Goddess of Luck Incident

Wang Zhifan then fixed his gaze on the instrument screen in Chu Wei's hand.

He saw that the upper half of the screen displayed an image: a faceless classical stone statue of a graceful woman draped in gauze. The statue held both hands out flat before her. One seemed to be holding a dagger, while the other supported a tray containing apples.

The lower half of the screen, beneath the image of the female statue, contained some written information: "Gray Domain Special Event, designation E556, also known as the Goddess of Luck or Goddess of Calamity Incident. No obvious pattern has yet been found regarding its appearances; it is presumed to appear randomly in Gray Domains of all levels.

When encountering E556, players may touch the statue by hand within a certain time limit, triggering one outcome. Each player present has only one chance to trigger it.

No obvious pattern has yet been found in the triggered outcomes, which are presumed to be randomly determined and fall into two categories: good outcomes and bad outcomes.

According to statistics from recent years, good outcomes include: players obtaining equipment, skills, potions, buff effects, healing from injuries, removal of fatigue, enhanced attributes, and so on.

Bad outcomes include: players being struck by lightning, burned by fire, frozen, hit by falling rocks, struck by flying arrows, stunned, and so on. The severity of such damage varies, but no one has yet been found to have suffered serious injury or death as a result..."

After quickly scanning the contents on the screen, Wang Zhifan immediately understood. The Gray Domain was far less simple than he had imagined. Aside from all kinds of monsters, one could also encounter special events—so-called Special Events—or perhaps calling them players' chance encounters would be more fitting.

"Hmm... A Wei, are you sure what's hidden inside this rock wall is this Goddess of Luck Statue?"

Wang Zhifan then sought confirmation from Chu Wei beside him. He was a cautious person. Even though Chu Wei had shown him the information, he still was not entirely at ease.

"Almost certainly."

Chu Wei raised her head to answer him, then lifted a finger and pointed at an inconspicuous rocky protrusion high on the wall in front of them. "Brother Fan, my summon found a rather unusual structure here in the rock wall. It might be a trigger mechanism. You're tall—try pressing it and see if anything happens."

"Pressing it directly is too dangerous. Let's step back a couple of paces first."

Wang Zhifan immediately shook his head at that. He had Chu Wei move some distance away, while he himself retreated into the passage to one side. Only then did he pick up a stone from the cave floor, which was currently littered with monster remains, and toss it neither too hard nor too lightly at the spot on the rock wall Chu Wei had pointed out from several meters away.

Thanks to his Agility attribute, which was as high as 17 points, Wang Zhifan found this kind of precision work quite easy at present. With a single throw, the stone accurately struck the target spot on the rock wall. The stone he hit sank slightly into the wall, and a vertical crack nearly two meters long appeared in the entire section below it. The rock walls on either side of the crack then slowly parted, revealing a humanoid statue placed inside. With a dagger in one hand and a tray of apples in the other, it looked exactly like the one Wang Zhifan had just seen on the instrument screen. "Wei Wei Jie, did you find something fun?"

Only then did A Liao, who had been resting against the wall at the end of the passage over ten meters away with his gun in hand, get drawn over by the noise of the parting rock wall. Under the combined beams of the miner's helmet lamps above their heads, his attention was completely captured by the female statue revealed within the wall.

"It's a Goddess of Luck Statue. According to the Bureau of Management's records, each of us now has one chance to touch it and obtain a random result. The result could be good or bad. Who wants to try first?"

Chu Wei had already briskly walked over to the female statue. She looked somewhat eager to give it a try, but also slightly hesitant.

"Seriously? Wei Wei Jie, you're not messing with me, are you?"

The teenage A Liao, who had just walked over, was skeptical of Chu Wei's claim. The idea that touching a statue could trigger a random outcome seemed far too bizarre to him. He had never even heard of such a thing before.

"I'm not lying to you. The information is right here. See for yourself."

Chu Wei immediately handed the Bureau of Management's special instrument to A Liao, letting him view the page Wang Zhifan had already read.

A Liao read extremely quickly. In barely five seconds, he had gotten the gist of it. Then, brimming with interest, the youth walked up to the statue in the rock wall. After carefully examining and comparing its appearance, and confirming that it was no different from the information, he stretched out a hand to touch it.

However, just as one of his fingers was about to touch the statue, he suddenly stopped. Turning to look at Chu Wei and Wang Zhifan on either side of him, he said:

"Wei Wei Jie, Brother Fan, if I get hurt, you have to take me out."

"No problem. But if you're scared, you should just not touch it."

Chu Wei immediately replied, since she herself was somewhat undecided about whether to touch such a thing.

"Heh, how could I not try something this interesting? At worst, I'll spend a few days in the hospital."

Chu Wei's words instead stirred up A Liao's gambler instincts. He quickly tapped one finger against the statue embedded in the rock wall, then pulled it back like lightning.

The female statue within the wall immediately reacted somewhat to his action. The apples on the tray held in one of its hands suddenly emitted a faint glow, and then everyone heard the sound of something landing beside A Liao.

Wang Zhifan lowered his head, and the lamp on his miner's helmet happened to shine on A Liao's feet. He saw that an object resembling a pair of shoes had appeared there.

A Liao promptly bent down and picked up the item that he had clearly received from touching the statue. But after looking at it for a few moments, he immediately began complaining in displeasure:

"What the hell... all I got was a pair of Common Grade Cloth Shoes? What a waste of my excitement!"

Before A Liao could finish venting, Chu Wei stepped forward nearby. After hesitating slightly for two seconds, she placed one of her fingers on the statue before her.

This time, unlike when A Liao touched the statue, it was the dagger in the statue's other hand that emitted a faint glow. Wang Zhifan, who was watching closely, then noticed that a rock the size of an adult's fist suddenly broke loose from the cave ceiling above Chu Wei and fell straight toward her head!

"Watch out above you!"

Wang Zhifan immediately shouted a warning, but it proved that he might have worried too much. Chu Wei did not even need to react herself. Her female ghost summon suddenly emerged from the nearby rock wall, then swiped its clawed hand with long, sharp nails, slicing the rock above Chu Wei's head into powder.