Add Charcoal! Add Charcoal! Add Charcoal!

[The damp, muddy red clay in the Mud Pond kept out high heat. If you used it to make Beggars Chicken, it wouldn't cook through.]

God of Gluttony's comment.

Lin Baici raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

He knew about Beggars Chicken. You cleaned and gutted the chicken, brushed it with oil and seasonings, wrapped it in lotus leaves and yellow clay, then roasted it over a fire.

Thinking of how Song Li and the others had died, Lin Baici immediately charged toward the Mud Pond.

Splash!

Lin Baici dove in like he was jumping into water, landing facedown in the Mud Pond. Then he started rolling around, covering himself in mud.

Even that wasn't enough for him. He started scooping up red clay and smearing it over himself, intending to coat his whole body.

"Brother Lin, what are you...?"

18D was dumbfounded.

Lin Baici couldn't have gone crazy from fear.

"What are you waiting for? Get over here and cover yourselves in mud. The thicker, the better!"

Lin Baici urged them on.

No wonder God of Gluttony had told him to choose a kiln near the Mud Pond. This was what it meant.

Xia Hongyao took off with her long legs, sprinted to the edge of the Earth Platform, then leaped into the Mud Pond. After rolling around a few times, she scooped up a handful of red clay and smeared it on her face.

The girl with the High Ponytail was beautiful. Normally, most girls would have hated doing something so damaging to their appearance, but Xia Hongyao was having the time of her life.

Like a Husky!

Yeah!

In terms of intelligence, Xia Hongyao was probably only a little smarter than a Husky.

Ma Yuan saw this and made up his mind.

Stick with him!

With the careful thinking and caution Lin Baici had shown, how could he possibly take a risk?

Even if he did take one,

he'd have a decent chance of success!

Stick with him!

Victory was guaranteed!

Ma Yuan grabbed his Clay Figure and ran toward the Mud Pond. Like a wild boar, he rolled around and coated his body in mud.

The Clay Figure Monster watched the four of them expressionlessly. Then its gaze settled on Lin Baici. It curled its lip and gave him a playful smile.

"Any other apprentices want to step forward?"

The Clay Figure Monster scanned the crowd.

The Man with Glasses looked at his wife's corpse, then at her swollen belly. He tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn't.

"Fuck you!"

The Man with Glasses roared and charged toward the Clay Figure Monster.

He'd gone mad.

The Clay Figure Monster stood still. When the Man with Glasses came running, it casually swung its huge hand and smacked him on the head.

Thud!

The Man with Glasses' head burst apart. Blood, brains, and bone fragments sprayed out in all directions.

Thump!

The body hit the ground.

"Who else wants to challenge me?"

The Clay Figure Monster asked, casually shaking the scraps of flesh off its hand.

Killing a person was easier for it than swatting a fly.

No one answered. When the Clay Figure Monster looked their way, they all lowered their heads, afraid to meet its gaze.

[What a bunch of useless idiots. You can't even seize an opportunity when it's handed to you. Ingredients like these are way too low-grade. Even dogs wouldn't eat them!]

God of Gluttony sneered.

"The first batch of apprentices is too small. Not enough. Since none of you are volunteering, I'll pick for you!"

The Clay Figure Monster pointed at random.

You! You! You!

It picked six people, bringing the total to ten.

Lin Baici looked them over and realized he knew one of them: the middle-aged woman who had watched Douyin videos on speakerphone aboard the train.

[Oh, this train attendant is pretty. What a shame she's going to be roasted into a lump of charcoal!]

God of Gluttony lamented. [Otherwise, steaming her would make for a delicious meal!]

One of the six was a woman in her twenties. She wore a red skirt beneath a white short-sleeved shirt, with a red vest over it.

The black stockings on her legs were torn in several places and covered in mud. She'd also lost one of her low-heeled black leather shoes.

She was wearing a high-speed train attendant's uniform!

"Get to the Mud Pond and cover yourselves in mud!"

Xia Hongyao urged them on.

"Choose a kiln quickly. The test begins in ten seconds!"

The Clay Figure Monster urged them on and began counting down.

Now the six didn't have time to go to the pond. No matter how unwilling they were, all they could do was grab their Clay Figures and hurriedly look for kilns.

"Choose one near the Mud Pond!"

Lin Baici shouted, but no one listened.

The Clay Figure Monster's countdown was so fast that they panicked, like helpless lambs being chased by hungry wolves. Each chose the kiln closest to them.

"All ten of you, listen to my instructions and follow them exactly."

The Clay Figure Monster warned them, "I'll only explain this once!"

The six who hadn't made it to the pond listened intently.

18D's nerves tensed, too, and he pricked up his ears.

"Heh!"

Lin Baici curled his lips. I have Eidetic Memory. If you explain it once, I'll memorize it and remember it for at least three years.

"Open the kiln!"

"Enter the kiln!"

The travelers didn't need to do anything themselves. At the Clay Figure Monster's command, the Clay Figures they'd made came to life, walked to the kilns, and jumped inside.

"Light the fire!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The charcoal in the fireboxes caught fire.

The charcoal was all palm-sized, an inch thick, and neatly shaped.

"Bellows to Raise Temperature!"

After saying this fourth instruction, the Clay Figure Monster fell silent.

The travelers stared at it, muttering those four steps to themselves.

Lin Baici watched the kiln.

Hadn't it said to use the bellows to raise the temperature?

Why wasn't anything happening?

The next moment, Lin Baici understood. At this stage, they had to operate the bellows themselves.

He immediately crouched by the firebox and gripped the bellows handle with his right hand, pulling hard.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Air blew into the firebox, and the flames inside immediately flared up. The charcoal burned more fiercely.

Ma Yuan and Xia Hongyao caught on and hurriedly worked the bellows, too.

"Brother Lin, are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

18D was worried. He wanted to wait and see whether the Clay Figure Monster would give them another instruction.

"I'm not sure."

Lin Baici didn't want to claim certainty. What if he was wrong?

The other six began working, too.

But the attendant was clearly a city girl. She had never seen a bellows, a tool found only in remote villages, and stood there holding it, completely bewildered.

Fortunately, she adapted pretty well. After watching how Lin Baici and the others used it, she gritted her teeth and began pulling the bellows hard.

"Add charcoal!"

The Clay Figure Monster ordered them.

There was a pile of black charcoal beside each kiln. Everyone immediately grabbed a piece and tossed it into the firebox.

Some black charcoal dust stuck to their hands, but no one cared about such a trivial thing.

"How much should we add?"

18D tossed in seven or eight pieces in one go. Then he looked up, saw that the Clay Figure Monster hadn't said anything, and asked Lin Baici.

"I don't know!"

Lin Baici had added only one piece of charcoal.

He didn't know how to fire Clay Figures, but it should be like firing porcelain: the heat had to be controlled precisely. So he hadn't dared to add more on a whim.

Besides, he was waiting for God of Gluttony's comments, but the Mysterious Voice hadn't spoken.

"There were ten pieces of charcoal in the firebox to begin with. Should we add ten more?"

Ma Yuan suggested.

The ten travelers didn't have to wonder for long, because the Clay Figure Monster spoke again.

"Add three pieces of charcoal!"

The instruction was clear.

Everyone immediately tossed two more pieces of charcoal into the firebox.

But 18D, the Douyin Middle-aged Woman, and two other travelers were dumbfounded. They'd just tossed in several pieces all at once.

"Brother Lin, what do I do?"

18D was on the verge of tears.

"Adding three more pieces should be fine, right?"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman's voice trembled.

"Do you think that's likely?"

Ma Yuan was speechless. The answer was obvious: if they didn't follow the Clay Figure Monster's instructions, the Clay Figures wouldn't fire properly.

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman was on the verge of tears.

"Pull the charcoal back out!"

Lin Baici's expression was grave.

"Huh?"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman and 18D immediately looked around, but there was no tool they could use to pull the charcoal out of the firebox.

"There isn't even a poker or fire shovel or anything!"

18D complained.

There wasn't a single blade of grass on the red-clay Earth Platform, let alone any other plants. 18D couldn't even break off a branch to use as a poker.

"Use your hands!"

Lin Baici knew how cruel the answer was, but it was the only way.

"What?"

18D, the Douyin Middle-aged Woman, and the other two travelers who'd added too much charcoal were stunned.

Use their hands?

They looked at the firebox, where flames were roaring. If they put their hands inside, would they even survive?

"There are no tools, so you can only use your hands. And you don't have much time to hesitate!"

Ma Yuan added, "You added too much charcoal, so the heat is different from everyone else's. That's bound to cause problems with your Clay Figures!"

The four of them looked panicked.

"Brother Lin..."

18D looked at Lin Baici, his face pleading. "Think of something!"

"There's nothing I can do!"

Lin Baici shook his head.

"Fuck! Why didn't that thing make itself clear when it told us to add charcoal?"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman cursed, but it did no good.

"Did I tell you to stop working the bellows?"

The Clay Figure Monster demanded.

Everyone jumped and hurriedly worked the bellows again.

"Add charcoal!"

"Three pieces!"

The Clay Figure Monster spoke again.

Lin Baici and the others quickly grabbed charcoal and tossed it into the fireboxes.

"I... I added six pieces earlier. That means I don't have to take any out now, right?"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman was delighted.

18D's face went pale. He had to take one piece out to match the amount the Clay Figure Monster had specified!

[Those four self-important idiots! This is no time to hesitate. It's already too late to make up for it. The difference in heat has lowered the success rate for firing the clay figures to just seventy percent!]

God of Gluttony mocked them.

Seventy percent might not seem too bad!

But the firing process had only just begun. Who knew how many more steps there were?

"If you want to live, follow that monster's instructions to the letter. 18D, you'd better hurry up and take out the extra charcoal!"

Lin Baici warned them.

18D stared at the furnace chamber, glowing orange in the firelight, and couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Add charcoal!"

The Clay Figure Monster spoke again.

"Add charcoal!"

"Add charcoal!"

The Clay Figure Monster called for more charcoal three times in the span of fifteen minutes, and never once told them to stop working the bellows. So Lin Baici and the other nine pulled with all their might.

After absorbing the Meteorite Stone and God's Remains at Longchan Temple, Lin Baici's physique had improved, and he could handle this kind of physical labor. Xia Hongyao and Ma Yuan were fine too, but the others were having a rough time.

The delicate-looking flight attendant and the Douyin Middle-aged Woman had it especially bad. They took turns pulling the bellows with both hands, but their arms still ached terribly.

"If this were a square-dancing competition, I'd take first place!"

The Douyin Middle-aged Woman grumbled.

Just as everyone was about to give out, a new instruction came.

"Reduce the heat!"

18D burst into tears, like the worst student in the grade who'd opened his final exam and realized he couldn't even answer the easiest freebie.

"How do we reduce it? It's not like we can just dig the charcoal out of the furnace, right?"