Chapter 102 Crossroads

After leaving the interrogation room, Feng Bujue and Igor soon came to a fork in the road.

It was a crossroads, with no signs or any visible hints.

Whether looking left, right, or straight ahead, the corridors were all identical.

If this were a normal difficulty script, Feng Bujue would definitely try to trick Igor into splitting up to expand the search area and increase efficiency.

However, this was a Nightmare script... and Brother Jue had already seen the strength of the monsters in this script.

Frankly, with his current physical condition, he might not even survive encountering a monster with Igor's protection... let alone acting alone.

Moreover, given Igor's extreme fear of paranormal things, he might not agree to split up with Brother Jue.

Therefore, Feng Bujue simply pointed forward, indicating that the other party should continue to lead the way.

And so, the two continued for a while, passing by four rooms along the way.

The metal doors of these four rooms were all tightly closed, and there were no signs outside the rooms. Although Brother Jue could stop to pick the locks at any time, he didn't do so; based on his previous experience in the statue room, he felt that he should see something related to the main storyline before taking action.

"Strange..." After leaving the four rooms behind, Feng Bujue couldn't help but think, "How big is this script, exactly? Walking such a long distance... without any plot clues, no puzzles, no monsters, and so far all the corridors and rooms... have no signs. Could it be that everyone working in this underground laboratory has the entire base's map imprinted in their minds?"

Indeed, this seemed a bit abnormal...

Although the "no signs" approach could be confusing to intruders, making the scenery of each section of the corridor so similar... was a bit too much.

Apart from freaks like Feng Bujue, who could create a map in his mind and distinguish different locations by the textures on the walls, this place was a labyrinth for most normal people; basically, as soon as you reach a crossroads, close your eyes, spin around a few times, and open them again, you'd immediately be unable to determine where you came from...

With such a layout, not only would intruders be confused, but even the daily work of internal personnel would be affected, which was undoubtedly very unreasonable.

"Eh? Brother Feng, you need to change your blood pack." Igor's reminder pulled Feng Bujue back to reality.

"Huh? Oh..." Feng Bujue looked up and saw that the third pack of blood was indeed almost finished.

So, the two stopped to change to the fourth and last pack of blood.

"Igor, there's something I wanted to ask you." Feng Bujue said as he prepared to insert the needle.

"What is it?" Igor replied.

"When you were sent into this base, was it like this?" Feng Bujue asked, "Also, do you remember the route out? Or do you know where to find a map or something?"

Igor shook his head: "I don't know any of that... I was brought in blindfolded." He pondered and said, "My last memory outside... was being carried onto a vehicle by several soldiers. As soon as I got in, I was hooded, and when the hood was removed... I was already lying in this base."

This answer wasn't entirely unexpected; Feng Bujue had asked with a tentative mindset.

"I understand..." Brother Jue responded as he finished changing the blood pack, "Alright, let's keep going..." He looked up at the corridor ahead, "Anyway, if we keep going forward, even if we don't find the exit, we can find the en..."

He couldn't finish his sentence because the scene that appeared before him made him swallow the last word.

At that moment, Feng Bujue saw a humanoid creature resembling a dried corpse... walking towards them from dozens of meters away.

"Hehehehehe..." The monster also saw Brother Jue at the first moment and let out a strange, dry laugh.

When the laughter reached him, Igor turned his head and was immediately shocked: "A... a mo... mo-monster..."

He was so frightened that he stuttered, unable to utter a complete word.

"Don't panic, it can't see you." Feng Bujue remained calm and quickly said to Igor, "Anyway, it's definitely coming for me. When it gets close, try to chop off its head with one strike."

In fact, Brother Jue didn't know if the decapitation method would work, but judging from his years of experience fighting various demons and ghosts... the chances of success with this method were relatively high.

Tap, tap, tap-tap... tap-tap-tap-tap...

The monster took a few steps first, then gradually accelerated, turning into a full sprint.

Judging by the sound of its footsteps, it was wearing shoes; looking at its upper body... there were still some remnants of shattered clothing, so it was definitely not the "barefoot guy" they had encountered before. However... the two looked like they were the same species.

"Hee... hahahaha..." In the process of rushing towards Feng Bujue, the monster laughed almost crazily, its laughter extremely eerie. Combined with its terrifying appearance, it seemed unusually frightening even in the light.

Ten meters, seven meters, three meters...

The monster's speed was faster than that of ordinary people. Just by visual estimation, Feng Bujue knew that he was unlikely to dodge the opponent's attack.

But... he still held his breath.

It wasn't until the other party approached within two meters that Brother Jue shouted out loud, "Igor!"

This shout instantly brought Igor, who was in a state of shock and stagnation, back to his senses. In a reaction time of point-zero-one seconds, Igor instinctively and unthinkingly acted according to Feng Bujue's previous instructions!

Whoosh—

The rough arm, the sharp cleaver, stirred the wind as it spun.

As Feng Bujue had predicted... the monster really "couldn't see" Igor, so when the blade struck, it was too late to dodge.

Crack—

Igor raised his knife and brought it down, the physical quality of this VNO-9 enhanced human was definitely not below the monster's.

Where the blade passed... the skin split, the flesh tore, the bones shattered, and the tendons snapped.

The monster's head was chopped off with one blow, but not a drop of blood flowed, giving the feeling of cutting open a piece of meat taken from the freezer.

"Ah—" After its head left its body, it actually let out a shrill scream.

This sound was definitely not coming from its throat; even with a severed throat, it was impossible to roar so loudly; if there were no accidents, it should be something like a "spiritual body" borrowing the corpse's mouth to make a sound.

"Shut your head!" In the next second, Feng Bujue raised one hand and grabbed the head, which had flown in front of him due to inertia, and roared at the monster's face with a voice even louder than the other party's.

In that second, even the monster was stunned. It hadn't expected that the other party would catch its head, nor had it expected that the other party would dare to talk to it after catching it, and even more unexpectedly... the attitude of the kid in front of it was so arrogant.

"Speak!" Feng Bujue lifted the monster's head, staring at it and asking, "What kind of thing are you?"

"Hehehehe..." The monster didn't answer, just looked at Brother Jue with a mocking look and let out a sinister laugh.

Faced with this response, Feng Bujue was silent for two seconds, then said in a very cold tone, "I'll give you one more chance, immediately put away your lewd smile, and answer my question properly, otherwise you'll bear the consequences."

"Hehehe..." However, the monster adopted a posture of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, and laughed even more嚣张, "Hehehe... hahahahaha! Haha..."

Pfft—

His laughter was interrupted by a muffled sound.

It was the sound of Feng Bujue grabbing its head and smashing its face against the wall.

"Uh—" After being smashed, the monster let out a muffled groan. Then, it seemed that it finally intended to say something, "You... dare..."

Pfft—

But Feng Bujue didn't seem to intend to let it speak properly.

"Huh? What are you saying?"

Pfft-pfft-pfft—

"Your lewd laughter is too loud, this daddy can't hear you~"

Pfft—

Brother Jue, while using a lazy tone to say similar lines, repeatedly slammed the other party's face against the wall.

This monster was already skin and bones, and after being treated like this, the skin on its face was almost worn away, and the bridge of its nose was already broken.

"Uh... Brother Feng..." Igor, who had been stunned for a long time, finally said, "You... like this... it can't speak, right?"

"Oh?" Hearing this, Brother Jue put on a look of sudden realization, re-raised the head in front of him, and looked at the monster's face, which had been smashed to a pulp, and said, "Really?"

The monster's mouth was crooked, and it念道 fiercely, "Li... little... kid... you... you..."

Pfft—

Before he could finish speaking, Brother Jue smashed it against the wall again: "When addressing me, be respectful."

After saying this and smashing it, he immediately took the head back in front of him.

However, the monster still seemed to have some backbone: "Don't think... that I'll yield if you do this..."

Pfft—pfft-pfft-pfft—

"I can play like this all day." Feng Bujue said as he greeted the other party five or six times.

This time, when he brought the monster's head back in front of him, he could hardly recognize the shape of the latter's face.

"Big brother, if you have anything you want to ask, I will definitely tell you everything I know..." It seemed that the few hits just now shattered this monster's backbone and integrity.

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue nodded with satisfaction and said, "First tell me what you are."

"I... we... are you..." the monster replied—[We are the madness hidden within your bodies, constantly craving to break free from the cage of rationality, we are the darkness you hide from every night curled up in bed, when you retreat into those havens we cannot reach, we lie dormant in silence and weakness...]

This passage was special audio, and when the dialogue rang out, Feng Bujue entered a state as if he was watching a CG.

And when the entire passage was finished, the scenery in front of Brother Jue suddenly changed, and in the blink of an eye, he had actually arrived... in his own mind palace.

Memories floated in the air like halos, and thoughts enveloped the vast space like mist.

At this moment, time stood still.

Six figures gathered together.

Five of them stood separately, forming a circle; in the circle... was a birdcage-shaped prison more than two meters high; and in that cage, stood the sixth person.

"Although I don't know why I came in at this moment, since I'm here, I might as well ask..." The first Feng Bujue said.

"You heard what that guy said just now, right." The second Feng Bujue continued, "I always feel... it sounds familiar."

"I always thought there were only five people here, until I started to contact Thriller Paradise and gained the ability to enter the 'Embodied Mind Palace', I realized... there was a sixth person." The third Feng Bujue said.

"I always believed... that the cage was the seal imposed by Woody." The fourth Feng Bujue looked at the person in the cage and said, "And you are the fear that I have sealed."

"Until just now, I heard those words." The fifth Feng Bujue added, "This made me realize that maybe... that cage... was there from the beginning."

After the five people finished speaking, they were silent for a few seconds, and then...

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"Who... are you?"

They looked at the cage almost at the same second, and asked the same question in five slightly different tones.

"Heh..." After a moment, the person in the cage sneered, "Why question yourselves?"

He used a question to respond to their questions.

"We are one person." Two seconds later, the person in the cage said again, "From the beginning, there were no secrets between us. Because... all the answers are in this palace."

At this point, he reached into his coat pocket and took out a key.

Seeing this, the five people outside the cage also subconsciously reached into their pockets.

At this moment, every Feng Bujue discovered... that there was also a key in their pocket.

"This cage, indeed, existed from the beginning." The person in the cage said, "Because... we wanted it to exist."

"Because you didn't want to come out?" The first Feng Bujue asked.

The person in the cage replied, "But, I did come out."

"I know." The second Feng Bujue said, "The day you covered up the scene for Xiao Tan, you came out."

"The day you first contacted Gambling Emperor Zhai, you came out." The third Feng Bujue said.

"During the cape battle, you came out." The fourth Feng Bujue said.

"And..." Finally, the fifth Feng Bujue continued, "The day Ruo Yu left... you also came out."

"Because... from beginning to end, I could appear at any time according to my own will." The person in the cage took over their words and said, "Ordinary people would try their best to make sure that the one in the cage never came out." Saying this, he spread out his hands and smiled evilly, "But we are not ordinary people, we... are Feng Bujue."