Chapter 41 The Quiz Show (3) p2
Inside the temple…
Wei Yuan was guarding the Sword and Shield Team’s table. His ability was electronic systems control. He could control anything from airplanes to excavators, but it was useless in this technologically backward instance. And since he wasn’t a fighter, he was tasked with guarding their belongings and working on the poetry question.
Xiao Lang was guarding the Lyre Team’s table. The other three had gone to the underground maze. He didn’t want to go down there anyway, so he stayed behind.
Wang Ziwei was guarding the Ruler Team’s table. The newcomer he had been with had died so quickly, making him nervous, so he stayed behind despite the newcomer in his team looking at him with disdain. That newcomer, on her first instance run, acted so arrogant and superior, he didn’t know if she was truly capable or just ignorant.
As the saying goes, three men make a play. Hungry and thirsty, to distract themselves, Xiao Lang and Wang Ziwei started chatting.
But beneath the surface camaraderie, they were both trying to glean information about the other teams. This was a competition. Not only had the Zhao brothers thought about the reward allocation, but so had the others. It was possible the other teams were hiding something, hoping to keep the rewards for themselves.
They tried to include Wei Yuan in their conversation, hoping to get some information out of him. The Zhao brothers seemed too intimidating, but Wei Yuan looked like an easy target, withdrawn and possibly gullible. This was the perfect opportunity.
But Wei Yuan ignored them, lost in his own thoughts. His aloofness annoyed Xiao Lang, who turned away, muttering, “What a stuck-up, effeminate wimp.”
Wang Ziwei leaned closer to Xiao Lang, a lewd grin on his face. “Well, he balances out the masculinity of his team, doesn’t he? They say men and women working together are more efficient. But he chose to team up with those three muscleheads. There were three pretty girls right there… Don’t you think…?”
He made a suggestive gesture with his hands, and they both burst into laughter.
Wei Yuan, focused on his assigned task, showed no reaction.
Disappointed by the lack of a reaction, Wang Ziwei and Xiao Lang lost interest and turned their attention back to what they could do.
Guarding the table meant they couldn’t leave the temple. Despite their friendly banter, they were both wary of each other. So their activities were limited to the temple. They couldn’t go search for materials, only work on the third exam question:
The great goddess descended upon the mortal realm.
On the first day, (…) arrogant (…) bled, paying the price for their pride.
On the second day, (…) malicious (…) were shattered, paying the price for their wickedness.
On the third day, (…) disrespectful (…) were thrown into the fire, paying the price for their insolence.
On the fourth day, (…) foolish (…) prostrated themselves, repenting, offering their loyal souls and hearts.
On the fifth day, the goddess illuminated the darkness, peace descended upon the land, and all beings submitted.
It was a fill-in-the-blank exercise, the same for all four teams.
Wang Ziwei suddenly had a realization. “Is this about the murals?”
Xiao Lang, who had been outside all morning, finally had time to examine the murals. “It is!” he exclaimed.
The goddess’s enemies in the mural corresponded to the descriptions in the poem: snakes shattered, frogs bleeding, owls burned, and humans bowing in submission.
Excited by their discovery, having made no progress all morning, they could finally complete one task.
Xiao Lang thought of the three women in his team and sighed. Tu Wei, with her mask, was silent as a mute, carrying a blade and radiating a chilling aura. Yin Yu, the most beautiful and gentle of the three, was completely uncooperative. And the newcomer, on her first instance run, was as helpful as a headless chicken.
He hadn’t even noticed the murals while he was outside. So obvious, yet none of them had noticed. You couldn’t rely on women for serious matters.
Xiao Lang and Wang Ziwei began counting. The animals in the mural were clearly depicted. Xiao Lang quickly counted the number of frogs, snakes, owls, and humans involved in the battle.
He filled in the blanks, then looked up to see Wang Ziwei filing his nails, his answer sheet blank.
Xiao Lang: “…”
Seeing Xiao Lang looking at him, Wang Ziwei, his expensive perm bouncing slightly, asked, “You’ve already finished?”
Xiao Lang suddenly felt a pang of doubt and regret. “Why aren’t you filling it in?”
Wang Ziwei feigned ignorance. “Filling what in? The answer sheet? I don’t think it’s that simple, so I haven’t written anything yet.”
“You…!” Xiao Lang’s face burned with anger. He jumped up, almost knocking over his chair.
If he hadn’t realized he was being played, he would be a complete idiot.
Wang Ziwei slowly stood up, his joints cracking. He stretched and sneered. “Don’t blame others for your own stupidity. What? Want to fight? I’m waiting!”
Xiao Lang, his eyes bloodshot, lunged at him, his fist raised. Just before hitting Wang Ziwei, he stopped.
He slowly lowered his hand, chuckling coldly. “You’re trying to get me to break the rules, aren’t you? Dream on, you bastard!”
Wang Ziwei, unfazed by the insults, chuckled and sat back down, resuming his nail filing.
…
In the underground maze…
Zhu Ming, Wenren Tu, and Yun Zouchuan stopped in front of a door.
It was a door that couldn’t be broken or climbed over, requiring them to answer a question to proceed.
Looking at the stone display on the door, Wenren Tu felt a headache coming on. So this was the “quiz show” part of the instance. They tried going around it, but every path led to another door with a question.
They chose the door on the leftmost path. It was a relatively simple Sudoku puzzle, a 7×7 grid. Zhu Ming, chewing on her fingernail, slowly filled in the numbers.
Wenren Tu, bored, started counting the tiles on the floor.
The floor was paved with square stone tiles. Her gaze drifted towards the end of the passage, where she saw a half-tile with a partial design on it.
She was about to take a closer look when the door in front of them rumbled upwards, opening.
“Let’s go, Atu.”
Wenren Tu quickly followed, grumbling, “The lighting here is terrible! Purple? Seriously? Who designed this place?”
The purple fluorescent stones, cut with multiple facets, cast beams of light that scattered across the walls and floor, refracting and creating even more beams when they hit other stones.
The chaotic purple light reminded her of some cheap, gaudy nightclub, vulgar and disorienting.
Zhu Ming said, “Mere mortals like us can’t comprehend the gods’ taste.”
They walked further down the passage. Zhu Ming suddenly grabbed Wenren Tu and Yun Zouchuan. “Look!”
To their right was a dead end, but at the end of it, a large, white treasure chest!
So there were items in this maze.
Wenren Tu drew her blade and used it to open the chest, which, thankfully, wasn’t locked. A puff of white smoke erupted. A moment later, they gathered around the chest and looked inside, finding food: coconut juice and sandwiches.
They quickly ate, then turned to leave.
Exiting the dead end, they were about to continue following the left-hand rule when they stopped, staring at the path ahead.
Yun Zouchuan, feeling drowsy after eating, asked, “Boss, wasn’t there a three-way intersection here before?”
Why was there a four-way intersection now?
Zhu Ming: “How would I know? Atu?”
Wenren Tu hesitated. “I don’t know…”
They looked back. The path behind them had also changed.
Although the maze’s layout had shifted for some reason, they couldn’t just stand there. Zhu Ming looked down at the compass symbol on her hand. The arrow had moved slightly.
“Keep going?” Wenren Tu asked.
“Yes,” Zhu Ming said decisively. “Not only has the maze changed, but our position has also shifted. Follow the compass back to the anchor point.”
They followed the compass, Yun Zouchuan trying to leave marks on the walls and floor, but the environment couldn’t be altered. Her attempts failed.
They didn’t know how large this maze was, but so far, they hadn’t encountered any other teams.
Another obstacle appeared: a door with an English reading comprehension question on the display.
Looking at the four similar answer choices, A, B, C, and D, Zhu Ming’s hand trembled. English, her nemesis, her academic nightmare!
She immediately stepped back, pushing Yun Zouchuan forward. “You choose.”
Yun Zouchuan shook her head. “There are too many words I haven’t learned yet.”
“I’ll do it!” Wenren Tu puffed out her chest proudly. “I passed the CET-4 and CET-6 exams!” Although she had likely forgotten everything she learned years ago.
With unwavering confidence, she pressed C.
A second later, beep! The screen turned red, a large “X” appearing on it.
At the same time, they felt the ground tremble. They turned to see sharp spikes emerging from the cracks between the stone tiles on the floor and walls.
“Run!” Zhu Ming grabbed Yun Zouchuan and sprinted back the way they came.
The tiles were large enough for them to step on, but once the spikes from the opposite walls reached the center, they would be trapped! Then Zhu Ming noticed that the tiles on the walls were staggered. How devious!
“Didn’t Atu-jie pass CET-4 and CET-6?” Yun Zouchuan asked, bewildered.
Wenren Tu, running, replied, “Yeah, but I barely passed.” She had figured it was better to just choose an answer quickly instead of wasting time.
The spikes grew longer, their escape route shrinking. Zhu Ming dropped to the ground and slid through the gap at the bottom of the walls.
They narrowly escaped the spike-filled passage. The spikes, having reached the opposite wall, slowly retracted. Everything returned to normal. Zhu Ming raised her hand solemnly. “Let me handle this. You two wait at the intersection.”
She pressed D and slid out again as the spikes emerged.
Next, she pressed A and managed to run out before the spikes could reach her.
Finally, she pressed B, and the door opened with a rumble.
Wenren Tu and Yun Zouchuan looked at Zhu Ming, their expressions a mix of disbelief and resignation. A one in four chance, and she had managed to choose the correct answer last. Her luck was undeniable.
Zhu Ming coughed. “What? I’m not good at English.”
They continued down the passage. Perhaps there was a rule that all treasure chests were located in dead ends, because they soon found another white chest at the end of a short corridor.
Wenren Tu examined it, then flipped open the latch, which was shaped like a golden horse’s head, intricately designed.
“These chests are different,” Zhu Ming observed. “The latch on the previous chest wasn’t like this.”
Wenren Tu: “Let’s open it and see.”
She lifted the lid. A thick cloud of white smoke billowed out, and a powerful force slammed into her, sending her flying backward.
Thud!
Wenren Tu landed hard, wincing. She looked up to see a terrifying stone giant standing in front of the chest.
The giant had emerged from the chest along with the white smoke, instantly growing to its full size. It was this that had sent her and Yun Zouchuan flying. Strange, where was Zhu Ming…?
Wenren Tu looked around, finally looking up at the giant’s massive form.
Zhu Ming was perched on its head, precariously holding onto the ceiling. Her luck, as always, was exceptional. The giant had launched her upwards.
The walls of the maze reached the ceiling, but the space was tall and spacious, at least five meters high.
The stone giant was almost as tall, its head nearly touching the ceiling.
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