Chapter 89: Impossible Task

    Xinxin froze for a split second, clearly not expecting Shen Nianzu to ask such a question. His face turned pale, and under the scorching sunlight, he looked particularly thin and fragile as though he could pass out at any moment. "I–It’s because... I..." he stammered, unable to finish the sentence that was stuck on his throat.

    Seeing him hemming and hawing, Shen Nianzu’s patience soon reached its peak. The most fatal trait to have for the players in the Cycle aside from fear and carelessness, it was hesitation – for you had no idea what a second of hesitation could cost you. It could be a limb, or even a life.

    He admitted that Xinxin was quite powerful. He had seen how the young man held his ground against the horde of spiders and rodents relying on his own strength alone. Not only that, he was also generous enough to offer them assistance on the very first night, drawing the paper dolls away from them. Which was a very rare virtue for players in the Cycle who tended to keep themselves out of trouble first and foremost.

    However, it did not mean that Shen Nianzu could accept him, not with the way he was now. "Think about it first," he told the young man coldly, then to Jin Jiuchi, he gritted out, "Can you stop playing around for a second?!"

    "Awo?" Jin Jiuchi perked up from where he was still rolling in the sand. Seeing the jade doll’s murderous look, he finally decided to cut off his play time for the time being and rose to his feet, shaking the tiny particles of sand off his thick fur.

    "Jin— no, Da Shen! I’m going to have dog soup for dinner tonight if you keep this up!" Shen Nianzu chided harshly as he raised an arm to cover his face from the mini storm caused by Jin Jiuchi’s motion. It was still okay if he was just kicking up the dust around, but the problem here was, he was also shedding a lot of fur!

    Jin Jiuchi’s face showed a comically disbelieving look. "Awoaowoo?!" You want to eat me?!

    "If you don’t want to be skinned and cooked, then let’s go!"

    One human and one dog managed to converse just fine despite the language barrier between them. Shen Nianzu let out a harrumph and trudged through the sand to enter the temple grounds, while Jin Jiuchi quickly followed behind him with his fluffy tail swishing side to side.

    Sensing that Xinxin remained frozen on the spot while shrouded in a desolate air, he turned and let out a questioning noise from his throat, "Awo?" Aren’t you coming?

    "Ah, yes!" Xinxin snapped out of his trance and hurried to catch up with them.

    The Temple of Anubis, just like the name implied, was an ancient temple to worship the deity of afterlife. Scattered throughout the temple were statues of the jackal-headed God, some were intact while mostly cracked and worn out by the passage of time. The walls of the temple were adorned with an intricate tapestry of murals, telling tales of the gods and the pharaohs, depicting vivid scenes of battles, triumphs, and divine interventions.

    Dim rays of sunlight pierced through the high, narrow windows, casting a soft and mystique glow to the stone coffin lying on top of the stone platform. It struck awe and wonder to everyone who saw it, especially the newbies.

    "T–This..." Fatty pushed up his glasses and inspected the stone coffin with a heated gaze. "Is this the real deal? Damn, if I can livestream right now, it will definitely get a lot of views..." he whipped out his phone from his pocket and started to take pictures from every angle.

    The female newbie’s eyes lit up when she saw that. "That’s right, phone! I have to call..." She scrambled to get her phone out of her pocket, only to find that there was no signal bar in this place. The rims of her eyes instantly turned red.

    "Give up," the male Intermediate player sighed when he saw her miserable look. "I’ve told you that it is no use. No one can save us out of this place aside from ourselves. My name is Zhang Lei. What about you?"

    "L–Luo Qing..." she wiped the dampness on her eyes away before it could form into tears. "Thank you... for your help earlier."

    "What are we doing here, Jiang Shun?" The other intermediate player asked. "Shouldn’t we go and explore this place first?"

    Jiang Shun rolled his eyes in response to that sentence, "You haven’t even discovered the death condition in this place, and you already want to run around? It’s a wonder how you can survive until now. Look," He pointed at something beneath the player’s feet, and the man lowered his head to see a tiny yellow colored snake with brown spots slithered past his trekking boots.

    "AH!" The man jumped away in fright, startling the others. "S–Snake! Is it poisonous?!!"

    Jiang Shun scoffed in disdain, "Who knows? Even an ordinary snake can become poisonous in the Cycle. You are no longer a newbie, so why are you even worse than them?"

    The man flushed, ashamed for being called out so rudely but also helpless to retort because Jiang Shun was stronger than him. In the end, he could only swallow the humiliation down and chuckled sheepishly, "Y–You... You are right, I will pay more attention from now on."

    Other players, upon hearing this exchange, gulped nervously and opted to linger in the open space instead, far away from any crook and corner where the small creatures could go through. Fatty was no longer engrossed in taking pictures of the stone coffin as he was busy looking at the ground around his feet warily, whereas Luo Qing looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

    A distance away from the crowd, Shen Nianzu, who had just taken his gaze off Jin Jiuchi for a few seconds, turned to find the silly husky digging into the soil in the temple with his paws. His eyes widened and he hurriedly rushed over, hissing in a low voice, "What are you doing?!" He swore he had to purchase a leash and collar for Jin Jiuchi after this. He would do it as soon as he got out of this Cycle!

    "Ngh?" Jin Jiuchi raised his head and in his mouth was the previous yellow snake, still wiggling and twisting in fluster!

    "Fuck!" Shen Nianzu drew out his needles by reflex and stabbed the snake’s body with it, rendering it limp and unconscious. With no collar to grab onto, he could only yank on Jin Jiuchi’s thick fur coat and ended up tearing off a small bundle of white fur. He flung them away in anger, "Do you want to die?! What if it’s really poisonous and you’re bitten by it?!"

    Jin Jiuchi could tell that the snake was not poisonous from the smell, hence he dared to put it into his mouth. Moreover, how could angry Nian’er be so adorable? Tails wagging, he leaned forward to nuzzle his furry head against the jade doll, "Awooo~"

    Shen Nianzu cast him a suspicious look and guessed his intention accurately, "Don’t tell me you want to eat it?!"

    All of a sudden, a deep rumble reverberated from the depth of the temple, eliciting startled cries from the newbies. "Ah! W–What is it again?!"

    The rumble persisted for a few more seconds, sounding as if some kind of mechanism was activated. Even the ground beneath their feet was shaking lightly and fine dust fell from the ceiling like rain, causing the players to cough.

    Soon after, a few silhouettes emerged from the darkened hallway to reveal themselves under the sunlight. They were two burly men dressed in construction workwear that was heavily stained with dirt, and following behind them was a tan-skinned woman in ethnic outfit who looked like she was in charge of this place.

    "Do you happen to be the workers I have enlisted?" She asked in a heavily-accented tone as her cerulean blue eyes swept around the players, tinged with a touch of haughtiness. "From this moment onward, I expect nothing but good results from each and every one of you for the forthcoming three days."

    As soon as her words settled in the air, another cryptic voice echoed in the players’ mind.

    [You have received a task from the NPC Anna. This temple has always been the final resting place for Anubis, the esteemed God of the afterlife. As a faithful worshiper of Anubis, Anna intends to build an oasis close to her beloved God’s mausoleum, and your primary task is to provide your full assistance in bringing her divine plan to fruition. Duration: three days. Please strive to achieve the best results to obtain the return ticket!]

    "Woof!" Shocked, Jin Jiuchi looked around to find no one around him but the jade doll. So whose voice was resounding beside his ears right now?!

    Wait a moment...

    He suddenly recalled an instance in the previous Cycle where he was the only one who remained oblivious to the mysterious voice heard by others. Could this be... the infamous Nightmare’s voice, by any chance? Now that he had officially become an Intermediate player, would he also hear this voice in his mind from now on?!

    Fortunately, Jin Jiuchi’s reaction did not warrant much attention from the other players as a huge ruckus immediately descended following the Nightmare’s official announcement. The newbies, intermediate players, even Jiang Shun and his female companion could not believe their ears.

    "We have to build an oasis in t–three days?!"

    What kind of impossible task was this?!