Chapter 314: 314
Truly ghostly!
Realizing that the red straw man had disappeared again, Fu Qian inconspicuously withdrew his gaze.
Indeed, this was far from the only oddity.
In just a short moment, the entire hotel was undergoing changes.
The corridor that had been straight and flat just now, when looked upon at this moment, had turned into a downward slope, its destination unknown.
At the same time, various strange patterns had emerged on the deep red carpet.
...
The patterns, almost half a palm in width, were significantly brighter than the surrounding environment, and they varied in color and shape.
Swirls, edges, parallel diagonal lines, and various bizarre shapes challenged the imagination, some even extending onto the walls on both sides, dazzling and bewildering to the eye.
Was this the doing of the Magic Mirror?
Fu Qian’s brow furrowed slightly.
The scene before him undoubtedly indicated that the hotel had become unusual.
But whether it was due to the Magic Mirror opening a door to another time and space was still uncertain.
However, from this eerie spectacle, it seemed likely that danger lurked ahead.
Unexpectedly, Violetta not only appeared unafraid, but she also seemed quite interested in the changing corridor.
Without even greeting Fu Qian, the young girl dashed ahead, stepping on the patterns on the floor as she moved forward.
Watching the bouncing figure ahead, Fu Qian said nothing and directly followed.
Although it was not yet clear whether it was better to choose the direction ahead or behind, one thing was certain: standing still was definitely not a good choice.
Since Violetta was Snow White, perhaps it was worth trusting her main character aura.
…
As he quickly followed Violetta, Fu Qian observed the surrounding environment.
The carpet underfoot was soft and thick, almost entirely silent when stepped on.
The rooms on either side of the corridor also had their doors tightly closed, with no other people in sight.
In the vast hotel, it seemed that only the two of them were alive.
Walking on the strange patterns was so quiet that it even felt like being swallowed by a giant creature, slowly being digested.
Seconds and minutes passed, and by Fu Qian’s estimate, they should have descended more than five floors by now.
Yet the corridor seemed endless, without any sign of coming to an end.
This endless repetition of the same scene could easily exhaust one’s patience, and at the same time, the dazzling patterns underfoot were quite a visual distraction.
As Fu Qian considered whether to try a different approach, Violetta, who had been hopping ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks and stood still.
Did she find something?
The girl had shown astonishing stamina, not resting at all thus far, but now she had stopped abruptly.
Fu Qian followed Violetta’s gaze and immediately saw the reason she had stopped—
Where another door should have been, there was now a strange object in its place.
It was a circular bas-relief inset in the wall, which looked like white marble, showing signs of age through its mottled texture.
Within the pattern of petals surrounded a set of human features, the most striking of which was a wide-open mouth, a dark abyss with no end in sight.
The True Mouth?
Fu Qian almost immediately recognized the object before him.
This item, rich in legend and appearing in many stories, had a very high recognition factor.
And the abilities attributed to it were nothing short of miraculous.
From biting off the hands of liars to swallowing a person whole, the stories were many and varied.
But in general, it was likened to a manhole cover-shaped lie detector: one should never lie in front of it.
To Fu Qian, however, the wonder of this object was not whether it could truly detect lies.
It was the psychological effect that, under the implication of numerous pieces of information, anyone would struggle to resist the urge to reach inside.
In fact, the next moment, Fu Qian took a step forward and grabbed Violetta.
She had already tiptoed, her slender arm just inches away from the gaping mouth.
“What are you doing?”
After stopping her, Fu Qian expressionlessly asked.
“Get the reward!”
Violetta looked at Fu Qian with some bewilderment, wondering why he was holding her back.
“Reward?”
Fu Qian furrowed his brows even tighter, pointing at the Truth Mouth.
“Do you know what this is?”
Yeah!
Violetta crisply responded.
“Mom said, it’s called the Pinocchio Processor, and after Snow White encounters it, she can get a reward from its mouth.”
Damn Pinocchio Processor!
Fu Qian rubbed his head, at a loss as to where to begin his tirade.
Although the information thus far seemed to indicate that Snow White’s mother had a lot of creative freedom when telling stories…
But to directly call the Truth Mouth that was simply astonishing.
Of course, he understood what she meant.
The Truth Mouth was lethal to liars, and the honest child Snow White was clearly not a liar. Thus, plucking rewards from it seemed easy.
“Should I continue taking them?”
Seeing that Fu Qian did not speak further, Violetta asked again.
…
Fu Qian stroked his chin.
No matter how you looked at it, although Violetta was brimming with confidence, reaching a hand in was definitely a risky act.
If her arm really got bitten, the situation would undoubtedly become very tricky.
But looking at the current circumstances… He glanced down the endless corridor.
This was undoubtedly the first unusual thing they had come across, and it might indeed contain some clues.
And judging by Violetta’s demeanor, getting her to give up easily was impossible.
“Continue!”
In the end, Fu Qian chose to once again trust in her main character halo while silently recalling the methods for bandaging severed limbs.
“Okay.”
As Fu Qian let go of her hand, Violetta did not think too much and immediately tiptoed to extend her right arm in.
“Answer my question…”
Almost instantly, a dull and monotonous voice emanated from the relief.
And by the looks of it, Violetta’s arm was clearly stuck.
It really was the Truth Mouth!
Although he had anticipated this, Fu Qian still couldn’t help but remark to himself from the sidelines.
However, even though she was trapped, Violetta’s face showed no panic and seemed to have foreseen this.
“Ask away!”
She said, full of confidence.
…
“The question… Are you the most beautiful person in the world?”
The statue paused for a few seconds before finally speaking slowly.
It’s really the main character halo!
The question stunned Fu Qian on the side.
Could the favoritism be any more obvious? Indeed, his trust in Violetta was well placed.
…
However, contrary to expectations, upon hearing the question, Violetta’s fair little face scrunched up, as if finding it hard to answer.
“No.”
After seriously contemplating for a few seconds, she firmly shook her head.
And the next moment, her body noticeably relaxed, and her arm slowly withdrew.