Thriller Paradise

After changing his own perspective, Feng Bujue soon found the location of the first hidden clue—it was on the protective film of his LCD television. Only when he leaned in closer to examine the television screen did he realize that there were many strange and curious traces on the protective film. Then, he swiftly removed this layer of film from the surface of the television screen and raised it to the light. However, even after he had done so, he still could not fathom what the meaning of the message on the film was.

"The film itself is translucent, and the unevenness of the traces is not that conspicuous…"

He studied the object with more than a hint of interest on his face, and after a few seconds, an idea appeared in his mind. Feng Bujue quickly took off into the kitchen and found the vacuum cleaner that was placed inside the cupboard. He turned the machine on to check, and it showed that the dust collector bag was half full. In that moment, he knew that he was on the right path. He instantly grabbed the film, laid it flat on the ground, and then sprayed the dust as evenly as he could over the protective film. As he expected, with the coverage from the dust, some letters started to surface from the transparency of the film.

"Ha… this reminds me of the time when I was still playing with sand," Feng Bujue commented to himself as he patted away the dust that was left on his hands. Then he looked at the letters that had materialized before him and read them out loud. "M, V, E, M, J… U, N."

The hint on the film was those seven English letters. The letters were arranged in a simple row. Other than a space that was left between J and U, the distance between the other letters was all the same.

"What could the meaning of these seven letters be?" Feng Bujue mumbled as if to himself. "The first letters for the English names of all the Calabash Brothers?"

He was half joking, but it was indeed this semi-joke that gave him the necessary inspiration.

"Eh? Could it be…" Feng Bujue's eyes scanned over the row of letters again, and soon, a smile started to crawl on the corner of his lips. "Hah… They represent the eight planets."

Brother Jue's astrological knowledge was very average. But at the very least, he knew the correct arrangement of the eight planets and the correct spelling for the six of them. He was not certain how one would correctly spell Neptune and Uranus, but at the very least, he had an impression of the first letters of these two nouns. After he came to this conclusion, he jogged back to the bookshelf that was placed in the living room. From the rows of books, he pulled out one that was related to astronomy. Feng Bujue's bookshelf was almost identical to his brain; it was very neatly arranged, and everything was where it should be. The books were arranged according to their name, genre, year of publication, and so on. This way, no matter what kind of information Brother Jue was in need of, he could locate the necessary book instantly and without much fuss.

In the year 2055, why could he not just look for that information on the internet?

Of course, Feng Bujue normally would also spend some time looking and researching for many things online, but he had this belief that the internet was not all encompassing. Humans could not possibly fit all the information that was and would ever be inside a computer, and they could not guarantee that the keyed in information could be found online. Furthermore, the content of a lot of teaching material, encyclopedias, and dictionaries would be far more accurate and detailed than the entries on public 'wiki's.

Other than that, and this was the crucial problem… Feng Bujue had already confirmed earlier that his computer, gaming hub, and phones were not functioning. The television could be switched on, but it could not receive any signal, and there was no recording that was left inside the hard drive.

"Based on the distance from the sun. The correct order should be… Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune." Feng Bujue read out from the book that he was holding. "The seven letters on the protective film correspond to the first five and the last two of the planets in our solar system. Therefore, the space that was purposely left out has to be Saturn."

He put down the book and lifted his head. "So, the empty letter is S?"

He lifted the film and temporarily placed it on the countertop of his kitchen. He took out a bowl from the cupboard and weighed it down.

"Or is it trying to hint at the word Earth, since Saturn is literally translated in Chinese as Earth Planet? Or is it a hint about Saturday, Saturn being the root word for Saturday?"

Even though he had found the solution, what this hint was referring to was quite hard to deduce.

"Then… it is fairly obvious that there's more than this one hint that I need to find." Feng Bujue held his chin in his one hand. "This answer is just one piece of the whole puzzle."

The search began again, and another ten minutes passed just like that. This time, he found something strange on the back of the clock that hung on the wall. It was a small blue clock, circular in shape and with a flat surface. The clock fingers and the numbers were white, and it was made from plastic. With one glance, one could tell it was a cheap clock that could be purchased at any night market. The backside of the clock was black, and the design was simple. Behind the '12', there was a round cutting. It was a hole that was used for hanging. Further down from there, there was a place for the battery. It was the kind that did not even have a cover. There was currently an AA battery sitting inside. Next to the battery was a circular plastic gear, or one should say, a dial. It was used to adjust the time. It was directly connected to the hand that told the minute.

At that moment, the strange thing that Feng Bujue discovered was… once one turned the dial on the back of the clock, it was not the minute hand that moved but the hour hand. Honestly, one could imagine how anal-retentive the person who could find this kind of clue was… This was equivalent to people who played Zelda without the use of the online guide.

"The hint is the hour hand of the clock?" Feng Bujue said to himself. "Hour hand… hour hand… Hourly hand? Hands that move according to hours? Massage? Happy ending?"

In that brief few seconds, his imagination had already burst through the sky.

"Hmm… Hour hand, could it simply represent time? Time…" His thought came back from the wayward train of thought. "No, if it simply wants to hint at time, it could have been the second hand or the minute hand, and there are many other ways that the system could have used to remind me of that. Like having the time on the clock turn backward when I turn the dial on the back forward. So, it represents 'hour'? One hour?"

Feng Bujue placed the hanging clock gingerly on the coffee table before the sofa.

"Assuming that this clue is referring to hour or time, the clue on the protective film points to Saturday?" He hummed deeply like he was in thought. "Hmm… This sure is interesting."

After the appearance of the second clue, the situation did not appear to have cleared up. If anything, things seemed to have become more and more convoluted. Feng Bujue continued the search inside his living room. This time, he even turned the sofa over and moved many pieces of furniture. He pulled open the drawers of all the cupboards, moved out the contents inside the fridge, and even disassembled many pieces of furniture, but he ended up with nothing for his effort.

"Eh?" When Feng Bujue came to the litter box, he suddenly said, "Why did I use the dust inside the vacuum earlier, I could have used the sand here…"

So, it was not that an idea had come to him, but he realized he could have used the sand in the litter box to solve the puzzle on the protective film.

"Since I am already here, why not look through this as well?" He flipped the litter box over and threw all the stuff inside on the floor, but the content was only a thin layer of sand, and it was not hiding anything else.

"Aha!" Feng Bujue was about to put the box down and move elsewhere when he saw the hint at the bottom of the box. There were two sets of numbers carved there, 599 and 602.

"Ok, but what do they mean?" Feng Bujue tapped his chin as he squatted there on the ground. "602 perhaps has some relation to a time, but 599's connection to time is even more strenuous. Post code? Phone number? Identification number? SCP project code?"

His brain started to turn and work.

"Wait a minute…" Something flashed across Feng Bujue's eyes, and the man practically leaped up from the ground like a frog. He uttered urgently, "Could this be page number… page 599 to page 502."

He jogged back to the bookshelf, and his gaze wandered up and down the bookshelf swiftly. In just two seconds, he filtered out all the books that had fewer than five hundred pages comparing the width of the books on the shelf.

"Ha… I am so dumb." Feng Bujue raised his right hand to knock on his head slightly. "The answer of the puzzle on the protective film is 's', and the hint from the clock is the same. The puzzle also only has one letter…"

He quickly tossed his eyes to the other end of the shelf, and that end was arranged with books with titles that all started with the letter S or H.

"Ninety percent of the books on the shelf are Chinese books. Discounting those without enough page numbers, one can search for the book using the pinyin of the first Chinese character, but that does not preclude the possibility that the hints are pointing at the first letter of the books' translated English title…"

As that thought entered his mind, there was a ringing buzz in Feng Bujue's brain, and soon after, the name of a book popped up.

"Hm… haha… hahaha…"

He started to laugh like a crazy man, and his eyes that had been wandering about the bookshelf stopped to do so. Ten seconds later, he reached toward one corner of the books and pulled out a thick and heavy title. He heaved the book to the living room and also placed it on the coffee table. Then, Feng Bujue returned to the kitchen. He looked at the protective film that was dirtied with dust. He picked it up, scrunched it up, and threw it into the trash bin. Then, he took out an aluminum kettle from the cupboard, poured some tap water into it, and placed it on the stove, boiling the water.

"Hmm… it will take at least five to ten minutes for the water to boil." Feng Bujue turned around to look at the living room, which appeared like it had just been swept by a typhoon. "I have found the answer that three hints point to, so the puzzle of the living room should be completed already."

He turned to look at the door that led to the bedroom and said to himself, "Perhaps I should make use of these few minutes of downtime and go in to take a look."

After his decision was made, Feng Bujue went to grab the broom that he had in his house and then slunk his way to the door to his bedroom. He turned the doorknob as a try, and there was no problem; it was not locked. He pushed the door open a gap carefully. The light in the bedroom was on. He reached the broom inside the door and poked around like he was testing for mines. After making sure that there was nothing… he pushed the door open. But after he opened the door and saw what was waiting for him inside the bedroom, the following sentence bounded up in his brain.

"It must be something that I have done wrong. Perhaps I did not open the door the right way."

"Hi…" The beauty lying in bed used a seductive voice to greet Brother Jue. She was lying on her side on Feng Bujue's bed, and she was dressed in, to put it politely, a very 'simple' fashion. Under the transparent nightgown, her full and round breasts flickered in and out of view. The curve of her shoulders, the slender waist, and her long slender legs—her whole body was stretched out in a gorgeous and incredibly sexy curve. Her hair was wavy like enveloping waves, spreading behind her head. It fell softly on Feng Bujue's pillow. One did not need to spend much description on the beauty's face, but the most fatal feature on our lady here was her eyes. If there was an electrometer in the room, the pair of eyes would have set the reading through the roof. In a simple glance or glimpse, thousands and millions of words could have been said.

"This game is getting more and more over the line." Feng Bujue could not help but mock the game in a serious expression.

"Dear handsome, how can I help you?" the beauty asked.

"You may… but that depends on whether you'd help me or not," Feng Bujue said shamelessly.

"Well, that depends on what kind of help you need from me. Why don't you come over here and share it with me." The beauty patted the side of the bed lightly. "Come, sit over here. It's comfier than just standing there."

"Er…" Feng Bujue took one fourth of a second to come up with an excuse. "I am boiling water in the kitchen…"

"Hoho… You do not need to be shy around me," the beauty said.

"No, no, no… I am definitely not a shy person. Ask anyone," Feng Bujue said. "Not getting close to you is due to the concern for my own safety."

"Huh? Why would you say that? Are you afraid that I might eat you alive?" When the beauty spoke, her lips curved naturally upward, and she scrunched up her high nostrils. She even licked her lips, doing everything within her power to seduce Brother Jue.

"Actually, yes." Feng Bujue nodded in admission. "If I was not afraid of exactly that, I would have abandoned my rationality, pride, and honor and slammed the door shut behind me already."

"What are you talking about? I don't quite get it," the beauty said again. She wiggled her body while she spoke like she had to move her body or else the voice could not come out from her. But it did its purpose well; it was seducing Feng Bujue.

"I am just buying time, talking nonsense with you and trying to figure out why you did not just directly come after me with an attack," Feng Bujue replied. When he said that, he was suddenly reminded of something. "Oh, so that is why."

It was unknown what the man had understood. But after he said that, Feng Bujue stepped into the bedroom. But he did not get close to the bed and maintained a safe distance from the beauty.

"What exactly are you?" Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes and he studied the beauty almost greedily. "I will get my answer or test out the truth in the matter of time… so why don't you just come out with it yourself?"

In that very short moment, the beauty's eyes shifted slightly, but she soon put on her beautiful and smiling face. "What are you talking about? How come I do not understand what you are saying?"

"Ha… Pew!" Feng Bujue collected some saliva in his mouth and then spat it right on the beauty's body. One second later, the splat of saliva landed squarely on the beauty's leg…

And the room sank into silence…

"Hmm… You're definitely not a ghost," Feng Bujue concluded like that was exactly what he had been trying to find out.

"What the hell?" The beauty's face already an expression like she was out to kill.

"Told you, I was going to do some tests." Feng Bujue grabbed the remotes for the television and the air conditioner and then crossed the two objects to make the sign of the holy cross and flashed it at the beauty. Another awkward silence followed…

Ten seconds later, Feng Bujue put down the 'cross' and said to himself, "Not a vampire as well…"

"If you have nothing else to do, please leave…" The beauty did not seem to be in the mood to entertain Feng Bujue anymore.

"Leave? Leave what?" Feng Bujue cut her off. "This is my room. But you're right, I do need to go out for a moment."

He chuckled sneakily and with bad intentions. "There are several versions of the bible on the bookshelf outside in the living room. When I return, I will be sure to bring one and not to forget a silver dining knife."

"That's enough." The beauty sat up in bed and gave a tired sigh. "Succubus."

"Oh! You should have just told me sooner." Feng Bujue clapped. He then added as shamelessly as one could, "That was my first guess actually."

"Then, why did you spit on me?"

"What's wrong with that?" Feng Bujue said like he was the one that was in the right. "If I undress myself into only my underwear and lie on your bed and twist around in those seductive poses, will you spit at me?"

As a monster, the beauty really did not know how to answer Feng Bujue's question. The succubus reverted to her original form. Her skin turned a light purple shade, and two curled goat's horns grew out from her temples. A small pair of bat wings poked out from her back, and a thin whip of a tail extended out from her behind. Even the outfit that she wore changed in that transformation. It turned into a low-cut leather dress that was tight fitting.

"If you let me go, I promise not to hurt you." Since her identity had been exposed, the succubus came outright and named her condition.

"Do you think… after you failed to seduce me and got your identity exposed, I will still believe what you say?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Then, what do you have in mind?" The succubus groaned.

"What information can you give me?" Feng Bujue demanded. "Or is there anything that you can give me?"

"What do you want?" the succubus asked as her smile curled into a salacious smile.

"Anything but your body." Feng Bujue responded in a stern and serious tone.

"Humph… So boring." The succubus reached her hand into the chest area of her dress and took out a key that was stuffed between her breasts. She raised it up to the light and asked, "This is the thing you're looking for, yes?"

"Toss it over to me," Feng Bujue said directly.

"Why don't you come over to take it?" The Succubus drawled sexily.

"Ha! You still have not given up?" Feng Bujue smirked condescendingly. "You wish for me to walk into the range of the Heptagram? In your dreams."

"After I toss the key to you and you leave me, doesn't that mean that I will continue to be trapped here?" The succubus asked the question back.

"Naturally," Feng Bujue replied firmly. "If I walk over there and get beeped by you, then what? Then you will kill me and use my brain matter to muddle the magic circle, and you will escape using that method."

"To be honest, I am really not interested in a man like yourself who would use a bedsheet that has a pattern like this…" Succubus pulled off the cover that she was lying on.

Brother Jue's bedsheet pattern was the magic circles from the Lesser Key of Solomon. Also known as Clavicula Salomonis Regis, the Lesser Key of Solomon was an anonymous grimoire on demonology. It was compiled in the mid-17th century. It contained magic and rituals that could be used to summon and control angels and demons.

At this point, an explanation for this situation was needed…

The birth of this product was like this. One day, Feng Bujue visited a DIY shop and bought a plain bedsheet. The boss of the shop asked him if he would like to have some patterns printed on it. Just as the worker at the shop went to the computer to open the files for the common patterns for the customer to choose, Brother Jue picked up a piece of white paper that was lying around, waved his pen around, and drew a Heptagram, a combination of the Star of Babylon and the Law of Seven. The main body was a heptagram with a circle around. The inside had a hexagram to replace the original scorpion symbol that the Law of Seven should have, and each line had a Latin spell inscribed next to it.

The other customers and the workers were baffled beyond words. The workers thought Brother Jue was a member of some dark cult while the boss had a feeling that Brother Jue was someone who was sent to his shop by the tattoo shop outside to ruin his business.

In any case… with the confounding look from a lot of people, Brother Jue carried the bedsheet home.

"Don't waste my time, if you do not plan to attack me, why would you ask me to go over there to take it?" Feng Bujue asked. "Quickly toss it over here, or are you waiting for me to prepare a whole bath tub of holy water, pour it into a water pistol, and come back to deal with you?"

It was actually quite easy to produce holy water. He only need normal water and some power of prayer added to it.

The succubus looked at Feng Bujue with confusion and hesitation for a few seconds before finally tossing the key to him. "Fine… I truly lost my interest when I found out you have an actual water gun lying around your house. My standard is not that low."