Black Myth: The Legend of Tianpeng Seeking Demons

Just as the two were bickering, Black Whirlwind's loud voice came from afar: "Hey! If you two keep chatting like this, it'll be dawn soon! We Black Wind Bandits are waiting to get the treasure, what are you two doing, all lovey-dovey!"

Zhu Feifei rolled her eyes at the sound: "It's those bastards again! Did they not get in line to be reincarnated in their past life? I can't shake them off no matter what I do!"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Black Whirlwind strode closer, a sinister smile playing on his lips. "I advise you to cooperate and hand over the treasure map, or you two can become a ghost couple right now."

Zhu Feifei patted the rake and grinned, "Why don't you give it a try? My old pig's nine-toothed rake is the standard version of 'no martial ethics,' it can rake seven at a time without hesitation!"

Black Whirlwind was speechless for a moment. His henchmen shrank back and whispered, "Boss, his rake is really sharp. Should we take a break?"

Black Whirlwind glared at his men, then smiled slyly: "Kid, solving problems with fighting is too crude. I have an even simpler way—how about we make a bet?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Feifei immediately perked up: "A gamble? What kind of gamble? Explain yourself clearly, I, Old Pig, don't fight unprepared battles!"

"It's simple—" Black Whirlwind clapped his hands and said smugly, "Let's see who finds the ancient city's treasure first, and the loser gets out of here. How about that, fair enough?"

The Queen of Jingjue sneered: "Fair? It would be strange if you didn't resort to underhanded tactics."

Zhu Feifei chuckled: "Alright! I, Old Pig, will take this bet today! If I lose, I'll jump into the pit on the spot—but what if you guys renege?"

Black Whirlwind narrowed his eyes and said in a sinister tone, "Don't worry, I'm a man of my word. As for you, just don't get swallowed up by the treasure's guardian mechanisms."

"Alright! We'll see!" Zhu Feifei patted his chest, then turned around and leaned close to the Queen of Jingjue, whispering, "Your Majesty, wasn't I incredibly impressive for being so assertive just now?"

The Queen of Jingjue rolled her eyes: "Impressive? You're more like blind. Who else but you would be so foolish as to risk your life?"

Zhu Feifei scratched her head and muttered, "I was just trying to win back your trust... and I still got rejected."

In the labyrinthine ancient city, Zhu Feifei and the Queen of Jingjue cautiously searched for clues to the treasure. While studying the mechanisms, Zhu Feifei muttered to herself, "Tell me, did the people of this ancient city do this on purpose? Hiding the treasure so deep, what's the point of exhausting the searchers!"

The Queen of Jingjue couldn't help but sarcastically remark, "Perhaps they never intended for anyone to find them. That's called theft prevention, do you understand?"

Zhu Feifei chuckled: "I, Old Pig, refuse to believe in superstitions. No matter how difficult the mechanism, it can't stump me. To be honest, I saw through it just now—look, those stones on the floor, three on the left and four on the right, there's probably a switch hidden there!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he decisively stepped down—

"Boom!" The floor suddenly sank, and Zhu Feifei fell down instantly, leaving only one hand clinging tightly to the edge.

"Help! Help! I, Old Pig, only stepped on it once, is it really necessary to punish me so severely!"

The Queen of Jingjue bent down and grabbed his hand, suppressing a laugh as she said, "Didn't you say that traps and mechanisms couldn't stump you? How come you stumbled this time?"

"I, Old Pig, am just testing you this time! Testing you!" Zhu Feifei explained as he struggled to climb up. "The traps are complicated, I'm sacrificing myself to help you clear the mines!"

Queen Jingjue finally couldn't help but laugh: "Alright, I'll take this as you defusing a mine—but remember to tell me before you defuse it next time!"

The two continued their exploration deeper into the ancient city. After the recent "mine-clearing incident," Zhu Feifei became even more cautious. Even so, he couldn't stop talking.

"Your Majesty, this place is like a giant 'trick park'! It's just about finding treasure, why make it so full of traps and obstacles? It's exhausting for this pig..."

The Queen of Jingjue raised an eyebrow and glanced at him: "Then why don't you just stop looking and go back?"

Zhu Feifei stopped and said angrily, "I, Old Pig, am not the kind of person who gives up halfway. Besides, I'm a pig with the suspicion of being an undercover agent. I have to work hard to clear my name, otherwise who will believe me in the future?"

The Queen of Jingjue replied calmly, "It's as if you were someone I could trust before."

"Hey!" Zhu Feifei put her hands on her hips. "That's not a very nice thing to say! I, Old Pig, have been with you through all this trouble, even though I'm poisoned and haven't had a proper meal! Don't you have any conscience?!"

The Queen of Jingjue snorted coldly, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly: "How about I reward you with a sumptuous dinner once we find the treasure, alright?"

Zhu Feifei's eyes lit up: "Really? I, Old Pig, want to eat ten roast chickens and eight jugs of wine!"

"You wish." The Queen of Jingjue continued walking forward without turning her head.

Zhu Feifei followed behind, muttering under her breath, "Being a pig is hard enough, being an undercover pig is even harder..."

The two finally arrived at a large hall filled with intricate patterns. The Queen of Jingjue pointed to a huge mechanical array in the center and said, "This should be the last line of defense. As long as we unlock it, we can find the true treasure of the ancient city."

Zhu Feifei frowned and examined it for a while: "I, Old Pig, have seen Laozi play with similar mechanisms before. The left side is a maze, and the right side is a trap—this design is just like that old man's."

The Queen of Jingjue asked curiously, "Laozi? You've really met him?"

Zhu Feifei nodded, looking serious: "Of course! I even helped him brew an elixir—and as a result, he punished me by making me burn in the furnace for a hundred years. Can you believe it?"

Queen Jingjue couldn't help but chuckle: "It seems that your trouble-making nature has never changed since you were in Heaven."

Zhu Feifei replied with a grin, "I call it a natural humor, a genius at setting the mood."

At this moment, his attention returned to the diagram of the mechanism, and he scratched his head and said, "However, this mechanism is a bit confusing... Why don't you step back a bit, Your Majesty, and I, Old Pig, try my old method?"

The Queen of Jingjue raised an eyebrow: "What old method?"

Zhu Feifei confidently pulled out his nine-toothed rake: "Just crack it open! My work style is simple and brutal!"

"Wait!" Before the Queen of Jingjue could stop her, Zhu Feifei had already swung her rake down—

"Click!" The mechanism array actually started to rotate.

"Hey! See what I told you? Brutal methods work, don't they?" Zhu Feifei said smugly.

The Queen of Jingjue patted her forehead: "Do you know that if you damage it, this ancient city might completely collapse?"

Zhu Feifei was stunned for a moment, rubbing her hands and forcing a smile: "I...I didn't think that much."

Queen Jingjue sighed, but her gaze shifted to the array of mechanisms, where she discovered that it was slowly revealing a secret passage leading underground.

“Anyway, we’re lucky,” she said. “Let’s go see what the treasure is.”