TDU Chapter 483
Chapter 483 Props of Divine Ability
Chen Junnan and Cui Fourteen carried the prop out of the room. Their chosen route was {Five}, {Six}, {Seven}, {Eight}. Upon reaching to the easternmost side of the first row, they would then head south through {Twelve} to reach {Sixteen}, requiring a total of five turns.
Now the two of them stood in Room {Six}, preparing to move on to Room {Seven}.
Once they hesitantly pushed open the door to {Seven}, they felt a twinge of confusion.
The room was completely empty. In the center, there was neither a small table nor any items; it was just a plain, ordinary room. The walls were smeared with dried, darkened blood, and the floor barely revealed the reflective teal paint beneath.
“Nothing?” Chen Junnan surveyed the room. “Could that tuft of black hair have been meant to mislead us?”
“Captain, it is best not to make rash assumptions,” Cui Fourteen shook her head. “Including the {starting point}, we’ve only entered four rooms in total. More than half the rooms haven’t been checked yet.”
“True,” Chen Junnan nodded. The two waited for the turn to end before moving forward.
Meanwhile, several rooms away, Terrestrial Rabbit at the starting point was growing restless.
He had opened the same door twice already, only to meet Jiang Ten’s extremely tired eyes each time.
“Are you…sick or something?” Terrestrial Rabbit asked irritably. “Who taught you to play the game like this?”
“What?” Jiang Ten squatted lazily, hands folded together, as he looked up toward Terrestrial Rabbit. “Am I not allowed to…hooah… lock the door?”
“You are, but… if you keep locking doors, how are you going to move later?!” Terrestrial Rabbit’s voice grew louder. “Aren’t you just asking to die?”
“I’m not moving,” Jiang Ten replied obediently. “I’m a {Door-Closing Disciple}, responsible for closing doors.”
“You!” Terrestrial Rabbit was momentarily speechless. “You must be pulling my leg… this was your plan?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Ten nodded. “What’s wrong with that?”
“You foolish child, you’ve been tricked!” Terrestrial Rabbit stared into Jiang Ten’s eyes. “They intend to sacrifice you. Staying here will cost you your life.”
“Then so be it.” Jiang Ten wiped his tears. “I’m ready to die.”
“You!” Terrestrial Rabbit sighed. “Fine, fine. You’re not afraid to die, huh? I’ll leave you be and go the other way.”
Another turn passed. Terrestrial Rabbit opened the east-side door at the starting point, which led to Room {Two}. To his extreme frustration, someone was watching the door here as well.
“What the hell!?” Terrestrial Rabbit was angered to the point that his speech began to betray his accent. “What the hell are y’alls doing? So I’m not allowed through?”
Song Seven nodded. “Apologies. The captain told me I’m a {Door-Closing Disciple}, responsible for closing doors.”
“Are you two out of your minds?!” Terrestrial Rabbit pointed at Song Seven. “If you keep shutting doors like this, what are you going to do yourselves?! In the end, the two of you will die here!”
“If my death means my teammates survive, then so be it,” Song Seven said, offering a small smile. “Sorry to trouble you.”
At this point, Terrestrial Rabbit looked as though he had completely run out of options. He took a few steps back and returned to the center of the room.
“Sigh…” Terrestrial Rabbit shook his head and raised his voice. “You two really are incredibly foolish.”
“How so?” Song Seven asked, looking at Terrestrial Rabbit through the open doorway. “Because we chose death of our own accord, that makes us foolish?”
“Not exactly.” Terrestrial Rabbit shook his head, his expression growing more profound. “I only wish to ask… if the situation unfolds contrary to your expectations, what then?”
“Contrary to expectations?” Song Seven frowned at the words. “Forgive my dullness, but what exactly do you mean by {contrary to expectations}?”
“That’s not something I can tell you.” Terrestrial Rabbit let out a cold laugh. “We’re on opposing sides. Why would I reveal anything to you?”
“Then can I take that as you bluffing?” Song Seven was not one to believe such claims lightly. “Or did you lie while briefing us about the rules? That the room in the farthest corner can’t actually be escaped from?”
“You’re overthinking it.” Terrestrial Rabbit propped his hands on his knees and squatted down where he stood. “We all entered from that room together. How could that room possibly not lead outside?”
He then pointed at the wall, where Chen Junnan had carved a makeshift map.
“The room marked as {Sixteen} here really is the exit,” Terrestrial Rabbit said. “However, reality will differ from what you’re expecting.”
“Hah.” Song Seven nodded. “Since Room {Sixteen} is the exit, that alone is enough. As long as my teammates reach it, nothing else matters to me.”
“Oh, is that so?” A chill crept into Terrestrial Rabbit’s face, as though all his earlier agitation had been nothing but an act. “Then do you believe… there might be a moment when you open the door of your own accord and free me?”
“Will there?” Song Seven replied noncommittally. “If it proves necessary, so be it.”
Terrestrial Rabbit slowly closed his red eyes, then fell completely still.
…
Chen Junnan and Cui Fourteen opened Room {Eight} and found another table sat in the center.
This time, atop it rested a lotus flower.
“What the heck is this?!” Chen Junnan stepped forward and touched it. To his surprise, it was a real lotus, glistening with droplets of water, as if it had just been plucked from a pond.
There wasn’t even a pond in this cursed place, let alone living plants. How had this lotus appeared?
Cui Fourteen approached and gently lifted the petals. Sure enough, near the innermost stamen, someone had engraved two tiny words, {Divine Ability}.
“Captain…” Cui Fourteen scratched her head awkwardly. “If that tuft of black hair is Sun Wukong’s, then this lotus—”
“The Third Lotus Prince!” Chen Junnan declared without hesitation. “Doesn’t this confirm my idea? That lotus represents Nezha, the black hair represents Sun Wukong… maybe later we’ll find (Erlang Shen’s) three-pronged spear and Juling Shen’s axe in other rooms…”
(TLN: Nezha (哪吒) is a protection deity in Daoism, Buddhism, and Chinese folk religion and was then given the title "Third Lotus Prince" (蓮花三太子) after he became a deity. According to the description in Fengshen Yanyi, Nezha wears a lotus petal outfit.)
“Is that really the case?” Cui Fourteen questioned, half-amused, half-exasperated. “Is this…the Havoc in Heaven*?”
(TLN: Havoc in Heaven (大闹天宫) refers to a classic scene in the novel ‘Journey to the West’ where Sun Wukong rebels against Heaven after being tricked into minor posts. He steals magical items like the Peaches of Immortality and the Emperor’s Pills, and defeats various heavenly forces before returning triumphantly to his mountain home. Oh, and Nezha also joined him in the havoc while Juling Shen and Erlang Shen were part of the heavenly forces.)
“Uh…” Chen Junnan felt his thoughts were running a little wild. Still, what kind of {Divine Ability} could a lotus possibly have?
“Should we take the lotus with us?” Cui Fourteen asked tentatively.
“We already took the hair, might as well take the lotus too…” Chen Junnan replied, not entirely certain. “Skills won’t press, and props won’t stress.”
Once it was the participant’s turn, one had the black hair in hand, while the other held a lotus. But when they opened the south-side door of the room, leading into Room {Twelve}, both Cui Fourteen and Chen Junnan immediately exchanged a look of disbelief.
“Dammit…” Chen Junnan muttered, glancing into Room {Twelve} where another table sat in the center.
Upon it rested an object neither of them had seen before. Flat like a miniature wooden plank but entirely made of jade, it was covered in inscriptions they couldn’t read. The only thing clearly visible was a tiny pair of words etched in the lower-right corner of the jade piece: {Divine Ability}.
TL Note: God damn this chapter took way too long
PR Note: Speed here, for those of you who were calculating out how far each team could go based on the three actions per person each turn, and the cost to move and lock being two with all else being one, you may have noticed that each turn, each team of two could only move at most one room. That being said, if they each moved one room on every turn, Chen Junnan and Cui Fourteen would arrive at room 8 on turn four. Ma Twelve and Wu Thirteen would also have arrived at room 8 on turn four. But the author missed this apparently, and did not have them meet up in this room.
Turn 1: CJ/C14 enter room 5, M12/W13 enter room 2
Turn 2: CJ/C14 enter room 6, M12/W13 enter room 3
Turn 3: CJ/C14 enter room 7, M12/W13 enter room 4
Turn 4: CJ/C14 enter room 8, M12/W13 enter room 8
Turn 5: Everyone enter room 12
Turn 6: Everyone enter room 16 (exit)
Even if there were locked doors, each team has 6 actions in total, so unlock door, open door, both move = 6 actions. If the door was unlocked, open door, both move, open other door = 6 actions. If the door was already open, both move, unlock next door, open next door = 6 actions. There is no way for them to have moved two rooms in a single turn, which means no way for them to not meet up in room 8. If you’ve read this far and completely understood on your first read, I applaud you. If you had to go back and reread this, no worries, I had to reread the chapters a few times too.
