Trafford Buyers Club

Chapter 3979 The Song of the Purple Moon (30) — The Weeping Statue
Shaq suddenly felt like he was back in his youth.

Back then, he was a boy full of dreams and passion for the future... He was a wandering boy in the small town who had once won a lot of gold coins from the foolish son of a landlord!
Finally, young Shaq successfully left the town with his dream of becoming the son of a wealthy landowner and his girlfriend, and set off towards his dream.

Years later, when the successful (and infamous) Shaq returned to the town, everything had changed. The landlord's foolish son from back then had married and had children.

The two met and sighed for a long time.

That night, Shak and the young master got completely drunk. The next day, Shak set off once again, carrying with him the dream of becoming the new landlord's foolish son.

Years later, when Shaq returned to the town, the young master from back then had already passed away... Shaq, filled with regret once again, could only set off again, harboring the dream of becoming a new generation of landlord.

—I really miss those days, silly young master.

At this moment, [Gold] Shaq seemed to see in his "brother" the shadow of that foolish son from the landlord's family...

……

"Speaking of which, my dear brother, how do you define 'when I feel the need'?"

With three cards in hand, you should at least figure out how to use them, right?
The so-called "when needed"... feels very spiritual.

"It's when you have a strong urge to use it." Captain [Lo]'s official explanation, "For example, when you desperately need funds, or when you encounter an unavoidable danger... or when you have a sudden and strong need."

"I understand, that's when I'm in a real hurry!"

"Brother Shak really understands things thoroughly."

"By the way, my dear brother, are you tired?" [Brother Xian] Shak came online right away. "Speaking of which, I haven't had a break since I came to [Purple Moon] Song! I'm a rough guy, of course I can handle it, but you're different, my dear brother! You must be tired... I have a few Sea Spirit Fruits here, my dear brother, have some to quench your thirst?"

Then [Xian Ge] Shaq started by dropping... copper coins—after all, he needed to farm!

"What is Sea Spirit Fruit?" Bai Zhi asked curiously upon hearing this.

The master is very tolerant, and Miss Yuya is quite satisfied with herself... Having been a maid for some time now, Baizhi is no longer as reserved as she was at the beginning, and knows that what she says now is harmless.

"Hehe, it's a kind of spiritual fruit that grows in a special sea area." [Brother Xian] Shak took out a few tomato-sized fruits that shimmered with a milky white light from his own sand world. "Because they contain rich water essence, if you eat just one in the local area, you won't need to drink fresh water for the rest of your life."

"You don't need to drink water for your whole life?" Bai Zhi blinked in surprise. "That's amazing."

[Brother Xian] Shak smiled faintly, "Because it's a world with only oceans and extremely scarce freshwater resources. Often, the appearance of such a spiritual fruit will cause the natives to fight over it like crazy... Come, have a taste!"

Bai Zhi first glanced at her master and the maid... and only after receiving permission did she happily accept one to taste.

"Come on, my brothers, you should try some too!"

Copper coins scattered*3
And then...and then nothing.

This time, my brother and his wife did not give anything in return.

However, [Brother Xian] Shaq didn't care, after all, goodwill is built up little by little - he has plenty of experience in getting the young master's gold coins!

In the end, only the maid did not eat the fruit; she simply put it away...

"Speaking of which, my dear brother, have you noticed that the mental pollution seems to have lessened since we fell into this pit?" [Gold] Shaq pondered as he observed the underground space. "Could it be that after the earthquake, we accidentally escaped the temple space?"

“Brother Shaq, didn’t you see anything strange?” Captain [Lo] suddenly said.

“Strange…thing?” [Gold] Shaq was taken aback upon hearing this, frowned, and looked around again.

If we're talking about strange things, the only ones are the odd statues that we saw along the way, standing like guards on both sides of the passage.

The reason these statues are considered strange is that, for reasons unknown, each statue was sculpted with its hands covering its eyes.

And when it was placed, it was facing the rock wall of the passage... which was very strange.

Out of curiosity, [Gold] Shaq cautiously approached a statue... After a moment's hesitation, he covered his palm with a layer of sand armor and then tapped the statue.

The statue is covered in signs of weathering and corrosion, turning grayish-white, like sandstone... Although it is depicted with its eyes covered, Shaq estimated that the face is probably no longer visible.

"I don't feel anything special."

The tapping produced a dull sound.

[Gold] Shaq shook his head, and his fist, covered in sand armor, slammed heavily onto the statue—the next moment, the statue was smashed into half pieces, with fragments scattered all over the ground.

"It seems there's nothing special about it." [Gold] Shaq shook his head. "It's just a bit of a novelty... Let's go, my brother, let's find a way out quickly. We don't know what the situation is like outside."

Although the gold coins from [Brother] are tempting, [Gold] Shaq still longs for [Sea God's] treasure—only children make choices, can he have both the gold coins and the treasure?

“Okay.” Captain Luo smiled slightly.

The group slowly walked through the passage filled with statues covering their eyes.

……

After Captain [Lo] and his crew had gone far away, the statue that had been half-crushed by [Golden] Shaq... the scattered fragments on the ground began to gather silently.

Soon, the statue returned to its original state... At that moment, it slowly removed its hands that were covering its eyes, turned its head, and suddenly opened its eyes to look in the direction of the departing passage. Its mouth suddenly opened, revealing dense sharp teeth, and its face was full of tears.

But as if it was wary of something, it quickly suppressed its strange and ferocious appearance, slowly covering its eyes with its hands again, returning to its original state.

……

……

……

……

Among the treasure hunters, the vast majority were what [Gold] Shaq called "small fry"—even among the small fry, there were those who had developed special abilities.

Special abilities do not equate to combat power, but they can often have surprising effects.

A treasure-hunting team that roamed the battlefield successfully evaded the fighting between the two sides and smoothly reached the depths of the [Laurel] tribe—they even ventured into the Dark Light Rift!

"Haha, a secret realm within a secret realm, there must be an earth-shattering secret hidden here!"

"This time, it's all thanks to Zadok! It's all thanks to him that we were able to resist mental pollution so easily!"

"Haha!" The bearded man named Zadok chuckled a few times. "Resisting this kind of mental pollution is just like eating a meal for someone like me who comes from the [Fantasy Side]! In fact, once you understand its principles, there's nothing to be afraid of."

The team members chuckled – well said, but if they had a choice, they still wouldn't choose to be born in the [Fantasy Side]!
Look how easily Zadok makes it sound. Who knows what kind of suffering he went through on his journey here, or whether he was ever dominated by the Great Old Ones before?
—It's so skillful it's heartbreaking!
"Just now I saw people going into the depths of the fissure in the ground... It looked like two women, with a little girl with pink hair!"

A hunter then pressed a special gadget resembling night vision goggles on his face.

"Guess who these two women are? One of them is actually the infamous [Xiang Feihu]!"

Upon hearing this, the team members gasped in shock.

Hunters who frequent the Gorge of Freedom and Wildness could not possibly have been unaware of the name "Soaring Tiger"!

But then, everyone burst into a look of surprise!
Putting aside why [Shohiko] is here—since [Shohiko] is here, it means there must be something important!

"I feel like I can already smell the treasure!" a hunter said, squinting. "I knew it! The Pirate Alliance has controlled [Purple Moon] for so long, how could they be so indifferent to the [Sea God] treasure! Now that [Soaring Crimson Tiger] has appeared, it all makes sense... It seems the Pirate Alliance is behind these [treasure] rumors!"

"Is the pirate alliance planning to recruit us as the vanguard... as cannon fodder?"

"Heh, it's still uncertain who will be the cannon fodder! But those unlucky souls outside who've already died are definitely going to be!"

"[Xiang Feihu]'s strength is terrifying. Let's keep our distance, try to conceal our presence, and see what she's up to!"

After finalizing their plan, the treasure hunting team set off again.

With Zadok's help, they not only withstood the even stronger mental pollution within the temple space, but they also effectively avoided attacks from the surrounding tentacles!

……

"I didn't expect that some small fry could actually sneak in... These kids are pretty lucky, aren't they?"

Are you trying to say that you're actually quite lucky?

Because Miss Witch and Xiaomeng also sneaked in quietly.

Miss Witch rolled her eyes at Xiaomeng—this is what you call hard power, okay?
However, the sudden appearance of Zadok's team was a pleasant surprise for the witch... Surely no one would complain about having too many tools?

Born in the [Fantasy Side], with heartbreakingly skilled methods of resisting mental pollution, she is simply the best candidate to be a tool for clearing landmines!

On the other side of [Xiang Feihu], Miss Witch obviously didn't dare to follow too closely—but Zadok's squad didn't have so many concerns.

A group of early-stage [Morning Star] beings, just kids who have recently emerged from the Void Infant stage... There's even one who isn't even a full [Morning Star] yet, probably a seed left behind by some Immortal who gave up after failing to advance.

Actually, there were no Void People at first; everyone fought their way out of their own little worlds with great difficulty... but they gradually appeared later and even created families and the like.

As for these Voidlings who are their descendants... well, they are a mixed bag.

……

But things didn't go as smoothly as Zadok's team had imagined.

The space beneath the fissure in the temple space is not only exceptionally vast, but also has a complex terrain with numerous branching paths, resembling a maze. Furthermore, the means of probing such as spirit and will are greatly suppressed in this underground space.

Therefore, the treasure hunting team quickly lost track of [Flying Tiger]... their luck seemed to have run out.

"Damn it, [Xiang Feihu] is indeed not so easy to track! Could it be that she already discovered us... but just couldn't be bothered to pay attention?"

"Stop talking, this godforsaken place is really... Zack, why do I feel like the mental pollution here has lessened a lot?"

“It’s not that it’s weakened, it’s that it’s almost disappeared!” Zacdo looked around in confusion.

"Isn't this a good thing?"

“No… the situation could be worse!” Zakdor’s expression turned serious. “I know the Great Old Ones too well. The safest place is often where the real terror begins.”

"Zachdo, are you scared?"

"I simply believe my life is more valuable! When facing the Great Old Ones, you can never be too careful!"

"Stop arguing! There are too many forks in the road here. Should we split into two groups?"

Zakdor objected outright, stating, "With the presence of the [Old Ones], the risk of death if we act separately is one thousand percent higher!"

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Shh... Can you hear anything?

"Although the range of the will's detection is only a dozen meters, there was no one in sight, so where did the sound come from... it could only be these strange, broken statues!"

“Statues…wait, have the poses of these statues changed?”

"statue……"

ah--! ! !
Suddenly, a scream rang out, and the passage that had been faintly lit abruptly turned into a pitch-black environment!

……

ah--!!

A scream faintly came from behind—which made the witch, who was following behind Zacdo's team, instinctively reach out and stop Xiaomeng.

"They seem to be in danger."

Xiao Meng blinked and said, "It seems that the quality of this batch of 'tools' is not high."

"I didn't have high expectations to begin with." The witch thought for a moment... Her sense of danger was always very accurate, and the road ahead with Zacdo's team always gave her an inexplicable feeling of unease.

After a moment's hesitation, the witch retrieved a robot vacuum cleaner from the dilapidated Star Creation World!

The robot vacuum cleaner, which had just landed, quickly extended a probe, then its tracks started moving forward with a buzzing sound... At the same time, Miss Witch took out a portable monitor and connected it.

Xiao Meng had already gotten used to the fact that this witch, despite being a magician, was entirely a product of "science."

"Hey, I see those tool people. How come they've all turned to stone?"

Miss Witch didn't speak at this moment, but stared intently at the scene on the screen... This space under the crack in the ground even restricted her [Star Creation] link quite a bit, otherwise she wouldn't need such primitive monitoring methods.

Through the robot vacuum's probe, the members of the "tool man" team, now separated and turned into stone statues, each wore a terrified expression.

Not only that, but behind each of them there is another statue, with its hands tightly wrapped around their necks.

"What is this thing..." The witch frowned subconsciously.

She squinted, staring intently at the statues on the screen that were binding the members of Zakdor's team, trying her best to analyze them based on what she had seen and heard.

Suddenly, the neck of the strange statue that was currently entangled with Zakdo twisted, and its eyes stared directly at the robot vacuum cleaner on the ground!

Its gaze instantly met the witch's gaze across the distance!
Just at this time.

"what!!"

Xiao Meng suddenly screamed and accidentally knocked the monitor out of the witch's hand!

The witch was stunned for a moment, "...What the hell are you doing?"

Xiao Meng stuck out her little tongue and said, "Sorry, I was startled by the sudden noise, so...hehe!"

It's just a moving statue, I didn't find the scene particularly scary... The witch tapped the egg-laying princess expressionlessly, then picked up the monitor.

—Wow, this actually produced black and white snowflakes when it was thrown.

Can things I use myself really be this bad quality...? What the hell? When bad luck strikes, even a slice of toast with jam on it can fall to the ground, right?

"Are we going this way?"

The witch thought for a moment and said, "Let's take another route."

The witch never fights a battle she's not prepared for... Zacdo's squad was wiped out for no reason, so naturally she wouldn't choose that path again.

Just then, some faint sounds came from behind.

"Isn't this just like a pillow coming when you're sleepy?" The witch was overjoyed. "Another tool has arrived!"

……

However, the tool that appeared in the space beneath the rift was not a hunter or a void pirate, but... Boros.

At this moment, Boros was still wearing the robes of a trainee priest of the Laurel tribe, holding a peculiar dagger wrapped with tree roots in his hand.

Furthermore, it was currently blindfolded with a ribbon as it walked through the dimly lit passage.