CHAPTER 1458: CHAPTER 1459: THE TREASURE HUNT CONTINUES

"Is there really another challenge?"

Upon reaching the end, ignoring the fireworks, Feng Yuan scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the newly appeared treasure hunt prompt, saying he thought this place would be the end of the journey, but there was more?

"It’s quite interesting, just a bit troublesome."

Dou Yanlan said with a slight smile, feeling that both the initial puzzle-solving and the subsequent speed racing were quite enjoyable. However, knowing this was just one challenge in the treasure hunt route, she wondered how many more of these Feng Yuan could tolerate.

"Playing occasionally is fine, but I hope there’s something different later, otherwise it would really be... annoying."

Shaking his head, Feng Yuan picked up the floating key in the air, which turned into golden sparkles and disappeared into his treasure hunt map. Seeing a key icon appear in the bottom right corner of the map, Feng Yuan said amusingly,

"Is this designed to prevent skipping levels?"

"Perhaps it’s just a subconscious move, after all, how many people could violently break through the Data Domain restrictions like you,"

Dou Yanlan chuckled softly, glancing at Feng Yuan. Walking through the open Space Gate, the group returned to the market. At this time, many more treasure hunters had arrived here and, seeing them disappear from the market, Feng Yuan and the others realized that the others must have entered a similar instance space as they did later.

"Following the guidance of the bell chime to embark on the journey home? What kind of bizarre clue is this?"

Scratching his head, Feng Yuan looked at the prompt in front of him feeling a bit baffled. So, do they have to find a clock again? But, not to mention this is a market, there could be many stalls selling that thing. He didn’t think the clue would be that simple.

"Could it be there’s a clock-like pattern nearby? But without a clear direction, finding this is not easy."

Twisting the umbrella in her hand, Veronia said in confusion. The clue seemed clear but was broad. While everyone was searching around, Yang Hongzhi softly pressed Xiao Hei’s head and said,

"Shh! Keep it down."

With a twitch of his ears, Xiao Hei looked at Yang Hongzhi in confusion, not understanding what was going on with the other. Najia calmed down and listened intently, realizing amidst the noisy chatter, there was a faint bell sound reverberating.

Looking up and facing Yang Hongzhi, Najia asked in amazement,

"Is that the bell chime? So direct?"

"Probably, though this is hidden too well."

Thinking it over, Yang Hongzhi felt a bit uncertain, for if it weren’t for his sensitivity to the surroundings, he wouldn’t have discovered this faint bell chime. This clue shouldn’t be so challenging, should it?

"Hmm. I see, the Bell Tower, huh?"

Hearing Najia and Yang Hongzhi’s conversation, Feng Yuan listened carefully and quickly understood what was going on. Glancing at the rapidly flickering virtual time on the map and the gradually dimming sky, Feng Yuan said,

"I guess every ten minutes counts as an hour, which means the hourly chime is approaching."

Everyone looked at Feng Yuan, not quite understanding what he meant, while Agunas, pondering something, listened carefully and discovered that faint bell chime. Unfortunately, Qi Chen and his group couldn’t do this, as they hadn’t trained to focus on a small sound in a noisy environment.

"So, at the hour, the Bell Tower will chime, and ordinary people will grasp the hint?"

Long Boduo looked at Feng Yuan and asked. He naturally heard the bell chime, needing only to think briefly to understand what the hint indicated. Before Qi Chen and the others could inquire, the hour chime rang, and Dou Yanlan, startled, furrowed her brows and asked Feng Yuan,

"Did we hear that bell chime when we first arrived here?"

"No, but maybe it can only be heard in this area. After all, in the Data Domain, sound transmission rules can be altered."

Feng Yuan laughed and said. He wasn’t concerned about what the bell chime represented because they were here to play the treasure hunt game, not to dissect someone else’s design. Why bother knowing what the other did?

"Let’s go. Perhaps there will be clues to the next location at the Bell Tower~"

Patting Xiao Ji on the back, Feng Yuan said, jogging towards the direction of the bell chime. Seeing this, Qi Chen and his group quickly followed. Though somewhat skeptical, Dou Yanlan realized this was a treasure hunt event, all arranged by the organizers. Why delve into so many details? Could the organizers deliberately set traps to harm?

Following the steps all the way up, turning left and right passing through many blocks, the group finally arrived at another small square, gazing at the huge statue, Feng Yuan mused aloud,

"The Brunos Statue? Isn’t this the Victory God, one of the six concept gods? Wait, could the journey home refer to it?"

Looking at the statue, Feng Yuan said in surprise, and Yang Hongzhi, after hearing Feng Yuan’s words, thought it over and realized,

"It’s possible. As a concept god of victory, after winning a war, soldiers would naturally embark on a journey home. However, why hasn’t the prompt updated?"

Looking at the panel’s prompt, he doubted his judgment. After all, now that they’d seen this, the prompt should have updated.

"Maybe it’s yet another challenge?"

Walking to the statue, Feng Yuan realized that perhaps to prevent tourists unfamiliar with the six concept gods of Tiraya City from missing the clue, a large Brunos introduction plaque with cheap flashing gold effects stood right there. Seeing it, you would know it’s problematic.

"Looks like we really found the right place."

Seeing the plaque with cheap effects, Qi Chen said speechlessly. If this obviously problematic thing wasn’t a clue, he wouldn’t believe it. However, even so, why hadn’t the treasure hunt prompt updated yet? Did they still need to find something?

Dou Yanlan examined the information on the plaque and thought,

"This statue doesn’t have a horn, so we need to find Brunos’s horn to get the next prompt. But where do we find that?"

Looking around, Dou Yanlan was puzzled. This object shouldn’t be so well concealed, but now there was no horn in sight.

"Could it be the one we saw at the market earlier?"

Remembering something, Qi Chen piped up, and nearby, a tourist NPC who was about to say something switched their gaze upon hearing Qi Chen, prompting Agunas to say,

"Seems like it, you just spoke an NPC’s reminder."

Seeing those NPC tourists no longer lingering around them, Feng Yuan glanced at the market below and sighed, saying,

"I’ll head down, would you wait for me here?"

"Climbing stairs here is no big deal."

Shaking her head with a smile, Dou Yanlan indicated that he didn’t need to act alone. Returning to the market, everyone finally noticed, behind the stone gate they entered earlier, a stall selling stone carvings, among which a giant horn was particularly striking, something Feng Yuan and his group instinctively overlooked before.

"How much for this thing?"

Though he suspected that they probably wouldn’t have to actually pay, Feng Yuan still approached to ask. He couldn’t forget the special setup in Data City intended to maintain order, uncertain if just taking the horn would trigger that mechanism, but he didn’t feel like testing.

"Not for sale. You just need to play a little game with me, win, and it’s yours."

The shopkeeper, without asking what Feng Yuan and his group actually needed, showed a slight mysterious smile, and seeing the man take out three cups and a red ball, even Qi Chen guessed what he wanted to do. With arms crossed, Feng Yuan said nonchalantly,

"Let’s start."

The man smiled subtly, placed the red ball under the middle cup, and began moving the cups rapidly. Although Feng Yuan already knew what the game was, he had a strange feeling. Before the nearby NPC could voice, Big Cat growled angrily at the shopkeeper, and Agunas asked surprisedly,

"Was that necessary? None of the three cups have the red ball?"

The shopkeeper paused, hearing this, his hand stopped moving, showing an embarrassed smile. Big Cat growled angrily at the shopkeeper, and Feng Yuan looked at the shopkeeper helplessly, waved his hand, causing three small shields to smash down on the cups. Spotting no trace of the red ball among the fragments, Feng Yuan puzzledly looked over the shopkeeper and asked,

"What are you playing at this time?"