If I do not wish to die, then do not move about?
Chen Xiaolian’s mouth twitched – I cannot afford not to!
Seeing that the stone platform was collapsing, should I have just stood there and wait for death?
At the moment, there was still a distance of several tens of steps between them. Chen Xiaolian picked Soo Soo up and took big strides and he jumped forward. He jumped up and down between the stone platforms and was soon able to reach the central stone platform. He then stood before the woman in black leather jacket.
The woman finally raised her head and stared at Chen Xiaolian. Discontent and perplexity could be observed from her eyes.
Dark black hair with a pair of bright eyes; Unlike the big eyes often seen on beautiful girls, her eyes were slightly elongated with corners that turned marginally upwards, exuding a natural charm. Her nose was straight and her lips gorgeous. She displayed flaming red lips, which seemed to indicate that she had applied a sheen of lip-gloss. As for her cheeks, they were pale to the extreme, almost resembling white jade.
Complemented with her tight, black leather jacket, an alluring air would descend upon any who gaze upon her!
This woman gave Chen Xiaolian but one glance before lowering her head again, her eyes directed down towards the ground.
“Awakened?” Chen Xiaolian blurted out nonsensically. However, the woman chose to ignore him.
That was when Chen Xiaolian noticed it. Before the ground that the woman was sitting cross-legged upon was a map!
After carefully examining it, Chen Xiaolian was able to recognize that this was the design map for this secret chamber!
On a large area, lines were drawn, criss-crossing with one another. The lines were clearly etched out using some sharp instrument. While there were some rough areas, the secret chamber that was as big as a football stadium, the mercury lake and the stone platforms were all etched out and put on display there.
On the map, a huge block of area were crammed full of tens of smaller blocks.
“Hey? What are you looking at?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.
The other party did not say anything.
“How did you enter this place?”
The other party still did not give any answer.
“Is there an exit here?”
Still no answer.
However, the young woman finally raised her head. Her elongated eyes swivelled to glance at Chen Xiaolian. “Can you please be quiet?”
“…” Chen Xiaolian choked.
The woman pulled out a dagger and etched a cross on a stone platform drawing on the design map.
Chen Xiaolian observed for a moment and found that the location that she had crossed out happened to be the platform that he had arrived on earlier, the one that then collapsed down.
Additionally, there were several other stone platform drawings on the design map that had been crossed off.
Chen Xiaolian suddenly had a thought. “What are you calculating?”
The young woman’s face finally revealed a trace of surprise. “You think I am calculating?”
“En,” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Since we are all trapped here, we might as well discuss about it, right? Which Awakened Guild are you from?”
The young woman frowned but did not give any answer. She stared at the design map and whispered. “Where exactly is the valve…”
Valve?
Chen Xiaolian was shocked. His eyes then lit up. “Did you just say valve?”
“Of course, what else would it be?” The young woman lowered her head and replied instantly. “An instance dungeon that leads us to death would make no sense. Any such trap room scenarios will have a chance for survival. An instance dungeon without a chance for survival that forces us to our deaths cannot be considered a test or adventure, but simply murder.”
Chen Xiaolian was shocked!
Despite her cold attitude, there was no doubt that Chen Xiaolian was in absolute agreement with the young woman’s words!
There are no instance dungeon that forces us to our deaths! There must be a chance for survival! Otherwise, could it still be called a game? It would be called entrapping people!
“What did you mean when you say valve?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Could it be… there is a water port below the mercury?”
“Of course there is,” The young woman regarded Chen Xiaolian with disdainful eyes. “Do you not understand the reasoning behind this? If there is no water port, then once this place has been filled with mercury, is it supposed to just sit here and do nothing?
This is an ancient tomb, not a water plant. The builders prepared the mercury that appeared in here in a large reserve. However, no matter how big their reserves may be, it cannot possibly be endless!
Therefore, there must be a mechanism to distribute it elsewhere.
There must exist a water port valve somewhere within the bottom area of this secret chamber.”
“That sounds very reasonable,” Chen Xiaolian thought about it. “In that case… where do you think it is?”
The young woman revealed a little frustration as she finally stood up.
As she stood up, Chen Xiaolian noticed that this woman was very tall and slender.
Err… all right! Height has always been my flaw!
The 18-years-old Chen Xiaolian has a height of only 1.7 metres, whereas this young woman…
Beneath her leather skirt were two long leather boots. Despicably, they actually sported long heels!
Visually speaking, she was one head higher than Chen Xiaolian…
She definitely has a height of over 1.7 metres while barefooted! This was Chen Xiaolian’s judgement.
The tight leatherwear outlined the curves on her body, a slim waist and outstandingly curved hips. What caused Chen Xiaolian to exclaim in admiration though… was that this woman was actually not flat chested!
For tall females, especially Chinese, most of them would be flat chested. However, this woman’s body had obviously subverted this rule.
Big breasts, slim waist, curved hips… and the two long legs wrapped in leather boots.
This woman’s body has the capacity to anger a group of Victoria’s Secret models to their deaths!
… That is enough! Now is not the time to ogle at a beauty!
“The valve must be in the water. Additionally, it must be below a stone platform. In other words, as long as we figure out the right stone platform and break it, a leak will occur on the valve. Then…” The woman in black quickly continued. “There are a total of 81 stone platforms. Per my calculations from the moment I arrived, one stone platform will collapse every five minutes.”
“Since you have concluded that the waterway is hidden underneath the stone platform, why don’t you simply break these stone platforms? Just do so one by one to find the right platform.”
The woman in black suddenly used a peculiar expression to look at Chen Xiaolian. She then snorted. “For an idiot like you to participate in an instance dungeon, could it be that the guilds have now lowered the bar for recruitment to such a low level?”
Undoubtedly, those words were very harsh.
Chen Xiaolian became angry. Just as he was about to retort, he suddenly looked at the holes in the walls that were pouring out mercury. He then looked at the mercury lake below the stone platform…
He immediately realized that he had indeed made a stupid mistake!
The story of the crow and the pitcher was something that everyone had heard before.
By throwing stones into a sealed water container, the stone will displace the water volume and cause the water to flow out…
This place, this secret chamber just happened to be a huge sealed water container!
If one were to act recklessly and break down these stone platforms one by one…
Then, the broken stone platform that fell down the lake would be the equivalent of a stone being thrown into the container…
Under such circumstances, if the gamble was to succeed and the water port was found, then everything would end well.
But if… the gamble failed, and they did not find the right one.
Then, due to the excess amount of stones within the lake, the mercury level will rapidly rise up!
It was most likely that it would exceed the height of the stone platform in just moments!
This was not ordinary water!
It was mercury!
If this was ordinary water, being soaked in it for some time was possible.
However, soaking in mercury…
Haha!
The woman coldly continued. “After every five minutes, a stone platform will collapse. There is probably some mechanism controlling all these. Additionally, my examination of the rate at which mercury flows down reveals that the rate at which the mercury level rises is at 1 centimetre per minute.”
Chen Xiaolian quickly moved to the edge of the stone platform and looked down. He quickly said. “There is a distance of around 3 metres between the mercury level and us. En, that means we still have 300 minutes until the surface of the mercury reaches the stone platform!”
After saying that, he suddenly shook his head. “Wrong! A stone platform will collapse down every 5 minutes. The collapsed stone platform will fall down the mercury lake and increase the rate at which the mercury level rises…”
“It seems you are not as idiotic as I thought. I have already made the calculations,” The woman in black said lightly. “We have a maximum of 180 minutes of time. In no more than 3 hours’ time, the mercury will have reached our feet.”
Three hours…
Chen Xiaolian’s face was extremely ugly. “I fear we cannot even hold out for three hours. Mercury will evaporate. The air here is toxic.”
“Our Physiques have already been strengthened,” The woman in black shook her head. “Our level of tolerance will be much stronger. However… we still will not be able to endure if too much time passes. Oh, right. Do you have antidotes?”
Chen Xiaolian’s mind lit up.
He immediately produced the All Curing Antidote that Xia Xiaolei purchased for him.
Back then, he had bought a total of 5. After he, Qiao Qiao and Han Bi had taken one each, there were still 2 more in the Item Box.
After pondering about it though, Chen Xiaolian kept the antidotes back – now was not the time to take it. It would be for the best to wait and use them only when necessary.
“Since we are all in the same boat, let us cooperate,” Chen Xiaolian looked at the woman in black.
The woman in black looked down at Soo Soo and her brows pressed together. “I have never seen an Awakened like you who would actually bring a little child together when participating in an instance dungeon… is she your daughter?”
Daughter?!
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes suddenly bulged wide open.
Soo Soo pulled the corners of Chen Xiaolian’s clothes. She raised her small, calm face and used a pair of cold eyes to look at the woman in black.
“You think I could have such a big daughter?” Chen Xiaolian let out a bitter smile.
“Then, you must be a lolicon, right?” The woman in black asked with a serious tone.
“… NO!!!”
The woman in black waved her hands. “All right, I was just casually asking. No need to take it seriously. Ah, it is almost time!”
Chen Xiaolian noted that she was wearing an oddly shaped watch on her wrist.
“Almost time?”
“It is a surprise,” The woman in black curled the corners of her lips. Both her hands flicked and an elongated sword appeared in both hands!
“Surprise?” Chen Xiaolian observed the swords within her hands and was suddenly visited by a sense of foreboding.
“Let me inform you, we will not have 3 hours. The reason… every half an hour, a certain refresh will occur…”
Before the woman in black could finish her words, the walls of the secret chamber suddenly wiggled. It then quickly transformed into an oddly shaped body!
A body that was two metres tall, its rocky body was pitch-black with broad shoulders and thick arms. Its body has a humanoid shape and its eyes were faintly glowing with green light!
These things transformed out from the walls and raised their heads to let loose a roar! Then, they brandished their palms as they stepped onto the stone platforms… They all stepped forward from the surrounding stone platforms towards the central area!
It was apparent that their objective was the three people standing on the central stone platform!
Teng!
One of the stone monsters suddenly jumped over, its body sailing past a distance of over 3 metres. It flew past the gullies filled with mercury and landed with a “boom” onto the stone platform that the three of them were at!
“This… what are these things?”
“Monsters refreshed by the system,” The woman in black’s dual swords skimmed down one another, letting off a series of sparks. The corners of her lips were raised in a sneer. “Did you think the system will allow us to sit here leisurely? If you do not want to die, then fight! I only hope that your fighting skills are better than your brains!”