A Dead End at Every Step!

"You got lucky—that piece of red clay you dug up should pass!"

Lin Baici looked around. "I think most of the red clay around the Clay Figure Monster is fine, pretty similar to the piece it took!"

Ma Yuan frowned and glanced at the passengers thirty meters away.

Wasn't this kid implying that the clay these people had taken wasn't up to standard?

"What about mine?"

Song Li was worried.

"I don't think it'll work!"

Lin Baici was blunt. "But this is a life-or-death matter. I'm just making a suggestion. You decide for yourselves. Don't come complaining to me later if something goes wrong, saying I was selfish and didn't warn you."

Song Li fell silent.

18D thought back to Lin Baici's performance on the train and made up his mind. "Brother, I trust you!"

Xia Hongyao saw that Ma Yuan hadn't moved and gave him a piece of advice. "I suggest you listen to him!"

"Fine!"

Ma Yuan actually thought there was no difference between these red clays—using any of them would be fine.

Song Li, seeing that Ma Yuan and 18D had both followed Lin Baici's advice, did the same.

"Once you've got your clay base, follow me!"

The Clay Figure Monster rose, holding a coconut-sized lump of red clay, and walked back to the Earth Platform.

On the north side of the platform were many long, flat stone slabs, each about an inch thick, two feet long, and a foot wide, looking just like chopping boards. Beside them were stacks of palm-sized wooden boxes.

"See those stone slabs and wooden boxes? Take one of each!"

The Clay Figure Monster instructed.

The passengers immediately rushed over, scrambling to pick first.

Lin Baici observed carefully. After confirming there was no difference between the slabs, he picked one at random.

It was pretty heavy!

Must be over ten pounds!

Then he picked up a wooden box, opened it, and saw an Iron Carving Knife the length of an index finger inside.

"Follow my lead!"

After everyone had returned, the Clay Figure Monster placed a stone slab on the ground, knelt beside it, picked up the clay base, and began slamming it onto the slab.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

"Hold the clay base above your head, use moderate force, and slam it one hundred and twenty times!"

The Clay Figure Monster explained the technique.

"How much force is 'moderate'?"

The Programmer with Dark Circles, whom Lin Baici had seen earlier, asked boldly.

He hated this kind of vague description.

"Feel it out yourself!"

The Clay Figure Monster's answer nearly infuriated everyone.

"Chinese chefs teaching cooking always say 'appropriate amount' for seasonings. I never thought making a clay figure would be the same!"

The Fat Man cursed.

"Hurry up. I won't wait. Once half of you finish this step, I'll immediately start explaining the next one!"

The Clay Figure Monster warned.

This one sentence instantly filled everyone with intense pressure. They all began slamming their clay bases, terrified of falling behind.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The sound of clay hitting stone slabs was crisp and loud, rising and falling in waves.

"Don't slack off. Strictly follow the technique I said!"

The Clay Figure Monster reiterated.

It raised its arms, lifted the clay base above its head, then slammed it down. Throughout the process, its expression was meticulous, and every movement exuded a kind of power and beauty.

It had the aura of a master clay sculptor.

Each passenger's red clay base weighed over three pounds. At first, slamming it felt like nothing, but after a few dozen strikes, their arms began to weaken, tremble, and ache.

Many passengers slowed down, their movements becoming distorted and incomplete.

"Feels like I'm an idiot!"

The Middle-aged Woman with diabetes, who had asked Lin Baici in the Waiting Hall what illness she had, grumbled.

She was already in poor health—overweight, with high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Doing this physical labor, she was exhausted after just over thirty strikes.

Her clay lump was no longer raised above her head; instead, she lifted it only to neck height before slamming it down.

By the time Song Li had slammed it down sixty-odd times, she was exhausted, and kneeling bare-legged on the ground of this earth platform was deeply uncomfortable.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and decided to slack off.

But just as she raised the clay lump to her chest and was about to drop it, the cold, aloof Big Male Student spoke up: "If you don't want to die, follow that monster's instructions exactly!"

"Huh?"

Song Li was startled: "I could die?"

"No... it can't be that serious, right?"

18D cut in, sneaking a glance at the Clay Figure Monster: "As long as it doesn't see me, sneaking a break should be fine, right?"

"You only have one life. Are you willing to gamble on it?"

Lin Baici shot back.

Song Li swallowed hard and decided to tough it out a little longer.

"Brother, don't scare me!"

18D's face crumpled in misery. He'd planned to slack off when the Clay Figure Monster wasn't looking, but now he didn't dare.

In less than ten minutes, someone finished—even faster than the Clay Figure Monster.

Soon after, the Clay Figure Monster finished too. It kneaded its clay lump into a ball, set it on the stone slab, then stood up and wandered through the crowd.

Many Passengers panicked at the sight of the Clay Figure Monster patrolling like an exam proctor, and with its earlier warning that the next step would begin once half were done, everyone sped up.

Some were already exhausted, and their slamming motions unconsciously grew sloppy.

Song Li finally finished, her arms sore and swollen.

With a hint of schadenfreude, she watched the Passengers who hadn't completed their one hundred and twenty slams of Red Clay, waiting for the Clay Figure Monster to punish them.

But the Clay Figure Monster did nothing.

It patiently waited for these people to finish the first step.

"Fuck you, you're messing with us, right?"

the Fat Man cursed.

The Passengers who had rushed to finish in a panic were all pissed off. If they'd known, they would have taken it slow!

Song Li looked at Lin Baici, a trace of resentment in her eyes.

"Little Lin's caution was the right call!"

Xia Hongyao spoke up for Lin Baici.

"The kneaded clay lump has become a fired blank. Now we move to the second step: Body Sculpting!"

The Clay Figure Monster picked up an Iron Carving Knife: "Body Sculpting means carving and shaping the clay figure's body. This time, we're making humans!"

"Please create clay figures matching your own gender."

"They don't need to be refined, but personal features must be prominent!"

As the Clay Figure Monster explained, it moved the knife with lightning speed.

The Iron Carving Knife danced over the round, fired clay lump like a butterfly fluttering, slicing off chunks of clay.

Clay powder drifted in the air.

Setting aside the Clay Figure Monster's identity, its carving posture was effortless and graceful, carrying a unique beauty that was pleasing to the eye.

The Passengers watched intently.

In just three minutes, the clay lump under the Clay Figure Monster's knife had become a ten-centimeter-tall miniature clay figure identical to itself.

But it had no facial features or hairstyle.

"You may begin!"

The Clay Figure Monster set down its finished work and warned solemnly: "Do your utmost to carve, making the clay figure resemble you as much as possible. That way, in the final scoring and critique round, you'll have a better chance of getting high marks and passing!"

"You have thirty minutes for production. Make good use of your time!"

Hearing how little time they had, the crowd panicked and hurried again. They grabbed their carving knives and started working.

Fortunately, this was carving clay sculptures, not performing surgery—even if a few cuts went wrong, they could be fixed.

Lin Baici picked up the carving knife, pondering where to start: "God of Gluttony, aren't you going to give me any advice?"

[The clay lump selection was good, ten out of ten. The slamming process to make the fired blank was perfect, ten out of ten. Carving? Just do as the Clay Figure Monster says!]

Lin Baici's performance was so flawless that the God of Gluttony had no room to nitpick.

"I didn't ask you to praise me!"

Lin Baici rolled his eyes: "What do I need to watch out for in this step?"

The God of Gluttony fell silent.

Lin Baici curled his lip. Fine, I'll do it myself!

For an ordinary person who had never touched clay sculpture, picking up a carving knife for the first time and trying to create a lifelike clay figure was nothing short of a pipe dream.

Fortunately, this step didn't test realism either.

Lin Baici recalled the Clay Figure Monster's explanation.

"Make a clay figure matching your own gender. It doesn't need to be exquisite, but your personal features must stand out!"

Lin Baici had an idea.

The clay figure's clothes should match what he was wearing, and through the muscles, he needed to show a strong physique—especially the eight-pack abs, which had to be prominent.

This could be conveyed by the outline of the clothes clinging to the abdomen.

The Clay Figure Monster hadn't demanded realism, but Lin Baici still wanted to carve the figure as close to himself as possible: the same clothes, the same build, even the logo on his shoes had to match.

Lin Baici gripped the Iron Carving Knife in his right hand and began shaving the clay blank.

No one spoke.

The passengers, fighting to survive, were all focused on carving their clay figures.

Black Shark III stood on the railroad tracks, looking at the swirling yellow sand around him, and drew a cold, lingering breath of relief.

If not for the bubble blown by Nautilus wrapping around him, granting immunity to Rule Pollution, he would have had to endure another terrifying God's Taboo Game.

A pollution intensity of 5.0 could be lethal.

This time, the God's Taboo Object that Black Shark III and Octopus Ball were transporting was called the Clay Figure Divine Puppet, seized from a wealthy man based on intelligence from the Nine Dragon Pavilion.

After the Lost Coast got their hands on it, worried about being hunted by the Nine Provinces Dragon Guard, the Leader ordered the entire group of eight to split into pairs and move separately.

Black Shark III and his partner were strong, but the Leader still wasn't reassured, so he lent him the Nautilus and told him to activate the Clay Figure Divine Puppet in case of crisis.

Black Shark III and Octopus Ball both thought the Leader was overreacting, because the two of them had never failed a mission so far.

Mainly, their combination—the Divine Grace they possessed plus the Coral Sea—was just too invincible.

They never expected to screw up this time!

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Black Shark III cursed, kicking hard at the railroad tracks.

Just what was that Male Student's background?

How could he find Octopus Ball so quickly and kill him? It was unbelievable!

Remember, the seawater would fill the entire train in at most ten minutes.

Even Sherlock Holmes couldn't have found Octopus Ball in that short a time.

"Fuck, it's such a shame I can't kill him with my own hands!"

Black Shark III spat a thick glob of phlegm, gazing through the Sandstorm at the faint outline of the train.

He was certain Lin Baici was doomed!

There was no way to pass a God's Taboo Game with a pollution intensity of 5.0.

Following the Leader's instructions, Black Shark III had earlier tied a Remote Bomb to the Black Coffin sealing the Clay Figure Divine Puppet, so that if they encountered an enemy they couldn't beat, they could blow up the coffin, break the seal, activate the Taboo Object, create Rule Pollution, and use the God's Taboo Game to kill the enemy.

"But I can still desecrate the corpse!"

Black Shark III lit a cigarette and waited patiently.

He wondered what God's Taboo Objects he'd scavenge from the remains this time.

Looking forward to it!