"I'm not a fool. After these strange occurrences persisted for several days, I figured out that all this eerie business was probably caused by that statue. I found that whatever I dreamed of at night would most likely appear the next morning;

"At first, I guessed that the statue could manifest people's dreams, but later I realized I had underestimated it. It didn't manifest dreams; it realized people's wishes...

"That's right, wishes. It's like a wish machine, turning people's thoughts into reality, but the things that become reality always have flaws. Like the two people I conjured, they stand still like wooden sculptures;

"It's troublesome, for people cannot control their thoughts, and the less you want to think about something, the more likely you are to think about it. At the time, there were other Upper Class People staying here with me, and upon discovering that the statue could realize thoughts, they involuntarily imagined dangerous things;

"Someone ate rusty nails in his food for four consecutive days, and someone had a sudden thought while bathing: what if the bath water turned into sulfuric acid?—then his bath water really turned into sulfuric acid;

"It's too dangerous. The fewer people who stay here, the better, as more people lead to more imagined dangers. As I mentioned earlier, I have a high status among the Upper Class People, so I decided to send the others away and stay here myself, and no one opposed me;

"For my safety, we made this helmet out of special materials, which can isolate my thoughts within the helmet, preventing the statue from receiving them." Slaughter said, tapping on his helmet, the crisp sound echoing through the forest.

"We also built a house using the same special materials. When I'm inside that house, I don't have to wear this. Look, we're almost there." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

As he spoke, Gu Mian saw a building appear ahead.

At this moment, Slaughter quickened his pace and walked forward.

Gu Mian kept up, holding his saw.

As he approached, he realized what lay before him was a two-story building, but unlike ordinary buildings, the exterior seemed to be coated with a layer of steel.

The smooth silver-gray reflected the light from the street lamps, and Gu Mian squinted upward along the steel wall.

This building had no windows, not even a crack.

Gu Mian couldn't find the location of its door.

Suddenly, Slaughter, beside him, lowered a hand and inserted it into his suit pants pocket.

Gu Mian turned to look, only to see him pull out something resembling a remote control from his pocket.

The remote control had quite a few buttons, and he watched Slaughter press the red button at the top.

Immediately, the building before them rumbled, and a door slowly opened in front of them.

"Once inside, I can take off the helmet." Slaughter, seemingly tired of wearing the helmet, sped up and walked through the door.

Gu Mian followed him into the building.

He set down the saw and surveyed the interior decor.

From the outside, this two-story building appeared very high-tech. Gu Mian initially thought the interior would be similar, with cold experiment tables, high-tech mechanical creations, and walls full of physical data.

But the reality was different.

It was a warm, cozy residence.

All four walls were a warm, light yellow, and a projector hung from the ceiling, casting videos on the wall.

Upon entering, to the right was a set of gray fabric sofas, with a tea table covered by a floral tablecloth in front of them.

A huge round sunflower carpet covered the floor, with an open balcony directly opposite the door.

Outside the balcony, it was daytime.

"That's an electronic screen, not a real window," Slaughter's voice came from behind.

At the same time, Gu Mian heard a 'pop' sound.

He turned to look, seeing Slaughter pulling his head out of the helmet: "Fortunately, in here I don't have to wear the helmet; otherwise wearing it all day would drive me crazy."

His hair was a bit messy, not quite matching his neat suit.

Gu Mian looked at Slaughter's face; his skin was deathly pale, a characteristic of Upper Class People.

Aside from his skin color, Slaughter's appearance wasn't bad.

Gu Mian, accustomed to seeing the twisted, ugly faces of lower-class people, found this person's looks relatively striking by comparison.

The only blemish was a scar running vertically across his face, from the corner of his right eye down to his neck.

The deathly pale skin made the scar more glaring and prominent, adding a trace of ferocity to his delicate face.

Noticing Gu Mian staring at his face, Slaughter touched his cheek and smiled: "Actually, I didn't used to have this skin color... I wasn't this pale."

Can people's skin be bleached later here? Gu Mian was a bit puzzled.

Seeing Gu Mian's question, Slaughter patiently explained: "Initially, there wasn't any difference in appearance between Upper Class People and lower-class people; we were distinguished by birth and assets, until we discovered that statue."

Speaking of the statue...

Gu Mian had already surveyed the entire ground floor, not seeing any sign of the statue.

If he remembered correctly, Slaughter seemed to have brought him to see the statue, right?

Beside the fabric sofas was a staircase leading to the second floor; perhaps the statue was upstairs.

"That statue can realize wishes, though most of the time there's a flaw, but it's better than nothing, isn't it?" Slaughter crouched down and lifted the sunflower carpet at his feet, revealing a hinged door under it, secured with a lock.

Then he put his hand into his suit pants pocket again, seemingly searching for something.

He felt around both pockets, but didn't find what he sought.

Slaughter's expression immediately became bewildered, like a Fatty who couldn't find his keys.

Just as Gu Mian was pondering, a huge figure suddenly appeared beside him.

What's going on?

He turned to look, seeing that what had just appeared out of thin air was a person.

A Fatty.

Upon closer inspection of his face, well, he looked exactly like Fatty.

He appeared bewildered, rummaging through his jacket pockets with both hands: "Where are my keys? Where are my keys? Where are my keys?"

Even Slaughter was startled by the sudden appearance of Fatty, he even forgot to search for the keys, pointing at Fatty with a finger: "He...he...this...this...this..."

"Your house doesn't work, doesn't it say it can shield consciousness." Gu Mian also paused, then began to disdainfully survey the house, turning to Fatty beside him, "Such a big Fatty can squeeze in here, the flaw is too big, clearly a jerry-built project."

"No, impossible, I've been here for so long, never had such a problem before..." Slaughter was stuttering, with one hand holding his head, evidently unable to believe what he was seeing.

Gu Mian saw him pinch his thigh hard with his other hand.

A gasp sounded in the room, clearly he hurt himself.

"I know, I know." Slaughter, gasping, suddenly understood something, turning to Gu Mian, "If it's not me with the problem, then it must be you causing the problem!"