Chapter 183: Dealing with the Small Temple
The bus raced wildly along the mountain road. Lin Ye focused his mental energy to perceive his surroundings while staying prepared to commit suicide at any moment.
The possibility of him being trapped in this world wasn't zero—meaning there was a real chance he could be stuck here due to special random events.
While the probability wasn't high, Lin Ye had a feeling that under the influence of this blessing, the more unlikely something seemed, the more likely it was to happen.
This was the special ability of card creatures. If Lin Ye weren't the Card Box's owner, he would probably already be trapped here forever.
Considering both his ownership of the Card Box and snakes' natural instincts, Lin Ye hadn't immediately resorted to suicide.
The bus quickly approached the first small temple. Lin Ye parked by the roadside, cut a thigh from a corpse, and placed it outside the temple.
The stone statue inside showed no movement. Just as Lin Ye prepared to leave, he noticed a small hole in the temple wall.
Lin Ye was absolutely certain this hole hadn't been there during his previous visit—otherwise he would have remembered it.
Previously, Lin Ye had sensed the interior of the temple walls but detected nothing, as if they were just ordinary walls.
This time, using his mental energy to probe inside the hole, he discovered something slender and constantly wriggling growing within. 'What the hell is this thing?'
Lin Ye attempted to shape a slender spiritual energy blade and thrust it into the wall hole. The blade didn't touch the temple wall itself but instead severed the wriggling creature inside.
The slender creature offered no resistance, allowing Lin Ye to easily slice it into pieces.
Shortly after the creature's death, the small temple began to crumble. The stone statue inside shattered, but before it completely disintegrated, the man in athletic wear forced his petrified lips open and spoke:
"Thank you..."
"You're welcome."
Lin Ye retrieved the thigh and drove toward the next small temple.
Now it was his turn to collect tribute.
'The trigger probability for this special random event is quite low. I thought various events would keep triggering nonstop.'
Quite satisfied with the current frequency, Lin Ye decided to give Little Snake extra treats when he returned.
Soon a second small temple appeared by the roadside. Lin Ye got off and stood outside the temple. This temple's walls had no holes, but that didn't trouble Lin Ye.
As long as you know where the enemy is, there's always a way to deal with it.
Handling the slender creatures in the temples presented two difficulties.
First, the temples seemed capable of transferring attacks to the stone statues.
Second, after attacking either the statues or the temples, the attacker would begin petrifying from within.
Last time, Lin Ye hadn't fully understood the details of these two challenges, as he'd run out of time to find another temple.
So he could only experiment now.
Lin Ye placed the thigh outside the temple door.
Seeing the statue inside remain motionless, Lin Ye struck without warning. First, he carved Weakening runes on the temple wall, then thrust a compressed cutting spiritual energy blade into the wall.
The spiritual energy blade smoothly penetrated the temple wall's interior. The stone statue didn't shatter, but mild petrification began occurring within Lin Ye's body. However, before the petrification could spread, he already shredded the slender creature inside the wall.
Once the slender creature died, the petrification effect stopped.
The student in school uniform didn't shatter like the mysterious athletic man had, but instead slowly reverted from his petrified state.
"Thank you... thank you for saving me... being turned to stone... I was going insane..."
The student sobbed, kneeling before Lin Ye and clutching his pant leg. He'd rather die than become a stone statue again—the feeling was utterly despairing.
"You're welcome. Do you want to board the bus? Or stay here?"
Lin Ye picked up the thigh and walked toward the bus.
"I want to board! Don't leave me! But I don't have a ticket... no, I have a ticket, just lend me a weapon."
The student looked at his left hand.
He'd arrived in this damned place by boarding that bus, so he knew the only way out was to submit a ticket.
"Don't be foolish. There are plenty of corpses on the bus. Of course, if you want to chop off your hand to cheat insurance, I don't mind either."
Lin Ye had always been tolerant toward students.
"...Thank you."
The student scrambled onto the bus in a panic.
Lin Ye cut off a piece of meat and threw it into the Coin Slot Space. The student's ticket was quite cheap.
"You're from Number Two High School? Know Yang Yang?"
Yang Lin blocked the student's path.
"...You're Yang Yang's father? I saw you once during parent-teacher conference."
The student stared at Yang Lin in astonishment, never expecting to encounter his classmate's father in such a place.
"Where is Yang Yang?"
Yang Lin gripped the student's arm tightly, asking with visible tension.
"She was on the bus too. I accidentally destroyed a statue and became its replacement. She was still fine then, but I don't know what happened after that."
The situation inside the bus had been extremely dangerous at the time. The student didn't think Yang Yang could have survived, but he didn't dare say this to Yang Lin.
Yang Lin released the student's arm and slumped weakly back into his seat. Even without the student saying it, he could guess his daughter's likely situation. Now he could only pray she'd also been turned to stone—at least then there'd be some hope of rescue.
Thinking this, Yang Lin approached the Driver's Seat. He knelt behind Lin Ye, bowing his head in supplication:
"If my daughter has also been turned to stone, could you save her?"
"Even without you asking, I'll handle every small temple I encounter. As for whether your daughter survives—that depends on her luck."
Lin Ye knew his daughter was in one of the temples ahead, but that wasn't important since he couldn't predict what would happen next.
"Thank you."
Yang Lin forcefully knocked his head against the floor three times before returning to his seat.
"You're welcome."
Lin Ye took the thigh and got off to continue handling the temples. He intended to clear out all these small temples that demanded tribute from him, making them understand that some vehicles shouldn't be stopped.
Just as Lin Ye was happily dealing with the temples, a man completely wrapped in a pitch-black overcoat abruptly appeared behind him.
Lin Ye whirled around, still holding the thigh.
"Hello, I want to leave this place. Could you give me a ride?"
The man, his face hidden within a black hood, spoke.
"...Are you willing to pay the fare?"
Lin Ye adjusted his stance. This man definitely hadn't been here last time.
"Of course, I've already prepared it."
The man produced a black package.
"I need to handle this thing first, otherwise we can't pass through. You can pay your fare and wait for me on the bus."
Lin Ye stared at the man. Without using spiritual perception, he couldn't see any part of the man's body. But using mental energy to probe random roadside passengers was both extremely dangerous and impolite.
"Alright."
The man seemed quite agreeable. After boarding and paying his fare, he took a window seat.
After Lin Ye finished handling the temple, he returned to the Driver's Seat and continued driving.
However, they hadn't traveled far before another passenger appeared roadside, waving toward the bus.