Newbie Guardians

Chapter 4 The Gate of Trials

From then on, Huang Xin's life became a monotonous routine: either at school or in his study on the second floor of his house. With unprecedented patience, he opened one thin ancient book after another. Although there weren't many pages, the content was obscure and difficult to understand; many words required consulting a dictionary of classical Chinese to barely comprehend. Reading alone was extremely difficult; to memorize them word for word was, for Huang Xin, a long and arduous task.

Today is trial day. All students were taken to the large playground as soon as they arrived at school and lined up in class.

At 8:00 sharp, the principal walked onto the stage and announced the trial rules in his usual loud and clear tone.

"All students who have reached the age of eighteen, line up by class, enter your classroom one by one, and then walk out of the classroom. The trial is then complete."

Most of the senior high school students met this requirement. But after hearing the rules, everyone's face was filled with big question marks—that's it? Just walk in and come out? That's too easy!

With slightly uneasy hearts, the line stopped at the classroom door, only to realize something was amiss. Purple light flowed within the doorways of each classroom, making the desks and chairs inside appear indistinct and blurry. To the right of each door stood a uniformed man in a suit, wearing oversized sunglasses.

"Excuse me... can I just walk in and then come out?" a student in the front row asked quietly.

"Yes." The man in the suit spoke sparingly, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

The line began to move forward slowly, and soon it was Huang Xin's turn.

The fat man cheered from behind, "Huang Xin! Don't be afraid! I'm here! I'll protect you in a bit!"

Huang Xin shrugged: "Come on, you rat! Use your toes to think about it. If we'd all be together inside, why would we even bother queuing? We'd just all rush in, wouldn't that be better?"

"This... seems to make some sense." The fat man scratched his ear, his expression becoming increasingly tense. Despite his tough exterior, he was actually somewhat dependent on Huang Xin.

The man in the suit pouted in dissatisfaction, as if to say, "Stop dawdling and go in."

Huang Shen suppressed his rapidly beating heartbeat, took a deep breath, lifted his leg, and stepped into the doorway.

After a moment of disorientation, Huang Xin found himself in a deserted valley. He instinctively looked around, but the valley was empty and there wasn't a soul in sight.

The valley was vast, with towering, jagged boulders on both sides, and the ground covered with lush green weeds and unidentified wildflowers.

Huang Xin walked slowly, carefully observing his surroundings as he went. Soon, he noticed a dilapidated wooden sign sticking out of the dirt by the roadside, which read: "Left leads to 'Honest Pool', right leads to 'Witch's Hut'."

It seems that the trials will differ depending on the chosen route.

He stopped, stared at the sign, and his brain began to work at lightning speed.

Honesty Pool—the name itself suggests a place to test or examine one's character. But what is the true nature of one's own character? Who can say for sure? Huang Xin had absolutely no idea. Who knew what the criteria were? What if she chose the wrong option, and a monster emerged from the pool and swallowed her whole? Wouldn't that be the end of her?

If you remove one option, then only the Witch's Hut remains.

In fact, Huang Xin convinced himself in this way: rather than trying his luck in a silent pool, he might as well face a living witch and maybe he could find out some useful mission information.

"You're the one," he muttered to himself, and started walking towards the witch's hut. He was out of the valley in less than ten minutes. A stream about seven or eight meters wide appeared before him, with twelve thick wooden stakes, each about sixty centimeters apart, stuck straight in the water, leading directly to the other side.

The water beneath the wooden stake was light blue, deepening in color towards the center. Based on experience accumulated from thousands of dreams, the water in the middle of the stream was likely more than three meters deep.

"What if some monster jumps out and attacks me when I get to the middle?" Huang Xin quickly imagined, feeling a chill run down his spine.

I carefully stepped onto the wooden stakes, each step heavy with tension. My nerves were on edge, and beads of sweat kept forming on my forehead until I finally stepped onto the ground on the opposite bank, at which point I relaxed.

Okay, nothing happened. I was just scaring myself.

Huang Shen blushed and instinctively wanted to scratch his head to ease the embarrassment, but stopped halfway through raising his hand and gave a self-deprecating laugh—thankfully, there was no one around!

After walking for about fifteen more minutes, he found a new sign. This one looked older and read: "Straight ahead leads to the 'Burial Grounds,' right to the 'Witch's Hut.'"

This! Is there even a choice? Anyone with a sound mind would choose the first option! That's a burial ground!

Without hesitation, I turned onto the path on the right, passed through a long grove of trees, and climbed over a low hill. Suddenly, the view opened up, and a quaint little wooden house appeared before me. Wisps of white smoke rose from the chimney, and a faint scent of herbs filled the air.

In front of the wooden house was a small courtyard, about thirty or forty square meters, enclosed by a wooden fence. An elderly woman with white hair and a hunched back was drying herbs, while a group of small animals played nearby. Huang Xin didn't recognize any of them and could only judge them by their appearance.

A dog with entirely black fur, a seven- or eight-centimeter-long horn above its nose, as black as ink and looking incredibly hard, was lying lazily on the ground, completely ignoring Huang Shen, the outsider. It was clearly not a qualified watchdog.

Beside them were three adorable white rabbits, similar in appearance to domestic rabbits, obediently munching on something much larger than a carrot. One of them, noticing Huang Xin staring intently at it, pushed off the ground with its hind legs and stood upright, staring back at him with its large, fiery red eyes. There was no hostility in its eyes, only a look of utter confusion, as if to say: What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a rabbit before? In this posture, including its long, erect ears, it was several centimeters taller than Huang Xin.

There were also a dozen or so oddly shaped "chickens." They were called "chickens" mainly because they all had dark red combs on their heads. Their bodies were short and stout, nearly a meter long, but their necks and legs were no more than twenty centimeters long. Most incredibly, they ran incredibly fast, chasing each other, kicking up dust wherever they went, and occasionally emitting loud, clear, and melodious "cluck cluck! cluck cluck!" calls.

Huang Xin strode forward, stopped by the wooden fence, and coughed lightly, "Grandma, hello! I..."

The old woman raised her head; her face was deeply wrinkled, and her eyes were kind yet bright and piercing, without the cloudiness that one would expect from an elderly person.

"My name is Huang Xin! I'd like to ask... where is this place?"

"Good child, this is the witch's hut! Come in and sit down!" The old woman pointed to the stools next to the wooden table.

Huang Xin sat down as instructed.

Several herbs were also drying on the table. The strong medicinal aroma mixed together smelled a bit strange, but it made people feel refreshed.

"Grandma, do you have any tasks here?"

"A mission?" The old woman looked puzzled, clearly not understanding.

"Well... is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh! Yes! My corn was stolen by Kururu. Could you go to the mountain across the street and help me get ten ears of corn back?"

As soon as he finished speaking, mission information appeared in Huang Xin's field of vision, like a projection:

Mission: Reclaim the stolen corn

Target: Ten ears of corn

Current status: Zero items obtained.

"Grandma, can you tell me what Kuru is?"

"They were a group of white-furred monkeys. They stood upright like humans and walked with a hopping gait. They were social and very united. A single one wasn't scary, but they would call to their companions to be careful of being surrounded and attacked."

"Okay, I got it, thank you Grandma!"