Chapter 514

Chapter 514: Island of Devil’s Maw (20)

“Hah...” Feng Bujue laughed rather coolly. “At this moment, I only want one thing...” he looked right at the Sealing Hand. “But... why settle for a trade when I can just as easily take it for myself...” Then he raised his hand, “Again! Rock paper scissors!”

“Ah! A~~~~” The Sealing Hand wailed for mercy but it still played the game, one last game in its life...

When it lost, the Sealing Hand toppled over and started to fall. It slammed heavily into the ground and started to flatten like a 3d model was forcibly pressed into a 2d paper.

“You... mad... man...” Before the Sealing Hand was fully pressed into the ground, it groaned out this last word.

“No matter what, I have obtained what I needed...” Feng Bujue lowered his eyes on the giant hand print on the ground, and said in jest. “...thanks for the entertainment.”

Two seconds later, the area around the players opened up. It felt like some kind of corporeal material had sublimized into air but the material was invisible.

“Ah... nice, the barrier has dissolved.” Feng Bujue commented. “As I expected, we still have 5 minutes to rush to the Shrine of Faith.” He said as he turned around. “I’ll lead the way from here on out, I know the general direction.”

“Erm... what...” Atobe couldn’t help but cut in. “Don’t you plan to explain... what just happened earlier?”

The other three also looked at Brother Jue like he was some kind of monster, they did not dare to get too close to him. Initially they were shocked by how good Feng Bujue was at the game but later... especially what Brother Jue did in the last few minutes caused his teammates’ Terror Points to rise. They had an illusion that... Feng Bujue was the real antagonist here and the Sealing Hand was another hapless victim.

“Of course~ I ~ will.” Brother Jue dragged out his tone. That was the truth because the man liked to gloat. “But there is less than 5 minutes to complete the main quest. How about I give the explanation after we reach the shrine?”

“Hmm... He’s right.” Ambitionist swiftly calmed down and concurred. “In any case... we should get moving for now.” Ambitionist words helped to even out the nervousness and tension. The group hesitated for half a second before they followed Feng Bujue who was already moving ahead.

...

The five shadows raced up the hill along the stone paved path. In less than a minute, they had covered about 300 metres in distance and came to the top of the small hill. Standing at that vantage point and looking ahead, one could see a slate of grey barren field. In the middle of the field stood a group of conical towers. The towers were closely clustered together and there appeared to be a set pattern to them, they looked from a far like a bamboo shoot that had risen from the ground.

......

“The group of things is the rooftop of the Shrine of Faith.” Feng Bujue explained. “90 percent of the building is buried underground, we better find an entrance as soon as we can.” He said as he used his finger to point forward. “If we really fail to find one, we will use brute force to crack open an opening.”

“Okay, let’s not waste time then. Let’s get moving.” Ambitionist added.

“We will split up to search for the entrance when we reach the place,” Uncle Worthless also added. The five communicated for a while before they continued with their journey. This time they moved even faster because they were moving downhill. They managed to reach their destination in record time. But when they arrived at the side of the towers, they realized with surprise that... the entrance was surprisingly easy to find. On top of each tower, there was an openable door (skylight), and upon they were close enough, they would be able to make them out from the rest of the building.

“So do we choose a random one to enter?” Atobe used an inquisitive gaze to look at the rest of his teammates.

“At this moment, we do not have the time to try them one by one anyway...” Feng Bujue uttered as he walked to the tower closest to him. He peeled the door open. “I will go down first. If there is any trap, I can avoid it using my aerial ability.” Of course, Brother Jue was not going to go down blindly into the unknown...

When he said that, he had already picked up a pebble that was on the ground and tossed it down the entrance. Pa. tat.

The echo of the peddle landing reverberated back up almost immediately. Looks like the fall was not going to be that long.

“Oh? It does not look like it is the kind of chute that will bring straight down to the bottom directly...” Feng Bujue commented as he took out the compound anti-gravity gun from his inventory. With an expert hand, he flicked on the light and shone it inside the door. His four teammates also came over to his side to lean over to look inside...

The five used the light from the gun and they saw the wall and the ground of the interior of the building.

“What kind of space is this? Some kind of attic?” Pegasus asked.

“From what we could see from the result, the ‘absolute rule’ within the game zone is something even the Sealing Hand could not deny.” Feng Bujue continued to explain, “Therefore, that proves that the zone itself did not come from the Sealing Hand’s own power.”

“Oh... no wonder the Sealing Hand acted so funny at the end.” Atobe added, “It knew that it would lose the game but it was powerless to end the game, and that was why it was cornered.”

“Hmm, indeed...” Feng Bujue continued, “based on my observation, there are four absolute rules within the game zone.” He raised his right hand and extended four fingers. “First, before the match is fully decided, no one is allowed to leave the zone; two, only after the victor of the previous cycle agrees to end the match that the zone will be neutralized; three, it is the challenger... which are us by the way... who decide when each cycle will start; four, the reward and punishment for the games can still be negotiated but there is a fixed punishment... and that is the loser will be sealed into the ground to become a cut out of their former selves.”

At this point, brother Jue put down his hand. “The above four rules are relatively fair and they are absolute rules that even the Sealing Hand do not have the power to resist. Of course, as the entity that initiated the game zone, it did indeed possess some kind of special rule that would have benefited it. For example... those who entered the zone would have their fighting ability limited and they would be forced to play the game of rock paper scissors with it.”

“I still do not quite get it.” Pegasus suddenly interrupted and said, “After what you have said, I still do not quite understand how did you manage to win it?” He widened his eyes to ask, “Since it could predict what you will do and you could predict the same of you, then wouldn’t that place the both of you on the same playing field?”

“yes...” Atobe concurred. “That is the core of the question, is it not?”

“Ah?” Feng Bujue replied rather weakly and tiredly. “What are you guys talking about... That is the simplest part of all.” He titled his head to say. “After my experimentation, I found out the Sealing Hand’s special power was none other than... to read the thought in your mind the moment right before you decided what to play.” He scoffed. “Hmph... theoretically speaking, there are at least three ways that one can use to defeat an opponent like that. And in the earlier rounds, I have already used two of them.”

“You have to be kidding...” Uncle Worthless picked off the glasses and gasped in shock.

“We will start by explaining the method with the least rate of success.” Feng Bujue continued to explain in his lazy and easy way. “And that is... to keep your mind blank and do not think of anything during the moment before you play anything. Then you just throw out anything that your instinct tells you to do.”

“Qie~ And I thought it would be some kind of mysterious power? That is it?” Atobe replied with dissatisfaction.

“Actually, it is more difficult than you think.” Feng Bujue retorted. “If you do not believe me, you can give it a try... Most people would end up playing a hand gesture that looks like a chicken claw and that will be counted as paper.”

“Hmm... indeed, this kind of method can temporarily block off the Sealing Hand’s power.” Ambitionist added, “But to rely on instinct will almost never let your hand play ‘scissors’ and that is an obvious weakness.”

“Indeed, the opponent would have discerned this loophole after at most 2 rounds. And then all it needed to do was to keep on playing paper.” Feng Bujue concurred. “Furthermore, even for the first two rounds... they were just a test of luck, so... I did not use that method.” Brother Jue paused for a few seconds and licked his lips before he continued, “Then... now we shall move on to the second method, actually there is not much to explain about this second method. It is to use my own special power to outshine and out-calculate the sealing hand’s power.” He scratched his hand. “I am not going to into details about my own power. All you need to know is that my power is much more advanced than the Sealing Hand’s power... that is all.” He was telling the truth, he was not gloating. The Sealing Hand’s power was to read the opponent’s thought at the last moment before they played the game, that was the limit of the extent of its power but zero-time simulation was able to calculate and factor in everything....

“Aiz... I hate to say it but its power is too slow and its reflex is too slow. Its movement was basically glacial...” Feng Bujue sighed. “Therefore... in the first few rounds, I used my own power to easily win the Sealing Hand while at the same time, assessing and analysing the opponent’s special ability.”

“That’s enough, stop blowing your own trumpet.” Ambitionist stopped the man. “Then what about the third method? That would have nothing to do with your own ability, right?”

“Of course, this is not a solo scenario, the system would not have designed a guard that only one of us can deal with. That goes against the premise of the game.” Feng Bujue replied with a smile. “Indeed the last method has no relation to any super power or ability. Everyone can use it to win the Sealing Hand and that is...”

The four listeners now basically leaned their neck forward to await the answer.

“Cognitive distortion.” Feng Bujue came out with a strange term.

“What in the world is that?” The statement ‘I do not understand what are you talking about’ was plainly written on Pegasus’ face.

“Well, let me show you an example...” Feng Bujue said as he raised his hand to say, “Rock!” When he said that, his hand flew forward to play the gesture of scissors.

“Erm...” Atobe looked at this for two seconds, “This can really work? Is this just lying to yourself?”

“if you do that, you will fail... Because your mind will still be thinking about scissors.” Feng Bujue explained, “But cognitive distortion is different, my mind is thinking about rock but my gesture is playing scissors. To do this, you will have to overrule the preconceived concepts that have been embedded within your mind in a short period of time. Instead of calling it a form of ‘lie’, it is more of a kind of ‘belief’, it is rather complicated to put it into words... but if you have mastered it, you will be able to do something like this...” he said as he raised his hand again, “Rock, scissors, paper, rock, scissors, paper...” he recited over them quickly and his hand was changing with each recitation, but every time the gesture that his hand made was completely different from the thing that he said. When he uttered rock, his hand was making the shape of scissors and when he said scissors, his hand would be paper and when he said paper, it would be rock played by his hand...

“What the beep! And you said everyone can do something like this?” Atobe mocked, “This is clearly something only someone like you will be able to do!”

“No, even you can do it, but you will need time to practice.” Feng Bujue shrugged. “Actually the system have given us the time... Do not forget, the period between each cycle is decided by the players.” He paused before continuing. “And to take one step back, even if you cannot master this, it is fine. Since the Sealing Hand’s basic mode of action will not change, as long as you fill up mind with the necessary shape of the hand gesture right before you play it, the Sealing Hand will play the correspond hand gesture that is supposed to win over yours. Therefore... as long as you can master the timing and try to limit your mistake, you will still win the game.”

At this point, Feng Bujue had basically given all of the explanation. The system as if was purposely waiting for them to finish the conversation but it did not say anything until this very moment. “Main quest has been updated.”

In the quest tab, the new main quest has appeared. “Arrive before the altar at the bottom of the Shrine of Faith within 3 hours. The players who fail to do so within the time limit will be eliminated.”