Chapter 13 The Thirteen

"So that's how it is..." The instant he saw the number, the countless fragmented pieces of information in Feng Bujue's mind instantly twisted together, forming a complete chain of clues. "Thirteen pictures, thirteen coordinates, thirteen nouns pointing to 'a certain place'... enough to lead me to thirteen command codes." As he spoke, he turned back and walked towards the bicycle. "Since only the Ghost Postman knows everyone's command code... every illustration photo must have his tire tracks left behind as he passed by..."

Jue-ge kicked up the bicycle's support stand, straddled the seat, and muttered, "Hmm... although the deduction itself is valid, the possibility of 'coincidence' or 'individual exceptions' cannot be ruled out... To be on the safe side, I should visit each coordinate in the order of the newspaper layout..."

His consideration was very thorough. After all, he had only confirmed one clue so far, and he couldn't jump to conclusions. He had to go to at least three places, find three numbers suspected to be command codes, and match them one by one with the recipients to fully confirm that his deduction was correct.

...

To make a long story short, twenty minutes later, Feng Bujue arrived at the place recorded in the third page of the newspaper... namely, the second illustration photo...

According to the coordinates and the noun's hint, he found the number "16" at the bottom of a trash can... which was precisely the command code for Fatty Number Two.

Then, he rushed to the location photographed in the third illustration photo—a piece of farmland in the west of the town. And on a fence next to the farmland, he found three numbers painted in oil—"219."

After obtaining this three-digit number, he naturally went straight to Fatty Number Three's residence and rang the recipient's doorbell again.

This time, Jue-ge didn't waste any words. As soon as the other party answered the door, he said, "Command code two-one-nine, take the letter."

As a result... Fatty Number Three really took the letter.

At this point, Feng Bujue's deduction had been basically confirmed. The next thing he had to do was not difficult at all... He only needed to design the most time-saving and efficient route in his mind, then follow this route to explore the ten locations where the command codes were recorded, and have the remaining ten fatties receive the letters. Then the Branch Quest would be completed.

Although the final completion time was longer than he had initially expected, he should still be able to finish it before 8:00 PM. That was a full four hours before the mission requirement of "before midnight," which was more than enough.

At that time, Jue-ge... did plan it that way, but his plan changed again soon after.

...

Afternoon, 4:15 PM.

Jue-ge, who had explored five coordinate points according to the established route, suddenly stopped.

"Damn it... I'm an idiot!" He stopped in the middle of the road and cursed to himself, "Such an obvious pattern... I should have noticed it earlier..."

No one knew what he had thought of, but he immediately turned the bicycle around and headed for the address of the nearest recipient.

Ten minutes later, Feng Bujue arrived at the porch of Fatty Number Thirteen.

The recipient's command code was a fourteen-digit number, and Jue-ge hadn't explored the coordinates where the code was recorded yet. But, he still resolutely rang the other party's doorbell.

"It's you again..." After opening the door, Fatty Number Thirteen glared at Jue-ge through the crack and said, "I told you, without the command code, I won't..."

"Wait a moment." Feng Bujue interrupted the other party, took out his phone, and tapped on it for a while. About five seconds later, he handed over the thirteenth letter with his other hand and continued in a very fast voice, "Three zero two eight seven five one zero six five nine two two five."

As soon as the words fell, the fatty was stunned for two seconds, which were two seconds that made Feng Bujue quite nervous...

Fortunately, two seconds later, Fatty Number Thirteen obediently took the envelope and said with annoyance, "Damn it..."

"Heh... excellent." Feng Bujue smiled.

At this moment, he had completely cracked the code pattern on the thirteen fatties; without having to explore the coordinate points indicated on the newspaper, he could say all thirteen codes.

Moreover, through this "pattern," he also knew in advance... that among these thirteen fatties, there was an anomaly.

...

Evening, 6:30 PM.

Feng Bujue rode his bicycle to the front of a hotel on the west side of the town.

At this time, his Branch Quest [Deliver all the letters before midnight] had already been completed. Because he didn't go to any of the coordinate points indicated on the newspaper to find the code, but instead ran straight to all the remaining recipients' addresses, reported the fatties' command codes one by one, and had them take the letters.

And the impact of completing the Branch Quest ahead of schedule was... the moment Jue-ge delivered the last letter, he received three new quests in a row:

[Investigate and solve the reason for Enoch's tardiness]

[Find a way to participate in "The Last Supper"]

[Decipher the script's worldview before the Main Quest is completed]

These three were all classified as Hidden Quests...

Of course, for Feng Bujue, this wasn't bad at all, and it could even be said that... this kind of development suited his taste.

"Hmm... according to the map, this is the only hotel in town. If Enoch (Jue-ge deduced from the quest content that Enoch was the name of the man in the felt hat) is an outsider like me and arrived yesterday... then there is a high probability that he stayed here overnight." Jue-ge thought to himself as he walked to the entrance of the hotel. "But... it can't be ruled out that he has relatives in this town, or that he picked up a girl at the bar last night."

While thinking, he pushed open the door of the hotel.

"Heh... it's open..." The moment he entered, Feng Bujue knew he had come to the right place.

Although Ottaku Town was large, the number of buildings that players could enter was very limited. It was rare to encounter a place that could be entered, and it was bound to be significant.

"Is anyone here?" A few seconds later, Feng Bujue passed through a not-so-long passage and arrived at a counter. Since there was no bell or anything on the counter, Jue-ge could only rely on his voice to call out.

"If no one's here, I'll help myself!" He waited for a moment, and seeing no one respond, he shouted again.

But the result was the same, no one was there.

"Very good." Feng Bujue smiled, went around the counter, and lifted the countertop to walk in.

The first thing he did was to look through the thick registration book on the desk and find the name "Enoch."

"Hmm... it seems quite a few people are staying here..." While looking through the records, Jue-ge unexpectedly found that there were quite a few names in the book. According to the contents recorded on it, seven out of ten rooms in the hotel were currently occupied.

"Most of the people who come to stay in a hotel are from outside the town, right..." Feng Bujue said thoughtfully. "I can try to talk to them later to see if I can get any information."

He quickly wrote down some room numbers and the names of the guests, then turned around, took out the key to room 204, which Enoch had registered for, from the key cabinet behind the counter, and went upstairs humming a little tune.

This kind of small hotel usually doesn't have an elevator. Feng Bujue went up the stairs, passed through a dimly lit corridor covered with a red carpet, and quickly found room 204.

He stood in front of the door, brewed for two seconds, and then... inserted the key, opened the door, and quickly raised his shotgun, aiming at all angles inside the door.

After confirming that there were no obvious threats in sight, he quickly stepped into the door and, imitating the movements and sequence of police officers searching a house in a police movie, searched all corners and blind spots, such as behind the door, under the bed, and in the bathroom.

Throughout the process, he didn't say a word, and even his footsteps were very low. It could be said that he was quiet, fast, and accurate.

Unfortunately... in a Single Nightmare Scenario, there were usually few monsters, and his rather professional room-clearing process was just a waste of emotion...

After completing a full circle, Jue-ge returned to the door, closed it, and let out a long sigh...

"Okay..." He put the gun on the cabinet next to the door, freed up his hands, and looked at the empty room, "I can officially search..."