“Oh… So, that’s the case here.” Feng Bujue looked at the strands of blond hair between his fingers, and many questions were answered in that moment. “From my perspective, I am still myself…”
He extended his hands to look at his own sleeves and palms. It was undeniable that he was wearing the Joker outfit that he had made for himself in-game, and his skin color was yellow. When he lifted his eyes, he could see wisps of his black hair. He examined the strands of hair under the magnifying glass.
“But… viewed from the objective angle of this world, I should be another person. When the hair leaves my body, I will be able to see its real form.” He placed the hair on the table and took out the small comb from his pocket. He examined the hair that was left on it with the magnifying glass. “Hmm… the tone, length, and hair quality are all the same.”
Feng Bujue was in thought for about a minute. “Wait… at the start of the scenario, I only combed my hair twice. Unless my character has serious hair loss, there shouldn’t be so much hair stuck to the comb.”
With this in mind, he reached for his hair again, and this time, he pulled harder. To his surprise, when he placed his hands before his eyes, he saw a large clump of hair, and he even yanked out the bloody scalp with some hairs.
“What the f*ck…” Feng Bujue quickly opened his menu. Thankfully, his Life Points did not drop. He channeled his sense and did not feel any pain from his head.
“Phew… calm down, calm down…” he mumbled quite nervously to himself. It felt like hair loss was something the man feared. He tossed the yanked hair aside and calmed himself down. Then he noticed something else. “Now that I think about it… until now, I have not discovered anything that resembles a mirror. Is it because the system does not wish for me to take a look at ’myself’?”
Feng Bujue’s eyes moved back to the picture. “Assuming that the kid on the left is the small person that dragged me during the introductory cinematic and the other kid is the character that I am playing, what happened to them for them to be in in this situation?”
He turned the picture over. On the back of the picture, there was a handwritten sentence. “Arthur and Andrew, my children, my love.”
“So, they are brothers,” Feng Bujue surmised, “Wait a minute… Arthur and Andrew…”
He picked up the comb and his eyes stopped at the carved A.A.
“Arthur and Andrew?” He scratched his chin. “Told you it’s limited edition. Hah…”
In the next ten minutes, Feng Bujue read through the Advanced Study of Alchemy with interest. Flipping over the dark blue cover, the first sentence that fell into his eyes was the following.
“After learning the basics of alchemy, perhaps you will think that the epitome of this art is to turn metal into gold or to create some kind of life-extending medicine, but this book will show you how foolish those thoughts are. Alchemy is a divine art that places human beings on the same level as divine. Those common peasants that will only think about money and life will never reach the realm of divinity.”
Even though the tone was full of warning and mockery, Feng Bujue did not think that it was wrong. These words were giving off an elegant and dignified air, and that was the kind of presence that would elicit the greatest passion from Feng Bujue. Unfortunately, Feng Bujue could only read the contents page and the first chapter. The second chapter and beyond were blurred out.
The content of the first chapter was enough to confuse Feng Bujue. This was probably because he had not read the Basic Study of Alchemy, so many terms in the first chapter sounded unfamiliar to him.
“One has to have at least a superior understanding of chemistry and a great knowledge of the philosophy of material to be able to complete the three processes of understanding, dissecting, and reconstructing and conduct the simplest of alchemy.”
When Feng Bujue realized the second chapter and beyond was unreadable, he closed the book and said to himself, “Just from the formulas given in chapter one, I can see the complication behind the art of alchemy. Other than this alchemical basis, one has to combine the study of astrology, rune study, and the talent of the alchemist to perform even the most basic of alchemical concoction.
“Sigh… In that video, Arthur was at most only ten, and he was able to read a book like this seemingly without any problems… He’s a genius.”
Since this Advanced Study of Alchemy was categorized as something that could not be brought out of the scenario, it meant that it would be useful later in the scenario, so Feng Bujue kept it in his inventory for now, and the picture was placed inside his shirt pocket. He then searched through the study again, but he did not find any more clues or key. Therefore, he collected the oil lamp and the magnifying glass and headed to the next room.
The next room was the kitchen. Opposite the door were the chimney and stove. The stove was dirty, but from the signs, it was still being used. Underneath the stove was the kitchen cupboard. The nearby walls were installed with cupboards.
In the middle of the kitchen was a four legged wooden table. It was two meters by two meters. The tablecloth was beyond dirty, so much so that one could not tell the original pattern anymore. There was a bowl of meat goo left on the table and an unwashed plate next to it. There was some meat sauce on the plate. Looking out from the kitchen, one would be greeted by the same view as from the study… darkness and nothingness. Theoretically speaking, the glass could be used as a mirror, but when Feng Bujue walked close, he could only see a ball of blurry darkness. He found several metallic utensils and gave them a good rub to take a look at himself, but he still failed.
“This scenario is going to try everything it could to stop me from looking at a mirror, is it?” Feng Bujue shrugged. Then he opened the cupboards to look for things that might be a clue. He found more bowls and plates but no knives or clues…
“There has to be something of value in this room…” He looked around the kitchen and concluded, “There’s the oil lamp in the storage room and the picture, book, and magnifying glass in the study, so there has to be something in the kitchen…”
As he spoke, his eyes stopped at the plate of meat goo.
“Fine, then…” He turned the plate over, and the goo blobbed onto the table. Then he removed the plate and used his hand to part the disgusting meat goo.
He found purchase around a key.
———
Name: Red Key
Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Unlocks the red door permanently. Disappears after use.
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: Hidden at a red place.