After an hour of puzzle solving, Weighty Words finally escaped from his memory space. The surrounding white light announced the change of environment. While he was still getting used to the lights, Autumn Zither's voice could be heard. "Now, everyone is here."
Weighty Words turned to the voice and was shocked. At that moment, there was a short blade plunged into Autumn Zither's chest. His body was 'pinned' onto the chair, and he was bleeding.
"Don't panic, he's fine… for now. He's not in any lethal danger." Ambitionist's voice was as calm as ever. Hearing that, Weighty Words turned his head to another side. Ambitionist did not have a bladed wound, but his whole head was 'trapped' inside a metallic cage just like a helmet he could not remove. The cage was rectangular, and it was only slightly bigger than his head. There was a hole at the bottom, perfect for his neck to fit through. Honestly, as scary as this was, it looked quite amusing.
"What is…" Weighty Words soon realized what was happening. He was sitting at the round table, and there were many strange cards on the table. There were six chairs around the table, and other than the four players, there were two unknown characters present. These two NPCs or bosses looked at ease and unscathed, but it was different for the players…
"The quest should have updated already." It was Feng Bujue who spoke. Things did not look too good for Brother Jue. His cheeks were cut, and there were wounds that curved upward on the corner of his lips like a smile had been carved onto his face.
"Your cosplay of Joker has gone a bit too far, don't you think?" Weighty Words said. There was a reason he used the word 'cosplay' because Feng Bujue was holding a bloody folding knife, so it looked like he was the one responsible for this 'smiling face'.
"Humph… Let's say you're right," Feng Bujue replied with a cold smile.
"Current quest completed, main quest updated," the system said. Inside the quest tab, a tick had appeared next to "All the surviving players enter the Detective Club." Even though every player had it the quest "Escape the memory space and return to the experiment zone seventh floor", it was not a group mission but a separate individual mission, so they had completed it separately.
"Oh… So this is it…" Feng Bujue saw the new quest that floated up.
"Defeat Holmes and Moriarty at the 'Round Table' game"
He chuckled. "This is going to be hard…"
"You said it's hard, but how come you look so happy?" Autumn Zither mumbled in a tired voice.
"Ha… But aren't you enjoying yourself as well?" Feng Bujue laughed.
Autumn Zither replied, "Where do you see that? I am bleeding, can't you see?"
Feng Bujue shrugged. "Hah… It's Ambitionist who got it the easiest."
Ambitionist frowned behind the bars. "I feel like this cage has stripped me of something important."
Weighty Words was as confused as could be. He scratched his head to ask, "What are you guys doing?"
"We'll discuss that later," Feng Bujue said. "Tell us the messages that you have not 'experienced' in your memory space."
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"Have not experienced…" Weighty Words' eyes glowed, feeling this was a hint from Brother Feng. In the memory space, Weighty Words indeed encountered many situations that matched those 'messages', but to say which message he could not tie to his experience, then it should be those two…
Holmes took a puff of his pipe and said in his British accent, "I believe you are like these three gentlemen and remember the five messages clearly. So, please, tell us one of them so that this game can continue."
"But not messages that you've experienced because the 'hint' effect from those sentences should have been exhausted, and they can't be used as a condition for you to join the game," Moriarty added.
Weighty Words looked left and right, and many ideas crossed his mind. He saw his teammates sitting quietly in their seats. Even though one of them had a blade in his chest, they did not turn to force, so this situation could not be solved with brute power.
"Hmm… When you think you have gotten the thing you want, actually you have lost even more," Weighty Words recited. In his memory space, he did not experience an event that could fit the meaning of this message. As he finished, one of the cards on the table started to move toward Weighty Words without anyone touching it.
"Pew…" Holmes blew out the smoke. "Please turn it over, Mr. Words."
Since the man had said to turn it over, it meant that the card was facing down. Weighty Words lowered his gaze to the card. Other than the blue borderless pattern, there was a word printed on it—hint.
Weighty Words lifted his head to look at his teammates again. Ambitionist and Autumn Zither looked severe while Feng Bujue smiled at him.
"If I am not mistaken…" Weighty Words placed the card in his hand, but he did not turn it over. Instead, he turned to the two bosses. "The message Brother Feng had should be… 'use a smiling face to welcome the sadness of tragedy and use one hundred times the courage to deal with all the misfortune'. And Ambitionist's is… 'there is no place like home'."
"Ha… You're absolutely correct." Holmes chuckled. "Indeed, the card will cause a corresponding effect according to the content of the 'hint'."
Weighty Words laughed mirthlessly and turned to Autumn Zither. "Autumn Zither, what's yours? I can't guess it."
"A truly kind act asks for no reward," Autumn Zither answered like a sail that had lost its wind.
"Hmm. Looks like no matter the sentence, it will not end up good." Weighty Words turned his face to Holmes and Moriarty. "Then… assuming I refuse to flip over this card, what will happen?"
"What else can happen?" Feng Bujue answered for them. "The game will halt at your turn and cannot continue. Then everyone will wait until you are deemed to be in AFK-like behavior by the system, or we're all kicked offline due to the time limit spent in-game."
"By the way, our inventory is sealed again," Autumn Zither added. "If you drag this on for another hour, I will die from bleeding."
Ambitionist also added, "If you wish to resolve this with brute strength against the Professor and Mr. Detective, you'd better remind yourself of the wall of light at the entrance… Guess whose handiwork that is."
Weighty Words laughed drily and shook his head. "Fine, I'll flip it over. At most, I'll be injured somewhat…"