“What exactly are you and Root plotting?”

That was the question the statue asked.

Before the words had even faded, the expressions of the four teammates behind Jue Ge all changed dramatically.

Feng Bujue, however, hesitated for only a second… then, with perfect composure, he raised the hand that wasn't being bitten, pressed it to his shoulder, and replied, "Nothing at all."

As soon as he said that, the magical sigil on his shoulder released a faint glow, then dissipated.

Silence descended upon the stone chamber; for a moment, all that could be heard was the players' breathing.

Five seconds later, the statue silently released its grip. Jue Ge took the opportunity to pull his arm back and retrieved the item from the statue's mouth.

"Whew… I managed to fool it." Feng Bujue rubbed his arm, a look of relief on his face, and muttered.

At that moment, the item's description menu in his hand was unlocked by the system (even though he was holding it, he couldn't check the item description earlier):

[Name: Never-Before-Used Old Poké Ball]

[Type: Other]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Effect: Can capture and store a Phantasmal Beast from the Crystal Maze]

[Usage Requirement: Choose Ivor as your faith]

[Can be brought out of this script: No]

[Note: I hate Pikachu! From the bottom of my heart!]

"Aha! Another item that can reduce the difficulty of clearing the level." Feng Bujue looked up after reading the description and said, "Didn't I say that exploring would be beneficial?"

But… no one paid him any attention…

At that moment, the other four players, including Little Ma, were all giving Jue Ge a nakedly suspicious… sidelong glance.

"What's wrong?" Feng Bujue pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "Is something the matter?"

"You, and Root… exactly, what… are you plotting?" Honghu stared at Jue Ge, enunciating each word.

Feng Bujue replied with an innocent expression, "Didn't I say nothing?"

"Yes… and you consumed the sigil Lysander gave you when you said that…" Jibu added.

"Which precisely proves…" Uncle Waste added, "that you and Root are indeed plotting something."

"Although I don't know what's going on, everyone else is standing here giving you the side-eye, so I'm joining in for the fun, you guys continue…" Tianma Xingkong also chimed in.

"Okay… okay…" Feng Bujue said, "Root and I did discuss some things." He spread his hands, as if it were no big deal. "But the specifics… I'm afraid I can't say."

"You're not a simple man," Honghu adjusted his glasses. "We thought you and Root had killed each other back then." He sneered. "To think… in that situation, neither of you died, and you even became partners?"

"So what?" Feng Bujue retorted. "There are no eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests." He shrugged, smiling, and said, "Is it so strange to make some deals with the Boss?"

Feng Bujue consciously used the word "Boss" and made his tone seem light and natural. Because… as far as the other players were concerned, this was still a game; no matter what happened in the Apex Contention, they would still think… that what they were encountering was just a group of rare, highly intelligent NPCs and some unique script settings.

"Uh… if you put it that way, I can understand it," Uncle Waste replied after a few seconds of thought. As a man who had captured a Boss-level monster and turned it into a little helper in his landing space, he was naturally used to all kinds of situations.

"Ah… anyway, I'm just a spectator watching the competition in the mall, and I don't have any deep-seated hatred for that Boss, so I don't care," Jibu said, spreading his hands, his words filled with a faint sorrow…

"Hey, hey… what's going on?" Honghu said unhappily. "Am I the only one making a fuss? This guy is friends with the final Boss in the 'Great Event', it's normal for me to be amazed, right?"

"Hmm… it doesn't seem like a big deal, and I'm relieved that I don't understand what's going on," Tianma Xingkong added another cute, nonsensical line, desperately trying to make his presence known.

"If there's nothing else, let's keep moving forward," Feng Bujue put the Poké Ball into his knapsack and picked up his catapult again (when the statue bit his hand, he had placed the catapult on the ground with his other hand). "Hey, you, go push the door, hurry up."

The others grumbled for a few more sentences, then headed toward the portal leading to the next level.

At this moment, what his teammates didn't know was… that Feng Bujue, who on the surface was calm and eloquent, was inwardly filled with doubts.

In reality… when the statue asked that question, Feng Bujue was the most shocked of the five. Although he didn't show it, from that moment on, his brain had been constantly pondering one question: Why would the Mouth of Truth ask about him and Root?

"This is indeed the main universe of Thriller Paradise, but how could a statue hidden in an underground temple on Jumo Island, which might not even have self-awareness, ask me something like that?" Feng Bujue thought to himself. "My and Root's affairs are obviously unrelated to this script, so this question would never have been arranged by the system. Then… could it be that the statue's setting is to 'probe the other party's unspeakable secrets and ask questions'?" He quickly rejected this theory. "No, this setting would obviously cause many problems. It might be possible in a single-player script, but doing this in a team script, the questions asked could directly reveal the players' privacy."

After discarding several possibilities, Feng Bujue thought of a more reliable answer: "Hmph… it seems that there's a 'very powerful' guy playing tricks… who could it be?" he thought. "Someone who has the ability to control the original data composition of this statue from outside the script, and has the motivation to ask me that question…" A list of suspects was about to appear. "The first to be excluded is Woody, he wouldn't bother doing this; 'Zero'… is more likely, maybe he has already gotten some hints, hence this move; the other two leaders of the Source Organization also have the same motivation; in addition… we can't rule out that Root herself wants to test me; finally… although it's extremely unlikely, I might have already been targeted by 'Department Nine'. With their technical power, they should also be able to do what just happened."

While Jue Ge was thinking, Honghu had already passed through the level's revolving door and completed a preliminary survey of the level below.

"Come down, it's safe."

As Honghu's shout rang out, the others also entered the third level of this Temple of Faith (counting from the top down)…