That Dropped Chinese Novel’s Useless Me Says No to the System

Chapter 150 Can’t Walk Away

I was still hesitating over whether to tell them I’d seen a child-sized version of Lian when the boy beat me to it.

“I think there’s something off about this place,” he said, frowning as he surveyed the area. “We’d better figure out a way to get out of here.”

“Oh? Something off?” Lian’s tone was almost casual, but his gaze was razor-sharp.

So the boy recounted how we had tried to descend the back mountain, only to circle around and return to the exact same spot—a classic ghost-wall labyrinth. He tactfully left out the part where I nearly cried and squatted down to draw circles in the dirt.

But I have a bad habit: I just cannot stop myself from chiming in.

So I promptly added, “And! We also ran into imperial soldiers! They were chasing two kids! The younger one… his name is Hao Lian! I didn’t get to ask if he’s your ‘Hao Lian,’ Lian, but they said he’s the blood-lotus cult leader who’s about to ascend the throne!”

The moment the words left my mouth, the air froze.

The campfire crackled. The wind carried the smell of roasted sweet potatoes—tinged with a strange, suffocating awkwardness.

Hua was the first to break the silence. He snapped open his folding fan, smiling with sly amusement. “Little Gonggong, you didn’t have another one of your ridiculous dreams, did you? Even in dreams you meet a cult leader with the same name?”

“Yeah,” Mu Cangli scratched his head. “Since when does the Blood Lotus Cult have two leaders? Maybe he’s the leader’s little brother? Hao Lian’er?”

I stared at them. “You didn’t see them? He and I”—I pointed at the boy—“both saw them! It wasn’t a dream—this really happened! If I hadn’t stepped in, those soldiers would’ve hauled the kids away! Oh, right—how did you all even get here?”

They exchanged glances. Hua closed his fan with a crisp snap and let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Ah. That was a journey full of trials and grandeur.”

I sat cross-legged at once, expression saying clearly: Go on. Entertain me.

—

Turns out that before Lian and I even arrived, Hua and Mu had already been lurking near that cliff cave. They thought they were being clever, hiding behind the rocks to observe, planning to wait for us to catch up. But they waited until sundown and still no sign of us.

So they simply stayed put, ready to improvise. Around midnight, Mu couldn’t hold it anymore and went behind the mountain to relieve himself, only to return and find Hua gone. After searching everywhere, he finally found him beside a hot spring—bathing.

“Even during covert missions, one must maintain proper grooming,” Hua declared righteously.

While soaking, he suddenly noticed a tiny opening at the bottom of the spring, bubbling slightly. When he leaned closer, he could feel a faint current coming from it. He dragged Mu over, and after a bit of discussion, they concluded it was most likely a passageway.

Of course, they weren’t as reckless as the boy and I. Before diving in, they tied ropes around themselves and anchored the other ends to a boulder on shore. But halfway through, the water grew deeper and the current stronger. Nearly swept away, they retreated.

And just then, they ran into the boy.

Hua thought he looked pitiful and a bit slow-witted, so he gave him some buns and tried to coax information out of him. The boy said the spring hadn’t originally been there—it had suddenly burst forth a few days ago. Several of Eunuch Wang’s attendants had fallen in and their bodies never recovered. But later, when someone tested it again, nothing happened. So Eunuch Wang simply claimed the place as his private bath.

At that, Hua’s eyes lit up. “A spring mouth and an array entrance—classic setup!”

They discussed it and decided to try again—only this time with no retreat. They told the boy to wait outside. If they never returned, then it meant the place indeed connected to another world. And if, in the next few days, a “young master-looking fellow” and a “prettier-than-him man” showed up, the boy was to send them through as well.

Mu puffed up proudly at this point. “We call that anticipatory deployment.”

I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out. “So you weren’t even sure it was an array entrance, and still let me and Lian jump in? What if it led somewhere completely different?”

“You’ve always had good luck,” Hua replied mildly, flicking his fan.

Mu scratched his head. “We had no choice then… but hey, you both made it in one piece, didn’t you?”

I turned to glare at the boy. “And you? You told me all that nonsense with such confidence—where did THAT come from?”

The boy flushed and mumbled, “I… believed them. They looked like they were telling the truth.”

I: “…”

I wanted to smash a sweet potato on his face.

As for Lian’s experience, that one took the cake.

He’d been trying to investigate the supposed array under the pretext of digging a tunnel. But just as he uncovered a clue, the ground started shaking. With a thunderous boom, he thought he’d hit underground lightning. When he opened his eyes again, he was already inside the Blood Lotus Cult’s main altar.

“Everyone around me was gone. But I ran into these two,” Lian said flatly, as if describing a routine afternoon stroll.

“Except,” Mu added, “just like he said, there’s no way out. We’ve circled the whole place; it’s mountains on all sides. And that wooden hut you saw burning? We’ve seen it burn three times—every time it burns down, it reappears, like it’s stuck on replay.”

“Only thing is,” Hua added thoughtfully, “we never saw any children.”

I frowned. “That’s strange… Maybe the array has separate layers of illusions? And we got split up?”

Everyone fell into thought.

After a while, I slapped my thigh. “Well, I’ve handled illusions before! There are only three ways to break them—spot the anomaly, exploit the flaw, or find the culprit! Why don’t we check each area again?”

Hua gave me a lazy smile. “Last time you were looking for discrepancies in that box, you nearly sprained your ankle. You sure you want to try again?”

I snorted. “Knowledge must be gained through practice.”

They exchanged glances—and nodded. Waiting around wasn’t going to help.

Then Lian suddenly turned to me, his voice dropping. “Describe those children again. You’re certain they came out of that burning hut?”

I nodded. “Yes. The fire was raging, they ran out one after the other, with imperial soldiers behind them. The older wore a mask. The younger… now that I think about it, he actually looked a bit like you.”

Lian stood at once. With a turn of his long sleeves, dust swirled at his feet, and his tone deepened. “Then we should go look again.”

He paused, then added, “This place resembles the Blood Lotus Cult, but the climate differs. The hut may have… reset.”

I quickly agreed, stuffing the last bite of sweet potato into my mouth.

I had to confirm that kid’s identity. Who was he?

Under the lead of the Blood Lotus Cult leader—Lian—and its Left Guardian—Hua—we took a shortcut back to the meadow. This time, we stayed cautious, hiding behind a massive rock and peeking out with five awkward, bobbing heads.

The scene looked unnervingly peaceful. The mountain breeze rustled the grass. The old locust tree stood there, unchanged.

Exactly as before.

The wooden hut sat there quietly.

No fire. No soldiers. No panic.

Even the air had a serene, almost idyllic stillness.

I squinted for a long moment and muttered, “Don’t tell me… I really did imagine it?”

Hua flicked his fan. “Wouldn’t be surprising. You don’t even recognize my beauty.”

Mu pressed a hand to his forehead. “Can we focus? Illusions don’t work on brute force—you need patience—”

But before he could finish, the mountain trembled ever so slightly. Pebbles quivered. The wind grew sharp.

And then—

A thin ribbon of smoke rose from the hut’s eaves.

My eyes widened. One heartbeat later, the smoke thickened—then with a whoosh, the entire hut burst into flames.