Wen Xishu didn’t feel too sentimental; Tong Ming’s death was a good thing for him.
He and Zheng Zai quickly returned to the fourth floor of the inpatient department.
Wang Ying quickly collected his feelings and revealed a not-so-charming smile:
"Brother Wen, well done! You are really wise. I believe the Bunker Society would definitely be willing to accept you! When we return to the bunker together, I’ll make sure to introduce you to our leader. You will be a great asset to the Bunker Society!"
Wang Ying even changed his address, but this time Wen Xishu did not stand on ceremony and just smiled:
"Okay, Captain Wang, but we need to think about how to survive first. Let’s find the items needed to pass the fifth level."
Wang Ying seemed to catch on to Wen Xishu’s slight indifference, but he pretended not to notice and still wore an enthusiastic smile:
"Brother Wen, can I ask you a favor?"
Wen Xishu said:
"Captain Wang, you are the team leader; just give your orders directly."
Wang Ying waved his hand:
"It’s not really a request. It’s just... you see, you wanted the desk lamp, and I gave it to you. Can you also lend me that thing in your hand?"
"Don’t worry, I just want to borrow it. I’ll return it to you after using it! I absolutely won’t take it when it comes to distributing the final items."
Wang Ying was referring to the handle in Wen Xishu’s hand.
Wen Xishu pretended to be generous and said:
"No problem, but... you two better decide first who will be in charge of controlling it."
"This thing has four joysticks to control the view, body, and angle, plus twenty-four buttons, each with several ways to use. Moreover, if the person being controlled doesn’t trust the controller... its power will be discounted, and probably nothing will work."
"If you really think you can use it once you have it, it’s yours. I’m a very generous person."
"But Captain Wang, I’d like to remind you that if you don’t control this well, you might not even function properly."
"Losing something inside the television world is minor, but it’s a pity if someone dies in there."
After these words, Aspasia and Wang Ying both fell silent. Aspasia assumed she would be controlling Wang Ying. But Wang Ying believed, as the team leader, he should be the controller, not the controlled.
When their eyes met, they both knew they had a disagreement.
Coupled with this overly complex design...
Wang Ying finally shook his head:
"I was presumptuous. This thing is indeed good, but even if you give me a few days, I might not be able to use it like you. Forget it."
Wang Ying and Aspasia returned to 4-10.
Wen Xishu just smiled and took Zheng Zai to 4-11.
The item in 4-11 was a vase, with flowers still blooming inside. Wen Xishu thought it might be a freshness-preserving vase.
This item was indeed not for killing monsters, so he gave up on it.
Soon, they went to 4-12.
Now Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai were full of energy, in stark contrast to Wang Ying and Aspasia.
...
...
4-12 was a ward.
This made Wen Xishu very excited.
"Younger Brother Wen, someone also lived in this room!"
Zheng Zai had already started searching the bedside table; after watching Wen Xishu operate twice, he had gained some experience.
Sure enough, this time Zheng Zai found the third small note in the bedside table.
Zheng Zai couldn’t decipher the note’s content, so he handed it to Wen Xishu.
Wen Xishu took a look and immediately frowned.
This time, the note’s content depicted a guy riding an electric scooter, with something that looked like a globe on top of his head.
At the center of the globe, there was an image of a boot.
"What’s wrong, Younger Brother Wen? Is the new clue detrimental to us?" Zheng Zai noticed Wen Xishu’s odd expression.
Wen Xishu nodded:
"I think I made a wrong judgment."
Zheng Zai didn’t ask further and patiently waited. Wen Xishu pointed to the items on the bedside table:
"Shoes, shoes with ’footprint’ patterns; these are the items we need to identify."
On the bedside table was a pair of running shoes. The shoes had a pattern of two footprints.
Wen Xishu couldn’t determine the use of the shoes just from the contents he saw. In a pile of gibberish, he only saw four characters: ’boundary,’ ’approach,’ ’hope,’ ’picture.’
Just these four characters made it difficult to guess the use of the shoes, but this was not the crucial point Wen Xishu wanted to explore.
Wen Xishu said:
"Eyes and ears made me think the elements were related to the senses. But now I see the appearance of feet... it means there are likely more elements than I thought, probably including eyes, ears, mouth, nose, body, hands, and feet. The number of elements is more than I initially estimated."
Zheng Zai asked again:
"Is this... problematic?"
Wen Xishu said:
"It’s not exactly wrong, but it reduces the likelihood of identifying these items, perhaps even eliminating the possibility altogether. You need to understand, if there are ears, mouth, nose, body, hands, and feet... or even more elements, then the minimum required levels will already be quite a few."
"We’ve already reached the fifth level. I originally thought that by identifying these items, we could find hidden clues."
"But if we finish identifying these items... this mission will be nearly completed."
Zheng Zai didn’t quite understand since he didn’t know about the invitation. Wen Xishu did not explain.
"If we identify all the items containing human body elements, there might already be twelve levels. This doesn’t match the pattern of the levels I previously experienced."