Chapter 55

Wei Yuan calmly nodded, adjusted his glasses, and said, “You two hold the offerings and stand here, face the goddess, and close your eyes.”

Treating a dead horse as if it were alive, Second Brother Zhao and Third Brother Zhao couldn’t think that far ahead and hurriedly complied.

So, as they held the three offerings, faced the black hole, and stood with eyes closed, Wei Yuan reached out and pushed forward fiercely.

Caught off guard, they were pushed into the black hole one after another!

Silence fell for a moment.

Everyone was stunned by Wei Yuan’s actions, including Examiner Crowcrow. Wei Yuan showed no sign of struggle or difficulty. He looked up at Examiner Crowcrow and said, “I wish to sacrifice them to express my devotion to the god.”

Examiner Crowcrow was silent for an instant, then burst into maniacal laughter.

Its rough, grating voice echoed through the air: “Caw caw caw, good, very good! You are the most devout believer here! The god will surely reward you greatly, for what the god loves most are devout believers, caw!”

He didn’t even need to say it; everyone could see it for themselves. The black hole before the Sword and Shield Group erupted with the most intense and rich light. That light shone upon Wei Yuan, making his thin, short figure seem sturdy and tall.

Zhu Ming cursed, “That’s ruthless, damn it. He actually did it!”

Rule One: The god loves devout believers the most, followed by vanilla, wealth, and praise. The more the offerings demonstrate sincerity, the more the god will bless the believer.

Since the last three things the god loved could be used as offerings, naturally, the god’s most beloved thing—believers—could also serve as offerings. Therefore, the prohibition against “fighting” was actually also a prohibition against participants destroying the “offerings.”

The rule had a double meaning. It only depended on whether the participants were ruthless enough and insightful enough to see through it.

Just then, Xiao Lang had a flash of inspiration: “I want to sacrifice the members of the Moon Group and the Ruler Group to the goddess!”

Examiner Crowcrow gave a spiritual eye-roll of its black eye, flew above Xiao Lang’s head, flicked its tail feathers, raised its rear, and expertly dropped a load of bird poop onto his head.

“Idiot, idiot! You can only sacrifice members of your own group with your own hands, idiot!”

Xiao Lang: “…”

He looked back resentfully. The newbie of his group shrank behind Tu Wei, who was gripping a knife, while Yin Yu remained as composed as ever. Fine, Xiao Lang promptly abandoned any thought of imitating Wei Yuan.

At that moment, everyone’s thoughts were varied. With Wei Yuan’s move, the hidden malice within the game directed at the participants was completely unveiled.

Besides Xiao Lang, there was one other person present who expressed their opinion on the matter. Only, she did so not with words, but directly with action.

Sun Ningning suddenly showed a strange expression. As if drunk, she staggered around Bai Lianxue and plunged headfirst into the black hole in front of the Ruler Group.

Everyone was shocked.

What noble self-sacrificing spirit! Truly touching.

But Zhu Ming wasn’t touched at all. She still hadn’t gotten the intel she had threatened Sun Ningning for!

Seeing that everyone was at a standstill, making no further moves, Examiner Crowcrow said regretfully, “It seems no one else wishes to continue sacrificing themselves. Very well then, the final results will now be revealed, caw!”

In an instant, four beams of light shot out from the four black holes. The radiance enveloped everyone, gradually forming a layer of outer garments.

The most eye-catching was undoubtedly Wei Yuan. His attire was magnificent: a red cape with fur trim, a crown encrusted with jewels, a thick, long scepter in his hand. The whole person had transformed from a pheasant into a phoenix, appearing instantly noble and elevated.

Next in rank was Bai Lianxue, whose outfit was also splendid and seemed to match Wei Yuan’s, looking like a king and queen set.

A tier below were the four members of the Moon Group, clad in shining, polished fine steel armor, wielding large blades. Though not as ornate as the first two, they still possessed a commanding and majestic presence.

The worst was the Harp Group. The four of them wore tattered leather armor and didn’t even have a weapon.

It was ironic, really. The Moon Group and Harp Group, with all members alive and decent test scores, ended up at the very bottom. Meanwhile, the Sword and Shield Group, with the worst score, leaped to first place. Proof that spending money might not change your fate, but sacrificing lives certainly grants you divine luck.

The towering, majestic goddess gazed down slightly, her eyes seemingly filled with compassion for all living beings. If one hadn’t witnessed it firsthand, who could believe she could harvest her believers’ lives without the slightest hesitation?

The final results were out. Examiner Crowcrow flew onto one of the goddess’s hands, cawing as it announced the last exam: “All examinees, please prepare yourselves! The final exam is about to begin! Caw! Announcing the topic now: Everyone, please work together to complete a war! Exam location: Underground Labyrinth. Exam duration: four hours. Now! Immediately! Begin, caw!”

As the last word fell, a sudden tremor swept across the land. Involuntarily, everyone looked into the distance. From all directions, a raging storm rose simultaneously, sweeping up the sky-full of yellow sand, bearing down on the center of the oasis with the force of destroying everything in its path. The sandstorm rapidly devoured the edges of the oasis; grass, trees, everything was thrown into chaos, and in the blink of an eye, it was surging towards the center.

Zhu Ming grabbed Yun Zouchuan and turned to run. “To the labyrinth!”

One after another, everyone sprinted with all their might towards their respective dormitories. The moment they charged into the underground passage, a series of deafening roars came from above. Even the majestic temple collapsed under the might of the sandstorm.

Standing at the entrance of the Underground Labyrinth, the four members of the Moon Group didn’t enter immediately. They first set up the Person Pointer on their hands. Then, the others briefed Deng Yan, who had never entered the labyrinth before.

“There are two types of monsters in the labyrinth. One is the Stone Monster that comes out of Treasure Chests. If it has a gem embedded, covering the gem will make it stop moving.”

“The other type is invisible. It’s extremely dangerous. You have to identify its position by sound. You absolutely must avoid it and cannot be in the same straight Corridor with it.”

Zhu Ming added, “This type of monster makes a ‘scccch’ sound. They are related to chess, so they likely move in a leaping manner. If you accidentally get cornered, check if there’s a Pitfall Trap nearby. Jumping into one lets you hide.”

Wenren Tu looked at her. “How do you know it’s related to chess?”

Zhu Ming replied, “I didn’t come back that night. I also saw one, somewhat different from what you described. Connecting it to the different movement patterns of chess pieces, it fits.”

“Oh—you didn’t come back.” Wenren Tu finally found the time to ask, “What the hell were you doing, anyway?”

At this, Zhu Ming’s face couldn’t help but turn green. “Nothing much. Just learning to play chess.” But having only studied for just that one night, Zhu Ming was no chess prodigy. Her skill could only be described as slightly less than utterly terrible.

Therefore, the plan she and Yin Yu had would have to proceed as originally intended, with the chess pieces remaining with Yin Yu.

Wenren Tu didn’t understand. “What? You were playing chess with Yin Yu?”

Chess is also known as International Chess.

Zhu Ming gazed sorrowfully into the distance. “Nothing. I explored the entire labyrinth and discovered that after the lights go out, those Treasure Chests can no longer be opened, and those strange sounds cease. The game mechanics here shut down. But taking advantage of this, Yin Yu and I found a special place. During the day, the labyrinth constantly shifts, making it hard to reach, but it was much easier to find at night.”

“What place?”

“Where you play chess.”

Wenren Tu was about to ask for more details when Yun Zouchuan suddenly twitched her ear and said, “We need to go. Something is approaching!”

The four didn’t dare to linger and hurriedly charged forward. Being trapped at the entrance would be too miserable. Entering the maze would give them more route options.

…

Scccch—

The four ran forward, clad in their armor, the Invisible Monster in relentless pursuit.

They had no choice; they couldn’t beat it.

“I’ve noticed a problem,” Wenren Tu said, panting as she ran. “Why did that monster earlier bump into us and act like it didn’t see us, but this one is so persistent?”

“This is what they call ‘God’s Favor’,” Zhu Ming patted her silver armor. “Clearly, our level of Favor isn’t high enough.”

Based on their different scores, God’s Favor was divided into four tiers, granted to the four groups. And this subtly influenced everyone’s combat prowess.

Judging by their clothing colors, the participants could be classified as the White Chess Team. The invisible monsters belonged to the Black Chess Team. It was highly likely that both teams had four tiers of chess pieces. Lower-tier pieces couldn’t challenge higher-tier ones, so they were ignored. Higher-tier pieces could instantly annihilate lower-tier ones, hence the chase. Pieces of the same tier would have to engage in a real strength-based PK to determine the winner.

At the same time, with the commencement of the fourth exam, some rules had changed. For instance, the Black Chess pieces charged at the examinees slightly slower, but they were no longer limited by the rule of moving only once every five minutes. They could chase the examinees continuously now!

Truly a cause for celebration, enough to move one to tears.

“Over here!” Wenren Tu shouted, then added, “The problem is, we can’t see a thing. Are we supposed to just run for our lives for ten hours?”

Zhu Ming said unhurriedly, “That depends on whether Yin Yu is fast enough.”

“Stop keeping us in suspense.” Wenren Tu grabbed Zhu Ming’s ear and roared, “What exactly do you know? Spill it!”

After rescuing her ear, Zhu Ming finally said, “Yin Yu will go to the very back of the labyrinth, the Black Chess headquarters. But before that, we need to stay alive!”

“Don’t open any Treasure Chests,” Zhu Ming cautioned. “Wait until Yin Yu gets in first. If we encounter a Pitfall Trap, we can hide inside.”

Yun Zouchuan obediently said, “Okay, Boss, but there seems to be another monster coming up ahead.”

On the fifth day within the Underground Labyrinth, the number of Black Chess monsters had surged drastically. Zhu Ming had a hunch that their total number was 16, matching the number of Black Chess pieces.

Originally, there were sixteen participants. Now, only ten remained. With sixteen Black Chess pieces, the enemy side had six extra pieces to flank and surround the participants.

Zhu Ming silently prayed that the monster ahead was the lowest-tier pawn.

But it seemed… not.

“A-Zou, take A-Tu. One, two… three!”

The moment she spoke, Zhu Ming grabbed Deng Yan, pulled her close, leaped high to the left off the stone wall. Simultaneously, Yun Zouchuan, carrying Wenren Tu, jumped to the right.

Bang! Two Invisible Monsters collided head-on.

A moment of silence, then two overlapping bizarre sounds chased after the four of them.

Wenren Tu was on the verge of tears. “Why don’t we just split up? Open a chest to gamble on a pit trap, jump in, and wait it out.”

Zhu Ming gave a hollow laugh. “With our luck, I’m afraid we’d just open chest after chest and only get a bunch of monsters.”

Running it was, then.

…

At the very back of the entire labyrinth was an extraordinarily quiet place.

Unlike other areas, here stood a room walled off from the rest, with only one, very well-hidden, entrance.

Inside this secret chamber was a table. The Six-Armed Goddess, carved from stone, sat on one side. One hand held a chess manual, one hand supported the Blood-Red Moon, and the other four hands were either holding a chess piece, propping a chin, or covering her face, leaving only a pair of eyes visible.

Though not a living being, the goddess statue was carved with incredible attention to detail. She furrowed her brow slightly, gazing at the chessboard with only half the black pieces, as if deeply troubled that no one was there to play against her.

Tap tap tap…

A crisp set of footsteps approached. The woman in the tattered leather armor and pale grayish-white qipao stepped unhurriedly into the secluded secret chamber.

The statue’s lifeless eyes suddenly seemed to move.

Yin Yu lifted her skirt and sat down across from the goddess with composure, her expression calm, as if the one facing her wasn’t the dungeon’s ultimate boss, but just an ordinary woman.

With a flick of her wrist, Yin Yu revealed a box of White Chess Pieces.

As she began placing the pieces in their starting positions, she said, “I originally wanted Mingming to come herself. But she told me that giving me the pieces at the very beginning was a sign of trust in me and insisted I promise not to betray it. I really can’t do anything about her. Ever since she discovered I want her alive, she’s become bolder and bolder. Indeed, pushing too hard isn’t good, trying to help seedlings grow by pulling them up harms them. Don’t you agree, old friend?”

As the last word fell, one white chess piece left its original position and arrived at another.

A barely perceptible change seemed to flicker at the corner of the stone-carved lips. Klack. The Six-Armed Goddess placed a black piece.