Chapter 2539 Rabbit Hole’s End <TOC> Chapter 2541 The Black Hat Reappears
Translator: SumTLMan
Despite being a rabbit hole, this place is spacious and fully equipped. There’s food, entertainment, and even accommodation available. For example, the tunnels leading downwards through the slide-like chutes in the nearby walls reach deeper rabbit dens, which house dormitories of various sizes.
“This is like a small town! Did you build it overnight, or is this all an illusion? Real or not?” Daus asked incredulously.
Angel replied: “Some parts are illusions, and some didn’t go as planned.”
“You keep mentioning things going wrong, but what exactly went wrong?” Daus asked, puzzled.
Angel sighed softly, then walked towards the center of the rabbit hole.
At the heart of this rabbit hole sat a chair shaped like a teapot, or rather, a teapot-shaped chair.
Aside from them, the only “living” creature in this rabbit hole sat in the teapot chair. It was a small rabbit wearing a black felt hat, a stylish checkered tailcoat, and holding a carrot-shaped cane.
At first glance, it looked adorable.
Even though it heard Angel and Daus’ footsteps, it deliberately turned its head away and ignored them.
“Is that Tea Tea? I can’t sense any life in it, but its expression and eyes seem lively,” Daus said: “Is it alive or just an illusion?”
Before Angel could answer, Tea Tea turned its head and spoke in a soft, delicate voice: “How rude, probing me like that right away. You should be punished!”
With that, Tea Tea waved its carrot cane, and in a flash of light, a green hat descended from above and landed on Daus’ head.
Daus, now wearing the green hat, looked astonished. He felt his life force growing stronger and more active.
If he were injured, this green hat would accelerate his healing by several times.
A hat that speeds up healing? How is that a punishment?
Daus looked at Angel in confusion and said: “Hat hat hat…”
As soon as he spoke, he froze in shock and quickly grabbed Angel’s sleeve: “Hat, hat hat!”
Angel patted Daus on the shoulder: “Enough with the ‘hat hat.’ This is just a minor side effect. Once you take off the hat, you’ll be fine, but you can’t remove it yet. The hat has to stay on for at least ten minutes.”
Daus tried to take off the hat by force, but as Angel had warned, it was stuck to his scalp and wouldn’t budge.
He attempted to use magic to dispel the negative effect but realized the green hat wasn’t a negative effect at all. Instead, it was for healing and thus a positive effect…
Without other options, Daus took a deep breath. If he had to wear it for ten minutes, he’d wait ten minutes.
Daus remained silent, but the rabbit Tea Tea happily clapped her hands: “Finally, some peace and quiet. It’d be even better if that cheater weren’t here.”
The cheater himself——Angel, sat directly across from Tea Tea, unperturbed.
“Come on, show us the footage of everyone else going through the challenges. I’ve got snacks ready, just waiting for the live show.” Angel retrieved a large piece of Magic Nourish Meat from his bracelet and also brought out a cup of frozen juice Toby had stashed away.
Tea Tea replied: “Cheater! Shameless. I’m not talking to you.”
Angel said: “If you won’t do it, then I’ll handle it myself.”
After saying this, he stood up and walked toward Tea Tea.
Tea Tea quickly assumed a defensive stance: “Don’t come any closer! You set the rules, and you can’t break them!”
“It’s true I set the rules, and it’s true I won’t break them. But I can always modify them, can’t I?” Angel wore a shameless smirk.
Behind Angel, Daus gestured repeatedly at Tea Tea, signaling “hat, hat” while occasionally pointing at Angel, making his meaning unmistakable.
He’s already wearing a green hat. You should put one on Angel too.
Tea Tea ignored Daus, but Angel, as if sensing him from the back of his head, turned and said to Daus: “I designed this place. Even if something went wrong, I wouldn’t put myself in a bind.”
Daus jabbed his finger at his own chest, mumbling: “Hat, hat, hat,” as if to say: So you put me in a bind instead.
Angel replied: “I didn’t trick you; you offended Tea Tea, you know, the little cutie.”
Tea Tea retorted: “Calling me a little cutie won’t help. Stick to the rules. There’s no way I’m going to show you anyone else’s footage.”
“I said I’d handle it myself.” Angel took out an inscription knife, parchment, and a rune stabilizing stand from his bracelet.
Angel chuckled as he walked step by step toward Tea Tea.
After enduring resistance, helplessness, and indignation, Tea Tea finally compromised: “Give me the prize according to the rules, and I’ll agree.”
Angel put everything away and said with a smile: “That’s more like it.”
He then turned to Daus: “Hand it over.”
At first, Daus didn’t understand what Angel meant. After a long pause, he remembered that he had received a reward from the Grand Duke of Black Tea that Angel had called the Bitter Stone.
Daus took out the stone, whose purpose was unclear, and tossed it to Tea Tea.
Tea Tea looked at the Bitter Stone with disdain: “I hate drinking bitter tea the most.”
Despite the complaints, Tea Tea still threw the Bitter Stone into the teapot in front of her and poured herself a steaming cup of tea.
Watching this scene, Daus turned to Angel: Are those rewards just for brewing tea for the rabbit?
Even though Daus remained silent, Angel understood what he meant and casually replied: “That’s right. If you brew good tea, Tea Tea will offer rewards.”
“Hat hat?” What kind of rewards? As soon as rewards were mentioned, Daus perked up.
Angel: “Probably… a more spacious and luxurious room. Don’t look at me like that; this is just a temporary shelter made for Old Porter and the others. What high-end reward are you expecting?”
Daus understood Angel’s point, but… for a temporary shelter built by Angel to be this extravagant, yet the rewards offered were so humble, the contrast was jarring.
After drinking the bitter tea, Tea Tea reluctantly projected the images of all the challengers into the air.
Initially, Daus didn’t understand why Angel was so interested in these images, but after watching for a while, he found them quite intriguing.
Unlike the two of them who cheated through, these challengers needed to answer questions correctly to earn rewards that would take them to the next Zodiac Palace.
However, if they answered incorrectly more than three times, they would fail the challenge.
If a challenger failed, they would have to undergo a “difficult trial” in the respective Zodiac Palace before being able to proceed.
Currently, in the floating images, very few were actually answering questions. Most had failed… and were undergoing their trials.
The question-answering segments weren’t much to see, but the trials proved far more entertaining.
For example, at this moment, three talents were simultaneously going through the Fresh Milk Zodiac Palace trial. These three were Sybil, Blazer, and a plump man.
The Fresh Milk Zodiac Palace trial was divided into several stages: the first stage involved being hunted down by Cheese Soldiers, the second stage featured Cream Bombardment, and the third stage had a Fresh Milk Waterfall.
In the Cheese Soldiers stage, a group of soldiers made of cheese would hunt the talents. Because the terrain of the Zodiac Palace was complex, one could stall for time by skillfully using the terrain’s advantages until the Cheese Soldiers vanished.
Sybil managed to stall them by using her agility.
Blazer, on the other hand, took a different approach, ambushing one of the Cheese Soldiers and seizing a spear. He then cackled wildly: “You rookie soldiers, even with my right hand sealed, I’ll beat you to a pulp!”
He then charged forward.
In the end, Blazer was the one who got beaten to a pulp.
As for the plump man, he lay down right from the start, surrendering himself. Though the Cheese Soldiers wouldn’t kill him, he still ended up bruised and battered.
The second stage of the Cream Bombardment involves a downpour of cream from above. When the cream drops, shadows appear on the ground, giving a hint where it will land, so it’s best to avoid them. However, in the later stages, the frequency of the cream increases, and the ground becomes covered in shadows. This makes it necessary to carefully plan one’s dodging sequence.
Sybil performed the best, only getting splashed twice. Meanwhile, Blazer and the plump man were entirely covered in cream, showing how abysmally they fared.
The last stage is the Fresh Milk Waterfall. As the name implies, a torrent of fresh milk pours down from the sky, completely flooding the Zodiac Palace. The only exit is the skylight at the palace’s very top.
In other words, to reach the skylight, the entire Zodiac Palace must be flooded with milk.
Each of the three had different strategies. Blazer managed to find a shield somewhere, using it as a makeshift raft and the spear he had taken earlier as an oar, paddling through the milk. Despite capsizing occasionally, he stubbornly made it to the skylight.
The plump man employed his first-stage strategy again: lying flat and letting fate take its course. Amazingly, luck was on his side as floating passively allowed him to drift to safety, successfully escaping the trial.
Sybil, who performed best in the first two stages, met her downfall here.
Clinging to one of the Zodiac Palace’s pillars, she breathed heavily, muttering to herself repeatedly: “This is an illusion, this is an illusion, this is an illusion…”
Just like in Princess Castle’s Rainbow Illusion House, if she could escape the illusion, everything would disappear.
Sybil’s reasoning was sound, since the trials were indeed illusions. If she could break through, she’d resolve the problem fundamentally.
However, Sybil underestimated the power of the illusions in the Zodiac Palace, which were far more challenging than those in the Rainbow Illusion House.
Angel’s illusions are nearly unbeatable in the entire Southern Region. Now, they’ve been combined with a magic formation and have encountered a small “mishap.”
Even Sanders would struggle here, and for Sybil, a mere talent, attempting to pass by breaking through illusions alone was pure folly.
Ultimately, Sybil drowned and “died.”
Of course, her “death” wasn’t real, but to her, it felt painfully genuine and may cast a long shadow over her psyche.
Having experienced death, Sybil barely managed to pass the trial. Now, she faces a new Zodiac Palace, a new set of questions, and new… trials.
…
“Hahaha, look at Sybil, her legs are trembling, and she’s heading to the next Zodiac Palace! That expression, those pitiful eyes, it’s hilarious!”
Daus, whose speech had returned to normal, laughed loudly, slapping his thigh and munching on snacks from the table.
“No wonder you said initially that there’d be no physical injuries. Sybil’s psyche is probably shattered. She’ll take months, maybe years, to recover.”
Hearing Daus’ cackling, Angel silently shot a glance at rabbit Tea Tea.
Instantly understanding, Tea Tea placed another green hat on Daus’ head.
“Hat hat hat?!” Daus shot up, shocked, pointing at Angel and Tea Tea.
Angel said: “Here, Tea Tea makes the rules, and it doesn’t like noise. So you’d better keep it down. We’ll talk again in ten minutes.”
Furiously, Daus dipped his finger in tea and wrote on the table: You weren’t exactly quiet earlier!
Angel responded: “Who’s the creator here?”
Daus: “…” You’ve got some nerve!
…
Putting aside the tragic experiences of the talents, the performances of Old Porter and Ms. Melo impressed Angel.
Initially, both of them failed the trial due to incorrect answers. However, they quickly adjusted their mindset and began working meticulously through the details and each questioner’s inquiries, gradually building a complete picture of the other’s “civilization.”
Once they got the hang of it, the questions became relatively easier. Although they occasionally faltered, they handled it effortlessly as peak apprentices.
Their distinct answering styles stood out: Old Porter focused on analysis, while Ms. Melo leaned more on intuitive perception, similar to Daus.
Which method was better wasn’t evaluated here, but their progress was nearly identical. Both were now at the tenth Zodiac Palace.
Apart from Old Porter and Ms. Melo, the only other advanced apprentice present was Aubrey.
Her performance was less impressive.
Every answer was wrong, even for the multiple-choice questions, she never picked the correct option. Nevertheless, being an apprentice witch, she handled the trials with ease.
This only describes Aubrey’s performance in the first half of the journey.
When she reached the sixth Zodiac Palace, her summoned creature awakened.
The Crowned Parrot, although incomparable to someone like Angel, had analytical and observational skills far superior to Old Porter’s. After asking Aubrey about the previous questions, the Crowned Parrot embarked on the “Path to Heaven.”
It sailed through without a hitch.
Not all questions were answered correctly, but from the sixth Zodiac Palace onward, it managed to secure all the basic rewards from each palace. Clearly, the Crowned Parrot was a valuable ally.
If only it didn’t swear and complain so much, it would be even better.
That’s the general state of the three wizard apprentices. If nothing goes wrong, Aubrey will reach the finish line fastest with the Crowned Parrot.
Among the talents, there’s one more noteworthy performance.
Little Tom stood out the most.
Chapter 2539 Rabbit Hole’s End <TOC> Chapter 2541 The Black Hat Reappears