Chapter 137: The Secret Chamber

Maintaining shadow form consumes a massive amount of physical stamina. After phasing through the wall, Qin Fei and Xie Nainai immediately reverted to their human forms.

On the other side of the wall, there were no white spiders in sight... but Qin Fei spotted a strange chest on the ground.

The surface of this chest was painted with peculiar yellow patterns, and a pair of bull horns protruded from its sides.

As a seasoned player of Don't Starve, Qin Fei recognized it at a glance. A chest adorned with bull horns like this was precisely the "ornate chest" that would randomly appear within mazes.

Ornate chests concealed all kinds of magical items.

However, opening the chest carried the risk of triggering traps hidden inside. Furthermore, there was a certain probability that shadow monsters would spawn from within the chest.

To prevent being ambushed by monsters suddenly emerging from the chest and to avoid any traps, Qin Fei stood at a considerable distance.

Then, wielding the golden harpoon, he used its pointed tip to slowly pry open the lid of the chest.

Inside the chest lay merely two gemstone-inlaid staves, with no monsters appearing whatsoever.

Yet Qin Fei did not let down his guard. Remaining a safe distance away from the chest, he continued to carefully hook the two staves out of the chest using the harpoon in his hand.

*Bang!*

As soon as the two staves were removed, the chest suddenly exploded right where it stood, unleashing several streams of fire and ice crystals in all directions.

Qin Fei had been prepared for this all along.

His entire body instantly transformed into a wisp of shadow, floating in mid-air, narrowly dodging the simultaneous attacks of ice and fire.

The ice crystals seemed to possess a freezing effect; upon colliding with the maze walls, they actually formed a thin layer of frost across the surface.

Qin Fei felt a silent surge of relief.

It was fortunate that he had acted with sufficient caution, maintaining a safe distance throughout the process of opening the chest and retrieving the treasures. Because of this, the moment the chest exploded, he had enough time to react.

Once the flames burned out, Qin Fei picked up the two gemstone-inlaid staves from the ground.

The gemstones on these two staves were red and blue respectively; judging by their appearance, they should be the Ice Staff and Fire Staff capable of casting fire and freezing spells in Don't Starve.

[Ice Staff (20/20): A long-range magical weapon capable of firing ice crystals to freeze targets. Consumes Sanity when used.]

[Fire Staff (20/20): A long-range magical weapon capable of firing fireballs to ignite targets. Consumes Sanity when used.]

Most magical items in the game came with limited uses, and employing them would also drain a certain amount of Sanity.

Qin Fei estimated that the 20/20 notation on these two staves represented their remaining number of uses.

The freezing effect of the Ice Staff could play a certain role in crowd control during combat.

Considering this, Qin Fei assigned the Ice Staff to Xie Nainai.

Qin Fei's combat capability surpassed Xie Nainai's, so this arrangement would allow Xie Nainai to release ice crystals to assist him in battle while he fought.

As for himself, he kept the Fire Staff to compensate for his lack of long-range offensive capabilities.

Although this maze featured numerous branching paths and was extremely complex, its total area was not very large.

Utilizing the wall-phasing ability of shadow form, Qin Fei and Xie Nainai quickly traversed the maze, arriving at its very end.

The end of the maze opened into a sealed chamber.

The total area of this chamber was roughly one hundred square meters.

Qin Fei and Xie Nainai stopped once they reached the vicinity of the chamber's entrance.

Right in the center of this chamber stood a massive, grey-white rhinoceros covered in fur.

Judging by its appearance, this should be the Ancient Fuelweaver's guardian—the Ancient Rhino that specifically guarded the ornate grand chest in Don't Starve... At this moment, it appeared to be fast asleep on the ground.

Taking advantage of the beast's deep slumber, Qin Fei sneaked quietly into the chamber and crouched in a corner.

He was searching for the ornate grand chest placed beside the Ancient Rhino.

Sure enough, after adjusting his perspective, Qin Fei spotted an ornate chest adorned with four bull horns positioned directly behind the rhino.

The volume of this chest was more than double the size of the one Qin Fei had opened earlier.

This was undoubtedly the "ornate grand chest."

The value and potency of the items and artifacts stored within an ornate grand chest far exceeded those of a standard ornate chest.

However, this chest was located very close to the rhino. To open it, one would inevitably have to slay the rhino... or lure it away.

Qin Fei retrieved the Fire Staff from his backpack.

He gestured for Xie Nainai to retreat as far back as possible... and then, waving the Fire Staff, he hurled a fireball at the rhino across the chamber.

The fireball instantly ignited the fur covering the rhino's entire body.

Without another word, Qin Fei immediately turned tail and fled toward the exit of the chamber.

The pain inflicted by the burning flames instantly snapped the sleeping Ancient Rhino out of its slumber.

Naturally, an attack of this magnitude was only sufficient to wake the rhino up. With the Ancient Rhino's thick hide and high defense, the fireball cast by Qin Fei had not dealt it any significant damage.

Yet this Ancient Rhino seemed to be suffering from morning crankiness.

Qin Fei's actions instantly provoked it. After letting out a roar on the spot, the creature angrily charged toward Qin Fei.

The Ancient Rhino possessed incredible running speed; before Qin Fei could escape very far, the rhino had already closed the distance and caught up with him...

Upon overtaking Qin Fei, the rhino drove the massive horns atop its head savagely toward Qin Fei's backside.

In an instant, Qin Fei's entire figure blurred... gradually transforming into a wisp of shadow drifting in mid-air.

At the crucial moment, Qin Fei had activated his shadow form to evade the rhino's attack.

The rhino's strike struck empty air. Suddenly losing its target, it began to stand stupidly in place, dazed...

The Ancient Rhino seemed exceptionally fond of sleeping.

Having lost its target, it began pacing in circles on the spot, seemingly searching for Qin Fei.

After scanning its surroundings for a moment and confirming that Qin Fei had truly vanished... it stood frozen in place, utterly dazed.

Having successfully lured the rhino out of the chamber, Qin Fei and Xie Nainai sneaked back in.

To lure the Ancient Rhino away, Qin Fei had sprinted at full speed for a distance before immediately activating shadow form and maintaining it for over a dozen seconds.

Such high-intensity exertion over a short period, combined with prolonged maintenance of the shadow form ability, had left Qin Fei's physical stamina nearly exhausted.

The moment he re-entered the chamber, Qin Fei reverted to human form and collapsed directly onto the ground.

As for Xie Nainai, upon entering the chamber, she immediately seized the time to search every corner of the room.

"Hey~! There's a map on this wall!"

Xie Nainai discovered a massive map painted on the wall of the chamber.

It appeared that the routes depicted on this map recorded the entire underground world.