Chapter 13 Inspiration

"So that's how it is..." The instant he saw that number, the many fragments of information in Feng Bujue's mind instantly twisted together, forming a complete chain of clues. "Thirteen pictures, thirteen coordinates, thirteen nouns pointing to 'a certain place'... just enough to lead me to thirteen command codes." As he spoke, he had already turned back and was heading towards the bicycle. "Because only the Ghost Postman knows everyone's command code, so... on each illustrated photo, you can find the tire tracks he left behind as he passed by..."

Jue-ge kicked up the bicycle's stand, straddled the seat, and muttered, "Well... although the inference itself can be established, we can't rule out the possibility of 'coincidence' or 'individual exceptions'... To be on the safe side, I should still go to each coordinate in the order of the newspaper layout..."

He considered it very thoroughly. After all, he had only confirmed one clue at the moment, and he couldn't draw conclusions presumptuously. He had to go to at least three places, find three numbers suspected of being command codes, and match them one by one with those recipients before he could be completely sure that his inference was correct.

…………

In short, twenty minutes later, Feng Bujue arrived at the third page of the newspaper... that is, the place recorded in the second illustration photo...

According to the hints from the coordinates and nouns, he found the number "16" at the bottom of a trash can... This was precisely the command code of Fatty Number Two.

Then, he went non-stop to the location where the third illustration photo was taken—a piece of farmland in the west of the town. And on a fence next to the farmland, he found three numbers painted in oil paint—"219".

After getting this three-digit number, he naturally went straight to the residence of Fatty Number Three and rang the recipient's doorbell again.

This time, Jue-ge didn't waste any words. As soon as the other party answered the door, he opened his mouth and said, "Command code two-one-nine, take the letter."

As a result... Fatty Number Three really took the letter.

At this point, Feng Bujue's inference had basically been confirmed. What he had to do next was no longer difficult... He only needed to design the most time-saving and efficient route in his mind, and then explore the ten locations recording the command codes along this route, and let the remaining ten fatties receive the letters, then the side quest would be completed.

Although the final completion time was longer than he initially expected, he should still be able to get it done before eight o'clock in the evening. That was a full four hours before the mission requirement of "before midnight", which was more than enough.

That was what Jue-ge was planning at the time... but his plan changed again soon after.

…………

Afternoon, 4:15 PM.

Jue-ge, who had explored five coordinate points according to the established route, suddenly stopped.

"Damn it... I'm an idiot!" He stopped in the middle of the road and cursed to himself, "Such an obvious pattern... I should have noticed it earlier..."

It's unknown what he thought of, but he immediately turned the bicycle around and headed for the address of a recipient closest to him.

Ten minutes later, Feng Bujue arrived on the porch of Fatty Number Thirteen.

The command code of this recipient was a fourteen-digit number, and Jue-ge had not yet explored the coordinates recording his code, but he was still very determined to ring the other party's doorbell.

"It's you again..." After Fatty Number Thirteen opened the door, he glared at Jue-ge through the crack in the door and muttered, "I told you, without the command code, I won't..."

"Wait a moment." Feng Bujue interrupted the other party, while taking out his mobile phone and tapping on it for a while. About five seconds later, he handed over the thirteenth letter with his other hand, and continued with an extremely fast speed, "Three-zero-two-eight-seven-five-one-zero-six-five-nine-two-two-five."

As soon as the voice fell, the fatty froze for two seconds, which were two seconds that made Feng Bujue quite nervous...

Fortunately, two seconds later, Fatty Number Thirteen obediently took the envelope and said dejectedly, "Damn it..."

"Heh... great." Feng Bujue smiled.

At this moment, he had completely cracked the code pattern on the thirteen fatties; without exploring the coordinate points hinted on the newspaper, he could also say all thirteen codes.

Moreover, through this "pattern," he also knew in advance... that among these thirteen fatties, there was an anomaly.

…………

Evening, 6:30 PM.

Feng Bujue rode his bicycle to the front of a hotel on the west side of the town.

At this time, his side quest [Deliver All Letters Before Midnight] had already been completed. Because he did not go to any coordinate points hinted at on the newspaper to find the codes, but directly ran to all the remaining recipient addresses, reported the command codes of the fatties one by one, and let them receive the letters.

And the impact of completing the side quest ahead of time was actually... the moment Jue-ge sent out the last letter, he received three new quests in a row:

[Investigate and Solve the Reason for Enoch's Lateness]

[Find a Way to Participate in the "Last Supper"]

[Crack the Script's Worldview Before the Main Quest is Completed]

All three of these were classified as hidden quests...

Of course, for Feng Bujue, this was not a bad thing, and it could even be said that... this kind of development was right up his alley.

"Well... according to the map, this is the only hotel in town. If Enoch (Jue-ge inferred from the quest content that Enoch was the name of the man in the felt hat) is a person from outside the town like me, and arrived yesterday... then there is a high probability that he spent the night here." Jue-ge thought to himself as he walked to the hotel entrance, "However... we can't rule out the possibility that he has relatives in this town, or hooked up with a girl in the bar last night."

While he was thinking, he had already pushed open the hotel door.

"Heh... it's open, huh..." The moment he pushed the door open and entered, Feng Bujue already knew that he had come to the right place.

Although Outaku Town was big, the number of buildings that players could enter was very few. It was rare to encounter a place that could be entered, and it must have some tricks.

"Is there anyone?" A few seconds later, Feng Bujue passed through a not-so-long passage and arrived at a counter. Since there was no bell or anything on the counter, Jue-ge could only rely on his voice to call someone.

"I'll help myself if there's no one!" He waited for a moment and shouted again when no one responded.

But the result was the same, no one was there.

"Very good." Feng Bujue smiled, went around to the side of the counter, and lifted the platform to walk in.

The first thing he did was to look through the thick register on the table and find the name "Enoch."

"Well... it seems that quite a few people live here..." While looking through the records, Jue-ge unexpectedly discovered that there were quite a few names in this book. According to what was recorded in it, seven out of ten rooms in this hotel were occupied at the moment.

"Most of the people who come to stay in hotels are from outside the town..." Feng Bujue said thoughtfully, "I can try to communicate with them later and see if I can get any information out of them."

He quickly wrote down some room numbers and the names of the occupants, then turned around, took the key to room 204, which Enoch had registered to stay in, from the key cabinet behind the counter, and headed to the second floor, humming a little tune.

This kind of small hotel generally does not have elevators. Feng Bujue went up the stairs and passed through a dimly lit corridor covered with a red carpet, and soon found room 204.

He stood in front of the door, brewed for two seconds, and then... inserted the key, opened the door, and quickly raised the shotgun, aiming at all angles inside the door.

After confirming that there was no obvious threat in sight, he quickly stepped into the door, imitating the movements and order of the police searching a house in a police film, and searched all the corners and blind spots such as behind the door, under the bed, and in the bathroom.

Throughout the process, he did not speak, and even the sound of his footsteps was very low. It can be said that he was quiet, fast, and accurate.

Unfortunately... in a single nightmare script, there are always relatively few monsters, and his rather professional clearing process was just a waste of emotion...

After going around in a circle, Jue-ge returned to the door, closed the door, and breathed a sigh of relief...

"Okay..." He put the gun on the cabinet next to the door, freed his hands, and looked at the empty room, "I can officially search..."