Chapter 56: The Beast in The Cave
I looked around the cave.
It was not small. I had expected something cramped and dripping.
The air smelled like iron and copper.
I slowly stood up and looked around. My legs held, which was a win because of recent history.
[Main Quest]
[Objective: Escape the cave.]
[Description: You approached the retarded god prison, What were you thinking? Escape the cave and entertain the gods, you aren’t doing anything fun. If the same act is continued you will receive a severe punishment.]
[Time limit: Two days]
[Reward: Core fundamentals]
[Failure: You fucking die hahahahaha.]
I read it again.
Hahahahaha.
Those bastards.
The higher beings, ancient and unknowable, watchers of worlds, had approved a quest failure message that said hahahahaha.
I was going to escape this cave purely out of spite.
"Okay,"
"Let’s see who laughs at last."
I checked what I had.
First Myself. The clothes I was wearing, which were the sect uniform.
No food. No water. No electricity of my own.
What I did have: a system that apparently found my suffering entertaining....
Did they even give me something?
How could I work with that?
I picked a direction, the bioluminescence seemed brighter that way.
I started walking.
The cave floor was uneven.
I went slowly, because the last thing I needed was to fall again. I had filled my falling quota for the week. Possibly the month.
I had been walking for maybe ten minutes when I heard it.
Hehehehehehe.
I stopped.
The laugh was the same one from the room.
"I know you are there,"
Hehehehe.
"Of course you do, little girl. You walked straight into my prison."
"Your prison, so you are trapped here too."
Then: "...Semantics."
"That is not a no,"
I kept walking.
"Where are you going?" The voice came above me and also to my right and also possibly from the walls.
"Escaping, this is torture, I have a two day time limit but got nothing."
Hehehehe. "You cannot escape."
"The system disagrees."
"The system," the voice said, "Oh you the fool they selected."
I stopped walking.
Interesting.
"Do you know the system?"
"The system is run by beings who have not visited this plane in three hundred years and whose understanding of current conditions is therefore limited."
"How long have you been here,"
"A very long time."
"How long."
"..."
"Why would you want to know?’
".... I just want to get out of here."I muttered.
The light glow was decent now.
"Are you the one making the light,"
"...Yes."
"So you can see me."
"I can always see everything in here."
"And you have been watching me wander around for the last ten minutes."
"Of course."
"Without helping."
"You are entertainment, Helping would defeat the purpose."
I thought about that.
"You and the higher beings have the same hobby,"
Hahaha
"Do not compare me to those imbeciles" it sounded less hostile than before.
"What are you,"
"You poor girl let this Senior tell you about this test?"
"I once known as the Pet of Game of God was trapped here by...."
"By whom!?"
"...."
"Forget it. Tell how to escape. I don’t have time to play two games."
"I am what your world would call a divine beast, Though the term is reductive. I am considerably more specific than that."
"And someone trapped you in here."
"Someone tried to trap me in here. There is a difference. A trap implies the thing inside cannot leave. I am choosing to remain."
"Why."
"Because leaving requires dealing with what is outside, and I have not yet decided it is worth the inconvenience. This place was created by my master."
"Three hundred years is a long time to avoid inconvenience,"
The cave was quiet.
Then: "You are strange for a human."
"I have been told that before, It stopped bothering me around my second year of lying in a hospital bed."
"...Hospital bed."
"Long story. Not relevant right now."
I started walking again.
"I need to find a way out. You can see everything here. Are you going to tell me where the exit is or are you going to keep being cryptic for entertainment purposes."
Hehehehe. "What do I get if I tell you."
"The satisfaction of watching me leave successfully, which seems to be what you actually want given that you keep talking to me instead of just eating me."
"You said I seemed delicious," I pointed out.
"You do, Your spiritual energy has an unusual signature. I have not tasted anything like it in a very long time."
"..."
"Well because of my fire I guess. But it is sealed though."
"Sealed," the voice repeated, with sudden sharp attention. "Who sealed it?"
"No idea. It was sealed when I arrived."
"Arrived from where."
"Differen..."
[Information feeding prohibited. You are wasting time, 2 hours less.]
"That seems like a privacy violation."
"I am a divine beast who has been sealed in a cave for three hundred years, I do not care about your privacy."
"Divine Fire, Sealed with a Divine Lock. That is not something any current cultivator in this world can do."
"So whoever sealed it is very old,"
"Or very dead," the voice said. "Those are not mutually exclusive."
"The exit, Are you going to tell me?" I asked.
Another silence.
"Turn around, go back the way you came. Take the right branch when the path splits. Follow the wall with your left hand. When the light changes, stop and look up."
"When the light changes," I repeated.
"You will know, the light near the exit has a different quality. You will feel it before you see it."
I turned around.
"Why are you helping me,"
"I am bored, You are the first person to walk in here in hundred years and you are considerably more interesting than the last one."
"What happened to the last one."
"I ate them."
I walked faster.
Hehehehe.
"I am not going to eat you, you are more useful alive. Divine Fire why fav breakfast. Having you walk out of here will create ripples that have not existed in a very long time."
"Ripples," I said. "That sounds like it is going to cause me problems."
"Almost certainly," the voice agreed cheerfully. "But they will be interesting problems."
I found the split in the path. I followed the directions.
"What do I call you,"
"You may call me whatever you like, Names are for things that need to be summoned. I am already here."
"I am going to call you something, I cannot keep referring to you as the voice in the cave."
"Hm. The last person who named me called me Zhen."
"Zhen,"
"It means genuine, He meant it sarcastically."
"Were you?"
"I was being entirely genuine at the time," Zhen said. "He simply did not like what I was being genuine about."
"What happened to him?"
"I ate him," Zhen said.
"You ate the person who named you."
"He named me sarcastically,"
He said as though this were a reasonable explanation.
I decided not to pursue that line of conversation.
***
The wall curved under my hand. The path changed then the light changed exactly as Zhen had said..
I Looked up.
A crack in the roof appeared.
"That is not an easy exit,"
"You have only two ways to get out first to clear the test or to climb this one."
I looked around for something to stand on.
Nothing but stones. I arranged them,
.I climbed on it.
The crack was still above my reach.
"How did the last person who came in here get out,".
"They did not," Zhen said.
"Right. Because you ate them."
"Yes."
I looked at the crack then looked at my arms
What if my arm gets stretched like rubber.
Sigh~ I would be a great help.
Let’s make some plans first.
"If I jump, and my hands reach that crack, can I pull myself up?"
"Unknown, I have not watched anyone attempt it."
"How would you watch it if you just ate them." I muttered.
"Be at least Helpful."
"I told you where the exit was. I am not a Qinggong coach."
"Qinggong! What’s that?"
[Learn proper Chinese next time, you fool.]
[Wasting time, Penalty activated: Legs numbing]
"You fucking bastards."
My knees bent as numbness crawled through my legs.
***
1 hour later.
The last one hour was my life’s most irritating hour.
This Zhen is just too much. I would love to leave this prison.
I think he is the final boss of chatterbox.
I jumped.
My hands caught the edge of the crack. The stone was rough and as narrow as it looked from below.
I pulled.
The stone bit into my palms. I got my elbows over the edge. The crack was just wide enough for my shoulders if I turned sideways.
Pulled again. My feet were on the wall and I pushed.
The outside air hit my face before I was fully out.
I came out onto a surface of flat stone.
I lay there gasping, lying flat on my stomach with my arms spread out and my face against the rock.
I lay there for a moment.
[Quest Updated: Escape the cave.] [Status: Complete] [Reward: Core Fundamentals — Delivered to skill tab.] [Bonus Reward: You actually did it. The higher beings are impressed. +200 Power Stones.]
"Congratulations," Zhen’s voice came from behind.
"Oh, Thank you," I said, to the rock. Only to realize.
It was from behind.
