After pressing the button, the candle was shot into the center of the hollow rod by the pushing force from the gun. At that moment, there was screeching sound that came from inside the rod, then with a ting, the key really fell out. Feng Bujue put away the gun and looked down the rod’s center again. He realized that the rod was sealed shut in the middle, where light could not shine through. That was where the key had been stuck. He bent down to pick up the key and opened the menu to study it.
———
Name: Key to Cell 0
Item Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Effect: Disappears after use. The door of cell 0 can be opened and closed freely after that.
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: Why isn’t this a consumable? I believe you know the answer.
———
“Even the remarks are getting more and more haughty.” Feng Bujue looked at the key. “You don’t need to point it out because you assume the players know it. Then does that mean, in the future, there will be remarks where it’s just ’you should know’?”
Feng Bujue mocked the game as he walked to the door. He put the key into the lock and turned clockwise. With a click, the lock unlocked, the steel door opened into the cell, and Feng Bujue pulled it open. He turned back to look at the room to confirm that he had not missed anything useful. Finally, his eyes landed on the iron rod. Even though the thing would turn back into its rusted self in fifteen minutes, it should be about as handy as the wrench. Therefore, Feng Bujue decided to take the rod with the candle stuck in it with him.
———
Name: Hollow Iron Rod
Item Type: Weapon
Quality: Normal
Offense Points: Slightly Weak
Element: None
Special Effect: None
Remark: An iron rod removed from a bed frame.
———
From the game menu, there was an additional remark to the item. Paying attention to it for a few seconds would bring a window up that said, “This item is under the effect of a skill. The item will change after the effect is over. System notification: Please pay close attention when trading this item.”
“Hmm… At least that is quite a good reminder.” Feng Bujue glanced at it and understood the meaning of the extra remark. In Thriller Paradise, there had to be more than one skill that could affect objects and items. In fact, there were probably skills that could change an item’s element, appearance, or special effect. To prevent players from scamming with these skills by selling temporarily enhanced items, the system added a reminder like this to such items.
“An iron rod that is about two meters long—there must be some use for it. Like using it to scratch one’s back, using it to jump higher,” Feng Bujue said to himself. “Even if it’s useless, it’s not bad as a weapon. It’s better than nothing.”
That was not wrong, but it was clear that the reason the man carried this rod around was to mimic a certain Monkey God. Feng Bujue walked out of the cell, and when he passed the door, the system said, “Current quest completed. Main quest updated.”
The ’Escape the room’ was ticked, and the new quest appeared. “Explore the 2F basement and open the door that leads upward.”
“So, this is the second-floor basement. By the way… just walking out from this previous room is hard enough… I’m already so drained. Now it wants me to clear an entire floor‽ The amount of puzzle solving involved…” A gleeful smile appeared on his face. “Hehehe… is enough to claim one’s life!”
Be it the tone or the expression on his face, it showed that this strange man was quite happy, but the content of his words had another meaning.
After leaving the cell, Feng Bujue toyed with the rod and walked down the corridor, mumbling as he went. He was like a child who was on spring break, no trace of nervousness at all.
The corridor that led away from the room had no doors on either side. The corridor was empty. Other than the lights, there were nothing else. Of course, Feng Bujue already knew that from when he glanced out the window earlier.
After about fifty meters, he saw other cells. There were six cells in total, three on each side. The room was marked out by numbers written in paint. That was something cell 0 did not have. On the left were Cells One, Three, and Five, and on the right were Cells Two, Four, and Six. Between Cells Two and Four, there was a plastic bin about one meter tall, and the top was open. Even though he could not tell if there was anything inside from where he stood, at least he did not smell anything nasty. Looking further, not far ahead were the stairs that led upward.
Feng Bujue was not in a hurry to check whether the cells were locked, and he did not look through the windows. When he saw the doors, he stopped toying with the rod and held the rod horizontally to make neither of its end touch the ground. He slunk forward. When he passed the doors, he bent down and slithered past them. It was hard to tell what was inside the cells. Looking through the windows or being seen by the thing or people inside the cells might trigger some event, so Feng Bujue decided to sneak his way past to the stairs first.
He successfully moved past the six doors and came to the stairs. Going up the stone steps, Feng Bujue saw a classic black, iron cellar door. Through the bar, he could see the corridor for the upper floor. The layout was similar to the floor below it, but the stairs that led from the first floor basement to the ground floor should be at the other end of the corridor—in other words, right above Cell 0. Feng Bujue went to pull on the bars, but they did not budge. An idea came to him, and he took out the Bottomless Grenade Box from his inventory.
This item was a ’tool’. Different from flashlight, the box only generated consumables and did not rely on consumables to function, so it was not banned by the system. Feng Bujue tried to place the grenade near the door to see if he could blow a way out, but he realized that he was unable to take out the grenade.
“I can use the box but not the consumables generated by it…” Feng Bujue groaned. That was a correct guess. Even though the box was not banned, the generated object was categorized as ’consumable’, so naturally, it was limited by the system.
“Fine then…” Feng Bujue shrugged and walked away from the door. He did not place much hope in the explosion plan anyway… When he was stuck in Cell 0, he had considered using the grenade but soon cancelled out that thought. If he used a Mark II Grenade in such a small space, his remaining twenty-six percent Life Points would disappear as well…
“So, the way to open this door and enter first floor basement will be among the six cells.” Feng Bujue walked back down the stairs and looked at the puzzle before him. He came to the wall and slowly put the rod down. He crossed his fingers and extended his arms forward. Then he raised his fists above his head like he was doing a warm-up.
“Where should I start?” he said as he walked to Cell Six. Very carefully. With each step, he nudged his face to the window. The light from the corridor lit up the room. The layout of the cell was similar to Cell 0. The bed and pail were the same, but he could not tell whether the cupboard was there or not because that angle was in his blind spot.
“Hmm… there’s no one in here…” Feng Bujue saw that the room was empty. He tried opening the door, but it was locked. Then he looked through the windows of Cells Five, Four, Three, Two, and One. They were all the same. Then Feng Bujue came to the trash can. He took out the Stool of the Eighteen Bronze Statues and sat down, ready to inspect the trash can closer.
Feng Bujue’s outfit came with gloves. This part was similar to the facial accessories. They could be hidden or shown based on the player’s needs. From the start of the scenario, Feng Bujue had been bare-handed, and he did not change that. There were bloodied bandages, plastic plates with residual food, and some plastic plates stuck with feces in the can… After finishing their meal, the inmates had found another use for the plates. Feng Bujue thought about using his hands to look through the can, but once he took a closer look… he decided to upturn the can.
He grabbed the iron rod to knock the can over. Then he sat down on the stool, and with the rod on his shoulder, he used the end of the rod that was facing down to poke through the trash. After all, this was not his equipment, so it was fine for it to be dirtied. Feng Bujue looked through the trash and thought to himself, This is strange… the pail in every room has the smell of feces, and from the traces on these plates, they should be fresh, so why isn’t anyone in the rooms? Could all of them have been taken away not too long ago?
Feng Bujue found only dirty plates and bandages. After he tossed out everything, he realized that the can did not contain too much goo or liquid, so the smell was not that heavy, but they looked disgusting. Just as he was about to turn his attention away, he suddenly saw something. At least in the trash can, this object was unique.
———
Name: Carved Fake Teeth
Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Unknown
Can be taken out of the scenario: Yes
Remark: There might be some information on the inside the tooth.
———
Feng Bujue picked up the fake teeth and grabbed a relatively clean bandage to give them a rub. Then he examined them closer and saw something related to solving the puzzle.