Chapter 41 Part 3

On the fifth day, the Goddess illuminated the darkness, peace descended upon the land, and all things submitted.

This was a fill-in-the-blank question, and it was the only one identical for all four groups.

As he stared at it, a flash of inspiration struck Wang Ziwei. “Isn’t this question talking about the mural’s content?”

Xiao Lang had been outside all morning and only now had the chance to properly study the murals. He exclaimed in surprise, “It really is!”

The Great Goddess’s enemies on the mural were exactly four types. Their fates respectively matched the descriptions in the poem blanks: the snake being severed equalled being shattered; the bleeding frog and the burning owl were the most obvious; and the little human figures prostrating before the goddess matched the fourth day in the blank question.

Having discovered the answer to the poem question, the two were momentarily excited. An entire morning with no progress, and finally, they could complete one task.

Xiao Lang thought of the three women in his group and couldn’t help but get a headache. The masked Tu Wei was as silent as a mute, carrying a blade, cold and aloof. The most beautiful and gentle-looking one was Yin Yu, but she was totally unreceptive, impossible to order around. And the newcomer, entering a dungeon for the first time, was like a headless fly—even more useless.

He’d been outside, which was why he hadn’t noticed the murals. They were so obvious, yet not one of those three women spotted it. Really couldn’t rely on women for serious work.

Xiao Lang and Wang Ziwei each began counting. The animals on the mural were drawn clearly. Before long, Xiao Lang had counted the number of fighting frogs, snakes, owls, and humans.

He quickly filled in the blanks. Looking up, he saw Wang Ziwei picking at his nails, the test paper spotless, without a single extra character written on it.

Xiao Lang: “…”

Seeing Xiao Lang staring at him, Wang Ziwei flicked his expensive, permed curls and feigned surprise. “You already finished writing on the paper?”

Xiao Lang suddenly felt a surge of doubt and regret. “Why aren’t you filling it in?”

Wang Ziwei played dumb. “Fill what in? Oh, the test paper? I think this question probably isn’t that simple, so I didn’t write anything.”

“You!” Xiao Lang was furious, shooting to his feet and nearly knocking his chair over.

If he couldn’t see he’d been played now, he was a pure idiot.

Wang Ziwei slowly stood up, his arms and neck cracking audibly. He stretched his joints as he mocked, “Your own stupidity is no one else’s fault. What, wanna fight? Oh, pity, I bet you don’t dare. Come on, hit me if you’ve got the guts!”

Xiao Lang rushed at him, red-eyed, fist raised high. But it stopped just before hitting Wang Ziwei.

Xiao Lang slowly lowered his hand, sneering. “Damn it, you’re trying to provoke me into breaking the rules, aren’t you? Dream on, you bastard!”

If Wang Ziwei cared about such insults, he’d have been dead eight hundred years ago. He scoffed and sat back down, continuing to pick his nails.

…

Underground Labyrinth.

Zhu Ming, Wenren Tu, and Yun Zouchuan stopped in front of a door.

It was a door that couldn’t be destroyed, couldn’t be climbed, and required solving a puzzle to proceed.

Looking at the stone screen on the door, Wenren Tu felt a headache coming on. So this was the dungeon’s “Knowledge Contest” in action. The three had tried to bypass it but found a puzzle-door blocking the path no matter which direction they took.

They still chose the door on the leftmost path. This one was a Sudoku puzzle, relatively simple—a 7×7 grid. Zhu Ming was biting her finger, slowly working through it.

Bored, Wenren Tu started counting the floor tiles beneath her feet.

The floor was paved with square stone slabs. Tracking her gaze, Wenren Tu saw the exit slab of this path was only half a tile, and there seemed to be a symbol on it. Because the slab was only half, the symbol was also only half visible.

She was about to look closer when the door ahead rumbled upwards, opening.

“Let’s go, A-Tu.”

Wenren Tu withdrew her gaze and caught up in a few steps. She complained, “The lighting here is terrible. What kind of taste is this? Gross purple.”

The pinkish-purple fluorescent stones were cut with many facets. The light beams shooting from within scattered chaotically onto the walls and floor. Hitting another fluorescent stone, they refracted into even more beams.

The disorienting, pinkish-purple beams shone everywhere, reminding one of those cheap nightclubs with chaotic dancing—gaudy and murky.

Zhu Ming said, “The goddess’s taste is beyond us mortals.”

The three walked a bit further. Out of the corner of her eye, Zhu Ming spotted something and pulled them to a stop. “Look over there.”

To the right was a dead end. But at the end of that dead end, there was a large, white Treasure Chest!

So there really were items in this underground labyrinth.

Wenren Tu drew her long blade and hooked the chest’s latch. Easily, without needing a key, she flipped the lid open. A puff of white smoke billowed out. After a moment, the three gathered around the chest, looked down, and found some food: coconut water and sandwiches.

They divided and ate the food, then turned to head back.

Exiting the dead end, they prepared to continue forward, sticking to the left-hand rule. But looking at the path ahead, the three simultaneously stopped in their tracks.

Yun Zouchuan was a bit groggy; the post-meal blood sugar spike made her sleepy. “Boss, wasn’t there a three-way intersection up ahead before?”

Why was what should have been a three-way fork now a four-way intersection?

Zhu Ming said, “You’re asking me? Who should I ask? A-Tu, you tell us.”

Wenren Tu hesitated. “I don’t know?”

Looking back, the path behind them had also changed.

Although the labyrinth’s layout had shifted for some unknown reason, the three couldn’t just stand still. Zhu Ming glanced down at the Person Pointer on the back of her hand. Its direction had shifted slightly compared to before.

“Keep going?” Wenren Tu asked.

“Go,” Zhu Ming decided. “It’s not just the paths changing; our position has shifted too. Now, head back in the direction the needle points towards the anchor.”

No one objected. They followed the Person Pointer’s guidance, trying to retrace their steps. A-Zou tried to leave marks on the walls or floor, but the environment couldn’t be altered—her plan failed.

They still had no idea how large this labyrinth was, and so far, they hadn’t encountered members from other groups.

Another roadblock appeared. A door ahead, with an English reading comprehension multiple-choice question on it.

Staring at the four options, A, B, C, and D, which all looked similar, Zhu Ming’s hands trembled. English, the bane of my existence, my lifelong nemesis!

Zhu Ming immediately stepped back, pushing Yun Zouchuan forward. “You choose.”

Yun Zouchuan shook her head. “There are too many words here I haven’t learned yet!”

“I’ll do it!” Wenren Tu puffed out her chest, declaring proudly, “I am a woman who passed CET-4 and CET-6!” Although it had been a few years since graduation, and she’d likely returned most of it to the teacher.

With that, she confidently pressed C.

A second later, ding! The entire screen turned red, a large X appearing on it.

Simultaneously, the three felt a tremor beneath their feet. Turning, they saw spikes drilling out one after another from the gaps in the floor and walls.

“Run!” Zhu Ming grabbed A-Zou and turned to flee.

Luckily, the stone slabs were large, leaving space for footing. But soon, the spikes extending from the left and right walls would meet in the middle, trapping them! It was only then Zhu Ming noticed the wall slabs were staggered, not aligned—absolutely vicious!

“Isn’t Sister A-Tu supposed to have passed CET-6?” Yun Zouchuan asked, bewildered.

Wenren Tu shouted as she ran, “Sorry, forgot to mention, I only beat the pass line by one point back then.”

Anyway, one option had to be chosen. Better to just pick C and save time.

The spikes grew longer and longer. Just as it seemed impossible to avoid them, Zhu Ming dropped straight to the ground and slid out with a whoosh through the narrowest gap at the bottom.

The three narrowly escaped the transformed passage. The spikes, after nearly touching the opposite wall, slowly retracted. All returned to calm. Zhu Ming raised her hand solemnly. “Let me do it this time. You two wait at the intersection.”

So she pressed D, and slid out through the spikes again.

Next time, she pressed A and ran out ahead of the spikes, avoiding being skewered.

Finally, she pressed B, and the door rumbled open.

Wenren Tu and Yun Zouchuan looked at Zhu Ming with complex expressions. A one-in-four chance, and she managed to pick the last one. This kind of luck was truly something else.

Zhu Ming cleared her throat dryly. “What are you looking at? I told you I’m not good at English.”

Continuing forward, whether or not all treasure chests were at dead ends was a rule, they soon found another white chest placed in a dead end.

Wenren Tu looked it over. She flicked open the chest’s clasp with her hand—it had a golden horse head, very finely and beautifully painted.

“These chests are different,” Zhu Ming noted as well. “The clasp on the last chest wasn’t this pattern.”

Wenren Tu said, “We’ll know once we open it.”

With that, she flipped the lid open. A thick plume of white smoke erupted. Suddenly, a tremendous force slammed into her, sending her flying backward uncontrollably.

Thud!

Wenren Tu landed hard, grimacing in pain. Lying on the ground, she focused her vision and saw a terrifying giant made of boulders had appeared before the chest.

The Stone Giant had burst from the white smoke inside the chest, expanding instantly. It was this thing that had sent Wenren Tu and Yun Zouchuan flying. Strange, why only see A-Zou? Where’s Zhu Ming…

Wenren Tu looked left, then right, finally following the Stone Giant’s massive body upward.

There she saw Zhu Ming, riding atop the Giant’s head, awkwardly tilting her head and bracing her hands against the ceiling. Her luck was consistently good—so good she’d been directly pinned to the ceiling by the Giant.

The underground labyrinth’s walls went straight up to the ceiling, but the space was tall and spacious, not cramped, an estimated five meters high.

The Stone Giant was roughly that tall, its head just a short distance from the ceiling.