Shen Qingqiu gave Xiao Muyu a thumbs up. “Now there’s even less need for me to step in. Your quick thinking is truly amazing.”
Offering flowers and sacrifices, then weeping for ancestors—wasn’t that Cai Lun from the Han Dynasty? Although Shen Qingqiu couldn’t match Xiao Muyu’s speed, she did guess the Han Dynasty correctly, so when Xiao Muyu revealed the answer, she quickly understood the trick.
Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian returned, still bewildered. “Vice-captain, what did you say for Captain Xiao to guess it so quickly?”
Seeing Xiao Muyu looking down at her answer, Shen Qingqiu turned to fetch more lanterns and reminded them, “This isn’t the time to discuss that. Keep guessing the riddles.”
Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian quickly nodded and opened their riddle slips. They discovered that as long as they opened the slips within the yellow line, the words would appear like a light screen before their eyes until they guessed the answer.
Zuo Tiantian, who had picked a lantern from the middle, faced the riddle: “Harbor ill intentions, but difficult to speak. (Guess a character)”
Xiao Muyu’s riddle was: “Below is above, above is below, not above, life is below. (Guess a character)”
Su Jin glanced at Zuo Tiantian’s riddle and instinctively said, “Tiantian, yours is the character ‘亚’.”
Zuo Tiantian suddenly realized, “It really is.”
For Xiao Muyu’s long riddle, she quickly gave the answer, “一” (one). Su Jin’s riddle was: “Spying on six states (Guess a Song Dynasty name).” Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian were stuck. At this moment, Shen Qingqiu returned again, along with Chen Kaijie. She took a look at Su Jin’s riddle and quickly provided the answer, “Qin Guan.”
The light characters dispersed, and the paper strip flew out again, sticking to a paper figure’s face—the answer was correct.
Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian slapped their foreheads and hurried to fetch more lanterns.
In no time, they answered four questions. Xiao Muyu noticed the incense burning faster than expected and looked at Shen Qingqiu, quickly saying, “Qingqiu, you stay. I’ll fetch the lanterns and check the riddles there. If they’re complicated, read them to me.”
Shen Qingqiu, still pale, hadn’t fully recovered, worrying Xiao Muyu.
Shen Qingqiu handed the riddle to her, quickly saying, “If you check them there, they’ll be upside down, slowing us down. Listening is slower than seeing and distracts you. I can handle it. I promised to take care of myself after the last punishment.” She winked and smiled, running off.
Xiao Muyu blushed slightly, gave her a reproachful look, and quickly scanned the riddle: “Face lost (Guess a poem line).”
Indeed, the closer the distance, the harder the riddle. Xiao Muyu loudly read the riddle. Although she was mainly guessing, those fetching the lanterns couldn’t see the riddles until they returned, so she used the running time to think.
In her mind, Xiao Muyu searched, and after a dozen seconds, she answered herself, “人面不知何处” (A human face is nowhere to be found).
Golden riddles rose into the air, dissipating in an instant. Even with four people fetching riddles, no more than four riddles appeared before Xiao Muyu.
“Twenty-four hours (Guess an idiom),” Xiao Muyu slightly frowned and calmly answered, “一朝一夕” (one day and one night).
“Four mountains intersect, two suns interweave, wealth arises from it, ruin starts with it. (Guess a character)”
This time, from a distant lantern, before the riddle fully appeared, Xiao Muyu answered “田” (field), and the light dispersed before it fully gathered.
Paper charms flew from Xiao Muyu, landing on the paper figures’ faces along the street. Against the backdrop of the hanging lanterns, it was both terrifying and grandly romantic.
They listened to Xiao Muyu’s clear and steady answers, each one confident and unhurried, calming those nervously checking the incense.
Xiao Muyu’s quick responses continually impressed Chen Kaijie and the others. Chinese riddles have evolved, covering an astonishingly wide range of knowledge.
The life-and-death riddles were chaotic, with over twenty guessing methods like character decomposition, addition and subtraction, associative, and separation methods.
These weren’t indicated on the riddle slips. The answers might be clear in hindsight, but holding the riddle slip was like finding a needle in a haystack.
This time, Xiao Muyu once again provided strong support for the team. Chen Kaijie was sweating from running. They had reached the 28th question. Shen Qingqiu had solved four, Su Jin two. Zuo Tiantian and Chen Kaijie, not good at this, had only solved one each and focused on fetching lanterns.
This meant Xiao Muyu had solved 20 riddles in under five minutes, averaging 15 seconds per riddle—an astonishing speed.
Chen Kaijie and the others didn’t stop. The lanterns were getting higher. Shen Qingqiu had to leap to reach them. Zuo Tiantian, shorter, couldn’t reach them at all.
Seeing this, Chen Kaijie bent down, “Tiantian, climb up. Su Jin and I will hold you. Take down the lantern, and we’ll run back.”
Zuo Tiantian, small and light, was lifted by Su Jin and Chen Kaijie, who each held a leg, allowing her to take down the lantern.
One person could only take one lantern at a time, so after taking down three, they had to return.
Shen Qingqiu, touching her abdomen, took advantage of Xiao Muyu focusing on solving riddles, stepped on a paper figure’s stall, leapt up, and landed with another lantern.
The previous ghost marriage had caused her significant harm. As she landed, Shen Qingqiu’s breathing quickened but she quickly returned.
Chen Kaijie just opened a riddle, seeing a row of words appear: “Zero, dice, bean, chime, dust, peace, child, work, grind, become, mud, fall. (Form a poem line)” A countdown of five seconds appeared below.
Xiao Muyu was solving a riddle, giving Chen Kaijie no time to ask for help. Worse, he hadn’t expected such a riddle, completely unprepared.
Seeing the countdown, he panicked and answered, “玲珑骰子安红豆” (Exquisite dice set with red beans).
Realizing the answer didn’t match the words, he felt a chill.
Having gone through many challenges, he knew a wrong answer would incur a penalty.
Sure enough, after Chen Kaijie answered, the system announced, “Player Chen Kaijie triggered a special riddle. Unfortunately, the answer is incorrect. Two points deducted!”
Chen Kaijie turned pale, looking helplessly at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu. “I-I got it wrong. I’m sorry.”
Shen Qingqiu gritted her teeth, patting Chen Kaijie. “It was sudden, not your fault. There’s still time. Fetch the lanterns. Don’t solve riddles alone.”
She glanced at the riddles beside Xiao Muyu, whispering, “Muyu, leave these two to us. If we can’t solve them, you do.”
“Chen Kaijie, Xiao Zuo, Tiantian, let’s guess the two riddles on the right. Fetch the lanterns and think of the answers. Muyu can’t handle it alone.”
To be safe, they decided not to solve riddles alone to avoid triggering unknown system penalties.
Shen Qingqiu felt a sinking feeling, remembering Su Jin had previously guessed wrong once.
Upon thinking this, Shen Qingqiu glanced at the incense and noticed the flickering light. Although it was not obvious, each brightening sped up the burning.
Shen Qingqiu’s gaze turned cold. While taking the lamp, she retrieved the raw Xi incense she had drawn earlier and lit it, blowing it gently.
As the raw Xi incense spread through the air, Shen Qingqiu immediately saw two tattered little ghosts by the incense.
Their faces drooped, exposing tooth sockets and missing teeth, as they blew on the incense.
Not only Shen Qingqiu, but also Su Jin and Chen Kaijie saw this, and they were shocked, almost screaming.
They were about to shout to stop it, but Shen Qingqiu raised her hand to stop them and swiftly approached the two little ghosts without making a sound.
She moved quickly, grabbing their collars with both hands and smashing them together.
After a dull thud, the two ghosts screamed in pain, and Shen Qingqiu knocked out their remaining front teeth.
Meanwhile, the paper figures standing on the street turned their heads in unison to look at Shen Qingqiu, scaring Chen Kaijie and the others into stopping, ready to act at any moment.
Shen Qingqiu sneered and glanced at everyone, “What are you looking at? Get to work.”
She then looked at the struggling little ghosts in her hands and slammed them together again, repeating it five or six times.
The two little ghosts howled and cried, waving their hands frantically.
The paper figures on the street turned their heads back in unison, as if they had not moved at all.
Even Chen Kaijie and the others were so frightened they quickly resumed their task of taking the lamps.
The paper figures holding the incense stepped back trembling, and Shen Qingqiu said viciously, “Don’t think I lack energy now. Try this trick again, and I’ll tear your heads off.”
She then looked at the two little ghosts on the ground, “If you want me to spare you, take down the flower lamps above and give them to them.”
“Warning, NPCs are not allowed to participate in player games,” the system beeped.
Shen Qingqiu sneered, “Are you sure? NPCs can’t participate in player games?”
After Shen Qingqiu spoke, the system fell silent. So she grabbed the two little ghosts and walked towards the lamps.
On the other side, Xiao Muyu calmly continued answering questions after seeing Shen Qingqiu was fine.
Chen Kaijie and Su Jin carried Zuo Tiantian, working vigorously, unaffected. They had already solved two riddles.
“I won’t make it hard for you. Take down ten flower lamps, and I’ll let it go.” She released the little ghosts, who tearfully and tremblingly flew up to take down the flower lamps and handed them to Zuo Tiantian and the others.
But they looked so pitiful that Zuo Tiantian turned her face away, not daring to look. The three admired their two leaders greatly, realizing Shen Qingqiu was not as weak as she seemed in this instance.
Soon, the lamps taken down by the little ghosts were brought over, including two special riddles with a countdown. Shen Qingqiu quickly decided, “I’ll take this one.”
Shen Qingqiu’s riddle had a ten-second countdown and depicted two and three-square rectangles. The first had three characters: 边, 勇, 通. The second had 目, 夫, and a blank. The task was to find the pattern and complete the third character.
This type of question seemed eerily familiar, but Shen Qingqiu felt it wasn’t a traditional riddle.
Was this system testing logical reasoning?
As the countdown ticked away, Shen Qingqiu stared at the riddle, her mind blank.
Xiao Muyu, on the other hand, had a straightforward riddle, “Single Xiaotian.” (A five-character idiom).
Both riddles had a ten-second countdown, and as time ran out, Zuo Tiantian muttered while running, “Single (Shan) Xiaotian, it shouldn’t be a name, right?”
With three seconds left, Xiao Muyu, hearing Zuo Tiantian’s words, suddenly realized it might be “Single (Dan) Xiaotian.”
At the last second, Xiao Muyu blurted out, “Strange land, unfamiliar people.”
And Shen Qingqiu quickly said, “Prisoner’s prison!”
After answering, they exchanged glances and smiled, knowing each other’s answers were correct.
Without pausing, Xiao Muyu moved to the next riddle. Despite their intelligence, high-intensity mental activity was exhausting. Xiao Muyu’s forehead was covered in sweat.
Shen Qingqiu felt distressed but powerless, so she continued with the next riddle, “Disabled body, undaunted spirit,” which she quickly answered, “Breath.”
After answering the next round of questions, the system reluctantly announced, “Congratulations to players Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu for solving the special riddles. Time extended by thirty seconds, Shen Qingqiu’s riddle count reduced by two.” Originally seventy-five riddles, now only seventy-three were needed.
Although this phase was thrilling, the rewards were worthwhile.
The two little ghosts fled after completing their task, and the incense had almost burned out.
The lamps within reach had been taken down, with only those high up remaining.
Shen Qingqiu looked at the lamps above and said softly, “The remaining lamps are not easy. Chen Kaijie, Xiao Zuo, Su Jin, it’s time to sprint.”
She activated the left foot stepping on the right foot card, leaping up, stepping a few times in mid-air, soaring nearly two meters high.
Being unfamiliar with the technique, she almost fell, alarming Su Jin, who shouted, “Vice-captain!”
Shen Qingqiu quickly steadied herself, “Muyu, I’m fine, don’t be distracted.”
Xiao Muyu, who had stepped forward, stopped and continued solving riddles.
The flower lamps glowed behind her, forming a small mountain of light.
Shen Qingqiu quickly became adept at maneuvering in the air, like a heroine in a drama, gracefully taking down the high lamps and handing them to Chen Kaijie and the others.
In a striking red dress, Shen Qingqiu leaped to Xiao Muyu’s side, appearing like a dreamlike fairy.
Still in her wedding dress, Shen Qingqiu, tall and slender, stood gracefully among the glowing paper figures and flower lamps.
Chen Kaijie and the others stared in awe, “Vice-captain looks like a fairy.”
Handing the lamp to Xiao Muyu with a proud and tender smile, Shen Qingqiu’s gaze moved Xiao Muyu deeply. After a moment, Xiao Muyu took the lamp, looked down, and avoided Shen Qingqiu’s eyes.
Though disappointed, Shen Qingqiu knew her limits and leaped again. Amid the wind, she heard Xiao Muyu say, “Don’t disturb my heart.”
Author’s Note: The riddles are from Baidu.
Little Shen: Ha, did you think I was weak? You’re not my spouse, no need for such illusions.
Returning to haunt the ghost-scaring hero.
I’ve slightly altered Shen’s logical reasoning question. Can anyone explain the answer?
Yesterday’s riddle, “Sun and moon in the sky,” was well explained by a classmate, using the method of breaking down characters and reassembling them.
Offering the flower to the sacrificial character, getting the grass radical to form Cai, and tears forming the character for Han.
So, the character is Han, Cai Lun.
Haha, now there’s no excuse, as I’ve cut off your escape route, haha.
