Chapter 294 - 129: The Missing 3001st Puzzle Piece (Part 3)
But Chen Zhou had never followed his body's instincts.
He knew well that the immune system needed nutrition and energy to fight the virus, so no matter how much he didn't want to eat, he would forcefully shove food into his mouth.
At the very least, he had to ensure there was consumable food in his stomach, or else the virus would become increasingly rampant.
What comforted him was that, despite the severe symptoms of his cold, he had not experienced dangerous signals like high fever, blood-streaked phlegm, nor intense dizziness and headaches.
On an isolated island lacking medicine, if a cold were to worsen into a bacterial infection, bacterial pneumonia, or viral meningitis, his small life would most likely be forfeited.
Unless by a stroke of luck on March 8th, he could get hold of a large quantity of cold medicine.
Otherwise, not even the greatest amount of tobacco leaves and garlic could reclaim his life from King Yama's hands.
...
He spent an entire day in the kiln cave, playing with Lai Fu and a few kittens for a while.
During his midday break, after some deliberation, Chen Zhou abandoned the idea of going to the beach for rewards the next day.
His body was just starting to recover, and since the rainy season hadn't yet concluded, it was clearly unwise to risk worsening his condition for the sake of rewards.
...
Thus, he endured another day. On March 8th, he decided, according to plan, to continue staying at home until his cold fully recovered.
By that time, his head no longer hurt, but he still had symptoms like a runny nose and chills, necessitating wearing thick clothing at all times and carrying a few more handkerchiefs in his pocket to wipe his nose.
Usually busy with various tasks, he had never been idle for such a long duration.
Feeling his strength returning, after wandering around the room a few times, Chen Zhou instinctively wanted to find something to do.
Driven by some mysterious urge, he walked to the puzzle table, which was a quarter completed, and stared at the neatly positioned wooden box and the glowing blue puzzle, suddenly coming up with a bold idea—
"Who says the puzzle has to be complete once assembled?
Is it possible that while it indeed has 3001 pieces, the missing piece was never lost but rather never delivered?
Restoring the whole puzzle only requires placing the 3000 available pieces in matching positions; there's no need to fill every gap."
Standing before the table, quietly staring at the puzzle, the more Chen Zhou thought about it, the more he felt this was the truth.
He didn't know if he was deceiving himself.
But come to think of it, the puzzle was almost complete; abandoning it halfway seemed a pity. Even if one piece was indeed missing, rendering complete restoration impossible, at least he could finish it and hang it on the wall as decoration.
Moreover, being incredibly bored, he might as well find something to do and treat it as a way to kill time.
...
With a casual trial mindset, Chen Zhou focused on assembling the puzzle until March 13th.
During this period, except for a few times checking on crops and sheep outside, he mostly stayed in the kiln cave working on the puzzle, increasing his work hours from six to over ten hours each day.
...
Heaven rewards diligent effort.
In the early morning hours of March 14th, an excited shout echoed in the kiln cave.
With bloodshot eyes, Chen Zhou raised his arms in triumph, carefully pressing the last puzzle piece into its gap.
Formed by 3000 pieces, the "Pure Blue Hell" resembled a serene lake, converging into a clear blue.
If it weren't for one remaining incongruent hole, it looked like a valuable piece of art.
Once the last piece was completely embedded, the whole puzzle suddenly emitted a stronger glow, as if all invisible circuits were suddenly connected.
Instantly, all the fine cracks on the puzzle's surface seamlessly merged, transforming into a unified entity, while creating a mirror-like texture that reflected Chen Zhou's astonished face.
The blue light, once only illuminating a few centimeters around, escalated into a bright brilliance akin to an incandescent lamp, tinting the front of the bedroom with a faint blue hue.
This unusual phenomenon also proved Chen Zhou's guess to be completely correct—the missing hole was not due to a lost puzzle piece; it was a trap intentionally set by the cunning Space-Time Administration Bureau.
The most hateful part of this was that the trap was deliberately designed for him.
Given his significant OCD and perfectionist tendencies, a section most would usually skip compelled him to exhaust all efforts in searching.
Especially troubling for Chen Zhou was that despite realizing the puzzle had 3001 pieces, he hadn't thought the missing piece never existed.
Thus he walked into the trap unguardedly, suffering "painful losses," almost losing his life.
It's difficult to describe what emotions enveloped Chen Zhou at that moment under the blue light.
Only the sound of his teeth grinding could be heard, along with faint, dirty curses squeezed out through his clenched teeth.