This forced change of clothes caused the gift-giving in Wen Zheng's live stream to lag the system. He didn't like the restrictive clothes and frowned as he moved his hands and feet.
The king quickly found a mirror and went to examine himself.
The young king nodded in satisfaction and said, "Only now do you deserve to enter my castle. Would you like to know the history of the castle?"
Without waiting for the player's reply, he said to himself, "You must beat me before I can tell you."
Wen Zheng: "…………"
The king appeared quietly: "He won't listen to you."
Wen Zheng turned to look at him. The king then said, "Why don't you dislike him?"
The little king has moved on to the next stage, raising his hands and twirling his little fists like he's scattering flowers: "Two little bees~ flying into the flower bushes~..."
As Wen Zheng cooperated with his punches, he said, "Because he's not a real person."
"Left Flying Flying~ Right Flying Flying~" The little king made a lightning-fast move: "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
Wen Zheng used his fist, while his opponent used scissors; Wen Zheng won.
Fireworks suddenly lit up the sky above the hall. The young king withdrew his hand and said seriously, "A bet is a bet."
...
Three minutes later, Wen Zheng was so bored that he sat on the windowsill and dozed off, while the King went to tease the Sparrow Knight. Amid the Sparrow Knight's angry chatter, he dismantled its sword and hung it on himself, then went to talk to the Swallow Guard Captain, making the latter flap its wings so hard that it shed feathers all over the ground.
"...Another day passed. I had a ham and egg sandwich and milk for breakfast. For lunch, I had steamed lion's head meatballs, stir-fried lettuce, and rice. For dinner, I ate..."
Wen Zheng stood up, strode over to the little king who had been reciting the menu for three minutes, and couldn't hide his irritation: "How much more do you want to eat!?"
"...Another day passed, and I had coconut milk for breakfast..."
The young king remained unmoved and continued reciting the menu in a monotonous manner.
No, there's definitely something wrong here.
Wen Zheng forced himself to calm down and rubbed his temples. At this moment, the King finally finished playing with the Sparrow Knight and the Swallow Guard Captain, and casually said as he walked over, "This is the fourth time we've had a ham and egg sandwich."
Wen Zheng looked at him, and the king said, "His recipes cycle every seven days. He's already reported them three times, and this is the fourth time."
Except for the first time he said "one day," every time the little king said something else, it started with "another day passed." Wen Zheng thought to himself, "This means that time keeps moving forward. He only eats these things, and he is not repeating the menu of a particular week."
Wen Zheng looked outside; the sky was blue and the clouds were white, but all the windows were locked. He then thought of what the young king had said earlier about the history of the castle.
Is the history of the castle only about the meals the owner ate every day? Didn't he play with the sparrows, butterflies, and cicadas?
Just as Wen Zheng thought of this, the little king abruptly stopped reciting the dishes, probably because they had discovered a pattern.
The little king breathed a sigh of relief, as if he knew what Wen Zheng was thinking, and said, "I have been playing. I have many toys—come with me."
Wen Zheng stepped forward first, followed closely by the king, and together they went up a floor with the young king.
They were both stunned when they opened the door.
This isn't a room in a castle; it's an ordinary house. It even resembles Wen Zheng's home.
The table, the floor, and the bookshelves were crammed with all sorts of educational toys.
This includes the nine-linked rings, Huarong Road, single diamond puzzles, tangrams, jigsaw puzzles, and so on that they used to play...
It has everything from ancient and modern times to China and abroad. Except for the lack of main consoles and holographic equipment, this place is like a paradise for children.
On the desk opposite the children's bed was a Rubik's Cube, and Wen Zheng wanted to take a look.
He had just taken a step when a square paving stone suddenly vanished, leaving a black hole beneath his feet. Caught off guard, he fell in!
"Ugh!" A hand gripped his wrist tightly.
Wen Zheng's heart pounded wildly. He tried to climb the wall with his hands and feet, but all he could do was reach empty air and couldn't get any leverage. He had pulled half of the king's body down. The ground was slippery, and he was gripping the ground tightly with his other hand.
"Hold on tight!" The king frowned, his long hair sliding down his cheek, sweat trickling down his back. Just as he was about to exert force, a door opened at the other end of the room, heavy footsteps echoed, and the zombie boss roared—
Bullet comments:
Good news! Good news! We're number one! Z University can die without regrets! We're number one!
You are the wind, and I am the sand.
-So sweet and lingering~~Let's be number one~~
-Let's play another game~~~I wouldn't have any regrets~~~
Wake up! There's no going back! If we fall, it's over. We won't see the pearl in the next round! (Roars)
Author's Note: Big Blackie played with the bird to his heart's content!
Mahjong Knight: My heart rejects it.
Chapter 23
Wen Zheng had completely forgotten that he was still live streaming, staring at the king's golden eyes as if he wanted to be sucked in.
The zombies were getting closer and closer; he knew it was all over.
It was his mistake; he didn't pay attention to the markings under his feet. There are no random traps in this game; if he stepped into a black hole, it must be because he didn't notice the clues.
He wanted the king to let go, but the king's serious expression and the bulging veins on his arm made him inexplicably unable to speak.
To ensure fairness, the initial character's strength, agility, and other stat allocations must be earned by accumulating points. The King is a beginner character with limited strength, so it's impossible to pull him out.
Wen Zheng understood all of this.
But the king looked very serious.
He can tease sparrows, argue with swallows, play with buttons on a jeep in battle royale games, race cars, and is also very interested in colorful snack packaging. So naturally, he will also take his teammates in this virtual world seriously.
Wen Zheng felt a strange sensation rising in his heart, but he quickly came to his senses and looked up, saying, "There are zombies coming from behind you."
"I know!" The king looked impatient and inexplicably angry, gritting his teeth and straining as if he were competing with himself.
Wen Zheng calmly taught him: "Your initial character has no points allocated to the four dimensions, so your strength is insufficient to lift me. This has nothing to do with your actual skill level."
"…………"
"Let go, I can start the next game right away."
"Shut up!" the king roared, furious. "You think you're so eloquent? Get out!"
Wen Zheng: "…………"
Then let go!
The zombie, with its rhythmic gait, slowly approached the king, who was lying on the ground. At the critical moment, viewers who had chosen the God's-eye view during the live stream gasped in unison and typed a series of exclamation marks.
With a swift movement and keen intuition, the king spread his long legs and clamped them around the zombie's calf. Then, using the momentum, he bent his leg and sprang up.
The zombie fell backward, and at the same moment, the King also threw Wen Zheng out!
This series of actions was so fast and quick that it left the audience breathless. Using the zombies as a support, they actually managed to pull the person up!?
What kind of action blockbuster is this?!
However, the fight wasn't over yet. Although the zombie had fallen, it quickly rolled over. Wen Zheng rolled on the spot and stood up, conjuring a measuring ruler in his hand, which he then thrust into the zombie's open mouth. The Great King coordinated with him, raising his leg and kicking the zombie hard in the lower back—with a crack, the zombie broke in two and turned into dust with a bang.
The two men, panting, looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter at the same time.
Wen Zheng thought with relief, "I won't hold it against you. Who told you to be so skilled?"
Sure enough, there were markings on the ground, like grids drawn with crayons. Except for one that had collapsed into a black hole, some of the other grids were marked with numbers, while others were blank. The numbers, when connected, were one to nine.
Wen Zhengxian avoided the grid area, walked to the desk, picked up the Rubik's Cube, and said: "You're not bad. We should have a good match sometime."
The king chuckled, "If you hadn't ambushed me last time, I would have won."
“…Fine, you win.” Wen Zheng didn’t argue with him and quickly restored the scrambled Rubik’s Cube. Then, as if remembering something, he added, “That zombie was wearing a white coat; it was a doctor.”
The king searched the room, and Wen Zheng continued his analysis: "This means that the main character, the child, is sick."
A few seconds later, the Rubik's Cube was solved, and nothing happened.
Wen Zheng put the Rubik's Cube back on the table, rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment: "I solved the toy in the last level, so I won't solve it again in this level."
"There are no keys either." The king searched under the bed, under the table, under the bookshelf... but found nothing, and was not happy.
The door the zombies entered through was a complete black hole outside; they couldn't leave, yet they didn't need to unlock it. This suggests they needed to fulfill some condition within the room to proceed to the next section.
Wen Zheng beckoned the king over and sat down beside him on the bed. The entire room was completely exposed except for the window with security bars welded on it behind them.
Following his usual practice as a live streamer, he said, "Let's summarize the current clues."
"Freedom Castle belongs to the protagonist, the king—a little boy. The little boy has many toys..." Wen Zheng happened to see the comment, choked, and almost couldn't continue speaking.
The king gave him a strange look: "And then?"
Wen Zheng held back for a moment, his expression not good: "And then, he also has an illness."
Bullet screen
Don't panic, Z-da! Mingzhu is watching you!
- Yes, Z, how does it feel to sit side by side with Mingzhu on the same bed?
-Are you moved by the hero saving the damsel in distress? Does your heart pound?
Your Majesty: "What illness? This illness forces him to repeat the same menu every seven days, stay in one room, and have no freedom?"
Wen Zheng came to his senses: "Yes, once we get through this, we'll know what illness he has."
"Hmm." The king frowned slightly. "So, this disease prevents people from playing with things like sparrows and swallows?"
Wen Zheng stood up and looked at the security window: "It should be."
The key to solving puzzle games is observation, searching, activating mechanisms, and cracking codes.
The only things that clearly have content right now are the squares on the floor and the alphabet calendar on the wall.
Wen Zheng picked up the toys scattered on the bed and examined them carefully one by one. Suddenly, he stood up and said, "Xiao Wang, go and bring all the toys on the floor up here."
"Call me Your Majesty!" The king, quite displeased, gathered all the toys from the table and cabinet and threw them onto the bed—a huge pile.
Upon closer inspection, you'll find a small letter protruding in one corner of each of them, namely f, r, e, w, o, r, l, and d in a shuffled order.
“It’s Free World,” Wen Zheng affirmed. “That trademark.”