Why Did the Rock Wall Move?

Chapter 41: Why Did the Rock Wall Move? (Seeking Recommendation Tickets!)

For the next three days, Qingyu seemed to truly dedicate himself wholeheartedly to learning stone carving.

He trained every morning and spent his afternoons learning from old man Yamashita. When he had the chance, he would accompany other craftsmen up to the Hokage Rock to personally witness their inspection and finishing work. In the evenings, he would carve two stones at home to practice. After all, the dog system had completion requirements, and he figured the passing grade would at least require carving something that looked like a person.

Naturally, someone inquired about the addition of a child to the team of craftsmen.

This made him quite nervous at the time, but fortunately, old man Yamashita was very helpful. He offered a brief explanation and casually sent the person away. This meant his presence was no longer conspicuous. As long as he didn't do anything strange, most people would ignore him even if they saw him.

Then, he learned from old man Yamashita that the finishing work would be completely done the day after tomorrow, followed by a simple unveiling ceremony. He also learned that quite a few people would likely be there to watch.

Timing, location, and support – everything was in place!

So, Qingyu decided not to delay any longer. He would use the remaining two days to complete his audacious feat!

Night fell.

Qingyu carried his tools and stones to the base of the Hokage Rock. Then, using the equipment left by the craftsmen as if it were second nature, he took a suspended platform up to a blank section of rock wall next to the Fourth Hokage.

After three days of observation, he had already determined the optimal carving location.

Unless he was incredibly unlucky and choked on water, he shouldn't be discovered beforehand and should be able to hold out until the unveiling ceremony.

Without further hesitation, he put down his belongings, took out his chisel and other tools, and began to tap carefully.

Although the sound of chipping occasionally echoed in the night sky, it was far from the villagers' homes. Moreover, he was cautious when he struck, pausing after a short while. If he sensed any disturbance, he would immediately stop and be ready to implement Plan B.

Thus, any faint sounds heard would not be cause for concern.

Furthermore, tonight was the craftsmen's celebration banquet. Most of them were sound asleep, and their lodgings were a considerable distance away. As long as he detected someone approaching, Qingyu could react immediately.

An hour passed...

Looking at the rock face gradually taking shape before him, Qingyu's anxiety slowly subsided. The movements of his hands began to quicken, but he never let his guard down.

Doing something sneaky like this was truly, damn exciting!

Qingyu felt his adrenaline surging, like he could pee himself at any moment!

Five hours passed, and the sky was about to brighten!

At the same time, Qingyu put down his tools and looked at his masterpiece with a hint of emotion.

"Well, it's really ugly!"

It was crooked and unsightly, practically an assault on the eyes!

But it could still vaguely be recognized as a statue of a person, with a nose and eyes. That was enough!

Besides, there was no time to make any further modifications, so he could only make do with this. He hoped it would pass.

Qingyu sighed, then immediately took out the paint and brushes he had prepared beforehand. With swift strokes, he wrote a line of large characters on the statue.

Without hesitation, he took out a large piece of cloth, quickly applied strong adhesive to a few corners on the back, and then directly attached it to the rock face, completely covering his masterpiece.

He also left a long, thin strip of cloth extending downwards, which he would also attach later for easier handling.

After completing all this, Qingyu looked at the slightly 'smoother' rock face before him with a satisfied expression.

To be able to coat the cloth with the exact same color as the Hokage Rock, he had almost been kicked out by the shop owner.

As a last resort, he resorted to a monetary offensive, persuading the shop owner with triple the price to help him mix the same color and buy it.

That's right, the method he came up with to deceive the heavens was to cover his statue with a piece of cloth of the same color.

As long as it didn't rain, or if a craftsman happened to notice this spot, there shouldn't be any major problems.

The location he chose was the best spot he had identified through his observations over the past few days, a place where almost no one would specifically check.

It could be considered minimizing the risk to the lowest possible level!

Everything he could do now had been done. The rest depended on luck.

So, Qingyu immediately began to clean up the scene. As the saying goes, details determine success or failure. If he left anything behind, all his efforts would be in vain!

Not only that, but he also cleaned up the scattered stones at the base of the Hokage Rock again. After repeatedly confirming that there were no flaws, he wearily returned home before dawn.

As for the tools used in his crime, he didn't destroy them because it was meaningless!

He was planning to create a major sensation at the unveiling ceremony the day after tomorrow. By then, everyone would know what he had done, so there was no need to hide anything. He would just 'tell the truth.'

After managing to sleep for most of the morning, Qingyu got up and, without even stopping to eat, headed straight for the Hokage Rock.

Now, ninety percent of the plan was complete. The remaining tasks were to avoid being discovered in the next two days and to ensure there would be enough people present on the day of the unveiling.

Although it was just a superficial endeavor, he expected quite a few people to witness this scene that day. There should be at least a hundred people.

So, what he needed to do now was to keep an eye on these craftsmen and prevent them from discovering this 'flaw' on the Hokage Rock...

"It's Qingyu! We told you the finishing work is boring. I don't know why you insist on suffering with us."

As soon as Qingyu appeared, a craftsman who was already familiar with him greeted him with a chuckle.

"Exactly! With this time, you could find three to five friends and go for a drink. That's heaven~"

"Haha, you drunkard, don't corrupt the child."

Qingyu skillfully greeted everyone while following behind them, looking around as they had for the past few days.

This job only needed to be done once a day, meaning as long as today's and tomorrow's routine checks went smoothly without any issues, they would successfully get through it.

In reality, by the time the finishing touches were being made, any minor problems that could be found had already been discovered and resolved.

These last two days were likely about checking for any remaining flaws, seeing if the already carved statues had any cracks or peeling due to weather.

Works approved by old man Yamashita generally didn't have such accidents, so everyone was relaxed.

However, just then, the unexpected happened.

As the saying goes, what you fear is what you get. A gust of wind blew by, and one of the artisans immediately let out a soft "Eh?" before rubbing his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

How did that somewhat smooth rock face just move?

PS: Thanks to Xiao Bing Kai Qiang for the 500 reward. Please give me recommendation tickets, favorites, investments, and rewards! Old Faceless is being suppressed by big shots, truly miserable~