Chapter 128 The Punishment

So-called strategists, in a situation where they clearly know the odds are stacked against them, can justifiably choose to avoid battle.

But when retreat is no longer an option, they will also make decisive choices and fight to the death.

At this moment, seeing their teammate thrown out, Honghu, Qiufeng, and Ji Chang naturally couldn't kneel any longer. They immediately stood up, each taking a fighting stance, ready to face the enemy.

"You want to fight me?" Little Red Riding Hood turned her head, refocusing her gaze on the three of them. "Hmph... have you already given up on life?"

"Don't do it!" Feng Bujue shouted from a distance. "I'm okay!"

With Jue-ge's timely intervention, the three who were preparing for a desperate struggle managed to hold back their moves.

"Little Red Riding Hood, you won't kill us." Feng Bujue stood up, his body swaying slightly. "We are the boss's 'guests,' you can't do that..."

Little Red Riding Hood was silent for a few seconds, staring intently at Feng Bujue from afar, and coldly grunted, "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"We, that is, the 'travelers from another world' you speak of, have certain rules when we go on these short trips." Feng Bujue tried to explain in words that the characters in the script could understand. "And you... are too strong. If we fought you, our chances of survival would be zero, absolutely zero, 0.00%." He repeatedly emphasized this point, clearly speaking for his teammates to hear.

As a person with Soul Intent, Feng Bujue could more concretely estimate the difference in strength. Little Red Riding Hood's abilities before him gave him no chance of victory. Even the group of superheroes he encountered in Gotham City earlier couldn't compare to this little girl.

"Our journey can never have such a certain-death scenario..." Feng Bujue said. "So I think you shouldn't, or can't, kill us." He rubbed his sore back. "You showed mercy when you threw me over here. Even if I did nothing, I wouldn't die, at most I'd just be half-dead."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression didn't change much as she listened to Feng Bujue's words, but the palpable killing intent did gradually dissipate.

"I know you're angry... it's my fault for you to vent on me. But..." Feng Bujue said, "Since things have already come to this, I suggest you hurry up and chase the werewolf. The few of us will go to the seventh floor to see the boss, and everyone can take care of their own business first. If you still feel unsatisfied afterward, it won't be too late to come back and kill me."

"Hmm..." Little Red Riding Hood pondered for a moment, then turned into a red phantom and approached Feng Bujue.

She walked on the mire as if it were solid ground, instantly arriving in front of Jue-ge, and said, "You have guts, and what you said makes sense." She agreed with Feng Bujue's point of view, but the studded club in her hand still smashed down mercilessly.

With a *crack*, the studded club hit Feng Bujue's left knee, shattering it to pieces.

"But I hate following other people's instructions the most, even the boss isn't an exception." Little Red Riding Hood "pulled" the bloody studded club out of Feng Bujue's knee, swung it onto her shoulder, and sneered, "So, this is your extra punishment." She looked at Feng Bujue's painful face, revealing a satisfied expression, and then turned and left.

When she passed by Honghu and the others, the three didn't dare to breathe loudly, simply waiting quietly for Little Red Riding Hood to pass.

No one spoke, and there was no eye contact...

It wasn't until Little Red Riding Hood entered the elevator, and the elevator doors closed, that Qiufeng dared to raise his voice and say to Feng Bujue in the distance, "Are you okay? Brother Feng."

"Nonsense..." Feng Bujue said. "The fact that I didn't turn into white light and disappear means I'm still alive."

"We all know that." Honghu said. "We're just a little worried that you've been afflicted with the bleeding effect." The issue he considered was crucial, because in this script, they couldn't use the items in their bags. If Feng Bujue was afflicted with the bleeding effect and couldn't stop the bleeding, he would be doomed.

"It's okay, I've only been afflicted with the fracture state, and there's no continuous blood loss." Feng Bujue replied. "My Survival Value is only at 8% now, so I just need to avoid getting injured again."

"8% is very dangerous." Ji Chang said. "And this kind of injury recovers very slowly on its own. If there's no item to remove the state, the fracture might stay with you until the end of the script."

Feng Bujue said, "That makes sense, so please carry me from now on." He was clearly taking advantage of the situation. "Oh, right, when Little Red Riding Hood picked me up, I dropped the broom on the ground." He pointed to a foothold not far from the three of them. "Don't forget to pick it up."

Ten minutes later...

The four had crossed the swamp and successfully entered the mural through the stone steps.

Ji Chang, who was relatively burly, was responsible for carrying Feng Bujue on his back, walking in the middle of the team. Qiufeng held the broom and scouted the way ahead, while Honghu brought up the rear.

The stone steps were longer than they had imagined, constantly extending upwards, and the slope was getting steeper, the path was getting narrower, and it was getting more and more dangerous.

Another ten minutes passed, and they had reached a considerably high altitude. Looking down from here, there was a hazy mist. The swamp under the mist, illuminated by the moonlight, presented a variety of beautiful colors, like a dream.

"Don't drop me." Feng Bujue put on the witch's pointed hat and deliberately said in an old-fashioned voice, "My old bones will break if I fall."

"I'd like to throw you directly off the cliff, but the system won't let me." Ji Chang replied.

"Ah... back in the day, when I fought a fire demon one-on-one, I also fell off a cliff." Feng Bujue stroked the pointed hat on his head. "After that battle, I was promoted from a gray robe to a white robe."

"You're starting to talk about Gandalf again, aren't you..." Honghu said. "You really are a great bullshitter."

"Hey! Looks like we're at the end." Qiufeng, who was at the front of the team, interrupted their chat and turned back to say.

Everyone looked up and saw that, directly in front of them and slightly above, about two hundred meters away, was the end of the stone steps. A dark gray cloud enveloped the area, shaped like a ring, and some sounds could be faintly heard from within the ring, seemingly the sound of flowing water...

The players slightly increased their pace, walking all the way to the end of the stone steps and stepping onto a smooth rock surface.

Here, they saw a scene that was enough to shock them again.

In the ring of dark clouds above their heads, there was actually a waterfall, and it was a reverse waterfall. The turbulent water flowed upwards, defying the laws of gravity. Standing under this cloud, one would have the illusion of being suspended upside down in the air.

Ji Chang put Feng Bujue down. The latter stood on one leg with a very standard gangster stance, with one hand on his hip, and looked up to observe, saying, "Does anyone have any opinions?"

"Hmm..." Honghu pondered for a few seconds and said, "I have a plan. The three of us will work together and throw Brother Feng up first."

"Oh! That's a good idea." Qiufeng immediately agreed.

Ji Chang also stroked his chin and murmured thoughtfully, "As long as the team column doesn't show Brother Feng's death a few minutes later, it means that the path above is safe and can successfully send us to the seventh floor."

"Hmm... that's a pretty good idea." Facing the three's malicious plan, Feng Bujue surprisingly agreed very calmly. "My leg is injured, and it would be more difficult to jump up on my own. If I jump off course, I'll definitely kick the bucket if I fall from this height into the swamp below." As he spoke, he took off his hat and handed it to Ji Chang. "To be on the safe side, you guys should hold onto the plot item first. After you throw me up, just wait for three minutes. If I'm not dead by then, you can jump up one by one."

Honghu was quite surprised by Feng Bujue's cooperative attitude. In fact, his suggestion was partly a joke, but he didn't expect the person involved to agree himself.

Since the strategy was set, they discussed some details and then took action. Ji Chang, Honghu, and Qiufeng stood in position, supporting Feng Bujue, and threw him high into the air, aiming directly above, so that he flew into the cloud vortex with his head facing upwards.

As soon as his body touched the water of the reverse waterfall, Feng Bujue felt all the blood in his body rush from the soles of his feet to his head. Gravity seemed to be reversed at that moment, causing him to "fall" into the water in an instant.

As mentioned earlier... he couldn't swim.

Of course, in such a turbulent torrent, whether or not you could swim didn't make much of a difference.

Feng Bujue was like something thrown into a toilet, involuntarily moving at high speed under the drag of the water. He couldn't open his eyes at all, and his body was subjected to considerable water pressure. But this didn't cause him to lose Survival Value, and the cold water temperature temporarily numbed the pain in his left leg.

About thirty seconds later, Feng Bujue suddenly felt the pressure on his body lighten, and his back leaned against something, putting him in a lying position.

He tried to sit up, but unexpectedly, this action allowed his upper body to emerge from the water.

"Hmm?" Feng Bujue opened his eyes. The bright light made him a little unaccustomed at first. When he saw the surrounding situation clearly, he showed a rare expression of surprise.

At this moment, what he saw was his own bathroom, and he was lying in the bathtub.

"What... did I fall asleep while taking a bath..." Feng Bujue muttered.

It turned out that after the cloak battle, Jue-ge went offline to take a bath, but fell asleep in the bathtub. Everything before was just a dream.

............

That... is impossible.

Feng Bujue was not fortunate enough to enjoy the forbidden technique recognized by the script world, "the protagonist wakes up and finds that everything was just a dream."

............

[The current task has been changed, the main task has been updated] The system prompt sounded at this time.

Feng Bujue looked down and saw that he was still wearing his clown costume, so he understood everything.

After sighing, he climbed out of the bathtub and opened the game menu to inspect it.

In the team column, the names of the three teammates still existed, and they were all alive.

In the task column, [All surviving players enter the "Detective Club."] This item was not checked off, but below this task, a new task appeared: [Escape the memory space and return to the seventh floor of the "Testing Building."]

In addition, there was one very important change... the items in the bag could be used again.