Chapter 18: Curiosity Killed The…
The hidden passageway within the cellar couldn't be considered long. While talking, the three of them reached the end and a wide stone room appeared before their eyes. The room wasn't large, but it was sparse. The only thing in it was a bed and a stone table. The bed itself had several sheets of messy red bedding and a jade pillow that was suffused in a faint green light.
"This is the place! This was the last place I visited with Wu Lang when I did the quest last time!" Shen Jingchen wandered about the room the moment they entered. After surveying the area several times, he faced the other two and said, "But, I feel as if something's different this time."
Quiet And Steadfast took over and said, "The quest is following a different path now, so there's obviously going to be changes to the map." After pausing for two seconds, he called out to Shen Jingbin with some difficulty, "Nutjob… When you received your hidden quest, did you receive any quest items or hints?"
Shen Jingbin pulled out the map and said, "There was a map."
After taking the map from her, Quiet And Steadfast walked over to the stone table and unfurled it.
The map was somewhat crude, but the stone room that they were in was clearly indicated on the map. It was even circled in red with an ink brush.
"From the looks of it, other than the path we took, there should be another hidden passageway going in a different direction. However, we need to find it first," Quiet And Steadfast pointed to a black line which connected the stone room to another area. This new area was also circled on the map.
Having heard what Quiet And Steadfast said, Shen Jingchen strode over to the bed and commented, "So we have to find another hidden passageway? That's a simple matter. In general, hidden passageways and the like use beds, pillows, and other things as their activation mechanism. See, just like this one."
As he said that, he picked up the jade pillow on the bed.
"Rumble", the once smooth and seamless floor instantly opened up, and before the three of them had the chance to react, Shen Jingchen fell right in.
"His…luck seems to be pretty good as well," Shen Jingbin said in a muffled voice after blanking out for a few seconds.
Quiet And Steadfast nodded his head in agreement. The two of them glanced at the newly opened hidden passage, before Quiet And Steadfast took the lead and stepped forward. In response, Shen Jingbin quickly retrieved the map from the table before following behind.
There was a difference in elevation between the passageway and stone room. Fortunately, it wasn't that great. Shen Jingchen's fall gave him a few scrapes, but it wasn't much of a problem.
"Hey, are you still alive?" Shen Jingbin asked without compunction as she crouched by the hole's entrance.
"Got lucky, I'm fine. Hurry up and come down, there really is another path over here. Ahahahaha, your big brother truly is incomparably quick-witted!"
Quiet And Steadfast hinted for her to go first by looking at her. He even stretched out his arm to offer a helping hand, but she unexpectedly jumped down without a moment's hesitation. She then proceeded to roll forward after landing, perfectly offsetting the impact from landing with her graceful movements. Quiet And Steadfast stood there in a daze as he looked at his outstretched arm before wordlessly jumping down.
When he landed, Shen Jingchen had a shit eating grin on his face as he leaned over and gripped Quiet And Steadfast's shoulder.
"Boss, I saw how you were trying to save a damsel in distress. Or should I say, trying to save a hag in distress?"
"That's called a gentleman's grace."
"Then why didn't I see you acting so gentlemanly towards others in the past? Boss, don't tell me you actually like girls that look like this?"
"She's our guild's mascot now."
"So…alright, I put too much thought into it," Shen Jingchen's lips curled and he loosened his grip.
Shen Jingbin lowered her head and started rummaging through her bag. It took a while before she managed to pull out the fire starter she happened to come across previously when He Qing's group was preparing to enter the dungeon. Following that, she blew at it under Shen Jingchen's astonished gaze.
In the end, it was still an item from the game. Just one puff was enough to ignite it and give rise to a small mote of flame. Although it was small, its dazzling blaze instantly lit up the entire passageway. With the passage located underneath the stone room, the way ahead would be obscured without light from the firestarter, leaving them no way out if the path was trapped.
Quiet And Steadfast looked at her and said, "You really have a complete inventory in that bag of yours."
Without batting an eyelid, Shen Jingbin said, "Thank you."
Shen Jingchen roared in his heart: Was this what having a complete inventory meant? This was obviously strange! Who would carry antiques like a firestarter around! Every map in the game had its own settings for lighting. No normal person would carry around a useless thing like this!
However, it definitely had a reason for existing, a reason that Shen Jingchen clearly couldn't grasp.
With their miraculous fire starter in hand, the three of them plucked up their courage and pushed forward. After all, two of them were well-known experts on the leaderboards. Something as insignificant as traps wouldn't even phase them.
Based on the map, the passage wasn't that long and they reached the end of the passage after a short while.
A bronze coloured stone door stood in their way. Shen Jingbin stretched out her hand to stroke it. The moment she touched it, the system's notification rang out in her head: "Notification: you have discovered the giant bronze door, would you like to open it?"
Shen Jingbin selected "Yes" without the slightest bit of hesitation.
At that moment, the three of them heard another notification: "Please complete the password: Curiosity killed the…"
"Doge!" Shen Jingchen replied, his mouth eternally running faster than his brain.
"Notification: The password is correct, the giant bronze door has been opened."
"…" The corner of Shen Jingbin's mouth twitched, "Shouldn't the answer be 'cat'?"
Quiet And Steadfast was speechless as well, "It's probably another one of the development team's bad jokes."