Chapter 28 Misgivings

After entering the room and closing the door, Feng Bujue's expression immediately turned grave.

"Not good..." he muttered to himself, "It really is Zuo Yan and Vidocq..."

Clearly, Brother Jue recognized the man and the cat.

"Although I know that scripts sometimes randomly generate based on the player's memories and various real-world images or written products, but..." Feng Bujue leaned against the door and continued, "To encounter characters from the novel I wrote... that's a bit...subtle..."

That's right, Zuo Yan and Vidocq, who appeared before Brother Jue, were the protagonists of his novel, *Second-Rate Detective and Cat*. That's why, the moment he saw them, he had a feeling of familiarity, yet also of never having met them before.

"So, the question is..." Feng Bujue muttered as he walked towards the bed, "With these two around... how am I supposed to last until chapter thirty-three..."

This was indeed a very serious problem, because each case in *Second-Rate Detective and Cat* was about fifteen to twenty thousand words long. Converted into *Thriller Paradise* chapters, even if each chapter was very short, it could only last for about eight or nine chapters at most.

"Or else..." In the few seconds it took him to walk from the door to the bed, a bad idea had already formed in Brother Jue's mind, "...should I try to catch Vidocq first?"

As the author, Feng Bujue had a great advantage, which was that he knew his characters inside and out. Therefore, the first idea he came up with was to deal with the "cat" first.

Brother Jue knew very well that Zuo Yan's threat was not very great. After all... this kid was just a "second-rate detective."

But Vidocq was different...

When Feng Bujue was writing this character... no... cat character, he not only gave him the name of the "King of Detectives" (Francois Eugene Vidocq was a real person, a true legend, and many famous detectives in later literary works drew inspiration from Vidocq's image), but he also put a lot of effort into giving this cat almost cheat-like detective abilities... In fact, the character Vidocq was originally created as a "cheat" for the protagonist, Zuo Yan.

This British Shorthair cat was basically the "apex of detectives" in the setting. He was a master of infiltration, a tracking expert, a lie detection expert, and he was proficient in criminal psychology, forensic anthropology, forensic science, and many other professions... In short, he had reached the grandmaster level in all the knowledge and abilities that were beneficial to the "detective" profession. If he lived in the DC universe, Batman would probably have had his identity exposed by him, be arrested on the spot, prosecuted for multiple crimes, and ultimately thrown into an insane asylum to serve his sentence.

If you asked him why he was so ruthless to Bruce Wayne, he would answer you, "Because I am the greatest detective in the world, meow."

"In any case, as a cat... his weakness is obvious." As Feng Bujue sat down on the bed, he conveniently took out a can of tuna from his jacket pocket and examined it. This can was something he had picked up from a roadside stall this afternoon while gathering information on the island. Without a doubt... it was a can produced by Herbert Corporation. "Use this as bait to catch him..." While thinking, Brother Jue's gaze shifted to the small refrigerator in the room, "Then lock him in the refrigerator, unplug it, and lock the door... As long as I leave a little gap for him to breathe, he shouldn't die."

His plan seemed simple and crude, but in reality, it was still highly feasible, but there were still some technical issues.

For example... how to lure Vidocq away from Zuo Yan, and how to ensure that Vidocq would not be discovered after being imprisoned?

According to the setting of the novel, only Zuo Yan could communicate with Vidocq in a "spiritual dialogue"-like manner among humans. Although this kind of communication had a distance limitation, their dialogue was not affected by other "factors that hinder the transmission of sound" besides distance.

For example, if Zuo Yan and Vidocq were placed in two soundproof rooms, separated by only one wall, they could still have a normal conversation. But if the distance between the two was increased to the point where ordinary people would need to shout to hear each other, then even if there was no barrier between them, spiritual communication could not be established.

"Hmm... ignoring the walls and doors, the clear distance from the refrigerator to the corridor is only about five meters." Feng Bujue quickly realized the problem, "If I were Vidocq, after being caught and imprisoned, I would definitely immediately start shouting for help through 'spiritual communication,' and keep shouting, anyway, it doesn't strain my voice... Considering that Zuo Yan lives on this floor, he will definitely pass by the corridor outside the door. At any moment, as long as he approaches this room, he will hear the cry for help."

Thinking of this, Brother Jue's "refrigerator plan" was basically overturned.

"Or else... I'll take him to a farther place, making sure that no one can find him before I finish the script..." Feng Bujue then muttered, "Or... just get rid of him altogether..." At this point, he shook his head almost instinctively, "No, no, doing that would be too unskillful..."

The "method" he was talking about at this moment was naturally to kill Vidocq; this would be more convenient than imprisoning Vidocq. Even if it was exposed, killing a cat would not constitute a criminal offense. The police would at most ask him to compensate the cat's owner.

Objectively speaking, killing Vidocq was indeed a simple, extremely effective, and surefire strategy that could help Brother Jue clear the game smoothly.

However... this was also a strategy that Feng Bujue would never implement.

No matter how this world defined him, in Brother Jue's mind, Vidocq was not a cat, but a detective. He was one of the two most challenging opponents that Brother Jue had encountered in the field of wit and strategy so far (the other was Woody), and he was also one of the very few characters who could make Feng Bujue put himself in the position of a "weakling" to formulate strategies.

At present, Feng Bujue already had the advantage of being the "author," possessing a large amount of information about the other party, and gaining the initiative. Under this premise, if he were to take advantage of his physical strength, acting intentionally against the unsuspecting, to kill Vidocq... the victory obtained in this way would be uglier than losing for Brother Jue, and could even be said to be a great insult.

"Heh... as expected... let's just forget it..." Thinking about it, Feng Bujue simply rejected the plan of imprisoning Vidocq as well, and revealed an eager expression, whispering, "The opportunity is rare, let me use all my strength, throw away my integrity, and use all my skills... to have a showdown with you two head-on."