Chapter 47 Part 1

By the time Wenren Tu and Yun Zouchuan emerged from the maze, the sky was already half-dark. They handed the food over to Deng Yan and Zhu Ming, who had been starving all day. The two devoured it ravenously, too busy eating to speak.

The other groups had also gradually brought their items back to their respective dormitories.

Inside the Ruler Group’s dormitory, Bai Lianxue was currently transferring the fresh soil unboxed that day into the flower pot. Sun Ningning crouched beside her, saying, “Our group has fallen a bit behind. This vanilla is growing terribly. The Moon Group’s plant is growing insanely fast—lush and vigorous, like it’s been dosed with Jinkela [T/N: A famous Chinese meme brand of fertilizer].”

Bai Lianxue wasn’t anxious. “It should get better after changing the soil.”

Sun Ningning smiled mysteriously. “Of course. Even if the vanilla grows a little slower, it’s not a big deal. I’ve already found the tools needed for the crafting challenge.”

She recounted the contents of the stone book and asked Bai Lianxue, “Do you think I missed anything?”

Bai Lianxue thought for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t see any omissions yet.”

In Sun Ningning’s mind, Bai Lianxue was always the smartest one. If she thought it was fine, then it was definitely fine.

“By the way.” Bai Lianxue suddenly remembered something. “Did you ask the other groups about the nocturnal ghost and monster sightings?”

Sun Ningning replied, “I did. Only the Moon Group encountered anything. Neither of the other two groups ran into it, and they have no idea that thing comes from the underground palace.”

She then flashed a cunning grin. “Maybe they’ll find out tonight.”

“You didn’t tell them?” Bai Lianxue asked while watering the flower pot.

“Of course, I’m not stupid enough to share that with others.” Sun Ningning spread her hands. “The fewer competitors, the better. What do you think?”

Bai Lianxue smiled but didn’t answer. Wang Ziwei, however, strongly agreed with her view.

“Indeed. The fewer competitors, the better. If God’s Favor is distributed per capita, then the smaller the other groups’ numbers, the more advantageous it is for us.”

…

Inside the temple, Zhu Ming swallowed her last bite of bread but still refused to leave.

“The stone book says when darkness falls, the Moon will give guidance. The other three groups have all found their crafting challenge tools. We’re the only ones left.” Zhu Ming sat on an exam table, gripping her small shovel, utterly resolute.

“When darkness falls, the Six-Armed Goddess Statue is still there.” Wenren Tu looked at her helplessly. “How are you supposed to dig with your eyes closed?”

Zhu Ming shook her head. “The thing last night wasn’t this Six-Armed Goddess Statue. Anyway, you guys head back first. Maybe there will be a different hint here at night.”

It was known that there were three Six-Armed Goddess Statues. It definitely wasn’t the one furthest outside, nor the one inside the temple. Didn’t that mean…

Wenren Tu said in surprise, “The one in the maze really is a Six-Armed Goddess Statue? No, wait. I was cornered by that invisible thing today. For a split second, I saw its form. Now that I think about it, though my vision was blurry, that thing’s appearance was vastly different from the Six-Armed Goddess. It couldn’t possibly be her. And we ran into two at the same time. Unless I hallucinated, I don’t think I saw wrong.”

Zhu Ming thought for a moment. “Just how many of those monsters are in the underground palace? The Six-Armed Goddess is still a goddess, after all. They shouldn’t be mass-produced… It’s dark.”

Yun Zouchuan and Deng Yan stayed behind to guard the dormitory. Wenren Tu insisted on staying in the temple with Zhu Ming.

Now, the empty, desolate temple held only the two of them. The moment the sky completely darkened, a dot of beautiful, dreamy blue fluorescence lit up before their eyes.

They instinctively fell silent and stared at the Six-Armed Goddess Statue, their gazes filled with awe.

The beautiful, graceful goddess held aloft a moon. At the moment darkness encroached, a brilliant blue glow burst from the center of the moon from within—like a glacier, like the ocean, gentle and embracing, romantic and beautiful.

Bathed in the moonlight, the goddess inclined her head slightly. Her stone eyes gazed down with benevolent mercy upon all. Compared to her solemn dignity in the daylight, she now possessed a touch more ethereal beauty and lifelike spirit.

If not for her completely motionless body, one might have thought she had come alive.

“It really isn’t her.”

Zhu Ming clutched her little shovel. “Let’s hurry and dig before that goddess shows up.”

The moon in the hands of the goddess inside the temple radiated a clear, blue luminescence, quietly beautiful. But what guided the Moon Group to dig for their tool was actually the giant divine statue outside.

When darkness fell, the moon in the hands of the giant statue projected a brilliant blue beam of light into the distance. Zhu Ming and Wenren Tu ran in the direction of the light, discovering its landing point was atop a sand dune.

They grunted and dug with all their might, finally unearthing the object. It was a small hammer, meant for tempering a dagger.

“This is it? This is it? This is it?” Wenren Tu brushed the dust off the little hammer with disgust. “Coming out in the middle of the night just to dig up this thing? What a rip-off.”

Zhu Ming slowly closed her eyes. “Not a rip-off. While we’re digging things up, there are others keeping us company. Sounds pretty good.”

Scrape—

Wenren Tu shuddered and immediately shut her eyes, clutching the hammer.

“A-Tu, catch the shovel.”

Unable to see Zhu Ming, Wenren Tu reached out and fumbled to take the shovel. “What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing much. I just want to do something disrespectful regarding the Blasphemy rule. Two negatives make a positive, right? Shouldn’t count as a rule violation.”

Wenren Tu thought it over carefully. That actually made perfect sense.

But she still didn’t know what Zhu Ming was planning, and she dared not open her eyes. All she heard a moment later was a thud as something fell to the ground, followed by the familiar scraping sound, neither too close nor too far.

Zhu Ming spat out the sand in her mouth. “Pft, pft. So inconvenient not being able to see.”

Wenren Tu asked weakly, “What exactly did you do?”

Zhu Ming replied, “I just touched her a little. Last night when she barged into the washroom while I was bathing, I found out that as long as I don’t open my eyes, touching her doesn’t trigger anything.”

Wenren Tu sharply sucked in a breath of cold air. This was a bit hard to accept. She held it in for a long time before finally saying, “I’d rather you choose Yin Yu.”

Look at how desperate she was, even doing that with a stone statue. She’d scared the goddess away.

Zhu Ming: “…What nonsense are you imagining?!”

However, the two couldn’t confirm where the Six-Armed Goddess Statue was now. The sound of her movement was very light; once she moved far away, they could no longer hear her. And this was the open wilderness. Opening their eyes carelessly might mean seeing the goddess in the distance.

With no other choice, the two could only continue waiting.

…

Inside the temple, within the Harp Group’s dormitory.

Dreamlike blue fluorescence filtered through the frosted glass door. Xiao Lang tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He was so anxious that blisters formed around his mouth, because no matter what he said, the two veterans in his group barely reacted.

“Monsters come out at night! You can’t look at them with your eyes! Did you even hear me?!” Xiao Lang couldn’t help but ask.

A moment later, Yin Yu, who had been standing by the window enjoying the breeze, slowly turned her head, looking somewhat surprised. “Are you talking to me?”

Xiao Lang: “…” Who else? You’re the only one here.

Xiao Lang swallowed his frustration and said, “Could you please close the window?”

Yin Yu nodded and said, “Alright.”

She closed the window, then turned around, opened the door, and walked out. Xiao Lang was dumbfounded. He immediately turned to the group’s only other newcomer and asked, “Did I piss her off so much she left?”

The newcomer was named Zhang Xiaoya. She was somewhat introverted and had been following Yin Yu around for the past two days.

Zhang Xiaoya shook her head and said quietly, “I don’t think Sister Yu is the type to get angry easily. It’s probably something else.”

The other person in the dorm was the masked Tu Wei. In the past few days, Xiao Lang hadn’t heard her say a single word. He suspected she was mute. At this moment, Xiao Lang didn’t even consider trying to communicate with Tu Wei. He only asked Zhang Xiaoya, “Can you do crafting work?”

Zhang Xiaoya looked troubled. “I only know how to do ordinary crafts. I’ve never tried carving anything.”

Their group’s crafting challenge was to carve a crystal deity statue. Xiao Lang had found the carving knife. Yin Yu and the others had found crystals of different colors. They could already begin the work.

But the skill of carving had a somewhat high entry barrier; few ordinary people dabbled in it.

Xiao Lang could only sigh. “Looks like I’ll have to do it. After all, I’m a guy; I’ve got more strength.”

He could only grudgingly continue staying on the surface.

…

Inside the Sword and Shield Group dormitory.

“Wei Yuan, what’s wrong with you? You even missed an item while digging!” Boss Zhao grew angrier the more he thought about it. “We worked our asses off unboxing chests underground, and what did you do topside? Can’t do anything right. Tell me, what use are you?”

Wei Yuan remained silent.

Third Brother Zhao tried to smooth things over. “Forget it, forget it, Big Brother. He didn’t do it on purpose. It’s those other sneaky groups.”

The Sword and Shield Group had been guided to two tools. Wei Yuan found the tool guided by the sword first. When he went to dig up the tool guided by the shield, however, he couldn’t find it anywhere.

It was then that Wei Yuan suddenly noticed the state of the turf nearby was off. Someone had gotten there ahead of him and dug up the item first.

Boss Zhao snorted coldly. “Now look. We don’t even know who stole it.”

Everyone who had been on the surface during the day was a suspect: Zhu Ming, Sun Ningning, and Xiao Lang.

Second Brother Zhao rubbed his hands together, indignant. “It definitely had to be Xiao Lang. Didn’t Wei Yuan say he ignored him? Xiao Lang must be holding a grudge, so he deliberately sabotaged us.”

“I don’t think it’s him.” Third Brother Zhao pondered. “Xiao Lang doesn’t seem like the type to have the brains for this. I’m more suspicious of the other two groups…”

The four men discussed it for a while but reached no conclusion. Third Brother Zhao looked up and consoled everyone. “It’s no big deal. We’ve already found some materials. Even if we’re missing the needle, we can substitute it with wood splinters. As for the Moon Group… heh heh.”