Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

"If you sense something's wrong, just jump back up in time."

So, the four of them took turns trying. Strangely, when Song Yuan, An Xiaoyou, and Zhao Xufeng went up, it was as if they had no weight at all. The small disc remained at its original height, completely still.

Only when Xu Tai'an stood on it did the disc seem to be crushed by a heavy object, plummeting straight down like a drop tower with a "whoosh!"

Xu Tai'an instinctively cried out in alarm. Just before she fell into the abyss, Song Yuan grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her up, preventing any accident.

After Xu Tai'an left the disc, the small disc slowly rose back to its original position. This scene was also witnessed by Tao Rong and the other two on the opposite side.

Song Yuan placed Xu Tai'an back on solid ground, looked at the small disc, and asked in confusion:

"Strange. Is it only when Xu Tai'an stands on it that he can exert effective pressure on it?"

Zhao Xufeng thought for a moment and suggested, "Could it be because Miss Xu possesses some kind of standard or quality that we don't?"

An Xiaoyou asked in confusion, "What trait is it? Is it good looks?" Xu Tai'an was indeed the player with the highest good looks among the four of them.

Feeling a little embarrassed by the three people staring at him, Xu Tai'an said, "I... I don't think it's such a superficial trait. If it were so easy to guess, it wouldn't be a puzzle game."

On the other side, Tao Rong and the other two walked half a circle around to the four people and politely requested:

"Can the three of us give it a try too?"

Song Yuan nodded and made room for them. Tao Rong, Gu Ji, and Lu Yan went up, but the result was the same: the disc didn't budge.

The seven of them then went up to the large disc on the opposite side and tried it out. The test results were even more baffling—no matter how many of them went up, no matter how they stepped on it, stomped, jumped, or attacked the surface of the disc with weapons, the large disc did not budge.

Clearly, the seven of them are not the "weights" that this disc needs.

"It seems we won't be able to play this game tonight," Tao Rong sighed, offering this conclusion.

"Maybe there are other game rooms." Song Yuan looked back at the entrance they came from. "Let's try a different route."

That's true. After leaving the game room where the scales were placed, they found two other game rooms:

One of the game rooms, like the first, was a large space. In this space, there was a giant stone mortar, with a giant stone pestle suspended above it by ropes.

The rope stretched on and on... until it was connected to a lever mechanism. Song Yuan tried to turn the lever—as the lever turned, the giant pestle above the mortar was slowly pulled into the air.

However, the device was so heavy that even for Song Yuan, it was very difficult to pull it.

There's also a drawing on the mortar; it's a four-panel comic strip:

Act One: Prepare plenty of millet.

In the second act, the millet is poured into the stone mortar.

In the third act, pull the pestle to the highest point, then release it and let it fall freely. Repeat this several times.

Act Four: Remove the pestle. Now we can see that the millet has been pounded into pieces.

There is no other information.

However, Song Yuan felt that the drawing of this "millet" was rather strange. It was long and thin, and didn't look like millet at all. Besides, ordinary "millet" wouldn't require such a large stone mortar.

This four-panel comic probably refers to something else.

The other game room was locked, and they couldn't get in. Song Yuan and Tao Rong tried many different ways of pushing it open, but they couldn't—clearly, it wasn't a matter of strength.

The two then tried decoding devices and unlocking tools, but all to no avail. However, this game room was the most generous of the three: its door was inscribed with a long ancient text, making it the place with the most clues.

However, none of the seven people present knew what language it was. Therefore, Song Yuan and Gu Ji copied it down—perhaps after taking it back to the village, they could translate its meaning by consulting books.

Fortunately, these three games are not mandatory; players are not required to "finish them before leaving." Instead, they can come back after finding a way to complete the game and collecting all the necessary materials.

After copying the ancient text and the pictures on the scales and mortar, the seven people left the cave:

It was already five in the morning, almost dawn. Song Yuan and her group's boat was still in place, and the mermaids that Tao Rong and her group had hunted were still piled up safely behind the boulder. Perhaps because the night was almost over, the sea, which had been calm when they entered, was now rippling with gentle waves. Standing on the shore, one could feel the sea breeze.

"Now we can head back." Xu Tai'an gazed at the distant sea; the icy blue root-like structures had faded considerably. The altitude had also dropped significantly, and they would likely disappear completely soon. "This is probably a sign that this map is about to disappear. We just happened to leave before sunrise today; we should try to come out around this time in the future."

Xu Tai'an didn't know what would happen otherwise.

But if you wake up to find yourself floating on the sea or lying helplessly on a reef, that would be terrible. It's best to leave as soon as possible.

"That's all for tonight. Hope it's a pleasant collaboration."

Tao Rong dragged the blood-soaked mountain of corpses onto the boat and smiled at Song Yuan:

"Our friendship can continue for a while longer... but may I ask, what are you looking at?"

"There seems to be something in the sea over there," Song Yuan said, standing at the bow of the ship, squinting at a huge dark shadow in the distance, with faint golden light mixed in with it. "And it's getting closer to us."

Just as she uttered the word "close," a small golden object was thrown out of the water, flying towards her like a bullet. Song Yuan reacted quickly, tilting her body slightly and catching the little thing in her hand.

When I opened my palm, I saw a gleaming gold coin.

There was a gap on top; the thin layer of gold on the surface had been bitten off, revealing the dull metal inside.

An Xiaoyou glanced at it and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this Zhao Xufeng's counterfeit money?"

As soon as the words were spoken, countless gold coins, shimmering with dazzling golden light, flew towards their ship like shooting stars—only shooting stars flying upwards, carrying cool seawater.

Caught off guard, the seven players scrambled to dodge the oncoming "bullets".

Countless mermaid bandits surfaced, stretching out their arms and gesticulating wildly as they cursed them:

[Ding~ We regret to inform you that the merman bandits are very angry because all the treasure you gave them was fake. It's a pity you're a dishonest player.]

Now, the "mermaid bandits'" hostility towards you will remain at the highest level. Even if you offer them real treasure, they probably still won't let you go!

Zhao Xufeng: "...I'm so sorry, it's my fault." It's all his magician's hat's fault; he shouldn't have conjured up so many counterfeit coins.

Song Yuan: "...Whatever, let's set sail."

It seems that the method of using counterfeit money to deceive the mermaids and escape disaster is no longer feasible.

However, these merfolk are all out here as bandits, so they don't seem to have the right to discuss virtues like "honesty" with her, do they? Doesn't this damn system have any idea which side is more at fault?!

Tao Rong patted Song Yuan on the shoulder: "It's alright. Lu Yan heard the same system notification when he was fishing. Why bother getting along with these bandits? If we don't fall out today, we'll fall out someday anyway~"

"But... their cries didn't bother us this time?"

Xu Tai'an removed the soul pendant from her neck—she had put it on beforehand to prevent being controlled again. It proved useless, as the mermaids' cries had no effect on her this time.