Although She’s Only a Level 1 Noob, She’s Still Incredibly Powerful - Chapter 3 Part 2

They followed Master Wang’s instructions and looked over, The connected room was a four-square room, like an airtight box.

It was obviously a grey concrete wall, but at a glance, red and orange was the main colour of the entire room. This was because there was a lot of yellow talisman paper plastered on the walls, and there were also strange patterns drawn in vermilion sand on the walls.

These things covered the entire wall, as if they were suppressing something extremely terrifying.

The air was filled with an odour from burning incense, and together with the talisman paper and vermilion sand, they formed some sort of gloomy atmosphere.

On the wall directly opposite the doorway, there was a floral picture hanging with a black lotus flower painted on it.

The flower should be subtle, but in this picture, they bloomed too openly, with petals outspread, flaring to the point of making people vaguely uneasy.

There was also a table set up at the doorway blocking their pathway in. There were three bowls of white rice on the table, and an incense that hadn’t been burned yet was placed next to it.

Zhong Ying pointed at a rope, “What is this?”

The crowd looked up with her, only to see densely packed boning knives hanging above their heads. The tips of these boning knives were still stained with dried and blackened blood, and their handles were connected to the ceiling by a rope that looked shaky, as if it would fall down and pierce holes in them in the next second.

The other end of the rope dangled down like the whiskers of a dry tree, swaying above their heads with a dying breath.

“Go in one by one, and don’t pull back the curtain until it’s over,” said Master Wang’s voice from behind.

“Go in …. for what?”

“Choose.”

When he spoke, the boning knife hanging from the ceiling looked like it was responding, emitting a clear sound after impact.

Mo Jie asked, “We should choose a knife? How do we choose?”

Master Wang returned to his seat, “You’ll know when you go in.”

The hairband man whispered, “Brother Jie, what do we do, should we really go in?”

Mo Jie felt something was wrong and looked back at Master Wang, “Ask him again.”

However, no matter how much they asked, the other party was like a repeater, repeating what he had just said.

The hairband man suggested, “Let’s draw lots.”

In the copy, if everyone got along harmoniously, this kind of situation where they needed to take risks would often use a lottery to decide the order of precedence.

Although among them, Mo Jie had the highest level, it was safest for him to go in first. But no one dared to force Mo Jie if he didn’t ask for it on his own accord.

The hairband man took out a piece of paper from his pocket and tore it into five pieces of the same size. After writing down the numbers, he kneaded the pieces of paper into a ball and placed them in front of the crowd.

Zhong Ying was the first to take the paper ball, squeezing it in her hand and not daring to open it.

Bai Qiuye drew a paper ball and opened it immediately with a calm expression on her face.

The others chose in turn, and then unfolded the paper balls one by one. After seeing the numbers written on them, their expressions varied.

The hairband man was obviously relieved and turned his head to sweep over everyone’s face, “I’m four, you guys are?”

Fu Yao: “I’m three.”

Mo Jie: “Five.”

The people who had reported their numbers immediately turned their gazes to Bai Qiuye and Zhong Ying.

Bai Qiuye: “I’m-”

Before her words left her mouth, Zhong Ying grabbed her wrist, even her hair was trembling, “Bai Qiuye, I don’t want to be one, I’ll give you 20, no, 30 survival coupons, will you be one?”

She didn’t care about the previous conflicts between her and Bai Qiuye, and clutched onto the other party tightly.

At those words, Bai Qiuye’s expression was grave, seemingly caught in a heavenly battle.

After a long while, her lips moved and she was about to open her mouth when Zhong Ying interrupted her first: “I’ll add 20 more! Please! Don’t reject me!”

On Bai Qiuye’s app, the number adorned behind the survival coupons was 0.

She had not left the copy in thirteen years and did not know the purpose of survival coupons. But this time, after the task prompts were updated, there were shadows of survival coupons everywhere, so she guessed the importance of survival coupons.

For example, if the work task is not completed, other players will only have their their survival coupons deducted. She who couldn’t get 100 survival coupons had to face death.

The bright and shiny 0 makes her feel insecure. At the moment Zhong Ying was willing to let her have 30 survival coupons for free, she was naturally willing.

She had been in the copy for thirteen years, alone, and every time, she had gone in alone and come out alone.

So Zhong Ying’s offer was a big pie that fell from the sky.

She was worried about agreeing too quickly in case Zhong Ying backtracked, which was why she didn’t agree in the first place.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Ying added another 20 survival vouchers.

Fu Yao on the side said in surprise, “Aren’t you only level 22, you can actually take out 50 survival coupons in one breath.”

Zhong Ying reluctantly said, “I saved them before.”

Fu Yao said, “Then you must have saved for a long time. After all, you have to use it to buy food, you have to use it to upgrade, and you have to use it to strengthen yourself.”

Bai Qiuye’s ears twitched, “Is this survival coupon so useful?”

Surprisingly, it was more indispensable than she thought.

The crowd looked at her in shock.

Just how uneducated was she, she didn’t even know this kind of common sense.

Zhong Ying’s heart ached with flesh, had she known that Bai Qiuye wasn’t aware of the value of the survival coupons, she wouldn’t have raised the price.

She looked at Bai Qiuye pitifully, “Yeah, it’s really hard to save, after I give it to you, there won’t be a single one left. Can you save me-”

Bai Qiuye: “Then give more.”

Zhong Ying: “?”

Bai Qiuye said with a straight face, “If you don’t want to, just find someone else to exchange it with.”

Zhong Ying raised her eyes to look at the others, who all silently turned their heads.

They were all mature players, no one dared to take the risk.

Except for Bai Qiuye, a level 1 newbie.

Zhong Ying almost vomited blood: “How much do you want?”

Bai Qiuye thought about it and felt that she couldn’t be too black-hearted, so she decided to go to the limit: “Another 50?”

In an instant, the eyes of the others almost fell to the ground.

They usually buy and sell items by increasing the price by one or two at a time.

Bai Qiuye was too good, opening her mouth wide and directly adding 50 in one breath.

A total of 100 survival coupons.

Her level wasn’t high, but her heart was as black as a crow’s!

There Zhong Ying’s eyes was bloodshot, “Fine, I’ll offer 100!” she glared at Bai Qiuye, with the air of killing her if she didn’t agree.

100 was her limit, she had already secretly made the decision that if Bai Qiuye still didn’t agree, she would push Bai Qiuye into the door.

Although this would increase the subsequent risk that she might be haunted by Bai Qiuye’s grievous spirit, it couldn’t be helped.

Besides, Bai Qiuye was only level 1, and the other teammates would definitely prefer her, Zhong Ying, to survive between the two of them.

This was also the reason why she was looking for Bai Qiuye to switch places.

Thinking of this, Zhong Ying had already secretly adjusted her position, and as long as Bai Qiuye raised her price again, she would immediately implement her plan.

Everyone else’s eyes were looking at Zhong Ying differently.

Being able to take out 100 survival coupons in one breath is like bleeding a lot even at Mo Jie’s level.

And no one said that the first one to go in would die, yet Zhong Ying was obsessed with finding Bai Qiuye to replace her as if she had predicted the outcome.

Could it be that she knew something?

The crowd couldn’t help but have this thought pop up in their minds.

“Let’s just say a hundred….,” Bai Qiuye looked like she had suffered a great loss, “What’s so bad about it.”

Zhong Ying felt like she had something stuck in her throat, but was worried that Bai Qiuye would raise the price again, so she couldn’t wait to do the deal with her.

“Bai Qiuye….,” Mo Jie wanted to say.

That room was a Schrodinger’s box, and no one knew whether the person inside would be dead or alive when it was opened again.

If you earn a survival coupon, you must also have a life to spend it on.

He didn’t expect Bai Qiuye to be so reckless.

“Have you considered it?” Mo Jie asked.

He usually didn’t interfere with other people’s transactions, but Bai Qiuye was only level 1, an inexperienced newbie.

“Brother Jie, if I switch places with Bai Qiuye, it definitely won’t affect you.” Zhong Ying turned around and prayed, hoping that Mo Jie wouldn’t point it out.

“But─”

“I’ve made up my mind, so trade quickly.” Bai Qiuye was worried about Mo Jie stealing the business and hurriedly grabbed the words.

Seeing her stubbornness, Mo Jie couldn’t help but shake his head and shut his mouth.

Zhong Ying was ecstatic and hurriedly launched a trade request to Bai Qiuye.

[Trade Successful: +100 Survival Coupon.]

Bai Qiuye’s balance of survival coupons, which was originally displayed as “0”, instantly turned into “100”, which made her very happy.

Fearing that she would back out, Zhong Ying hurriedly urged, “Hurry up and go in.”

Bai Qiuye readily agreed, switching off the terminal and walking to the door of the small room.

“Burn incense before entering.” Master Wang’s voice came from outside.

The crowd watched with held breath as Bai Qiuye picked up a pillar of incense from the table and brought it to the candle to light it.

A strong smell of burning incense instantly masked the poor quality tallow smell in the air.

Bai Qiuye inserted the three incense sticks onto the rice, and the table unexpectedly parted from the middle to make way.

When Bai Qiuye walked in, the curtain hanging on the door suddenly fell.

Fu Yao pressed against the door curtain and asked softly, “Bai Qiuye?”

The hairband man looked like he was talking to himself, “Is she dead ……”

Zhong Ying was scared and thankful at the same time.

Bai Qiuye was likely to be in trouble, fortunately, she had switched places, although the 100 survival coupons made her flesh hurt, but the survival coupons could still be earned, and she only had one life to live.

At this time, the door curtain suddenly shook, like there was a person behind it desperately tugging at the curtain.

The crowd was so shocked that they took a step back in unison, and immediately after, they saw the door curtain being pulled open and Bai Qiuye’s face poking out.

“You’re not dead!” The hairband man didn’t know why he was so relieved.

The table in front of Bai Qiuye moved away, and she stepped out with a boning knife, looking as relaxed as if she’d gone in to buy groceries.

They all thought there was no way the boning knife could be taken out at one go.

They didn’t expect Bai Qiuye, who had been deceived into volunteering to be a pathfinder, to actually do it.

”Could it be that the first person to go in will be fine?” Zhong Ying’s previous celebration completely turned into regret.

The fact that Bai Qiuye was unharmed meant that her 100 Survival Coupons had gone down the drain.

Bai Qiuye took out another note: “It fell from behind the painting.” She pointed at the Black lotus painting on the wall.

Mo Jie took it and saw two rows of words on it-

[Dead water soaks the corpse, living water washes the bones.]

[Extremely Fierce and Resentful, Burn a Lamp to Avoid.]

“This should be a hint for the next job.” Mo Jie asked Bai Qiuye, “What’s the situation inside?”

“When you go in, you just need to wait, you can only pick up things on the ground, and you can only leave with one thing.” Bai Qiuye explained, “It’s written next to the door.”

“Brother Jie, do we still need to go in?” Zhong Ying asked.

“Yes.” Mo Jie nodded, “The first sentence of the note speaks of the work location. The second sentence is the working conditions. We must get the lamp mentioned in the note”

He looked up at the ceiling of the small room.

In the very centre, there was a gaping hole more than a moment ago. It was vacated by the knife that Bai Qiuye had taken.

So it also revealed the oil lamp that was previously hidden under the knife.

It was Zhong Ying’s turn to go in second, and she couldn’t refuse any further.

However, Bai Qiye’s easy entry and exit put her at ease, and after only a short hesitation, she lifted the curtain and headed inside.

The curtains on both sides hung down, blocking the scene inside.

It wasn’t even a wall, but they couldn’t hear any sounds in the room just like earlier.

Bai Qiuye stared at the dark red door curtains.

In every previous cycle, she had never seen the two lines next to the door. As long as she finished lighting the incense and went in, she would be able to get the bone knife and the oil lamp at once.

But now she had to go through it several times before she could collect all the items.

This was the nth time she had encountered the differences in the copies.

Including the survival coupon reward that appeared, she had never encountered it in the past thirteen years either.

Otherwise, she would already be a wealthy person with several thousands of survival coupons by now.

If this was just an ordinary game, Bai Qiuye felt like a closed beta player before, who after thousands of rounds of testing had finally played the official version.

“Has she been in there for too long?” Fu Yao’s voice broke the silence.

Ten minutes had passed since Zhong Ying had gone in. Bai Qiuye had just been in there for a minute at most.

“Zhong Ying?”

No one replied.

“Zhong Ying, can you hear us?”

Still no one.

The cramped space was so solemn that even the sound of each other’s breathing could be heard.

But they couldn’t hear Zhong Ying’s reply.

They turned back to ask Master Wang, but there was no one at the table. Only the head he had been fiddling with was left behind, as well as bits and pieces of poor quality make-up.

Master Wang was gone.

Everyone’s expressions were a little ugly.

Mo Jie reached out and grabbed the curtain, and was about to pull it to the side.

Hairband Man: “Brother Jie, didn’t Master Wang say that you can’t pull the curtain before the end?”

Mo Jie sighed, “There’s a time limit on our work and our bodies are still papered over, so we can’t just wait around. And…. how do you know it’s not over.”

As he spoke, the curtain was slowly pulled aside. A gap was revealed, and gradually it grew larger and larger until it was large enough for the crowd’s eyes to fall through the barrier and into the room.

Everything was red.

Black-coloured lotus flowers became a deeper black-red after drinking blood, blooming even more brilliantly than before. That blood, like fertiliser, made it lifelike, as if it had come to life through the paper.

Bai Qiuye had come to this room a thousand times, but had never seen this picture turn into this kind of appearance.

Because this room, had never been filled with so much blood.

They soaked through the paper, forming a tiny trickle that flowed downwards like a blood vessel, eventually meeting at a point.

There lay Zhong Ying who was no longer breathing.

Her expression was horrified with her eyes protruding outwards, her mouth was wide open, and a sharp boning knife ran through her mouth straight to the back of her head.

The boning knife was angled in such a way that it could only have fallen vertically from the ceiling.

On top of that, there were a dozen boning knives stuck in her throat, chest, abdomen, and limbs. They turned her into a fountain that oozed red liquid.

The ropes attached to the hilts of the fallen knives were somehow wrapped around her body. It made her look like a sacrificial animal.

Zhong Ying was dead.

She actually died.

She didn’t make a sound at all and died just like that.

The tragic image made the crowd speechless, it all happened too suddenly, it was clear that Bai Qiuye was unharmed, but Zhong Ying died silently.

They saw the lamp in front of Zhong Ying.

Brass-coloured, with windproof glass on the outside and a wooden handle.

Although it wasn’t lit, they smelled a strong fragrance mixed with a burnt smell of deposited grease.

Bai Qiuye wrinkled her nose.

This smelled like corpse oil.

It looked dangerous.

Mo Jie took a deep breath, “Who is the third one?”

Fu Yao’s face was miserable, “It’s me…..”