Thriller Paradise

"What is the conspiracy that you are planning with ROOT?" This was the question asked by the carving.

Once that was asked, the four teammates behind Brother Jue had their expression changed. While Feng Bujue only hesitated for a second… before he very calmly raised his free hand to press on his shoulder and replied, "Nothing."

As he said that, the magical circle on his shoulder glowed weakly before disappearing. Silence fell in the stone room, only the players' breathing could be heard. Five seconds later, the carving slowly opened its mouth. Brother Jue quickly pulled his hand back and took out the object inside the mouth.

"Phew… managed to fool it after all." Feng Bujue rubbed his shoulders and said with some relief. At that moment, the item description of the object he was holding had been unlocked by the system (Earlier even though he was holding the object, he was unable to study its description).

Name: Old Fairy Ball that has not been used

Type: Others

Quality: Excellent

Special Effect: Can capture and preserve a beast of illusion within the crystalline maze

Usage Requirement: Selected Yver as their faith

Whether it can be taken out from the scenario: No

Remark: I hate Pikachu! No, really!

"Ah hah! Another item that can be used to lower the scenario's difficulty." Feng Bujue lifted his head after studying the item. "See, told you it was beneficial to explore the space, didn't i?"

But no one… was responding to him… At that moment, all the other players, including Pegasus were giving Brother Jue a side eye… that was blatant with their suspicion.

"What's wrong?" Feng Bujue acted like nothing was out of place and he asked, "Is there anything on my face?"

"So… what… are you… and ROOT… planning?" Ambitionist stared at Brother Jue and asked haltingly.

Feng Bujue replied innocently, "Haven't I answered the carving already? Nothing."

"Yes… but when you said that, you have also used the seal Leideson gave you…" Atobe countered.

"And that proves that…" Uncle Worthless added, "You are indeed planning something with ROOT."

"Even though I don't quite understand what is going on now but since everyone is standing over here staring strangely at you, so I felt like I should do the same, just ignore me…" Pegasus chimed in.

"Fine… fine…" Feng bujue admitted. "I did discuss something with ROOT." He opened his arms like this was nothing new. "But the actual content of our discussion… sorry, I can't tell you."

"Well, you sure are something else…" Ambitionist pushed on his glassed. "At the time, we thought you have committed suicide with ROOT." He scoffed coldly, "But in reality… under that circumstance, neither you died but you have somehow formed an alliance with her?"

"So what if that's true??" Feng Bujue countered back. "There is no permanent enemy in this world, only benefit that can be claimed." He shrugged and smiled. "Is it that weird to form some kind of deal with a scenario's boss?"

Feng Bujue purposely used the term 'Boss' and used a light and matter of fact tone. Because… from the perspective of the other players, this was ultimately just a game; no matter what happened during the Tournament of the Best, they would still think… they had run into a group of rare NPC with super intelligence and some unique scenario setting.

"Hmm… Now that you put it that way, I think I can understand it." Uncle Worthless added after a few seconds of consideration. As someone who captured a boss-level monster back to his storage to help him, naturally he was more conducive to accept this explanation.

"Ah… since I was just an audience in the market watching the match, and do not have any history with that Boss, I guess it doesn't matter to me." Atobe opened his arms to say, his tone was laced with a soft undercurrent of sadness.

"Hey, so that's it?" Ambitionist grumbled. "I am the only one that's shocked by this? This man over here has some kind of relationship with the final boss from the game's 'biggest event', it's not that surprising that I am shocked, is it?"

"Hmm… Looks like it's nothing serious. Even though I don't know what happened, I can now sigh in relief." Pegasus added this statement that was meaningless but cute to show that he was present.

"if there's nothing else, let's move on." Feng Bujue pocketed the fairy ball and picked up his gun (When his hand was bitten, the free arm had put the anti-gravity gun down). "Well, whose turn is it? Go and open the door."

The group chatted for a while before moving to the door that would lead them to the next floor. At that moment, what his teammates did not realize was… as calm as Brother Jue was on the surface and with the ease he answered his teammates' interrogation, the man's heart was actually filled with suspicion. Actually… when the carving asked that question, Feng Bujue was the most shocked of the five of them. Even though he did not show it, from that moment, his brain had been processing this question—why would the carving ask about his relationship with ROOT?

[This place is indeed Thriller Paradise's main universe, but why would a carving that probably did not even have its own sentience buried deep inside the underground shrine at Island of Devil's Maw ask me something like that?] Feng Bujue thought to himself. [The event between me and ROOT obviously has nothing to do with this system so this question is definitely not arranged by the system. Then… could it be that the carving's setting is 'to explore the darkest secret within the player's mind and then ask about it?'] But he soon vetoed that hypothesis, [No, that will cause many problems. It's possible if this is a solo mode but in this team mode, that kind of setting will violate a player's privacy which is against the game's TOS.]

After eliminating multiple possibilities, Feng Bujue landed on the most possible answer. [Hmph… looks like 'something or someone very powerful' is behind this… but who could it be?] He analysed, [To be able to reconstructed the carving's original data outside the scenario and manipulate it to ask me that question…] The list of suspect appeared immediately, [First, I can rule out Woody, he did not need to lower himself to this level; If it's 'ZERO'… then the possibility of that is bigger, perhaps he has heard some rumors and thus did something like this to confirm; The same could be said of the two other bosses from Origin, they would have the same motive; Other than that… I can't rule out ROOT for trying to test my allegiance; Finally… even though the chance of that is small, perhaps I have been targeted by Jiu Ke already. With their technological power, they should be able to do something like this.]

While Brother Jue was postulating, Ambitionist had passed this layer's door and completed the rudimentary exploration of the next level.

"Come on now, it's safe here."

After Ambitionist's voice was heard, the group entered the third floor of this Shrine of Faith (as counted from above)…