Chapter 6: 6. The secrets of the platforms
In the race to finish the third trial, Xu Lei ended up closer to the right side of the chamber, among unfamiliar adventurers.
He barely had time to catch his breath when he felt a slight vibration under his feet. He looked down and saw pale blue letters flickering on the iron platform he had landed on. It was a simple square with a rough texture that kept him from slipping.
He watched as the letters formed words and then sentences under his feet, as well as under the feet of several others nearby.
A riddle appeared before his eyes: "You are trapped in a dungeon with two doors. One leads to freedom, the other to certain death. There are two guards, one by each door. One guard always tells the truth, while the other always lies. You don't know which guard is which. You can ask one guard one question to find out which door to choose. What question do you ask?"
Xu Lei scanned the riddle quickly and racked his brain for an answer.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice shout: "Griffin!" It was Alastor, who had solved his riddle first and confidently given his answer.
A flash of light enveloped him and he vanished from his platform. He reappeared on a lower level of iron squares that hung over the dark abyss. Xu Lei realized then that there were six rows of platforms in total, each one further across the hole than the previous one.
There was only one platform close enough to jump across to where a door awaited them on the other side.
The silence that followed Alastor's answer was broken by the sound of his shoes clanging softly on his new platform and then a much louder noise dull noise. A scream followed, echoing through the chamber:
"Argh!"
Xu Lei felt a sudden jolt on his right shoulder, followed by a surge of intense pain that made him dizzy. He looked and saw a short steel bolt embedded in his flesh. He staggered, barely keeping his balance, but the others weren't so lucky.
He watched in horror as two adventurers plunged into the abyss, shrieking in terror, as they flailed their arms and legs in vain, hoping to grab something, anything, in the empty air.
The group was shaken, but only for a brief moment. "Sword! The answer is a sword!", someone shouted, and they instantly disappeared to the next row of platforms.
Xu Lei ignored the pain, knowing that pulling out the bolt would only make him bleed more. He focused on his riddle. The answer came to him a moment later.
"The answer is to ask either guard - If I asked the other guard which door leads to freedom, what would he say? Then you choose the opposite door. The truthful guard is going to point at the wrong door because the liar would lie. And the liar is going to lie anyway, so they both will point at the wrong door", he said confidently.
A flash of light blinded him briefly, and he appeared on the further row of platforms, among only a few other participants.
He was quite close to Alastor who was already busy solving his next puzzle. He glanced at his own quickly, wondering if it was something he could crack easily, or if he should rather focus on dodging whatever would come his way the moment someone before him solved their riddle.
"I have no eyes, but I can see. I have no ears, but I can hear. I have no limbs, but I can move. I have no mouth, but I can speak. What am I?", the riddle read on the platform.
Xu Lei barely glanced at it, deciding it was too long.
'The first one was easy but tricky. The second one might be harder, but also more dangerous. I can't afford to focus on thinking right now', he thought.
He kept his eye on the right side of the chamber, where the bolts came from, but he was also wary of the other direction.
"You choose the path with the fairy. The dragon and the witch both lie, so the fairy tells the truth", Alastor announced.
He was immediately teleported to the third level of platforms, while the rest braced for the impending danger. A loud clang signaled it. Xu Lei instinctively rolled to the side, grabbing the edge of the platform to make sure he wouldn't fall, just as something slammed right next to his face.
He couldn't help but close his eyes, and yet he still felt vibrations. When he opened them, he saw another steel bolt flying through the air, as it bounced off the iron square and ricocheted into the abyss below, disappearing in the darkness.
He looked around to see how bad this trap was and soon noticed five empty platforms where just a moment ago there were adventurers, trying desperately to solve their riddles. Only a bit of blood, sprayed here and there, remained of them.
Those who survived had pale faces and clearly struggled with shock.
Xu Lei knew that he couldn't afford to waste time on such distractions. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain that radiated from his wounded shoulder, and read the text on the platform carefully.
'I have no eyes, but I can see. I have no ears, but I can hear. I have no limbs, but I can move. I have no mouth, but I can speak. What am I?', he repeated the words in his mind, and the answer came to him instantly.
"It's mind! My mind!", he yelled, and the light surrounded him, moving him to the third level.
He immediately looked to the side. Slightly above him, on a different platform, was Alastor already pondering over the answer to his next puzzle. In flashes of light, more adventurers were appearing on the platforms further to the left.
Xu Lei, not wasting any more time, looked under his feet, to check the text, but before he could even read it, he heard: "Three! The missing number in the sequence is three!" The voice belonged to Alastor.
He braced himself for the activation of the trap, but instead of hearing any loud noises, he was briefly blinded by the light. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was in a different place than before.
After quickly looking around in panic, it became clear that he had returned to the second row of platforms, while Alastor was now on the fourth. He even turned around and laughed at the other adventurers. Some got so angry that they gritted their teeth loudly.
Xu Lei knew giving in to the emotions was a waste of time, so he instead immediately looked under his own feet, at the text written on the surface of the platform. "I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. I have banks, but no money. I have cities, but no buildings. What am I?", it read.
'What?', he thought, then quickly repeated the riddle.
Meanwhile, his ears were picking up the answers of others both behind and ahead, mixed with the noises made by the activated traps. The light was also flashing. Worried that the bolts might come flying his way, he tried to force his mind to produce the answer, but the circumstances made him nervous.
"River! The answer is River!", he shouted as soon as he figured it out, reaching the third level of platforms again.
The clang of bolts, and curses from those who had to dodge them, were like a fanfare announcing his victory.
A moment later, in the corner of his eye, he noticed the mysterious dark-haired girl, whom he had already interacted with. She appeared not far away, also on the third level.
"Phoenix!", she yelled almost immediately, even before Xu Lei was able to read his rather long puzzle.
With a flash of light, he was sent back to the second level. He raised his head to look at her, who had just destroyed the fruits of his hard work. She appeared on the fourth level of platforms. Alastor was already there, and to his astonishment, so was Rolan.
He had no idea when that man had managed to get there. Maybe it wouldn't be that surprising, if not for the fact that he deemed Rolan as someone who didn't possess the sharpest mind.
There were also two others who had reached this far.
"Isle!", the woman suddenly shouted again. "If you add A to the word it becomes aisle. It works!" As a confirmation, the light flashed and she appeared on the fifth row.
"Raven, wait!" Alastor shouted, just as the platform under his feet collapsed with a loud clang.
It acted like a trap door that had been triggered, hanging on invisible hinges. He managed to grab it at the last moment and slammed into the iron, but the key from his hand plummeted down into the darkness. "Nooo!" he screamed.
Rolan hit his platform as well, accompanied by the screams of two others who failed to react in time and fell into the pit.
With another loud clang, the platforms returned to their normal position with two adventurers lying flat on them.
Meanwhile, Raven was already working on the answer for the next riddle. Her lips moved as she read through the text quickly, then she briefly closed her eyes before opening them wide.
"Sixteen pies. The answer is sixteen pies!" she shouted, and a flash of light moved her to the sixth and last row.
What was more interesting, was the fact that nothing happened to the row of platforms she just left. Watching this, Xu Lei averted his gaze and tried to solve his own riddle.
"Wyvern," Raven suddenly shouted again, making him look up at her.
The light flashed, but she didn't appear where he expected her to be teleported.
"What?!" he heard from behind him. "Damn it! Dragon, the answer was a dragon, not a wyvern!"
He turned around to see her. She was back at the very start. Not even at the first row of platforms.
Then he noticed something else. Small objects appeared above many of the iron squares and fell, hitting them with a quiet ringing sound.
Dan burst out laughing, mocking Raven with his reaction.
"The keys!" Alastor shouted, interrupting the moment of triumph.
He was right. Those small objects were definitely the keys. Xu Lei couldn't tell the exact number, but it seemed like all of them, including those that belonged to the people who were already dead, had reappeared.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone