Chapter 182: Mysterious Blessing
Lin Ye entered the temple and walked around inside. Seeing that the stone statue showed no reaction, he returned to the vehicle and continued driving forward.
This time, no abnormal phenomena occurred on the bus until it had moved far away from the small temple.
"My body is beginning to petrify. At the current rate, that body will be completely turned to stone within ten more minutes," the boy sitting in the back row suddenly said.
"Tell me when it's fully petrified."
Lin Ye accelerated. As long as he could leave this mountain road, he could complete the simulation mission and return to the shelter.
"Okay..."
The boy moved with his other bodies to the front seats, keeping a distant watch on the body holding the stone statue.
Lin Ye continued driving forward and soon encountered another small temple.
The stone statue inside was a woman wearing pajamas, who didn't appear to be very old.
Lin Ye cut off a section of calf from the corpse and placed it outside the temple door, but this time the statue inside moved slightly. It looked at Lin Ye, seemingly dissatisfied with this offering. "Could you at least tell me how much you want?"
Lin Ye cut off a forearm from the corpse and placed it outside the temple door.
This time, the stone statue in the temple averted its gaze and stopped looking at him.
Lin Ye returned to the vehicle and continued driving forward, but after only a short distance, Yang Lin behind him suddenly screamed in agony - his right hand had exploded.
"Taking payment without providing service?"
Lin Ye felt the impulse to turn back and smash both the temple and its statue.
Yang Lin clenched his teeth, sprinkled some hemostatic powder on his wrist, then wrapped the right wrist with a piece of torn cloth.
'So the temples aren't all the same either. Some stop attacking us after accepting offerings, while others still attack us even after taking offerings, though the offerings might reduce the intensity of their attacks...'
Lin Ye memorized the appearance of the temple's stone statue. If it was just about providing offerings, he could accumulate more corpses before entering next time.
After analyzing the pattern, Lin Ye continued driving forward. At regular intervals, small temples appeared along the roadside. Each time he encountered one, Lin Ye would stop and place an offering outside the temple door.
Before long, the corpses on the vehicle were completely exhausted.
Not only that, but the boy's father holding the stone statue in the back was almost completely petrified.
Lin Ye had no choice but to continue driving forward, praying they could survive and leave this mountain road.
After all, he was technically a deity himself. If he hadn't recently encountered the Abyssal Evil God, he would definitely perform a ritual to confront these small temples and see which side should really be submitting offerings.
Another small temple appeared by the roadside. This time Lin Ye didn't stop, as there were no more offerings on the vehicle.
He couldn't exactly chop up passengers to use as offerings, could he?
"Wait! Stop! That stone statue in the temple looks like my daughter!"
Yang Lin said painfully, his eyes wide.
He had noticed earlier that the school uniform on the statue was the same style as his daughter's. As a father searching for his daughter, he wouldn't mistake it.
He had been observing the temple's statue ever since, torn between not wanting his daughter to become a stone statue here and hoping to find clues about her. In his conflicted state, he still recognized that unforgettable face in the temple.
Lin Ye slowed down and parked the bus by the roadside. As the bus driver, he naturally wouldn't prevent passengers from disembarking.
However, before the bus even came to a complete stop, Yang Lin's upper body exploded, the remaining half of his corpse falling out through the open door.
"...Excellent."
Lin Ye closed the door and continued driving. He planned to deal with this temple next time. The passengers' survival didn't concern him, but Yang Lin's blood had splattered on him.
The timing of the attack was too precise, clearly meant as a provocation against Lin Ye.
"It moved!"
The boy in the back suddenly said.
The petrified father holding the stone statue slowly approached the front of the bus, both the father's and the statue's eyes fixed on Lin Ye's back.
Lin Ye ignored the thing behind him and pressed the accelerator to the floor, continuing forward. His time was running out, and during these final moments, he needed to gather more useful information.
As the bus sped ahead at full speed, they soon passed another small temple. This time Lin Ye was chosen - his entire right arm disappeared into thin air.
There was no spraying blood, no gruesome wound. Below Lin Ye's shoulder was smooth skin, as if there had never been a right arm there at all.
The petrified father holding the stone statue stood beside and behind Lin Ye. It lifted the stone statue, attempting to place it on Lin Ye's head.
But before the statue could touch Lin Ye, the petrified father's lower legs exploded.
Miniature version of Shotgun Blade.
The stone statue fell onto the bus and shattered.
Lin Ye felt his body beginning to slowly petrify. He tried to destroy the petrified organs, but it was meaningless - the petrification continued spreading through his body.
Driving the bus back to the temple they had just passed, Lin Ye got off and used Shotgun Blade at full power against the temple itself.
The temple suffered no damage, but the untouched statue inside completely shattered. The petrification inside Lin Ye's body accelerated. He continued attacking the temple, which began to show damage, but the petrification sped up even faster.
Before being completely turned to stone, Lin Ye used compressed spiritual energy to destroy his own head.
…………………………
Buzz buzz buzz...
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He had returned to the prison transport vehicle once again.
[Remaining Simulation Attempts: 5]
'What a hassle. I'll have to use the special skill.'
Actually, Lin Ye had other ways to clear this - if he collected enough corpses, he might be able to force his way through the middle fork in the road.
But Lin Ye still decided to use the special skill because he was too curious about its effects. If he didn't try it out, he wouldn't be able to sleep.
Originally, Lin Ye had planned to test it before the simulation ended, but now he had to do it early.
Following the previous simulation process, Lin Ye reached the intersection again, though this time he drove slowly and collected many monster corpses.
Before the intersection, Lin Ye stopped and used the special skill: Mystery.
[Special skill used: Mystery]
[Received a mysterious blessing]
[Drawing blessing source...]
Vague images flashed before Lin Ye's eyes. Many were incomprehensible and impossible to remember, but one gray-robed young girl looked quite familiar.
Lin Ye also sensed the Abyss's aura from some of the images, though he couldn't tell if the Abyssal Evil God was among them.
[Blessing source drawn: Library Manager]
[Mysterious blessing obtained: Special Random Events]
[Special Random Events]
[Special random events may occur around you at any time]
[Note: As long as probability exists, events have the possibility of occurring]
"...Damn! What kind of scam blessing is this!"
Lin Ye urgently slammed the accelerator and charged into the middle fork in the road. This blessing was far too dangerous. The moment he saw it, his first thought was whether he should just kill himself.