Chapter 32 At the Bottom of the Gasoline Pool

The only place at the bottom of the gasoline pool untouched by light was directly beneath the iron cage holding the puppet. Because the cage hung close to the ceiling, its shadow was quite large, but by the time it reached the bottom of the pool, this shadow had shrunk to a moderate size.

Feng Bujue pinpointed the general area and jumped. His initial sensations were a jolt in his spine from the cooler water temperature, followed by the gurgling sound and discomfort of gasoline filling his ears. He pinched his nose shut and kept his mouth tightly closed, temporarily safeguarding his oral cavity and respiratory system. However, despite tightly closing his eyes, he still felt a burning sensation through the gaps in his eyelids.

He had only two tasks to complete. First, the one he absolutely had to do, which also presented a certain level of difficulty: find the chemical agent. Second, given the prerequisite of finding the agent, abandon his survival instinct and quickly drown himself.

If he couldn't complete the first task, he would never be able to acquire the potion. Therefore, every second of the minute he spent holding his breath at the bottom of the pool was crucial.

Soon, Feng Bujue reached the bottom. He had jumped in standing up, but as he sank, the shift in his body's center of gravity caused his head to tilt forward slowly, so he made contact with the bottom in a nearly *orz* posture. Luckily, he had one hand free to brace himself, otherwise, his knees and face would have taken the impact.

[Main Quest Progress Updated]

[Find the Chemical Agent (2/4)]

As soon as his hand touched the bottom, Feng Bujue heard the system notification, and the bottle of chemical agent appeared in his palm. This time, he obtained [Chemical Agent of Unknown Composition (D)].

"What's going on? A burst of dogsh*t luck?" Feng Bujue thought in surprise. With his luck, how could he have landed right on the flag where the item was located as he sank to the bottom of the gasoline pool?

At the same moment, in the iron cage high above the room...

The puppet Billy's face tilted downwards slightly, and a glimmer of light seemed to flash in its eyes.

*Chh*—

Immediately followed by the sound of gasoline splashing and pouring down.

A shadowy figure faintly radiating a red glow leaped out of the gasoline's surface before the floor could completely close. Feng Bujue had activated Spiritual Sense Convergence, using a burst of brute strength at the bottom of the pool to push off the ground and propel himself upwards, easily overcoming the liquid's resistance and shooting into the air. And the height he reached was just enough for his hands to grab onto the iron cage where the puppet was waiting.

Feng Bujue used both hands and quickly climbed up, positioning himself on the side of the cage in a crouching posture, his toes secured in the gaps of the cage's iron bars.

"Looks like... I can save myself a medal and the time it would take to run back to the start of the corridor." Feng Bujue spoke as he slicked his hair back and vigorously wiped his face.

He opened his eyes, his pupils already bloodshot, giving him a rather terrifying look. He tilted his head to each side, allowing some of the gasoline to drain from his ears, and then said, "Hey buddy, how does this cage open?"

Actually, it wasn't even a question, because even as Feng Bujue asked, he had already pulled a pipe wrench from his inventory. But he dared not use it to smash anything, for fear that metal striking metal would produce a spark and ignite his gasoline-soaked body. He used the wrench to grip the lock on the cage and forcefully twisted.

The cage was held up by only one chain above it, not four, so it had already begun to sway when Feng Bujue climbed onto it. Now it was moving back and forth in the air like a swing.

Even in this situation, Feng Bujue steadily wrenched the lock open. He reached into the cage and yanked the puppet Billy out like a piece of trash.

Throughout the entire process, the puppet made no attempt to resist, giving the impression that Billy's combat ability was equivalent to... well... a puppet.

Clearly, Billy was neither a mechanical beast nor a combat puppet. He didn't even have a nose that could grow longer; at most, he could film videotapes and pedal a tricycle. Perhaps he possessed skills in creating death chambers, but fighting was probably beyond his capabilities.

"That was really easy..." After grabbing the puppet, Feng Bujue expected to receive some kind of system notification, but there was none. He tried to put the puppet into his inventory, but this time the system prompted him: [Storage failed. You have not gained complete control over this lifeform, or this lifeform is not allowed to enter the inventory.]

Because he had to hold a puppet that could potentially resist at any moment, Feng Bujue waited cautiously until the floor was completely closed before jumping down from above. By this time, the cage's swaying had also gradually lessened, so Feng Bujue landed quite steadily.

The Spiritual Sense Convergence from earlier was only activated instantaneously, and Feng Bujue deactivated it after grabbing the iron cage, so it didn't consume much Survival Value. However, the effects of the gasoline had not yet dissipated. He felt a burning pain in his eyes, his nostrils were filled with the smell of gasoline, and his entire body was soaked. Moreover, his blood-stained and still-wet clothes clung to his body, adding to his considerable discomfort.

But Feng Bujue... as I've mentioned many times, was a person with a very strong tolerance. This level of discomfort was nothing at all. He nonchalantly strode out of the door, carrying the puppet with one arm, and began to sprint wildly towards the end of the corridor.

The game of retrieving the agent from the bottom of the gasoline pool took less time than expected. Both finding the agent and capturing the puppet Billy went surprisingly smoothly. It was just that the length of the second half of this fourth corridor was rather infuriating, taking nearly ten minutes to run through.

But this also perfectly corroborated what Rabbit said about the eighty minutes... It took Feng Bujue exactly eighteen minutes to travel from the fourth corridor to the end cell.

"Hey! I've brought you the prisoner! Give me the goods!" Feng Bujue shouted as he ran out of the corridor towards Rabbit.

Rabbit sat behind the large desk, looked up at him, and then at Billy: "Oh! Traveler from another world, you actually caught Billy! Haha!" Rabbit laughed. "That's great!"

"Less talk, trade puppet for goods." Feng Bujue said as he pressed Billy onto the desk.

"Although I don't know why you would bring me the person I wanted to catch, but..." Rabbit shrugged, stroked his mustache, took out a bottle of chemical agent from the drawer, and handed it to Feng Bujue, saying, "Since you've already caught him, then as you said, trade..."

"How did you know I wanted the chemical agent?" Feng Bujue asked as he snatched the quest item, stuffed it into his inventory with lightning speed, and then took out [One Shot Kill Handgun].

"Uh... you asked me for..." Rabbit's expression visibly changed, and his reply was hesitant.

"Asked you for what? I didn't mention the words 'chemical agent'. I said 'goods'..." A cold smile appeared on the corner of Feng Bujue's mouth as he aimed the gun at Rabbit's rabbit face.