Rhodes Island does not exist.

"For our next meeting." Standing beneath Patriot's massive figure, the Doctor silently spoke to Kal'tsit.

Then, his mind calmed down, the doctor pressed the elevator call button, and stepped into the elevator car.

-

"The elevators here are really weird."

After leaving through the exit on the tenth floor, the Doctor shared his thoughts on Rhodes Island's elevators.

After all, the floors that the elevators can reach are separated here, and all people who take the elevators can only go to the designated floors and find their way to other places from those floors.

"So getting down to the first floor isn't actually a simple matter, and getting up to the top floor is just as difficult," the professor pondered, recalling the control panel in the elevator earlier.

Rhodes Island was originally a sixteen-story building, but the elevator could only go up to the fifteenth floor at most.

Does the fifteenth floor have a staircase leading to the sixteenth floor? Even the doctor wasn't sure.

We'll only know when we explore the fifteenth floor.

"The layout of the tenth floor... is just like the fourth floor."

Standing at the beginning of the tenth floor, the doctor scanned the straight corridor and the doors on both sides of the corridor, and subconsciously compared it with the fourth floor.

The answers after comparison are completely consistent.

“The tenth floor was originally intended to be used as a warehouse or something similar, but now it looks like a hospital ward.” The Doctor shook his head. “It seems that whoever built this place didn’t completely refer to the original Rhodes Island when designing it.”

As one of the people who have worked on Rhodes Island the longest, the Doctor can remember almost every part of Rhodes Island, even the type of screws to be used in each place and the brand of the spare parts to be replaced.

Therefore, even if Rhodes Island has only been modified in the slightest way, the Doctor can immediately recognize it.

"So first up is room 1001... I just hope it's not like the fourth floor, where every room's anomalies need to be cleaned up again. After all, if I could, I really don't want to fight."

At this point, the doctor let out a sigh.

Because he knew what the strange things here were, or rather... who they were.

In fact, after seeing the Patriot, he should have understood now, even if he didn't understand at first.

"what."

Swallowing a sigh, the doctor reached out his hand toward room 1001.

Chapter 256, Part 254: A Joke

The door opened with a gentle turn of the doctor's hand.

A tiny crack expanded and gradually opened, revealing the scene inside the room to the doctor.

"Heh, I didn't expect that although the people who created this place changed its appearance, the function has still been preserved." The doctor couldn't help but shake his head with a slight laugh.

The room in front of us is a warehouse.

Although the warehouse didn't contain much, its structure and the shelves and boxes inside were all complete and looked quite professional.

"If we plan to stay here for a while, then the intake and storage of food and water will be necessary." The doctor pondered, gazing at the boxes leaning against the walls and in the corners.

He was currently in Rhodes Island's warehouse, which was naturally a place to store food, water, and other supplies. Arriving here, Doctor, probably meant he was about to say goodbye to days of running out of supplies.

"It's ironic, really." The Doctor walked towards the shelves, pickaxe in hand, muttering to himself, "The original Rhodes Island was in chaos because of food shortages, but this Rhodes Island is..."

The doctor was speechless.

Ok.

There was no food or water in those boxes what he expected.

All the boxes contained only one thing.

bottle.

A glass bottle with its neck plugged with a cork.

It looks like the kind of container that is often used as a message in a bottle in movies and TV shows. It's just a pity that the current PhD can neither throw these messages out nor has anyone to deliver them.

The former is a tragedy of geography, while the latter is a tragedy for the PhD himself.

"But why are there so many bottles here?" The doctor asked, after casually taking a box off the shelf and staring at the glass bottles inside.

Looking at the room filled with glass bottles, the Doctor recalled a joke about glass bottles that he had once heard from Kroos.

An old man felt he was about to die, so he called his three sons over to discuss his will with them.

Of the three sons, the eldest was the most diligent and kind, the second was unremarkable, and the youngest was a dissolute young man. However, because the youngest son was the youngest, the old man always spoiled him and let him continue his dissolute ways.

After the three men arrived at the bedside of the sickly old man, he took out three glass bottles of different sizes and pointed to the room. He told his sons that he was going to divide these three bottles among them and that they should spend the day finding things to fill the three bottles. Whoever filled the bottle the most and whose contents were the most valuable to him would receive the largest share of his inheritance.

Then, he handed the three glass bottles to his eldest son, second son, and third son in the order of large, medium, and small.

Obviously, because the glass bottles come in different sizes, the trial was unfair to the three sons. No matter how you look at it, the third son would be the one to win in the end.

After all, the volume of the small glass bottle that the third son received was far smaller than that of the huge glass jar that the eldest son received.

However, the reality is not so simple.

Because the eldest son is hardworking and kind, he has accumulated a lot of wealth and connections. Neighbors help him out whenever they need it, so even with such a large jar, he has enough resources to fill it.

On the other hand, the youngest son is lazy and good-for-nothing, and not only does he have no personal wealth, but he is also very unpopular. So even with such a small jar, he would find it difficult to find the resources to fill it.

As for the second son, he was always unremarkable and didn't even bother to fight with his younger brother and older brother, so he simply put the bottle back in his room and went on to do his own thing.

Time flies, and four hours have passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, the hardworking eldest son had already gathered enough resources to fill the jar, while the younger son was still scratching his head and getting anxious over his tiny glass bottle. With half the time already gone, the ever-approaching deadline made the younger son even more restless and anxious.

But the youngest son is still the youngest son; his days are filled with nothing but filthy thoughts and despicable methods. So he chose to give up collecting and went directly to his eldest brother.

After all, his kind older brother always defered to him in every aspect of life, and even gave up his girlfriend to his younger son. So the younger son thought that he would still receive preferential treatment in this matter.

However, his eldest son's answer surprised him.

The eldest brother, who usually treats his brothers with humility and tolerance, chose to reject his youngest son's proposal.

His reason was simple: it concerned his father, so he couldn't make the decision himself and had to follow his father's orders.

As a result, the youngest son, who had always been pampered, became furious.

He directly smashed his eldest son's glass jar, scattering all the resources accumulated inside onto the ground. He burned everything that could be burned and looted everything that could be taken, leaving his eldest son with only a broken bottle and a mess.

Now the youngest son had enough wealth to fill his jar, and even had plenty left over to live a life of debauchery.

Meanwhile, the eldest son, grieving over his situation and his brother's betrayal, could only sit alone in his home, heartbroken.

It seems the situation is clear: the youngest son will be the victor this time, since the eldest son has even lost his vessel.

But just then, a guest who had suddenly arrived at the eldest son's house saw the eldest son sitting amidst the mess. Surprised by the scene, he asked the eldest son what had just happened.

Then, after learning about the unfair treatment his eldest son had suffered, the customer angrily contacted the local glass factory and expedited the production of a glass jar that was exactly the same as, but more durable than, the one his eldest son had made, and delivered it to his son's home.

The eldest son was overjoyed and immediately thanked the guest for his help, but at the same time he was also filled with sorrow.

He was distressed because although he had regained the container, he had lost what could fill it.

However, the astute guest sensed the eldest son's predicament and, faced with this kind and hardworking man, offered the eldest son a pertinent and practical suggestion.

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you for the razor blades and monthly tickets from Fengwen'an Hansuna Maru Ryutsukikage x.

Chapter 257, Part 255: Bloodstained End

The guest's suggestion was indeed pertinent and practical, and it even perfectly met the old man's criteria for setting the question. But the eldest son couldn't be happy about the suggestion.

Because if he accepted that suggestion, it would mean he would have to give up something incredibly important.

But in the end, after the guest's continued persuasion, the eldest son accepted his proposal.

The eldest son felt a complete change in himself the moment he made the decision.

He is no longer himself.

It was no longer the kind, tolerant, and gentle man he once was, but something else with the exact same face as him.

However, having made the decision, there was no going back. So the eldest son picked up his bag and headed to the youngest son's place.

Along the way, the neighbors and friends around him scrutinized the eldest son with strange looks, as if he had been possessed by a demon or a monster. But they just watched and no one dared to speak up and stop him.

Then, the eldest son arrived at the youngest son's house.

When he stepped through the door of his petty thug brother's house, he saw the maggot-like figure beaming with glee at the treasure he had stolen from him. And when the youngest son saw his own brother barging in, he felt not a shred of remorse or guilt, but was still lost in the afterglow of what had just happened.

So the eldest son opened the work bag he had brought, took out a hammer from the bag, and smashed it directly onto the head of his younger son, who was still reveling in his joy.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my eldest son works as a carpenter.

As the hammer struck his youngest son's skull, the once arrogant and dissolute scoundrel finally departed this world with a muffled thud.

His brain matter, mixed with shattered bone fragments, splattered everywhere, mixed with a sticky substance of red and white, and spilled all over the ground.

His body swayed slightly, like a breeze, and then he collapsed in his narrow, dirty courtyard.

This was the suggestion the guest made to the eldest son: to give the younger son as a gift to his father.

After all, the father's initial promise was that whoever had the most valuable item in the glass bottle would receive the largest share of his inheritance. Therefore, it was no surprise that the youngest son, the most favored among the three brothers, would have the most valuable item in his possession.

As mentioned before, the eldest son works as a carpenter.

So the eldest son's idea was to turn his youngest son into a work of art and put him in his own large glass jar as a way of giving his father a piece of his answer.

Just do it.

After sweeping away the shards smashed by the hammer, the eldest son carefully took out various knives, axes, nails, and saws from his toolbox and began to meticulously dispose of the body of his arrogant brother, just as he always did at work.

Without a doubt, his youngest son's body was ugly to him.

The hands that seized his wealth are ugly, the feet that trampled on his dignity are ugly, the lips that insulted his spirit are ugly; everything that belongs to his body is ugly.

He had tolerated this scoundrel's outrageous behavior countless times, but now, this scoundrel was nothing more than a piece of meat on his chopping block, a commodity on his workbench.

Thinking of this, the eldest son couldn't help but laugh.

He is now just as he felt when he accepted the client's proposal—he is no longer himself.

In order to harm his brother, he abandoned gentleness, tolerance, and kindness.

But he gained dignity and boundless satisfaction in return.

"Ding! Ding! Clang! Clang!"

The hammer fell, and the saw cut.

The youngest son's limbs are rapidly separating and deforming under his proud woodworking skills, and then being sculpted into a beautiful shape that does not belong to him.

The eldest son felt nauseous as he watched the former villain regain his luster in his hands. But when he remembered that this was a gift for his father, he immediately regained his composure.

So he continued working, just as he had always been—diligent and conscientious in his work—pouring every ounce of his energy into his tasks.

Finally, the work was completed.

Using the skills he had accumulated through his hard work, the eldest son rearranged, sculpted, and reassembled the organs and bones of his younger son, then placed them one by one back into the large glass jar, creating a beautiful work of art.

Coincidentally, when he finished the work, it was also the deadline set by his father.

As dusk crumbled, the setting sun cast its rays upon the eaves of the younger son's house, projecting shadows onto the glass jars like a veil of darkness. The elder son placed the glass jars, now filled with his younger son's contents, onto a four-wheeled cart and pushed it along the bustling street toward his father's house.

Strangely, even though the neighbors who passed by saw what was in the eldest son's car, they didn't scream or panic. They just greeted and chatted with the eldest son as usual, as if what was in his car was just a simple wooden carving.

Finally, in this strange yet ordinary process, the eldest son pushed the cart to his father's house and carried the large jar filled with his brothers inside.

At this moment, the second son, who had little interest in anything, also arrived at the old man's bedside as promised, bringing his glass bottle containing a few coins, and adopting the same indifferent attitude as usual.

His indifferent attitude seemed to have permeated his entire life; even seeing his eldest son carrying a glass jar filled with his youngest son's body into the room failed to stir any emotion on his face.

But for the old man, it wasn't so indifferent.

When the old man saw what was in the glass jar his eldest son had brought in, he immediately flew into a rage and sat up to demand to know what it was.

The eldest son answered truthfully, telling the old man that the jar contained his beloved youngest son.

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately feigned distress and asked him why he had done this.

The eldest son's answer was exactly the same reason he gave at the beginning.

Because the most beloved youngest son is the most valuable thing to his father.

Ultimately, the story ended as one might expect.