Chapter 120 - Narrative Cage (Part 4)

Chapter 120: Chapter 114 Narrative Cage (Part 4)First, I need to figure out what’s inside this book.

Li Cheng stood the hardcover book vertically and shook it from side to side and top to bottom, clearly hearing a clacking sound as if something was hidden inside.

He pondered for a moment, placed the book down, and looked around the room; his gaze settled on the faucet of the washbasin.

The faucet was made of brass, with a bell-shaped spout that was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, similar to some kitchen sink faucets that could be pulled out. Between the temperature control handles on both sides was a small and delicate dial.

He pulled out the faucet, and immediately, an animated cartoon appeared on the vanity mirror in front of him. A bobblehead character in the same prison uniform eagerly said, "Dearest inmate, welcome to the use of Pishuai smart furniture.

This product is from the hot eco-friendly series of bathroom equipment. The faucet does not spray water but instead uses a moist and warm airflow for cleansing. The dial in the middle can be used to adjust the airflow intensity.

The toilet utilizes the difference in internal and external air pressure to create suction for waste disposal. The overall water-saving rate is as high as 99%."

While explaining, the animation showed how to use these sanitary facilities—if you accidentally turn the airflow up too high, you might blow your teeth out while brushing, or get your buttocks sucked into the toilet while defecating.

"... What kind of talent must it take to design this kind of furniture, which is comparable to torture devices, eh, was it Handwork Geng?

And why are we still caring about environmental protection in the Cosmic Era? There should be plenty of ice asteroids weighing billions of tons in space, right?"

Li Cheng complained to himself, tried the faucet, and found that its moist airflow was quite strong, indeed efficient for brushing teeth and washing the face. This explained why he had seen neither a toothbrush nor a towel.

Life hack: a plastic toothbrush with its head cut off can be used as a makeshift dagger, useful for assassination tasks in prison. A soaked towel can be used both for water torture and for twisting iron bars in jail cells.

An irrelevant piece of trivia crossed his mind, and Li Cheng picked up the book and carefully used the faucet to rinse off the sticky black glue on the back of the book.

As the moist airflow gradually increased, the black glue was washed away continuously, until it started to peel off. Seeing this, Li Cheng promptly turned off the faucet.

Now, the content on the back of the book was fully revealed—it was a message etched with a fine needle.

one number is correct and in the right position. 614 one number is correct but in the wrong position. 206 two numbers are correct but both are in the wrong positions. 738 none of the numbers are correct.

Li Cheng’s eyebrows raised at this message, which most likely corresponded to the digital lock on the book itself, and he needed to figure out the three-digit code.

Fortunately, after prolonged training, his brain swiftly worked it out without even engaging parallel thinking mode, "No, something’s missing."

If there was a limit to the number of times one could attempt the lock, there had to be a missing clue...

His gaze shifted to the vanity mirror. The room was filled with warm, rising steam, and the mirror’s surface was also foggy.

"Wait..."

His eyes brightened, and he stepped closer, breathing on the mirror a few times. Sure enough, in a corner, some writing emerged.

"Aha!"

Li Cheng grinned and immediately twisted the dial lock on the book, entering the code 042.

Click.

The digital lock sprang open, and Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. Keeping at a distance, he used a Straight Blade with 170 Attack Power to flip the book open—this book was obviously left by a previous inmate, and there could be some traps set inside, such as a secondary passcode that would release deadly poison gas if opened with the wrong code.

After flipping through the pages, there was no poison gas. A large section inside the book was hollowed out, hiding a hand-polished, rough-textured key, as well as a bizarrely shaped handgun.

Right then, an item description popped up in front of Li Cheng.

The handgun has a futuristic sci-fi style, colored in ink green with scratches all over its triangular barrel, clearly having seen its share of battle alongside its owner.

On the side of the gun, there is a cracked glass sphere, which seems to be the so-called damaged "Stable Superheavy Element Particle Collector".

"Hiss..."

Li Cheng’s eyebrows shoot up; this is his first close encounter with a bona fide perfect quality item, and it’s of the weapon type that all players covet.

"Given it’s damaged and only has one use left, the fact that this gun still has a perfect rating shows how powerful it is. If taken to the black market, with some good luck, fetching 8000 Game Coins wouldn’t be a problem, and 10000 Game Coins isn’t out of the question..."

Considering there is still an unused Emergency Escape Card in his Backpack, Li Cheng even thinks about directly taking the item and using the card to escape the mission and return to reality.

"Phew, stay calm."

He shook his head, casting aside the jumbled thoughts, "The killing field adapts script tasks to the player’s own situation. It’s precisely because I have an escape card that the system is so generous as to place a perfect item here in the room.

It’s both temptation and hint—there are rewards much more substantial than this in the upcoming content of the mission."

Of course, there might also be greater dangers.

After much deliberation, he still takes out the handgun named Final Redemption from within the books; it has a substantial weight, and the way it was hidden in the scripture also very "The Shawshank Redemption".

The gun itself doesn’t have a safety mechanism, so Li Cheng carefully places it on the bed, muzzle pointing outwards, and then starts examining the book’s contents, trying to find clues—such as background information related to this script task.

Unfortunately, to his disappointment, this "Firewood Scripture" is really just a religious text, and not a particularly serious one at that. Its content is rather bizarre.

[Sacred Fire Revelation · Proverbs 2:1 The more the enemy accuses me, the more it indicates I’m doing the right thing. The more friends support me, the more it also indicates I’m doing the right thing. A passerby’s accusation indicates they are my enemy. A passerby’s support indicates they are my friend.

A friend’s accusation means they too are my enemy. Even the enemy’s support means I’m doing even more right]

"What the heck is all this?"

Li Cheng is utterly baffled, the content of the books, apart from the indentation that fits the shape of the gun, seems like the nonsensical "seems profound when read, but makes no sense upon closer inspection".

"This thing could become one of the best-selling religious books in the universe? And to grant the reader profound wisdom?"

He closes the book, and as if hearing a brazen voiceover from the publisher in a trance, "Don’t worry about the wisdom, just tell me if it’s shocking or not."

Smacking his lips, Li Cheng packs both the scripture and the handgun into the Backpack, picks up the hand-polished key (probably grinded by Isaac Lord himself), walks to the door, and with a click, opens the prison door, breathing in fresh air.