Chapter 98 Xiawei Temple, Three Watches in One
To be honest, Yu Naixin still has no idea where the headless stone ghost's obsession with her comes from.
Although the means and methods involved killing her, the headless stone ghost's motives and purposes were completely different from all the other guest characters Yu Naixin had encountered before.
The other guest characters wanted to kill Yu Naixin because they coveted her flesh and wanted to devour her body, while the headless stone ghost seemed to want to kill Yu Naixin simply to kill her.
It's like getting rid of an item you don't like.
This feeling of rejection and disgust, coupled with the terrifying murderous aura emanating from the headless stone ghost, made Yu Naixin wonder for a second what deep-seated hatred she had for the headless stone ghost.
It feels like a blood feud at least on the level of killing one's father or mother.
The butter-flower monk was a beat slow, and only then did he see Yu Naixin's figure following the direction in which the headless stone ghost's attention had shifted.
Butter Monk: "...?!"
Yu Naixin wouldn't stay within the lotus pond area as he requested, which didn't surprise the butter flower monk. This female guest was not only very intelligent but also had her own ideas, and it was unlikely that she wouldn't take any further action.
However, the butter-flower monk did not expect that Yu Naixin would so brazenly expose herself to the headless stone ghost.
Yu Naixin clearly experienced the murderous aura of the headless stone demon firsthand; she should know very well how dangerous it is!
Without a second thought, the butter-flower monk flicked his right sleeve and stood between the headless stone ghost and Yu Naixin, trying to stop the headless stone ghost's actions.
Yu Naixin also took this opportunity to quickly summon the priest's folding fan from the shadows, and lightly leaped onto the fan.
Judging from the previous fight between the headless stone ghost and the butter flower monk, he mainly relied on the stone sword in his hand and the superior strength of his body to fight, and he could move freely in the entire Xiawei Temple, which contained bluestone.
So Yu Naixin rode the priest's folding fan and ascended straight up.
The airspace is a blind spot for the headless stone golem's firepower, making it very difficult to attack her.
In this way, Yu Naixin can ensure her safety to the greatest extent possible in the shortest time and at the lowest cost.
Unless the headless stone golem has some other means of taking off.
The butter-flower monk was far weaker than the headless stone ghost in terms of combat strength. He had already been fighting the headless stone ghost for several hours and was quite exhausted. Without the advantage of his home field, he was unable to pose much of an effective obstacle to the headless stone ghost.
He only managed to block the headless stone demon for less than twenty seconds before the demon pierced his right side with a single sword strike.
The dark red monk's robe was already stained with blood, and the fabric was full of tears and defects. After being hit by this solid sword, the butter flower monk trembled violently and then spat out a large amount of blood from his mouth.
The headless stone demon gripped the sword hilt and mercilessly churned the much larger stone sword than usual inside the butter flower monk's wound several times.
The movements were swift and ruthless.
Blood gushed out wildly from the increasingly enlarged and malignant wound.
When the headless stone demon withdrew the stone sword, the butter flower monk's entire right side of his chest was covered in a huge bloody hole, through which one could even see the scenery behind him.
The viewers in the live stream were stunned by this scene.
【?! Huh? What's going on?! Why does the butter monk seem genuinely trying to protect the female guest?!】
[This male guest's body structure seems to be similar to that of a human; the wound is so large it almost touches his left heart!]
[No matter how you look at it, this goes beyond the typical scenario of guest participants trying to gain favor with other guests to make them easier to eliminate! This is practically courting disaster!]
I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with my eyes! This is just too illogical!
[What?! What's he after?! Aside from greatly increasing their spiritual power after absorbing the power and helping them fight against the dungeon rules, the show's guests don't offer any other benefits to the dungeon's guests at all?!]
[Don't tell me this monk actually fell for the female guest! As everyone knows, in "Heartbeat 1000%", the only time a guest can truly experience 1000% physiological attraction is when either they or the other person is about to die.]
[The butter monk had interacted with the female guest before, so why did they act like one of them was interested in the other? Their combined likability probably didn't even exceed 10%!]
[Hilarious! It's true, the Little Witch has never been polite to the guests on the show, so it's impossible for her to develop any feelings for this male guest. The male guest's strongest feelings for the Little Witch probably arose when he was frantically trying to avoid her physical contact.]
The headless stone demon had clearly learned from its fight with the butter flower monk and knew that this would render the monk unable to move. It immediately swept the butter flower monk aside with another sword strike and, without any obstruction, continued to rush straight towards Yu Naixin's location.
He is like a tireless machine, maintaining incredibly high energy levels from the moment he appeared.
Yu Naixin stopped at a spot that was a head taller than all the buildings in Xiawei Temple, and turned her gaze back to the two male guests.
She immediately spotted the headless stone ghost running right below her. The male guest's movements looked clumsy and heavy, but he was actually quite fast.
Looking further into the distance, Yu Naixin finally spotted the butter monk still near the central building on the north side of the backyard.
The butter-flower monk, covered in blood, trembled and swayed like a withered autumn leaf, but finally could not hold on and collapsed to the ground.
With Yu Naixin's current eyesight, she can clearly see the shocking bloody hole on the monk's chest.
Yu Naixin: "...?!"
Yu Naixin's eyes widened in surprise.
Just like the disbelief of the viewers in the live stream, Yu Naixin never expected that the butter monk would go to such lengths for her.
This was the first time Yu Naixin had ever encountered a guest on a show like this who would protect her so much.
Without much hesitation, Yu Naixin ignored the headless stone ghost beneath her feet and ordered the priest with the folding fan to rush to the butter flower monk as quickly as possible.
Lowering herself, Yu Naixin reached out and slipped her hands through the butter flower monk's arms, pulling him up from the ground and then carrying him high into the air, flying towards the lotus pond.
If others give me a peach, I should also return the favor.
Yu Naixin remembers both grudges and kindness. The butter monk treated her so well, so of course she couldn't just let him lie on the ground, seriously injured and all alone.
There are obviously no medical or nursing-related facilities or NPCs in this program's instance, and Yu Naixin herself doesn't have any healing methods. Bringing the Butter Flower Monk to his home field might help him recover by taking advantage of the home field's buffs.
With Yu Naixin unleashing her full spiritual power without regard for its burning, the headless stone ghost, no matter how fast it chased, could not catch up with the priest's folding fan, a special spiritual artifact at the domain lord level.
As always, the priest's folding fan worked flawlessly, allowing Yu Naixin to fly smoothly to the lotus pond and place the butter flower monk on the jade platform.
Almost the instant she stepped into the lotus pond, Yu Naixin could feel that the extremely weak spiritual power within the butter flower monk's body was finally beginning to slowly recover.
very good.
Yu Naixin let go of her hands and stood up.
The plan worked.
Wow! The little witch... saved the hero?!
[This male guest probably weighs almost twice as much as the female guest. With such a sudden increase in weight, the fan didn't even wobble once—it's so stable!]
[My goodness! The butter monk saved the female guest, and then the female guest came to save the butter monk! This is a genuine two-way street!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 6 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "blingbling"!]
[This is the first time I've seen such pure mutual assistance on "Heartbeat 1000%". There were a few moments when I really thought I was watching a dating show...]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 9 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Hot and Sour Rice Noodles are the Best!"]
The dark red robes of the butter sculpture monk were already tattered, with the fabric on the entire front of his chest torn, revealing large areas of skin underneath.
The skin sculpted from ghee is snow-white and smooth, making one want to touch it and see how it feels.
If you ignore the huge, bloody hole in his left chest, the skin of the butter monk and the firm, beautiful muscle lines in his lower abdomen are quite pleasing to the eye.
The abbot, who was originally wrapped tightly in his monk's robes, lay on the ground with his eyes closed, his clothes exposed. A faint sense of asceticism was mixed with a strong sense of allure, and his injuries added to his vulnerability. The scene was quite erotic.
[Holy crap, what a vivid depiction of "a feast for the eyes"!]
Although I could tell from his face that he wasn't some respectable monk, I never expected him to be so alluring!
[When the butter monk collapsed before, he was lying on his side, so the visual impact wasn't as great. Now that the female guest has him lying flat, the view is completely exposed!]
Such beauty was so captivating that Yu Naixin admired it for a few seconds.
These male guests are undeniably good-looking and have amazing physiques.
However, Yu Naixin was more focused on observing the injuries of the butter flower monk.
She finally understood why the Butter Flower Monk had misunderstood her spiritual power coefficient as being over 150. The Butter Flower Monk's own spiritual power coefficient of 144 was probably real, but his body was too weak, even weaker than the ghost wizard in Neuschwanstein Castle, making him very vulnerable.
"Xiawei Temple" is a new instance of exploration. The butter flower monk had never met any other guests with spiritual power before, so he could only make inferences based on his own spiritual power coefficient.
He was facing the headless stone demon's murderous aura at close range of three meters, and he would probably have been injured to some extent. However, Yu Naixin seemed to be unharmed, so the butter flower monk naturally assumed that Yu Naixin's spiritual power coefficient was much higher than his own.
In fact, Yu Naixin's physical strength as a healthy and normal human being is slightly higher than that of the butter monk. Yu Naixin is also a master-level expert in manipulating spiritual power. Even without corresponding skills and methods, she can use her understanding of spiritual power to construct a very simple defensive measure within her body.
When they are both guests on the same show, the spiritual power coefficient of the headless stone ghost on the tree branch will not be significantly different from that of the butter flower monk, meaning it will not exceed 180.
Yu Naixin's defense was enough to withstand the killing intent emanating from the headless stone ghost without direct contact between the two sides.
After confirming that the butter monk's condition was continuing to improve, Yu Naixin left him there to continue recuperating, while she herself boarded the priest's folding fan and left.
There's also a large, reckless boulder waiting for her to deal with.
The headless stone demon was almost at the lotus pond when Yu Naixin flew to a position about two meters above its head, swaying left and right like she was on a skateboard, and issued a provocative statement.
“Come on,” Yu Naixin beckoned downwards with her finger, teasing a dog with a casual smile, “Prove to me how capable you are.”
The headless stone demon was enraged almost instantly. He raised his dark blue stone sword, wanting to pierce the petite figure above his head.
However, with a vertical distance of two meters, Yu Naixin kept adjusting her movements up and down slightly. No matter how the headless stone ghost reached up or tried to jump to increase its height, it was always just a little short of Yu Naixin.
The tall, muscular stones bounced and hopped on the ground, their clumsy movements making them look particularly comical.
Yu Naixin couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Pfft."
"After all this fuss, aren't you tired at all?" Yu Naixin asked with a smile. "Or are you so excited about my arrival because you finally got to see a new face in this segment of the show?"
Upon hearing this, the headless stone demon let out a deep, hoarse roar.
These tones are not enough to form complete words, let alone sentences; they sound like those of wild beasts, simply venting their emotions.
Yu Naixin: "..."
Oh no.
Although it was expected that the male guest's language function was probably severely impaired, Yu Naixin was still a bit troubled to find out through conversation that he really couldn't speak very well.
It's true that she enjoys dealing with brainless guest characters, but it's not that she enjoys dealing with physically brainless guest characters!
To prevent herself from going too far and making the headless stone ghost speechless with anger, Yu Naixin specially changed her attitude and tried to talk to the male guest gently and calmly.
However, it had no effect.
The headless stone demon could only utter meaningless interjections. When it finally managed to say a single word, it was the repetitive "kill".
Yu Naixin: "…………"
She gave up.
Yu Naixin stood on the fan, her right hand supporting her forehead, shaking her head and sighing.
[Hahahaha, this is hilarious! I rarely see the little witch looking so helpless!]
The female guest deliberately slowed down her speech and spoke in a gentle tone, as if she were coaxing a child when talking to the stone golem.
Help! I feel like I can't communicate with the headless stone goblin at all. Forget about winning him over and raising his affection level, I probably can't even get the slightest clue from him.
[How could we possibly get any clues from him? Right now, even avoiding this guy's pursuit is a problem. He's like a perpetual motion machine, constantly maintaining a high level of excitement. He hasn't shown any signs of fatigue despite such intense activity. Is his spiritual energy replenished so quickly, that it can be supplied indefinitely?!]
This male guest is problematic in every way; I can't understand what he's trying to do.
Yu Naixin decided to make one last attempt.
She pointed to her head and said to the headless stone golem, "Your head, that thing that should have been on your neck, is it somewhere you've left it behind? Do you need me to help you find it?"
The headless stone golem's neck has an irregular break, which is enough to prove that it originally had a head.
Looking at the headless stone golem's entire body, the most obvious abnormality is its head; perhaps we can gain some insights by focusing on this aspect.
However, it still didn't work.
The headless stone golem reacted exactly the same way it had before.
Yu Naixin was truly speechless.
Never mind, goodbye, goodbye.
Without wasting any more time on the large rock, Yu Naixin, riding on the priest's folding fan, returned to the east wing of the backyard of Xiawei Temple.
She hadn't yet checked the northernmost room.
The petite figure that had been hovering above its head suddenly ran away. The headless stone ghost was still bouncing around in place for a while due to inertia before it belatedly realized that it should go somewhere else to chase after Yu Naixin.
The arm that had been raised for a long time finally fell down. The headless stone ghost quickly identified Yu Naixin's location and then rushed over without stopping.
[Wow, this male guest is kind of cute, isn't he?]
[It seems the headless stone ghost didn't notice the female guest in the side room. Items in the temple not made of stone should have a restraining effect on the headless stone ghost, falling within the authority of the butter monk. Conversely, items made of stone fall within the headless stone ghost's authority and have a restraining effect on the butter monk. That's why the butter monk was worried when the female guest first entered the temple and personally led her to the side room in the front courtyard.]
[So, as long as the female guest closes the doors and windows inside the room, she can keep the male guest out, right?]
That's exactly how things unfolded in the episode.
Yu Naixin flew into the last room, closed the door, and since the window was already closed, the entire room became a closed, safe zone.
It's impossible to expect this safe zone to last too long.
After all, even staying in the Lotus Pond, the home turf of another male guest, couldn't completely stop the attack of the headless stone ghost. This can be inferred from the fact that the butter monk himself was so nervous when the headless stone ghost attacked, and even deliberately lured the headless stone ghost to the side.
Invading the home turf of other dungeon guests, even if it's a domain lord, comes at a high price, so generally no dungeon guest would do that.
However, the headless stone golem probably had no concept of paying a price; it just kept charging forward, desperately swinging its stone sword.
Yu Naixin had no doubt that even if it came at a huge cost, this big, simple-minded guy would still stick to it to the end.
In Yu Naixin's original plan, this side room was not intended to be a solid refuge. It was only meant to hold off the headless stone ghost for a while, giving her time to search inside.
Sure enough, the headless stone demon soon arrived outside the door. He stabbed and smashed at the door of the side room, but the seemingly fragile wooden door remained unmoved under such heavy blows, as if it were impregnable.
Ignoring the commotion caused by the headless stone ghost, Yu Naixin quickly looked around the room and found that this room was just as empty as the previous one.
Apart from a wooden table in the northeast corner, there were no other furnishings in the entire room.
Yu Naixin walked over and saw the only book on the table.
Calling it a book isn't quite accurate; it's more like a notebook, with several blank pages of the same size sewn together.
Why make such a large house with so little space?
The buildings and scenery within the program's scenarios are all closely related to the guests; perhaps the butter monk simply enjoys this sense of spaciousness.
[My goodness, the sound of that headless stone ghost banging on the door is terrifying! Is it trying to knock down the whole wall?!]
The big devil is still so calm, doing things at his own pace as if he didn't hear anything. This scene really looks like the owner locking the destructive husky outside.
[Hahahaha, such a vivid image! The little witch already had a little earth dog paper doll boy and a large dog-werewolf knight, and now we're adding a headless husky stone golem~]
The paper in this notebook is in much better condition than the scriptures in the previous room. Although it also shows obvious signs of age and has an old yellow tinge, it is not so fragile that it would fall apart at the slightest touch and is similar to normal paper.
Just to be on the safe side, Yu Naixin bought a new pair of disposable PE gloves from the system store and gently opened the notebook.
The first page of the notebook is blank, seemingly used as a cover, while the second page begins to feature black ink text.
The text is in traditional Chinese characters, arranged vertically from right to left and top to bottom, and the handwriting is very neat, clearly indicating that it was printed.
Yu Naixin has no trouble reading traditional Chinese characters. Even without taking advantage of her experience as a simplified Chinese user and considering the context, she can still recognize them.
The notes detailed the correspondence between each hour and the modern 24-hour time system, the meaning of "Lotus Moon," and also introduced the definition, origin, and production method of butter sculptures.
In short, it explained all the less common concepts in the entire "Xiawei Temple".
This aligns with the previous speculations of the viewers in the live stream, and will provide some assistance to program guests whose knowledge is not so broad.
On the last page, the font size in the notebook suddenly increased.
The handwriting is still very neat, but you can tell from the details of some strokes that it was handwritten.
There are only ten people in total in Xiawei Temple, including the guest characters and NPCs. By process of elimination, we can guess that it was probably written by the butter monk.
The butter-painted monk wrote only one sentence.
"The small machine in the west wing is extremely ominous; proceed with caution."
Yu Naixin blinked.
When the "West Wing" is mentioned in the East Wing of the backyard of Xiawei Temple, it must refer to the West Wing, which is also in the backyard. After all, Yu Naixin has already seen the West Wing in the front yard and there was nothing there. The West Wing in the backyard has been locked and dusty for a long time, so it is quite normal that there is something hidden inside.
Isn't that a coincidence? That's exactly where she was planning to search next.
The butter-flower monk said that the west wing was very dangerous and warned people to be careful when going there, but he also said that there were opportunities in the west wing.
As for this opportunity, it is relatively "small" and not a problem for Yu Naixin at all.
Any clue is fine.
Anyway, this wasn't the first time she'd died in the simulator. Yu Naixin had already bought a substitute straw doll and put it in her inventory. She even had enough Sweet Coins left to buy four more.
After confirming that nothing was missing in the room, Yu Naixin turned her head to look at the door.
The headless stone demon continued its relentless attack on the wooden door. The door was no longer intact; irregular cracks appeared on it, and the gaps in the cracks were getting bigger and bigger, threatening to turn it into pieces of broken planks and destroy it completely at any moment.
Even the walls around the wooden door were about to be knocked down by the headless stone demon.
Yu Naixin let out a soft "heh".
You want to take the door apart, huh?
Yu Naixin aimed at the headless stone golem through a nearly destroyed door, quickly bought a grenade from the system shop that she had used in the previous simulation, and threw it directly at it.
The grenade exploded, shattering the entire front wall of the room, and the doors and windows above were also destroyed. The blue tiles on the roof and parts of the walls on both sides collapsed with a roar.
In an instant, the entire room was shrouded in billowing smoke and dust.
Yu Naixin knew the effects of this type of grenade. She had calculated the data in advance and also had simple spiritual energy defense. At this moment, she was completely unaffected, standing at the edge of the smoke and dust, her delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes remaining indifferent.
Since the headless stone ghost is so eager to dismantle the door, she'll give him a hand.
They demolished everything in one go.
[Wow, the female guest is so cool!!]
[I absolutely love the little witch's emotionless gaze after each attack on the dungeon guests! She looks at them like they're trash, and the contrast between this top-tier sweet girl and that expression is just so captivating!!!]
[Who said the headless stone ghost looked like a husky? Well, isn't it just a husky that's destroying the house getting punished by its owner? Hahahaha~]
[What?! The female guest threw something, a grenade? Would that thing work on the stone golem?]
These grenades don't cause any real damage to Vampire Dukes with a spirit power coefficient exceeding 300, but they are effective against Headless Stone Goblins with a spirit power coefficient below 180.
Even though the headless stone golem looked very sturdy, many stones on its surface were blown off by the explosion.
Several nicks of varying sizes appeared on the huge stone sword in his hand, and the dark blue stone armor he wore on the outside instantly became pitted and uneven, revealing the dark and light red and green colors inside the armor.
Before the headless stone ghost could react after the explosion, Yu Naixin summoned the priest's folding fan, stepped onto the horizontally placed fan surface, and instantly passed through the billowing smoke and dust, bursting out of the room.
Yu Naixin almost grazed the left shoulder of the headless stone ghost, flying straight towards the west wing opposite the backyard of Xiawei Temple.
[!! The little witch's near-miss was definitely intentional! She's taunting the headless stone golem!]
[I could walk right up to you and you still couldn't grab me, couldn't do anything to me, could only watch helplessly as I left unscathed—that's definitely this female guest's style!]
She's so arrogant, but I love it!
The firearms produced by the system's regular store are still quite limited in their lethality against guests with spiritual power.
This grenade can damage the headless stone golem's weapons and break through its defenses, but its effect on the headless stone golem itself is negligible and it doesn't actually harm it.
However, once the smoke cleared, the viewers in the live stream were finally able to see the complete, high-definition headless stone demon again. They discovered that the male guest seemed to have been greatly shocked, hurriedly patting himself in front of him with both hands, as if checking the integrity of his armor.
The dark blue stone sword had been discarded at his feet at some point. After the headless stone ghost discovered that his armor was shattered, even without a head or any expression, everyone could immediately see how panicked and helpless he was.
Finally, the headless stone goblin seemed to have discovered where his shattered armor had fallen. He immediately crouched down, his tall and heavy body crashing down, his hands frantically groping on the surrounding bluestone pavement.
In its haste and haste, the headless stone golem even knelt on the ground, its hands touching the fragments of armor and immediately putting them back on its body, trying to restore them to their original state.
All their movements were so clumsy that it made one feel a little sorry for them.
The constant repetition brought no efficiency, and the bluish-black stone fragments that the headless stone goblin put back on its body could only fall down again due to gravity.
No matter how anxious or how hard he tried, he ultimately failed time and time again.
"...Uh...he...it's making me feel a little sorry for him..."
[...Is this armor some important treasure to the headless stone golem, which is why he cherishes it so much?]
[I honestly can't see anything special about this armor. From the design to the craftsmanship, it can only be described as "crude." And after the armor was damaged, it didn't seem to have any obvious negative effects on the male guest, did it? Aside from being extremely emotional, he wasn't affected at all.]
[His emotions have been affected to this extent, which is serious enough. Judging from the headless stone golem's previous behavior, he seems to really lack intelligence, or more accurately, the ability to think, and his actions are entirely driven by his emotions.]
[I think so too. This male guest is basically controlled by the armor issue right now. He was so enthusiastic and persistent about chasing down the female guest before, but now, in order to piece together the armor, he has completely forgotten about her.]
[Look at the main view in the live stream! The Little Witch has arrived at the door of the west wing!]
She quickly traversed the entire backyard and arrived at the west wing. Yu Naixin stopped in front of her destination and glanced back at the situation with the headless stone ghost.
She was quite surprised that she had been able to fly here so smoothly.
After all, the headless stone golem moves quite fast.
When Yu Naixin finally saw what the headless stone ghost was doing, her surprise turned into even greater astonishment.
The male guest looked utterly dejected and lost.
Although the headless stone golem was facing away from Yu Naixin, the grenade didn't just blast open its front armor; the armor on both sides and part of its back was also damaged.
Yu Naixin's gaze lingered on the damaged part of the headless stone goblin armor for a moment, and she noticed that the color inside was quite mottled, as if it had been exposed to the wind and sun for many years.
Yu Naixin: "..."
Yu Naixin lowered her eyelids slightly, her eyes flickered, and then she looked away.
In any case, it's a good thing that the headless stone ghost is held up by other matters and won't bother her for the time being.
Yu Naixin turned her head to look at the rusty lock on the old room door in front of her and began to think about how best to open it.
The three side rooms on the west side of the backyard of Xiawei Temple look the same from the outside. Only when you get close can you tell the difference. The lock on the door of the middle room looks much older than the locks on the left and right. The rust is so thick that it almost connects the lock to the door.
Yu Naixin chose to start from the most special one in the middle.
She stretched out her right hand, preparing to touch the lock, which was so rusted that it was almost unrecognizable, while simultaneously activating the spiritual power within her body to enhance her perception.
Just as Yu Naixin's fingers were about to touch the lock, another hand suddenly reached out from behind her.
The hand of an adult male suddenly enveloped Yu Naixin's entire hand, firmly preventing her from touching the lock.
The man used some force to pull Yu Naixin's hand back, while his own hand almost touched the lock.
"Benefactor Yu!" The urgent voice of the butter monk came from behind Yu Naixin, "Be careful!"
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Author's Note: Autumn really is the season when all sorts of inflammations come knocking on my door... Sorry for the long wait, here's a three-chapter update.
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