The Sun Temple —

From the first floor to the ninth floor, layer upon layer of traps, layer upon layer of danger.

If one avoided the traps, the path could be considered clear and unobstructed. But if the traps were triggered, it was a brush with death at every turn.

By the time they finally reached the top floor — the tenth floor — every single one of them was drenched in sweat and in a sorry state.

Even the most heroic of them all, Shen Mo, was soaked through, unable to hide the exhaustion on his face.

Bai Youwei was draped over Shen Mo’s back, looking listless and utterly worn out.

Nik had simply collapsed onto the ground, mouth agape, gasping for air. He felt like a dead dog that had been worked to death — no longer resembling anything human.

He no longer wanted to scold Bai Youwei.

He had no energy left to scold anyone……

……

The tenth floor was a flat, circular plaza — empty, bright, and swelteringly hot, because the center of the ceiling was a glass panel, and the interior was directly exposed to sunlight, making the temperature extremely high.

Sunlight poured down through the circular glass skylight, and the grey stone slabs reflected a dazzling white glare that made it nearly impossible to open one’s eyes.

Everyone kept to the edges, sitting in the shadow to rest.

The stone walls were covered in murals of various ferocious beasts — blurred and indistinct in the shifting play of light and shadow, though one could vaguely make out some fangs, some white bones.

“So…… what are you planning to do now?” Nik leaned against the wall and looked at them weakly.

He wasn’t an idiot. After watching Bai Youwei “enthusiastically” trigger trap after trap, he had a pretty good guess as to what she was thinking.

He didn’t deny that increasing risk might improve their score — but increasing risk also risked total annihilation. So even if others had suspected something similar, none of them would have gone as far as Bai Youwei…… this far. She was absolutely unhinged — she’d practically wanted to step on every single trap!

Recalling the hardships of the journey, Nik couldn’t help but close his eyes.

In his heart, he was completely opposed to all of this.

On the other side, Ada took out a bottle of water, drank it in a few gulps, and then tossed the plastic bottle aside. His sweat-soaked T-shirt clung to his body, his ponytail drooping, wet hair sticking to the back of his neck — none of his usual effortless style remaining.

He turned and asked Bai Youwei: “When do we make our move?”

He looked like he wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible and get out of this dungeon.

Bai Youwei looked up at the glaring sky. “……Let’s wait another half hour.”

Hearing this, Nik silently tugged the corner of his mouth, trying to muster a smile that was at least somewhat dignified — but found he couldn’t manage it.

According to his plan, they should wait until nightfall at least, taking advantage of the “Demon God’s” poor night vision — it would eat the offering loaded with explosives and they’d clear the stage with ease.

But now, he had no idea what Bai Youwei was planning to stir up……

Nik leaned his head back against the stone wall and said hoarsely: “Go ahead, tell me — what are you trying to do this time…… The offering — I only prepared one pig, and it’s already gone. I do still have some explosives.”

He tilted his head and looked at Bai Youwei: “What’s it going to be this time? Pop Rocks? Dried hawthorn slices?…… The Demon God’s hide is so thick it doesn’t even flinch at bullets. What tricks do you have left?”

Bai Youwei quietly produced a coil of rope and said, in a tone of consultation: “How about we strangle it to death?”

Nik: “……”

……

Half an hour later, the sun was directly overhead, and the temperature inside the temple had climbed even higher.

The shadows had shrunk to a narrow ring, and the stone floor in the middle was scorching hot from the sun.

Nik removed his shirt, stuffed the explosives inside, wadded it into a bundle, dripped a few drops of blood onto it, and then placed it on the raised altar in the center.

But apparently this thing needed a certain amount of weight to trigger the Demon God’s mechanism — without the little piglet, it clearly wasn’t heavy enough, and the altar showed no response whatsoever.

Bai Youwei added a few bags of potato chips, a few pouches of crackers, a few bottles of cola…… The altar finally stirred, and began slowly sinking.

And on the far side, the stone wall slowly raised a stone door.

Everyone gripped their ropes and stepped back, each in their respective positions.

Very soon, from within that stone door, there emerged an enormous creature. It was a monster even larger than an elephant! It looked something like a yak, and something like a wild boar — its massive, rotund body was covered in a thick layer of fur. The only way to judge where its head was, was by the pair of protruding tusks.

Nik cautiously stepped back, murmuring: “You want to strangle it — can you even tell where its neck is?”

Bai Youwei: “……”

—