Chapter 23: The Sun River Plateau, Learning to Hatch Eggs

This afternoon, the four players enjoyed a feast bought by Willow Heart, eating until they were full. Afterwards, they gathered in front of the teleportation array, and Hua Tian, emboldened, suggested going to the Red Cliffs of the Dead.

But Little Yu, seeing his intention, desperately pulled his hand back to prevent him from pressing the button. In the scuffle, the button was accidentally triggered, setting the destination for the day’s adventure.

With the flash of that ruthless white light, they found themselves before a row of artificial white jade pavilions. Not far from the pavilions was a landscape painting, and beside them stood two enormous willow trees, their drooping branches touching the tranquil surface of the lake. Beneath the water, something seemed to lurk, waiting for its chance.

The four were stunned. Hua Tian asked, “Where is this?”

“Besides the main city, the only place outside with traces of human habitation is the Ancient City. But I’ve never heard of anything like this—a lush landscape. Could it be the Central Plains? No, that doesn’t seem right,” said Willow Wei, a seasoned player, after surveying the surroundings.

“Let’s go. Now that we’ve teleported, we have to find the teleportation array to return, or else we’ll have to run back or die to get out,” Hua Tian reasoned. He didn’t care if the place was built by players or NPCs; what did it matter to him?

“Alright! Stop overthinking it, let’s move, big brother,” Willow Heart said, pulling her brother, who was still lost in thought.

They had barely walked a few steps west when a great crashing sound erupted behind them—the pavilion collapsed in silence. The four turned back and saw, beneath the pavilion, a person-sized entrance to an ancient, yellow-earth cave, surrounded by broken spears and crumbling walls.

Exchanging glances, they spoke in unison: “Let’s go!”

Standing beside the cave, none of them dared enter. Willow Heart, ever cautious, handed a monster-attracting rod—a low-level tool—to Mad Kill. Hua Tian looked at the rod in surprise. “You must really expect there to be monsters inside,” he said, handing it back to her. Picking up a stone from the ground, he channeled the force of the Divine Sky-Swallowing Fist into his palm and hurled it into the cave. Thirty breaths passed—no roar, no damage notification.

He prepared to enter, but the other three players pulled him back. “Mad, aren’t you being reckless? What if there are forks in the cave?”…

Dragged in by Mad Kill, the three landed on the ground, arranged themselves back to back in attack stances, and surveyed the cave's interior. Seeing Mad Kill relaxed ahead, the three assumed the stone had revealed something and gradually lowered their guard, chatting as they moved forward.

They walked and talked for an hour along the dark, damp tunnel.

“Little Yu, do you think we’ll encounter another level ten monster this time?” Hua Tian joked to lighten the tense mood.

“I think it’s not just possible—it’s inevitable,” Little Yu replied confidently. Both times they’d encountered one, but the rewards had been great.

...

Hua Tian raised his torch high. The tunnel ahead narrowed, and he stopped abruptly. Behind him, Willow Wei, chatting with his sister and Little Yu, didn’t notice Mad Kill had stopped and crashed into him unexpectedly. Willow Heart and Little Yu saw Mad Kill halt and stopped too, but forgot to warn Willow Wei, who remained oblivious.

Willow Wei straightened, rubbing his back, and noticed Mad Kill staring blankly, unaware of anything amiss nearby. “Mad, what’s up? Why’d you stop? Did you discover something good up ahead?” Willow Wei gazed into the darkness but saw nothing.

The terrifying sound faded, and Hua Tian, frozen in place, suddenly exclaimed anxiously, “Did you hear something getting closer?”

“What?” the three asked, puzzled. There were no signs of monsters. “No, are you trying to scare us, or just lighten the mood?”

Willow Heart had barely finished when she saw Mad Kill raise his gauntlet, the glow of his skill flashing intensely. The three, a beat behind, realized something was wrong and readied their weapons. The tunnel behind them collapsed.

Hearing the commotion, the three looked back, and the four together heard a frightening voice echo through the sealed tunnel.

“You’re here, you’re here, come in! Come in!”

Hua Tian heard the others ask if they’d heard the voice. He realized the sound matched what he’d heard before. “Keep your eyes forward, stay alert! I’ll check behind,” he said, turning back alone to investigate, taking one last look at their surroundings—there was no escape.

He returned cautiously to the three, explained the blocked exit, and decisively led them toward the source of the voice.

A stone wall appeared. Hua Tian examined its base, carefully probing, then crouched and picked up the stone he had thrown earlier. He noticed a corner ahead—the tunnel branched into countless passages. The four took five torches, tossing one ahead to see if it would extinguish.

They reached a jutting cliff. Hua Tian lay on the edge and peered down. In the center below, a ladle-shaped floating island circled, surrounded by darkness so deep it resembled a bottomless abyss consuming the island.

On the island, ten black, strange animal-shaped pillars stood in a circle, mouths facing inward.

After observing for a while, a voice rang out again.

“You’re here, you’re here, come in! Come in!”

Simultaneously, the ten pillars thudded in rhythm. The four quickly retreated, watching for any anomalies.

After half an hour, ten odd books appeared atop the pillars. Another hour passed.

Impatient, Hua Tian declared, “We can’t keep waiting. Either grab the strange books on the platform, or keep waiting.”

The others rolled their eyes. The distance was far too great to leap.

Having spoken, Hua Tian stepped forward. Just then,

“You’re here, you’re here, come in! Come in!”

The voice made Hua Tian pause. He scanned the surroundings, suspecting he was overthinking.

He smashed several stones into smaller pieces and threw them onto the island, but nothing happened. Unsure, he threw ten more stones, convinced there were no traps.

Before jumping, he lay on the edge, looking down; the abyss below had transformed into searing magma. He stepped back, eyed the nearly hundred-meter gap, and decided to jump. Stripping down to shorts, he stowed all his heavy gear in the pay-to-win system backpack, and took a leap of faith toward the floating island. His hands caught the only protruding stone on the edge, hanging suspended above rolling magma balls that repeatedly struck his lower body. He twisted his legs to avoid being scorched. Suddenly, a fireball hurtled toward his face.

‘You lot are really polite,’ he thought. He hurriedly summoned his shoes from the system backpack, desperate not to be disfigured. Swinging his lower body, he launched himself at the incoming fireball. As his shoes slipped onto his feet, he landed on the fireball, but it vanished instantly, leaving his flesh exposed. He gave it everything to leap upward, landing inside the circle of pillars.

Still elated at his narrow escape, he was unexpectedly bounced by some force, rebounding from pillar to pillar.

After being ricocheted fifty-four times, he finally landed atop an eleventh white pillar.

...

“Damn it, what a mess!” Hua Tian cursed, finally coming to a halt.

What he didn’t know was that the center where he was bounced had three pentagrams drawn on the ground, glowing faintly.

Suddenly, the whole space announced, “Someone is challenging the trial,” “Passed!”

The other three teammates watched Mad Kill’s desperate struggle and his miserable state.

They heard the announcement and wanted to try themselves. Three flying stones drifted from the floating island, and each jumped across, silently collecting their rewards. Hua Tian watched their easy passage compared to his ordeal, feeling the inevitability of fate—he was the first, the key to initiation, and the one to succeed or fail. He looked down at the bottomless magma lake, wondering if it rivaled hell.

A voice declared, “Trial complete. This space will soon disappear. Please leave within one hour, or you will perish here forever, unable to respawn. Three players, collect your rewards, I will send you out.”

The three collected their rewards, and without even a chance to speak to Mad Kill, were mercilessly teleported out.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves back in Han City, looking around for Mad Kill but seeing no trace.

Little Yu said, “Once you collect your reward, you’re sent out directly. Don’t worry about him. Let’s go claim our team coins!”

The three nodded and found the team leader’s office empty, so they ventured deep into Twin Han Palace, carefully unlocking a door with a key. Inside, they found Han Qianyun and Han Qianyu, bewildered and hopeless, clutching their faces, each sitting atop an egg like a brooding hen.

The two girls, infected by their captains’ odd behavior, stared in disbelief and tried to sneak closer, when Willow Wei suddenly exclaimed, “Captain, are you two mothers now?”