Chapter 124: No Nine
He was dressed in tattered rags, floating quietly above the scorched earth.
Milk Tea stepped back in surprise, her hands trembling as she instinctively aimed her submachine gun at the eerie figure.
The phantom’s voice seemed to come directly from his hollow abdomen—an echoing, strange sound that was neither clearly male nor female. “I am not the Brother He Ping you know. I am a Painted Skin Ghost. My kind specializes in reading the deepest desires of human hearts and mimicking the faces they love.”
He tilted his head, his hollow eyes fixed on her. “Every other person who realized something was wrong immediately struck to kill. Only you… with your pure sincerity, managed to touch my heart.”
“Little girl, you should go.” The Painted Skin Ghost slowly raised a withered, shadowy arm, his long, spindly index finger pointing toward a distant corner of the eastern wasteland where a pillar of towering red light pierced the dark sky.
“Head toward that light. Didn’t you swear to become the strongest healer—one who can shield everyone from death? If you can walk out of that place alive, your greatest wish might just come true.”
Milk Tea’s eyes were still red and swollen from crying, but a spark of hope flared in her chest. She had never imagined that a weak support player like her would ever receive such a rare, personal trial.
She nodded eagerly, lowering her submachine gun and tucking it away. Turning on her heel, she began sprinting toward the eastern horizon. “Thank you! Thank you so much, Painted Skin Ghost!”
After taking a dozen quick steps, she suddenly skidded to a halt. Remembering her manners, she hurried back, reaching into her pouch and pressing two pure Yin energy crystals firmly into the spirit’s withered palm. “These are for you—my token of gratitude!”
The Painted Skin Ghost did not refuse. He placed the cold crystals straight into his mouth, swallowing them whole. A surge of spectral power washed over him, causing his form to flicker rapidly. His face and frame cycled through the shapes of Lin Huai, Sister Cai, Brother He Ping, Dragon Emerging from the Sea, and the young heiress, his voice rising and falling in an unstable, chorus-like tone:
“Hurry… in that place, remember… there is no nine…”
The moment the final whisper faded, the Painted Skin Ghost dissolved into the shadows, leaving not a single trace behind.
Running eastward as fast as her legs could carry her, Milk Tea scratched her head in utter confusion. “No wine? Why would a volcanic trial need wine? Should I have packed some alcohol with me?”
Following the guiding red beacon, she soon arrived at the lip of a colossal volcanic sinkhole.
The sight was breathtaking and terrifying. The crater was a boiling lake of glowing, crimson magma. Thick bubbles formed, swelled, and popped with soft hisses, sending bursts of golden fire dancing across the surface. The heat radiated in blistering waves, smelling heavily of sulfur and brimstone.
Right in the exact center of this sea of fire sat a small, flat stone plateau that remained untouched by the molten rock. Resting in the middle of that rock was an ornate golden chest—completely different in craftsmanship from any treasure box found along the survival highway.
Milk Tea’s goal was clear: she had to reach that golden chest. However, crossing the fiery expanse was an immense, life-or-death challenge.
Pacing along the crumbling edge of the pit, she searched for a safe path down. In her haste, her boot clipped a large boulder, sending it tumbling over the cliff.
Expecting a geyser of scalding lava to splash upward, she reflexively raised her arms and braced for impact. Yet when seconds ticked by in silence, she peeked over the edge and blinked in disbelief.
For some miraculous reason, the fallen rock had not sunk into the molten pool.
As if buoyed by the powerful thermal updrafts, the large stone hovered roughly one meter above the liquid surface, bobbing gently in the shimmering heat.
Milk Tea’s eyes lit up. She understood the puzzle immediately.
Rushing along the crater rim, she gathered several similar-sized rocks in her arms and began hurling them down into the sinkhole one after another.
To arrange the stones into a functional stepping-stone path leading to the center, she had to tread back and forth along the floating rocks, adjusting their positions with careful shoves of her boots while balancing over the boiling abyss.
Cradling the final stepping stone in her arms, she stepped onto the floating path, inching carefully toward the center. But the moment her left boot touched down on the ninth rock, the stone beneath her suddenly gave way, plummeting straight into the molten rock!
“Ah!”
Milk Tea lost her balance, falling forward toward the magma. In a split second of desperation, she slammed the large boulder she was carrying directly into the vacant gap. The fresh stone caught the thermal draft just in time, locking into place and providing a solid surface that kept her from plunging into the liquid fire.
Gasping for breath, Milk Tea lay flat against the rock, trembling violently before slowly pushing herself back up.
Retracing her steps to the crater’s edge, she hoisted another heavy stone into her arms and stared across the floating bridge.
“So… ‘no nine’… that’s what it meant!”
The ninth stone was a death trap—it could not be stepped on under any circumstances.
Having uncovered the hidden rule, Milk Tea began counting her steps with absolute discipline. Whenever she reached eight, she would freeze. Whether it was the ninth physical stone or the ninth step in her stride, she carefully bent her knees and leaped completely over the forbidden marker, clearing the gap in a single jump.
The moment her boots touched solid stone again, she reset her mental count back to one.
Using this cautious rhythm, she traversed the rest of the floating bridge without a single misstep, landing safely on the flat plateau in the center of the lake.
The golden chest stood before her. It had no physical keyhole, but the instant she tapped the polished bronze clasp, a bright blue holographic screen materialized in mid-air.
A bold prompt glowed before her eyes:
[3 + 3 + 3 = ?]
“Nine!” The word nearly burst from Milk Tea’s lips purely on instinct.
Fortunately, her reflexes were sharp. The moment her mouth began to form the syllable, her hand snapped up and clamped tightly over her lips, forcing her teeth down onto her own tongue.
“Ow! Hiss…” Tears pricked her eyes from the sharp pain, and she sucked in a lungful of hot air before speaking with deliberate care: “Three plus three plus three equals six plus three! It equals three times three!”
[Answer verified: Correct. Proceed to the next question.]
The screen refreshed with a new line of text:
[In the classic martial arts novel ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’, what formidable technique did Zhou Zhiruo master?]
Milk Tea blinked in dismay. She was far too young to have ever read the classic novel. She racked her brain desperately, reasoning that every puzzle here was a linguistic trap designed to trick her into uttering the forbidden word.
Suddenly, she remembered an old internet joke that referenced the famous “Nine Yin White Bone Claw.”
She cleared her throat and answered carefully: “Um… it’s… the White Bone Claw from the art that is half of eighteen!”
[Answer verified: Correct. Proceed to the next question.]
The glowing interface flickered once more:
[Located in Sichuan, there is a world-renowned scenic park praised as an earthly paradise and a fairytale realm. What is its name?]
Milk Tea broke into a wide, confident grin. She had visited this famous reserve with her family before the apocalypse began!
“Six plus three Valley—Jiuzhaigou!”
[Answer verified: Correct. Seal unlocked.]
The moment the final syllable left her mouth, the heavy golden lid clicked and swung open automatically.
Resting inside the velvet-lined interior was a radiant, living golden flame. It hovered peacefully in the air, expanding and contracting with a soft, steady rhythm, pulsing just like a beating human heart.
Milk Tea clamped both hands over her mouth, tears of pure joy spilling down her cheeks.
The Samadhi True Fire!
With this divine flame in hand, the ancient bronze alchemy furnace in her ambulance could finally be fully ignited!
She was officially one massive step closer to becoming the ultimate healer her squad needed.
Without wasting a single second, Milk Tea scooped up the warm flame along with the golden container, clutching them tightly against her chest as she sprinted back toward the safety of the outer rim.
The instant the divine flame was carried past the crater’s threshold, the boiling magma at the bottom of the sinkhole extinguished in a heartbeat, turning into cold, black volcanic glass. The floating stone path lost its buoyant energy, crumbling into the pit below.
The towering red light that pierced the sky vanished into thin air.
Across the surrounding wasteland, the cracked, dry earth began to stitch itself back together. The dry ground turned dark and moist with life.
Tender green sprouts broke through the soil, shooting upward in the blink of an eye to form a lush, towering canopy of ancient trees.
Milk Tea stood frozen in awe, watching the apocalyptic volcanic field transform into a vibrant, peaceful forest. Behind her, the massive sinkhole caved in on itself, completely swallowed by the spreading greenery.
Right before the final fissure sealed shut, the sharp tip of a war scythe crackling with vibrant purple lightning burst upward through the collapsing rock!
Rip!
The spatial barrier was cleanly severed. A tall, graceful silhouette leaped out from the tear in reality, stepping out of thin air as if she had carved an exit straight from another dimension.
It was Lin Huai.
The second she planted her boots on the fresh moss, her sharp eyes locked onto Milk Tea, who was clutching a radiant golden chest and eyeing her with careful vigilance.
Lin Huai’s cold expression instantly dissolved into a warm, gentle smile. “Milk Tea, stand down. The illusion has been completely shattered.”
Glancing down at the vanished sinkhole, and recalling the strange flash of golden light she had spotted from the distant cliffs, Lin Huai looked at the young girl with deep admiration and pride.
“It seems you were the one who broke the phantom maze, Sweetie,” Lin Huai said, her voice filled with genuine warmth. “You saved every single one of us this time. You are so much stronger and braver than any of us ever realized.”
