Chapter 12

"Hmm... This move might still work on female players who are overly affectionate," Feng Jue moved his gaze from the newspaper and glanced at the monkey in the cage again, "If necessary, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it even in reality... let alone in a game." He put down the newspaper, seemingly having lost interest in its contents, "However... since they gave me a relatively precise weight, it should be considered a hint, right?"

He walked up to the machine, crouched down, and leaned in closely to observe it. After circling the machine, he tapped its outer shell with his fist and kicked it hard with his foot. It was clear that the machine’s shell was not just a thin layer of metal but a sturdy iron plate, with tightly screwed joints. It was impossible to dismantle it by hand, and it was also impossible to move it with one person’s strength.

There were no obvious gaps on the machine’s surface, and the two gauges were securely fixed. Trying to find a flaw in the machine itself within the remaining two minutes and thirty seconds would likely be futile.

So, Feng Jue tried pulling the iron cage containing the monkey, but it was welded shut and didn’t budge. He looked around the room, which had nothing but four walls.

He walked back to the center of the room, picked up the doll, and sat on the small wooden chair. Since the chair was very small, Feng Jue was almost in a squatting position when he sat down.

"If I want to pass through this room without killing the monkey... besides the 7.5 kilograms of this chair and the doll, I need to find another 7.5 kilograms of something." He rested his right elbow on his knee, tilted his head, and lightly tapped his forehead with his index and middle fingers.

"That Walkman can weigh at most two pounds, and the syringe is even lighter. The clothes and running shoes are system-restricted and can’t be taken off. Hmm... I suddenly miss that rock, which could have added a pound or two." He smiled, "So... in this room with all six sides completely bare, there’s only one thing left that can move..." He looked up at the lighting fixture on the ceiling.

It was a suspended fluorescent light, about a meter long, embedded in a plastic casing and hung from the ceiling by two wires, with the electrical wires wrapped around the suspension wires.

The ceiling of this room was much lower than the outside, but it was still about four meters high. The hanging light tube was not touching the ceiling, but it was also out of Feng Jue’s reach.

He stood up, stepped onto the wooden chair, and stretched his arms as far as he could while standing on tiptoe on the small stool. His fingertips were still about a foot away from the light tube. This distance was neither too long nor too short, just enough to be out of reach. The chair was very small, and standing with his feet together was already a challenge, let alone jumping straight up and reaching for something above his head.

Time was running out, and Feng Jue had only 73 seconds left.

After measuring the distance, he glanced at the timer and smiled to himself, "It’s quite challenging from the start... heh... just as I like it."

After a moment of thought, his gaze shifted back to the doll. He seemed to have an idea and quickly ran over to pick up the doll, took off the black suit from the doll, and held it in his hand. He returned to the wooden chair, stood steady, and grabbed one sleeve of the suit with his left hand, then threw it upward.

Although the suit was only child-sized, it was long enough to reach over the light tube. Feng Jue raised his right hand and grabbed the other sleeve that had passed over the light tube. The suit now acted like a bridle, and Feng Jue pulled both ends with his hands, causing the suspension wire on one side of the light tube to break. The plastic casing of the fluorescent light hung down on one end, while the other end was still suspended, swaying like a hanging sausage under the ceiling.

Now, Feng Jue could reach the light tube directly. The three sides of the light tube were covered by the plastic casing, so he didn’t have to worry about breaking the glass. Although the room was plunged into darkness due to the loss of lighting, it wasn’t too difficult to feel for the swaying light tube. He grabbed the light tube, applied some force, and broke the wire on the other end, holding the meter-long fluorescent light tube with its plastic casing in his hand.

Feng Jue had been counting the time in his head, and there were about 35 seconds left. The machine was still running, making a rumbling sound. He didn’t rush toward the sound but carefully stepped down from the chair, using his feet to find the doll on the ground and remembering the positions of the two items. He counted his steps as he walked toward the machine.

When he reached the machine, it was simple to find the circular opening by sound alone. Feng Jue tilted his head back and inserted the light tube into the machine. The two rows of gears crushed the fluorescent light and pushed it through the gap. Although some small pieces of glass splattered, Feng Jue was prepared and wasn’t injured at all.

After three-quarters of the light tube entered the machine, he let go, turned around, and walked back the way he came, counting his steps in the darkness. He carefully controlled his stride, fearing that a misstep might kick the items he needed. He had no time to grope around on the floor in the dark.

As expected, he lightly touched the doll on the ground within ten steps. Time was running out, so Feng Jue quickly squatted down, grabbed the doll with one hand, and the small wooden chair with the other. He ran back to the machine without worrying about the return trip, taking large strides and quickly reaching the machine. He promptly threw the doll into it.

The backrest of the wooden chair was slightly longer than the diameter of the circular opening, which Feng Jue had noticed and remembered. If he hadn’t considered this, he would have found that the small wooden chair was stuck outside the opening and couldn’t fit in. However, Feng Jue wouldn’t make such a mistake. He had planned every step in the dark before pulling the light tube.

While the machine was still crushing the doll, he grabbed the backrest of the wooden chair, leaned it on the ground, and stomped on the seat with his foot, deforming the board. This way, the broken chair could easily fit into the circular opening.

With only five seconds left, the broken wooden chair was smoothly fed into the machine. Almost three seconds later, the rumbling of the machine stopped. In the darkness, Feng Jue couldn’t see the countdown timer or the gauges. He didn’t know if the machine had stopped because he had met the 15-kilogram weight requirement or if the time had run out.

The next few seconds felt incredibly long and unbearable. Nothing happened, and Feng Jue’s heart sank. Could it be that the weight of the light tube was insufficient? In real life, such a suspended fluorescent light, including the casing and the tube, might weigh less than 7.5 kilograms, but the item he held in his hand clearly felt heavier. He believed this was a deliberate weight setting in the game. Could his approach to solving the puzzle be wrong? Was the only way out of this room to kill the monkey?

All doubts vanished with a strange "click" sound, and the door to the next room opened. The mechanism’s response time was only about ten seconds.

A beam of light shone through the door, signaling that the game was still ongoing...

{Piaotian Literature}