Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 1037: Chapter 1035: Blind Eye (1) Chapter 1037: Chapter 1035: Blind Eye (1) [Work for today has begun, entering containment scene 1-029.]

[Current SAN Points 97, current Inspiration 99.]

[…4%…6%…10%…18%…34%…66%…100%, containment scene loading complete.]

A First Phase item with restrictive abilities? Not bad.

Seeing the configuration phase skipped entirely, Fu Qian merely nodded silently.

He wasn’t in prime condition himself, which, in a sense, was a way to play to his strengths and avoid weaknesses.

With an optimistic and dialectical mindset, Fu Qian straightened out the clothes sponsored by Professor Lanaya on his way back, making him look more like an intellectual worker, as the task Introduction had already appeared.

[“Your eyes will deceive you.”]

Huh?

Savoring this equally philosophical sentence, Fu Qian realized his senses had recovered.

First Phase, restrictive item, and the Introduction is just eight words?

Indeed, nightlife can be too thrilling without care!

Muttering words of admiration, Fu Qian took in his present situation.

Not good!

The result was obvious.

He found himself inside a building surrounded by stone walls.

It was a small space, the ancient and mottled traces evident both overhead and beneath his feet, and without a single window.

The door, quite visible, was directly across on the wall facing him.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t just tightly shut; it lacked a handle from top to bottom, effectively discouraging any brute force attempts to break in.

Meanwhile, between him and the stone door was an equally ancient stone table, with a few items placed upon it.

A purely cerebral challenge, it seemed!

Given the excessive simplicity of the elements, Fu Qian swept his gaze over them and approached the stone table immediately.

A sacrificial table?

He had reason for such speculation, as arrayed on the stone table were variously sized, intricately designed metal goblets.

And at the very edge, there was a narrow, curved blade as long as a forearm.

In contrast to the goblets, the material of the knife appeared more like animal bone, covered in dark stains, as if absorbed with blood.

Despite this, one could still sense its keen edge, capable of splitting flesh.

Such a classic design!

Amidst his admiration, Fu Qian nonchalantly shifted these items aside to reveal what lay beneath.

It appeared to be the skin of some animal, hairless, with numerous small and large holes throughout.

Is this… a balance scale?

However, the pattern on it was exceedingly clear, and Fu Qian easily identified the main subject.

A very classic scale design, with six Stars drawn on opposite sides of the scale, where the goblets had been—five on one side and one on the other.

[Mission Update: Solve the puzzle of the Illusion Realm and meet up with teammates from the real world.]

And just as he finished observing, the task update even synced up with the sound by his ear.

A puzzle realm, then this isn’t the real world after all?

So that’s what “your eyes will deceive you” in the Introduction means?

Not too cryptic, but this puzzle…

Looking at the balance scale, the next moment Fu Qian furrowed his brow.

1+1+1+1+1=1?

I know eyes can be deceiving but not mathematics, but you can’t just make things up when adapting!

Facing the Andiel conundrum before him, Fu Qian shook his head and flipped over the tablecloth.

Nothing. That was all there was to the puzzle.

The situation was not difficult to understand; this scene of a creature sacrifice meant that the puzzle props were going to come from one’s own body.

He spread the tablecloth back out and Fu Qian picked up the Sacrificial Bone Knife, comparing it with a finger.

As a renowned academic leader, how could he fail to solve a simple addition or subtraction problem involving numbers less than ten?

If a plain equals sign doesn’t make sense, why not introduce the concept of sets?

And five stars on one side meant that fingers were undoubtedly one of the first things to come to mind.

Even kindergarteners know that fingers are an essential tool for solving math problems.

The Bone Knife was incredibly sharp, and it hardly took any effort to cut off the little finger of his left hand.

Blood flowed out, but not much, and the pain was not as severe as under normal circumstances, which further confirmed he was within an illusion.

Of course, for the average person, it would still be quite shocking.

Quietly assessing the situation, Fu Qian smoothly cut off the remaining four fingers one after another, placing each into the arranged metal cup.

Watching as the blood from the fingers quickly soaked the bottom of the cup, Fu Qian exerted a bit more effort, severing the palm of his left hand as well and tossing it into the cup on the other side of the scale.

After all this, Fu Qian put the Bone Knife back in place and silently waited a few seconds, until six stars lit up one by one.

With a profoundly heavy sound, the stone door on the opposite wall began to open slowly.

There, math truly wouldn’t deceive you.

Filled with respect for knowledge, Fu Qian didn’t hesitate and stepped directly through the stone door.

[Mission Complete]

[Current mission updated: Find the Blind Eye Holy Grail]

Amid the shattering imagery, almost at the same moment, another prompt also sounded.

Is this… the team we’re supposed to meet up with?

As his vision returned, Fu Qian squinted, taking in his surroundings.

The dim light, the ghastly illumination devices, plus the murky air, left no doubt that even after the illusion had lifted, he was still in a similar underground place.

And within a slightly larger space than before, a total of nine people were either sitting or standing in complete silence.

That wasn’t the focus—the key was the group’s attire.

Regardless of gender, they were all uniformly dressed in crisp, fully functional combat suits, and each person had different body parts adorned with pieces of gleaming Golden Equipment.

Saint Fighters, and golden ones at that?

For a moment, even Fu Qian was sincerely amazed at the fantasy of it all.

There was no helping it, it looked too much like the spoils of a dismembered Golden Saint.

He even had some on himself.

Fu Qian looked down; outside of the similar style combat suit, his left hand, which was used for solving the puzzle just moments ago, now wore a cold gauntlet, dazzling with gold.

“Someone’s come out already.”

Just as he appreciated the design, marveling at how flexible his fingers still were, a light laugh rang out.

It was a female team member, who was currently standing with her arms folded, leaning against the wall.

She looked to be in her thirties, with features and hair that were meticulously groomed.

The Golden Equipment she wore was a uniquely styled breastplate that stretched diagonally from her left shoulder down to the right side of her waist, with the surface even displaying elegant patterns.

It sounded like they had anticipated the puzzle-filled Illusion Realm?

They also seemed surprised that he had come to his senses so quickly.

“Not bad, Left Hand.”

While deducing silently, the female team member already called out, speaking with a smile.

“What kind of problem did you encounter?”

It appeared they had the concept down early, but was their codename based on the part of the equipment they wore?

Then I am certainly curious what your codename is?

Amazon Warrior?

Confirming his suspicion, Fu Qian also silently complained internally.

“Indeed, it was a fairly simple math problem that could be solved by counting on fingers.”