Chapter 310: The Vermillion Bird’s Consciousness (2)

Shen Jingbin focused and surveyed her surroundings.

The world she saw was like the Mountain of Flames in Journey to the West. All around her were fiery red hills of varying heights. The ground under her feet was fractured, with no sign of vegetation or life. Looking closely, she could even see waves of heat slowly floating around.

Before her was a narrow winding road that twisted and turned like a snake that disappeared between the hills in the distance.

There was only this one path, so she didn’t need to ponder over which direction to take. She released Mascot, followed by the little Black Tortoise, and placed it on Mascot’s head. Following that, she and the two divine beasts began their journey on the winding path together.

Hm, the Black Tortoise was a little small, but regardless, it was still a Divine Beast. Having it around was better than nothing!

Not long after, two weirdly dressed men suddenly jumped out from behind one of the hills. They were identical in height, appearance, the clothes they wore, and their temperament. Shen Jingbin immediately thought of the twins from Alice in Wonderland.

The twin on the left grabbed his companion and suddenly said, “This was tree planted by me!”

“Where’s the tree?” Shen Jingbin asked.

The creepy smile on the face of the twin on the right froze for a moment. “That’s not the point… Cough, this road was laid by me!”

The twins looked at each other before shouting in unison, “If you wish to pass, you must first answer these questions!”

Shen Jingbin said, “... Um, that doesn’t rhyme.”

“... You talk too much!”

“You better play along, or we won’t let you pass!” The brothers suddenly said while glaring at her. Shen Jingbin shrunk back and stopped talking. NPCs were kings in the game so she couldn’t afford to upset them.

“I’m 101, the older brother of the two.”

“I’m 102, the young brother of the two.”

“We are the guardians of the first stage in the Vermillion Bird’s consciousness. You have to correctly answer a question posed by each of us to enter the next stage.”

Shen Jingbin stared at the twins, who were doing everything they could to pass off as AIs. “Human NPCs?” She asked hesitantly.

Unsurprisingly, the one on the left gave her a look of shock and immediately said, “Shit, how’d you find out?”

“Heh, isn’t it obvious from your names alone? I’m someone who’s met 001 and 002,” She thought to herself. But, in reality, what she said was different. “The annoyance you harbour towards one another is as plain as day.”

The twin on the right’s mouth twitched. “I knew pretending to be twins with this moron was doomed to fail. After all, I’m far too clever. I don’t know what the Team Leader was thinking.”

“Go to hell, you idiot! You were the one who gave us away! I’m going to report you to the Team Leader!” The one on the left retorted.

“What did you say? Do you want me to beat you up?!”

“Try me! If you think you’ve got what it takes then come and take a swing at me!”

Hey mates, I only have an incense stick’s worth of time, and I have other stages to clear.

“I don’t have a lot of time. Can you maybe ask me the questions first so that I can proceed?” Shen Jingbin asked exasperatedly. Only then did the twins stop fighting. 101 looked at her and was about to ask his question, but her far too unique appearance compelled him to ask, “Is this how you look in real life?”

Shen Jingbin blinked. “Is this your question? If so, I’ll answer. If not, I think I’ll reserve my right to reject your question.”

101 blinked, his mind drawing a blank for a moment. A conflicted look appeared on his face.

In the end, his curiosity got the better of him. He swallowed the question he was originally going to ask and said, “Yes.”

“Then my answer is ‘no’.”

101 cursed inwardly. Why the hell did he ask such a stupid question?

“You’ve answered the first question correctly.”

“What an idiot,” Said 102, taking pleasure in his misfortune. “You’re screwed. I’m definitely going to tell on you to the Team Leader once I get off work.”

101 rolled his eyes at him. “How old are you? Telling on me? Can’t you be a bit more mature?”

“Bah, it’s none of your business. Wait till you get scolded!” 102 said as he stuck his tongue out at his colleague. He then turned to Shen Jingbin and cleared his throat. “Listen carefully to the second question. There was a man with a strange form of colorblindness. The blue sky appeared green in his eyes, and a green lawn would appear blue. However, he always believed that the ‘blue’ he saw was called ‘green’, and the colour ‘green’ he saw was called ‘blue’. Therefore, no one realized that he was colorblind. Now, how do we make him realize that he’s suffering from colorblindness?”

After hearing the question, Shen Jingbin went silent for a good long while. Seeing this, 102 lifted his chin at 101 provocatively, as if he were trying to say, “See? This is a real question. As expected, she doesn’t have an answer for it.”

Shen Jingbin had heard of this question before. This was allegedly one of the so-called ten most difficult problems in the world. In reality, this was a paradoxical question. In other words, it was a question that caused a paradox. It didn’t matter if your answer was right or wrong, because either could be argued against. It was a specious question, and it was also a type of logic trap.

“There’s no answer to this question.”

102 laughed. “Wrong! You’re done. We can’t let you go since you didn’t answer correctly.”

Shen Jingbin pretended to be deep in thought and said, “I still think there’s no correct answer. How about you tell me what the correct answer is?”

102 had a smug look on his face. “You’ve failed already, so I suppose it doesn’t matter even if I tell you. The correct answer is to give that person two pens, one blue and one green. Then, tell him to use the blue pen to write in green, and to use the green pen to write in blue. It’s that simple hahahaha...”

“If that’s the case, I have a question,” Shen Jingbin asked calmly, interrupting his laughter. “How do you prove that you don’t have the same kind of colorblindness that he has?”

“Uh...” 102 choked on his saliva.

This time it was 101 who started laughing. “Told you this kind of question wouldn’t work. Tit, meet tat… Come on; it’s your win. Take this and walk forward for about 200 meters and you’ll see the Vermillion Bird. This anti-spirit water will make it easier for you to defeat your enemies.”

101 handed her a white ceramic bottle. Shen Jingbin took it and looked inside. The bottle was as white as snow, with only a single piece of paper with the words “anti-spirit water” attached to the front of the bottle.

“Good luck,” 101 said with a smile. He then grabbed onto 102, who was deep in contemplation and disappeared into thin air.

Shen Jingbin placed the bottle into her bag, patted Mascot, and continued onwards.