Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1508: Chapter 235: Reliable Classmate Claudia

They were just ordinary travellers, deeply fascinated by ancient civilizations, so they quit their jobs and came to this desert—only to end up unexpectedly falling into the hands of this gang of thugs.

Claudia didn’t believe a single word of what the weathered man named Otto was saying… but she clearly had no intention of telling the truth herself either.

Inside the cell, it felt like there was a sharp dividing line running through the air; Claudia and Aria were now staring each other down, big eyes against small. As for Boss Luo, he was discussing the murals on the walls with Otto.

Claudia had no idea when Luo Qiu and this man who called himself Otto had gotten so familiar with each other… it didn’t seem like there’d even been a proper, halfway sincere self‑introduction between them, had there?

Apparently Aria was puzzled by the same thing… so once again she and Claudia were locked in a wide‑eyed stare.

In the cell, only Boss Luo and Otto’s voices could be heard talking.

“This looks like it records some kind of Priestess ceremony.” Luo Qiu pointed at one of the murals. “But the exact era is still unknown for now… Mr. Otto, do you know?”

“It should be from the period between The Seventh Dynasty and The Eighth Dynasty.” Otto sat cross‑legged on the floor, eating the surprisingly plentiful food as he spoke casually, “Most likely it’s the royal family of The Seventh Dynasty… according to records, The Seventh Dynasty existed for a very short time—only seventy days. That dynasty seemed to appear out of thin air, and then vanished overnight.”

Claudia hadn’t studied the history of ancient civilizations much, but the idea of a regime that called itself a dynasty and only lasted seventy days struck her as ridiculous. “Vanished overnight? Are you sure it wasn’t just destroyed in an attack?”

Otto glanced lazily at Claudia. “It really did disappear overnight… and it wasn’t just the dynasty itself that vanished, even its Royal Palace was gone—the Legend says the Royal Palace was dazzlingly gilded, yet it vanished in a single night, leaving behind nothing but sand.”

Claudia shook her head. “Resources in ancient times weren’t necessarily richer than now. That so‑called glittering Royal Palace, if you put it in modern terms, might have been about as tall as a three‑storey building at best… the desert’s weather is full of irregularities; this ‘overnight disappearance’ might simply mean it was Devoured by a Storm.”

Otto didn’t deny it, but he didn’t confirm it either; he just said calmly, “There’s a Legend that The Seventh Dynasty appeared because the King obtained a treasure that could grant any wish, which is why a massive castle emerged out of the desert… but because the King broke his original promise, everything he had was ultimately taken back by some mysterious Power. My guess is that these Priestess murals carved here are very likely depicting rituals The Seventh Dynasty’s King held to atone for his sins.”

“Atonement?” Claudia shook her head. He couldn’t understand most of these murals; the ones he could were basically just that one panel which had caught Luo Qiu’s and Otto’s attention, and from that he could roughly grasp the meaning. “An atonement Priestess begging for forgiveness, but using his own people as sacrifices—how… barbaric! Anyway, I don’t buy the idea of some huge castle appearing overnight and a monarchy being set up just like that. And this is all just you pulling guesses out of thin air, isn’t it?”

Otto suddenly looked at Claudia, studying her closely… the way he stared made Claudia feel uneasy; she instinctively edged closer to Boss Luo’s side.

Boss Luo acted like he hadn’t noticed and instead asked curiously, “What is this mysterious Power supposed to be?”

Otto shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure about the details either. These murals are far too ancient; many of them have become blurred beyond recognition… and even the few that can still be read are themselves incomplete. At the moment, the only thing we can be certain of is that The Seventh Dynasty really did exist. That vanished Royal Palace can’t be found, but we did manage to find this place.”

“Those people outside kept Mr. Otto here to have you interpret the murals on these walls, didn’t they?” Luo Qiu thought for a moment and said, “There should be plenty of similar murals outside as well, right? They’re staying here to develop the pyramid that’s underneath this structure?”

“This pyramid should have been buried, which is why it looks like it was built underground.” Otto thought for a moment and said, “Their Leader stumbled into this place by accident… in fact, all these years they’ve been looting everywhere, even kidnapping people, largely because they want to push deeper down toward the Underground Pyramid—you’re not the first ones they’ve captured. For well over ten years now, foreign tourists have been dragged here, forced into grueling excavation work.”

“Are… are we going to be sent to dig this pyramid too?” Claudia’s mind jumped ahead sharply, and her face went deathly pale in an instant.

Otto said blandly, “It shouldn’t be long before someone comes to escort you to whichever section needs digging. However, there is one way that can temporarily spare you from that kind of hard labor.”

“What way?” Claudia asked in a rush.

Otto simply pointed at Luo Qiu and said off‑handedly, “When their people come, just tell them that you can read the images on these walls, and they’ll treat you better. Of course, if you’re generous enough, you can say you need this woman as your assistant.”

Aria, however, scratched her butt, yawned, and cut in, “Of course, if they’re smart at all, they definitely won’t agree to that request.”

“Why!” Claudia exploded the moment she heard that.

Aria pointed at herself. “Because that’s how I managed to escape… well, used to manage.”

“You!” Claudia was so furious her voice was shaking.

Aria burst out laughing. Who knew whether that was her true personality, or just her way of making bitter fun of herself in this place… forcing a smile.

“So that means this place was discovered by the people outside first.” Boss Luo didn’t care much for the bickering between Aria and Claudia. “They want to find the mysterious Power of The Seventh Dynasty from this Underground Pyramid, so they’ve been entrenched here for at least over ten years… that’s roughly the situation, isn’t it?”

Otto shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it. “I never said they were here chasing after some mysterious Power… it’s quite possible they’re just after the wealth buried in the pyramid. If they can find the burial chamber inside the pyramid, every single thing in it would be a treasure, wouldn’t it?”

Boss Luo smiled faintly. “Mr. Otto, you’ve been studying this for some time now… have you discovered anything?”

“I’m under no obligation to share that information with you… with any of you.” Otto waved his hand. “Young man, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this mainland. If you want answers, rely on your own efforts… I’ve already given you a method.”

With that, Otto picked out a corner and curled himself up there… he didn’t seem at all worried that anyone might harm him. In the blink of an eye, the sound of loud snoring drifted out.

“That guy is full of bad water!” Claudia came up beside Boss Luo, lowered his voice, and said into his ear, “I don’t believe a single word he says… all that stuff about a mysterious Power is definitely something he made up on the spot. If such a thing really existed, how could he just casually talk about it? If it were me, I’d never tell anyone—I’d keep it all to myself and find it alone.”

“Real or fake… we’ll find out if we search around in here.” Luo Qiu smiled slightly.

Claudia said irritably, “Search how? Don’t forget, we’re prisoners in this lightless hole right now!”

Then Boss Luo simply walked up to the heavy iron door, reached out, and gave it a pull. With a sharp crack, that massive iron door—which had to be measured in tons—actually… actually swung open!

“W-What just happened?!” Aria suddenly sprang up—he hadn’t slept from the start, always keeping an eye on everything in the cell. “You… how did you open the door?”

“Looks like they didn’t lock it before they left.” Luo Qiu smiled slightly. “Maybe they just forgot.”

—Yeah right, I don’t believe a damn word of that!

—And that kerosene lamp… also popped up out of nowhere!

Aria shook his head. He stared at the opened iron door, then at the passage behind it, his expression shifting several times… finally, Aria stood straight up, looked at Otto and said, “Oh, this is a revelation from God! He must be helping us in secret, so if I don’t escape right now, I’m being way too irreverent!”

Otto opened his eyes and only said one thing: “I hope you actually succeed this time, Aria.”

“You’re not coming with me?” Aria blurted out anxiously. “I promise, this time we definitely won’t get discovered, and we definitely won’t get dragged back again… Otto, this might be our last chance. Otherwise, I figure next they’ll send me down even deeper underground to dig, and I’ll probably never get out for the rest of my life, just end up worked to death down here!”

Otto shook his head. “I don’t want to leave just yet. The murals here are extremely precious, very valuable for research. I need to stay and protect these cultural relics… otherwise, these priceless relics are very likely to be destroyed by them. Aria, if you want to go, then do it now. At this time of day they should be changing shifts, so security is the loosest.”

“Th-Then I won’t be able to look after you, old pal.” Aria shook his head, then bolted out through the door in an instant.

“Mr. Otto, tell me…” Boss Luo turned his head to glance at Otto, then suddenly asked, “Where do you think I should start from?”

Otto suddenly pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from inside his clothes, folded into a neat square. “This is the internal structural diagram of the pyramid I’ve drawn over this period. If you want to leave, you’d better do it now too… this map should be able to help you.”

“Thank you, I’ll make good use of it.” Boss Luo nodded.

Claudia directly snatched the map and said coolly, “Holding it isn’t safe enough. Give me a bit of time and I’ll memorize it… three minutes, I only need three minutes.”

All one can say is: within the bounds of normal human, she really deserves the title of top student.

While Claudia was carefully memorizing the map, Otto suddenly said, “If you don’t feel like leaving, you might want to look at the lower-right corner… there are quite a few surprises there.”

“I’ll see how it goes.” Boss Luo nodded, then joked, “Maybe even with the map, we’ll still get lost, and after wandering around and around, we’ll just end up back here again.”

Otto didn’t speak anymore; this time he probably really did fall asleep.

Not even three minutes later, Claudia said in a low voice, “Okay, I’ve memorized all of it… even if you lose the map, we still won’t know how to loop back here!”

“Then let’s go.” Luo Qiu walked in front, stepped straight across the iron door, and left the cell.

Claudia hurried after him.

In the cell, Otto was suddenly the only one left… he looked doubtfully at the half-open iron door and muttered to himself, “Weird… did they really forget to lock this door? That young guy was a bit too calm, could it be… a Non-Human?”

Otto shook his head. He really didn’t like the existence of Non-Human, especially when it came to excavation of ruins and so on. Because when Non-Human do this kind of work, they’re always way better than ordinary people.

“I hope you manage to find something good…” Otto gave a strangely amused smile in the end, then sank into deep sleep.

…

…

“That guy called Otto, not a single word out of his mouth was true!”

On the road ahead, not only did they not run into any of the thugs outside, the whole way had been smooth so far… felt like they just kept going down and down. Although they still weren’t out of danger, Claudia was obviously more relaxed now. “Choosing to stay to protect relics and to play cat-and-mouse with those thugs… what a saintly level of virtue! Eh, wrong turn! The exit’s this way; the direction you’re heading in goes deeper inside!”

“I’m not wrong.” Boss Luo checked the map in his hand. “The route marked on the map is this direction.”

Claudia froze, then said in disbelief, “Wait, don’t tell me you’re actually planning to go where that guy told us to?”

“Why not?” Boss Luo smiled. “We came here to explore in the first place.”

“No way, it’s too dangerous!” Claudia shook her head fiercely. “Never mind that we have no idea what’s actually there… even on the way, we’ll very likely bump into those thugs! I do not want to get captured again!”

“Classmate Claudia,” Boss Luo said softly, “you’ll protect me, right? You’ve learned taekwondo and karate, and you can also do TaiChi.”

“That’s just me bluffing… Oh, right, yes, I know taekwondo and karate, and TaiChi too!” Claudia nodded, then rounded her arms in front of her like she was posing, very seriously saying, “I’m super tough, I can take on ten at once!”

“So reliable.” Boss Luo laughed. “Classmate Claudia.”

“Of course!”