Serial Player
Chapter 408 - 85: Li Changhe, a Man of Integrity

Chapter 408: Chapter 85: Li Changhe, a Man of Integrity

"Did I just chat and accidentally climb up an extra floor?" Li Changhe was puzzled as he turned around and walked down the stairs.

However, he saw the first-floor door again.

"Could it be a number error?" Yun Ting suggested, "Maybe the 2nd floor sign at the stair entrance has just been replaced with a 3rd floor one."

This did feel like a mischievous prank by a little rascal.

Li Changhe thought about it and went back upstairs. Indeed, the stair entrance showed (3rd floor); after stepping out of the stairwell,

he found a room on this floor and looked down through a window. It was about six or seven meters high.

How many Geralts could die from a fall at this height?

This was indeed the third floor.

Having only gone up one flight of stairs, he had somehow gone from the first to the third floor.

"This should be one of the abnormalities... The disappearing floor... The stairs can’t reach it? What about going outside?"

"Let’s give it a try."

Li Changhe opened the window on the third floor and flipped over.

With both hands pressed against the wall, the effect of the [Multifunctional Magnetic Gloves] was triggered, and the powerful gripping force allowed Li Changhe to cling to the wall.

Slowly moving downward, he reached the window, but paused.

For some reason, he was now only about a meter away from the ground.

He had already reached the outside of a first-floor window.

The second floor was clearly there, but when approaching it, he would inexplicably end up on a different floor.

"Brother Ting... Did you notice how I came down?" Li Changhe frowned.

"My perception should be no different than yours. You should have stopped by the second-floor window," Yun Ting thought and replied. "But this phenomenon does somewhat match the bizarre stories told by the beef entrails vendor."

"The missing worker?"

In the afternoon stall, the beef entrails vendor mentioned that a worker had gone missing while repairing the sanatorium.

The construction team searched for him for two days without any news.

However, on the third day, the worker appeared inside Building 4, nearly starving and dehydrating to death.

When the foreman asked where he had been during those days,

the worker claimed he had been working inside a room and could hear his coworkers’ voices, but couldn’t get out of that room no matter what he tried.

He didn’t even know how he finally got out.

However, the construction team had already searched the entire sanatorium, and this situation shouldn’t have happened.

At first, Li Changhe interpreted it as abnormalities like ghost walls or Mobius rings.

Now it seemed more complicated than that.

Li Changhe looked at the windows of the second floor, which were clearly there but unreachable... or rather, he hadn’t found the correct method.

"Do we set this aside and look for other abnormal incidents or continue trying?" Li Changhe wondered.

So, he activated the [Hawkeye Demon Eyes], intending to summon a black hawk, and try to enter the second floor with the [Shadow Step].

However, after activating the [Hawkeye Demon Eyes], Li Changhe saw a glowing trace going straight down from a window on the third floor.

"Is this... my trace?" Li Changhe quickly realized that it was the trace tracking effect of the Demon Eyes. Those traces left on the ground or walls were very prominent in the Demon Eye’s view.

And this was the trace he had just left behind.

"I see! I actually reached the second floor." Li Changhe’s understanding became much clearer as he looked at the traces on the second-floor wall.

From the traces, he should have stayed by the window on the second floor for a while, probably trying to open the window.

However, for some unknown reason, he and Yun Ting had no memory of that.

Hence, they continued to climb down until they reached the first floor.

By that logic, he reached the second floor when he climbed the stairs as well.

"I see, now I’m gradually getting a grasp of everything!"

Now, it’s known that he reached the second floor but was attacked the moment he entered it.

Assuming the opponent was a Mysterious Species, using mental interference or some compulsory suggestion,

it made him forget that memory, so he was caught every time he went to the second floor.

Upon this realization, the opponent was indeed cunning and was a formidable enemy!

"Going by what you’re saying, I feel offended."

Yun Ting thought that she was also a Mysterious Species who had evolved through the Dragon Transformation Pool.

So, she was hit by the Mysterious Species’ spell without any awareness?

"It’s fine; just treat it well." Li Changhe reassured Brother Ting while taking a fluorescent pen out of his [Backpack].

"What are you going to do?" Yun Ting noticed Li Changhe rolling up his left sleeve and asked, "Do you have an idea already?"

"More or less; just try each one. It doesn’t cost anything." Li Changhe responded that as long as the opponent could only erase memories,

he was in no danger. So he would try each predicted plan one by one.

"But how will you remember which plan you tried?" Yun Ting looked curiously at Li Changhe, who was drawing on his arm with a fluorescent pen. "Does writing with a pen work? I’m afraid it might not be fast enough?"

Seeing Li Changhe walk up the stairs,

"Hey, wait! Let me get ready first! Let me sense..."

...

"Turn it on!"

Looking at the (3rd floor) prompt in front of him,

"This is... a failure, right?" Yun Ting clicked her tongue, feeling Li Changhe was irritable.

However, she noticed that Li Changhe had already drawn four ’正’ characters on his arm, with the fifth ’正’ lacking just one stroke.

Speaking of the ’正’ character, it is often reminiscent of commendatory terms like ’upright and fair’ or ’full of righteousness.’

It is worth marveling at the profoundness of Chinese culture. This can also be a simple and easy-to-understand counting unit.

As for the ’正’ characters on Li Changhe’s arm...

Yun Ting fell into a rare silence...

Then, she gasped, "Buddy, what was done to you?"

Li Changhe, who was just about to start analyzing, paused and also gasped, "Holy shit, Brother Ting, what kind of road are you driving on?"

"So, this..." Yun Ting pointed to Li Changhe’s arm and said, "Why did you write this?"

"Counting units!" Li Changhe gritted his teeth and replied, "Isn’t this the easiest and most straightforward counting method?"

"You know it’s a counting method too?"

Li Changhe:(▼ヘ▼#)!

"Ahem, alright. Let’s be more serious." Yun Ting coughed and then asked, "What does this represent?"

"Step count."

"Steps?"

"Yes, the number of steps from the first floor to the second floor, or the number of steps before encountering something. Now it seems we’ll encounter it after walking 24 steps up from the first floor," Li Changhe said. "And my memory stopped at the 12th step. That is to say, our memories at the platform between the first and second floors were erased."

"Hmm?" Yun Ting frowned and asked, "I understand what you mean, but how can you be sure you didn’t continue counting after seeing that thing?"

She understood Li Changhe’s meaning. Since they got tricked after going up to the second floor, the steps they took wouldn’t be affected.

If Li Changhe made a stroke for every step he took, even with suggestions or mental interference, he would continue to draw according to the strokes going forward.

Even if he only remembered climbing one floor, the count wouldn’t be interrupted because of it.

There should have been 48 strokes, ten ’正’ characters missing two strokes.

"This is the second piece of information I discovered through experimentation." Li Changhe spread his right palm open and took out the shattered fluorescent pen.

"At least I could still make one move before my memory was erased when I encountered it."