Chapter 57: The Test After the Dust Settles

“Just now you said, this is your room?”

Luo Gan was perplexed. Clearly, they had entered Sima’s residence, but Master Yuan’s sudden appearance left everyone confused.

“You all have been fumbling around and still haven’t figured out the clues? What led you into this estate?”

Luo Gan remained silent, trying to recall, but nothing came to mind.

With a loud slap, Master Yuan struck Luo Gan’s face. Yan Shan, furious, made as if to retaliate, but Luo Gan staggered and raised a hand to stop him.

Once again, the clue progress appeared in his vision, and now there was a map marker indicating this place as “Master Yuan’s Residence,” with the location listed as “Peach Blossom Spring.”

What was going on? Some kind of space-shifting technique? Luo Gan immediately turned to look at Uncle De, Xiao Zhi, and the others; none of them seemed out of the ordinary, and they were all watching him.

“Peach Blossom Spring? Could it be that the mansion isn’t just about time travel, but spatial changes as well?”

Master Yuan looked at Luo Gan with satisfaction, his eyes filled with the gentle kindness of an elder.

“Finally, you’ve caught on! Looks like you really had no hint prompts.”

“How do you get clue prompts? No one ever told me!”

Master Yuan snorted, and Luo Gan grew more anxious.

“All contestants know how to seek clues, except you… Did you blow out the tires on the game planners’ car or something?”

Luo Gan protested, “I didn’t—”

Suddenly, he remembered that before entering the game, several staff members had been whispering, seemingly wanting to tell him something. He’d been eager to finish the game quickly and go see a movie, never expecting to be caught up for so long in this trivial game. If only he’d listened to the instructions first—he would have saved himself a lot of trouble.

He’d paid dearly for his youthful impatience; now, he truly regretted his earlier choices.

Master Yuan remarked, “That’s really odd!”

He circled Luo Gan once more and continued, “To have found your way here with no game clues is truly incredible.”

Hearing the praise, Luo Gan’s nose nearly pointed to the sky; he felt more elated than any bird or beast soaring above.

“Of course! I’m the best in the world, this is all—”

“Luck! Just luck, really, not bad, not bad. I’m watching you become cannon fodder in the next event!” Master Yuan said with infuriating nonchalance. Whether the contestants won or lost mattered little to him; he enjoyed snide remarks from the sidelines, which only irritated Luo Gan further.

“If I may interject, what should we do now? Something’s off in every direction here.” Xiao Zhi felt time was being wasted; standing around debating wasn’t helping.

“Hmph! Didn’t you just say you came to clean?” Master Yuan recalled how the group had deceived him, trespassing into his room, and grew angry.

Uncle De tried to resolve things amicably. “Oh, young man, if we hadn’t said that, there would’ve been misunderstandings.”

Master Yuan replied, “That’s what causes misunderstandings! So, your first trial is to clean this room. I expect results within an hour, or I’ll send you back immediately.”

With that, he swept his sleeves and slammed the door shut, the floor echoing with his footsteps—though his sleeve remained caught in the door crack.

Luo Gan noticed the trapped sleeve and tugged at it; a voice came from outside.

“Hurry up! One hour! If you don’t finish, you’re going back!”

Luo Gan and Uncle De exchanged glances. Clearly, Master Yuan hadn’t gone far, just pacing outside, observing them, unaware his caught sleeve had given him away.

Uncle De shook his head and gestured for Luo Gan to stay calm and feign ignorance. Luo Gan understood.

“Let’s clean—if we finish within an hour, it should be doable,” Yan Shan said, preferring direct action.

Xiao Zhi swept dust with his foot, inadvertently raising a cloud that sent everyone into coughing fits.

“What’s going on? Cough, cough—how can a light sweep stir up so much dust? Cough, cough,” Luo Gan said amid coughs.

The area Xiao Zhi had swept wasn’t cleaner; instead, it seemed restored to its original state, accumulating even more dust.

Uncle De was terrified. “I knew this place was filthy! You all insisted it wasn’t!”

He quickly slapped a talisman on the floor and began performing rituals.

No one had much faith in Uncle De’s magic. Outside the door, Er Hu struggled to his feet, leaning weakly against the wall.

“Damn it, whoever rammed me, I’ll tear them to pieces!”

Something seemed to drop outside, startled. Er Hu banged on the door relentlessly.

“Scoundrel! I heard you—come at me if you dare! I won’t hold back!”

Luo Gan stopped Er Hu and explained the situation.

“Er Hu, right now we need to clean this room; everything else can wait.”

“Clean? Luo, did the door hit your head? At a time like this, you want to clean? Your house floods, earthquakes, dirty laundry piles up for ten days and you never bother, and now you want to clean?”

Luo Gan sighed helplessly, while Xiao Zhi tried to diffuse the tension.

“Brother Hu, simply put, if we clean, we get clues. With clues, we can finish the task. Finish the task, and you’ll get rich. So, should we clean?”

Er Hu was delighted, clapping his hands.

“You make things clear, Xiao Zhi—not like Luo, who rambles on forever.”

Luo Gan chuckled awkwardly. Better to avoid trouble; if a prime minister’s belly can bear a ship, surely his could hold an aircraft carrier.

With everyone pitching in, the dust in the room was so thick you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face.

After some effort, their efficiency soared—better and faster at inhaling dust, resulting in a chorus of coughs.

“Cleaning like this won’t work. Hey, you stepped on my cane!”

“Big mouth! Cough, cough… Whoever said sweep the floor, I’ll deal with them!”

“I say, let’s just ask the sorcerer to send us back.”

“President! President! Cough, cough.”

Amid the chaos, Luo Gan called for a halt. It took a while before he could make out everyone’s positions.

Covering his mouth, Luo Gan said, “No more pointless effort. Simply sweeping won’t help. How much time has passed?”

Yan Shan glanced out the window; the sun had moved. He calculated with his fingers like a fortune-teller.

Luo Gan asked, “Well?”

“I don’t know,” Yan Shan replied with deadpan seriousness.

Xiao Zhi, still holding a book, desperately fanned his face, only stirring up more dust that flew straight at Luo Gan.

Luo Gan snatched the book, shouting angrily.

“What’s going on, fanning in a mess like this? What a rotten book!”

The book turned out to be a Buddhist story about Master Hui Neng.

Luo Gan read aloud: “The Bodhi tree is not there, nor is the mirror stand. Originally, there is nothing—where can dust alight?”

Xiao Zhi, feeling wronged, complained, “Luo, honestly, is this really the time for poetry?”

Where can dust alight? Suddenly, Luo Gan understood.