Volume Three: Visiting Antiquities and Seeking Immortality Chapter Two: The Trials Practitioner is an Outsider

The car bumped along the mountain road continuously. Amidst the persistent swaying, Lu Yi slowly opened his eyes. Looking around, he found that Shen Yixue and Yuchan were also in the vehicle, along with several other people who did not wear wristwatches—evidently indigenous residents of the trial world.

Lu Yi raised an eyebrow. Since it was a competitive cooperation mode, introductions were not even necessary? Thinking this, he looked out the window and saw that the car was traveling along a pebble-paved mountain road.

Entering the mountains? Are they going to deliver the protagonist straight to us right away? Lu Yi exchanged a surprised glance with Shen Yixue.

Soon, the car stopped in a flat clearing. Lu Yi grabbed his backpack and stepped out of the vehicle, noticing several people wearing wristwatches gathered in small groups—clearly the remaining participants of this trial.

Seeing this, Lu Yi pulled Shen Yixue and Yuchan toward a secluded corner and spoke on the team channel, "Get ready. It looks like we'll be descending into the tomb right at the start of the mission."

"Oh," Yuchan nodded indifferently, while Shen Yixue looked somewhat apprehensive. "Lu Yi, do you think we'll run into roaming corpses right on our first tomb excavation? Should we go and sound out the indigenous people? Otherwise, there won't be time once we go down."

"No need," Lu Yi shook his head. "I observed earlier that although the mountain road is poorly paved, it was indeed artificially constructed, meaning this place isn't too remote. The sun hasn't set yet, so it's not time for the operation to begin."

"As for roaming corpses?" Lu Yi chuckled softly at this. "Even if they appear, with me and Yuchan here, they certainly won't be able to stir up any trouble."

"Roaming corpses?" Yuchan, who had been zoning out, snapped back to attention immediately upon hearing the word. She blinked at Lu Yi, "Are there sticky rice dumplings here? Sweet or salty? What's inside them?"

Shen Yixue speechless covered her face with her hand, while Lu Yi couldn't help but burst out laughing. He silently thanked his lucky stars that they hadn't been talking out loud directly; if Yuchan had suddenly blurted out something like that, wouldn't it have attracted everyone's attention?

"Yuchan, the roaming corpses we're talking about aren't for eating." Lu Yi patted Yuchan's head and explained slowly. After some clarification, Yuchan finally understood that the roaming corpses Lu Yi referred to were monsters, though she still couldn't fathom why monsters would be called sticky rice dumplings.

Just then, another van parked in the clearing. The protagonist of this trial world, Xu Tianyi, stepped out alongside several others, and those individuals carried their backpacks toward the center of the clearing.

The moment Xu Tianyi appeared, the watchers stationed all around simultaneously fixed their gazes on him, and two of them even walked directly toward him. Shen Yixue looked eager to try as well, but Lu Yi pulled her back firmly.

Lu Yi wrapped an arm around Shen Yixue's shoulders and whispered softly in her ear, "This Xu Tianyi's backpack is lighter than those of the people in the same car, which clearly indicates poor physical stamina.

His aura is weak, and his gaze lingers for roughly the same amount of time when sweeping past everyone, proving that he hasn't experienced anything similar and hasn't yet forged a discerning eye to quickly identify valuable targets. He must be a weak protagonist.

A protagonist like this won't provide much assistance in the early stages. Instead of running over to strike up an awkward conversation now, it's better to demonstrate our abilities and let him come to us."

Shen Yixue pinched Lu Yi lightly while whispering back, "We should still establish a good relationship with him. Look at this setup—fourteen participants, four teams. If we fall behind, others will seize the initiative. Besides, following the protagonist brings good fortune in times of adversity; there's no reason not to befriend him."

The protagonist brings good fortune in times of adversity? That's hard to say. Lu Yi grinned, still remembering the protagonist from his very first trial whose dreams of who would die invariably resulted in those people being attacked.

"It doesn't matter. Even if they befriend him first, it's fine. After all, the final ranking doesn't depend on who has a closer relationship with Xu Tianyi," Lu Yi said with a slight curl of his lips. "As for the good fortune you mentioned, we have Yuchan here to achieve the same effect."

Hearing her name called, Yuchan looked up blankly. Seeing Shen Yixue and Lu Yi standing close together, she quickly took a few steps and squeezed in beside Lu Yi.

Lu Yi smiled and gently patted Yuchan's head, while Shen Yixue looked at Yuchan with complete disbelief, though she ultimately followed Lu Yi's advice.

However, while Lu Yi's side chose not to approach Xu Tianyi, Xu Tianyi—after a bizarre conversation with two proactive participants—took the initiative to walk toward Lu Yi's group instead.

Seeing this, the captains of the other three teams narrowed their eyes, their gazes carrying a hint of ruthlessness.

Xu Tianyi smiled at Lu Yi, "You must be the organizer of this event."

Hearing Xu Tianyi's words, Lu Yi was slightly stunned. How could the other party think he was the organizer? Yet the next second, a flash of realization crossed Lu Yi's mind; the logic was actually simple. Lu Yi was currently holding Shen Yixue with Yuchan standing closely beside him—no matter how one looked at it, this posture did not resemble people about to go grave robbing.

Having figured out the cause of the misunderstanding, Lu Yi did not speak immediately, instead giving Shen Yixue a subtle look.

Shen Yixue caught on instantly and smiled slightly at Xu Tianyi, "No, we are not the organizers."

Xu Tianyi looked at Lu Yi and the others with great surprise, while the other participants lost interest upon hearing this. After all, it was just a misunderstanding, nothing worth paying attention to.

Seeing that Shen Yixue seemed a bit too enthusiastic and eager to continue the conversation, Lu Yi hastily pulled her closer into his embrace. "Is there something else you need?" Lu Yi asked Xu Tianyi with evident displeasure.

"No, nothing." Xu Tianyi looked somewhat embarrassed and quickly walked away.

A faint blush appeared on Shen Yixue's face. She gave Lu Yi a sidelong glance and whispered, "Lu Yi, did you deliberately chase him away just to take advantage of me?"

"No way. I really needed to chase him away. We currently know nothing about the situation. What if Xu Tianyi started overthinking and said something like 'how dangerous it will be later', how could I continue leading you two? How would I know if what he said was right or wrong, and how should I answer? If he remembered incorrectly and I nodded along, wouldn't I arouse the suspicion of the real organizers?"

Shen Yixue nodded and said with some annoyance, "That's true indeed. Saying too much leads to mistakes; how could I have forgotten that?" She looked around and said somewhat bashfully, "Well, now that everyone is watching, what should we do in this situation?"

Lu Yi glanced at the crowd, who looked like they were enjoying a good show, and frowned slightly. He thought for a moment and whispered on the team channel, "I think we should probably walk away for a bit and come back later."

"This," Shen Yixue looked at Lu Yi, "that's not a good idea. Putting aside what others might think of you and me, leaving Yuchan here alone is already quite inappropriate, and we might miss important information. How about you kiss me, and we call it square?"

"Can we?" Lu Yi was somewhat surprised.

Shen Yixue nodded and let out an almost imperceptible murmur of assent.

Lu Yi pulled Shen Yixue into his arms as the two of them slowly drew closer. Right at that moment, several people rushed out from the edge of the woods, and one of the middle-aged men laughed, "It looks like everyone has arrived."

Hearing this voice, Lu Yi and Shen Yixue startled and immediately separated. The onlookers, who had been enjoying the show, let out a collective sigh of regret.

Seeing their expressions, Shen Yixue blushed deeply and hid behind Lu Yi. Meanwhile, Lu Yi puffed out his chest and glared fiercely around at the crowd, looking very much like a lion patrolling its territory.

Yuchan, who had been spacing out beside Lu Yi, naturally received her share of the stares as well. She suddenly shivered and looked around in confusion.

Discovering so many people staring in their direction, she looked at Lu Yi, then placed her hands on her hips and glared at the onlookers with puffed-up cheeks. Her expression somewhat resembled Lu Yi's stance, though it fell far short in terms of imposing presence.

Shen Yixue had originally been hiding behind Lu Yi like an ostrich, but seeing Yuchan's expression, she couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing.

She punched Lu Yi in the back, "Were you waiting for this exact opportunity to get back at me for flirting earlier?"

"Of course not," Lu Yi naturally denied it flatly.

As soon as the middle-aged man walked over, he sensed the slightly bizarre atmosphere at the scene. He frowned and asked an indigenous resident, "Guo Qiang, what's going on here?"

The man called Guo Qiang walked a few steps toward the middle-aged man, and the two began whispering to each other.

Guo Qiang first described the situation that had just occurred, then couldn't help complaining, "Shopkeeper Xu, it's not that I like to grumble, but look at the kind of people these are. Out of these dozen or so people, not a single one has the slightest trace of earth on them—they're clearly amateurs.

Especially those three people; they actually have the leisure to pull off that kind of stunt at a time like this. Particularly those two women—their gazes lack any sharpness and they carry no aura at all; they probably haven't even done any other dirty work before. How can a team like this accomplish anything?"

The middle-aged man repeatedly placated Guo Qiang, "Guo Qiang, you have to understand what we invited them here for.

The tomb we are descending into this time is a royal tomb, and there are some eerie rumors surrounding the tomb master. Bringing in people who don't know the ropes serves two purposes: first, a large crowd can deter evil spirits, and second, since they know nothing, it will be much easier to trick them into acting as cannon fodder when necessary."

Unfortunately, the middle-aged man did not know that the dozen or so people they were discussing were all trial participants. While the two were talking, all four teams employed their various methods to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Having obtained the information about Guo Qiang and the middle-aged man's conversation from Yuchan, Lu Yi gained some understanding of their identities—as it turned out, they were just a bunch of expendable amateurs.

After exchanging a few more words, Guo Qiang and the middle-aged man reached an agreement. The middle-aged man walked to the center and spoke up, "We will begin breaking ground at 9 o'clock. If anyone wishes to stay behind on the surface, you can say so now; this is your last chance."

As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at the trial participants like Lu Yi.

The moment the middle-aged man finished speaking, one of the participants rushed to say, "Brothers are all here for the money, why would we back down at a time like this?"

The other two teams also chimed in with agreement. The middle-aged man nodded with a smile and then turned his gaze to Lu Yi's team.

Seeing this, Lu Yi chuckled, "Heh. I suppose the underground holds its own unique charm, so I naturally have no reason to quit."

The middle-aged man frowned, then nodded, "Since that's the case, I'll fill you in on the relevant information."