The eight men were driven forward by Li Dao Xuan's giant hand, running for their lives like rabbits chased by a pack of wolves. They ran and ran, breath burning in their chests, legs screaming in protest, until suddenly something appeared ahead of them.
A massive wooden structure loomed into view.
To Li Dao Xuan, it was nothing more than a toy box. To them, it was a towering wooden fortress.
The "Hamtaro Adventure" box, in their eyes, was undoubtedly a giant wooden castle.
All eight were startled by the sight. A structure this bizarre, planted in the middle of nowhere, with no walls around it, no guards, no banners, no logic. It felt wrong the moment they saw it.
But the giant hand behind them did not give them time to think. It kept pressing forward, relentless, silent, like a mountain slowly collapsing.
They could only keep running.
Ahead of them stood a huge gate.
What was meant to be a small entrance for a hamster now looked like an enormous city gate, tall and wide, large enough to swallow them whole.
A strange wooden castle, a strange open gate, and no explanation whatsoever. No normal person would dare to enter such a place.
But when they turned their heads and saw the golden hand pressing closer, hesitation became a luxury they could not afford. Even a single second of doubt would be disrespectful to their own lives.
They rushed straight through the gate.
Boom.
The giant hand slammed down behind them, striking the gate.
The eight men turned around and their faces lit up with relief.
"Great! This gate is huge for us, but too small for Dao Xuan Tianzun. His hand cannot fit inside."
That relief lasted less than two seconds.
One of them slowly raised his head and his voice trembled.
"There is no roof."
Silence fell.
Then panic exploded.
"If there is no roof, then that giant hand can still attack us from above."
"This is bad. Run forward. Quickly."
Old Nanfeng did not wait for another word. He took the lead and charged ahead.
They had barely entered a narrow passage when he suddenly saw something that made his scalp go numb.
Ahead, suspended in midair, was a gigantic axe.
The blade was enormous, far larger than anything a human should ever see up close. It swung from side to side in a steady rhythm, slicing through the air with a low, terrifying hum.
"I am dead. Watch out, there is a mechanism!" Old Nanfeng shouted. "Everyone, be careful."
The seven men behind him came to a sharp stop.
The path ahead was completely blocked by the swinging axe.
"What do we do?"
"Do we stay here?"
"We cannot stay. Dao Xuan Tianzun could strike at any moment."
"Then we have to rush through."
They stared at the movement carefully.
"Watch the timing."
"There is a gap. Two breaths."
"It is possible."
Old Nanfeng took a deep breath.
The axe swung from left to right.
At that exact moment, he stepped forward and dashed through like a streak of lightning. The axe swung back from right to left, slicing the air just behind him, missing by a hair's breadth.
He made it.
The others were instantly encouraged.
"Brother Nanfeng, wait for us."
One by one, they calculated the timing and rushed through. Each of them passed the blade with only a sliver of safety to spare.
All eight crossed successfully.
They did not even have time to celebrate. They kept running.
After turning a corner, a long downward slope appeared before them.
"What kind of mechanism is this?"
They barely finished the question when a loud rumble echoed from behind.
They turned their heads.
A massive black iron ball was rolling down the slope toward them.
"Run!"
The eight men bolted downhill in utter panic. The iron ball thundered after them, relentless and unstoppable. They squeezed out every last bit of strength in their bodies, running faster than they ever had in their lives.
At the bottom of the slope, they veered sharply into a side doorway.
Boom.
The iron ball slammed into the wall behind them.
They had survived.
All eight collapsed briefly, gasping for air.
One of the men spoke in a trembling voice.
"Brother Nanfeng, where did we end up? What kind of place is this?"
Old Nanfeng wiped the sweat from his face.
"I do not know. But it is terrifying. Watch every step. We must not trigger another mechanism."
The words had barely left his mouth when disaster struck again.
One of the men stepped onto a panel.
The ground flipped.
He vanished instantly.
Below him was a pit. Inside the pit stood a giant plastic cockroach, its body gleaming unnaturally, its eyes glowing red as it buzzed forward with a mechanical hum.
The remaining seven rushed to the edge and looked down. Their faces turned pale.
"What is that?"
"A cockroach?"
"That size? It has to be a cockroach demon."
"It is over. Seventh Brother is done for."
"Can we save him?"
"We cannot. It is too deep. We do not even have a rope."
The man below shouted desperately.
"Do not worry about me. Run. I am finished. If you escape, take care of my son."
Before he could finish, the giant cockroach reached him.
His scream echoed once, then his body went limp as he fainted.
Old Nanfeng clenched his teeth.
"Seventh Brother is gone. Move."
The seven of them continued forward, grief tightening their chests.
Soon they reached a fork in the path.
No one knew which way was correct. They had no choice but to split up and test the routes.
One man stepped into the left path.
The ground flipped instantly.
He fell into a net below. A giant plastic spider crawled toward him, its legs clicking against the ground.
The man screamed.
"A spider demon. Run. All of you, run. Take care of my child."
The remaining six were already shaking.
They rushed to the right path instead and finally found a correct route.
But fate was not done with them.
One of them suddenly lost his footing and fell into a pool. He surfaced, relieved that he could swim, only to see a massive plastic shark rising slowly from the water.
His scream tore through the air.
Old Nanfeng could not hold it anymore. Tears streamed down his face.
"Heavens, what kind of cursed place is this? In the blink of an eye, I have lost three brothers."
The remaining four grabbed him and dragged him forward.
"Brother Nanfeng, we cannot stop. We have to keep escaping. If we do not, Dao Xuan Tianzun will send even worse monsters after us."
They had just finished speaking when the ground ahead split open.
The two men in front fell straight into darkness.
Their screams echoed as they disappeared into a bottomless void.
Old Nanfeng's mind snapped back to clarity. This was not the time to despair. He grabbed the last two remaining brothers and leaped over the gap in a single bound.
They kept running.
Only three of them remained.
At last, they saw the exit.
Beyond it lay mountains, trees, and open air.
Freedom.
They staggered out of the wooden fortress, lungs heaving, bodies trembling. The moment they stepped outside, it felt as though the world itself had softened.
Old Nanfeng dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
"If I had known I would lose five brothers, I would never have escaped. Digging dirt at the worksite would have been better than getting everyone killed."
The moment he finished speaking, the golden hand appeared again.
This time, it did not strike them. It did not chase them.
It simply opened its palm in front of them.
Lying there were their five brothers.
Alive.
Unconscious, but alive.
Li Dao Xuan had casually picked up the five who failed the challenge.
He chuckled to himself. The terrifying Hamtaro Adventure was never meant to be cleared by every hamster. One success always stood atop a mountain of failures.
Truly tragic. Truly heroic.
The three survivors looked at the golden hand and immediately understood.
They had never escaped at all.
Old Nanfeng slammed his forehead to the ground.
"Thank you, Dao Xuan Tianzun, for sparing our lives. I will take all my brothers back and submit to labor reform. We will never attempt to escape again."
Ming Context:
Mechanical traps (機關 jīguān) were already used in Ming-era architecture and military training grounds, often as defensive illusions or automaton-based deterrents. Here, Li Daoxuan's divine simulation twists that tradition into a surreal "trial ground."
Trivia:
This whole "Hamster Adventure" setup cheekily mirrors video-game dungeon tropes—from Indiana Jones rolling boulders to Mario-style trap runs. Li Daoxuan basically invented a divine amusement park centuries before Disneyland.