Thriller Paradise

When the other party got closer, the trio finally got a better look… that the new arrival was Pegasus. Currently Pegasus was covered in dust and looked much worse for wear. He was holding a silver torch and the end of the torch was shining with a strange green light.

"Eh?" Pegasus also saw his teammates. "So it was you guys after all, I guessed it would be you guys from the light of the flashlights."

"Are you alright?" Uncle Worthless asked.

"I'm okay. I ran into some monsters and traps along the way but I did not lose that much Life Points." Pegasus answered. The four communicated for a while before they all turned to head back to the altar. Along the way, Uncle Worthless and the others explained briefly to Pegasus what had happened after they reconvened with Feng Bujue while Pegasus offered his side of the adventure. As predicted by Brother Jue, Pegasus was indeed teleported away when the four were sealed into the ground. Of course, Pegasus did not know about the fact that he had been switched and he was as confused as he could be when he found out he had suddenly ended up inside the shrine.

As they chatted, the group soon arrived back at the altar. Stepping through the door, they could see Feng Bujue and the Spirit of Mimicry who were not far away. More than 10 minutes had passed and they were still chatting and the conversation appeared as titillating as before…

"Oh, you have returned quite quickly." When Brother Jue saw his other 4 teammates, he stopped the conversation with the Spirit of Mimicry, he turned to his teammates and added, "See, I was right for us to pick the second choice. Now we have completed the quest easily."

"Hmm… Since you are all here…" Spirit of Mimicry scanned the players and said, "it is time for me to leave."

"You aren't going to stay longer? We're having such a good time." Feng Bujue asked.

"Hmph… Don't treat me as an idiot, Feng Bujue." The spirit replied, "I know what you are planning, I was just playing along to ease your concern."

"He he… fine…" Feng Bujue chuckled. "In that case… farewell."

"Hmph… how can you be so sure we shan't meet again…" At that point, the Spirit of Mimicry appeared to be reminded of something. It quickly added, "Considering the arresting conversation that we had and how interesting of a person you are, I shall give you an advice for free…" It paused and when it continued, its tone had changed, "If you run into 'The Heart of Terror', better first as fast as you can, you humans are unable to fight it." Then, right after it said that, the Spirit of Mimicry disappeared before their eyes.

"What was that about?" Atobe asked in confusion. "Was it trying to trick us? Shouldn't the Heart of Terror be its partner? Why would it give us a hint like that?"

"Who knows…" Uncle Worthless offered. "Perhaps the relationship between the four guardians as not as simple as we imagine it to be."

"Indeed, the Spirit of Mimicry and The Sealing Hands might have a good relationship but it does not mean that the same relationship is extended throughout the rest of the four guardians." Feng Bujue turned to tell his teammates. "Furthermore… The guardians are not tasked to kill people, so it's normal for them to give us hints."

"Well, I can't say I agree with that… When we were in the zone with the Sealing Hand, if we were all sealed into the ground, then when the time limit ran out, we would all die." Atobe countered.

"But they wouldn't be the ones who killed us." Feng Bujue replied, "Being eliminated by the system was an extra applied onto us by the system, it had nothing to do with the rules that govern the Island of Devil's Maw itself." He opened his arms. "Think about it… if the guardians are dispensed to kill us, then we would have died a long time ago…"

"hmm… you are not wrong there." Ambitionist pushed on his glasses and continued, "Take that Spirit of Mimicry as an example. If it really wanted to kill us, it could have easily teleported us to the bottom of the Haunted Swamp, after all, the spirit itself will not drown."

"It's fine when you did not mention it…" After hearing that, Atobe instantly shivered, "Now that I think about it, it would be quite scary…"

"By the way, what did the Spirit of Mimicry mean by what it said?" Ambitionist turned to ask Brother Jue, "What does it mean by 'I know what you are planning'?"

"Oh… that…" Feng Bujue laughed. "Hah… Why did you think I spend so much time engaging it in conversation?"

"because the two of you have the same anti-human sentiments?" Ambitionist found the perfect timing to deliver a jab.

"It probably is to stop it from using the same trick on us." Uncle Worthless stepped in to correct.

Feng Bujue snapped his finger and proceeded to point at Uncle Worthless. "Bingo."

Even though he was praised, Uncle Worthless did not let it go to his head like Brother Jue would. He continued in his usual tone to explain, "if we allowed the Spirit to leave after we were transported to the altar, then this might happen… it could teleport to somewhere out of sight, retake the disguise of Pegasus and mix into our midst again."

"Oh… so that's why." Ambitionist got it by then. His eyes once turned to Brother Jue. "You purposely engaged the spirit in conversation to stop it from leaving your sight."

"Yes, that was it." Feng Bujue tilted his head and made a helpless expression. "But… one has to admit this Spirit of Mimicry's intelligence is very high… The fact that he would say something like 'I was just playing along to ease your concern' meant that it had seen through my plan all along." Brother Jue scratched his head. "Hmm… An NPC like this which has a high intelligence and complete persona has a 90 percent chance of being a unique set of data. It should be as the same level as the few troublesome figures I've encountered in the past…"

"No matter what." Pegasus suddenly raised his voice to interrupt. "There is an imminent problem that we have to solve at this moment!"

"What problem is?" His teammates all turned to him and asked in unison.

"I am very hungry." Pegasus answered easily. The statement dropped like a stack of brick.

The other fours staggered and almost tripped to the ground.

"Now that you mention it…" Feng Bujue muttered. "It has indeed been almost 4 hours since we started this scenario. Assuming the system has decided our status as 'full' at the start of the scenario, it is about time for us to feel the pang of hunger now…" Certain things were not meant to be pointed out, because once it was brought up, the focus would be pulled towards it.

"Ah… suddenly I feel my legs going weak and the stomach has started to growl…" Atobe said as he dropped to the ground and crossed his legs.

"Indeed, we have exhausted plenty of stamina to reach this place…" Uncle Worthless' hand also instinctually moved to his stomach. "From the Locust Jungle, then the Mocking Forest, passing through the Haunted House and finally entering the Shrine of Faith… Just the road that we've trekked is long enough. If this was real life, we would not have completed this journey in a single day."

"Hmm… there is something that I've been meaning to say but I did not find a good chance." Ambitionist added, "I have noticed that… the exhaustion of my Stamina Point in this scenario is far greater and faster than it would have been if I was in a normal scenario." He paused. "I believe… that must be caused by some kind of unique setting within this scenario…"

"Fatigue, thirst and hunger…" Feng Bujue licked his lips. "The real threats appeared to have started to surface…" While he spoke, he also sat down and lifted his head to look at Pegasus. "Pegasus, when you were dropped inside this shrine, you have completed the main quest, right?"

"Correct." Pegasus confirmed.

"Hmm… okay…" Feng Bujue said thoughtfully. "I predict… there are two possibilities as to when the next main quest will be triggered… either it is 10 minutes after 'all the players have completed the previous quest'; or 10 minutes after the 'time limit of the previous quest which in this case would be 3 hours have run out'." He sighed. "Hopefully it is the later. At least in that case, we can make use of these 2 extra hours to take a rest."

"It's very hard to say…" Uncle Worthless said worriedly. "Since this is a nightmare mood, it is best that we prepare for the worst."

"He he… of course, I understand that." Feng Bujue replied, "That was why I said, 'hopefully'…"

"The key problems are still food and water…" Pegasus pointed out, "If we just sit here without eating and drinking, what kind of rest will that be?"

"Well said." Feng Bujue asked back with a laugh. "Then, do you have any food on you."

"Ha! No!" Pegasus answered proudly. Hero was a hero was a reason. The man was that open, that free, that easy to read.

"Fine…" Feng Bujue shrugged helplessly. He scanned the rest of his teammates and presented the question to the floor, "Any of you brought food or water with you?"