Proofreading: Aravyre, Volly
“Hmm…This trick might work a little against female players who are full of compassion.” Feng Bujue shifted his gaze away from the newspaper and gave another glance at the monkey inside the cage. “If there’s a need, I would not hesitate, even if it’s in reality…Besides, this is just a game.” He placed the newspaper down, his interest in the contents seemingly gone. “But…Since he has given me a more accurate weight, I should consider it as a hint.”
He walked in front of the machine, squatted down, and moved his face in as close as possible in order to examine it carefully. In this manner, he moved around the machine in a circle, then, using his fists, he knocked on the exterior and heavily kicked at the machine twice. Obviously, the exterior of this machine was not a metallic layer of skin, but a sturdy piece of iron plate. The screws at each intersection were screwed in very tightly, making it impossible to open with just bare hands. It was also impossible to move it with a single person’s strength.
No obvious gap could be found on the surface of the machine, and the two meters were very firmly fixed down. Trying to find any vulnerable points on this machine, with under three minutes remaining, would probably be a futile task.
Thus, Feng Bujue pulled on the cage that held the monkey a few more times, however, it was welded tight and wouldn’t even budge a little. He looked around the room again, but there were only walls around him.
He went back to the center of the room, picked the doll up, and sat on the miniature chair himself. As the chair was extremely small, he practically had to squat to sit on it.
“If I have to clear this room without killing the monkey…In addition to the 7.5kg from this chair and the doll, I still have to find other objects weighing 7.5kg.” He placed his right elbow onto his knee, tilted his head, and started to lightly tap his index and middle finger against his forehead.
“At it’s heaviest, the walkman will only be 1kg, not to mention the syringe. The shirt, pants, and shoes are system restricted and cannot be taken off. Hmm…..I am starting to miss that stone, I could get another couple of pounds out of it at the very least.” He smiled and said. “Well…In this room where every side is laid bare, there’s only one type of movable object left…..” He raised his head and looked at the light overhead.
It was a suspended fluorescent lamp. The tube was about a meter long, embedded in a plastic shell, and suspended from the ceiling by two strings. The electrical wires were braided into the strings holding it up.
The ceiling of this room was much lower than those outside, but it was still around 4 meters high. The suspended lamp was not glued to the ceiling, but was also not at a height where Feng Bujue could grab it.
He stood and stepped on the wooden chair. Standing on his tiptoes, on this small chair, he stretched out his arm. There was still about a foot remaining, from the tips of his finger to the light. This distance was neither long nor short, just impassable. The chair below his feet was very small and it was difficult for him to even fit his feet onto it. Clearly it wasn’t likely that he’d be able to exert the force necessary to jump vertically and grab something with his hands.
Time was currently running out. Feng Bujue had only 73 seconds left.
After stretching out his arms and observing the distance between them, he turned his head again for a quick glance at the timer and actually smiled while muttering to himself. “Such a tough level of difficulty from the very start…hmph..Just how I like it.”
After thinking deeply for a moment, Feng Bujue once again shifted his gaze to the doll. He seemed to have came up with some sort of a plan. Taking huge steps, he ran towards the doll, picked it up, stripped off the black suit that the doll was wearing, and then went back to the chair and stood on it. With his left hand holding onto one of the sleeves of the suit, he tossed it upwards.
Even though the suit was only made for children, it was long enough for it to reach over the fluorescent tube. Feng Bujue raised his right hand again and grabbed the other sleeve of the suit, making it look like a bridle on a horse’s mouth. With his hands holding the two ends, Feng Bujue gave the light a strong pull, breaking one of the lines which suspended it. One end of the light was hanging free, the other was still dangling from the ceiling, like a sausage.
Feng Bujue could now grab the lamp directly. As three sides of the light’s cover were plastic, he did not need to worry about breaking the glass. Even though the room was dark with the light out, it was not difficult to hold the lamp currently “floating” in front of him. After he grabbed the lamp and applied a little more strength, the line at the other end also snapped, and he held the meter long lamp, cover included, in his hand.
Feng Bujue had been counting silently in his heart. As of this moment, about 35 seconds were left. The machine was still operating, rumbling in the darkness. He did not rush anxiously towards the sound, but cautiously got down from the chair, using his feet to probe around, and found the doll on the ground. After committing the locations of these two objects into his mind, he walked towards the machine, counting the number of steps he took while doing so.
Everything was much simpler after he reached the machine. Based on the sound alone, he could accurately sense the location of the hole. Feng Bujue pulled his head back sideways and extended the light tube into the machine. The two sets of gears began to apply pressure and crushed the fluorescent lamp, pulling it through the gap. Even though a little glass managed to fly out in the process, Feng Bujue was already prepared for it and was not hurt in any way.
After the machine had taken in three quarters of the light tube, he let go, and turned his body to face the direction he had come from. Counting his steps, he trotted back in the darkness. He made every step with care, in case an uncontrolled step might kick a necessary object; he did not have the time to crawl around in the dark environment and blindly search for an object.
With no unexpected occurrences, he managed to gently bump into the doll on the ground within ten steps. As time was already tight, Feng Bujue quickly squatted down. With the doll in one hand and the chair in the other, he ran back towards the machine. As there was no need to worry about the way back this time, he took large steps, and reached the machine in just a few seconds, quickly tossing the doll inside.
Feng Bujue had already made and committed to memory the observation that the chair’s backrest was slightly bigger than the circular opening. If he hadn’t considered it, he would have found out at that moment, that the small chair would jam in the entrance and could not be squeezed in no matter what. But Feng Bujue would not make such a mistake, not now, not ever. Before he pulled out the light, he had already considered every step he would make in the darkness.
Making use of the time that the machine was taking to crush the doll, he grabbed the back of the chair with one hand, leaving it slanted on the ground. With a mighty downwards step, the backrest of the chair became deformed. This way, the broken stool could be placed into the machine effortlessly.
His mental calculations showed that there were only five seconds remaining. The wooden chair he’d broken with his feet was fed into the machine without any incidents. At around 3 seconds, the machine’s rumblings stopped. As it was pitch dark, Feng Bujue could not see the exact state of the timer and the weight. He also did not know whether it had stopped because the requirements was met and the game was over, or if it was because he had run out of time.
The next few seconds proved to be long and hard to bear. Nothing happened and Feng Bujue’s heart began to sink. Could it be that the weight of the light tube had been insufficient? In reality, this type of hanging fluorescent lamp, even with shell and tube still attached, might have been a model weighing under 7.5kg, but he felt that the thing he held just now clearly exceeded that weight, and believed that it had been intentionally designed that way. Had that been the wrong way to solve the puzzle? Was killing the monkey the only way to leave the room?
All of his doubts dispersed into thin air when a weird “Kacha” sound sounded. At that time, the door to another room opened. Apparently the mechanism needed a window of 10 seconds to activate.
Light was streaming out from the gap, as if declaring that the game would still continue…
Proofreading: Aravyre, Volly
“Hmm…This trick might work a little against female players who are full of compassion.” Feng Bujue shifted his gaze away from the newspaper and gave another glance at the monkey inside the cage. “If there’s a need, I would not hesitate, even if it’s in reality…Besides, this is just a game.” He placed the newspaper down, his interest in the contents seemingly gone. “But…Since he has given me a more accurate weight, I should consider it as a hint.”
He walked in front of the machine, squatted down, and moved his face in as close as possible in order to examine it carefully. In this manner, he moved around the machine in a circle, then, using his fists, he knocked on the exterior and heavily kicked at the machine twice. Obviously, the exterior of this machine was not a metallic layer of skin, but a sturdy piece of iron plate. The screws at each intersection were screwed in very tightly, making it impossible to open with just bare hands. It was also impossible to move it with a single person’s strength.
No obvious gap could be found on the surface of the machine, and the two meters were very firmly fixed down. Trying to find any vulnerable points on this machine, with under three minutes remaining, would probably be a futile task.
Thus, Feng Bujue pulled on the cage that held the monkey a few more times, however, it was welded tight and wouldn’t even budge a little. He looked around the room again, but there were only walls around him.
He went back to the center of the room, picked the doll up, and sat on the miniature chair himself. As the chair was extremely small, he practically had to squat to sit on it.
“If I have to clear this room without killing the monkey…In addition to the 7.5kg from this chair and the doll, I still have to find other objects weighing 7.5kg.” He placed his right elbow onto his knee, tilted his head, and started to lightly tap his index and middle finger against his forehead.
“At it’s heaviest, the walkman will only be 1kg, not to mention the syringe. The shirt, pants, and shoes are system restricted and cannot be taken off. Hmm…..I am starting to miss that stone, I could get another couple of pounds out of it at the very least.” He smiled and said. “Well…In this room where every side is laid bare, there’s only one type of movable object left…..” He raised his head and looked at the light overhead.
It was a suspended fluorescent lamp. The tube was about a meter long, embedded in a plastic shell, and suspended from the ceiling by two strings. The electrical wires were braided into the strings holding it up.
The ceiling of this room was much lower than those outside, but it was still around 4 meters high. The suspended lamp was not glued to the ceiling, but was also not at a height where Feng Bujue could grab it.
He stood and stepped on the wooden chair. Standing on his tiptoes, on this small chair, he stretched out his arm. There was still about a foot remaining, from the tips of his finger to the light. This distance was neither long nor short, just impassable. The chair below his feet was very small and it was difficult for him to even fit his feet onto it. Clearly it wasn’t likely that he’d be able to exert the force necessary to jump vertically and grab something with his hands.
Time was currently running out. Feng Bujue had only 73 seconds left.
After stretching out his arms and observing the distance between them, he turned his head again for a quick glance at the timer and actually smiled while muttering to himself. “Such a tough level of difficulty from the very start…hmph..Just how I like it.”
After thinking deeply for a moment, Feng Bujue once again shifted his gaze to the doll. He seemed to have came up with some sort of a plan. Taking huge steps, he ran towards the doll, picked it up, stripped off the black suit that the doll was wearing, and then went back to the chair and stood on it. With his left hand holding onto one of the sleeves of the suit, he tossed it upwards.
Even though the suit was only made for children, it was long enough for it to reach over the fluorescent tube. Feng Bujue raised his right hand again and grabbed the other sleeve of the suit, making it look like a bridle on a horse’s mouth. With his hands holding the two ends, Feng Bujue gave the light a strong pull, breaking one of the lines which suspended it. One end of the light was hanging free, the other was still dangling from the ceiling, like a sausage.
Feng Bujue could now grab the lamp directly. As three sides of the light’s cover were plastic, he did not need to worry about breaking the glass. Even though the room was dark with the light out, it was not difficult to hold the lamp currently “floating” in front of him. After he grabbed the lamp and applied a little more strength, the line at the other end also snapped, and he held the meter long lamp, cover included, in his hand.
Feng Bujue had been counting silently in his heart. As of this moment, about 35 seconds were left. The machine was still operating, rumbling in the darkness. He did not rush anxiously towards the sound, but cautiously got down from the chair, using his feet to probe around, and found the doll on the ground. After committing the locations of these two objects into his mind, he walked towards the machine, counting the number of steps he took while doing so.
Everything was much simpler after he reached the machine. Based on the sound alone, he could accurately sense the location of the hole. Feng Bujue pulled his head back sideways and extended the light tube into the machine. The two sets of gears began to apply pressure and crushed the fluorescent lamp, pulling it through the gap. Even though a little glass managed to fly out in the process, Feng Bujue was already prepared for it and was not hurt in any way.
After the machine had taken in three quarters of the light tube, he let go, and turned his body to face the direction he had come from. Counting his steps, he trotted back in the darkness. He made every step with care, in case an uncontrolled step might kick a necessary object; he did not have the time to crawl around in the dark environment and blindly search for an object.
With no unexpected occurrences, he managed to gently bump into the doll on the ground within ten steps. As time was already tight, Feng Bujue quickly squatted down. With the doll in one hand and the chair in the other, he ran back towards the machine. As there was no need to worry about the way back this time, he took large steps, and reached the machine in just a few seconds, quickly tossing the doll inside.
Feng Bujue had already made and committed to memory the observation that the chair’s backrest was slightly bigger than the circular opening. If he hadn’t considered it, he would have found out at that moment, that the small chair would jam in the entrance and could not be squeezed in no matter what. But Feng Bujue would not make such a mistake, not now, not ever. Before he pulled out the light, he had already considered every step he would make in the darkness.
Making use of the time that the machine was taking to crush the doll, he grabbed the back of the chair with one hand, leaving it slanted on the ground. With a mighty downwards step, the backrest of the chair became deformed. This way, the broken stool could be placed into the machine effortlessly.
His mental calculations showed that there were only five seconds remaining. The wooden chair he’d broken with his feet was fed into the machine without any incidents. At around 3 seconds, the machine’s rumblings stopped. As it was pitch dark, Feng Bujue could not see the exact state of the timer and the weight. He also did not know whether it had stopped because the requirements was met and the game was over, or if it was because he had run out of time.
The next few seconds proved to be long and hard to bear. Nothing happened and Feng Bujue’s heart began to sink. Could it be that the weight of the light tube had been insufficient? In reality, this type of hanging fluorescent lamp, even with shell and tube still attached, might have been a model weighing under 7.5kg, but he felt that the thing he held just now clearly exceeded that weight, and believed that it had been intentionally designed that way. Had that been the wrong way to solve the puzzle? Was killing the monkey the only way to leave the room?
All of his doubts dispersed into thin air when a weird “Kacha” sound sounded. At that time, the door to another room opened. Apparently the mechanism needed a window of 10 seconds to activate.
Light was streaming out from the gap, as if declaring that the game would still continue…
