This fourth level was not paved with marble tiles, but with earth and grass.

At that moment, a skinny old horse was eating grass next to the headless corpse. Judging from its horseshoes, saddle, and reins, it was undoubtedly the mount of the "knight."

Feng Bujue walked over, bent down, and patted the old horse's head, but the old fellow didn't react at all, just continuing to bury his head in the grass.

"This time it's Don Quixote's turn..." Qiu Feng said.

"Yes... the man who stood at the pinnacle of the chuunibyou world," Feng Bujue replied. "Unprecedented, and unsurpassed."

"So... he regarded the windmill as a giant, just like in the original story, then charged over on his horse, and just happened to impale the scarecrow that had just come up from the third floor with his spear," Ji Chang tried to deduce based on the situation at the scene and the logic of the script. "Then the Tin Man rushed out of the windmill and chopped him to death."

Honghu's eyes changed slightly. "What about the Tin Man?" he said, looking around. "You can see the end of this level at a glance, I don't see it." He turned back and said, "And I don't see a passage to the fifth level either; the ceilings are all closed."

"There's a line of text here, but I don't know if it counts as a message," Feng Bujue suddenly said. At that moment, he was standing next to the back half of the spear. "Look, it's written on the handle..."

Hearing this, his teammates gathered around to take a closer look. Sure enough, there was a line of text engraved on the shaft of the spear. It seemed to be in Spanish, but the system's translation could be seen in the game menu: [Greet tragic misfortune with a smile, and face all this misfortune with a hundred times the courage.]

"Hmm..." Everyone collectively fell into contemplation once again.

"Is this just trying to mystify things..." Qiu Feng said. "Apart from alluding to the original story, these messages are just philosophical discussions. Perhaps they're ironic when combined with the murder scene, but they have nothing to do with our puzzle-solving."

Honghu frowned, his thoughts clearly stuck in a dead end. "It's hard to say... maybe there will be more messages like this later, but we still don't have enough information to solve the puzzle."

"Well, that's a good idea," Ji Chang replied. "If we compare these messages to many pieces of a puzzle, then we won't be able to see through the mystery until we see the overall framework of the picture, or collect more than eighty percent of the pieces."

"Since that's the case, let's focus on how to get to the fifth level," Qiu Feng said, looking around. "Currently, our only clues are this windmill, a corpse, and an old horse."

"It's called Rocinante," Feng Bujue said.

"What?" Qiu Feng was stunned by this and didn't realize who he was talking about.

"I said, that horse's name is Rocinante," Feng Bujue explained. "What? Is it a different translation in the *Don Quixote* you read? I think this kind of translation combines sound and meaning relatively well..."

"No, no, no..." Qiu Feng interrupted. "I've never read that book, I just know the general content. Even if I had read it, I probably wouldn't remember a horse's name."

"Oh... you haven't read it," Feng Bujue snorted coldly with a straight face. "Hmph... then you might as well swallow dung and kill yourself."

"Hey! There are a lot of people who haven't read it! There's no need to die!" Qiu Feng shouted. "Besides, what kind of way to kill yourself is that?"

Honghu said, "Ah... that book is actually pretty good."

"Pretty good?" Feng Bujue turned his spearhead toward the person who was trying to smooth things over. "You're only saying 'pretty good' about an epic that's sharp, profound, cruel, humorous, and tragic?" He picked up the head on the ground with a serious face, opened the helmet's mask, revealing the corpse's terrifying face, and said, "Do you dare say that again in front of this laughable, regrettable, pitiful, respectable, and immortal character?"

"Uh... I was wrong." Some unknown sense of pressure made Honghu say this inexplicably.

"You actually admitted you were wrong!" Qiu Feng exclaimed, turning to Feng Bujue. "You're not the author, you're just a fan, what are you doing getting all high and mighty like this?"

"*Don Quixote* simultaneously possesses realism and narrative, tragedy and comedy, seriousness and humor, vulgarity and greatness, perfectly and seamlessly integrated. Cervantes used his words to enlighten the world and move the world," Feng Bujue babbled on as if he were giving a lecture. "When I finished reading this book as a child, I was determined to write this kind of critical-realist fantasy work. As long as I can write at thirty percent of its level and leave it to the world, I will die without regrets. The bond between me and Cervantes... you who stay in a spirit ball all day won't understand."

"Where do I stay all day... is it fun to use this kind of meme all the time!" Qiu Feng was almost at a loss for words.

Ji Chang covered his face and shook his head. "Can we get back to the puzzle-solving? This chapter is already halfway over, you guys should stop."

"Okay," Feng Bujue replied immediately. "Getting back to the main topic..."

"You lectured me for half a day just to take a roundabout route!" Qiu Feng said dissatisfiedly.

Feng Bujue ignored him and continued, "You guys saw that, right..." He carefully put down the head in his hand, raised his arm, and pointed to the "sun" in the distance.

"How could we not notice it... the paper sun is shining," Ji Chang said.

"If the paper sun can shine..." Feng Bujue pointed to the side, "Then the green mountains, clear waters, flowers, and plants painted on the wall, could they also be usable?"

As the saying goes, the minds of the mentally ill are broad. If he hadn't said it, these serious strategists really wouldn't have thought of this point.

His three teammates suddenly understood and began to re-examine their surroundings. This time, they suddenly felt enlightened and had many possible clues.

"Well... judging from the sense of distance created by the painting, that cow over there seems to be closest to the 'wall' plane," Honghu said, pointing to a wall.

Feng Bujue glanced in that direction and then walked over. He stood by the wall and realized that a small piece of rope was sticking out of the wall, and the rest of the rope was still in the form of an oil painting on the wall, tied to the cow in the painting.

It was impossible to see this detail from a distance, but now, Feng Bujue just pulled on the end of the rope and easily brought out the rope in the painting. The entire cow was also pulled from the "wall" to the grass in three-dimensional space by him.

"It actually really worked," Qiu Feng muttered.

Ji Chang said, "Does that mean we can also walk into the scenery painted on the wall?"

"No," Feng Bujue said while answering Ji Chang's question and pressing his hand against the wall. "Anyway, I can't get in."

Honghu and the others also came over and tried it, but it really didn't work.

"So now... what should we do with this cow..." Honghu said, holding his chin. "It can't be that we're supposed to let it use its horns to ram us into the fifth level, right?"

"Heh... that might work in the world of *Tom and Jerry*," Qiu Feng laughed.

"Hey—gentlemen!" Suddenly, another voice rang out, sounding like a child's voice.

The four players turned their heads and found a small black dot on the painting on another wall, gradually getting bigger and turning into a human figure, creating a visual effect of moving from far to near.

Before long, the figure ran out of the wall without any sense of disharmony and ran to the players.

This was a brown-haired little boy, wearing patched old clothes and a small hat. He seemed very anxious when he ran, so much so that when he came to Feng Bujue and the others, he was already panting and unable to speak.

"Don't worry, child, take your time, we're not going anywhere," Ji Chang said kindly.

"Haa... haa..." The little boy took two more heavy breaths and said, "Haa... gentlemen, I'm sorry... can... can I ask you to give me back the cow?"

"Give it back to you?" Ji Chang said with a questioning tone.

"It's like this..." the boy said somewhat aggrievedly. "I showed my mother the magic beans you gave me. I thought she would be proud of me. But she was very angry and threw the magic beans out of the house. She also said she was very disappointed in me, and that I was a fool." He stuttered, "So I quickly picked up the beans and ran back. Luckily you're still here! Gentlemen, can I use the magic beans to exchange for Miko (the cow's name)? Please." The boy showed a pleading look and actively extended his hand, which held the small cloth bag containing the magic beans.

"Let us discuss it," Feng Bujue suddenly interjected and immediately winked at his teammates, signaling them to come over.

The four gathered together and whispered.

"I understand... this kid is the protagonist of *Jack and the Beanstalk*," Qiu Feng said. "Pulling out the cow will trigger the event. As long as we exchange the magic beans with him, we can break through to the fifth floor."

"Of course I've already seen that too," Feng Bujue said.

Honghu asked, "Then what do you want to say by mysteriously calling us over?"

Ji Chang also looked at Jue-ge with a questioning look.

"I'm just asking for your opinions..." Feng Bujue said, "Should we slap this kid to death and just snatch the beans?"

"You're crazy..."

"You're inhumane..."

"You won't even let a child go..."

After hearing these three sentences, Feng Bujue sighed deeply. The next second, he walked to little Jack with a smile on his face, leading the cow, and said in a kind tone, "Hahaha, of course, little friend~" He handed the rope for leading the cow to Jack and said, "Next time, remember, a person must have a sense of contract. Also, don't easily believe the words of strangers. Think before you do anything, don't let down your mother's expectations, you must live up to the trust of the Party and the country, become a useful person, make contributions to the people, make contributions to the motherland, make contributions to humanity... um, um*%…………"

Honghu and Qiu Feng covered Jue-ge's mouth and pulled him away.

Ji Chang awkwardly said to little Jack, "Don't mind what that uncle said, go home quickly." As he said that, he took the magic beans from little Jack's hand.

Jack blinked blankly, thanked him, and turned to leave, leading the cow away...