In the temple, the light was already dim, and after being illuminated by the green fireballs on Lin Baici and others’ heads, it looked even more eerie.

Lin Baici ran all the way.

“Xia Hongyao, I’ll take the lead, you direct the way!”

Xia Hongyao did not question Lin Baici’s choice, and even took the initiative to take on the most dangerous pathfinding work, so that Lin Baici could focus on distinguishing the route without distraction.

Otherwise, Lin Baici would have to worry about stepping into a trap.

Hua Yueyu and Jin Yingzhen followed behind, holding their magic staffs, ready to attack at any time. Their expressions were serious, and even though they were panting heavily, they did not complain at all.

At this moment, they were competing with each other, unwilling to become a burden to Lin Baici.

After running for more than a hundred meters, Lin Baici encountered the third fork in the road, and he turned left directly.

“Captain, is he doing okay?”

Fang Tianhua worried, “I feel like he’s a bit reckless?”

“Do you have a better way?”

Fei Xiao retorted.

Fang Tianhua shook his head.

“Then just keep running!”

Fei Xiao didn’t think Lin Baici was running aimlessly, because at every fork in the road, he made a choice without hesitation.

And Xia Hongyao’s trust in Lin Baici had already exploded. Not only did she not question, she also took the initiative to lead the way. If Lin Baici made a wrong judgment, she would undoubtedly be the first to suffer.

Of course, Fei Xiao followed along for the most important reason, which was that he had no idea what to do if he were to choose.

“It seems that under the pressure of the one-hour death curse, Lin Baici is beginning to reveal his true strength!”

Fei Xiao estimated that Lin Baici definitely had some kind of mysterious and powerful divine favor hidden in his sleeve, and he wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary.

“Lin…Lin the Great, I…I can’t run anymore!”

“Wait for me!”

“Even the donkeys pulling the mill in the countryside aren’t this tired!”

Everyone was panting heavily, feeling a burning pain in their lungs and throats, feeling like they couldn’t breathe enough, but they didn’t dare to stop.

In this terrain, once they lost sight of Lin Baici, they felt it was certain death.

Lin Baici had come this far with these people and had a rough understanding of their physical fitness. This speed was already compressed by him. Otherwise, if he ran at full speed, no one except Xia Hongyao, Fei Xiao, and Fang Tianhua could keep up.

Even so, some people were starting to fall behind.

They watched themselves being left further and further behind, crying out in anxious despair.

“Don’t worry about these bottom-feeders in the food chain, charge forward and go eat the Pharaoh alive!”

The God Eater urged, eager to have a big meal.

Lin Baici stopped.

“No way forward?”

Fang Tianhua was depressed. This was a dead end. He gave Fei Xiao a secret glance, wanting to say that Lin Baici’s choice was unreliable!

Fei Xiao remained calm. He didn’t say anything, waiting for Lin Baici to act.

Lin Baici looked at the wall at the end of the passage.

There were many murals on it, connected together, telling the legendary story of a hero killing a demon, establishing a great empire, and bringing prosperity and stability to the people.

“Shout ‘Ancient Egypt, your Pharaoh has returned’ three times!”

“Be sure to shout with the loudest voice to show your dominance!”

“I have returned! I will kill! I will conquer!”

Lin Baici felt that this slogan was somewhat embarrassing. If it weren’t for the urgency of time, he would have let Xia Hongyao read it!

“Little Lin, any clues?”

Xia Hongyao stared at the mural, using all her mental power to try to unravel its secrets.

“Yes!”

Lin Baici’s answer made everyone instinctively look over.

“Are you bragging?”

Fang Tianhua felt that if Lin Baici could uncover the secrets of this mural in such a short time, that would be too amazing.

Is Wu Zhaokun also a genius?

He’s not even worthy to give Lin Baici his shoes.

“Cough, cough!”

Lin Baici cleared his throat, enduring the embarrassment, and after brewing his emotions, he shouted.

“Ancient Egypt, your Pharaoh has returned!”

This shout, if you didn’t look at Lin Baici’s overly young face, still had some depth, dignity, and dominance.

The sudden shout from Lin Baici startled everyone, but more than that, they were confused.

What’s going on?

Lin Baici gritted his teeth and shouted two more times.

“…”

Silence filled the room, with only the echo reverberating in the dim passage.

“I think shouting ‘Open Sesame’ would be more effective!”

Fang Tianhua suggested.

“Open Sesame is a fairy tale from the Middle East!”

Hua Yueyu was speechless. It seemed that there were also ignorant people in the God Hunter.

“Anyway, there’s no other way. It’s better to try than to do nothing, right?”

Fang Tianhua shrugged.

These three shouts from Lin Baici, like a joke, lightened the serious atmosphere quite a bit.

“Who said there would be no loss?”

Fei Xiao retorted.

In some rule contaminations, there was no such thing as “trying.” One mistake and it would be directly judged as a failure.

You could wait to die.

“Uh!”

Fang Tianhua was at a loss for words, thinking about how to respond, when the wall in front of him suddenly made a rumbling sound and began to rise.

Clang! Clang!

Some dust, sand, and stone powder fell down.

“Cough! Cough!”

Everyone was choked, but their spirits were lifted.

“It actually worked?”

Fang Tianhua was dumbfounded.

“…”

Fei Xiao thought to himself that this kid definitely had some kind of prophetic divination ability, otherwise he wouldn’t have found the key to clearing the level so quickly.

The Scorpion Queen, who had been silently following Lin Baici, suddenly wanted to ask, “Is this your home?”

Otherwise, why are you so familiar with it?

“Let’s go!”

Lin Baici took the lead and passed through the stone door.

After walking forward for more than ten meters, everyone came out of the passage and into a large hall.The hall was as big as two football fields, with the ground paved with stone slabs, each measuring one meter in length.

On these slabs, there were also mural patterns.

On the walls of the hall, there was a bronze lamp stand every ten meters, with a candle burning on top, emitting blue smoke.

However, the hall was too large, and the candlelight was too weak, so it was still dim here.

“My sixth sense tells me that there’s a trap here!” Xia Hongyao looked around. “I’ll go first and check the situation. You guys follow later!”

After saying that, Xia Hongyao stepped on a stone slab.

Boom!

The slab under her feet suddenly plummeted at an extremely fast speed, catching her off guard.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have definitely fallen, but Xia Hongyao reacted quickly, extending her right arm and grabbing the edge of another slab.

“Hongyao!”

Just when everyone thought Xia Hongyao had escaped a disaster, the slab she was holding onto also suddenly plummeted.

“Oh, damn!”

Fang Tianhua exclaimed in shock.

But Xia Hongyao, who had suffered once, was already prepared. The moment she grabbed the slab, she exerted force with her fingers and pushed herself up.

Swoosh!

Xia Hongyao jumped up.

Fei Xiao flicked his wrist, throwing out a belt that wrapped around Xia Hongyao’s arm and pulled her back.

“Do you think this level is about luck or intelligence to solve?” Hua Yueyu was nervous.

If it’s about luck, many people would die trying to pass, but if it’s about intelligence, where are the clues?

Hua Yueyu widened her eyes, observing the mural patterns on the floor.

Fei Xiao turned back to take a look. The hall was too large, and their group was too small. Even if they used cannon fodder, they could only go halfway at most.

“Risk your life and rely on luck, or be ruthless and let the cannon fodder explore!”

“Release the lever handle on the opposite wall to deactivate the trap!”

“It’s been fifteen minutes already!”

Gu Qingqiu had been keeping an eye on the time and reminded them when a quarter of the one-hour limit had passed.

“I’ll go for it!”

Lin Baici took out the leg of a giant locust. This divine taboo could increase his jumping power. As long as he jumped far enough each time, he could reduce the number of times he stepped on the slabs.

“No way!”

Both Xia Hongyao and Fei Xiao objected.

“Let me do it. It’s my turn to contribute!” Fei Xiao stretched his neck. “Otherwise, I’ll lose my dignity as the team leader?”

“How confident are you?” Because of Fei Xiao’s words, Lin Baici had some good feelings towards him.

“Sixty percent!”

Fei Xiao extended his thumb and pinky, making a six.

“This divine taboo can increase jumping power!” Lin Baici lent the giant locust leg to Fei Xiao.

“How about me?” Xia Hongyao looked at the hall. “I’m eighty percent sure!”

“Team leader Fei, please!” Lin Baici pretended not to hear Gao Mayi’s words. Even if she was ninety percent sure, he wouldn’t let her go. “Save your energy for the boss fight later!”

With time running out, Fei Xiao didn’t decline and took the giant locust leg, quickly jumping twice to familiarize himself with the divine taboo, so as not to be unfamiliar when using it.

“Do you see that wooden stick on the opposite wall? Pull it down!” Lin Baici pointed it out to Fei Xiao.

It was a one-meter-long wooden lever, slanting upwards.

With the vision of a divine hunter, even in the dim light, Fei Xiao could still see it on the opposite side.

“I’m going!” Fei Xiao didn’t ask for a reason, trusting Lin Baici. After saying that, he leaped out and landed directly on a slab seven meters away.

As he stepped on it, the slab plummeted, and Fei Xiao moved faster than the falling slab.

Thirty meters!

Forty meters!

Fifty meters!

…

“Well done!” Fang Tianhua cheered and raised his eyebrows at Lin Baici, meaning, “Is our team leader awesome or what?”

But Lin Baici didn’t pay any attention to him at all, focusing on everything in the hall and trying to collect as much data as possible.

Seeing this, Fang Tianhua suddenly felt embarrassed.

Compared to his own behavior, it was simply childish. So Fang Tianhua put away his competitive attitude and now focused on working together to purify this rule-contaminated challenge.

Fei Xiao rushed to eighty meters, and the slabs within a one-hundred-and-twenty-degree range in front of him suddenly started to undulate, making it difficult for him to judge.

If he stepped on it when the slab started to plummet, he wouldn’t be able to jump due to inertia.

Fei Xiao instinctively stopped and considered whether to walk around from the sides, which would be a longer route but more secure.

“Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” Lin Baici heard the comment from the god of eating and immediately shouted, “Keep going!”

Upon hearing this, Fei Xiao pounced forward.

With time running out, he didn’t take a detour but went straight ahead, clutching the giant locust leg tightly, intending to jump over these rising and falling slabs in one go.

Just as he left, not only did the slab under his feet fall, but the surrounding slabs also collapsed.

“Damn!”

Fei Xiao was startled, that was close!

Thud!

Fei Xiao landed.

He was unlucky and happened to catch a falling slab, preventing him from stepping on anything and unable to jump using the force. But he activated the divine favor.

Puff!

Fei Xiao’s tongue shot out, three meters long, directly sticking to the rising slab in front of him.

This tongue tightened like a spring, pulling him to the slab, where he somersaulted and landed, then somersaulted again.

Fei Xiao used the divine favor frog tongue and the giant locust leg to successfully traverse this large area of slab traps and reached the other side.

Without taking a breath, he rushed to the wooden lever and pulled it down forcefully.

Click!

Boom! Boom!

The slabs that had fallen rose again, returning to their original state.

“Quick, let’s go!” Lin Baici stepped on the slab.Although everyone was afraid, with Lin Baici taking the lead, a sense of confidence inexplicably surged in their hearts, as if following him would ensure their safety.

Under such circumstances, there was no need for Lin Baici to urge them on; everyone exerted the strength they would use to fight a love rival and sprinted with all their might.

In less than a minute, most of them had passed through safely.

There were a few stragglers left behind, but Lin Baici really didn’t have time to wait for them.

“Captain Fei, impressive!”

Lin Baici praised.

“No, no! In front of you, I can’t be called a captain. If you think I’m okay, just call me Brother Fei, alright?”

Fei Xiao valued Lin Baici highly. If this guy joined the Jiuzhou Security Bureau, his future would be limitless, so it was better to establish a good relationship in advance.

Moreover, Lin Baici’s way of dealing with people also made him feel comfortable and worth befriending.

“Brother Fei!”

Lin Baici smiled faintly.

“Haha!”

Fei Xiao patted Lin Baici’s shoulder and returned the giant locust leg to him: “I’ll take the lead this time, no need to argue!”

Fang Tianhua was puzzled.

What got into the captain today?

According to the team’s tactical habits, it was always the agile and meticulous members who scouted ahead, while the captain stayed in the center, as they still had to fight the boss at the end, and the captain needed to conserve strength.

But now, Fei Xiao was acting as the scout…

Was he trying to curry favor with Lin Baici?

Ahead was another maze area with various branching paths. For most divine hunters, this wasn’t difficult, but it was time-consuming. However, Lin Baici didn’t need to worry.

With the God-Eater’s hunger radar and the divine turtle shell, he could always find the correct path first.

After running for another seven minutes and turning into a corridor, Fei Xiao suddenly stopped.

“Be careful, there’s someone ahead!”

Fei Xiao’s expression was serious.

Everyone immediately readied themselves for battle.

“Who’s there? Come out!”

Fang Tianhua shouted.

A man in his thirties stepped out from the shadows, dressed in light blue sportswear, looking like someone who worked out regularly.

He also had a large green flame above his head.

“It’s impassable ahead, there’s a large group of snakes…”

The sportsman originally wanted to mention some snake monsters ahead, but upon seeing the scorpion monster following Lin Baici, he was dumbfounded.

What’s going on?

“Are you a freelance divine hunter?”

Fei Xiao inquired.

“Yes!”

The sportsman nodded: “My name is Bian Xiang, and I usually operate in Southeast Asia.”

【A delivery has come to our doorstep!】

Upon hearing this, Lin Baici’s eyebrows raised. The God-Eater hadn’t shown any obvious hostility towards other divine hunters before, so this statement suggested that Bian Xiang might be from the Lost Coast, or he had something valuable on him that the God-Eater wanted to consume.

“How many years have you been a divine hunter?”

Not to mention Fei Xiao, as a captain of the Security Bureau, even an ordinary employee had the right to inquire about such information.

It was a privilege granted to them by the state’s apparatus of violence.

“Three years!”

Bian Xiang seemed very honest and answered all questions.

“Did you come through those challenges alone?”

Xia Hongyao interjected.

If it had been before, she would have definitely assessed this man and invited him to join the Security Bureau, as being able to reach this point proved his strength. But now, with Lin Baici and Gu Qingqiu, her standards had risen.

“No, there were two others, but we got separated in the snake den ahead during an attack!”

Bian Xiang looked both scared and hopeful: “Can I follow you?”

“You ask him!”

Fei Xiao pointed at Lin Baici.

A flash of astonishment crossed Bian Xiang’s eyes. Fei Xiao looked tough, but he was actually letting a newcomer decide?

“May I know how to address you, sir?”

Bian Xiang asked humbly. He knew Lin Baici, as he was a member of the Lost Coast, nicknamed “Black Gold.” He had come to Haijing this time to kill this young man.

“Lin Baici!”

Lin Baici continued walking forward.

“Take a detour. There are many venomous snake monsters ahead, and I’ve tried but couldn’t get through!”

Bian Xiang advised, having attempted several times without success.

“If it’s just snakes, I can handle them!”

The Golden Scorpion Queen volunteered.

“That’s great!”

Hua Yueyu was overjoyed: “Queen, please!”

The Golden Scorpion Queen moved to the front.

Bian Xiang followed beside Fei Xiao, holding back but ultimately failing to resist asking: “Brother Fei, what’s going on?”

He was just too curious.

Such an obviously intelligent monster couldn’t have been summoned by a Divine Taboo, so why would it cooperate with humans?

“I don’t know either!”

Fei Xiao couldn’t very well say that the female scorpion was helping because she wanted Lin Baici to father her children, could he?

Before the group reached the end of the corridor, the ground was already covered with many snakes, colorful and piled together like a layer of snake skin on the ground.

Hissing and glaring with their triangular eyes, they watched these uninvited guests.

Hiss! Hiss!

The Golden Scorpion Queen pursed her lips, emitting a hissing sound from her throat, and the venomous snakes, as if encountering a natural predator, began to retreat like the tide.

The group walked out of the corridor and saw a pit over ten meters deep, larger than a university sports field, filled with writhing venomous snakes.

Their triangular eyes uniformly focused on the humans. If not for the Golden Scorpion Queen’s presence, the snake tide would have already begun their attack.

“Stay close to me!”

After the Golden Scorpion Queen spoke, she walked into the pit.

“Can we really trust it?”

Bian Xiang was worried. Once they entered the pit and were attacked, there would be no escape.

“I trust that Lin Baici wouldn’t joke with his own life!”

Fei Xiao followed, not wanting to be outdone by a newcomer.

Wherever the Golden Scorpion Queen went, the snakes made way. However, as it approached the deepest part of the pit, the venomous snakes stopped moving and began to press forward.

To be continued…