The tourists all looked up in unison, gazing at the Dark Great Buddha.
"Hmph!"
The Dark Great Buddha snorted coldly, clearly considering their attention a grave sign of disrespect.
Quite a few tourists shuddered, then hurriedly lowered their heads again.
Lin Baici didn't look away.
The Dark Great Buddha rested its chin on one hand. After giving Lin Baici an amused glance, it closed its eyes.
"What does that mean?"
The Old Aunt was nervous. Couldn't it give them a straight answer about whether they'd live or die?
"We must have succeeded in paying our respects to the Buddha. Didn't you see it stop spitting those sparks?"
Sima Mu breathed a sigh of relief.
"So can we leave now?"
Sister Xiao Li didn't want to stay here any longer. It was too dangerous.
"I don't think so!"
Hua Yueyu could tell even without thinking that their troubles weren't over yet.
The tourists whispered among themselves. Some wanted to leave, but no one wanted to be the first to step forward.
"Thanks to you, we made it through that crisis. I'll remember this favor. And once we get out, I'll transfer ten million to you right away!"
Jiang Hong was a shrewd man.
He emphasized the words "favor," "ten million," and "right away." He praised Lin Baici to make him happy, while dangling money to keep him interested.
This young man had faced the threat of death with composure, intelligence, and decisiveness. Most importantly, he was kindhearted, which made him easy to fool.
Jiang Hong understood that whether he survived this time depended on how capable this young man was. So he had to win him over first and bring them closer.
"The Great Buddha suddenly closed its eyes. We don't know what that means. How about we choose a few people to see if they can make it out of this hall?"
Jiang Hong made his suggestion.
"Who should we choose?"
Sima Mu sized up the real estate tycoon.
He was slightly overweight, with a big belly and a shrewd look on his face.
"After that crisis, everyone owes you their lives. They'll definitely listen to you. Whoever you choose, they won't object."
Jiang Hong addressed Lin Baici humbly, holding him in high regard.
"Oppa, don't listen to him. He's trying to use you!"
Jin Yingzhen thought the man was despicable.
The people chosen would be cannon fodder. If they died as soon as they stepped out of the hall, everyone could say Lin Baici had sent them to their deaths.
Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they wouldn't trust Lin Baici anymore.
"That's not what I meant!"
Jiang Hong lowered his voice. "I've heard a few things about how terrifying the God Ruins are. There aren't any God Hunters here. If we want to survive and avoid Rule Pollution, we'll have to use people's lives to test the waters!"
"To put it bluntly, even though you saved them, plenty of these people will still die in this God Ruin. Better to use them as stepping stones than let them die without knowing why."
"Don't worry. When it's time to get our hands dirty, I'll do it with you!"
Jiang Hong patted Lin Baici on the shoulder as he finished.
Hua Yueyu stared at Jiang Hong in shock.
This man was vicious.
Sima Mu said nothing. He glanced at Lin Baici, watching his reaction, because what Jiang Hong had said was the best option available.
"Survival of the fittest is the law of this world. Besides, you've already saved these people once. Wouldn't it be more worthwhile to put their lives to use?"
Jiang Hong tried to sway him.
The sparks the Dark Great Buddha had just spewed from its nose had burned four groups of people to death—around three hundred in total. The roughly five hundred who were still alive had all been saved by Lin Baici.
The Old Aunt felt Jiang Hong had a point. After all, those people owed Lin Baici their lives.
"Take the lead. Some people may die, but others will survive. If you don't, then every one of them is doomed!"
Jiang Hong left one thing unsaid: as the leader's trusted aide, he'd naturally have a better chance of surviving.
"Boss Jiang, everyone's life belongs to them. They can decide for themselves how to use it. I won't interfere!"
Lin Baici stared at Jiang Hong. "And don't try to sway my judgment with your rhetoric. I'm not that stupid!"
Jiang Hong gave an awkward smile, fretting inwardly.
This kid...
Wasn't easy to fool!
What a shame they couldn't drink. If they'd been at a drinking table, after five bottles of Maotai, he could've made Lin Baici kneel down and call him Dad!
"Oppa, look!"
Jin Yingzhen tugged at Lin Baici's jersey.
A woman in her sixties, perhaps terrified, stumbled toward the redwood doors, trying to escape.
She stepped over the foot-and-a-half-high threshold and hurried toward the stairs.
Just as everyone thought she'd be fine and they could leave, a translucent Buddha's palm suddenly descended from above. Like swatting a mosquito, it slapped her against the floor.
Thud!
When the palm vanished, all that remained was a pool of gore.
"So we really can't leave the hall!"
Every tourist was relieved they hadn't made a reckless escape, yet felt helpless too.
What were they supposed to do now?
Everyone instinctively looked toward the student who had helped them through the crisis.
But the very next moment, their faces filled with horror, and they all took a step back.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Baici frowned. What was with them?
Come to think of it, why did his shoulder feel so heavy?
"Oppa, your right shoulder..."
Jin Yingzhen jumped in fright.
"What's wrong with my shoulder?"
Lin Baici turned to look at his right shoulder. A pair of pitch-black eyes met his gaze.
"Holy crap!"
Lin Baici jumped in fright.
What the hell was that?
A baby-sized black Buddha statue was clinging to his shoulder, staring at him expressionlessly.
"Ah! Yingzhen, there's one on your shoulder too!"
Hua Yueyu trembled with fear. She quickly scanned the crowd and saw that a Buddha Infant like this had appeared on many people's shoulders.
The Buddha Infants wore no clothes. Their skin was black as asphalt, and their bodies gave off a foul stench.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Jiang Hong reached for the Buddha Infant perched on his shoulder, intending to tear it off and throw it away.
The Buddha Infant opened its little mouth wide, revealing a row of black teeth. Like a wild dog, it sank its teeth into his wrist.
"Ah!"
Jiang Hong cried out in pain.
In just over ten seconds, the Buddha Infants had silently climbed onto the tourists' shoulders like ghosts. Not one person had escaped them.
Hua Yueyu felt sick. Acting on instinct, she reached out to remove the ghastly thing.
Smack!
Lin Baici grabbed her wrist.
"Don't touch the things on your shoulders!"
Lin Baici shouted. His voice echoed through the Great Hero Hall.
Some people listened, but others didn't.
Who wouldn't be afraid with something like this clinging to them?
"Auntie, Sister Xiao Li, stop touching it. This thing will grow!"
Lin Baici warned them.
Rule Pollution had begun again. There was no way they could get the things off by hand.
"Grow?"
Only then did Jin Yingzhen notice that the Buddha Infants on Jiang Hong, the Old Aunt, and Sister Xiao Li were visibly larger than the ones on Lin Baici, Hua Yueyu, and Sima Mu.
She caught on quickly. "You mean, the more we touch them, the bigger they get?"
"Probably!"
Lin Baici reckoned that once the Buddha Infant reached a certain size, the player would be doomed.
The hall was filled with panic and nonstop crying.
Even though people had been burned to death earlier, none of them had been in immediate danger themselves. They'd been scared, but not enough to lose their heads. This was different. Now everyone had a Shoulder-Riding Buddha Infant on their back, which meant they could die at any moment.
"Handsome Guy, what do we do now?"
"You're telling everyone not to touch it. Do you know what this thing is?"
"Waaah! I don't want to die! I haven't had enough of life!"
The tourists crowded around Lin Baici, asking him for help.
"Stop shouting! Quiet down!"
Lin Baici had to shout several times before he managed to calm them a little. "I found something important in the murals earlier. Everyone, look for clues—and search the hall again to see if we missed anything!"
Everyone immediately turned to the murals on the walls, eyes wide as they searched for clues like they were playing a matching game.
"Oil lamps!"
Hua Yueyu cried out suddenly, as if she'd discovered a new world. "There's an oil lamp beside every person in these murals!"
Lin Baici saw them too.
"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry and grab them!"
Sima Mu urged them on.
Behind the Buddha platforms on the east and west sides of the hall stood rows of wooden shelves coated in purple lacquer. A line of unlit Bronze Oil Lamps sat on them.
Lin Baici ran to the shelf but didn't grab one right away.
He wanted to see if there were any differences between the lamps.
"They all look the same?"
Jin Yingzhen didn't take one either, but the Old Aunt and Sister Xiao Li weren't cautious enough. They rushed to grab a lamp first.
"Yeah, there shouldn't be any difference!"
Lin Baici picked one up.
All the oil lamps had the same design. A tray formed the base, with a lotus-shaped bud the size of an apple above it, crafted to look as if it were about to bloom.
There was no lamp oil in the bud, only a lamp wick as thick as a chopstick.
Lin Baici had stood out earlier and was the one who had helped everyone survive, so the crowd watched everything he did.
Now that they saw him pick up an oil lamp, they hurried toward the Purple Lacquered Wood Shelves too. They didn't care whether the lamps were useful; they wanted one first.
"I saw this one first!"
"What are you grabbing it for? They're all the same!"
"Damn it, who shoved me?"
The tourists began arguing and cursing as they fought over the oil lamps. If not for the Shoulder-Riding Buddha Infants on their backs, someone hotheaded would definitely have started a fight.
The Old Aunt held her oil lamp in both hands and asked everyone hopefully, "The ghost thing on my back is gone now, right?"
"No!"
Sister Xiao Li was disappointed. It seemed the lamps had nothing to do with it.
The others also realized that the Shoulder-Riding Buddha Infants hadn't disappeared after they got an oil lamp.
"The people in the murals all have lit oil lamps!"
Hua Yueyu shouted, "Everyone, try lighting the wicks!"
Hua Yueyu wasn't the only one who had noticed.
Jiang Hong and Sima Mu both had lighters, but they didn't light the wicks after taking them out.
Jin Yingzhen glanced at Lin Baici.
She remembered that after they offered incense money and escaped from under the Merit Buddha's hand, they had come across a floor strewn with corpses. Lin Baici had picked up quite a few things.
Among them were several lighters. Why wasn't he taking them out?
Before you continue