Chapter 479: Treasure Room
The room transitioned from black to white, and the Captain and Lin Ye left the room together, walking toward the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor was a stretch without any doors. At the very end of this stretch stood a bloated doll. It looked like someone had tried to make it into some kind of cute animal, but the creator's skill was remarkably poor.
It had incorporated various cute elements, but in the end, it had galloped headlong in a terrible direction.
The doll watched the Captain and Lin Ye. It stood motionless outside the pitch-black door at the corridor's end, like the most loyal of gatekeepers, showing absolutely no intention of leaving the door's side.
[Loyal creation, guarding the creator's room]
The Explorer's identity skill activated, and Lin Ye received a system prompt.
However, this not only failed to help Lin Ye in any way, but it nearly sent him packing instead.
After being dazed for a few seconds, Lin Ye finally looked again at the doll standing not far away.
Lin Ye absolutely did not dare to launch a long-range attack on it using the Cross Scepter. According to the Captain's intel, attacking it would trigger a counterattack related to the speed of thought. Using a ranged attack was itself an action that required thinking. If he encountered Mental Acceleration on top of that, it was highly likely he would blow his own head off with a single strike.
Furthermore, their combat time was extremely limited. If they didn't want to face the things in the dark corridor, they could only fight during the daytime. Lin Ye approached the doll and poked it with the Cross Scepter. This was the simplest action, not requiring much thought.
The doll threw a punch at Lin Ye's head. At that moment, the Cross Scepter made contact with the doll. Countless ideas about poking people with the Cross Scepter flooded Lin Ye's mind. His brain instantly overloaded, teetering on the brink of explosion.
Various thoughts jumbled together, making him completely unable to control his body to perform the next action.
The Captain, standing behind Lin Ye, hurriedly pulled Lin Ye back, helping him dodge the doll's fist. The doll's attacks also affected thought speed. If Lin Ye suffered a thought-speed attack in this state, his brain would likely explode outright.
Pulled by the Captain, Lin Ye retreated to the nearest room. Only when the room turned black did that state of mental acceleration gradually fade.
But this wasn't without cost. His brain, which had been operating at high speed, rapidly lost its ability to think. This extreme rollercoaster nearly plunged Lin Ye into a state of stupor.
If this repeated a few more times, he might never be able to recover his thinking ability.
"We can't fight it head-on here... I have an item that can deal with it, but I'm not sure what level of backlash I'll suffer if I use it on this thing... If I lose consciousness, it'll be up to you from then on."
Lin Ye stammered through his 'last words,' then took out the Salted Fish Thrust from his system space. In terms of insidiousness, this item was a heavyweight contender even among his collection.
"I can use it for you..."
The Captain managed to say with difficulty.
"You can't use it."
The room turned white. Lin Ye entered the corridor holding the Salted Fish Thrust. This item had absolutely no difficulty in usage, perfectly suited for this situation.
The doll still stood outside the door. It spotted the salted fish in Lin Ye's hand at a glance. After dozens of black-and-white transitions, Lin Ye no longer had any room to hide the Salted Fish Thrust.
"If you use that item on me, your brain will explode directly, because you simply cannot think about the principles contained within that item here. That is the price for attacking me.
You can take them and leave this place, as long as you hand that item over to me.
Are you willing to make a deal with me?"
The doll suddenly emitted a sweet voice, forming a stark contrast with its horrifically awful appearance.
"No one hands their weapon over to the enemy during a fight."
If he could be sure the deal would be completed, Lin Ye wouldn't have minded. He was only using the Salted Fish Thrust to get past this point anyway. But unfortunately, no one could guarantee the other party would let them go after obtaining the Salted Fish Thrust.
"...If you can guarantee you won't touch the things inside, I can let you leave this place. After all, I don't want to perish together with you either."
The doll thought for a moment before speaking.
"Deal."
Lin Ye liked these kinds of deal terms that required no payment. As for treasure, his basement already contained too many items that could be called treasures.
He wasn't short of this one.
"Then you can wait until the next daytime to bring them over. I will let you leave this place."
The doll looked at the salted fish in Lin Ye's hand. The salted fish also looked back at the doll with its dead fish eyes flickering with a strange light.
"Okay."
Lin Ye did not put away the Salted Fish Thrust. He couldn't be sure if the doll truly intended to let them leave.
If the other party were human, he could make some judgment based on expression, movement, and speech. Observing a doll's expression was a bit beyond his capabilities.
Lin Ye pulled the Captain, who was standing at the doorway, back into the room. By now, the Captain was also nearing his limit. After a few more black-and-white transitions, he would enter a state of stupor.
"You should have heard the terms of the deal. If it attacks us later..."
"I'll do my best to perish together with it. After that, it'll be up to you."
It took two black-and-white transitions for Lin Ye to finish saying this sentence.
"...Okay."
The Captain no longer had the spare energy to speak, but he still maintained a clear consciousness.
Lin Ye used fishing line to tie the others together, then led them out of the room during the daytime, heading toward the end of the corridor.
The Captain followed at the rear of the group, gripping his weapon tightly, ready to act at any moment.
The doll paid no attention to the others at all. It carefully opened the door behind it, then took the lead in walking inside the room.
Lin Ye followed behind it, holding the Salted Fish Thrust. Unlike the other rooms, this room was unimaginably large. It was filled with all sorts of peculiar items. The entire room was like a place where a dragon from a fairy tale hoarded its treasure.
Compared to the treasures found before, this place truly had the atmosphere of a treasure trove. The previous treasures had made Lin Ye somewhat doubt the effectiveness of his Special Ability.
"Don't look around randomly, and don't touch anything. Otherwise, stay here."
The doll said in its sweet voice.
"Don't worry, I have no interest in treasure."
Lin Ye had absolutely no desire to touch these things. Even though he couldn't think too much right now, he was still very clear about the danger of these treasures.
After all, even the corridor leading to the treasure room was that dangerous. How could there be no anti-theft measures here?
The doll led them through the treasures to a portal located in a corner of the room, then spoke.
"You can leave this place through the portal. Hurry up and go. If my master wakes up, you won't be able to leave."
"Wait!"
The Captain suddenly spoke up. He was looking near the portal. There were two humans there in a state of stupor. One of them was holding a pale yellow box in their arms.
The clothing of the remaining person was somewhat similar to the Captain's.