"I'm sorry, Little Flower. Even so, I still think Sans would be safer with us."
Fureiko looked apologetically at Little Flower, feeling completely at the mercy of Mo Zhi's games.
"Hmph hmph."
Sans, emboldened by her perceived correctness, said, "See? My decision was the right one, weed."
"Fureiko? Are you sure?"
Little Flower looked at Fureiko, who replied with determination, "I trust him."
"Very well."
Sans stepped forward. "Follow me, sweetheart."
Fureiko stayed two steps behind him, and soon they were back at the giant signboard decorated with colorful lights.
The same trap, the same question, the same choice.
This time, Mo Zhi carefully observed the sequence: Red – Red – Green.
She decisively chose B!
Immediately, another puzzle appeared: Red – Red – Green – Yellow!
"Still B!"
This time, Mo Zhi solved it without external help.
[You Win]
"Yay!"
Mo Zhi jumped up excitedly, even more so than when she had defeated Fish Sister back then.
She craved even a sliver of solace in this oppressive world.
"That's amazing!"
Fureiko was equally excited, skipping and clapping, "We passed!"
"Haha, well done!"
"Nicely done, sweetheart."
Little Flower and Sans, their argument forgotten, congratulated Fureiko on her success.
But the next second, Sans doused them with a bucket of cold water. "It's too early to celebrate. The next trap won't be this simple."
Fureiko's smile faded, and she became serious again. Sans was right; this was only the first puzzle. But she clenched her fist, vowing inwardly that she would never give up!
Before long, the second puzzle arrived.
Dangerous spikes appeared before Fureiko. Little Flower, paying close attention, noticed a piece of paper hanging on one of the spikes.
Fureiko stepped forward, picked up the paper, and read: "Traveler, watch your step, or you will lose your life. Pay attention! If you don't want to be killed by the spikes, you must obey every rule!"
"Divide the length of a circle by its diameter, and you'll get a sequence of numbers called 'Pi'. Next, my requirement is that the order of the numbers is the number of steps you take."
Emmm...
After reading, Mo Zhi's forehead was covered in sweat. She spread her hands and said, "Please spare me, a math dropout..."
"Asking a streamer who dropped out of middle school to do math problems, isn't that making things difficult for me?"
Then, the choices appeared –
[A3]
[B8]
[C5]
[D4]
"What is this?"
Mo Zhi's gaze shifted back to the screen, her intention to seek help from outside very clear.
'I don't understand any of this.'
'6, leave this math dropout alone.'
'??????? Only a ghost could remember this.'
'I'm an elementary school student, I know the first ten digits of Pi, 3.141596...'
'Bro, that's only seven digits...'
'It's enough!'
......
"3.1415926..." Mo Zhi murmured softly, staring at the Pi parameters on the screen. "How should I choose..."
"Huh?"
Mo Zhi suddenly realized that option A3 corresponded exactly to the first digit. She tentatively chose [A3]!
In the game, Fureiko took three steps and stopped.
A clicking sound echoed from a distance. Seeing that she was in the spike-filled trap and unharmed, Fureiko jumped up excitedly, "I got it right!"
She looked ahead at the surrounding spikes and nodded thoughtfully, "Looks like I need to keep going."
Next, new choices appeared – [A1], [B3], [C6], [D7].
"How do I choose this?"
The first one was pure luck. Now Mo Zhi was completely bewildered.
At this moment, someone in the audience seemed to have understood the prompt and was typing in the chat: 'Choose A, trust me.'
"A?"
Mo Zhi was startled by the chat. Considering she had no clue, she decided to treat it like a dead horse and act as if it were alive, decisively choosing [A1]!
Fureiko took one step, and the familiar clicking sound echoed from a distance. She was right again!
Then, new options appeared again – [A4], [B5], [C6], [D9].
"This..."
The more Mo Zhi looked, the more confused she became. However, the viewer who had commented earlier became excited and continued to explain in the chat: 'Choose A again! It's according to the order of Pi, 3.1415..., 3-1-4-5, if there are more, choose 5!'
Not only did they provide the correct answer, but they also offered an explanation.
Mo Zhi decisively chose [A4]!
As expected, after making her choice, Fureiko took four more steps, and the symbolic clicking sound rang out again.
"Whoa!!"
"I made it!"
Just as Fureiko was about to celebrate, she heard another clicking sound.
Then, all the spikes behind her disappeared.
"That's great, Fureiko! We solved another problem!"
While Fureiko was still in a daze, Little Flower celebrated excitedly, acting like "the three of us are amazing," declaring, "We're the coolest!"
Sans, however, remained relatively calm. "Quite clever, sweetheart."
"If we walk a bit further, we'll reach Snow Town."
Little Flower encouraged her from the side, "Go Fureiko! Victory is in sight!"
Fureiko gave them a mature smile and continued forward.
Ding dong~~ Ding ding dong~~~
As the background music shifted to a cheerful tune, Mo Zhi knew they had arrived at Snow Town.
That year, that day, felt like yesterday. Back then, she had been lucky to arrive in Fish Sister's territory after being lost in Parey's endless waters.
"Haha, welcome to Snow Town, my sweetheart."
Sans's little mouth was as sweet as if it had been smeared with honey. "Sweetheart" was almost his default suffix, reserved only for Fureiko, of course.
"You can stay at the inn for the night, warm up, and replenish your strength."
Then, Sans changed the subject. "My charitable work ends here."
"Charitable..."
Little Flower frowned and asked, "Did you help us at all?"
"You know whether I helped or not," Sans said calmly. "Regardless, if you encounter trouble, you can come find me."
After saying that, Sans gave Fureiko the money and then ran off to Caulby's shop.
"Uh... did I say too much just now?"
Little Flower looked dejected. "But without him, wouldn't we be better off?"
"Sigh~~"
Fureiko didn't dwell on the topic. She took a sharp breath, trembling all over. Ever since leaving the ruins, she had been enduring the harsh cold. She had been focused on overcoming the challenges and hadn't noticed.
Now that she had a moment to rest, the cold wind cut like a knife, seeping into her collar and making her shiver. "Little Flower, can we stay at the inn for a night? I'm cold and tired, and I feel terrible."
"Of course, let's go quickly."
The two found a nearby inn, paid the fee, and entered the room under the heavy gaze of the monsters.
Warmth immediately enveloped Fureiko. She closed the door and collapsed onto the bed, quietly feeling her body regain its vitality.
She fell asleep on the bed, while Little Flower leaned back in a rocking chair.
A warm and serene scene unfolded, deeply touching Mo Zhi watching from outside.
"It's so nice. I wish this time could last a little longer."
"The child has suffered too much along the way..."
......