Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 269 Voice
A little earlier.

In the northern residence.

Since the young Taoist said he could choose any room, Zhou You unceremoniously picked the best-looking empty room.

Upon entering, they discovered that this place was all show and no substance—the exterior looked alright, but the interior reeked of mold, the whole place was extremely damp, and several mushrooms had even grown in the corners.

Fortunately.

Things like pillows and blankets are still new; they were just replaced in Jinan recently, so it's still bearable for one night.

"Everyone says there's a lot of moisture in the mountains, but this is way too much moisture!"

Zhou You grabbed a haystack and wrung it out, instantly squeezing out a bunch of water. He could only shake his head and find a dry place to put his luggage down.

Then he took out the talisman and hung it above his bed—a habit he had recently developed. The talisman had the power to warn people and prevent them from attacking him while he was asleep. Only then did he sit down, look up, and gaze at the equally damp ceiling.

"So, now that we've already infiltrated, what should we do?"

Several ideas flashed through his mind in an instant, but he quickly rejected them one by one.

Although we don't know the strength of that geomancer, this dungeon has an erosion level on par with the Buddhist Heart. As a sect that is very likely to be the final boss, this geomancer is probably comparable to a high lama of Tantric Buddhism. So, to prevent any accidents, it's best to be careful.

So let's go and investigate tomorrow before making a decision.

In the middle of the night, Zhou You was suddenly awakened by a noise.

It felt as if something was scratching at the door, making a screeching sound.

A mouse?

Zhou You subconsciously considered this possibility, but immediately realized something was wrong.

A mouse could never make that kind of noise; it's less like a claw and more like...
manpower?

Without making a sound, Zhou You took off the Broken Blade and cautiously stepped forward, bringing his body close to the door.

The scratching continued, but slowly and deliberately, like a cat scratching a scratching post, without any real meaning.

Zhou You tried pushing the door open, wanting to peek through the crack to see what was outside.

But it didn't budge.

Only then did he realize that the door had been locked earlier.

It wouldn't be difficult for him to break the lock; in fact, he could even keep it relatively intact. However, if the outside was truly testing him, it would inevitably expose him.

So, to do it or not to do it?

Zhou You glanced at Duan Xie, and seeing that he was not moving, he thought for a moment and then sat back down on the bed cross-legged.

But he didn't go back to sleep. Instead, he closed his eyes and began to use the Jing Shen Food Offering Spell, preparing to break out at any moment.

however.

Then, nothing was said that night.

The scratching sound had stopped by midnight, as if it had lost interest, and remained silent until dawn, when a young Taoist unlocked the large lock on the outside of the door and spoke to Zhou You.

"Get up! Lazybones. I'll let you know since it's your first day. The cafeteria is on the west side. Once you get there, someone will naturally arrange your work."

Zhou You still had that same smiling face, as if nothing had happened last night. However, upon seeing the young Taoist priest, he still asked curiously, "Hey, why is it a different person today? Where's the one who guided me yesterday?"

Although the person has changed, their words remain as impatient as ever.

"Why do you care about that! That guy had the luckiest day yesterday, getting noticed by the geomancer and promoted to the alchemy room. Of course he can't do this lowly work anymore—honestly, how am I any worse than him? How could that bastard catch up to me?"

Seeing the envious young Taoist boy muttering to himself, Zhou You didn't say anything more. He just planned to head in the direction the boy had indicated—but before he could take two steps, he was stopped by the boy.

"A starving ghost reincarnating? Why the rush? Look, the geomancer instructed that everyone must eat this before starting work."

The young Taoist handed over a dark, round object that looked like a pill.

Zhou You took it, glanced at it, his expression shifted slightly, but he still smiled and said.

"Hey, I've heard storytellers say that some martial arts sects use specially made poisons to control their members. This thing isn't like that, is it?"

"What are you thinking?" The young Taoist rolled his eyes. "This is a Qi-stabilizing pill specially given to you by the geomancer out of pity for your hard work. You might not be able to buy one for tens of taels of silver outside. You should be secretly happy that you can get it for free every day."

Despite this, the other party stared intently at Zhou You, seemingly determined not to give up until he had eaten the food.

To this, the person could only shrug, stuff the pill into their mouth, and then say.

"Is this okay?"

Seeing the throat roll down, the young Taoist was satisfied and turned to unlock another door.

However, just as this person was leaving, Zhou You flipped his hand over, revealing the pill in his palm.

I gently rubbed it, and from the outside, I couldn't really feel anything too unusual, but...
This elixir, however, contains a strange vitality.

It's as if you break a person down into several parts, then take one part out and stuff it into the life force of the pill!

This Thick Earth Cult is getting increasingly bizarre; what exactly are these guys trying to do?
The Taoist temple's dining hall is not far away.

However, unlike the simple accommodations, the food provided was quite plentiful.

In this era, ordinary people didn't even have breakfast. Even those who were better off mostly ate coarse grain buns and millet porridge made with wild vegetables.

Only the wealthy families in the city might see white rice and eggs in the morning.

Otherwise.

The food provided by the Thick Earth Sect was not much worse than that of the wealthy households.

The steamed buns made of white flour were fresh out of the pot and were still steaming. The porridge made of refined rice, without any other grains or other ingredients, was very thick. Although there were no eggs, salted fish and salted meat were readily available.

Even by today's standards, this was considered a decent breakfast.

Zhou You had been queuing all day yesterday, and when he arrived, he was immediately locked in a room. He hadn't eaten a single grain of rice and was starving. Now, seeing the unlimited breakfast, his stomach rumbled.

"Well, might as well take advantage of it. Although I don't get along with this Thick Earth Cult, freebies are always a happy thing."

Having figured this out, Zhou You picked up a chopstick, first forked a few large steamed buns, then added some good-looking salted fish, and finally got a bowl of white porridge. He found a seat and prepared to wolf it down.

However, just as he started to eat his steamed bun, a voice suddenly rang out from the side.

"Hey young man, what are you doing here?"

(End of this chapter)