Chapter 59 - The Three Riddles

…

The one minute timer started its countdown internally as Li Qu received the first riddle with a serious look.

‘What building has the most stories?’

Li Qu repeated the question out loud while Xia Qiu was nervously thinking, she looked slightly on the edge; presumably affected by the aura of anxiousness he was subconsciously emitting.

“Um, um– the Burger Khalifo!”

‘...’

“It’s wrong, quick!”

“Err– the Ifurl Tower!”

‘...’

“...Wrong!”

Xia Qiu had some hair strands sticking on her cheeks as she sweated from the pressure– Li Qu had informed her of the method to make the Enlightenment Tea and she was aware of the consequences if not answered correctly within a minute.

Despite the high intensity, she did not cave in to the pressure; a lightbulb had suddenly turned on in her mind and she realized that she was overthinking.

“Oh, I’m so stupid! I know– a library!!!”

The Enlightenment Tea’s glow died down and was now emanating silver luster– the signature radiance indicating that it was a correct answer.

“Phew– that was tricky but fun!”

Xia Qiu wiped the sweat on her forehead and cheeks with her denim jacket sleeve– her countenance was rather flushed due to Li Qu increasing the temperature in the room and her own adrenaline pumping from the thrill.

“You see that rack over there? Take out the take-away pots inside the third drawer and fill it up with the brewed Enlightenment Tea.”

Li Qu pointed at a specific corner of the brewing room; he resumed his preparation for the second pot and inwardly asked the System.

‘System, how much time do I have left?’

[Time Limit: 00h:39m:34s]

‘On track… However, I might need to speed it up in case of a failure.’

This time, he sped up even faster as he shaved off a good two minutes of his original time, some of the process could not be hastened; it required time to soak in the Spirit Water while absorbing it and fuse the fibres between the two elements together in the microscopic level.

The Enlightenment Leaves let off a bright glow as the pair got ready to tackle the next riddle.

Vooom!

‘I am going fast, and I am standing still. I am transferring people and things all over the world. I have seats but I can’t fly. I make a sound that kids would like. What am I?’

“D*mnable riddle, why is it so hard?”

Li Qu grumbled as he repeated the riddle, Xia Qiu’s eyes lit up as she recalled something.

“This sounds vaguely similar to the– oh, I remember! I’ve seen this on my WeTalk feed posted by my friend before! A train!”

The silver luster shined, it was a resounding success.

Xia Qiu pumped her fist in victory as she immediately got busy with transferring the Enlightenment Tea into the take-away pot after the quick celebration.

‘System, time!’

[Time Limit: 00h:21m:48s]

‘It will be quite rushed…However–’

“...”

Vooom!

Seventeen minutes passed, he had no room for failure as the time left on the clock would not be enough to brew another pot.

The third riddle was received by Li Qu after the Enlightenment Leaves sparkled with brilliance.

‘Everyone wants it, and everyone gives it, but no one takes it when you give it to them. What am I?’

The same scenario recurred as Li Qu told Xia Qiu the riddle.

“Oh no, this one’s hard…”

She bit her lips as her mind rapidly processed the riddle and thought of potential answers.

After ten seconds–

“A flower…?”

‘...’

“Wrong…!”

Xia Qiu pulled her hair as she racked her brains and muttered the riddle, she came up with a plausible answer after fifteen seconds.

“Everyone wants it, everyone gives it… Um– a red packet!”

‘...’

“...Incorrect.”

Li Qu had sweat forming on his forehead from the stress of his game account potentially getting deleted.

[Host, a reminder that 20 seconds are left for the riddle’s countdown.]

“Oh no!”

Xia Qiu sucked in a mouth of cold breath as she bit her fingernails in distress when Li Qu gave her an update on the time left.

Li Qu was tense as he asked Xia Qiu for any clue she might have.

“Any advice?!”

“I don’t kn–”

Just when she wanted to reply, the glow died down as a bright silver luster shone through the darkness that they had felt, like the blessing of light raining down on them and lighting up their world– saving Li Qu’s game account from the potential eldritch horror.

The both of them were stunned and speechless as they had a confused expression.

“Huh? Young Master Li, how did this happen?!”

“I do not know… But I have a rough guess.”

Li Qu closed his eyes as he questioned his trusty System.

‘System, did you show me mercy?’

[Host, I did not. Host has answered the riddle correctly. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

He opened his eyes and looked at Xia Qiu with a smile.

“Although I do not know how, it seems that we have answered it correctly.”

Xia Qiu tapped her index finger on her lips as she tilted her head and pondered out loud.

“Hm, the last thing Young Master Li said was ‘Any advice?!’. Advice… Oh my goodness, that’s right!”

Li Qu frowned in puzzlement at the situation and asked–

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, advice! Everyone wants advice, and everyone gives advice, but no one takes it when you give it to them! Young Master Li, you’ve coincidentally solved it!”

“...Haha, ahem– it was not coincidental, but on purpose.”

Li Qu shamelessly took credit and looked at the area in front of him as an interface popped up; he processed the completion of the mission.

[Detected that the Sudden Mission has been completed!]

[Sudden Mission: Brew Enlightenment Tea for take-away 3/3]

[Mission Reward: x2 Jade Agarwood Incense Box (x50 Incense Sticks per box) will be sent to your Inventory.]

“Yeah, yeah, alright. Oh, by the way, my dad says he wants to visit in the coming few days!”

Xia Qiu rolled her eyes as she carried the tray– walking behind Li Qu as they exited the brewing room.

“Alright, I can take a look at his progress as well.”

Cal Cal saw the duo walk out and went up to them; she excitedly took the three pots of Enlightenment Tea and sent it into her storage ring.

“Thanks, Young Master Li and Xia Qiu~ I’ll get going now, see you two soon! White Beard, don’t be too harsh on my friend, okay?”

She grinned and playfully reminded Donaer Cerle before running off and out of the teahouse.

Donaer Cerle smiled as he stood up and bowed to bid his princess a temporary farewell.

“I understand, Your Highness. Have a fun trip.”

“This humble maidservant will get going first, farewell! My Nature Goddess– wait for me!!!”

Melian Aelfis did a quick short bow towards Li Qu and hurriedly chased after Cal Cal while shouting for her.

…