Jing Minghe sensed a chill and his eyes snapped open. The surroundings instantly cleared his mind. He slowly sat up and found himself sleeping on a giant flower, his body covered in pollen that had fallen from the stamens.
"Achoo!"
Jing Minghe couldn't help but sneeze. Immediately, he heard Chi Hao's voice.
"Awake?"
Jing Minghe looked left and right but couldn't see Chi Hao.
"Here."
The voice seemed to come from below. Jing Minghe stood up and walked to the edge of the petal, looking down. He saw Chi Hao standing on a leaf, observing their surroundings.
"Ah!"
A scream attracted their attention. Looking in the direction of the sound, a figure fell from a large black flower not far away.
"What's going on?"
Beside the big black flower, on another large blue flower, stood the tall, short-haired woman from before. She stood at the edge of the petal, looking confused. "Is this a dungeon? Without going through the light gate, did we directly enter the dungeon from the resting area?"
The short-haired woman tried to recall. They were in the resting area lobby and hadn't waited for the light gate to appear, so they had each returned to their rooms.
Of course, in that situation, insomnia was unavoidable. She thought she wouldn't be able to sleep but unexpectedly fell asleep without realizing it. Even more unexpectedly, she woke up to find herself in a game dungeon!
"We are already here. It seems you're right," said the man with the braid who had returned to the resting area with the short-haired woman, standing on a leaf below the big blue flower. "We entered the dungeon directly. This dungeon... is plant-based? A mutated garden? These flowers... are they too big?"
The voice of the woman who had received help from Youmi also came from behind a large leaf. "When did I fall asleep? I clearly... No, Chen Mo? Zhuo Fei? Where are you?"
"Minghe! Mr. Chi!"
Youmi's voice suddenly came from the very bottom. Everyone looked down and saw her running out from the root of another flower not far away. She looked up and shouted, "You guys come down quickly, there are words here!"
Hearing Youmi's words, everyone quickly jumped down from the large flowers they were on.
They arrived at Youmi's location and followed her gaze. On the giant flower branch, there were only five words: Enter the Golden Butterfly Pupa.
"Golden Butterfly Pupa?" Jing Minghe walked forward to examine it closely. Besides these five words, there was nothing else. "This is probably the mission objective of this dungeon."
The man with the braid leaned in and added, "Meaning, we need to find this thing called the Golden Butterfly Pupa in this giant garden, and then... enter it?"
Jing Minghe shook his head, "Not enough, there should be more..."
Before Jing Minghe could finish his sentence, he heard the tall, short-haired woman shout, "There are words on this flower branch too."
Everyone hurried over to check. Youmi read as she looked, "Limited to three days."
As soon as Youmi finished reading the words above, everyone's arms suddenly began to hurt intensely. Even Chi Hao frowned in pain.
"So hot!" The man with the braid clutched his arm tightly. The intense burning sensation made him wish he could chop off his arm.
The three women were already in so much pain they knelt on the ground, holding their arms.
"Sister Youmi?"
"Shi Wan!"
Jing Minghe endured the pain and stepped forward to care for Youmi. The man from the trio whose leg was severely injured also endured the pain to care for his companion.
The burning pain lasted for about ten minutes before gradually subsiding. Everyone slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.
Jing Minghe noticed that everyone had inadvertently glanced at their wrists, and a strange expression flickered across their faces.
The woman named Shi Wan suddenly exclaimed, "My wrist has a..."
"Don't say it," Jing Minghe interrupted Shi Wan. "You've been through multiple dungeons before. You should understand that it's better to remain silent at a time like this."
Hearing Jing Minghe's reminder, Shi Wan quickly covered her mouth, belatedly realizing it. She looked at Jing Minghe gratefully.
That's right.
No one knew what had appeared on their wrists truly meant in this dungeon. Until it was figured out, it was best to keep it hidden, whether it was a life-saving charm or a death curse.
"Let's start moving," Jing Minghe said, looking around. "Let's see if there are any other clues."
With that, he led Chi Hao and Youmi to start.
Seeing this, the others quickly chose their own directions to explore.
In game dungeons, the more clues you have, the more initiative you can take. They were all veteran players, and everyone knew this in their hearts.
During the exploration, Youmi introduced their new teammates to Jing Minghe and Chi Hao.
"The woman from the trio is named Shi Wan. The one with the injured leg is Chen Mo. They are married. The other is their teammate from the last dungeon, named Zhuo Fei."
Youmi said as they walked, "The first two people we met in the resting area, the short-haired woman is Qiao Qiao, and the man with the braid is Du Heng. The last two men to return to the resting area, the fatter one is Gao He, and the short one is Diao Tian. These two don't talk much. Zhuo Fei was the one who asked for their names."
Jing Minghe hummed softly, carefully observing his surroundings.
Then he heard Youmi add, "Oh, and there's a situation. I asked Shi Wan. She, Zhuo Fei, and Chen Mo have only experienced two dungeons."
Hearing this, Jing Minghe paused and turned to ask, "What?"
"You heard correctly," Youmi said seriously. "It is indeed two."
Jing Minghe frowned. "This is our sixth dungeon, and they've only experienced two. Then, what about the other two teams?"
"I don't know," Youmi shook her head. "I haven't had a chance to ask yet, but I have a feeling that they..."
"Are all different," Jing Minghe guessed, finishing Youmi's sentence.
"Does it matter?" Chi Hao looked back at the two of them. "The game, we'll play it as usual."
As Chi Hao spoke, he glanced at Jing Minghe's and Youmi's wrists. Two clear butterfly-shaped imprints were visible on their wrists. This was what concerned him the most.
Jing Minghe noticed Chi Hao's gaze and asked softly, "Brother Hao, can you see it? The things on my and Sister Youmi's wrists?"
Chi Hao didn't hide it and nodded slightly.
Youmi's eyes widened in surprise. "How is that possible? I can only see the mark on my own wrist. It's a cyan butterfly."
Jing Minghe showed his wrist to Chi Hao and asked, "What is it?"
Chi Hao didn't answer immediately but asked back, "Can't you see it?"
"No," Jing Minghe replied. "I can't see anything, neither my own nor others'. However, based on the expressions on everyone's faces after the pain just now, I can deduce that everyone should have something appear on their wrists, and I am no exception."
Chi Hao took Jing Minghe's wrist and gently stroked it twice. Just as he was about to answer, he heard approaching footsteps. He simply smiled and said, "I'll tell you later, okay?"
Jing Minghe shrugged. "Of course."
The two exchanged a look with Youmi. Youmi immediately understood. The three stopped talking and continued their search.