned and cannot be used.]

"Hmm... okay." Feng Bujue shrugged.

With no other choice, he had to return the way he came, jogging back to the elevator connected to the blood bank.

After entering the elevator, Brother Jue still didn't choose to go to the blood bank but instead went to the first floor, ran back to the restaurant, and used the coins in his pocket to buy a can of iced beer from the vending machine.

He didn't dare to delay for a moment. While the beer was still cold, he quickly set off, took the elevator to the second floor again, and sprinted along the corridor, all the way to room 216.

He was so out of breath when he pushed the door open.

"Hey, did you find my key?" Victor was the first to speak to Brother Jue.

"Haa... haa..." Feng Bujue stuck his tongue out, supported himself on the doorframe, and gasped violently. "Stop talking nonsense!" he replied impatiently, then continued to pant...

Brother Jue was used to running at super speed in the game, but running with Lester's body for a while made him feel like he was going to die.

"Hmm... when Chad was chasing me earlier, I didn't notice because I didn't run for long and the situation was urgent..." Brother Jue thought to himself, "Now, after this continuous long-distance running, it's very obvious... Lester's stamina is too poor. Isn't this physique even worse than my real-life one?"

"Anyway, he hasn't gotten the two bags of type B blood that I want..." the Count on the next bed added, "I haven't smelled the scent of blood."

"What were you doing for so long?" Victor shrugged, then turned to Brother Jue and said, "Time is money, you know?"

Feng Bujue ignored him. After catching his breath, he immediately stepped forward, came to Mr. Harper's bed, and handed over the quest item: "Iced beer, Mr. Harper."

Upon hearing this, Harper tremblingly raised an arm and reached for the beer. However, the moment he reached out to take the can... his movement was as fast as lightning, as quick as when he had suddenly grabbed Brother Jue's wrist before.

Harper used one hand to open the can of iced beer, then opened his mouth wide and gulped it down in one breath.

"Ah..." the old man let out a comfortable sigh, "Burp..." and then let out a burp.

Feng Bujue stood by the bed, silently observing and waiting... While handing over the beer, he had already switched to the game menu and confirmed that the side quest in the taskbar had been checked off.

"Thank you, young man." After a long while, Harper finally spoke.

For a few seconds, Brother Jue really suspected that the other party wasn't going to give him a reward.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue smiled. Of course, it was just a smile. He would never tie himself down with a phrase like "It's my duty."

"Here, this is my thank-you gift." Harper took out a key from under his pillow and handed it to Brother Jue.

"Again?" Feng Bujue wanted to throw up at the sight of the key. After taking the so-called "reward," he held it up to examine it:

[Name: Key to the Dean's Office]
[Type: Story-related]
[Quality: Normal]
[Function: Opens the door to the Dean's Office]
[Can be brought out of this script: No]
[Note: Running an errand for an old man is only right and proper.]

"Ah... if this game could load a save, I would definitely hug Oink's legs and beg him to help me chop Chad to death, and then I'd just lie down in a corner of the corridor for the night..." Feng Bujue muttered after reading the item description.

"Speaking of which... the Dean's Office should be on the third floor..." Feng Bujue said as he put the key in his pocket.

"Yes." Mr. Harper actually replied, "The Dean's Office is on the south side of the third floor."

"Oh..." Hearing this, Feng Bujue thought he could trigger another quest, so he replied, "You're giving me this key, so do you need me to do something in the Dean's Office for you?"

Unfortunately, he was overthinking it. Harper's dialogue quickly turned into: "Beer is so good..."

"Tch..." Feng Bujue thought, "Just telling me the location of the Dean's Office, huh..."

[Current task has changed, main quest has been updated.] At that moment, a system prompt suddenly sounded.

Brother Jue was stunned, "Main quest changed?"

He quickly opened the menu and looked at the taskbar again. He saw that the original main quest [Stick to your post and survive until dawn] had been crossed out, and a new instruction appeared below it: [Defeat the Dean, then escape the hospital.]

"Ha!" Feng Bujue looked at the line of text and immediately laughed. He felt a sense of turning passivity into initiative.

"What are you laughing at? Hurry up and find my key." Victor's high-pitched voice chirped again.

"Are you talking about this?" Feng Bujue smiled mysteriously, took out [Victor's Key] from his pocket, and waved it at the other party.

"Ah! Yes! Give it to me quickly." Victor stretched out his hands, like a child asking for a toy.

"Hmph..." Brother Jue sneered, "I know your secret... you despicable opportunist..." He deliberately took a step towards the door, just in case, "Ertou... is it? Heh... cheap to produce, but has a huge killing effect on those alcohol-loving races."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" Victor was indeed a goblin, and was unusually sensitive in this regard.

"If I were you..." Feng Bujue didn't answer the other party's question directly, but said, "When I obtained a unique resource that could make me rich... I would definitely spend a lot of money to hire powerful mages to add an indestructible magical barrier to my wine cellar." As he spoke, he shook the key twice, "Only leaving a unique magic key to open the door, and I would carry this key with me." He paused and looked at Victor with a forceful gaze, "It can be said... what I hold in my hand is not a key, but all your Ertou stock, and the recipe for brewing this wine."

These words... actually had no basis. In fact, Brother Jue was just using the notes on the [Blood Corpse Must Die] and [Victor's Key] items, as well as some monster kingdom settings, to fill in the blanks.

However... it seemed that he had guessed correctly.

"You villain! You're ruthless! What do you want?" Victor actually admitted it.

Hearing this, Feng Bujue was overjoyed, but on the surface, he still unhurriedly probed, "What do you have?"

"I have a teleportation stone to the third floor of the hospital." Victor replied.

"Huh?" Feng Bujue was stunned for a moment, then he understood that this thing must be the reward for the side quest itself, "Anything else?"

"Money." Victor replied, "Did you want anything else?" His expression changed slightly, "Speaking of... I do have a niece, and she says she doesn't mind marrying other races..."

"Equipment! Equipment equipment equipment equipment equipment!" Feng Bujue roared.

"Are you sick?" Victor replied, "Where would I get equipment? I'm a reseller. When I get something, I've already found a buyer, and I'll sell it in less than half a day. I only have money around me, I don't keep stolen goods... I mean, goods."

"What's the point of money!" Feng Bujue shouted. He was right, as the note on that coin said, the money of the monster kingdom was a very unreliable currency.

"Okay! You want 'things', right?" As Victor spoke, he took out two items from his bedside table, holding them out with both hands, "I only have 'this' and the teleportation stone, will you trade or not?"

"Tch... after all that, I'm just getting one more item..." Feng Bujue thought, "Well... better than nothing."

"Trade, of course, I'll trade." Feng Bujue replied without much hesitation, "It's useless for me to hold your key." As he spoke, he took two steps forward and exchanged the items in his hands with the other party.

"Hmph! You villain! I'm going to complain about you!" Victor grumbled a few times and put the key in his pocket.

The Count laughed gloatingly from the side, "Haha, you profiteer, this is retribution."

Then, the two of them started arguing again...

As for Feng Bujue, after looking at the descriptions of the two items in his hand, he walked out of the room.

Before going to the third floor, he had one more side quest to do. Since the other quest lines all pointed to the same target—the Dean—then the reward he received from the Count should also be related to completing the main quest, and he couldn't miss it.