Chapter 4 The Quixotic Joke

This fourth floor's ground was no longer paved with marble tiles, but rather with earth and grass.

At this moment, a gaunt old horse was grazing next to the headless corpse. Judging from the horseshoes, saddle, and reins, it was undoubtedly the "knight's" steed.

Feng Bujue walked over, bent down, and patted the old horse's head, but the old fellow didn't react, just kept his head down, eating grass.

"Looks like it's Don Quixote's turn…" Qiufeng said.

"Yeah… the man who reigns supreme in the world of chuunibyou," Feng Bujue replied. "Unprecedented, and unmatched."

"So… just like in the original story, he saw the windmill as a giant, then charged over on his horse, and his lance just happened to impale the scarecrow who had just come up from the third floor," Ji Chang tried to deduce based on the situation and the script's logic. "Then the Tin Man rushed out of the windmill and chopped him to death."

Honghu's expression changed slightly. "Then where's the Tin Man?" He looked around. "You can see the whole floor at a glance; he's not here." He turned back and said, "And there's no path to the fifth floor, either. The ceiling is completely sealed."

"There's a line of text here, but I don't know if it counts as a message," Feng Bujue suddenly said, standing next to the back half of the lance. "Look, it's written on the shaft…"

Hearing this, his teammates gathered around for a closer look. Sure enough, a line of text was carved into the shaft of the lance. It looked like Spanish, but the system's translation was visible in the game menu: [Greet wretched misfortune with a smile, and face all misfortunes with a hundredfold courage.]

"Hmm…" Everyone once again fell into collective contemplation.

"Putting on an act…" Qiufeng said. "Besides hinting at the original story, these messages are just philosophical musings. Maybe they're ironic when combined with the murder scene, but they're completely irrelevant to our puzzle."

Honghu frowned, his train of thought clearly stuck. "It's hard to say… maybe there will be more messages like this later, but we still don't have enough information to solve the mystery."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Ji Chang replied. "If we compare these messages to pieces of a puzzle, then we won't be able to see the solution until we see the overall framework of the picture, or collect at least eighty percent of the pieces."

"In that case, let's focus on how to get to the fifth floor," Qiufeng said, looking around. "Currently, our only clues are this windmill, a corpse, and an old horse."

"His name is Rocinante," Feng Bujue said.

"What?" Qiufeng was taken aback, not realizing who he was talking about.

"I said, the horse's name is Rocinante," Feng Bujue explained. "What? Is it a different translation in your copy of *Don Quixote*? I think this one combines the sound and meaning pretty well…"

"No, no, no…" Qiufeng interrupted. "I've never read the book; I just know the general idea. Even if I had read it, I probably wouldn't remember the name of a horse."

"Oh… you haven't read it," Feng Bujue said with a straight face, coldly snorting. "Hmph… you might as well swallow dung and kill yourself."

"Hey! Lots of people haven't read it! No need to die!" Qiufeng shouted. "Besides, what kind of suicide is that?"

Honghu said, "Ah… that book is actually pretty good."

"Pretty good?" Feng Bujue turned his attention to the person trying to smooth things over. "You're calling a sharp, profound, cruel, humorous, tragic epic just 'pretty good'?" With a solemn expression, he picked up the head from the ground, opened the helmet's visor, revealing the corpse's horrifying face, and said, "Do you dare say that again in front of this laughable, pitiable, tragic, admirable, and immortal figure?"

"Uh… I was wrong." A sense of pressure from somewhere made Honghu say this inexplicably.

"He actually admitted he was wrong!" Qiufeng exclaimed, turning to Feng Bujue. "You're not the author; you're just a fanboy. Why are you acting so righteously?"

"*Don Quixote* simultaneously possesses reality and fiction, tragedy and comedy, seriousness and humor, vulgarity and greatness, seamlessly integrated. Cervantes inspired and touched the world with his words." Feng Bujue began to lecture, "After I read this book when I was a child, I aspired to write this kind of critical realist fantasy. As long as I can write at thirty percent of its level, and leave it behind for the world, I will die without regrets. The bond between me and Cervantes… you, who spends all day in a Poké Ball, wouldn't understand."

"Where does he spend all day… Is it really that funny to keep using that meme!" Qiufeng was almost speechless.

Ji Chang covered his face and shook his head. "Can we get back to the puzzle? This chapter is already halfway over; can you guys stop?"

"Okay," Feng Bujue replied immediately. "Back to the main topic…"

"You lectured me for so long just to circle back!" Qiufeng complained.

Feng Bujue ignored him and continued, "You guys saw that, right…" He carefully put down the head in his hand, raised his arm, and pointed to the "sun" in the distance.

"How could we not notice it… A paper sun is glowing," Ji Chang said.

"If a paper sun can glow…" Feng Bujue pointed to the side, "Then can we use the green mountains, clear waters, flowers, and plants painted on the wall?"

As the saying goes, the minds of the mentally ill are broad. If he hadn't said it, these serious strategists wouldn't have thought of this.

His three teammates suddenly realized and began to re-examine their surroundings. This time, they felt enlightened and suddenly had many possible clues.

"Hmm… judging by the sense of distance created by the painting, that cow over there seems to be closest to the 'wall' plane," Honghu said, pointing to a wall.

Feng Bujue glanced at it and then walked over. He stood by the wall and discovered a small piece of rope sticking out of the wall. The rest of the rope still existed as an oil painting in the wall, tying up the cow in the painting.

It was impossible to see this detail from a distance, but now, Feng Bujue simply pulled on the end of the rope and easily pulled the rope out of the painting, and the entire cow was pulled from the "wall" onto the three-dimensional grass.

"It actually worked," Qiufeng muttered.

Ji Chang said, "Does that mean we can also walk into the scenery painted on the wall?"

"No," Feng Bujue answered Ji Chang's question while pressing his hand against the wall. "I can't get in, anyway."

Honghu and the others also came over to try, and it really didn't work.

"So now… what should we do with this cow…" Honghu said, holding his chin. "It's not like we're going to let it use its horns to fly us into the fifth floor, right?"

"Heh… that might work in the world of *Tom and Jerry*," Qiufeng laughed.

"Hey—gentlemen!" Suddenly, another voice rang out, sounding like a child's voice.

The four players turned their heads and saw a small black dot on the painting on the other wall, gradually growing larger, becoming the shape of a person, creating a visual effect of approaching from a distance.

Before long, the figure ran out of the wall without any sense of incongruity and rushed to the players.

This was a brown-haired little boy, wearing patched old clothes and a small hat. He seemed very anxious when he ran, so much so that he was panting and unable to speak when he arrived in front of Feng Bujue and the others.

"Don't worry, child, speak slowly, we're not going anywhere," Ji Chang said kindly.

"Haa… haa…" The little boy panted heavily twice more and said, "Haa… gentlemen, I'm sorry… can… can I ask you to give me back the cow?"

"Give it back to you?" Ji Chang asked in a questioning tone.

"It's like this…" The boy said somewhat aggrievedly, "I showed my mom the magic beans you gave me. I thought she'd be proud of me, but she got angry and threw the beans out of the house. She also said she was disappointed in me and that I was a fool." He stammered, "So I quickly picked up the beans and ran back. Luckily, you're still here! Gentlemen, can I use the magic beans to exchange Miko (the cow's name) back? Please." The boy showed a pleading look and took the initiative to reach out his hand, holding the small cloth bag containing the magic beans.

"Let us discuss it," Feng Bujue suddenly interjected, immediately winking at his teammates, signaling them to come over.

The four gathered together, whispering.

"I already understand… this kid is the protagonist of *Jack and the Beanstalk*," Qiufeng said. "Pulling out the cow will trigger an event. As long as we exchange the magic beans with him, we can break through to the fifth floor."

"Of course I already saw that," Feng Bujue said.

Honghu asked, "Then why did you mysteriously call us over? What do you want to say?"

Ji Chang also looked at Brother Jue with a questioning look.

"I'm just asking for your opinions…" Feng Bujue said, "Do you want to slap this kid to death and just snatch the beans?"

"You're insane…"

"You're inhuman…"

"You won't even let a child go…"

Feng Bujue sighed deeply after hearing these three sentences. The next second, he walked up to Little Jack with a smile on his face, leading the cow, and said in a kind tone, "Hahaha, of course, little friend~" He handed the rope to Jack and said, "Next time, remember to have a spirit of contract. Also, don't easily trust strangers. Think before you do anything, don't let your mother down, live up to the trust of the Party and the country, become a useful person, contribute to the people, contribute to the motherland, contribute to humanity… Ugh ugh*…%…………"

Honghu and Qiufeng covered Brother Jue's mouth and pulled him away.

Ji Chang said awkwardly to Little Jack, "Don't mind that uncle, go home quickly." As he spoke, he took the magic beans from Little Jack's hand.

Jack blinked with a puzzled look, thanked them, and turned to leave with the cow…