Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 497 Normal
Senior brother?

Zhou You looked closely and discovered that several Taoist priests were huddled in a brightly lit corner.

Judging from his appearance, he was different from those who were brought in for a marriage of convenience; he was a proper Taoist priest in the temple.

Before he could think it through, one of the Taoist priests rushed out, grabbed Qingjing Taoist's feet, and began to weep bitterly.

"Uncle-Master, Uncle-Master! We know we were wrong, we know we were wrong! Please forgive us this time, just this once, please!!!"

The wailing was extremely painful, like the last breath of a dying person.

However, the Taoist priest ignored him completely.

He simply bent down, carrying the lantern he never let go of, and spoke earnestly.

“I remember you are a disciple of Junior Brother Chang Yuanzi, right? Then you should know that this is a rule set by the patriarch, which even the sect leader cannot change, let alone me.”

The man's wailing continued unabated as he clung to the Taoist priest's legs and wept.

"But I never expected it, I really never expected it."

The Taoist priest shook his head, and then said.

"The sect should have given you opportunities before. If you had worked hard in each teaching test, you would never have ended up here. You've been living a carefree life, neither studying nor cultivating. Who can you blame for that?"

The man's crying paused slightly, but he still tried to plead.

"We tried our best, we really tried our best! We trained day and night, neglecting sleep and meals, and we kept doing our assigned chores. Why... wait, there was another match after that, why were we just thrown into this mess?"

The Taoist priest answered calmly.

"Because the sect leader ordered the next batch of people to be transferred over in advance, the people were naturally selected ahead of time—that's all."

next moment.

Zhou You felt several hateful gazes piercing his eyes.

However, he was thick-skinned and turned his face slightly to the side, pretending not to see it.

So only the voice of the Taoist priest remained.

"But to be honest, you don't need to be so afraid. After all, although night patrols are dangerous, some people always survive. And if you look on the bright side, as long as you can hold out until dawn, the mistakes you made will be wiped clean—and you can even advance in status and position. Isn't that much better than being subjected to the patriarchal system?"

After saying this, the Taoist priest pried the man's hands off, then picked up his lantern and turned to leave.

Only a few Taoist priests remained, slumped on the ground, looking at each other in bewilderment, as if they had lost their parents.

Zhou You also understood that the Taoist temple implemented a bottom-ranking elimination system. Every once in a while, there would be an attendance check, and the person with the worst attendance would be assigned to the job of "night patrol".

However, they quickly turned their attention to Zhou You.

It's obvious that someone of that age and appearance can't be faked; they are clearly the 'culprit' who caused them to end up like this.

In an instant, hatred turned into hostility, and hostility turned into murderous intent.

Although I don't know how someone who was supposed to be marrying for good luck ended up in this terrible situation, at least now that they have something to vent their frustrations on, they can at least die in a more comfortable way, right?
However, Zhou You remained calm and composed, bowing to each of them before smiling.

"Disciple Zhou You greets all senior brothers."

No one answered; in fact, some people were already itching to try.

Despite the obvious attempt to beat him to death, Zhou You remained all smiles and spoke politely.

"I see that you senior brothers are somewhat dissatisfied with me, but that's natural. If I were suddenly struck by this undeserved disaster, I would definitely want to settle scores with someone as well. But senior brothers, now that things have come to this, is it really worth taking action for such a personal grudge?"

No one spoke; in fact, the two tall men had already stood up and gathered around.

Zhou You shook his head and suddenly sighed.

"But senior brothers, although I'm not very old, I still have some strength. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been thrown here just because I offended someone. If you really want to fight me, I will definitely struggle."

This time, someone finally let out a sinister laugh.

"What, you think you, a mere person seeking to ward off bad luck, can defeat all of us?"

Zhou You waved his hand repeatedly.

"No, no, senior brother, you've misunderstood. I just think..." He continued with a smile, looking at the people surrounding him. "If we really fight, I'll definitely struggle. It's fine if I struggle, but what if—I mean, what if—we accidentally break something? It's already difficult enough for you senior brothers to hold out until daytime. If something else goes wrong, wouldn't that be even more troublesome?"

Several hands that were about to restrain Zhou You stopped abruptly.

Those gazes swept over Zhou You for a long time, but in the end they withdrew their hands as well.

After all, no matter how big the world is, one's own life is the most important. Some fools might be willing to risk their lives for personal grievances, but those who have survived in this Taoist temple to this day are definitely not among them.

So, along with the person who had been crying earlier, all the Taoist priests retreated with expressions of resentment.

Even though they had already decided to let it go this time, the person was not grateful at all and continued to laugh.

"Fellow senior brothers, this is my first time on night patrol, and there are some places I may not be familiar with. I hope you can give me some guidance."

Unsurprisingly, nobody paid any attention to him.

Seeing this, Zhou You could only shake his head.

"But Uncle-Master Qingjing clearly instructed me just now that if I have any questions, I should ask my fellow disciples, and you will all try your best to answer them."

Upon hearing the name Qingjing Daoren, someone finally responded, and a Daoist said in a muffled voice.

"It's very simple. You, along with the four of us, will take turns every half an incense stick's time, starting from 7 PM. We'll patrol from the front hall to the back hall, checking which deity's incense has burned out so we can replace it. Then we'll come back, and that'll be the job. Do you understand?"

It was a perfunctory remark, and many details were left unsaid, but Zhou You still cupped his hands in greeting and smiled.

"Thank you, senior brother. I understand now."

After saying that, he didn't say another word, but sat down cross-legged.

So, amidst the flickering lamplight, only a few faces remained, their brightness uncertain but filled with unease.

And so, an unknown amount of time passed.

Even though there was nothing to tell time here, a Taoist priest suddenly opened his eyes and said something.

"Time is up."

Those four simple words instantly put the entire room into a suffocating atmosphere.

The group looked at each other, none of them wanting to be the first to scout the way—but soon, just like before, all eyes turned to Zhou You.

It was clear now that there was no way to postpone it—so Zhou You stood up, dusted himself off, and decided to take the first bus.

First, as they said, we should enshrine the statues of the Three Pure Ones.

This was a simple task. The three statues were not far from the entrance and were within sight. Zhou You walked over, looked at the altar in front of him, took out three sticks of incense from the incense holder, lit them with the ever-burning lamp, and then held them in his hand and prayed devoutly.

"May the Three Pure Ones bless this disciple so that he may pass through this night safely and without any evil spirits."

A sneer came from behind him.

Zhou You ignored him and went through the procedures step by step before turning around and entering the rear hall.

This place is much darker.

The eternal lamps in the front hall were as bright as day, but there were only a dozen or so in the back hall, and the lamp oil used was obviously a grade lower; one could easily trip over them if one was not careful.

Inside the hall were about a dozen statues of deities, mostly gods of wealth, thunder, and various star deities. To be honest, according to traditional Taoist rituals, these deities shouldn't be in the same room at all—they're not like Buddhist Arhats, where a bunch of people can squeeze into the same place and worship whoever they want.

However, this had little to do with Zhou You. He simply looked around the altars in front of the statues in the dim light, lit three incense sticks for those who hadn't yet offered incense, and then returned through the side door.

The whole process went smoothly; I didn't encounter any ghosts or anything unusual, not even the slightest bit of anything strange.

Seeing Zhou You return unharmed, the others breathed a sigh of relief, and their attitudes softened. One of them even pointed to the prayer mat in front of them, indicating that he should sit down.

It would be impolite to refuse such an invitation.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to press his advantage and ask more questions, the group turned their heads away as if they hadn't seen him at all.

The person, not wanting to make a fool of themselves, simply smiled, shook their head, closed their eyes, and entered a meditative state.

Soon, it was time for the second round of inspections.

It was another silent standoff. In the end, it was the younger man with a more youthful face who couldn't withstand the pressure and stood up with a death wish.

Like Zhou You, he also entered from the front hall, bowed before the statues of the Three Pure Ones, and lit incense—for some reason, the incense burned particularly quickly—then he walked shakily and shakily into the much colder rear hall.

but.

Soon, the person also came out from the side door.

His expression clearly carried a certain bewilderment, a sense of relief, a clear-headedness from escaping death, but mostly a bewilderment at the current situation.

Unlike Zhou You, the other Taoists couldn't wait to ask questions when they saw this person come out.

Is there any danger inside the house?

"Is anyone talking to you?"

"Has the terrain changed at all?"

"Say something, you fucking thing!"

It was obvious that these senior brothers knew some of the inside story of the patrol—yet none of them said a word to Zhou You.

After a pause, the man spoke up, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Nothing happened. The front hall and the back hall are both normal, and none of the things we heard about before have occurred."

Several people looked at each other.

They had thought a lot and inquired about many potential dangers, but no one expected this.

This place... is actually perfectly normal?

After a moment, a senior brother who seemed to be in charge gritted his teeth and said.

"I'm next! I want to see if this place is as terrifying as the rumors say!"

Then, several tens of minutes later...

He turned around with a blank expression.

This time, it was another Taoist priest who made up his mind.

"Then it's my turn."

Several tens of minutes later, the same bewildered and helpless face appeared.

Then another person spoke up.

"Next up is me."

I don’t know how long it took.

Everyone present took turns.

however.

From beginning to end, not a single person died.

This whole thing left everyone completely baffled.

After all, we've been in this temple for quite some time now, and everyone knows that this place is full of traps, and people can die if they're not careful. So the sudden safety feels a bit strange.

But no one said a word.

Everyone is praying silently in their hearts right now.

After that, everything must be normal, just like now, so that everyone can live peacefully until dawn!

After going around in circles, it was Zhou You's turn again.

The process was the same, but when he got to the Three Pure Ones, he suddenly froze.

I looked up at the face painted with greasepaint, but for some reason, I felt that something was wrong.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong, but he instinctively sensed that something had changed—yet his pause also alerted the people behind him.

"So, what are you doing there if we're going to have this wedding to ward off bad luck? Is something wrong?"

Zhou You stared at the statue for a while, but finally shook his head.

"No, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

Finally, they lit incense, inserted it, and then moved to the back hall.

Moon to midday.

Before they knew it, the group had completed three rounds of the journey.

Nothing happened from beginning to end, which made the group relax a bit. There were plenty of fruits on the long table next to them. In addition, apart from Zhou You, none of them had eaten much all day. Knowing that they were sentenced to death, only a few people still had an appetite. So soon, some of them couldn't resist their hunger, picked up the food, and ate it.

This doesn't mean they completely let their guard down, but rather that according to the sect's rules, if their senior uncle said it was edible, then these things were definitely edible and there would be no other risks.

Zhou You had eaten his fill and had no interest in these things—but just as he was about to close his eyes and rest again, a bright red apple was suddenly thrown at him.

Looking up, I realized it was the Taoist priest who was much younger than me.

Although he still looked at Zhou You with disgust, he pointed to the fruit that had fallen onto the prayer mat.

"Eat up, eat more so you'll have the energy to work, and even if something happens later, it'll be easier to run away."

Zhou You looked at the apple, then picked it up and bowed with a smile.

"Thank you, senior brother. I'll accept it."

A cold snort came from the side.

"Why did you give him such a perfectly good thing? If it weren't for these people who came up the mountain early to bring good luck, would we have ended up like this?"

The man who spoke glared fiercely at Zhou You, seemingly wanting to kick him when he had the chance—but because of the previous warning, he didn't make a move in the end. Instead, he wiped his hands on his Taoist robe and then went forward on his own according to the turn.

The Sanqing Hall remained unchanged, and there was no further activity after entering the rear hall; it seemed to be just another routine inspection.

however.

After a full incense stick's time, his figure...
It still hasn't turned back.

(End of this chapter)