Chapter 76 - 72: Your Farm Is Toying With People

Chapter 76: Chapter 72: Your Farm Is Toying With People

Just as Ah Luo was lost in thought, an employee’s voice broke in. "Sir, congratulations on reaching the first stage’s rest area. You can check in here to have your time for the first stage recorded!"

Ah Luo snapped back to reality and quickly asked, "How do I check in?"

The employee replied, "Please present your ID card, sir!"

Ah Luo immediately took out his ID and handed it to the employee. He watched as she swiped his card on a device and said, "Sir, your time for the first stage has been recorded. We wish you the best of luck in completing the three subsequent stages!"

Ah Luo couldn’t believe it. After walking for so long, he had only completed the first stage, and there were still three more to go.

’Damn it.’

’Who the hell designed this maze?’

’This is absolutely brutal.’

He felt this first stage alone was countless times harder than any other maze he had ever tried. ’And Noahda has the nerve to call itself number one?’

"I’m the first one, right?" Ah Luo asked immediately, seeing that no one else was around.

That was what he cared about most.

It didn’t matter how difficult it was; his result had to be the best.

The employee replied with a smile, "Sir, you are currently the second visitor to reach the first stage’s rest area. As for your specific time, you can check the LCD screen over there."

"Second?" Ah Luo was clearly in disbelief.

’Someone was actually faster than me?’

He hurried over to the LCD screen and, sure enough, saw that two people had completed the first stage. One was him. The other name left him dumbfounded—it was He Rou, the woman who had retorted to him earlier. Her time for the first stage was a full 15 minutes faster than his.

For a moment, Ah Luo’s cheeks burned with shame. Before entering the Bamboo Maze, he had been so high and mighty, telling her to follow his method.

The crucial part was that he had personally verified that his method of using the sun as a reference point was useless.

This whole situation was a total slap in the face.

This made him extremely anxious.

He had made such a high-profile video before coming here to chase clout. If he was overshadowed, he would lose all face. Without another moment’s hesitation, he rushed toward the entrance of the second stage.

He was clearly in a panic.

But the more one rushes, the more one loses their head. In the second stage of the maze, he became completely disoriented after just a few turns, forgetting the intersections he had tried to memorize and becoming trapped.

「At the entrance.」

Many visitors were lining up to have their tickets checked and enter the Bamboo Maze, but even more had started to gather around the LCD screens, watching the names and times.

The screens were now full of names, but only He Rou and Ah Luo were listed as having completed the first stage.

Furthermore, one time was 38 minutes, and the other was 48 minutes.

These long times also made the visitors realize something: this Bamboo Maze was not what they had imagined, nor was it the same as the one they’d read about online before coming.

The one-million-yuan prize was attractive, but it seemed it wouldn’t be so easy to claim.

After all, no one had been seen winning the prize money yet.

The 1,000-mu Bamboo Maze had an entrance, a main exit for those who completed it, and another exit via a safety path.

This path was marked with arrow signs, and visitors could follow them to a safe exit on the side. After more than an hour had passed, a group of visitors emerged from the safety path, looking dejected and exhausted.

Zheng Kai was one of them. He had been the first person to enter the Bamboo Maze, confidently vowing to win the prize money. But once inside, he discovered that nothing was as he had imagined.

For a full hour, he and the other visitors who had entered at the same time just wandered in circles like headless chickens.

’Unbelievable.’

The employee at the exit greeted this group of visitors with a smile. "Welcome, everyone. This is the maze’s safety exit. The main entrance and the way to the Flower Sea are this way!"

Zheng Kai looked at the employee’s smiling face and couldn’t help but complain, "This is the maze your farm claimed anyone with average intelligence could pass?"

His words opened the floodgates, and the other visitors began to air their grievances:

"Yeah! ’Average intelligence,’ my ass! Are you saying my IQ is below average?"

"Your farm really took the joke too far. You almost made me question my own intelligence!"

"Are we here to have fun at your farm, or is your farm having fun with us?"

"..."

They complained and complained, but for some reason, they all felt an impulse to try again, like they enjoyed the punishment.

In fact, the impulse was quite strong.

After venting, Zheng Kai muttered, "I’m going home to rest up today. I’ll come back and try again tomorrow. With the experience from the first time, there’s no way I won’t be able to beat it."

He made his decision on the spot.

Then, as if struck by an idea, he took out his phone, took a picture of his Bamboo Maze ticket, and said in a loud voice, "Just finished the Bamboo Maze at Li Yuan Farm! It was so much fun and super easy to clear. Anyone with average intelligence can definitely pass it. Surely no one could fail to get through this Bamboo Maze, right?"

The other visitors who had entered in the same group stared at him, dumbfounded.

’What’s going on?’

’Bro, you actually cleared it?’

But everyone there had been shaped by modern internet culture, so after a moment’s thought, they understood.

’If I’m tilted, I’ve got to drag some other people down with me. Misery loves company.’

With that in mind, several other visitors also took out their phones and started recording:

"Just cleared the Li Yuan Farm Bamboo Maze. You definitely can’t pass it if you don’t have average intelligence."

"No way, are any of my friends still unable to get through the Li Yuan Farm Bamboo Maze?"

"Don’t tell me you can’t beat the Bamboo Maze. It’s such a simple attraction!"

"???" said the first employee.

"???" said the second employee.

Their heads were full of question marks.

’What’s going on?’

’Isn’t this the safety path exit?’

’When did these visitors clear the maze?’

While Zheng Kai and the others were having their spirits crushed and choosing to take the safety path out, the first few groups to enter the Bamboo Maze were in a similar state of mental collapse.

Xiao Zhenjie was one of them.

After more than an hour, he had no idea where he was. But thinking of the bet he’d made over laundry, chores, and cleaning, he could only bite the bullet and try to stall for time. By now, however, his own spirit was broken, and he no longer had the heart to drag things out.

He had no choice but to say to his fiancée, "Zhu Li, let’s just get out of here!"

But Zhu Li replied with a huge smile, "Six months of cleaning, laundry, and chores. If you’re short even one day, it means you don’t love me!"

"..." Hearing this, Xiao Zhenjie’s spirit broke even further.

In his attempt to stall for time without angering his fiancée, he had extended the duration of their bet from three months to six.

Thinking about the miserable six months ahead, he wanted to cry. ’To hell with "passable with average intelligence"! Are they kidding me? Is this a maze a normal person can actually beat?’

Just then, Zhu Li, who was on her phone, said, "Looks like someone did clear it. Look at this video!"

Xiao Zhenjie leaned over to look. It was a video posted by someone named ’IAmZhengKaiKai’: "Just finished the Bamboo Maze at Li Yuan Farm! It was so much fun and super easy to clear. Anyone with average intelligence can definitely pass it. Surely no one could fail to get through this Bamboo Maze, right?"

"..." Xiao Zhenjie was dumbfounded.

’What does that mean?’

’So a person with average intelligence really can pass it? Does that mean my intelligence is below average?’

He actually started to doubt himself.

’Otherwise, how could other people beat it when he couldn’t?’

"Honey, don’t be sad. When we get home, I’ll stew some pig brains for you. You are what you eat, after all!" Zhu Li said, trying to console him. But this only made Xiao Zhenjie want to cry more. He had always thought he had normal intelligence; this was the first time he had ever doubted himself so much.

Zheng Kai clearly had no idea that the video he’d casually posted would go mini-viral, happen to be seen by Xiao Zhenjie and his fiancée, and accidentally cause someone to doubt their own intelligence.

"Let’s go! Let’s get out of here!" Xiao Zhenjie didn’t want to humiliate himself any further. It was better to just leave; this was too torturous.

But suddenly, they found themselves in an unexpected place.

It was a strange clearing containing a swing set. The ropes of the swing, woven from pure green vines, were quite beautiful.

"There’s a sign here. It seems to say there’s a surprise if you swing 10 times," Zhu Li said, looking at a plaque hanging there.

"There’s a place like this inside the maze?" Xiao Zhenjie was amazed, then urged, "Zhu Li, hurry up and get on the swing."

Zhu Li nodded and immediately got on the swing. After 10 swings, they saw a small tube on the swing pop open, and a piece of paper floated out.

Xiao Zhenjie immediately picked up the paper and read it in astonishment, "Cash Redemption Scroll. This item can be exchanged for 500 yuan in cash at the Bamboo Maze ticket checkpoint or the Li Yuan Farm ticket office. It can be obtained at puzzle spots and lucky surprise locations within the Bamboo Maze. Can be redeemed at the farm for 500 yuan cash."

The two of them were stunned. Lucky surprise locations? Puzzle spots? ’The Bamboo Maze has places like these?’

"Can this thing really be exchanged for 500 yuan?" Zhu Li asked in surprise.

"Let’s go, hurry and ask!" Xiao Zhenjie said urgently. He quickly led Zhu Li toward the safety path. Soon, they reached the exit, and upon seeing an employee, he hurriedly took out the redemption scroll and asked, "Can this scroll be exchanged for 500 yuan?"

Several other visitors who had also emerged from the safety path saw this and walked over curiously.

"What’s that?"

"Did you find it in the maze?"

"..."

The employee they asked immediately explained, "Sir, Ma’am, our Bamboo Maze has many surprises hidden inside! If you find the puzzle spots and lucky locations, you can get redemption scrolls just like this one. You can exchange it for 500 yuan cash at the ticket office."

This explanation astonished the surrounding visitors. They all crowded forward, taking out their phones to record.

They had wandered around in there for so long without seeing either of the two types of locations the employee mentioned. ’Does the Bamboo Maze really have so many different gameplay elements?’

One by one, the visitors took pictures of the redemption scroll and uploaded them to Tiao Yin.

They had discovered that the Li Yuan Farm Bamboo Maze was currently a hot topic, and posting videos about it could attract a lot of attention.

「Time passed, and it would soon be two hours since the first group of visitors entered the Bamboo Maze.」

In front of the Bamboo Maze, Zheng Kai and many other visitors who had already left the maze had gathered at the entrance again, all curiously staring at the LCD screens.

They knew full well how difficult the Bamboo Maze was, so they wanted to see just how many people could make it through.

But by now, only three people had completed the first stage. Moreover, the highly-watched Ah Luo was not first, nor second, but third. ’Wasn’t this guy supposed to be some hotshot?’

At that moment, inside the Bamboo Maze, Ah Luo was covered in sweat. He felt completely lost. There was simply no way to continue with the second stage; his mental and physical energy were depleted.

He figured he would have to go back, rest up, and come back to continue tomorrow. He had already memorized the path for the first stage, so he wouldn’t have to waste effort on it and could just start from the second stage.

The only problem was that his earlier boasts were about to come back to bite him.

Meanwhile, Ao Youda, the head of the Noahda Bamboo Forest Maze, was still waiting for news.

His assistant, seeing no videos on Tiao Yin claiming that the Noahda Bamboo Forest Maze was more difficult than the one at Li Yuan Farm, frowned and asked, "Mr. Ao Youda, Ah Luo sent us a message when he arrived. It’s been two hours now. He should have completed the maze by now, so why hasn’t he called to give us an update?"

"With Ah Luo’s abilities, he should have cleared it by now!" Ao Youda nodded, also taking out his phone. "I’ll call him myself and urge him to post the video quickly. We absolutely must catch this wave of internet traffic."