Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1509: Chapter 236: Wish

Claudia was convinced she really was that strong, could take on ten people by herself; but fear and nerves were just as real, so… saying she needed to guard her back, she hid behind Boss Luo, shivering as she followed.

“Speaking of which, Claudia, you’ve never mentioned your mother…” Luo Qiu glanced back. “After your father disappeared, your mother must’ve been devastated, right?”

“I don’t have a mother.” Claudia shook her head. “I’m an orphan; my father adopted me when I was little… that’s how it is.”

“I see…” Luo Qiu nodded.

That also meant one thing: the missing Professor Xie Jiatu had never married.

“What’s your Dream?” Boss Luo suddenly followed up… the jump in topic was huge, even abrupt—but he just had that ability to ask questions without making people uncomfortable.

“When I was young I wanted to be an actress.” Claudia thought for a moment, then shook her head again. “But when you grow up you realize only Knowledge can truly rewrite your own destinies. So if I have to name a Dream now, I want my name to be written in the records of the International Mathematical Union.”

“The Fields Medal, huh.” Boss Luo smiled slightly. “That’s a really great Dream.”

Claudia deflated. “It’s actually way too hard… all these years, only one woman has managed it. Maybe the studies are right, women are born with a bit of a deficit in rationality and logical thinking compared to men.”

“But there’s already a first female recipient, isn’t there.” Luo Qiu shook his head. “I know quite a few women—across all kinds of doors—they’re way more outstanding than men.”

Claudia shrugged. “Thanks for the encouragement. But you don’t have to worry about me; even if I don’t become an exceptional mathematician, I won’t end up penniless… worst case, I can still inherit my father’s estate.”

The content was a bit too blunt; Boss Luo just smiled without commenting, but he knew what Claudia actually wanted was to not have to inherit that estate at all… the police in Britain had yet to officially declare Professor Xie Jiatu dead.

“What about you?” Claudia immediately shot back a question… probably instinctively disliking being the one who only answers. She seemed less scared now, took two quick steps to walk side by side with Boss Luo. “What’s your Dream?”

“If I find it, I’ll let you know.”

“Stingy!”

“Looks like we’re here.”

Luo Qiu stopped walking… in front of them was a massive Stone Gate—a slab of Stone that dropped down from above. Only the large stone had already been pried up, its underside braced with several jacks wedged in place.

This was probably set up by those thugs outside—but strangely, along the way they still hadn’t run into a single thug.

…

The large stone jacked up left just enough height for someone to bend down and enter—the place behind this gate was the spot Otto had specially marked.

“Aren’t you going in?” Claudia noticed that Luo Qiu was standing at the gate without stepping through, as if pondering something, so she bent down, poked her head in, and took a look.

In an instant, she let out a muffled cry… Claudia quickly retreated a few steps, her voice trembling. “Inside… inside there are lots… lots of corpses… white bones!”

Only then did Luo Qiu duck in, seeing the corpses and bones Claudia had mentioned—there were indeed many, and mostly bones.

As for the corpses that were still intact, the degree of decay varied; the ones closer by might have died only a week ago… someone died here about a week earlier.

The clothes on those who had already become bare bones showed signs of being much older… all these bones and corpses were piled up like a little hill.

The space behind the giant Stone Gate even glowed with a faint ghostly green… caused by phosphorous produced as the bones underwent Decomposition, a very simple bit of biological and chemical Knowledge—but surrounded on all sides by corpses, it easily pushed people into extreme discomfort.

“There are a few corpses whose clothes are the same as the thugs outside!” Claudia said tensely. “They… why would everyone here die in this place?”

The stench of corpses filled the Air, hitting straight at the nose, but Boss Luo seemed completely oblivious, carefully scanning the bones and bodies around them… under Claudia’s trembling gaze, he even picked up a bone from the ground that looked like a thigh bone and examined it.

“These corpses don’t look like they died from injuries.” Luo Qiu commented casually. “Look at their bodies; basically none of them show lethal wounds… they seem to have died suddenly.”

“Th-there’s a passage over there!” Claudia pointed—within this not-so-large space, there was a black passage that seemed to lead deeper inside.

Unsurprisingly, the area in front of the passage was also littered with corpses—there was even a dried corpse sitting right at the entrance to the passage—aside from bare bones and rotting bodies, only this corpse at the passage entrance was desiccated.

It stood out in particular.

The two of them walked over to the dried corpse—its face was twisted in terror, the gaping mouth stretched to the limits of what a human jaw could manage, clearly having encountered something utterly horrifying before death.

“He… he doesn’t seem to have any wounds either.” Claudia swallowed hard, nervously peering into the depths of the passage—but it was pitch black inside; she couldn’t see anything at all.

The lamp in Luo Qiu’s hand only illuminated a few meters ahead.

At her words, Luo Qiu crouched down and reached out to scrape at the floor a few times—he brushed away the dust and saw a line of text carved into the stone—the tool was likely the dagger clenched in the dried corpse’s hand.

“What’s written there?” Claudia leaned over curiously. “Huh, it’s in English… ‘Greed is original sin’?”

“Seems like a warning for those who come later.” Boss Luo glanced back at the surrounding corpses and bones. “Maybe these people died because of their greed.”

Claudia burst out angrily, “That guy Otto clearly had bad intentions! He sent us to such a terrifying place and didn’t tell us any of this!”

Boss Luo smiled. “He only told us such a place exists; he didn’t force us to come… we’re here purely driven by curiosity.”

—Driven by my curiosity.

Boss Luo quietly added that in his heart.

“Are we going in?” Claudia asked in a low voice.

“Since we’re here, we might as well take a look.” Luo Qiu nodded.

Just before they set off, under Claudia’s slightly puzzled gaze, he dragged the dried corpse that was leaning against the left side of the passage entrance away, then found some torn cloth nearby and wrapped the dried corpse up.

“What are you doing?” Claudia couldn’t help asking curiously.

Boss Luo said calmly, “In our country, people in ancient times had a practice called ‘wrapping the corpse in a straw mat.’ Back then, because of economic reasons, people couldn’t afford coffins, so they used straw mats instead. They believed that if a person died and didn’t even have a place to rest, it would be quite tragic.”

Claudia blinked, then suddenly laughed. “You really look like a corpse collector doing that!”

When this female top student smiled, she actually looked much better than when she wore those big glasses with a perpetually serious face… Imitating Luo Qiu, she picked up another piece of torn cloth and threw it over the dried corpse as well, then said proudly, “Know what this is? Going by your logic, this is double the ‘belonging’.”

The ancients would cry, probably. Boss Luo shook his head, but couldn’t help a wry smile… because of Claudia’s action that seemed ridiculous yet oddly endearing.

“But why did you only help this one corpse?” Claudia patted the dust off her hands, glanced at the bones and bodies littering the floor, and looked puzzled—there were so many corpses!

Boss Luo said calmly, “Because none of the others left any message on the floor.”

“Just because of that?” Claudia was taken aback.

Boss Luo said casually, “Someone who’s willing to leave a warning for those who come after him right before dying, probably hopes those who come later will do something for him as well… Since we’ve accepted his gift, we might as well do a little something in return. Don’t you think that’s fair?”

Claudia rolled her eyes, clearly unconvinced… She then looked around and suddenly said, “These guys are even still holding weapons… Mm, let’s loot them!”

Not looting is impossible… not looting the drops!

Claudia even found a handgun under a body that hadn’t decayed too badly. She was thrilled as she strapped it to her hand, then ‘kindly’ allocated a machete that looked decent enough to Luo Qiu—though she had already slung a crossbow over herself beforehand.

All she lacked was a level-three vest and Claudia would be considered fully geared. Her confidence surged; she loaded the pistol with practiced ease, humming, “I’ve been in a shooting club, my marksmanship is pretty good!”

“…Wasn’t your dream to become a mathematician?” Boss Luo blinked.

Claudia said offhandedly, “That was something I learned because my father insisted… same with stuff like taekwondo. He said even for a girl, you should have a strong body, only then can you face anything.”

Luo Qiu smiled. “Looks like your father has high expectations for you.”

Claudia said faintly, “Actually… he wants me to love archaeology as much as he does. Don’t be fooled by him working at the Theology Institute—what he’s really obsessed with are all the ruins with a Myth tint to them. I keep feeling like he’s actually trying to find something.”

“Go in?” This time Boss Luo spoke up… ending the topic there.

Claudia found this sense of knowing when to stop very comforting. She tilted her head, looking at Luo Qiu; with the gun in her hands she actually had a bit of heroic flair… She suddenly said, “Looking at it now, maybe this is the charm of exploration work… the constant tension and adrenaline.”

The boss half-joked, “I hope this hasn’t made you give up on your original Dream.”

“If this makes me give up my original Dream, are you planning to take responsibility?” Claudia suddenly asked, her gaze… burning.

Boss Luo shook his head. “Giving up would be your own choice.”

Claudia muttered, “That’s not a gentleman’s answer… Is this what you Eastern People call subtlety? It’s really not honest at all!”

You seem to have some weird misunderstanding about honesty…

Luo Qiu chuckled casually, then stepped straight into the passage… As for the machete Claudia had shoved into his hands, he just carried it for now.

“Hey! Don’t walk so fast, wait for me!” Claudia hurried after him.

…

…

The passage seemed endlessly long… so long you couldn’t even gauge its true depth. Claudia gripped the handgun tightly, nervously keeping her gaze fixed ahead—yet she couldn’t see Luo Qiu’s back at all!

She hadn’t caught up to Luo Qiu from the very beginning!

That was absurd—clearly, Luo Qiu had only walked a few steps ahead of her, right in front of her eyes, yet she never managed to catch up… even the light of the kerosene lamp was nowhere to be seen!

“Hey… where are you? Don’t pull pranks, okay?” Claudia’s heart was racing. “I won’t ask you weird questions anymore… just stop messing with me, OK?”

All of a sudden, the surroundings flared bright; a harsh glare forced Claudia’s eyes shut… After a moment, as her vision gradually recovered, she found herself looking at a dazzling mainland of colors.

The passage was now brimming with absurd amounts of… unimaginable wealth!

She saw piles and piles of Gold Coin, and handful after handful of Diamond… even the walls were inlaid with masses of gemstones of various colors!

Precious Crowns, jewelry worthy of a museum exhibition… all glittering and crammed together, forming this riot of color before her eyes; this terrifying treasure was enough to shatter a person’s reason in an instant!

Claudia sucked in a sharp breath… Even this study-loving [Iron // Virgin] couldn’t help having her heart race wildly at the treasure before her!

The wealth around her seemed to possess Infinite Magic Power… Her gaze was instantly snagged by a gemstone necklace casually lying on the ground… She subconsciously reached out, wanting to pick it up.

But just as her hand was about to touch the necklace, a line of text suddenly flashed through Claudia’s mind.

[Greed is original sin].

She jolted in fright, breaking out in a sudden cold sweat. When she looked again at the necklace that had bewitched her a moment ago, a strange panic crawled through her chest.

She didn’t dare linger; she dashed deeper into the passage, doing everything she could not to look at the Gold Coin and jewels lining both sides… All she wanted was to catch up to Luo Qiu as quickly as possible.

Yet just then, a faint glow flickered ahead in the passage, and a figure appeared.

Claudia skidded to a halt, staring at the sudden silhouette, and muttered, “Father?”

She walked toward the figure as if in a daze, step by step.

…

Boss Luo soon reached the end of the passage—in truth it wasn’t that far; at a normal walking pace, just a few minutes.

At the end, Luo Qiu glanced back along the path he’d taken. After a moment of silence, he turned to study what lay ahead.

On either side stood statues, like guard… Between them was a pedestal, and on that pedestal rested an oil lamp.

Boss Luo stood silent for a while… Then he easily picked up the oil lamp. After thinking for a moment, he lightly rubbed its surface a few times.

The lamp in his hand began to shudder, then spewed out a billow of reddish-brown smoke… The smoke gathered and formed into the shape of a red giant man, dressed in black clothes.

“Lowly human… Speak. What wish do you desire… I can grant you three wishes!”

The red giant man’s voice was like thunder, deafening.

Boss Luo: “Mm…”