Thriller Paradise

Twenty minutes earlier, Holmes had walked past Feng Bujue and sat down next to the professor and placed his cigarette box on the table. "How did you know the professor has a partner?"

Feng Bujue smiled. "There are six chairs here, aren't there?"

"Just because of that?" Moriarty asked.

"Is that not enough?" Feng Bujue leaned back in the chair and opened his arms. "Your pursuit of accuracy and order has become your instinct. How could a meaningless item appear in your 'psychological world'?"

He knocked lightly on the table twice. "Theoretically, assuming all four of us travelers from another world arrive here, counting yourself, there will be five people, so why is there a sixth chair? Simple, because there is one extra person."

"Then, how did you know the extra person has to be the professor's partner and not another guest?" Holmes asked.

"Because my guess was that the extra person is you," Feng Bujue replied.

"Huff." Holmes puffed out a smoke ring. "You managed to find out from the magic mirror that the professor is the boss here, and after watching that scene, you predicted the professor and I would exist in this dimension. I can understand that, but why would you think me and the professor could be partners?"

"He's right," Moriarty concurred. "Normally, the public perceive us as mortal enemies."

"You're both dead," Feng Bujue said plainly. "So, how could you be enemies?"

"Interesting… do continue." Holmes smiled.

"A relationship like 'enemies' is built on a mutual respect and approval of both parties. Because a fated enemy… can only be found but not begged for," Feng Bujue said. "In contrast, a friendship is much easier to manage. It only requires mutual understanding and tolerance of the other's bad habits. You two might be fated enemy but not nemeses. Of course, there has been hatred between the two of you… but what does that matter after death? In this world, birds of a feather flock together. Aside from the identity of criminal mastermind and detective, you two are very similar, and if the conditions permit it, the chance is high that you might seek common ground."

Moriarty's expression did not change much, but he said coldly, "If your argument could be more cultured in your choice of words, I would clap for you."

Feng Bujue shrugged and had no comment.

"Then… how did you manage to come up with the conclusion of a 'psychological world'?" Holmes asked.

"It was the magic mirror who told me," Feng Bujue replied. "Before I even asked the second question, the Magic Mirror asked me if my second question was, 'who is the owner of these two psychological worlds?'" Feng Bujue said with a smile. "When he said that, I didn't need to ask anything else."

Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes at the professor. "Your brain, your rules. And it's clear that my actions are limited in your constructed world."

He was naturally referring to the sealed inventory.

"None of the things that I have 'brought' into this world can be used." He took out the folding knife from his pocket and placed it before him. "And when I returned to my own memory space, not only could I use the items that I originally had, I could even use the items I took from you. I believe… that is because the items I gained in this world have become part of my 'memory'.

"The dimensional shift between these two worlds should have nothing to do with any physical phenomenon, or else the stuff in my pockets would have been lost in the rapids already. In my memory space, the items were wet due to the water in the tub."

"Hmm… Not bad," Holmes concluded. "But not completely accurate either."

"Do tell," Feng Bujue prompted.

"This… I shall let the professor explain it to you," Holmes replied.

Moriarty looked right at Feng Bujue and said darkly, "This is not a world inside my brain but a space constructed by a collective consciousness. Mr. Holmes and I appear to have the strongest will among the others, so we have the control and thus became the owners of the space."

"So, that's the truth." Feng Bujue nodded. "Then, can I make this assumption? If, even just for few seconds, my will manages to mentally overpower the two of you, will I become the owner here?"

"Indeed," Moriarty admitted with a chuckle. "Feel free to try. Once you master the rule of this space and can overwhelm us in terms of will, should you wish, I will pop like a balloon with a snap of your finger."

"Then… what is the 'rule' of this space?" Feng Bujue asked.

"That is for you to find out," Moriarty answered. While they conversed, a person suddenly materialized in the chair next to Feng Bujue. It was none other than Ambitionist.

"Erm… where am…" Ambitionist saw the personal quest being ticked in the tab, and he got it instantly. "Is this the seventh floor?"

"Welcome to the Detective Club." Feng Bujue cut before the professor to welcome the new guest.

"Brother Feng…" Ambitionist looked around. "Who are these two?"

"Hmm? You don't know them?" Feng Bujue said to himself. "Then, this means… the experiences in our personal memory spaces were all different."

When Ambitionist heard that, he asked, "Brother Feng, did you not run into Peter Pan?"

"I encountered things like a magic mirror and succubus," Feng Bujue explained.

Ambitionist sighed. "Sigh… I ran into a balding old man who called himself Peter Pan and spent half an hour talking about life."

"Ah?" Even Feng Bujue was surprised.

"He told me he chose to leave Neverland and chose to grow up. He found a job and wife, had kids, got a mortgage and insurance… then he told me about the economic crash, the rising fuel price…" There was fear in Ambitionist's eyes. "For some reason, the more I listened to him, the more hopeless I felt…"

"Oh, then you sure are unlucky." Feng Bujue chuckled. "My experience was much better. First, the Magic Mirror admitted that I was the most handsome person in the world, then I killed Cinderella's stepmother and her two stepsisters, and finally, guess what happened with me and a seductive succubus?"

After hearing that, Ambitionist's only reaction was like he had been stabbed.

"Haha! Actually, I was only joking to see your reaction." Feng Bujue laughed.

"I'm warning you, don't send me a friend request after this is over," Ambitionist said coldly.

"Cough… gentlemen." Moriarty cleared his throat.

As if just noticing the presence of the two bosses, Feng Bujue turned to Ambitionist. "Oh right, right, I forgot to make the introduction. This here is Professor James Moriarty. And the smoking fella next to him is Mr. Sherlock Holmes."

"Oh! Pleasure." Ambitionist leaned forward to shake their hands.

"Don't move." When Holmes said that, he tipped his pipe, and his casual action caused an invisible power to press Ambitionist back onto his seat.

"I'm not done yet," Feng Bujue said. "The professor is the boss here, and Mr. Holmes is his partner."

Ambitionist's mind seemed to short circuit for few seconds, and in the end, he could only say, "Oh…"

"Yes, that's right," Feng Bujue said.

"Gentlemen, since there are already four of us," Moriarty said, "let the game begin."

"What game?" Ambitionist asked.

"It's a small game designed by professor and me together. It's something we used to pass time at the Detective Club," Holmes explained.

Feng Bujue chimed in, "Do you mind telling me how many members there are in this club?"

"Currently, there are only two of us," Moriarty answered.

"The other members wouldn't have died in this recreational activity, right?" Feng Bujue probed.

"Haha…" The answer could be found in Moriarty's laugh.

"Feng Bujue, you arrived before Ambitionist, so you shall go first," Holmes said. At the same time, the professor snapped his fingers, and a deck of neatly arranged cards appeared on the table.

"Wow… You can do something like that?" Feng Bujue said sarcastically.

"To play this game, there must be at least two participants who know the 'truth', and at this time, that will be me and Holmes," Moriarty explained. "In the cards before you, there are hints, questions, conjectures, and assumptions—four kinds of cards. The newcomer has to start with a hint."

"So, I have to draw a hint card?" Feng Bujue asked.

"No, there's no need for you to move to select any card." When Moriarty spoke, the cards moved on their own and scattered all over the table.

"The hints have already been given to you. There are five in total," Holmes added.

Instantly, Feng Bujue and Ambitionist understood he was referring to the five messages from before.

"When you were moving around in the memory space, you should have encountered events similar to these hints," Holmes said. "Each encounter will exhaust one hint.

"As for the messages that you didn't encounter, each missed message will mean that you have to draw one hint card."

"This doesn't sound like a good thing…" Before Feng Bujue finished, Moriarty cut him off. "Pick one and you'll see."

"Humph! Do you think I'm afraid?" Feng Bujue slammed the table. "Use a smiling face to welcome the sadness of tragedy and use one hundred times the courage to deal with all the misfortune."

Then, a hint card floated to stop before him.

"This is quite high tech." Brother Jue reached to turn the card over. "So, now what?"

Moriarty and Holmes did not reply. The smiling one continued to smile, and the smoking one continued to smoke.

Seeing their lack of reaction, Feng Bujue's slowly moved to the card. On the surface of the card was the face of a clown. When his eyes made contact with the card, the card fell from Feng Bujue's hand, and his hand involuntarily reached toward the folding knife that was left on the table…