Chapter 109 - 109: Curse of the Temple? Did I Get Tricked?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Looking at the temple before him, Li Yidao’s expression grew somber.
This was a temple?
Standing at the temple entrance, an innate sense of coldness and eeriness settled in him.
There was definitely something off about this place!
In fact, at this moment, Li Yidao felt a rush of danger bearing down on him!
After leaving the hospital, Li Yidao came straight to the temple.
It was his first destination.
His purpose was clear: to confirm the strange feeling he’d perceived during the live stream.
It was indeed extraordinary!
“Benefactor, would you like to light incense or request a talisman?”
Before he entered, a young monk approached Li Yidao.
Looking at the young monk, aged around thirteen or fourteen, Li Yidao offered a faint smile.
But there was a depth in his eyes.
[Ding! Detected an ordinary customer, ID: Si Wenqi]
[Death Status Detection: Death due to prolonged curse erosion, Death
Probability 55%]
[The host can choose to follow the ordinary customer.]
An ordinary customer?
Curse erosion?
This temple seemed to be really extraordinary!
“Benefactor?”
The monk saw Li Yidao looking at him with a smile on his face and not saying a word.
He couldn’t help but speak up, not showing any impatience.
It could be seen that at such a young age, he indeed had a good temperament!
“Well, let’s light some incense.”
Looking at the incense table not far away, Li Yidao pointed and asked, “Do I buy it here?”
The young monk shook his head.
“If you wish to light incense, take one and go ahead.”
“The temple’s incense is not for sale. It’s purely fate.”
Li Yidao glanced at the pile of merit boxes near the incense table.
He instantly understood.
Purely fate?
In other words, it was all about giving a donation?
The cost of a single incense stick was, at most, a few bucks. Possibly even just
one buck.
But would anyone donate just one buck?
Not likely. It was probably a minimum of ten bucks, right?
And notes of a hundred bucks were more common.
One had to admit, the abbot of this temple was quite clever.
They were earning money and gaining a reputation.
Compared to other temples that charge a certain amount for the first incense stick and a different amount for various sizes of incense sticks, they were really leading the way in marketing.
Li Yidao didn’t engage with the young monk any further. He simply nodded.
He casually picked up an incense stick.
Ignoring the glances of the monks and not even sparing a glance for the ten full merit boxes up front, he walked into the main hall.
What a joke!
He had already sensed that something was wrong here.
“Merit Box?”
“Who did I donate my money to?”
He walked directly into the main hall, testing the waters first.
He lit the incense stick he’d just taken and placed it.
He paid respects with three bows before the central Buddha.
The main hall was fine, and so was the Buddha statue at the center.
Then, he proceeded to a side hall on the left, where the ancestral tablets were placed.
In reality, enshrining tablets in a temple wasn’t all that difficult. As long as one had money, it was doable.
He surveyed the positions of the tablets as a whole, quickly locating the spot where the five Cherry Blossom Country war criminals were previously enshrined.
They were already gone, leaving only a few empty transparent frames.
Clearly, those several tablet positions had been emptied.
This incident had already caused a massive impact on the internet. So, undoubtedly, no one would choose those positions for enshrinement anymore.
As he looked around the main hall without sensing any special aura, not even the peculiar feeling he had seen in the video, Li Yidao couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
“This shouldn’t be… I should have sensed it at that time.”
“Why is everything so calm now?”
“Could it be…”
Suddenly, Li Yidao had a thought. A possibility struck him.
It was highly possible that someone had been here and adjusted things to cover up everything that had happened before.
At this realization, Li Yidao took a deep breath.
Then, he meticulously investigated every corner of the main hall, particularly the positions directly in front of the five ancestral tablet placements and the areas surrounding them.
But there was nothing!
Apart from the strong Buddhist ambiance, there was no trace of the eeriness he had sensed before!
This shouldn’t be the case. He had clearly felt something amiss when he entered this temple.
However, this side hall seemed alright now.
So, as things stood, the issue had to be linked to a specific object that had been moved.
Furthermore, the object in question was most likely still within this temple.
It had simply been relocated or even concealed here.
Unfortunately, Li Yidao’s current capabilities were insufficient.
Everything he had learned was from his previous life.
But in this world, where could he find explanations for these inexplicable phenomena? They had almost become commonplace.
The simplest example was Li Yidao himself, who could not be explained by science.
Nonetheless, he was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the inexplicability of it all.
For now, he could only temporarily leave and plan to return when he found a suitable opportunity to investigate further.
However…
Just as he was about to turn and leave, at that very moment, the system’s notification sound chimed once again.
[Ding! There is a special system task.]
[Mission Requirement: Go figure out what’s fishy in this temple, and dig out the cursed item playing hide and seek here!]
[If the mission fails, you’ll lose 100 years of lifespan. But if you nail it, you’re scoring a nifty skill, a God’s Treasure Box, and a Grim Reaper’s Surprise Box.] Li Yidao was speechless.
“Last time, there was no slap on the wrist for messing up a random task, and now they’re yanking away a century of my existence for this? Feels like riding a rollercoaster. ”
However…
The rewards looked pretty darn tempting.
One skill, plus a couple of treasure boxes. One from God and one from the Grim Reaper himself.
When the first mission rewarded him with a God’s Treasure Box, Li Yidao wondered if there was a corresponding Grim Reaper’s Box.
Looking at it now, his guess was right!
And guess what?
The clues in this task were giving him a GPS to follow.
Cursed item!
One better believe this temple got a cursed whatchamacallit lurking around.
Adding that to the tip-off from that little monk earlier, all the dots were connecting.
This temple wasn’t just some shrine for five Cherry Blossom criminals.
Someone had even placed a cursed item here!
What was this place?
This was a temple!
And they were sneaking the cursed item in!
What a big goal!
Li Yidao took a deep breath.
He suddenly felt that he was smack dab in the middle of a whirlwind.
He thought it through carefully.
He had found Qi Yuqiang before.
He didn’t make any clear indication. He only said that he would come to the temple to investigate.
But the other party agreed so readily!
They were trading favors and tossing cash around like it was confetti.
At that time, he felt a little guilty and thought that he was using Unit 36.
However, he suddenly felt enlightened!
What was Unit 36?
Even if he didn’t know the specifics, he got a clue what it was about!
How come the other side would waste time on meaningless stuff? Even if he was special, they couldn’t just tag along for no darn reason!
so…
It was very possible.
They were in the loop from the get-go, and might have known way more!
Li Yidao just used his ability.
And it might justify their guesses.
It was not just about nipping potential threats in the bud.
Maybe they were looking to rope him in?
Or, could it be that they were sizing up his skills?
F*ck!
He felt that he was a big fool..
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