Gurgle… gurglegurgle…

A sound of liquid surging suddenly rang in Feng Bujue's ears.

In the same second, he realized one thing—his eyes were closed.

The scenery before him had all disappeared, turning into a pitch-black void.

The surrounding damp, cold mist seemed to become dozens of times thicker in an instant, firmly enveloping him.

"What's going on?" Feng Bujue thought in alarm, "Have I been hit by some sort of mental attack?... Why do I feel like my body, including my lungs... is full of liquid? And... there's no discomfort..."

Beep—beep—

Just then, he heard two beeps again.

Then came a voice very similar to the system voice: 【Warning, test subject 8775 is awakening... Warning, test subject 8775 is awakening...】

"Hey! Who's in charge of that pod!"

"It's Anton, sir. He's gone to lunch, sir."

"Then move your ass and go do his job for him!"

"Yes, sir!"

This muffled dialogue, coming from who knows where, rang out a few seconds later.

"Who is it?" Feng Bujue wanted to ask, but he quickly realized that he couldn't open his mouth, so he could only think, "What kind of situation is this... Where am I?"

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as Mount Tai, and even this simple thought gave him a splitting headache...

"My whole body is extremely weak, all my senses are almost reduced to the level of a vegetable, and the game menu won't open..." Feng Bujue didn't panic. He quickly and calmly analyzed the situation he was in, "In any case... just like that woman's voice said... I have to open my eyes as soon as possible, this is a great opportunity to figure out the setting of this script."

【Solution concentration increasing, emergency pulse preparing, countdown five seconds, five, four, three…】The emotionless voice rang out again. Although Brother Jue didn't fully understand what the other party was saying, he knew... that this was probably bad news for him.

【Two, one...】

Right at that last second, at the critical moment, Feng Bujue relied on his amazing willpower, endured the indescribable, intense headache... and opened his eyes.

However, his vision only recovered for about a second.

A second later, a stabbing pain that exceeded the limit of the human brain hit him, causing his body to convulse violently... and then, he fell into a state of complete sensory deprivation.

But... Brother Jue wasn't an ordinary person. In that short second, he managed to withstand the stinging sensation of the liquid soaking his retina, and successfully "saw" some things...

Through a transparent, light-green liquid, and two layers of glass (at least it looked like glass), he saw a person.

To be precise, an adult man in a light-colored jumpsuit, floating in the liquid.

Moreover, Feng Bujue had seen that man's face once before—the felt hat man.

…………

"Hah... huff..."

It seemed like only a moment had passed, or maybe it had been a long time.

In any case, the first thing Feng Bujue did when he regained control of his body was to take a deep breath.

Then, he suddenly opened his eyes and found himself sitting on the ground with his back against the glass door of that store.

The surroundings were still filled with misty scenery. The "ethereal female voice" and the rolling sound of the bicycle chains... had all disappeared.

And a blank piece of letter paper had appeared out of nowhere next to his hand.

"Hmm... it seems I'm 'back', and I've inexplicably obtained a key prop..." Feng Bujue glanced at the game menu, and his survival value and stamina value hadn't changed, nor did he have any debuffs, "What I saw just now shouldn't have been a hallucination, nor did it seem like a memory fragment; there's a very high probability... that it was a 'real' event that happened in real-time." He patted the dust off his body, picked up the blank paper, and stood up, "In other words... this town I'm in right now, or rather... 'this world'... may not be real."

This hypothesis changed Feng Bujue's thinking. From the moment he entered the script until now, all his experiences and deductions needed to be re-examined based on this.

"Things are getting more and more complicated..." Although he was thinking, Brother Jue's actions weren't delayed. No matter what changes occurred before him, there was one basic principle that remained unchanged—follow the mission, and there wouldn't be any major mistakes.

So, while Feng Bujue was pondering that segment of the plot just now, he had already gotten back on his bicycle and continued forward.

"Now the question is... am I playing 'Dave', or the so-called 'test subject 8775'? Is Dave the name of 8775, or a 'role' played by 8775?" Brother Jue mused, "And what kind of existence is that 'felt hat man'? Is he just a projection that appeared unconsciously in my mind, or is he a crucial clue?"

Feng Bujue struggled in the vortex of thoughts, searching for all possible answers.

The "clone" theory about those homeowners had become unimportant at this point. If this was really just a world existing on the level of consciousness, then the appearance of those people was meaningless... even if they all looked like dogs, it would be perfectly reasonable.

He just rode his bike while sorting out his thoughts, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the town's north cemetery.

This was a very ordinary-looking cemetery... On a vast grassy field, stone tombstones stood neatly one after another, each tombstone with a slightly raised mound of earth in front of it.

"Hmm... where's that abandoned mailbox..." Feng Bujue pedaled his bicycle along the path between the graves, searching for the mailbox that could connect him to the ghost mailman.

Before long, he saw one on the western edge of the cemetery.

It was a dark green, cylindrical mailbox, with a slot for delivering letters at the top, and the words "Otaku Town Post Office" printed on the body.

Feng Bujue parked his bicycle, went around to the back of the mailbox, and looked at the collection opening, finding that it was fastened with a small ring lock.

"It doesn't look too hard to break..." He looked at the lock, hesitated for a moment, and finally decided not to open it with brute force, "But... judging from the overall atmosphere of this script, it's better if I don't use this kind of violent cracking method."

He went back to the front of the mailbox, took out the blank piece of letter paper he had and the ballpoint pen that Dave came with, spread the paper on the top of the mailbox, and began to write...

【Dear Mr. Ghost Mailman, hello.】

Considering that he only had one piece of letter paper and couldn't make corrections, Brother Jue wrote very carefully, weighing every sentence before putting pen to paper.

【My name is Dave, and I am a temporary mailman at the Otaku Town Post Office.】

【I think you still remember me... because we've met more than once today, and you even "electrocuted" me once.】

【Of course, I don't have any complaints about this... you did the right thing, I'm new here and don't know the rules (laugh).】

【Getting back to the point, I'm writing to you this time mainly because I have a few things I'd like to ask you about.】

【First, can you tell me... the instruction codes of the eleven homeowners at Number Seven, Third Street; Number Ten, Fourth Street; Number Three, Fifth Street; Number Nine, Sixth Street; Number Seven, Seventh Street; Number One, Eighth Street; Number Three, Ninth Street; Number Nine, Tenth Street; Number Seven, Eleventh Street; Number One, Twelfth Street; and Number Three, Thirteenth Street?】

【Second, I'd like to confirm with you, are you really working in this town voluntarily?】

【Third, what kind of information is implied in the newspaper you gave me earlier?】

【Fourth, please tell me... why are all the shops in this town closed? Why can Chief Nelson kill people at will? And... how can I 'earn your approval' and become a formal mailman in Otaku Town?】

【If it's convenient, please answer my questions as soon as possible, I would be very grateful.】

【Sincerely, Dave.】

After writing this letter with what he considered to be very neat handwriting, Feng Bujue read it through again, and after confirming that there were no problems with the content, he folded the letter paper and stuffed it into the mailbox...