[I'm just a weak, pitiful, innocent little hint, okay!]
[How would I know that much stuff?]
"Go die already!"
Ethan rolled his eyes hard.
'This brain-dead hint!'
[If I really died, you'd definitely be sad. After all, I'm still a hint, you know.]
[PS: A hint can only hint. Otherwise it wouldn't be called a hint, it'd be called an answer display.]
"Get lost!"
Ethan seriously suspected that this hint had already developed intelligence.
But just then, the gigantic stone man looked down at Ethan from above and said, "So? Have you figured out your answer yet?"
"As long as you give me an answer, no matter what kind of answer it is, I'll open the door and let you in."
"Do I look like a human to you?"
The stone man was getting a bit impatient.
Ethan's eyelids twitched, 'This question is literally unsolvable, okay?'
"Such a simple question, and you still can't answer it?"
The stone man's tone grew more and more urgent, "Since you can't answer it, I'll give you two options. A, I look like a human. B, I don't look like a human."
"That's already extremely simple, right?"
"Hurry up and choose!"
"..."
Before he could think of a solution, Ethan could only continue staying silent.
As time passed, the sky gradually grew gloomy, looking like the sun was about to set.
But Ethan didn't dare run.
After all, a monster with the power of a Grand Archmage wasn't something he thought he could escape from.
"This is just an ordinary question-and-answer problem. Don't overthink it. Just follow your first instinct and casually pick one."
The stone man coaxed him step by step.
But inside, Ethan silently spat, 'You old bastard, you're rotten to the core. You just want to trick me.'
'Back off~'
'Back, back~'
Ethan didn't say anything, only quietly retreated backward.
But at that moment, the stone man directly pointed its giant stone sword behind Ethan, then casually fired off a white ball of light.
BOOM!
Ethan heard a huge explosion behind him, followed by violent shaking of the ground.
When he turned his head back, he realized that a massive crater had been blasted out behind him by the stone sword.
Black smoke drifted up from the pit from time to time, and Ethan could even smell a strong burnt odor coming from it.
"This…"
The stone man didn't even need to charge up or chant to cast magic.
Just lightly lifting its giant stone sword was enough. It was absurdly easy, and the range…
Ethan glanced at the distance between himself and the stone man. It was well over twenty meters.
At this distance, the stone man could still easily blast a huge pit behind him.
'Looks like…'
'Running is impossible.'
"Weren't you just saying you wanted to go in?", the stone man laughed, "Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"
"My mom… is calling me home for dinner."
Ethan casually made up an excuse.
The stone man twitched the corner of its mouth, then looked at Ethan with the kind of expression you'd use on an idiot, clearly asking, 'Do you think I'm stupid?'
But it didn't call him out, instead continuing, "Your mother calling you home for dinner is, of course, very important. So hurry up and make your choice!"
"Uh…"
Ethan fell silent yet again.
'Choose my ass. Do I even have a choice?'
'Either I choose to take your place standing guard, or I choose to become your punching bag.'
'Damn it!'
"If you really can't choose, I can help you make the choice."
The stone man grinned again with its stone mouth, looking like it was about to be liberated at any moment.
Hearing this, Ethan's heart jolted violently.
'Holy crap, crap, crap!'
'It can even choose for someone else?'
'That's a thing too?'
"Wait!"
Ethan had a flash of inspiration and said, "Stone Man big brother, it's not that I can't answer your question. But for fairness' sake, I think you should answer one of my questions too."
"What question?", The stone man's eyes were full of pride and smugness, "Ask whatever you want!"
"How many hairs are on my head?"
Ethan asked the ultimate question.
Hearing this, the stone man looked completely dumbfounded, "What kind of question is that? Aren't you just cheating?"
"Then what kind of question is yours? Aren't you cheating too?"
Ethan snapped back.
The stone man clenched its stone teeth so hard they went 'creak creak.'
But it was obvious that it couldn't do anything to Ethan, and could only grit its teeth and say, "Fine! Let me think!"
"Huff!"
Only then did Ethan finally let out a sigh of relief.
Looks like this stone man still had certain restrictions and couldn't just force others to agree and become its substitute whenever it wanted.
He'd originally thought he could explore the Land of Treasure today, but... Ethan looked up at the sky.
The entire sky had already completely dimmed, and it looked like night was about to fall any moment now.
He hurriedly took out his magic book and checked. There were less than half an hour left before sunset. He had to head back immediately. As for this damn Land of Treasure, he could only come back to explore it tomorrow.
"Stone Man big brother!", Ethan called out to it.
At this moment, the dumb-cute stone man had set its giant stone sword aside and was counting on its fingers. "One five one ten…"
"What is it!"
Hearing Ethan call it, the stone man immediately lowered its head in displeasure, "I haven't finished calculating yet. You need to wait!"
"It's like this. My mom's calling me back to eat, so I really have to go," Ethan said, "Stone Man big brother, don't rush. Take your time calculating, okay! I'll come again tomorrow anyway!"
"You're sure you'll come tomorrow?"
When the stone man asked this, its eyes sparkled with light.
Ethan nodded and said, "Of course I will!"
But…
At the very instant Ethan said those words.
A blue magic circle immediately appeared above both the stone man and Ethan.
[Magic Contract: When both parties mutually agree on something, the contract will automatically be established. Anyone who breaks it will suffer severe punishment.]
"This damn thing!"
Ethan cursed quietly.
It actually fished him into law enforcement like this.
Luckily, Ethan had already thought of a way to deal with it tomorrow, otherwise he really would have fallen for its trick.
"Alright then, go back."
The stone man grinned, waved its hand, and let Ethan leave.
It used to be a true astrologer. As long as it calculated based on the movement paths of the stars and the subtle changes in the constellations, it could work out exactly how many hairs this human had on his head.
'Heh! Heh!'
Once tomorrow came, it could finally turn back into a human.
And this pitiful little human would have to stand guard for it, becoming the new it.
After standing guard for over a hundred years, it had long since had enough.
'Soon, I can finally go back!'
'Hahahaha!'
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