This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 1384 - 605: Thief God’s Skeleton Key_2

Chapter 1384: Chapter 605: Thief God’s Skeleton Key_2

[The beast-faced stone carving had a blue face with sharp fangs, its hair a bloody crimson, and three eyes on its forehead, two closed, and the one that was open had turned white as if blind.]

[The entire face protruded from the wall, its mouth wide open, revealing two rows of beast-like sharp teeth and a pitch-black ’throat’.]

[As you approached the statue, you suddenly felt a presence similar to that of a deity, but it was unlike any deity you had ever seen.]

"A deity?" Mu You was startled.

Is a deity hidden in this cave?

[You notice some vague inscriptions next to the beast-faced sculpture, but the first line has been scratched off by someone, leaving only the explanations from the second line down.]

[Do you want my treasure? Then reach inside, my legacy is hidden in the beast’s throat, steal it if you want it...]

[...but remember, you only have three chances, do not be greedy, each failure will disturb the sleeping beast face, one of its eyes will open, and permanently take away the vision of one of your eyes, and once all three chances are gone, the beast’s mouth will shut forever, taking your arm with it, and the beast face will also vanish forever!]

[Hehe, this is the grand gamble set for the Thief, may the willing take the bait...]

"..."

Mu You frowned as he looked on.

So, is this the legacy of some deity?

The first line must have been the explanation of the deity’s identity, unfortunately, it was scratched off by someone.

However, one who sets such a malicious test surely cannot be a deity of the Order System, most likely one from the Chaos System, and specifically a deity with a malevolent character.

[You ask the gang leader what the beast face is.]

["What it is doesn’t matter to you, just reach your hand in and steal the treasures hidden within... but remember, you only have two chances, and the security level of this beast face is of a deity-grade, no less challenging than your theft of Kun Peng, and once you fail in stealing, you will immediately lose an eye!" the One-eyed Brute solemnly said.]

"..."

Well, there goes the original three chances, now you tell me there’s only two, plus this thug just happens to be a ’One-eyed Brute’... Mu You quickly figured out what happened before.

Obviously, this place must be the burial site of some deity.

The thug leader stumbled upon this burial ground one day and, from the characters carved into the mountain wall, learned the identity of the deity, overjoyed, he immediately reached in to steal the treasures.

Unfortunately, he overestimated his abilities and wasted a chance on a failed theft, losing an eye in the process.

Knowing that his thieving skills were insufficient at the time, the gang leader dared not attempt a second time and could only lay low in the nearby Crow Tribe, waiting for an opportunity.

Until he met Mu You a few days ago, the man knew the opportunity had arrived!

That’s why he was so eager to teach him thievery, to increase his ability to steal as much as possible, before helping to retrieve the treasure here.

["Are you ready? Start when you’re prepared!" Seeing you hesitate to act, the gang leader could not help but urge you. You choose...]

[Reach out to steal: You are also curious about what treasures are hidden in the cave.]

[Take the chance to attack: You already know the other party’s intent, there’s no need to pretend anymore, better to take action directly.]

With two lengthy options, Mu You pondered for half a second, then decisively chose ’Reach out to steal’.

The reason he didn’t rush to turn on the thug was that the other party had one more thieving technique he hadn’t taught him. Mu You thought there was no more opportunity to learn it, but seeing the scene in front of him, he had an idea.

[Under the gang leader’s expectant and anxious gaze, you walked in front of the beast face, cautiously extended your right arm into the gaping mouth of the beast face until your entire arm was inside the mouth...]

[Stealing in progress...]

[Theft failed, the left eye of the beast face in front of you suddenly snapped open, glaring at you. You instantly felt a sharp pain in your left eye and within seconds, lost the vision in that eye...]

"Rewind..."

It was another moment to bet on probability. After long-term exposure to the rewinding experience of the Pocket Watch, Mu You had grown somewhat accustomed to it and silently began to rewind...

[Theft successful!]

Mu You was taken aback, uncertain whether the difficulty of this trap was not as high as he imagined, or if he had simply gotten lucky this time.

Anyway, this theft did not go as imagined, happening hundreds of thousands of times; it only took 20,000 attempts before the first success!

[You feel your palm entering a strange space; on the cold ground, a cold key-shaped object was casually thrown among a pile of rubble—nothing else was there.]

[You grasp the key and withdraw your arm from the beast’s mouth.]

[You have obtained the ’Thief God’s Skeleton Key’.]

[Skeleton Key: The divine artifact of the Thief God, a key that can theoretically pick any lock, the ultimate treasure that all thieves dream of.]

"Thief God?" Mu You raised an eyebrow.

So it turns out that the deity buried here was the Thief God; no wonder the bandit leader was so desperate for it, still obsessed with this place even after sacrificing an eye.

Mu You took a deep breath, finally confirming the owner of this grave.

However, he did not end his thievery with just the key but pressed the Pocket Watch again, sending the key back.

After retracing tens of thousands of times again, another success notification popped up, and this time Mu You was sure that the difficulty of this trap was indeed not as great as that of Kun Peng.

[Theft successful!]

[Carrying the item you touched, you carefully withdraw your arm from the mouth of the beast.]

[Seeing you complete the theft smoothly, and the beast’s face did not open its eyes, the One-eyed Brute was overjoyed and hurried over to you, eager to snatch what you had retrieved: "Success? What did you steal? Give it to me quick!"]

[You didn’t resist and handed over the item you felt to the other party.]

[The One-eyed Brute looked at the cold stone in his hand, excitedly examining it for several rounds, but his expression quickly solidified: this seems to be just an ordinary piece of broken stone...]

["What is going on? Where is my treasure?" The One-eyed Brute’s eyes bloodshot, he immediately grasped you, demanding an answer.]

["There is no treasure, only stones inside." You say.]

["Impossible! It can’t be... I’ve lost an eye for this and wasted hundreds of years here... How can there be no treasure..." The bandit shook his head repeatedly, hissing in a low voice.]

["Or maybe, the treasure is hidden deeper, just that I can’t reach it..." You suddenly say.]

["Can’t reach?" The One-eyed Brute’s eyes widen, he hastily looks at your arm and then at the seemingly bottomless throat of the beast on the stone wall.]

["That’s right, your thieving range is not enough... The clues hidden by such an individual are destined to be found only by the top-tier thieves like me, and the top-tier thieves, how can they not possess remote thievery skills... That’s it..." The One-eyed Brute mumbled to himself, suddenly raising his head to look at you.]

["You learn it now! I will teach you the ’Invisible Hand’ right now!" The One-eyed Brute said with an indisputable tone.]

Looking at this text, Mu You smiled, his ruse was indeed successful.

After such a drastic rise and fall, this guy obviously lost some of his rationality and was now eagerly chasing after Mu You to teach him thievery techniques, oblivious to the possibility of Mu You’s betrayal.

However, in order to carry out the act fully, Mu You still had to refuse at this point.

["Learn it now? Right here?" You appear hesitant.]

["Yes, right here! You must learn it as quickly as possible! Watch closely..." The One-eyed Brute urged, already extending his hand and starting to show you the intricacies of the ’Invisible Hand’...]}

[Watching the One-eyed Brute’s every move up close, you gain some insight...]

[Your ’Invisible Hand’ comprehension has increased by 0.01%...]

"Rewind..."

[...Your ’Invisible Hand’ comprehension has increased by 0.01%...]

...

The One-eyed Brute was impatient and actively demonstrated his technique; now things would be easier for Mu You.

Merely tens of thousands of rewinds, Mu You didn’t need to see it demonstrated a second time, comprehending it fully in one go.

[Your ’Invisible Hand’ comprehension has reached 100%.]

[You have learned the ’Invisible Hand’...]