TDU Chapter 502
Chapter 502 All Wrong
Terrestrial Rabbit touched the burn scars on his body, grit his teeth, and reached out to undo the door lock, then slowly pushed the door open.
But in the very next second, the triumphant smile on his face froze in place.
“The {Earthly Branch’s} round has ended. {Participants}, please proceed.”
Chen Junnan’s long-suppressed laughter finally spilled out. Even with human hearing at its worst, it was more than enough to tell that the other door to Room {Sixteen} had not been opened at all. This reckless gamble had used Ole Qi’s favorite approach. No one had expected that a single small lie could carry them all the way through.
“You finally f*cking fell for it…” Chen Junnan reached out and pushed the door open, leading everyone into the room together.
This was the endpoint of the game, Room {Sixteen}.
On two doors not far away hung two bright red Eight Immortals couplets, and beneath them was a ventilation opening labeled {Manifest!}.
“Cotton-tailed rascal da ge, you’re really something. How’s Room {Thirteen}, fun?” Chen Junnan took the various {divine artifacts} from everyone’s hands and dumped them all into the vent in one go. “So you really can get lost, after all?”
At the same time, amid Jiang Ten’s agonized scream, everyone pulled his head off, extracted the final iron-crutch artifact, and handed it to Chen Junnan.
Terrestrial Rabbit’s ears twitched. He heard Chen Junnan’s words loud and clear, and shock spread uncontrollably across his face.
Terrestrial Rabbit kept scanning the room he was in, Room {Thirteen}, utterly unable to figure out where things had gone wrong.
He had obviously avoided every obstacle and seen through all of their schemes. So why had he still ended up in Room {Thirteen}?
Room {Thirteen} and Room {Sixteen} occupied the lower-left and lower-right corners of the entire board, separated by a vast distance.
From what moment onward had his sense of direction been led astray?
{Buzz—}
Some unknown device inside the ventilation shaft began identifying the various divine artifacts. Within seconds, two wooden doors opened with a soft {click}. A wave of fetid air rushed in from outside, mingling with the stench of decay already filling the building.
At the same time the doors opened, the broadcast crackled to life. “The {participants} have opened the exit door; {Earthly Branch}, please respond promptly.”
“Oh?” Chen Junnan let out a cold laugh. “So this heartless little cotton-tailed rascal’s got a belly full of tricks, huh? There’s even a reminder like this?”
The cold, impersonal voice over the broadcast seemed almost mocking, drawing a sharp, ugly look across Terrestrial Rabbit’s face.
There was no need to consider the next round; even granting himself two extra turns, Room {Sixteen} was still out of reach.
He gave a bitter smile. The strength suddenly drained from his massive body, and with a heavy {thud}, Terrestrial Rabbit collapsed onto the floor.
What in the world had just happened?
Clearly, he had already started racking his head. Clearly, he was no longer relying on the powerful body he had always taken pride in. Yet he still could not win.
‘So tired…’ Terrestrial Rabbit leaned back and lay flat on the floor, a look of release on his face. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve been this exhausted… can’t outfight, can’t outscheme…there’s really no way at all, hahaha.’
He coughed a few times, touched the wounds covering his body, then looked up and said, “I’m done playing. I concede.”
The broadcast on the ceiling crackled again with a long stretch of {static}. This time, the noise lasted far longer than usual. Only after more than twenty seconds did a cold voice finally ring out above everyone’s heads: “{Earthly Branch} has voluntarily conceded. {Participants} are victorious.”
As soon as the announcement ended, all the room doors throughout the venue opened simultaneously. The broadcast sputtered a few more times before falling completely silent.
Turning his head, Chen Junnan looked through the successive open doors and saw Terrestrial Rabbit in Room {Thirteen}, sprawled on the floor with evident fatigue.
“Hey, cotton-tailed rascal da ge,” Chen Junnan called out. “We’re leaving now, yeah?”
Terrestrial Rabbit lay there and turned his head. Only then did everyone truly see how brutal the fight between him and Song Seven had been. His upper body, legs, face, and ears were all smeared with blood and scorched with burn marks, as though he had walked straight out of an inferno.
Hearing Chen Junnan’s question, Terrestrial Rabbit expressionlessly glanced at the group, then took a deep breath and pushed himself up from the ground. Step by step, he began moving toward Room {Sixteen}.
“Idiot Captain…” Jiang Ten frowned slightly and looked at Terrestrial Rabbit. Hugging his own head, he stepped out of the group and moved forward one pace. “I don’t think he’s given up. How about you all leave first? Good and evil always meet their reckoning in the end, and the righteous path of the mortal world endures. I remain capable of holding him at bay.”
“Enough with the opening soliloquy. Don’t worry about it, kid.” Chen Junnan reached out and patted Jiang Ten on the shoulder.
Jiang Ten’s body turned around, though he still had no head.
Chen Junnan sighed. “I almost forgot you’re a noggindowner now.”
“You…” Anger bubbled within Jiang Ten, yet he couldn’t tell why. All he could do was quietly ask the closest next person, “Do tell, what is a {noggindowner}?”
“Drop it.” Chen Junnan waved his hand. “What’s the point of knowing that? Anyway, stop worrying. That rabbit can’t make a move.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Since you seldom participate, you might not know: under normal rules, {Earthly Branches} only kill in games. Now that it's over, he can’t take the initiative to kill us.” Chen Junnan explained, “We’ve won this game. Relax.”
Terrestrial Rabbit walked toward them step by step. His build remained imposing, and with his long ears standing straight up, he had to lower his head slightly every time he passed through a doorway.
“Cotton-tailed rascal da ge, you’re in pretty good shape, huh? Still tough as nails. With that body of yours, you’re definitely living all the way till death.”
Hearing Chen Junnan’s words, Terrestrial Rabbit didn’t seem bothered at all. He merely looked at him with a solemn expression and asked, “What trick did you pull exactly? How did you make me lose my sense of direction?”
“Ha…” Chen Junnan laughed softly. “Why don’t you guess first? Let me see how much I’ve actually learned from Ole Qi.”
“Ole Qi?” Terrestrial Rabbit asked.
“A genuinely good man,” Chen Junnan replied without hesitation. “Just with a natural talent for being a swindler, so this young master picked up a few tricks myself.”
“A swindler…” Terrestrial Rabbit nodded, mulling for a moment before beginning, “I understand now. After my fight with Song Seven, you had sent someone to quietly seed deception in a room nearby, then deliberately wrote the words {all personnel remain silent} in Room {Ten}, a room that was never on your intended path. Believing I was clever, I intentionally chose the reverse direction. That was the moment you deceived me. While I advanced toward Room {Thirteen}, you led the remaining participants in the opposite direction, toward Room {Sixteen}. That way, even if I realized the truth later, it would already be far too late, since we were heading in completely opposite directions. Am I right?”
Chen Junnan listened for a long while, then slowly blinked and said, “What the hell are you even rambling about? Not a single word of that was right.”
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
