Scary, that was the perfect term to describe that face. That face, well… it looked like it belonged to an old crone who had lived for three hundred plus years and was still shriveling. Even Feng Bujue did not have the heart to comment on the face because the words that appeared in his mind were all too harsh, so he could only sigh in a roundabout way.
“This is like the scene of a car accident…” He widened his eyes and shook his head. “I can’t move my eyes away.”
The owner of the face behind the tree was obviously categorized as a ’monster’ by the system. This kind of creature was hostile toward player characters and would choose to ignore certain words out of the players’ lips. For example, terms like sci-fi, world-building, and car accident would be ignored by the monster. These words would not trigger any event or change the monster’s behavior.
“Are you… looking for the Temple of the Lost Bell?” the strange face asked.
“Yes,” Feng Bujue answered instantly.
Passing Rain glanced at Feng Bujue, feeling impressed. She thought, We just heard this new term about two seconds ago, but he said yes almost instantly, and that is without a sign of deceit on his face…
“Hahaha…” The face laughed, and then the sound of bells came from behind the trunk. “How do you expect to find it without a bell?”
The face raised her arm from behind the trunk. She was wearing a normal white cloth shirt, and from the exposed sleeve, her clothes was clean and well-kept. In Feng Bujue’s mind, this kind of monster’s arm should have been wrapped in rotten mummy wraps. He had not expected this. But he did not linger on that issue for too long because his gaze was attracted by the bell that the arm was holding. It was a small bell that was the size of one’s palm. It was silver in color. Sunlight filtered through the trees and fell on the metallic bell, shining with a glint.
“With this bell, can one find the Temple of the Lost Bell?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Yes, only with the bell can you reach the entrance,” the face said. “Do you want it?”
“Hmm? The way you put it, are you willing to give it to me?” Feng Bujue asked again.
“Of course, hehe…” The face laughed again, and from a certain perspective, that was scarier than when it was not laughing, “Come over here, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Hahaha… Sure.” Feng Bujue took out the bench from his inventory with a face filled with smiles.
The face did not know how to respond. Perhaps she could not process the fact that the man had taken out a weapon. When Feng Bujue was less than three meters from her, she asked, “Wait… what are you holding?”
“Oh, this?” Feng Bujue answered matter-of-factly, “A bench.”
“Why are you holding a bench?”
“I wish to sit after standing for so long,” Feng Bujue replied. “After taking the bell, I wish to sit and rest.”
The face studied him carefully. “Okay… come over here.”
Passing Rain stood where she was and studied the situation. She felt like laughing internally. She believed that only Feng Bujue could make this kind of situation humorous… but Passing Rain did not lower her guard. If the monster launched some surprise attack, she would instantly rush forward to provide support.
Feng Bujue soon reached the side of the big tree. With every step, he placed his center of gravity on the leg that was taking the later step. He would step forward, place it daintily on the ground to make sure that it was firm, and then take the consequent step.
“What are you doing now?” the strange face asked again.
“A stretching exercise to see if there’s any problem with my leg.”
“Don’t you know if there’s a problem with your own leg?” The face revealed a fiendish snarl. “Are you suspecting me of laying a trap for you?”
“Of course not,” Feng Bujue replied calmly. “One needs to take several steps to know whether one’s leg is functioning well or not.”
At this point, he mimicked Michael Jackson and did a moonwalk to sidle several steps back. “See… this is proof that everything’s fine…”
Passing Rain could not hold the laughter in anymore. Even the monster was stunned. What kind of situation was this? The man used this kind of posture to move backward?
“Okay, fine, get over here now. Do you still want the bell or not?” The face’s gaze and tone were rife with an easy to spot greed and desperation. Feng Bujue studied the face and looked around. He had discounted the possibility of trap, so he thought that the issue was probably with that tree.
“Can I ask you something? Why are you hiding behind that tree?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Come over, and you’ll… see for yourself, right?” the face replied. Feng Bujue was very close to her then. He only needed to take several more steps to see what was happening behind the trunk. But just as he prepared to move, the face seemed to sense something and yelled, “Don’t move! What are you doing moving there?”
“Checking to see why you are hiding behind the tree,” Feng Bujue answered while moving from the side to look behind the trunk while maintaining the same distance. To his surprise, the face moved with him around the trunk, always ensuring that only her face and a single arm were exposed.
“Don’t walk around it!” Seeing the change in the situation, the face started to warn him. “Just walk directly past the tree, or else I’ll destroy the bell!”
This monster missed one thing. Just as she moved along with Feng Bujue to change her hiding spot, Passing Rain entered her blind spot. Just at that moment, Passing Rain started to move, getting near from the other side of the trunk. From Feng Bujue’s position, he could see what Passing Rain was doing, but the man’s expression and gaze did not betray his teammate’s movement at all. There was no caution or nervousness on his face.
“Okay, I’m really coming over now! This is it!” Feng Bujue slightly raised his voice and spoke a few meaninglessness statements. “I am taking this large step over noooooooow.”
He pulled the word long, but his feet never moved a bit. This was stalling to help cover for Passing Rain.
Actually, Passing Rain did not need this laughable cover. In less than ten seconds, she silently and swiftly circled to the angle where the monster was hiding. The scene that fell into her eyes caused Passing Rain’s heart to squeeze. Her arched brows frowned, and she raised her voice to shout back at Feng Bujue, “She only has one head and an arm. Her neck and arm grow out directly from the tree. Don’t get any closer to the tree!”