Before this, no one knew that Yang Jie could actually speak Spanish, and judging by how fluent he was, he was probably a professional tour guide too.
By now they were already on the bus, and it was too late to escape. They could only brace themselves and face reality.
So what if he wanted to disgust people? It was a good chance to see what tricks he had up his sleeve. If things got really bad, she could always go back and complain to her senior’s wife.
She always doted on her, after all.
Su Mo thought to herself.
At least before the tour group reached their destination, Yang Jie didn’t make any moves. He just did his job, introducing the beautiful scenery to the tourists and offering travel tips, like a local born and raised there.
Even when they got off the bus, he acted completely natural. If you weren’t someone who knew him well, you’d never notice the sly grin at the corner of his mouth that said his scheme had succeeded.
“Uh-oh, everyone get ready!” Su Mo whispered. The six of them instantly went on alert.
This was the wilderness. There was no one else around, only snow-covered mountains and the grassland at their base. A herd of wild buffalo on the grassland cast puzzled looks their way.
Everything looked so peaceful, but danger often arises from within peace.
The six of them were tense the entire time, making the whole outing exhausting. They wanted to find a chance to slip away from the tour group, but Tour Guide Yang was diligent and responsible, never giving them an opening.
Seeing that they were getting further and further from the original planned route, Su Mo finally gritted her teeth, walked up to Yang Jie, and said, “Senior, just use whatever moves you’ve got. We’ll take them head-on. What is this? Torture?”
Yang Jie pushed up his glasses and said with a straight face, “Congratulations, you guessed right.”
The words got stuck in Su Mo’s throat. After opening and closing her mouth for a while, she resolutely turned around and gave the other five a look.
They understood and began drifting toward the back of the group. Finally, when the group passed the mouth of a canyon with complex terrain, they disappeared without a trace.
“Is it possible that waiting for Instructor Yang to make his move is itself a form of disgusting torture?” Zhuge Zhi said wisely.
“Not only that. From what I know of him, there’s definitely something else waiting for us. As for what exactly, we’ll find out soon enough,” Su Mo said with some worry.
“So, to be safe, we should go back to the originally designated route?” Wu Heng stroked his chin in thought.
“No. We’ll play along and take the path he picked for us instead.” Su Mo looked confident. “If we go back to the original route now, there’s definitely a surprise waiting for us.”
“That makes sense!”
After Su Mo weighed the options, everyone chose to go deeper into the canyon and cross the Andes Mountains through this route.
It wasn’t that they were being reckless. This route was originally one of the ways to cross, but it had been abandoned because the other side was easier to travel. Now they had no choice but to go through here.
Who knew what was waiting for them over there? It might not be that dangerous, but it would definitely be on the level of public humiliation.
The canyon passage was extremely narrow, only wide enough for three people to walk side by side. Compared with the towering mountains, it seemed a little insignificant.
They traveled a full twenty-plus kilometers before the path finally opened up, and it revealed a hidden world of its own.
“That’s not right. I checked the information on this route. There shouldn’t be a village here,” Ye Qingyi said with a frown. “Could we have gone the wrong way?”
Su Mo shook her head. “It can’t be wrong. It’s probably just not recorded. After all, apart from being uninhabited, this village doesn’t look particularly strange in any other way.”
Just as she finished speaking, an aged voice reached everyone’s ears. It spoke in English: “Welcome to the Valley of Truth. Everyone who comes here can receive a special reward.”
“Everyone be careful, something’s off,” Su Mo warned.
A strange wind suddenly blew through the canyon, sweeping the six of them toward the village. No matter how they struggled, they couldn’t break free.
They were brought to the village entrance, where there was a stone tablet. On it was written a string of English words, which translated into Chinese meant: Valley of Truth.
“It really is the Valley of Truth. Don’t tell me we have to reveal our secrets to exchange for rewards, and if we lie, we get erased immediately,” Zhuge Zhi said, his brain online once again.
“Congratulations, little chubby one. Since you guessed it, we’ll start with you. Everyone else get ready. We’ll go in order of body weight.”
As soon as the voice finished, Zhuge Zhi was blown one step forward by the wind. Just as he was panicking, the voice sounded again: “Initial Truth Points: 50. You need to reveal your secrets to exchange for Truth Points. Reach one hundred to clear the level. Below thirty triggers the punishment mechanism.”
The other five listened from the side. This was no different from a public execution. Yet they didn’t gloat, because Zhuge Zhi’s fate was their fate too.
Places like the Valley of Truth, which carried their own rule-based restrictions, were not much different from ruins. They could barely be considered a small world.
The rules of a small world were of a higher order. Ye Qingyi tried to use the Law Cage, and as expected, it had no effect at all. She was even warned, so she had no choice but to surrender.
“Note: The higher the value of the secret, the more Truth Points you gain. Secrets with no value will not earn Truth Points. Excessive nonsense will deduct Truth Points.”
Zhuge Zhi looked back at the five pairs of sparkling gossipy eyes behind him and wanted to cry but had no tears.
“Note: The interval between each secret must not exceed thirty seconds. Countdown begins now. 3, 2, 1… Truth Points minus 5.”
Zhuge Zhi couldn’t hold it together anymore and cursed loudly: “Didn’t you say thirty seconds? How did it become three seconds?”
“Rude language. Truth Points minus 10.”
“I’ll be damned…”
“Rude language. Truth Points minus 10. Current Truth Points: 25. Below 30. Triggering punishment mechanism.”
As soon as the voice finished, Zhuge Zhi’s body suddenly shot into the air, flying around like a deflating balloon. By the time he came back, his face was pale.
“Countdown begins. 30, 29, 28…”
Zhuge Zhi was gnashing his teeth in hatred. He had no choice but to reveal his secret: “I… yue~”
He rubbed his temples, trying to make himself less dizzy, but heaven and earth were still spinning. He had no choice but to brace himself and say, “When I was in elementary school, I secretly went into the girls’ bathroom at our school. Our homeroom teacher caught me red-handed and punished me by making me stand guard at the bathroom door.”
“Truth Points plus 5. Total: 30.”
Zhuge Zhi’s eyes widened. He was about to say something like “My dignity is only worth this much?” when he suddenly remembered what had just happened and swallowed his words.
He glanced behind him and saw that all five of them were biting their lips to hold back laughter. He silently swore to himself: Laugh, all of you bastards, laugh! When it’s your turn, we’ll see if you can still laugh!
People feel extremely embarrassed when they lose face, but losing face repeatedly in a short period makes them immune to it. Zhuge Zhi was now in that state.
“When I was little, I licked a utility pole in winter. My tongue got stuck to it and I couldn’t pull it off. My childhood friend used water of life to get me out of it.”
“Hahahaha…” Wu Heng was the first to fail at holding back his laughter.
“Truth Points plus 10. Total: 40.”
Zhuge Zhi sneered. “During the training camp in the capital, I farted at Wu Heng’s face. It was a chain of farts. Not only did he not wake up, he even wrinkled his nose, like it smelled good.”
Wu Heng: Σ(ŎдŎ|||)ﾉﾉ
“Truth Points plus 5. Total: 45.”
“I sprinkled paper ash into Instructor Yang’s tea. He didn’t notice and drank it with relish.”
“Ineffective secret. Truth Points unchanged.”
He gritted his teeth. “In high school, I had a crush on my female deskmate. I bought her breakfast every day, but she liked someone else. She took the breakfast I gave her and gave it to that guy. He didn’t like it and threw it away. I saw the whole thing.”
“Truth Points plus 10. Total: 55.”
As one secret after another was exposed, Zhuge Zhi gradually broke down, because he realized that the further he went, the more the secrets depreciated. Many of them directly lost their value.
To cut his losses in time, he decided to go big, so he wouldn’t have to keep suffering public humiliation.
Zhuge Zhi took a deep breath, and his gaze became solemn. “I like young married women, preferably ones who’ve had children, because they’re gentle, considerate, and know how to care for people. Boss Cao is my idol. I want to learn from my idol!”
After saying that, he didn’t forget to add, “Young people nowadays have such bad taste. They don’t understand the joy of a young married woman.”
This time, even the Valley of Truth fell silent. After a long while, it finally said, “Truth Points plus 80. Total: 135. Mission complete. Reward value increased by thirty-five percent.”
