Fifteen minutes earlier, in the real world, when the four players were still trapped inside the iron cage, they lay on each other unevenly and were all unconscious. They were not asleep or knocked out but were in a state of vivid dreaming. Their eyes were open, and their brains were moving, but they could not hear, see, or sense that they were inside an iron cage because their consciousness was trapped somewhere else.
The iron cage dangled in midair, and around it were six tightly aligned bookshelves that formed a hexagonal area. Each shelf was about 2.5 meters wide and 7.5 meters tall. The space between the top of the shelf and the ceiling was left for the chandeliers. The shelves had books arranged on both sides, and there was a board in the middle. Even if one pulled the books out, one would not see through to the other side, only the board. If the players really climbed up the shelves, they would realize… this hexagonal area was joined to six adjacent hexagonal areas, and beyond these six areas, there were another twelve hexagonal areas, and on and on it went…
From above, the Detective Club looked like a beehive made from bookshelves. Each hexagon surrounded by six shelves was a honeycomb. Then, how big was the Detective Club? In any case, looking from the top of the bookshelves, the end of the 'beehive' could not be seen.
At that moment, not far from the players, there was a giraffe pacing before a bookshelf.
"Hmm… where did I leave the book that I was reading last time?" A pair of glasses sat on the giraffe's nostrils, and it was talking to itself.
"It sure is hard to find you." Suddenly, a low, croaky voice appeared from behind the giraffe.
"Oh… it's you. Such a rare guest I have today." Without turning around, the giraffe knew who the owner of the voice was. The next second, the giraffe started to 'transform'. In three seconds, he first turned into a blob of blurry pixels. Then, the color, shape, and size became more clarified until he turned into a man. The image that it assumed was the Professor Moriarty whom Feng Bujue had met earlier.
"I heard that both the Court of Truth and Master of Time are looking for you and your little friends," the transformed giraffe said. He sounded just like Moriarty. "You wouldn't have come here to hide from them, would you… Billy?"
The puppet Billy looked the same. He wore the small tux, with a bowtie and sat on a small tricycle, and his face… well was still the scary white face. "Of course not. Everyone knows that the Count of Script has always been neutral. Naturally, he will not grant refuge to someone as troublesome as myself."
"Haha…" The Count of Script laughed. "Then why are you here?"
Without any threat in his tone, he asked another threatening question, "Or have you formed an alliance with the Leader of Demons and come to conquer the Detective Club as part of his territory?"
"No matter how cornered I am, I will not surrender myself to that guy," Billy answered. "Becoming one of his people is more dangerous than surrendering myself. I came to ask a favor from you… just a simple favor."
"Interesting," the Count of Script said. "You've come to beg me. This means that this is something that even you can't do, hah… then how could it be a small favor?"
"I just wish for you to release the few travelers from another world from the iron cage," Billy answered.
"Release them?" the Count of Script clarified. "You mean… release them from the Detective Club?"
"Yes," Billy replied.
"It's not that I don't want to, but…" the Count of Script said easily. "If they wish to leave, at least they… have to escape from my brain first."
"Don't worry." Billy always had the same expression. "With 'that guy' there, they will definitely be able to escape."
"Oh? You have a friend among these four travelers?" the Count of Script asked.
"We're not friends, but we've interacted several times, and I owe him a favor," Billy replied. "I know he will be able to escape your mental world, and I also know once he and his partners escape, you will have to make a move… so…"
"So that's why," the Count of Script said. "You wish to use this chance to return him the favor."
At this point, his appearance changed to Sherlock Holmes. The Count of Script continued in a British accent. "Indeed… for me, that is a simple favor. After all, sending away the guests, sending them out, and sending them to their death are all the same, but…"
He smoked at the pipe.
"Why should I listen to your order?" He shrugged. "There is no relationship between us, and you are no threat to me even though I've heard a lot of rumors about your cunning…"
His tone was the same, very light and airy, but the content became more dangerous.
"I can't forgive you trespassing into my territory and ordering me around, but if this is one of your plans to create a misunderstanding between me and the four divinities…"
"If you do not wish to follow my advice," Billy interrupted, "just forget about me being here. Feel free to kill them if you want. Actually, I just dropped by because I was passing by. It's easy to return this favor. I'll have plenty more chances in the future. And honestly… it wouldn't have mattered if I didn't return it."
Billy turned his tricycle around like he was leaving. "Then… sorry for disturbing, good…"
"Wait." The Count of Script called after him. "If that's the case, I have a suggestion."
Billy lifted his head. "Do tell."
"I can help you with this favor," the Count of Script said, tilting his head with a smile. "As long as… you give me some information that interests me. For you, this only requires you to move your lips. You don't even need to move your hands."
"What do you want to know?" Billy said coldly.
"I heard that… recently, you have been getting closer to the Anomalies in the Inner World," the Count of Script said. "Coincidentally enough, one of their members has been around to visit my mental world and took away an SCP project."
After saying that, he shifted appearance again. This time, the Count of Script turned into Little Red Riding Hood. 'Her' voice turned female as well. "I just wish to know… do you know anything about this legendary 'Anomaly Number Zero'?"
