Chapter 21 Rock Cave and Puzzle

After crawling over the giant crocodile's corpse, Bei Ling and Xiao Tan continued forward. Having already traveled this path once, they unconsciously quickened their pace. A few minutes later, the two passed the place where they had first encountered the monster.

After walking for a while, the two's vision suddenly widened. The gradually widening tunnel eventually connected to a very large cave. Stalactites and stalagmites were distributed on the ground and the top of the cave. Under the light, these stone crystals were colorful and of various shapes, creating a spectacular sight. Because the surrounding stone walls were rugged and uneven, and the stones were intertwined, it was impossible to see the whole picture of the cave at a glance.

"Let's split up... and see if there are any tunnels leading to other places," Bei Ling said.

Xiao Tan nodded, pointing to his side: "Then I'll go there." Then he strode away.

They both had lighting equipment, and the sound transmission in the cave was good. As long as they didn't encounter any forks in the road, they didn't have to worry about getting lost. So Bei Ling didn't say anything more and quickly walked in the other direction.

Unfortunately, Bei Ling's luck was not good. The side she walked on soon had no road. After crossing a pool of puddles, a relatively large pool appeared in front of her, similar in size to the one she had fallen into before. However, the top of the cave on this side was closed, and the stone walls surrounding the pool on three sides declared that this was a dead end.

She turned back the way she came and quickly arrived at the place where she had separated from Xiao Tan. Then she moved in the direction Xiao Tan had gone. Before long, she saw a light and Xiao Tan's elongated shadow behind a rock in front of her.

Xiao Tan also heard her approaching footsteps and poked his head out from around the bend: "Did you find anything on your side?"

"No road," Bei Ling replied, and then asked, "What about you? What are you looking at?"

"I think I found a door," Xiao Tan replied.

"Oh?" Bei Ling came to Xiao Tan's side as she spoke, and she also saw the so-called "door."

It was a three-dimensional octagonal sphere with a metallic texture on the surface. It was larger than a refrigerator and blocked what looked like the entrance to a tunnel. On the side of the device facing them, there was a piece of metal with a noticeably different color. When touched by hand, a game menu would appear in front of the player. It was obvious at a glance that this was a very pure game setting item and had nothing to do with the world view of the script.

"Is it a puzzle..." Bei Ling asked.

"Touch that piece of metal with a different color," Xiao Tan said, pointing to the piece of metal with a different color.

Bei Ling glanced at him, then stepped forward and touched the place Xiao Tan pointed to with her fingertip: "Oh~ this kind of puzzle..." When she saw the question floating in front of her, she immediately changed into a relaxed expression, and her tone revealed a bit of complacency.

"Ah... it's this kind of question," Xiao Tan continued.

"You're just standing here, solving this?" Bei Ling asked.

"Yeah, but when you came over and talked to me, I forgot everything I had thought of before..." Xiao Tan replied.

"The answer is seventy-five," Bei Ling said, while using her finger to draw these two Arabic numerals on the piece of metal.

In the next second, the surface of the metal sphere instantly turned the same color as this piece. Then, like a blooming flower bud, it slowly opened from the top. Pieces of metal plates folded and spread on both sides of the tunnel and on the ground, unlocking the passage in front of the two.

Moreover, in the middle of this sphere, there was also a piece of equipment hidden, which was now displayed in front of them.

Xiao Tan exclaimed: "You calculated it so quickly?"

"It's a piece of cake." Bei Ling looked up at him. "The questions I play when I'm relaxing are more difficult than this."

The puzzle just now was actually just a nine-by-nine Sudoku puzzle, and this question had already given a lot of numbers by default, which was a relatively simple difficulty. The game menu did not require players to fill in all the empty boxes, only to solve the numbers at a few specific points and calculate the sum.

Even a third-grade elementary school student could solve this problem, but without the help of paper and pen and other recording tools, it might take more time.

To put it bluntly, it was a puzzle that tested short-term memory, mental arithmetic, and logical reasoning ability. It did not require extra associations, which could be said to be Bei Ling's strongest point.

"Your usual pastimes are so terrible... are you a mathematician?" Xiao Tan said.

"I'm a liberal arts student, okay." Bei Ling said, "Besides... where are there such young mathematicians? I'm only graduating in two months."

"Is that so... I always thought you were the type of science nerd, I didn't expect that," Xiao Tan muttered.

Bei Ling snorted: "I think you don't look like a medical student at all, you're as timid as a mouse."

Xiao Tan just smiled and didn't argue. He walked forward and looked at the equipment inside the metal body: "You should pick up this item, in case it's pick-up bound or something."

"I can't use this at a glance, if it's really pick-up bound, I'll probably have to sell it to the store." Bei Ling replied, "You pick it up." What she said was right, because the item on the ground looked like a pair of boxing gloves. A shooting-specialized player wearing this wouldn't even be able to pull the trigger. There was no point in keeping it.

Hearing this, Xiao Tan went over and took the item in his hand.

[Name: Automatic Vending Machine Thumper]

[Type: Weapon]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Attack Power: Weak]

[Attribute: None]

[Special Effect: There is a 1% chance to cast "Thumper's Persistence"]

[Equipment Requirements: Level 25 or above, Combat Specialization C or General Specialization C]

[Note: Have you ever had the experience of having your coins swallowed by a vending machine? If so, you should know that gently patting or casually hitting it a few times is useless. Only a well-aimed blow can make that damn machine work as usual.

ps: Yes, I once made an ogre spit out its own kidney.]

After Xiao Tan finished reading, he handed it to Bei Ling so she could take a look at the attributes, "Fortunately, it's not pick-up bound. This weapon is completely unsuitable for me, and I have to train eight more levels to equip it."

"This pair of boxing gloves must be very powerful for speed-type players who mainly practice boxing." Bei Ling looked at the attributes of the item and suggested, "If you're going to put it up for auction, you can set the price higher."

"Well... let's talk about it after the script is over." Xiao Tan took the item back and put it in his bag.

Then they set off again, entered the unlocked entrance, and began to move forward along a new stone tunnel.

After walking a few steps, Bei Ling suddenly thought of something and asked, "Hey, by the way, since you don't lack game coins anyway, why don't you give the equipment to the leader? It's like giving him a six-figure sum of game coins."

"Jue-ge definitely doesn't want it." Xiao Tan said without turning his head, "Whether in reality or in the game, he won't accept directly or indirectly giving him money to use."

"Ah~ the twisted self-esteem of men..." Bei Ling chanted in a drawn-out tone.

"You can't say that, it's not just a question of who hurts whose self-esteem." Xiao Tan solemnly denied Bei Ling's words, "If two friends with very different economic conditions want to maintain their friendship, the most important bottom line is not to have frequent, unequal exchanges in terms of money. Otherwise, as long as time goes by, there won't even be basic trust and equal conversation between the two."

Bei Ling looked at him, remained silent for a few seconds, and then smiled: "Listening to your experienced tone... are you a rich second generation?"

"Uh..." Xiao Tan hesitated before replying, "I guess..."

"If you are, then you are, it's not something to be ashamed of. Are you afraid to admit that your family is rich?" Bei Ling said.

Xiao Tan really had his concerns. From childhood to adulthood, in addition to the friend issue he just mentioned, another problem that plagued him was... his ex-girlfriends either came for the money or their attitude began to change after they found out that his family was rich. Unfortunately, Xiao Tan was the type who still thought that the other party had a conscience and difficulties even after being cheated. If it weren't for Feng Bujue and Bao Daren, these two bad friends, protecting him in secret, the three words Wang Tanzhi would soon be synonymous with a sucker.

Xiao Tan turned his head and wanted to explain: "Hehe... actually it's okay, it's not as..." He was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Bei Ling tiptoed and reached out to pat Xiao Tan's head like she was treating a pet dog, "Even if I know your family is super rich, I won't change my attitude towards you." The sado nature in her eyes was exposed, "Because my family is definitely richer than yours, so in my eyes, you're just a poor person."

"What kind of confidence is this... is your dad the richest man in the world?" Xiao Tan thought, but he didn't say it, just replied, "Um... this is the first time in my life that I've been called a poor person, I don't know why I feel pretty good..."

"That's just being cheap." Bei Ling immediately replied. The reason why her words were not blocked may be that the system agreed with this point of view...

As the two chatted, a crossroads appeared in front of the tunnel.

The three different directions of the passages, viewed from the crossroads, had no characteristics, and there was no way there would be signs or anything like that to indicate the situation ahead.

"Which way to go?" Bei Ling asked.

"Eh? Shouldn't this be my line?" Xiao Tan replied, "Isn't it always you who makes the decisions?"

"This kind of clueless choice, let you guess one." Bei Ling replied.

If Feng Bujue was here, he would make the same decision, because people who have been in contact with Xiao Tan for a while will find that this kid has good character...

"Well... then..." Xiao Tan looked around with his miner's hat and finally said, "Let's go in the middle."