-124-

Thick smoke billowed from within the temple walls.

Monks in grey robes were frantically putting out the fire, while small tabby cats and Pekingese dogs were jumping around in the crowd.

Lu Cai looked at the system group chat interface with a blank expression.

She was standing in the corner, shaded by flower beds and plants, and far away from the fire, so she was not discovered for the time being.

Hua Xiaochi discovered that there are three forces here?

Lu Cai turned his head and looked at the spotted snake on the ground. Its power had been exhausted due to an "explosion". The red silk thread was still wrapped around the snake.

Her gaze paused for a moment, then she looked at the cats and dogs jumping in the crowd.

666 and Zhao Yan also used their abilities within their capabilities.

Finally, Lu Cai shifted his gaze from Zhao Yan to the kitten.

Not only her, but even others can't sense the energy of 666?

Is it because the scavenger's data is too close to the game's own data? But Lu Cai can even analyze the data of the player system.

[Yue Xiaoyan: There is a fourth signal energy spreading.]

When Lu Cai saw the news, he frowned and a sharp scream came from the front hall.

"The Buddha statue was broken!"

Wow, smashing Buddha statues in a temple?

Although this group of monks seemed particularly perfunctory in their performance and didn't look like monks in a temple at all, they wouldn't be so angry as to smash people in the face, right?

The fire was put out, and the monks who were fighting the fire didn't care about the cats and dogs. They left two people to watch out for sparks, and the rest ran towards the front hall.

Lu Cai, of course, took advantage of the chaos and rushed to the front hall, following the panicked monks. 666 and Zhao Yan, needless to say, simply vanished from sight.

Zhao Yan was small in stature, so he crawled directly under the wooden table in front of the Buddha statue, and then 666 lightly jumped onto the beam.

Lu Cai avoided the crowd and went around from the back room to the front of the Buddha statue. The large floor-standing incense burner and the curtains hanging from the corridor pillars made her body look like this.

Her eyes moved upwards and fell on the gilded Buddha statue.

The Buddha statue's brows were compassionate, its eyes were downcast, and a faint smile seemed to grace its gentle face. But something had struck its chest, leaving only a dark hole.

The stone taken out from the Buddha's chest was broken into fine pieces and scattered under the lotus seat.

"What's going on?" A monk who seemed to be the leader spoke, his tone full of anger.

Someone immediately responded: "It exploded suddenly, and I didn't see anyone running away--"

"No one? Are there any animals?" the leader asked sternly, "Cats, dogs, sparrows, parrots, etc.—"

The man was stunned: "This...we didn't pay much attention..."

The leader rubbed his brows and said, "What did I say? Don't let any movement go!"

Lu Cai was listening to the conversation between the two in the corner. It was impossible for him not to be surprised. This person actually knew to be wary of animals?

What is his identity? A player? A system agent? Or an awakened NPC?

Just as Lu Cai was about to analyze his data, another monk rushed into the front hall.

"Oh no! Those monks have all run away!"

The leader's eyes widened, and he turned to look at the messenger with a fierce look: "What did you say?"

The man quickly spoke, trying to calm the leader's anger: "The one who rescued them was a black and white rabbit. It was very small and had short ears."

The leader gritted his teeth and said, "Find it!"

Lu Cai hid in the shadows, her figure swaying. When they rushed out of the front hall, her eyes could not help but turn to the Buddha statue.

Did another player really come here? What was his purpose in destroying the Buddha statue?

There was still one monk guarding the hall when a gray shadow jumped down from the beam. Before the man could scream, a red light wrapped around him and entangled him, sealing his mouth.

The monk fell to the ground, turned over in fear, and saw a tabby cat kitten gradually walking away. Not far away stood a black horse, and a puppy crawled out from under the altar.

Looking closely, isn't this the cat and dog they were chasing just now?

"There are other players in this branch—" Zhao Yan jumped out from under the table and asked hurriedly.

Lu Cai nodded, then turned his gaze to the Buddha statue: "Can you see what's wrong with this Buddha statue?"

Zhao Yan turned around and looked at the Buddha statue whose heart had been ripped out. Before he could figure out what was going on, a strange male voice rang out.

"You are the ones who stole the jade beads?"

Lu Cai was startled. She didn't even notice anyone approaching!

He turned around quickly, and the red threads around him were suspended and tense, as if he could enter the attack state at any time.

I turned around and looked outside the door, but there was no one there.

It wasn't until she looked down and saw a black and white ball that she couldn't help but remember the messenger's words -

It is a black and white rabbit, very small with short ears.

Dwarf rabbit.

A dwarf rabbit with a pure white background, but the two short ears around his eyes are covered with pure black fur without any other colors.

"I'm a player and I have no ill will towards you." The dwarf rabbit explained in a calm tone.

Cai Lu looked at his data and saw that he was a player. He was not lying.

"Wen An! Don't believe them!" The spotted snake, who had been silent all this time, suddenly shouted, "That cat is a scavenger!"

Lu Cai exerted a little force, and the red silk wrapped tightly. The snake's voice gradually became smaller, and its eyes widened as it was tightly strangled.

The dwarf rabbit looked up at the spotted snake, then backed away, his tone calm, without a trace of worry. "He and I are a temporary team. I can't say I know him completely, but I'm sure he's a simple man."

Cai Lu raised his eyebrows. Doesn't this mean that the snake people are stupid and easy to deceive?

So the flower-skinned snake was exploited by someone with ulterior motives.

"Now, our goal is the same: to leave this branch." The dwarf rabbit hopped into the hall. He looked up at the black hole in the Buddha statue's chest. "Return the jade bead to its place, and we can leave."

Zhao Yan didn't believe this player who suddenly appeared. He questioned, "How do you know we have jade beads?" He paused and said, "Even if we do, why should we take them out just because of you?"

The dwarf rabbit nodded, and then a small jade box appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground.

This is what he took out from the system card slot.

Lu Cai couldn't help but walk closer. The shape and size of this jade box were the same as the black hole in the chest of the Buddha statue.

"You dug it out of the Buddha statue's chest?"

The dwarf rabbit nodded. "This subplot tells the story of a stolen Buddhist treasure. When I arrived at the temple, the monks didn't make a sound, and the news of the missing treasure hadn't leaked."

He looked at the monks who were tied up on one side and said, "Later I found out that they were all fake monks. The real monks were tied up by them."

Activating the supernatural energy, Hongsi lifted the jade box, the energy fluctuated gently, and opened the lid.

There was nothing inside except a metal frame with an arc-shaped groove in the center.

Lu Cai could see that this was the place to place the jade beads.

"Beads." She said to Zhao Yan.

On their way to this ancient temple, they had already opened the plastic ball and taken out this "Buddha treasure".

Zhao Yan was a little skeptical about the dwarf rabbit, but since Lu Cai had spoken, he didn't refute it any further.

Hongsi picked up the jade beads on the ground.

The jade bead slowly approached the jade box, and Lu Cai felt that as they got closer, both began to tremble.

Everyone stopped talking and breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at the jade bead, which was neither too big nor too small and was perfectly embedded in the iron frame.

Lu Cai carefully used the red silk to lift the jade box upwards and slowly closed it into the hole of the Buddha statue...

——

The clock's second hand ticked away, and the light in the laboratory was dim.

The boy was wearing a black coat and sitting in front of the laboratory operating table.

"You disobeyed my orders?"

A familiar female voice rang out: "Mr. Lu, this is a survival experience game. The defense mechanism exists to ensure the personal safety of the players. I cannot replace it—"

A shadow appeared on the boy's face, covering his eyes. "But you are programmed to obey orders absolutely."

"Mr. Lu, the doctor has given me the ability to make independent judgments." The woman's voice was gentle, and she was not afraid of the boy's gradually gloomy tone.

"You mean, even if I inherit this system, I can only follow your instructions?" The boy sneered, "You are just stringing data—"

The female voice sighed faintly, but still answered his question patiently and gently: "I will follow your arrangements, but maintaining the stability of the game system is my responsibility..." Her voice became intermittent.

The boy operated on the console, and the noise of signal interference covered the female voice.

His face was expressionless, but a faint smile appeared in his dark eyes.

Suddenly the boy stopped moving, the signal interference sound disappeared, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

"The doctor set up a protection system for me. Even the doctor himself cannot remove this barrier."

The young man stood there, his face gradually becoming ferocious, but after a while, he started laughing again.

"He said it was a gift for me, but he was just looking for a guardian for you."

"The doctor hopes you'll have fun with this," the female voice comforted him.

The boy's laughter gradually died down. "I don't need his charity..." His lips were still curled, but his face was cold and vicious, like a venomous snake ready to strike at any time. "I want to see how strong the barrier that even he can't break is."

The light gradually dimmed and the scene began to distort.

Lu Cai felt dizzy, and his limbs were entangled by a force and pulled in different directions.

She wanted to scream, but no sound came out. She wanted to resist with her supernatural powers, but she couldn't mobilize any energy.

The dizziness became more and more obvious, but she was in a daze.

She wanted to escape! She had to escape!

Where to escape to? Escape to...

......

"Lu Cai!"

Lu Cai suddenly opened his eyes and saw Lao Ke's cunning eyes.

"You're finally awake—" the Pekingese beside him wagged its tail.

"If you don't wake up, someone will be drowned in their own tears." The white-legged falcon saw that she woke up and still had the mind to make a joke.

"I'm not crying—" He could only hear the voice but not see the person, but Lu Cai guessed who was speaking. "Besides, even if I cried, it's none of your business!"

After all, it was the posture of a horse, and it was inevitable that I would feel uncomfortable always looking up at them.

Lu Cai tried to prop himself up and stand up.

Lao Ke held the horse's back and let her get up from the ground.

"What's going on?" She was still a little confused.

As the person involved, Zhao Yan quickly replied: "You put the jade beads into the Buddha statue, and we will come out!"

Finally, he seemed to sigh, "That dwarf rabbit didn't lie—"

Lu Cai couldn't help but think of another thing, who are those fake monks...

"By the way, where is the flower-skinned snake?" She felt it and found that the supernatural energy bound to the flower-skinned snake had also lost its sensitivity.

"They should have entered the branch line from somewhere else." Lao Ke looked at her with a searching look in his eyes.

Lu Cai's thoughts and mood were still in a mess. She glanced casually and saw Yue Xiaoyan in the water ball beside her. A little further away, there was a warm yellow hamster.

His gaze continued to move until it met 666's crimson eyes.

The complicated emotions gradually return to silence.