Chapter 244: The Offering

Chapter 244 -243: The Offering

“What real Immortal?” Huangfu Miaomiao asked, looking up at her.

Feng Ling unhurriedly turned and walked back into the house, saying, “I just checked on the marked Mouse Monster. I finally know why these mice like to move corpses.”

Everyone looked over.

“Why move corpses?” Ye Zheng asked with a frown.

Feng Ling’s lips curved slightly. “To make an offering. I saw the Divine Travel Team stop in front of an offering table. The Pseudo-God from the team was squatting on the table eating meat—the meat from the mice we killed.”

Xu Yiming was shocked to hear this. “So the mice in this Maze are deliberately feeding the Maze Master?!”

Then he felt that wasn’t right and frowned. “But if they wanted to feed the Maze Master, couldn’t they just go directly to the mountain? Why do something so redundant?”

“It is a bit strange,” Feng Ling said, tilting her head in thought. “But I’m sure I didn’t see it wrong. That table is an offering table, and the corpses placed on it are offerings. The Divine Travel Team brings the ‘fake immortal’ here, it eats its fill, and then they leave. That’s why it’s a Pseudo-God, right? If it were a real Immortal, how could it get hungry?”

As she spoke, Feng Ling chuckled and teased, “When mice get hungry, they can pray to a god to stop being hungry. But what happens when an Immortal gets hungry? Who do they pray to?”

Immortals in legends subsist on wind and dew, having long transcended the mundane world, so they naturally wouldn’t feel hunger. But the creations of the Maze still followed the most basic biological laws, needing to eat and rest.

Li Qing spoke up. “In ancient times, common folk would sacrifice livestock to deities to ward off disasters. There were even cases of sacrificing young boys and girls. I think the Maze has probably adopted a similar setup.”

Feng Ling was inspired by this. She clapped her hands suddenly in realization. “So, the Mouse Monsters are making offerings to avoid disaster?”

Ye Zheng knitted his brows. “Avoid what disaster? Be more specific.”

“For the Mouse Monsters, the only thing that could be considered a disaster is, of course, the Maze Master.” Feng Ling’s lips curled into a smile. “The mountain is at the center of the Maze, accessible from all directions and connected to many streets. Assuming the Divine Travel Team only moves in straight lines, then by confirming the location of the offering table, we can deduce their route. And once the route is confirmed, the Mouse Monsters can get out of the way in time to avoid the effects of the drumming and music’s spiritual power. Isn’t that a way of avoiding disaster?”

Li Qing added, “If they want to completely avoid the Divine Travel Team, the Mouse Monsters need to determine not only the route but also the time and frequency of their patrols.”

Feng Ling froze for a moment, then looked at Li Qing. “You mean the interval between each procession is regular? Then we were just too unlucky today, running into them right after we blew up the mountain.”

“Perhaps special circumstances can also trigger a procession,” Li Qing said thoughtfully. “For example, if it suffers heavy damage, the Maze Master would need to eat as soon as possible to repair its body.”

“That’s a bit disgusting…” Feng Ling crossed her arms and sighed lightly. “If the Maze is set up like this, we can’t kill the mice anymore. Otherwise, it’s like we’re handing the Maze Master recovery potions.”

“Huh?” Huangfu Miaomiao was suddenly worried. “There are so many mice. If we can’t kill them, we’ll definitely be at a disadvantage.”

“What if we destroy the offering table?” Ye Zheng said with a frown. “As long as the Divine Travel Team doesn’t know where the offerings are, they can’t bring energy back to the Maze Master right away. The Maze is so big, it would take a lot of time just to find one dead mouse.”

Feng Ling tilted her head and thought for a moment. “…I think we can give it a try. Tomorrow, we’ll destroy the offering table, kill a few more mice, and see if they still move the corpses over.”

No one had any objections.

The existence of the offering table was a hidden danger. It would be best to destroy it.

Feng Ling glanced around at everyone and smiled slightly. “Then it’s settled. Let’s rest for now. Eat if you need to eat, sleep if you need to sleep. We’ll set out at dawn.”

Li Qing opened his mouth, wanting to remind her about being marked, but then felt there was no point in bringing it up now.

‘There’s nothing we can do about it, so we can only wait and see for now.’

He walked silently to the wall, placed a cattail hassock on the floor, and sat down, closing his eyes to meditate.

Feng Ling got a basin of clean water and washed the lingering smell of gunpowder and blood from her hands. After bustling about for a bit, she also lay down to sleep. ℯ

The safe house building was silent.

With the protection of a deity, the atmosphere here was peaceful and serene. Even Xu Yiming, who had been tossing and turning, too excited from entering the Maze for the first time to sleep, finally drifted off into dreams after a few more turns.

Humans dreamt easily in the Maze, for reasons unknown.

Feng Ling was dreaming again.

She dreamt she had an incredibly large belly and was in a place of complete darkness. The air around her was cold and damp. In the dream, she was surprisingly lucid, aware that she was dreaming.

Even though she knew it was a dream, she wasn’t willing to just wait for it to end. She supported her large belly and looked for an exit, but after just a few steps, she hit a wall.

It seemed she was locked in a small, narrow room.

The room felt familiar. Just as she was thinking this, she heard the sound of whimpering cries.

She followed the sound of the crying, fumbling her way forward until she touched prickly, short-cropped hair. It was Feng Shao’s.

Although her vision was pitch-black, the her in the dream was absolutely certain it was Feng Shao.

She remembered that when they were children, she would often be locked in the little dark room with Feng Shao for being disobedient.

Wind Mother never hit or cursed the children. Being locked in the little dark room was the only form of punishment at the orphanage. It would last a whole day. You wouldn’t starve to death, but enduring the darkness itself was agonizing enough. No child wasn’t afraid of the little dark room.

Feng Ling reminisced about the past in her dream, and then discovered her large belly was gone. Not only that, but her hands and feet had all become tiny.

She had turned into her childhood self.

Feng Ling felt her skinny arms and legs and thought, ‘So weak. Not a single muscle.’

Just then, the little Feng Shao in the room said through his tears, “It’s all your fault! You just had to make me climb the courtyard wall… SOB SOB SOB…”

‘Oh, so we were locked in the little dark room for climbing the courtyard wall.’

Feng Ling wanted to comfort Feng Shao a little, but then she remembered this was her own dream. It seemed unnecessary. The dream would end sooner or later anyway.

As she hesitated, the door to the little dark room was suddenly thrown open!

A tall figure stood in the doorway. The light shone from behind them, plunging their entire face into shadow and making them look incredibly sinister and terrifying!

Feng Ling was terrified. She couldn’t control her fear of the person. To her, the adult’s height had the oppressive presence of a giant.

She looked at the person and whispered tremblingly, “Wind Mother…”

The person in the doorway shouted harshly, “Feng Ling! Will you dare to do it again?! Will you?! WILL YOU?!”

With each question, Feng Ling’s heart clenched violently.

She knew she didn’t need to be afraid, she knew it was just a dream, but the fear was completely involuntary!

‘No, I have to wake up! I have to… Wake up, hurry up and wake up…’

Feng Ling’s eyes flew open! She sat up almost instantly!

She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart hammering nonstop. The dream had been unreal, but the fear was far too real!

‘Why did that happen?’

Her mind was still foggy when she suddenly heard Ye Zheng let out the roar of a Tiger Beast!

Feng Ling immediately whipped her head around and saw that Ye Zheng had also woken up at some point and was roaring furiously at a row of shelves!

Feng Ling couldn’t help but gasp. There on the shelf was a Squirrel.