Chapter 244 - 109: Decoding_2
And what did putting the work progress on hold achieve?
Only a few insignificant, possibly incorrect steps on this little cube.
Sitting in the chair, he stroked the uneven surface of the cube.
Thinking about his efforts these days, the endless torment, the unknown reward after solving the puzzle, Chen Zhou was approaching a breakdown.
Clenching his teeth, he decided to make one last attempt, then exit this endless maze and return to real life.
Messily twisting the cube, he abandoned all thought.
In less than three steps, the cube got stuck, unable to move a bit.
"Damn! I'm so fucking fed up with this disgusting thing."
The calm he maintained for over a week finally broke at this moment. A surge of frustration welled up in his mind, giving Chen Zhou a strong urge to destroy this symbol of annoyance.
He took the cube to the kitchen door, then grabbed the Hand Axe, swung it around, and struck the cube hard.
With a dull thud, the Hand Axe was bounced off, while the cube, glowing a faint blue, showed not a single scratch.
Seeing this, Chen Zhou vented his frustration by striking a few more times, then grabbed the unscathed cube, walked to the kitchen door, and threw it forcefully off the platform, onto the hillside far away.
At the moment he threw the cube, he felt a hint of regret, worrying that it might be lost and never found again.
But besides regret, he felt a sense of relief, as if he had broken free from shackles, feeling a grounded relaxation.
"It's okay if I can't solve this thing; another reward will come in a week. They can't always give me these torturous things."
Comforting himself, feeling relieved, Chen Zhou returned to the kitchen.
...
Recently, due to the addition of new family members, the house had become quite lively compared to usual.
After opening their eyes, the three kittens were getting stronger every day and becoming increasingly mischievous.
Now, Tezi could no longer carry them back to the cat nest by holding the back of their necks because they were escaping more skillfully, able to run out again in less than three seconds after being put in the nest.
Moreover, Tezi himself was exhausted by these three little ones and lacked the energy to manage them.
As the little things grew bigger, the second and third kittens started to show a gluttonous nature similar to Xiao Huihui, often pestering Tezi for milk.
When they were hungry, as soon as Tezi appeared in their sight, they would latch onto him like magnets.
Tezi, as a mother, had always been very responsible.
Whenever the kittens wanted milk, he would never refuse. As soon as the kittens pounced, he would lie on the ground, letting them drink his milk.
Though his body acted honestly, Tezi's face expressed a look of helplessness as if his soul was being drained.
After eating and drinking their fill, besides sleeping, the kittens' favorite activity was wandering around the three rooms of the burrow cave.
Xiao Huihui, who sought a quiet place to nap, was often awakened by them, so annoyed that it climbed to the top of the storage room's wooden shelf, opting to avoid trouble rather than confront it.
Lai Fu couldn't climb, and during the rainy season, he couldn't go out to hide, which really put him in a tough spot.
His large paws were thicker than the entire kitten, a casual swipe would send a kitten tumbling, and if things got serious, he could easily catch a kitten in his mouth.
But alas, these three little critters were Chen Zhou's new favorites; Lai Fu couldn't bite or hurt them. Being sensible, Lai Fu just had to comply with the little ones, allowing them to mess around on him.
In the kittens' eyes, Lai Fu was undoubtedly a big, soft, and comfortable toy.
When in high spirits, they climbed and played on Lai Fu's massive body, clawing at his fur, sometimes even running under his head to lightly bite his loose lips.
When they got tired of playing, they would nestle under Lai Fu and fall into a snug sleep, feeling even more comfortable and secure than in the cat nest.
If there was a ranking for who the kittens liked most in the house, Tezi would firmly hold the first place, followed by Lai Fu and Chen Zhou, in that order.
Due to the immense pressure and irritation brought by the puzzle-solving, Chen Zhou always needed something to calm his mood and relieve his oppressive emotions when setting the cube aside.
These three kittens became the best targets.
Chen Zhou often amused them with rabbit bones or rabbit fur gloves he had sewn himself.
The little ones were especially fond of things with holes. Seeing the rabbit fur glove on the ground, they would burrow into it, poking their heads out, turning it into a "kitten trap."
At this time, with their sharp teeth and claws, they would unintentionally leave white marks on Chen Zhou's hands while grabbing the bones from him.
But Chen Zhou, who had been doing physical labor on the island for so long, had roughened skin, making the kittens' accidental scratches incapable of breaking through his defenses.
Chen Zhou, providing some merriment, would often take advantage of his "high defense", catching the kittens' bodies and pinning them to the ground, making them meow anxiously.
Whenever this happened, Tezi, the "real mom," couldn't sit still, quickly running to Chen Zhou to rescue them.
As for Xiao Huihui, the unreliable "biological father," once the rainy season began, he slid into a state of sleeping all day, always adopting the attitude of "out of sight, out of mind" towards these matters.
...
After getting rid of the cube, Chen Zhou returned to normal life, following the plan made earlier to pave the kitchen and storage room floors with tiles and continue expanding them, while also selecting a location to dig a cellar.
This ordinary and peaceful life continued for five days.
On September 23, upon waking early, while passing the long table in the bedroom, Chen Zhou stopped, gazing at the pile of discarded cubes and white clay boards on the table, recalling the time and effort wasted, feeling a sense of unwillingness.
After this period of settling, he felt that he had moved past the shadow of the puzzle and regained his confidence.
On careful reflection, having figured out over fifty steps, why not another fifty?
Moreover, the previous studies had already dissected the internal structure of the cube quite thoroughly; no matter how unconventional its internal workings were, they couldn't leap out of this framework.
The Time Travel Administration Bureau intends to torment him, not to kill him, so it's unlikely they'd throw an unsolvable puzzle at him.
Otherwise, the solution wouldn't involve a trial-and-error method, so crude and devoid of technical nuance.
...
With determination, Chen Zhou donned his leather cloak and wide-brimmed hat, left the burrow cave, and followed the memory back to the slope below the platform.
Since throwing away the cube, whenever he went out to the cabin, the mountain stream, or to the river at the foot of the mountain to catch fish, he always intentionally or unintentionally glanced toward this low slope.
The cube itself glowed, was sturdy, and had no scent. Aside from attracting some insects landing on it, it wasn't appealing to animals or vulnerable to damage.
Confirming the location daily, Chen Zhou had always known where the cube was.
But out of disgust and the fear of endless trial and error, he never mustered the courage to retrieve it.
Today, feeling ready to face the challenge and the potential disappointing rewards upon solving the puzzle, he finally came here.
This faintly glowing blue cube had a peculiar property—
It lay in the desolate wilderness for so long, unmuddied and retaining an immaculate appearance, with every surface unscathed.
Just as Chen Zhou had realized at first sight, it wasn't made of any material known to modern human comprehension.
Bringing this vexing little cube back to the burrow cave, slowly regaining his old mindset and approach, Chen Zhou once again crammed the complex solution steps into his brain.
Perhaps after some time settling, many unprecedented ideas popped into his mind, dramatically increasing his pace in cracking the cube.
On September 24, on the eve of the twenty-fourth mysterious reward.
Chen Zhou finally advanced the cube's solution to the final step, the 117th step.
It was at this moment that he dismantled the peculiar cube, removing its dozen or so uniquely shaped components.
At the instant the cube turned into parts, Chen Zhou's hands felt lighter, and the light blue components suddenly turned into semi-transparent light, dissipating from his hands.
Immediately, a solid beam of light cast down onto the long table, reflecting on the surface.
On closer inspection, it was a simple line of Chinese characters—
"Cheat permission for time-space slicing granted."