Chapter 222: White Orchid Rain Festival (IV)
At first glance, the friction sound sounds like the sound of metal being polished with sandpaper, but if you listen carefully, it doesn't seem like it.
Especially that sound, which disappeared without a trace the moment the players stepped into the High Priest's Mansion, as if it had never existed. Everything that just happened was just an auditory hallucination caused by the high temperature.
But Nan Huan did not ignore the abnormal pause of the butler in front of him.
This house is much bigger than it looks from the outside. Not only does it not have modern decorations, it also feels out of place in the entire city. In terms of style, it looks like the kind of houses from the Republic of China period that you see in TV dramas, which combine the best of various styles.
After the sun went down, the sky immediately darkened. All the lanterns hanging in the house were lit up, creating a strange atmosphere in the dim light.
In addition to the housekeeper, there were many people wearing gray robes in the house. However, they all seemed to be busy with their own things, some carrying incense tables, and some preparing things needed for sacrifices.
When he saw the butler leading everyone in, he didn't react too much and even walked past the players without looking at them.
"Please forgive me, because there are a lot of candidates for the Saint this time. I have asked people to prepare two halls for everyone to rest. Please take a break for a while."
Until the butler led everyone to a large courtyard, pointed to the two halls on the left and right, gave an order, and left.
Considering that this butler is an important NPC, what side quest will be triggered next, and what death rules may be hidden in his words, the players have not yet explored this strange house without permission.
There are a total of forty players and two halls. The number of people is easy to divide, especially when the president and the eldest lady have already walked into the hall on the left.
Naturally, President Barbie, President Alice, President Pink and President Working People followed in with their players.
It seemed that everyone was in opposition from the very beginning of this copy. The remaining presidents did not show any obvious expression on their faces, but judging from the current situation, everyone had no intention of immediately tearing each other apart and fighting among themselves, so their current unanimous external enemy was still one guild and the other guilds attached to it.
The area of the hall was not very large. Apart from a few antique display shelves against the wall, there was only a large round table in the middle, with a total of twenty seats, no more, no less.
It seemed to be specially prepared for them. After entering the high priest's mansion, Nan Huan got down from Bei Xi's arms.
At this time, everyone was a little tired because of the overheated weather, only she and Bei Xi were in better spirits.
I just walked around the hall for a long time and didn't find any useful information.
"Did everyone hear the main quest just now?"
President Alice sat for a while and felt a little bored. As if she suddenly remembered something, she said something out of the blue.
The remaining few guild leaders did not quite understand what President Alice meant by suddenly bringing this up. When they looked up, they found that the other party's eyes were fixed on the face of the Tenth President, as if observing the other party's reaction.
However, the latter looked a little tired, as if he was very sleepy. At this moment, he had already leaned his head on his back and dozed off, without any awareness that he was deep in a dangerous copy.
It was the girl next to her who also had severe dark circles under her eyes. When she realized that President Alice seemed to be talking to her own president, she shook the arm of President Ten in embarrassment in front of everyone.
"President, President, someone is talking to you?"
"What did you say?" The Worker's President reluctantly lifted his eyelids and yawned, only to find that his blue shirt was rolled up into his pants. After pulling it out in front of others, he looked at President Alice reluctantly, "I'm sorry, President Alice, I didn't hear you clearly just now, can you say it again?"
This was the first time Alice had seen such a shameless person. The key point was that although he was the president of the Tenth Guild, he always looked absent-minded.
Now, except for her, the new member, everyone is already old friends who have worked together. Some things are not appropriate to say in front of her, so Alice wants to find out the other party's attitude.
The other guild presidents naturally understood what Alice meant. They did not intervene or say anything, but just watched the reaction of the tenth guild president.
Nanhu was also very interested in this tenth president who did not play by the rules, so he sat down.
"I just asked the Tenth Guild Master what he thought of the main quest announced by the system earlier?"
President Alice smiled and asked a more accurate question. She didn't mind repeating it, but she felt that the other party's attitude was a little strange, but she couldn't see what the problem was.
"After all, according to the main quest announced by the system, there is only one player who can become a saint in the end, and only this one player can possibly get the fragment of the faith totem. Are the other players just here to make up the denominator?"
Although the Tenth President had expressed his stance by borrowing things from the eldest lady, the other guilds did not know her well and were not sure whether this was a sign of true surrender or just a stopgap measure.
The remaining guilds had witnessed the abilities of the eldest lady and knew a little more about the fragments of the faith totem than other players, so they had already determined that if only one player could become the saint, everyone agreed that this person would be the eldest lady.
Based on their cooperation, their guilds will not fight among themselves to become the Saint, but this is not necessarily the case for the ten guilds of the new Cat Head.
It seemed that the Workers' Guild President really did not sleep well before entering the dungeon. While Alice was talking, her eyes had unconsciously narrowed again. If the girl next to her had not touched her again, I'm afraid President Alice would have to repeat the previous question.
"I'm here to make up the difference," the Workers' Guild President didn't beat around the bush. After hearing what President Alice said, he knew what she meant. "I didn't intend to vote, but I had no choice. You all actively wanted to enter this dungeon, and you knew that the Ten Guilds couldn't escape, so you came in."
Although the question was asked by President Alice, the words of the Workers' President were indeed explained to all the players present.
"But it would be a lie to say that I'm not interested in the fragments of the Faith Totem."
Speaking of this matter, she finally seemed to wake up, and even straightened her back. She glanced at the faces of the other guild presidents except the first president and the eldest lady, "But I found something very interesting."
At this point, she curled up a sly smile, "The young lady went to four dungeons. Except for the first dungeon where there was no strong opponent, she brought out two living players. Of course, they are now players of the same guild."
"In the remaining instances, different guilds from the top ten guilds participated. Sometimes, more than one guild leader entered the instance. But the strange thing is that from the time the young lady first got the Faith Totem Fragment until now, there has been no information about the method and conditions for obtaining the Faith Totem Fragment. There has not been any news at all."
Having said this, she seemed to feel sleepy again, so she had to play with her fingers.
Nan Huan was somewhat interested in her strong insight, but he also discovered that the Tenth President's sleepiness did not seem to be under his control.
“So, I came to a conclusion.”
She stretched out two knuckles and tapped the table twice, while refocusing her gaze on the faces of the president and the eldest lady.
"That's the way to get the Faith Totem fragments. I'm sure only the young lady and the first president know it. Although you've all been in the same instance before, for some reason, you don't know how to get the Faith Totem fragments. But at the same time, you seem to be certain that only the young lady can get it."
"You are more capable than me and have already accepted this conclusion. Why should I struggle? Cooperation is a win-win choice, right?"
After she finished speaking, she returned to her unkempt look and smiled, "So you don't have to doubt my allegiance. I am sincere. Of course, I am not stupid enough to use my four people to deal with so many of you."
How to say it?
These words are both reasonable and unexpected.
He was very frank, even a little too frank, but it gave other players present a reassurance.
"Is it your skill that causes you to become uncontrollably sleepy?"
Seeing how generous she was, Nan Huan simply asked questions about her skills.
In fact, as early as when they were in the rest area, Twelve had already introduced to her the different skills of the ten major guild presidents. In addition to Beixi's mysterious personal skills that were circulated among many players, what made everyone even more curious was the personal skills of President Ten.
Because all players know that each other's personal skill is called "Working Man", but they don't know what the specific implementation effect of this skill is, because its external form seems to be different every time.
Seeing the other party's reaction at this moment, Nan Huan had some guesses in his mind.
The Tenth Guild Master's expression finally changed. He was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Nan Huan seriously, "I believe you must have some extraordinary qualities, so you were able to get four pieces of the Faith Totem fragments. After all..."
She suddenly lowered her voice and looked into the dark night. "You are the first one to notice the impact of personal skills on my body. If there is a chance in this dungeon, we can still compete with each other."
The Tenth President did not hide anything and seemed to be a little happy that the eldest lady had figured out this matter, and responded with an ambiguous statement.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
The timely appearance of the butler interrupted the two men's conversation. Behind him were several servants in robes, holding trays in their hands.
He stood there, bowed slightly, and then gestured to the person behind him.
The servants came forward with trays and placed bone china bowls in front of everyone one by one.
Yes, there were many exquisite small bowls on the tray, and the bowls seemed to be filled with clear water.
Because from the outside, it looks like clear water.
But in Nan Huan's eyes, it was not like that. She winked at everyone and looked at Bei Xi.
Soon a secret communication channel was established.
In the secret channel that the housekeeper couldn't see or hear, Nan Huan had already said, "There's something wrong with this water. Don't touch it, and don't drink it for now."
They had already stayed outdoors for a long time, and the hot and humid weather made the players a little dehydrated, so after seeing the clean water, the players had an instinctive urge to drink it.
Some players even put their hands on the table unconsciously, but were frightened by the eldest lady's words and wanted to stay eight feet away from the bowl of water, and retreated in unison.
The housekeeper did not notice this, but was just wondering, because in the past the saint would always be a little impatient, but this time she seemed to be able to keep her composure.
"Everyone, quench your thirst first. You've all worked hard coming from afar."
Well, everyone knows that there is something wrong with the water. Wouldn’t it be crazy if anyone drank it?
But this is an important NPC in the dungeon game after all. Although his words are not a 100% game rule that must be followed, they are an important clue to trigger the task after all, so the players are a little hesitant.
If I don’t drink, will I be unable to proceed with the game?
Fortunately, Bei Xi reacted quickly and winked at Nineteen beside him. The latter stood up with a smiling face.
"Hey, what's so hard about us?"
Nineteen was very good at handling this kind of public relations. He blocked the butler's gaze in a blink of an eye. "If the butler hadn't taken us in through the city gate, I'm afraid we would have been sunburned beyond recognition by now."
While Nineteen was talking, Nan Huan tapped the table with his little finger.
Unable to be seen by others, the twenty small bowls on the table were already surrounded by black air. To be precise, the clear water in the bowls was filled with black air. Nan Huan had seen it the moment those things were brought up.
At this moment, when no one could see, Nan Huan hooked his little finger, and all the black air was absorbed into his body, and the water turned into normal clear water.
"It's just that we are new here, and we don't know what the rules are in your house. I hope the housekeeper can tell us a little so that we don't disturb you."
Nineteen was originally responsible for handling these kinds of situations in the guild, so these words were very familiar to her.
The housekeeper was touched by her words, but he still did not forget what he had to do.
"Of course there are rules. You drink the water first, and then listen to me slowly. This is our custom here to welcome guests from afar. Every candidate saint who has just arrived must drink the water."
Well, as expected, the antonym of this statement is that if you don’t drink it, you will be eliminated from the list of candidates for the saint.
"It's ready, you can drink it."
Nan Huan notified everyone on the communication channel, and Nineteen also received the signal.
He moved away from the butler's gaze and turned to sit in his own seat.
"In that case, we'd better obey your orders respectfully."
Nan Huan and the chairman drank the water first, and the rest of the players followed them and drank the water.
Although they didn't understand what the young lady could see that they couldn't, and they didn't know whether the other party's finger movements just now could really solve the problem, but because of their previous interactions in the copy and the young lady's help, they still chose to believe it.
However, in the hall on the right side, which is separated by a courtyard, people were not so lucky.
The Gambler's Guild President and the other presidents were also very cautious. They even used props to monitor whether the water was poisonous or drugged, but the results were all good. In addition, the person sent by the butler conveyed the message, which meant that the water had to be drunk, so they had to drink it all.
There was actually no taste in the water, but maybe it was because of Nan Huan’s words just now, the players in the left hall felt a little scared when they drank the water.
When the butler saw that they all drank it up in one gulp, a satisfied smile finally appeared on his face.
"Yes, it can be seen that everyone wants to pass the selection of the Saint. This must be a good start."
The housekeeper said something to make the conversation flow, "Whether you are a saint or living in this noble high priest's mansion, there are some rules to follow. Please strictly abide by these rules and don't cross the line."
Here it comes, this is probably the rule of death.
"First of all, after nightfall, everyone needs to stay in the High Priest's Mansion and cannot leave without permission."
The butler put away his smile and returned to his previous gloomy look. With the dark red lantern behind him, it really had the feel of a horror movie.
"The second point is that since everyone wants to become a saint, from now on, the saint needs to fast in preparation for the sacrifice. They can only drink water and cannot eat ordinary food."
Well, this seems to make sense, but Nanhuan put quotation marks around "ordinary food". If we can't eat ordinary food, does it mean that there are special foods that can be eaten, or what is the definition of ordinary?
Some players were also confused by this special instruction, but the butler seemed not to hear her questions and did not have any right to explain what he said. Instead, he directly announced what he had not finished saying.
"Third, since the other party is a candidate saint, they should have their own sacrifices in order to prepare for the rain sacrifice."
Having said this, he paused and clapped his hands twice towards the outside of the courtyard.
At his signal, a series of servants in long robes came in from outside the courtyard, holding mahogany trays in their hands.
However, this time, there was no bowl or water with black smell in the tray. Instead, there was a black ceramic flowerpot. The flowerpot was not big, and there was a ten-centimeter-tall sapling growing in it.
There are only two leaves on the bare rhizome, and a black flower bud on the top of the branch.
Black flowerpots, white soil, black flower buds, and twenty plants that looked like they were carved from the same mold were delivered to everyone.
Before the butler could give further explanation, the system prompt sounded at the right time.
【bite--
Congratulations to the player for triggering the side quest - Blossom
Task Description:
You have successfully entered the High Priest's Palace as a candidate saint and received the exclusive offering of the saint.
The growth of the sacrifice will greatly affect your status as a saint. You must carefully protect your sacrifice and give it proper care.
Tip: Flowers need nutrients to grow. 】
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