Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 162 Treatment
Meanwhile, Zhou You and his group had been led by the novice monk to a building.

At first glance, this place should be the monks' quarters where the monks of the temple live and rest. It covers a large area, with at least seventy or eighty rooms in this area alone. One can imagine how many monks used to come and go here during its most prosperous period.

But nowadays, most of the rooms are empty, without a single person in sight.

It was past dusk, and the last rays of daylight had dissipated into the clouds. Yet, not a single candle could be seen burning in the room, and all the windows were pitch black. Whenever the wind blew through the holes, it even produced a whistling sound.

In this scene, it is just like the legendary ghost town of the underworld.

The rain had stopped slightly, and the novice monk leading the way, carrying a small lantern, led everyone to the side rooms that were relatively intact.

"Dear benefactors, we are truly sorry, but the guest hall where you are supposed to stay has been neglected for a long time and many parts of it have collapsed. Therefore, we can only ask you to stay in the monks' quarters in our temple. We hope you can understand."

Hearing the novice monk's apology, everyone in the escort agency expressed their understanding, except for Lu Ping, who suddenly asked a question out of curiosity.

"—Speaking of which, since we're staying in the monks' quarters, where will you be staying? There are quite a few rooms, but they all look terribly dilapidated; it seems like there aren't many habitable ones."

The novice monk put his hands together and spoke calmly.

“In the past few months, many monks have left the temple, so there are many empty rooms. Moreover, with the Buddha’s Birthday approaching, the monks have all gone to the back mountain to fast and practice Dharma. Now, only we novices and the abbot are left in the temple. Even if we give some rooms to the donors, it will still be enough.”

After speaking, the novice monk walked to a courtyard gate and made a gesture of invitation.

"This is the place arranged by the host. The food and hot water needed have been placed here in advance. Please feel free to help yourselves. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

The novice monk bowed again and then stepped outside the door.

No one spoke, except Zhou You gently rubbing his chin.

There seemed to be nothing wrong, but for some reason, he always had a vague sense of unease.

How to put it? This person has a mechanical quality—angular and angular, but lacking in human warmth.

and……

Zhou You suddenly remembered something and called out to the novice monk.

"Um, young master, I have a question to ask you."

The novice replied.

"Donor, please tell me."

"It's nothing really." Zhou You recalled the faint dragging sound he had heard when he knocked on the door. "I just wanted to ask if your temple holds any prisoners, like those with shackles?"

However, after a moment of surprise, the other party simply shook their head slightly.

“You flatter me, benefactor. This is a pure Buddhist temple. Where would we find prisoners? Besides, our temple only has a few dozen people in total. We can’t even find a head monk for the disciplinary hall. How could we possibly imprison anyone?”

Having said that, the novice monk fell silent, and his small figure disappeared into the darkness, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Zhou You was left behind, gazing thoughtfully in the direction he had left.

In the courtyard.

Despite his anxiety, Lu Xiuyuan forced himself to stay alert and began making arrangements for everyone.

"Master Hu, go set up a table in the yard. Let's eat quickly while the rain has finally stopped. Zheng Laosan, check the bedding in the house. If anything is missing, go ask the young master for it before he goes far. Ping'er, Ping'er! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and prepare your master's food and hot water. If you mess it up, I'll spank you." This was the busy scene that Zhou You saw as soon as he walked in.

Upon seeing him, Lu Xiuyuan hurriedly went to greet him, but instead of saying hello as before, he lowered his head and whispered to him.

"Master, do you see any problem here?"

Zhou You chuckled to himself.

"Chief镖师 Lu, you are the one with the deepest relationship with Ci'en Temple. This question should be directed at you."

However, Lu Xiuyuan only sighed softly with a grim expression.

“If it were before, I would never have said this. After all, I have known Liao Chen for more than ten years. But the problem is... ever since I came up the mountain, I have always had a strange feeling that something is wrong. The mountain gate, the abbot, it’s as if everything has changed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought of rushing down the mountain in the rain after getting the money. So, Master Zhou, what do you think?”

Zhou You patted Lu Xiuyuan on the shoulder to comfort him.

"It seems there's nothing too serious right now, so don't worry too much. Just camp out in the wild, and have someone keep watch at night as usual. Once the rain stops, we'll leave."

After thinking it over, Lu Xiu also felt that this was the only way to do it. He apologized to Zhou You and then went to find the guards to arrange the night shifts.

However, no sooner had he left than Lupin followed him.

The little guy frowned and said with a worried look.

"Master, the food these monks prepared is far too coarse. I spent ages picking out the only edible stuff for you."

Hearing this, Zhou You became a little curious.

It's important to know that Lu Ping wasn't some rich young master. He'd been escorting goods with Lu Xiuyuan since he was old enough to understand things, and his daily meals consisted of dry rations as hard as iron—these things usually had to be soaked in water to soften before eating, otherwise they could easily break a few teeth—even he described them as rough.
How bad must this stuff taste?
But when Lu Ping brought it up, Zhou You couldn't help but burst into laughter.

It was nothing more than a few moldy grain cakes.

The hard, dry cake was covered with mold, and some parts were even covered in hair. Zhou You broke off a piece with a little force and rubbed it gently—and found that it even had a gritty texture inside.

This was Lu Ping's carefully selected choice, so how bad must the original have been?
Zhou You looked up and saw that the group of镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) were sighing and throwing the flatbread aside. They then soaked the dry rations in hot water to soften them and started gnawing on things they had cursed countless times along the way, along with dried meat and the like.

Has Ci'en Temple fallen into such dire straits that it has to serve guests these things?
Zhou You pursed his lips and casually tossed the hard biscuit back into the bag.

Although he disliked wasting food, he didn't want to die from food poisoning—that would be too shameful—so he took out a piece of salted jerky from his pocket and casually took a bite.

Lu Ping, standing nearby, was still speaking with a face full of apology.

"Master, should I go look for those monks again? This is too much! Is this even fit for human consumption?"

Zhou You simply waved his hand casually.

"If we can't finish it, we can leave it for now. Anyway, if everything goes smoothly, we'll be coming down the mountain in a few days, and our team has enough supplies."

Zhou You looked up at the gloomy sky, which seemed about to rain again, and sighed softly.

Yes, I hope everything goes well.

(End of this chapter)