Please Become a Buddha

"Where is the Buddha here?"

The instant he heard this, the Old Monk was genuinely taken aback.

"Benefactor, what are you talking about? Isn't the Buddha statue right there? Where else could it be?"

Zhou You turned to look again.

The shrine hall had pillars, an altar, prayer cushions, and a Lotus Throne.

Only the Buddha statue on top had vanished without a trace.

No, it wasn't quite right to say it had vanished without a trace.

Countless stone fragments were scattered beneath the altar. Judging by the marks, they had once been the Buddha statue seated on the Lotus Throne, but now they looked as if they'd been demolished by force. The paint on them was still bright and fresh, yet all that remained were heaps of broken rubble.

Zhou You had no time for pleasantries. He set down the incense and pulled the Old Monk over.

"Monk, look for yourself!"

The Old Monk reached out with his one remaining hand. A moment later, he froze like a statue.

"Wait, no, this can't be right. The Buddha statue shouldn't have been damaged! Normally, anyone connected by karma to the Ghost Mother Bodhisattva would never touch these statues. They could only settle for sealing them with ghost blood. How could they have smashed them? Unless..."

The Old Monk suddenly realized something. His eyeless face, dry as a skull, began to tremble. Before long, it had become as hideous as a vengeful ghost.

"Unless one of our own did it."

The next moment, a deafening roar rang out.

The Old Monk no longer cared about Buddhist prohibitions against anger. He cursed at the darkness outside. "Those damn baldies! The scum of the Buddhist order! They've already squeezed so much money out of the faithful, and they're still not satisfied? They smashed their own Buddha for money? I'll curse your ancestors for eighteen generations! Every last one of you will fall into Avici Hell after death and never be reborn!"

Seeing the Old Monk grow more and more agitated, Zhou You frowned and interrupted his tirade.

"Monk, what should we do now?"

The Old Monk's mouth twitched, but he didn't answer. Instead, he suddenly seemed to realize something, pressed his hand against his face, and rubbed it fiercely.

After a while, the demonic expression slowly faded.

"...Sorry, Benefactor. The Hungry Ghost Path nearly got out of control. As for what to do...to be honest, there's nothing left to try."

The Old Monk sighed, felt around for the incense, and handed it to Zhou You.

"Run while you can, Benefactor. I'll stay here and draw its attention. The Bodhisattva will only come for these few temples. If you can hold out until daylight, you'll be able to escape. Then do as we discussed and hurry to Qingjing Temple to fetch my fellow monks..."

The Old Monk's words were steeped in sorrow. But Zhou You didn't take the incense. He paused to think.

Something was wrong.

Or rather, the expected course of events was wrong.

First, this Old Monk was steeped in an ominous aura, but judging from the traces and subtle signs, he didn't seem to be a human traitor. So going with him should indeed be the final outcome of this scenario.

Second, as far as he knew, this ghost game was a complete mess, but it wouldn't give players a task that was impossible to complete. In Building Four, the two side quests in this instance, even the two cursed objects needed to persuade the Old Monk—all of them had a related ending, as long as there were clues.

So there had to be something he'd missed.

As for the Old Monk's advice to run...he'd never taken it seriously. He still had plenty of Resurrection Coins. At worst, he could just start over. So forget the Ghost Mother Bodhisattva—even if he was wrong about the Old Monk and the monk turned on him right there, he could take it in stride.

What did life matter, anyway?

It was just a consumable.

So Zhou You firmly pushed the incense back, ignoring the Old Monk's growing anxiety, and began searching the temple carefully.

The broken walls and rubble nearby...nothing.

The prayer cushions and cabinets in the temple...empty.

The scattered trash...just ordinary trash.

Just as Zhou You was about to climb onto the temple roof and take a look, he suddenly noticed something strange.

By then, the Old Monk could no longer hold back.

"Benefactor, what are you doing? Don't tell me you're planning to die here with me! You must understand, it isn't only your own life you're carrying on your shoulders. It's the lives of countless people throughout the city—"

"Enough. It's too late to try guilt-tripping me now." Zhou You cut him off, then crouched down and carefully scraped at one of the Buddha statue's fragments.

With the grating sound of fingernails scraping clay, the painted surface flaked away. But what his fingers felt wasn't powder. It was something slick, almost liquid.

Something was definitely wrong.

He'd had a vague sense that something was off earlier. All three temples were in such bad shape, clearly left unrepaired for ages, so how could the paint on this Buddha be gleaming like new?

"Monk, come take a look. What is this?"

The Old Monk felt his way over and pressed down on Zhou You's fingers. His expression first turned puzzled, then filled with delight.

"This is...faith and incense offerings gathered on the statue? Those bald thieves didn't scrape it off? Could it be... Never mind, whatever the reason, we have a chance now!"

The Old Monk immediately tried to put the Buddha statue back together. But when he touched the pile of rubble, his smile abruptly froze.

After a moment, Zhou You sighed and explained.

"Monk, there's no way the two of us can put this thing back together. And even if we could, we don't have so much as a bottle of craft glue. We wouldn't be able to hold it together."

The Old Monk remained half-crouched. After a long while, he suddenly raised his head.

"No, there's still a chance."

"Benefactor, let me ask you something. You didn't even change expression when you cut your own flesh just now. Can you endure pain?"

Zhou You didn't answer right away. After thinking it over, he said, "It depends on how bad it is. I can handle ordinary pain. I've even gotten somewhat used to it. But I'm afraid I couldn't take torture or anything like that..."

"That won't be a problem. You only need to endure the first half. I'll bear the rest."

Then the Old Monk took off his outer robe and spread it on the ground. He held out his arm and used his one remaining hand to clear the dust and dirt from the Lotus Throne.

Then he turned and "looked" at Zhou You with his hollow eye sockets.

"Though the Buddha statue has been completely destroyed, the faith and incense offerings remain. It can still serve to suppress evil."

"The only thing missing now is a clay statue of a deity."

"So I beg you, Benefactor..."

"Please sit on it and become the Buddha, just this once."