The Genius Game - Chapter 30

The “Tao Te Ching” emitted a golden light while continuously shrinking until it was palm-sized.

Jian Tanxi’s personal space suddenly opened, and the “Tao Te Ching” slipped inside.

Jian Tanxi was astonished. She reached in, trying to take out the book to examine it, but the “Tao Te Ching” darted around within the personal space, evading her grasp. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t catch it.

This puzzled her, as the personal space was only meant to store ecospheres and some special items.

Could it be that this “Tao Te Ching” also counted as a special item?

What was its origin?

Unable to figure it out, Jian Tanxi decided to treat it as a special tool. Perhaps it would come in handy someday.

At that moment, she remembered the items and ecospheres she had obtained from the previous game.

Since no one was around, she could take them out to inspect.

From her bag, she retrieved a small teapot and a tiny box of rouge, rewards from the last game.

The small teapot was brass-colored, exquisitely crafted but very small, likely holding only a small cup of water.

The rouge box featured an illustration of a classical beauty. Opening it, she found red rouge inside, seemingly no different from ordinary rouge.

She couldn’t test the rouge now, as this item could only be used three times. It was better to save it for when it was truly needed.

There was a teapot on the table with some water still in it.

Jian Tanxi poured the water from the teapot into her boiling kettle. As soon as the water entered, it began to bubble and quickly came to a boil.

She poured the water into a cup, filling a small teacup perfectly.

She blew on it, took a sip, and confirmed it was just ordinary hot water.

On present-day Earth, being able to drink hot water was a rare luxury.

Without the boiling kettle, if she wanted to boil water, she would need to find a stove and coal briquettes, both of which were extremely hard to come by now.

Even the Taoist temple had electricity, using electric kettles to boil water.

She felt that this boiling kettle might have greater uses in the future and probably wasn’t just for heating water.

After drinking a few cups of hot water, she felt much more comfortable. She stretched and exercised for a while.

In another room, she found some exercise books with illustrations that made the movements easy to follow.

After practicing for a bit, she felt invigorated and relaxed all over.

However, these movements were only suitable for fitness and couldn’t be used for combat.

She searched the entire temple but found no books on combat. So, relying on her memory, she recalled the few combat manuals she had read before and practiced the moves she still remembered.

After tiring herself out with practice, she decided to check out her newly acquired ecosphere.

She went to the back hill, took out the ecosphere, and continuously enlarged it.

Gradually, the ecosphere expanded to about 20 meters in diameter. Jian Tanxi said, “Stop.”

At this size, she could see things relatively clearly.

Closest to her within the ecosphere was a garden, where a girl was dancing.

Jian Tanxi felt that the dance looked familiar but couldn’t make out the girl’s features clearly.

So, she continued enlarging the ecosphere until it reached 30 meters in diameter.

Now, she could vaguely see that the girl dancing in the garden resembled her friend… Gu Xinrou.

Gu Xinrou had loved dancing since childhood, attending many training classes and participating in numerous competitions.

In the past, Jian Tanxi often went to watch her competitions, so he was very familiar with her dance moves.

Jian Tanxi placed his hand on the eco-sphere and said, “Gu Xinrou, are you dancing in the garden? If so, wave your hand. I’m very far away, but I can see you.”

Inside the eco-sphere, the dancing girl indeed waved her hand, seemingly very excited, continuously jumping up and down.

So, she must be Gu Xinrou.

Gu Xinrou had been Jian Tanxi’s childhood friend, and she had disappeared from his home. Jian Tanxi had always been deeply concerned about her.

He never expected to see Gu Xinrou now, living well inside the eco-sphere, which put his mind at ease.

It was also daytime inside the eco-sphere, and everyone there heard Jian Tanxi’s words.

They were all very panicked, discussing among themselves, unsure why such a voice had come from the universe.

As a result, a clamor of voices arose from within the eco-sphere.

Gu Xinrou, in the garden, also clearly recognized Jian Tanxi’s voice, though she didn’t know where he was.

So, she shouted loudly, “Jian Tanxi! Where are you? Say something again!”

However, many people were speaking at the same time inside the eco-sphere, discussing the voice from the cosmos. Gu Xinrou’s voice was drowned out by the noise, and Jian Tanxi couldn’t make out what she said.

Having confirmed that Gu Xinrou was still alive, Jian Tanxi shrank the eco-sphere and placed it back into his personal space.

This Taoist temple was built on a high mountain where the winds were strong.

Jian Tanxi was now at the back of the mountain, wanting to test his ability “Unmovable as a Mountain.” So, he stood in the windiest spot to experience it.

He found that although the wind was strong, it truly couldn’t move him, and it felt like a gentle breeze against his body.

But from the howling wind, it was clear that the wind force was intense.

It seemed he had indeed grown stronger.

At that moment, however, he heard a faint whistling sound from afar.

Jian Tanxi listened carefully and confirmed it was indeed whistling, not some other noise.

Only a person could whistle.

Could there be another survivor nearby?

Jian Tanxi very much hoped to meet another living person, so he followed the sound, doing his best to conceal his presence.

Most survivors now had abilities and items, and it was possible that some might want to kill others to steal their possessions.

Therefore, Jian Tanxi was extremely cautious.

Following the sound, he found a cave and discovered a woman inside.

The woman was dressed in professional attire, looking very capable, but her legs were curled up.

She was the one whistling.

Uncertain whether she was friend or foe, Jian Tanxi secretly took out the interstellar triangular prism and threw a stone into the cave.

The woman inside the cave cautiously called out, “Who’s there?”

But she didn’t come out to investigate.

Jian Tanxi threw another stone.

The woman in the cave said, “Who is the friend outside?”

After hearing her speak twice, Jian Tanxi suddenly felt her voice was somewhat familiar.

Unfortunately, the cave was too deep, and Jian Tanxi couldn’t see the woman’s appearance clearly.

Moreover, the woman retreated further into the cave, not intending to come out.

Jian Tanxi asked, “I’m a survivor. What games have you participated in? Maybe we’ve met in one of them.”

The woman replied, “I’ve taken part in Mickey Mouse Cave, Thrilling Ferris Wheel, Fun Seesaw, and Cliff Coaster.”

Jian Tanxi exclaimed in surprise, “Fun Seesaw? Did you participate with a girl named Jian Tanxi?”

The woman was taken aback. “How did you know? Do you know Jian Tanxi?”

Jian Tanxi raised her voice, “I am Jian Tanxi. Are you… Meng Yuening?”

“It’s me.”

The woman inside the cave crawled out, it was indeed Meng Yuening, the girl who had previously participated in the game with Jian Tanxi.

She was a workplace elite who loved wearing professional attire.

Seeing Meng Yuening crawl out, covered in dust and looking disheveled, Jian Tanxi was surprised and asked, “Sister Meng, what happened?”

Meng Yuening replied, “After finishing the last game, I was teleported into this cave. But I ended up on a small rock ledge above. I accidentally fell and injured my leg, so it’s hard for me to move. I remembered I had a whistle with me, so I blew it to see if anyone would come.”

“So that’s what happened. Let me heal you.”

Jian Tanxi had a healing ability. She placed her hand on Meng Yuening’s wound, and a white light emanated from her palm. Slowly, the wound began to heal.

Meng Yuening said joyfully, “Your healing ability is amazing. It doesn’t hurt at all now.”

Jian Tanxi smiled. “That’s great. Sister Meng, I live in the Taoist temple up ahead. Let’s stay together. That way, we can team up for the next instance.”

Meng Yuening nodded. “That works. By the way, I have an item.”

She took out a small spray bottle and said, “This is the Companion Spray. If you spray it on someone, that person will be teamed up with me for the next three instances and will stay with me after being teleported out of the game. Do you want to use this?”

Jian Tanxi was more than willing. “That’s perfect! Spray me with it, and we won’t be separated for three consecutive instances.”

“Okay.”

Meng Yuening sprayed the mist onto Jian Tanxi, who caught a faint scent of grapefruit. However, she didn’t feel any physical changes.

Jian Tanxi asked, “Will this really keep us together?”

Meng Yuening replied, “That’s how the paper figurines described it. I think the items they provide shouldn’t be fake.”

“Yeah, true. How many times can this spray be used?”

“It can be used twice. There’s one use left. Next time we enter an instance, if we meet a reliable teammate, we can spray her too. Then the three of us can team up.”

“That’s amazing! There’s actually something like this. I’ll make sure to play the game well and try to earn this reward too.”

“Mm, it’s a pity it only works for three instances. After three times, we’ll still have to part ways.”

Jian Tanxi said, “It’s fine. Let’s just focus on getting through the next three instances first.”

“By the way, thank you for healing me earlier. I’ll give you something nice.”

Meng Yuening took out a crescent-shaped item with an eye on it.

She explained, “This is called the Crescent Eye. It’s a one-time use item for illumination. Press the eye on it, and it will emit light for 20 minutes. However, the light is quite dim and not very bright.”

“Thank you, Sister Meng, but you should keep it for yourself.”

“It’s okay, I have two. I’ll give you one.”

Seeing Meng Yuening’s insistence, Jian Tanxi accepted it.

They walked together toward the Taoist temple.

For the next few days, they stayed there.

Jian Tanxi had originally planned to go down the mountain to look for places like the library, post office, bank, and school.

But when she glanced downhill, she realized the mountain was very high, and she feared she might be transported into the game before she could even find those places. It would be better to just stay in the Taoist temple and rest properly for a few days.

Meng Yuening was a fitness enthusiast and had also learned some combat skills.

Jian Tanxi joined Meng Yuening in working out and practicing combat, making their days quite fulfilling.

One day, just as they were about to go to sleep, they were suddenly transported into a beautiful garden.