Shen Jingbin focused and surveyed her surroundings.
The world she saw was like the Mountain of Flames in Journey to the West. All around her were fiery red hills of varying heights. The ground under her feet was fractured, with no sign of vegetation or life. Looking closely, she could even see waves of heat slowly floating around.
Before her was a narrow winding road that twisted and turned like a snake that disappeared between the hills in the distance.
There was only this one path, so she didnât need to ponder over which direction to take. She released Mascot, followed by the little Black Tortoise, and placed it on Mascotâs head. Following that, she and the two divine beasts began their journey on the winding path together.
Hm, the Black Tortoise was a little small, but regardless, it was still a Divine Beast. Having it around was better than nothing!
Not long after, two weirdly dressed men suddenly jumped out from behind one of the hills. They were identical in height, appearance, the clothes they wore, and their temperament. Shen Jingbin immediately thought of the twins from Alice in Wonderland.
The twin on the left grabbed his companion and suddenly said, "This was tree planted by me!"
"Whereâs the tree?" Shen Jingbin asked.
The creepy smile on the face of the twin on the right froze for a moment. "Thatâs not the point... Cough, this road was laid by me!"
The twins looked at each other before shouting in unison, "If you wish to pass, you must first answer these questions!"
Shen Jingbin said, "... Um, that doesnât rhyme."
"... You talk too much!"
"You better play along, or we wonât let you pass!" The brothers suddenly said while glaring at her. Shen Jingbin shrunk back and stopped talking. NPCs were kings in the game so she couldnât afford to upset them.
"Iâm 101, the older brother of the two."
"Iâm 102, the young brother of the two."
"We are the guardians of the first stage in the Vermillion Birdâs consciousness. You have to correctly answer a question posed by each of us to enter the next stage."
Shen Jingbin stared at the twins, who were doing everything they could to pass off as AIs. "Human NPCs?" She asked hesitantly.
Unsurprisingly, the one on the left gave her a look of shock and immediately said, "Shit, howâd you find out?"
"Heh, isnât it obvious from your names alone? Iâm someone whoâs met 001 and 002," She thought to herself. But, in reality, what she said was different. "The annoyance you harbour towards one another is as plain as day."
The twin on the rightâs mouth twitched. "I knew pretending to be twins with this moron was doomed to fail. After all, Iâm far too clever. I donât know what the Team Leader was thinking."
"Go to hell, you idiot! You were the one who gave us away! Iâm going to report you to the Team Leader!" The one on the left retorted.
"What did you say? Do you want me to beat you up?!"
"Try me! If you think youâve got what it takes then come and take a swing at me!"
Hey mates, I only have an incense stickâs worth of time, and I have other stages to clear.
"I donât have a lot of time. Can you maybe ask me the questions first so that I can proceed?" Shen Jingbin asked exasperatedly. Only then did the twins stop fighting. 101 looked at her and was about to ask his question, but her far too unique appearance compelled him to ask, "Is this how you look in real life?"
Shen Jingbin blinked. "Is this your question? If so, Iâll answer. If not, I think Iâll reserve my right to reject your question."
101 blinked, his mind drawing a blank for a moment. A conflicted look appeared on his face.
In the end, his curiosity got the better of him. He swallowed the question he was originally going to ask and said, "Yes."
"Then my answer is ânoâ."
101 cursed inwardly. Why the hell did he ask such a stupid question?
"Youâve answered the first question correctly."
"What an idiot," Said 102, taking pleasure in his misfortune. "Youâre screwed. Iâm definitely going to tell on you to the Team Leader once I get off work."
101 rolled his eyes at him. "How old are you? Telling on me? Canât you be a bit more mature?"
"Bah, itâs none of your business. Wait till you get scolded!" 102 said as he stuck his tongue out at his colleague. He then turned to Shen Jingbin and cleared his throat. "Listen carefully to the second question. There was a man with a strange form of colorblindness. The blue sky appeared green in his eyes, and a green lawn would appear blue. However, he always believed that the âblueâ he saw was called âgreenâ, and the colour âgreenâ he saw was called âblueâ. Therefore, no one realized that he was colorblind. Now, how do we make him realize that heâs suffering from colorblindness?"
After hearing the question, Shen Jingbin went silent for a good long while. Seeing this, 102 lifted his chin at 101 provocatively, as if he were trying to say, "See? This is a real question. As expected, she doesnât have an answer for it."
Shen Jingbin had heard of this question before. This was allegedly one of the so-called ten most difficult problems in the world. In reality, this was a paradoxical question. In other words, it was a question that caused a paradox. It didnât matter if your answer was right or wrong, because either could be argued against. It was a specious question, and it was also a type of logic trap.
"Thereâs no answer to this question."
102 laughed. "Wrong! Youâre done. We canât let you go since you didnât answer correctly."
Shen Jingbin pretended to be deep in thought and said, "I still think thereâs no correct answer. How about you tell me what the correct answer is?"
102 had a smug look on his face. "Youâve failed already, so I suppose it doesnât matter even if I tell you. The correct answer is to give that person two pens, one blue and one green. Then, tell him to use the blue pen to write in green, and to use the green pen to write in blue. Itâs that simple hahahaha..."
"If thatâs the case, I have a question," Shen Jingbin asked calmly, interrupting his laughter. "How do you prove that you donât have the same kind of colorblindness that he has?"
"Uh..." 102 choked on his saliva.
This time it was 101 who started laughing. "Told you this kind of question wouldnât work. Tit, meet tat... Come on; itâs your win. Take this and walk forward for about 200 meters and youâll see the Vermillion Bird. This anti-spirit water will make it easier for you to defeat your enemies."
101 handed her a white ceramic bottle. Shen Jingbin took it and looked inside. The bottle was as white as snow, with only a single piece of paper with the words "anti-spirit water" attached to the front of the bottle.
"Good luck," 101 said with a smile. He then grabbed onto 102, who was deep in contemplation and disappeared into thin air.
Shen Jingbin placed the bottle into her bag, patted Mascot, and continued onwards.