Chapter 6: Violent Cracking! The Sorrow Of Burr Puzzle
It turned out that little loli was scrupulous. When she thought about it, the human said that he could make “one or two” small items; while Huarong Dao was just one item. The day before yesterday, she sent Kia to the lab to ask Chen Rui making another “interesting” gift.
Chen Rui was in the territory of others, so he had to submit for now. So, together with Aldas, they made another item. Today, Alice was here to look at her gift while bringing her best friend, Athena along.
“Wood again? What is it this time?” Alice looked curiously at the pieces of wood with various shapes and sizes.
“Little princess, let’s see.” Chen Rui placed the wooden blocks on the table and skillfully assembled them. Soon, the wooden blocks were combined into a beautiful, three-dimensional heart shape. What’s even more amazing was that it looked seamless as if it was made as a whole.
Alice took a gasp of surprise, and she carefully picked it up. It was just a pile of wooden blocks; however, it could actually become such a compact and sturdy thing after they assembled. If she didn’t see it for herself, she would’ve thought Chen Rui stuck them together. Athena came forward and looked at the thing in amazement; Kia’s charming eyes were also full of curiosity.
“This is called a burr puzzle. It is made of dark glow wood. Its hardness is comparable to that of metal; very sturdy.” Chen Rui flashed a glimpse in his eyes. This burr puzzle was also called a love lock. The structure was actually very complicated but he could remember it by heart because it was the first gift he received on Valentine’s Day. However, just like the many other love stories in college, despite the hard work, his ending with that girl still ended naturally.
When Aldas saw the assembled burr puzzle for the first time, he was extremely amazed. He immediately felt lamented that he was specialized in pharmaceutics. If he was a mechanics master, this seamless splicing technique would definitely evoke greater inspiration.
Alice especially liked this kind of exquisite toys. She was playing with it obsessively and asked, “Can this burr puzzle be disassembled again?”
“Of course, its fun is at disassembling. I believe that with the intelligence of the little princess, there must be no problem.” In fact, there was something that Chen Rui did not mention. This burr puzzle was considered a complex one. It would be difficult to solve without any tips.
Let this blackhearted little loli slowly plays with it over and over again, so that I can settle down and concentrate on the booting process.
Alice examined it carefully; she was afraid of breaking it, but the combination of the burr puzzle was too tight. She couldn’t find the key part to disassemble it after a long time. Athena at the side was eager to try and said, “Little princess, let me try.”
Alice pretended not to hear, still trying. After Athena shouted a few times and not get any response, she changed her strategy, “The Jade Dragonfruit around the blue lake seems to have matured, I wanted to take you there…”
As the sentence was just finished, a fair and delicate hand holding the burr puzzle was already in front of her.
Chen Rui only felt that in a spilled second, the fair, small hands were empty, and the burr puzzle was already in Athena’s hand. While Athena turned the toy, she said after getting away: “Although I really want to take you there, Princess Shea knew that you followed me to the dark rainforest the last time; so Princess Shea commanded me not to take you out of the city. So, hehe…”
The fair, little hands suddenly clenched and released after a while. Alice’s face showed an innocent smile and two cute dimples appeared, just like the angelic smile she had when Chen Rui first met her.
Chen Rui knew that someone was going to be unlucky. Fortunately, the target this time was Athena.
“Athena. Wales, the major general of the empire, George. Wales’ daughter; the strongest swordswoman in the New Moon City. Are you capable of solving this burr puzzle?” Little loli stopped smiling and showed a serious look. She seemed to have certain might as a princess.
Upon hearing her father’s name, she was fired up and answered: “Of course!”
“Then bet with the honor of the Wales Family that you will disassemble the burr puzzle within an hour!” Little loli’s subsequent words exposed her true purpose, “If you can’t do it, then you must bring your best friend, Alice. Lucifer to the blue lake. Regardless of the difficulty of the journey, you will guard her. Can you do it?”
Athena was stunned and immediately shook her head, “That can’t be done, her Royal Highness Shea said…”
“Don’t the Wales Family’s people keep their words?” Alice showed disappointment and shook her head. “Forget it, isn’t it just a tiny burr puzzle?”
Concerning her family’s honor, Athena’s heroic spirits rose. She thought about how the human assembling it quickly and it didn’t seem that hard, then she replied loudly: “Okay! Athena. Wales accepts this challenge! This little wooden toy won’t take a single hour!”
Alice grinned; her cunning eyes were just like a little fox. Even Kia couldn’t help but sigh. This was similar to the last bet to the dark forest. The poor Athena was repeating her mistake.
The time in the hourglass passed minute by minute. Chen Rui sat before the table and read Aldas’s “Basics of Herbs”; Alice played the demon version of Huarong Dao. Aldas’ newly made chess still unable to escape from her clutches; Kia watched from the side, giving tiny ideas from time to time; and the poor Master Aldas could only draw circles at the corner.
The burr puzzle was still intact while Athena was bathed in sweat as if this “little wooden toy” was heavier than the greatsword on her back.
Noticing the signs that she was at the edge of berserk, Alice suddenly screamed, “Time is almost out!”
That sentence completely ignited the fuse to the swordswoman’s furious. Athena’s eyes instantly turned into flames; her skin began to turn red; two curved horns were slowly appearing on her head; emitting a strong aura from her body; clenching her teeth and said, “How can the honor of the Well’s family be humiliated for such a broken thing…”
“Kachak” The tight burr puzzle began to crack, and subsequently, the metal-hard dark glow wood was shattered by the strong pull.
Everyone stunned and looked at the burr puzzle being turned into a pile of broken wood. Aldas trembled and pointed at Athena. He was so angry that he couldn’t speak for a moment. He had already included her in the blacklist of the lab in his heart – that is disrespecting a great master’s priceless wisdom!
Chen Rui could only feel chills down his spine: Mars is indeed dangerous, I should hurry back to Earth.
After Athena cracked the burr puzzle forcibly, she regained consciousness and returned to her original state, only to know what she had done under the impulse. Alice’s eyes were flashing with tears and her voice was sobbing, “Athena, that was my favorite gift…”
“Alice, sorry, I…” Athena explained anxiously, but no matter how hard she tried, the shattered burr puzzle couldn’t be restored.
Alice didn’t cry out loud, but she bowed her head in grievance. Her thin body was trembling, seemingly trying to endure. Athena knew she was careless, guiltily said: “Don’t be sad, little princess. Let’s go to the blue lake.”
Alice looked up with her eyes red and she shook her head. “No, you were blamed by my sister because of the dark rainforest incident last time. I don’t want to involve you again.”
You are definitely making her as a scapegoat yet you still play hard to get! In Chen Rui’s eyes, he had re-evaluated the little loli’s black-heartedness.
“Rest assured, little princess. You are Athena’s best friend, punishment is nothing to me!” Athena patted her chest, she said with devotion while ignoring her shaking breasts, “Not to mention the blue lake, even if it’s the caves in Mountain Xirang, I’ll protect you!”
“That’s what you said. Other than the blue lake, you must bring me along the next time you visit the Mountain Xilang!” Alice finally turned her tears into laughter. Athena could faintly tell that there was something wrong but she couldn’t figure it out. She kneeled down and picked up the shattered dark glow wood carefully.
Alice was eager to go to the blue lake and urged, “What are you doing? Athena, let’s go to blue lake now.”
“Wait a minute. Let me see if I can find someone and try to restore these pieces.”
“That’s easy,” Alice said indifferently. “The burr puzzle was made by Chen Rui. Just let him make a few more.”
Athena’s fingers suddenly stiffened in the air and the broken pieces scattered around. Alice saw her finally reacted and quickly added another sentence, “Dear Sister Athena, Wales Family keeps their words.”
Athena stood up dispiritedly. Chen Rui just gave the swordswoman the comment of big breasts yet brainless, then he heard Alice talking to him, “Chen Rui, your Highness graciously permit you to come along.”
Chen Rui shook his head quickly. Going out and play with beauties should be a pleasant experience. I am looking for it. However, these three are blackhearted beauties; one sucked essence; another violent. I’m afraid that I could hardly come back alive in one piece.
“Are you going to disappoint the princess’s kindness?” Alice snorted with dissatisfaction.
“Chen Rui, you haven’t been out to Demon Realm yet. Since the little princess has such kindness, you should go along,” Aldas said suddenly. “Remember to return and continue reading the “Basics of Herbs”. Tomorrow I’ll teach you the most basic method of distinguishing herbs.”
Aldas’s words made Alice and the other two girls looked surprised. That meant Chen Rui had become his apprentice; no longer an experimental subject!
Aldas was a well-known potion master across the entire Demon Realm. Even the New Moon’s ruler, Princess Shia treated him with courteous. Now he actually took a human captive as an apprentice! What’s more, the only formal apprentice!
Although an apprentice of the potion master wasn’t a big deal for Alice and Athena, for Chen Rui, it was a life-saving talisman. This allowed him to have a normal identity to live in the Demon Realm, otherwise, he might be killed immediately when he walked out of the lab with his initial human identity.
Nice. This brother is indeed loyal. My effort is worth it in the end. Chen Rui looked at Aldas with appreciation and forced himself to agree.
This time, Alice didn’t go around in circles with Chen Rui like the last time but went straight all the way.
Chen Rui only then realized that the “manor” was actually the outer courtyard of the New Moon City’s Palace and the inner courtyard was the residence of the two princesses. It was heavily guarded. Luckily, he met Alice the last time. If he was found by a guard in the inner courtyard, he might have died.
For the myth of the Demon Realm roaming with man-eating demons, Chen Rui was also somewhat curious about how did the actual Demon Realm look like?