Chapter 9: Clues

"It's not working," Ning Yun muttered, though she wasn't surprised.

After all, if the task were this easy to complete, the system wouldn't have given them four hours.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asked, looking up at Xiao Qichen.

The man didn't speak, but instead walked a circle around the tree.

"Let's look around first to see if there are any clues."

In his previous life, he had never entered this dungeon.

Most dungeons involved killing monsters. Even when the task was to save someone, as long as you killed all the monsters, the mission was considered complete.

He had never encountered a dungeon that was purely about healing and rescue.

Was it because the game was still in its closed beta phase?

In his previous life, he hadn't participated in the beta. Perhaps that was the biggest difference.

The limestone cave looked large, but they reached the end of it quite quickly.

Fortunately, they finally found a clue.

At the very end, there was a relatively smooth stone wall with a painting on it.

The most striking feature was a giant tree. Around it, several small figures were prostrate on the ground, bowing and kowtowing.

The person at the very front was dressed quite differently, wearing what appeared to be a crown—likely a priest or someone of similar status.

Around the giant tree, there was a circle of lines extending outward. Did they represent "light"?

"Xiao Qichen, look, this must be the Yuzi Tree," Ning Yun said, pointing to the giant tree in the painting. "It looks exactly like it."

Xiao Qichen took a step forward. "This should be a depiction of people worshipping the Yuzi Tree. It seems humans lived here a long time ago."

But in the Yuzi Tree's memories, there seemed to be only animals.

Ning Yun's imagination ran wild, and she said with a smile, "Could it be that this painting is telling us we need to worship the Yuzi Tree to bring it back to life?"

The idea made even her laugh.

Xiao Qichen gave her a deep look. "Perhaps."

"Huh?" Ning Yun's eyes widened. "I was just saying that randomly, you don't actually believe me, do you?"

She thought it was a joke, unaware that Xiao Qichen was being very serious.

"If we can't find any other clues, there's no harm in trying your theory."

Ning Yun frowned. "But I don't want to kowtow. It feels so weird."

Especially kowtowing to a tree—that felt even weirder.

Xiao Qichen raised his hand and pointed to a detail on the mural that Ning Yun had missed.

"For a ritual, the offerings are more important."

Following his finger, Ning Yun looked.

In front of the crowned figure were three strange objects. Compared to the tree and the people, they were inconspicuous, which was why Ning Yun had missed them.

"Is that a pig's head? The ears are quite obvious." Ning Yun squinted and leaned in, trying to identify the offerings.

"The second one looks a bit like food," she examined closely. "Is it an apple?"

As for the third item, they stared at it for a long time without being able to tell what it was.

Based on her limited historical knowledge, Ning Yun remembered that in ancient times, people also needed vessels for sacrifices.

Could the third item be a tripod cauldron?

But it was impossible to tell from the mural.

Xiao Qichen didn't dwell on it. "Let's go find the items first. They'll most likely drop from the monsters."

As the two walked out of the cave, Ning Yun couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"Did you spin the wheel? I got a really good talent—when I open chests or chop trees, there's a chance to get double resources. What about yours?"

Ning Yun had complete trust in Xiao Qichen.

Xiao Qichen glanced at his blade. "I drew the Crimson Blood Blade. It's a Platinum weapon."

As expected, what he held was no ordinary weapon.

"Platinum?" Ning Yun was curious. "I've only seen Common and Bronze chests. How does this game categorize things?"

There were many game details Xiao Qichen hadn't had time to tell her.

"Chests are divided into five tiers: Common, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Equipment with attribute boosts follows the same system. However, food, daily necessities, and even some special items don't actually have tiers."

Listening, Ning Yun sighed with emotion. "It feels like this isn't just a simple survival game. I wonder if things like professions or cultivation will appear later."

People who loved reading novels always had wild imaginations.

"No. There are only free attribute points as rewards, which can improve your physical fitness." According to Xiao Qichen's memory, until the moment he died, things like magic or supernatural abilities had never appeared.

Ning Yun felt a bit disappointed. "It would be great if there were magic. I'm quite curious about what it would feel like if I could use it."

She held her dagger like a wand and gave a light tap. "Shoo! Fireball!"

Unfortunately, no fireball appeared. Instead, a dark shadow emerged.

Before Ning Yun could even react, Xiao Qichen swung his blade, instantly killing it!

It was so fast she didn't even see the monster's face; she only saw a dark blur.

She felt deeply how vast the gap between people could be.

She struggled just to catch a rabbit, while he was already one-shotting mobs.

After the monster vanished, two items were left on the ground: a loaf of bread and a baseball cap.

"You take it, I don't need it," Xiao Qichen said, picking them up and handing them to Ning Yun.

This time, Ning Yun wasn't polite at all. "I'll pass on the bread; I have plenty, and I don't really like it. I'll take the hat, though. The sun is strong, so it'll be good for shade."

Xiao Qichen didn't say anything and put the bread away.

The seemingly quiet grassland had no animals, but there were plenty of monsters.

They encountered two more, both of which were dealt with by Xiao Qichen.

This time, Ning Yun finally realized it wasn't that she couldn't see the monsters' faces—it was that these monsters had no faces at all.

They were like three-dimensional shadows.

Whenever a monster appeared, she stayed far away to avoid getting in the way.

She didn't think she could kill monsters as easily as Xiao Qichen did.

On what basis? On the basis of her pitiful 5 points of Strength?

Rather than trying that, she might as well play to her strengths: opening chests!

When a monster was killed, some would drop chests. That was when Ning Yun's stage arrived.

【Ding! Congratulations, you have triggered your talent: 100% Critical Hit!】

【Ding! Congratulations, you have triggered your talent: 100% Critical Hit!】

After opening three chests in a row and triggering her talent, Ning Yun experienced the joy of "shopping for free" for the first time!

Except for some equipment that boosted attributes, Xiao Qichen wanted nothing, so almost everything ended up in Ning Yun's backpack.

And the reason he gave left Ning Yun with no way to argue.

"My backpack is full."

She watched with her own eyes as he picked up a lighter and then threw away the matches; he really wasn't lying.

This grassland was a bit smaller than Ning Yun had imagined.

They had been killing monsters for over an hour and had obtained two mission items from them.

Now, only one was left.

But despite searching for nearly ten minutes, they couldn't find a single new monster.

"Xiao Qichen, should we go back and check the cave?"

(End of Chapter)