Ye Jin and Shi Heshang were also stunned. They stared at each other for a long time, then picked up the plates at the same time, put all the remaining dishes into a bowl, and added a large bowl of rice on top: "Zhaozi, eat!"
"Eat?" I couldn't say "no" anymore. I finally put a bowl of rice into my mouth, but ran back into the house before I swallowed it - this restaurant was too scary.
Ye Jin and Shi Heshang also slid in a little while later: "Zhaozi, it's not that we brothers are greedy, it's Dou Ma who asked us to come here to cause trouble. She said that with your brain, if no one helps you, you will definitely be confused."
"You guys are helping me and I'm even more confused! What's going on?" I'm worried too! I got away with it once, but what should I do next time
Unexpectedly, Ye Jin took out a soup bowl from his bag and said, "Use this when you eat in the future. The two girls will cook for you, and you can pour all the food into the bowl and eat it with the rice. You don't have to distinguish the order."
"Oh my god—" I was so confused looking at the bowl! But I have to say, this is also a solution.
During the next half month, I ate from the same bowl every day.
Fortunately, Xiao Baitang and Guan Qingyan didn't mention anything else except cooking for me, washing clothes and cleaning the room. Apart from the fact that every meal was extremely difficult for me, there was nothing else that was life-threatening.
But I look forward to the third match every day. It would be better for me to fight with ghosts with a knife than to be like this now!
I waited anxiously for more than a month, until my foot injury was almost healed, and then Dou Ma brought me the news of the mission.
This time, Dou Ma spoke directly: "Hell Gate has admitted defeat and withdrawn from the Masters Tournament. This time, you will fight against the Xuanjing Division alone. However, this mission is very troublesome."
"Which mission is not troublesome?" In my heart, I actually feel that the more troublesome it is, the better, and it would be best if I could do it for a year or two and not come back.
I have made up my mind that this time, only Ye Jin and I will go on the mission, without bringing any women along.
Dou Ma said: "This time, Xuan Jing Division has chosen a mission that you cannot accept. This mission can only be taken over by women. We have too few forces at hand. If you can't accept it..."
I looked at Dou Ma: "What kind of mission is it that a woman has to take on?"
"Magic Box!" Dou Ma said these two words seriously, "You must have heard of the legend of Pandora's Box in Greek mythology, right? The magic box mission got its name from that."
I know something about the legend of Pandora's Box.
Legend has it that Pandora, out of curiosity, secretly opened the box that Zeus, the Greek god, gave to her husband, and as a result, all the evil, greed, hypocrisy, slander, jealousy, pain, etc. in the world were released. Before Pandora opened the box, humans lived in peace without any disasters, because all the viruses and diseases were locked in the box, so that humans could be free from torture. Due to Pandora's curiosity, disasters and plagues escaped, and since then, disasters have harmed humans day and night, everywhere, and made humans suffer.
Pandora quietly closed the box in panic and fear, leaving the only good thing in the box - hope.
Dou Ma said, "About sixty years ago, someone from the Xuan Jing Division explored an ancient underground tomb and brought out an extremely exquisite box. The secret lock on the outside of the box can be called the pinnacle of ancient mechanical techniques. The Xuan Jing Division gathered all its mechanical masters but still couldn't open the treasure box."
"However, the news that Xuan Jing Division had obtained the treasure box spread quickly among the magicians. The four major sects all became interested in the treasure box and proposed to work with Xuan Jing Division to crack the mystery of the treasure box. Unfortunately, even after the four major sects gathered all the masters of the magicians, they were still helpless against the treasure box."
Dou Ma paused for a moment before saying, "Just when the four sects were about to give up, something strange happened—someone easily opened the treasure box. You would never guess that the person who opened the treasure box was just a curious girl. At the time, she just lightly touched the treasure box, and the box opened automatically."
Ye Jin and I looked at each other in bewilderment before we asked, "What happened next?"
Dou Ma said, "According to eyewitnesses, no one saw what was hidden in the treasure box except the girl. But the girl was so scared that she screamed and closed the treasure box tightly like a madman."
"Many people asked the girl what she saw in the box, but she couldn't say anything and just smiled foolishly. You know, there were many top masters of magic around her at that time, but no one could wake her up from her confused state."
"Just when everyone was puzzled, the girl took the treasure box under the heavy protection of countless experts and died in her dormitory holding the box."
I couldn't help but interrupt when I heard this: "How did that girl die?"
"There are many different opinions," Dou Ma said. "Because the girl's parents hold a high position in the Xuanjing Division, no one has released the exact news. Of course, the girl's parents are also heartbroken and vowed to find out the cause of the girl's death."
"But after that, not only did they fail to find the real cause of the girl's death, but they also lost a life."
Dou Ma said in a deep voice: "When the master of Xuan Jing Si was at his wits' end, he actually came up with a way to harm others and benefit himself. He found another girl to open the treasure box. As a result, the girl also died under the treasure box."
"The most hateful thing is that the master of the Xuanjing Division even persuaded the masters of magic who came later to continue looking for girls to try to open the treasure box and find the secrets in the treasure box."
I said in a deep voice: "Did those so-called masters agree?"
"I agree!" Dou Ma said coldly, "Some so-called masters of magic will do anything once they encounter some kind of benefit that can tempt them."
Dou Ma continued, "At that time, Jiuchong Pavilion also sent people to attend the party. After the majority of people agreed to continue the experiment, the elders of Jiuchong Pavilion led their subordinates to leave angrily and did not participate in the subsequent experiments."
"But the news we got is that twenty innocent girls died because of the treasure box. Twenty-one lives, and in the end, only one conclusion was reached: that the treasure box can only be opened by a woman, and she must be a woman of outstanding appearance. Except for the person who opens the treasure box, no one can see what is hidden in the box."
"What's hateful is that those people paid such a huge price, but they still refused to give up and continued to look for beauties. The elder of Jiuchong Pavilion who left at that time was furious when he heard the news, and invited several respected masters of magic to go to Xuanjing Division together."
"They were originally going to seek justice for the souls of the innocent people who died in vain, but they didn't expect to see corpses everywhere."
I couldn't help but gasp: "You mean, all the people who participated in the research of the treasure box were killed?"
"Yes!" Dou Ma nodded, "In just one night, hundreds of masters of magic and Taoism were killed, and the murder scene can only be described as horrific."
"There are hundreds of masters, but there are dozens of ways they died. Some died of poison, some were tortured to death, some were hacked to pieces, and some simply died of plague or illness."
Dou Ma said: "The first reaction of the elder of Jiuchong Pavilion was that a master was attacking, but he immediately denied his judgment. Unless the other party also gathered more than twice the number of masters of the same level, it would be impossible to destroy hundreds of warlocks without any reaction. Who among the magicians at that time had such great ability?"
"In the end, they only came to one conclusion, that is, those masters all died under the treasure box."
Dou Ma said seriously: "The name of the magic box comes from this. Because the box can only be opened by a beautiful woman and can bring disaster to people, it is very similar to the Pandora's Box in the myth."
I asked in a deep voice: "Where did the magic box go?"
Dou Ma said, "Originally, the four major sects wanted to join forces to destroy the magic box, but later they changed their minds for some reason and changed the destruction to banning. It is said that the magic box was sealed by the Xuan Jing Division at the place where the magic box was originally studied, and it has not been opened until now."
I couldn't help but ask, "Since the magic box has become an unsolved mystery, why does the Mirror Department insist on taking it out as a mission?"
Dou Ma shook her head and said, "I don't know about that either. However, there is news that Sun Yifan and Lin Jingyuan jointly advocated the use of the magic box as a task for confrontation. Moreover, the condition that only women can take over the task was also set by the two of them."
Monk Shi slammed the table and said, "Whatever they say is true. Shen Lin was so arrogant in front of the Hell Gate, why did he become so cowardly when he met the Xuan Jing Division? Last time he suffered a loss, Shen Lin didn't say a word, but this time he knew he was being tricked, but he didn't even say a word."
"How can you talk like that!" Dou Ma glared at the monk. "The Pavilion Master has his own considerations. After all, he is in charge of a huge martial arts group. He can't do whatever he wants like an ordinary martial artist. Sometimes he has to give in."
Monk Shi stopped talking. I was silent for a moment before I said, "Give up the third match. We've already won two, there's no need for a third match."
"Okay!" Dou Ma nodded and agreed without hesitation.
"Wait a minute!" Lu Xiaoying stopped Dou Ma who was about to leave, "Wu Zhao, your first two games were actually draws. If you don't play the third game, you will lose."
"Draw?" Monk Shi asked angrily, "How did you calculate it to be a draw?"
I also looked at Lu Xiaoying. According to my thinking, we should have won the first two games, and I never paid attention to the results of the arena after I came back. I never thought that when we were clearly in an advantageous position, both games were judged as draws.
Ye Jin looked at Dou Ma: "Dou Ma, tell me, what's going on?"
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Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for the next episode! (To be continued)