Chapter 45 Part 2

As for the Harp Group where Yin Yu was, perhaps because they hadn’t managed to snatch soil from Zhu Ming yesterday, their flowerpot was still empty.

Today, Xiao Lang was again the one watching their table. He was frantic with worry but could only patiently wait for his teammates to bring soil back from the secret palace. Since his teammates hadn’t blamed him for haphazardly filling out Question 3, he felt embarrassed to criticize their slowness.

Speaking of which, after parting ways with Yin Yu in the underground maze yesterday, Zhu Ming hadn’t seen her again. She didn’t know if the woman was even still alive.

As for the Ruler Group, the person watching the table today was the newcomer, Sun Ningning. She was slumped over the table, yawning. “Hey.”

Zhu Ming was propping her chin on her hand, staring blankly at the small Six-Armed Goddess Statue inside the temple.

“Hey!”

Zhu Ming was pondering. The thing that had invaded the dormitory last night must have been the Six-Armed Goddess Statue. Wenren Tu had told everyone to close their eyes based on the warning “Do not look upon that which is Blasphemy.” Her judgment was correct; the Six-Armed Goddess at night was “Blasphemy.”

Why could they look upon her during the day but not at night? She had touched its arms, waist, dress, and accidentally kicked the stone pedestal. According to her estimated size, it should have been the same as this Six-Armed Goddess statue—both quite normal.

Could the difference be in the face?

She suspected that last night, she’d accidentally touched the statue’s face, which had caused it to retreat.

If worse came to worst, if it appeared again tonight, she’d just carefully feel it out and see if there really was a difference.

“Hey, are you listening?”

With a slap, Sun Ningning leaned onto the Moon Group’s exam table, bracing herself on her elbows, and waved a hand in front of Zhu Ming’s face.

Zhu Ming came back to her senses. “What’s up?”

Sun Ningning pointed toward the Six-Armed Goddess Statue. “Are you hungry? Why do you keep staring at her? You want to eat those things?”

Zhu Ming was indeed hungry, but she was staring blankly at the Six-Armed Goddess, not because she wanted to eat the fruits and melons at her feet… The pile of fruits and melons was neatly stacked around the deity statue. Aside from being a bit shriveled from dehydration, they were no different from yesterday.

Zhu Ming realized something and suddenly asked, “Did you guys run into anything strange last night?”

Xiao Lang, bored out of his mind, quickly leaned in. “Aside from the blue light outside the door, there wasn’t anything. Why? Did your group run into something?”

Zhu Ming said, “Sounds like our group was just the unluckier one.”

Sun Ningning smiled mysteriously and said, “Actually, our group ran into something too. This intel can save lives. Want to know? Trade me something for it.”

Xiao Lang: “…” So stingy.

He looked toward Wei Yuan. “What about the Sword and Shield Group?”

Wei Yuan shook his head.

Zhu Ming looked at the pile of flowers and fruit in front of the statue’s feet. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly walked over, crouched beside the statue, and started rummaging through it.

The few left guarding the surface were all starving, but no one dared risk eating those fruits.

Xiao Lang considered himself pretty impulsive, but it seemed Zhu Ming was even crazier with hunger. “Whoa, you’re choosing food over your life?”

But after rummaging a bit, Zhu Ming didn’t pick up any fruit to eat. Instead, she fished out something from within the pile.

It was a thin stone fragment, square, slightly larger than a palm, polished smooth but not entirely flat, bearing a slight curve.

The moment they saw Zhu Ming pull out this strange object, the others immediately dropped their schadenfreude and crowded around.

Zhu Ming touched the base of the Six-Armed Goddess Statue; it was mortared firmly to the ground. She frowned. “It wasn’t this Six-Armed Goddess Statue last night.”

If it had been this statue moving, the fruit pile at her feet couldn’t possibly still be neatly stacked. Even if she’d casually restacked it herself, every detail wouldn’t be identical.

Among those present, only Sun Ningning, whose dormitory had also encountered the same strange event, understood what she meant. “Huh? Not this one? Then could it be the one outside?”

Of course, that was impossible. The giant Six-Armed Goddess outside was far too tall to even fit inside the temple.

A third Goddess Statue. There was a third Goddess Statue hidden here.

Sun Ningning lowered her eyelids. Something suddenly occurred to her, but she said nothing.

Seeing these two women speaking in riddles, Xiao Lang grew anxious. “What are you two whispering about secretly? Can’t you explain it clearly?”

Zhu Ming sneered and said, “It’s nothing major. Last night, a Six-Armed Goddess Statue broke into our dormitory. But it wasn’t one of the two we’ve seen—it was a third one that hasn’t been discovered.”

Sun Ningning sighed inwardly at Zhu Ming. Did this woman have any brains at all? Spilling such crucial intel outright? What a saint. Boring.

Xiao Lang was startled. “Someone got hurt?”

Today, some people went straight from the dormitory corridors into the underground maze, so the numbers present in the temple weren’t complete. Each group had an information gap.

Luckily, Zhu Ming shook her head. “As long as you keep your eyes closed, nothing happens. It corresponds to the examiner’s third warning.”

Examiner Crowcrow had given three warnings total and, with malicious delight, offered one private tip. The invitation letter said to listen to the examiner, proving that at least the examiner wouldn’t lie.

This intelligence was valuable.

For a moment, the four people present were each lost in their own thoughts. Xiao Lang wanted to dig for more intel. “The statue came into your dorm and didn’t do anything else?”

Zhu Ming had already picked up that stone fragment and began studying the characters on it. She said blandly, “Experience it for yourself tonight.”

Xiao Lang then looked to Wei Yuan, trying to gain support from someone in a similar situation. But Wei Yuan was always withdrawn and didn’t like talking to people. With no choice, Xiao Lang dropped his questioning and went over to study the stone fragment as well.

Zhu Ming had no intention of keeping the stone fragment to herself. To her, the concept of a “competition” emphasized by this dungeon wasn’t that important. Sometimes, seeing through a dungeon’s nature revealed the truth: everything was just a trick by the ghosts and spirits.

Whoever tried to harm her, she’d fight. As long as the other Participants weren’t deliberately trying to hurt anyone, she wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Some words were inscribed on the stone fragment, all in simplified Chinese characters—no difficulty deciphering them.

“Praise be to the Great Goddess. Since your descent into this world, you have treated your faithful Believers with tolerance and mercy, letting the moonlight dispel the evil of the night. To express our gratitude for your benevolence and compassion, we, your Believers, wish to offer you a gentle pet, a beautiful deity statue, a magnificent palace, and a sharp war blade. You, taking pity on our hard work, specifically shrank the offerings and imbued four tools with divine power. To test our wisdom, you buried the tools in four places. You said, when the sun rises…”

And then it ended.

Sun Ningning was somewhat disappointed. “What’s this? A load of sycophantic rubbish, but it doesn’t say where the four tools are buried.”

The gentle pet, beautiful deity statue, magnificent palace, and sharp war blade had shrunk to correspond to the four handicrafts each group needed to complete: the Sword and Shield Group’s Needle-Felted Doll, the Harp Group’s Small Crystal Idol, the Ruler Group’s Golden Temple Model, and the Moon Group’s Dagger.

If the materials each group needed for their handicrafts could be found in the underground maze, then this stone fragment told them that the auxiliary tools for completing the handicrafts were above ground.

It just still didn’t say where the tools were. The riddle remained.

Xiao Lang crouched down and began rummaging through the fruit piles in other spots. Unfortunately, no matter where he searched, he found nothing else. He was so frustrated he nearly kicked the statue’s pedestal. But in the last second before his foot connected, his reason returned, and he spun awkwardly, sprawling out in a clumsy pratfall instead, dodging the collision.

Sun Ningning couldn’t help but laugh twice. “You’re hilarious, friend. Good thing you’re not in our group.”

Although the Ruler Group had lost a newcomer, the remaining Bai Lianxue and Wang Ziwei were both quite clever. Sun Ningning lacked experience, but her supernatural ability was strong. Now that the deadweight was gone, Sun Ningning actually felt even better about it.

Ever since Wang Ziwei had tricked him, Xiao Lang had zero goodwill toward the Ruler Group. Fighting was prohibited inside the temple, so he darkly picked himself up and pretended not to hear.

FML. Just wait. He’d make them pay sooner or later.

.

Zhu Ming held the stone fragment up and compared it, confirming it was the same material as the Six-Armed Goddess Statue.

Aside from the engraved side, the stone was very smooth. Where had it come from? It likely wasn’t an offering, because the spot where Zhu Ming had dug it up wasn’t pressed tightly against the floor or the base, nor was it neatly arranged. It seemed simply, unintentionally mixed into the pile of fruit.

Wei Yuan, who had been listening to others discuss while remaining silent, shifted his chair. He walked to the side of the statue and looked up. “Could it be that?”

Following his gaze, Zhu Ming looked up and saw the book held high in one of the Six-Armed Goddess’s hands. The book’s position was directly above where she’d found the stone fragment!

Sun Ningning exclaimed “Wow” and complimented, “Didn’t expect you to be so observant.”

When others insulted him, Wei Yuan showed little reaction. When others complimented him, Wei Yuan still showed little reaction, as if others’ opinions held no importance to him whatsoever. He just indifferently said “Mm” and added, “The fragment’s size is quite close to that book.”

Indeed. The moment she saw the book, Zhu Ming knew why the stone fragment had that slight curve to it—because it had been carved as a page of that book.

At this moment, the book held in the Six-Armed Goddess’s hand was open. This meant they might very well find the continuation of the fragment’s text on it.

Zhu Ming dragged over the exam table and chairs, stacked them, and climbed up to look at the book held in the Goddess’s hands.

“… rises, the Sword and Shield shall provide guidance. When the sun reaches its peak, the Harp shall provide guidance. When the sun sets, the Ruler shall provide guidance. When darkness falls, the Moon shall provide guidance. Your wisdom coalesces upon the chessboard, spreading across the land. You are invincible and unstoppable. We wish to bathe in your radiance, learn from your wisdom, and offer ourselves for your war.”

Zhu Ming read it aloud once and jumped down.

Sun Ningning asked incredulously, “That’s it?”

Zhu Ming began dragging the table and chairs back. “That’s it. Climb up and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”