Chapter 543: Island of Devil’s Maw (48)

Translator: Lonelytree

“That was the belief that I have used to survive in the illusion from the Origin of Horror.” Feng Bujue continued to explain, “This is called ‘reverse psychology’.” He then laughed, “But then perhaps the situation got a bit ‘out of control’ and that was the reason why the Heart of Terror would say something like that.

“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough, there is no need for you to continue.” Pegasus turned his head around.

“I too have lost my interest…” Ambitionist concurred. He was feeling quite helpless. Every time he paired up with Brother Jue, his sanity (a value in the Cthulhu Mythos table top game, it represents sanity or mental stability) would divebomb…

Therefore, Brother Jue had once again successfully swindled his teammates… and then, he casually switched the topic and continued to lead his teammates forward. This time, the players were not wandering aimlessly anymore because before the Heart of Terror died, it had given them the direction to the Cage of Despair.

Actually… there were directions in the path within this crystalline maze and the trick was hidden on the surrounding crystalline columns. The Heart of Terror did not completely reveal to the players the secret, it only told them one of them; whenever they came across a split (where two or more paths were available), they only needed to stand at the centre of the any two paths and calculate the distance between the top tip of the right crystal column on the left and the crystal column on the right, as well as the angle formed between this aforementioned line and the ground, if the value of these two numbers is within a certain range, then it proved that they were on the right path.

Using this method, even if the road split into more than 5 paths, it did not matter as long as they could try it at every 2 paths. Feng Bujue, Pegasus and Ambitionist followed this method and continued to push forward. Initially they were making great time and everything was successful but after some time, the splits became more numerous and more and more crystalline columns appeared, this made it so that their progress started to slow down. Of course this was to be expected because the closer they got to the centre of the maze, the path that fitted the required condition would lessen. The centre of the maze had many dead ends and they were used to mislead outsiders. To put a long story short, this journey took more than 4 hours…

During this period, Feng Bujue’s group had stopped another time to replenish their hunger and ran into several monsters. Naturally battle could not be avoided, every one of them had paid some price but thankfully there was no serious injury and finally at the fifth hour…

“I say… This path appears to be incredibly long.” Feng Bujue who walked at the front commented. Along the way, it was still Feng Bujue who led the way. Leading in the darkness, he indeed had many different advantages that eluded the others.

“Even I have to suspect whether we have gone on the right path or not…” Pegasus said rather tiredly. Obviously after a long trekking, various scary events that occurred without reasons and many difficult and taxing battles, Pegasus’ morale had dropped to its very bottom.

“Is it possible that the Heart of Terror has lied to us?” Ambitionist said darkly, “Perhaps it has purposely given us a wrong system to follow and for us to go in circle?”

…

“We are not moving in circle.” Feng Bujue relied. He sounds calm and very confident. To confirm his statement, he asked, “Along the way… have you guys seen any repeated objects or scenery?”

“In my mind… I don’t think so.” Ambitionist replied.

Pegasus also said, “not me either…”

Feng Bujue did not really need their answer because he remembered it very clearly. “I have constructed a map in my mind, if I am not mistaken… after killing the Heart of Terror, the route that we have taken is basically a spiral.” He raised his hand to mimic a spiral motion in the air. “We are heading towards the ‘centre’ of the maze, and… we are getting very close to it already.”

Brother Jue’s words always had the ability to sound convincing. Even though he could not provide any evidence to support his statement, just the sentence, ‘I have constructed a map in my mind’ was enough for his teammates to believe in him. Even the brilliant strategist Ambitionist could not help but admit that Feng Bujue had this kind of personal charm… he radiated this air of reliance especially when the team was caught in a conundrum.

“Hah… look.” Before Brother Jue finished the earlier sentence, the flashlight he was holding caught something, “Sometimes when you put the thought into the world, it do come true, the philosophy of positive reinforcement.”

When they heard that, both Pegasus and Ambitionist turned to look forward and they saw… the crystal ground had been paving the ground suddenly ended. The three walked for another 10 metres before they reached the end of the road. The thing that appeared before them… was a large hole about several 10 metres in diameter, it was surrounded by the tallest crystalline columns they had ever encountered. The middle of the hole was shrouded in darkness and they could see until the bottom of the hole.

“Ah… in any case, my light cannot reach the bottom.” As he said that, Brother Jue already raised his arm to punch at the crystal column next to it. The next second, he picked up a random broken crystal piece that fell to the ground and dropped it into the hole.

Phew— That was the sound of crystal falling, and then… and then there was nothing…

“Hue~ So it is a bottomless hole…” Pegasus had his hands on his knees and knelt down to look into the edge of the hole.

“Yes, perhaps Lady Earth Flow (The Albino Rat Spirit from Journey to the West) is living under there.” Brother Jue mocked, “I could not contain myself anymore… Woohoo~”

“What is this ‘woohoo’ about…” Ambitionist commented with his lips twitching. “I have to warn you, now that Atobe is dead, none of us remaining knows the gag that you are playing. If you continue in this manner, we will only take you as someone who is acting crazy.”

“Hah… then never mind.” Feng Bujue shrugged. “In any case, I think I still should go down first.” Then, he took several steps back and prepared for a running start.

“Current quest completed. Main quest updated.” At that moment, two consecutive quest system announcement rang out and it interrupted Brother Jue’s movement. The players each opened their game menu to check the quest tab and saw that ‘arrive at the Cage of Despair’ had been ticked off. And the new quest that appeared was, ‘Figure out a way to open the cage.’

“What is with this new quest?” Pegasus asked, “This is already a hole, there is no lid… how are we supposed to ‘open’ it?”

“Perhaps… The ‘Cage of Despair’ is not the hole itself but it is an object down there under the hole.” Ambitionist presumed.

Feng Bujue though said, “Well, enough speculation. After I get down there, we’ll clarify everything.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Suddenly, a stranger’s voice said. At the same time, a hand landed on Feng Bujue’s shoulder.

“I will help you open it, travellers from another world…” The person followed it up with this and slowly emerged from the darkness.

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