Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1699: Chapter 49: Clues

Luo Qiu had seen similar bones of these giant beasts before.

It was during a path led by Su Zijun, aimed at retrieving the evil soul from an ancient seal at Xuanyuan Palace.

Since ancient times, the Xuanyuan Palace has safeguarded the Divine Land, maintaining internal peace while repelling external threats… A significant portion of these external hazards derive from sea monsters.

“Can you determine how these deep-sea giant beasts died?” Boss Luo asked at this moment.

The maid began examining the structure of the rock wall and some exposed giant beast bones… The maid said, “There are many possibilities of formation, with no way to ascertain the cause of these beasts’ deaths for now. However, this fissure seems to have formed in an instant.”

“Tell me more,” Luo Qiu thought for a moment and said.

The maid explained, “It seems to have been caused by some force that suddenly cracked open the seabed, creating this fissure. Look, master, the cuts in these areas are smooth, and the gaps become narrower as you go deeper.”

Boss Luo nodded, reaching out to touch the giant beast bones closest to him, but found nothing—these giant beasts’ souls had already dissipated long ago, leaving behind nothing… These bones were merely large fossils.

The deeper one goes, the more densely packed the giant beast bones on the rock wall become—to the point where the entire rock wall is essentially constructed from layers of giant beast bones.

“Perhaps something attracted them and then simultaneously killed them,” the maid made a new conjecture.

But regardless of the reasons, Luo Qiu had already seen Konghai—at the end of this fissure passage.

Konghai stood alone at the end before a giant sculpted stone door—each of the two sculpted stone doors stood over a hundred meters high. The reliefs on the doors depicted giant beasts in a dense arrangement.

“I’ve heard this trench was originally a mining site of the Undersea City. So, was this giant stone door built by the workers back then?” Boss Luo stepped in front of Konghai, curiously asking.

“I don’t know.” Konghai shook his head and then acted again—he walked up to the giant sculpted stone door, saying in a low voice: “I… seem to have walked out from inside.”

“Seem?”

Konghai thought for a moment and said, “I have no prior memories… When my memory began, I encountered Professor Jin Kailun. After that, I wandered aimlessly in the darkness. I didn’t know where I came from or where I was going. The professor found me at that time and took me in, and then I stayed by his side. That’s my story.”

“But now you remembered?” Boss Luo pondered and asked.

Konghai replied, “After coming here, some fragments have appeared in my mind… I vaguely remember seeing this sculpted stone door.”

As he spoke, Konghai reached out and pressed against the sculpted stone door—however, the stone door didn’t change from Konghai’s touch.

It stood motionless here.

Konghai furrowed his brows, then waved his hand, wiping away some sludge and deep-sea microorganisms attached to the sculpted stone door… Many intricate patterns became clearer due to Konghai’s cleaning.

Luo Qiu noticed some patterns on the door, an idea flicker in his mind… After hesitating, he waved his hand over it.

The sludge and dirt on the hundred-meter-high sculpted stone door peeled away—the stone door eventually returned to its original appearance.

Konghai was astonished at Luo Qiu’s technique, but focused more on the appearance of the stone door after it was restored… Konghai looked up, and saw a peculiar circular insignia at its center.

His legs slightly pushed him upwards, leveraging the buoyancy, he easily climbed to the stone door’s midpoint.

“I have never seen such a symbol,” he had seen the shape of the giant circular insignia on the stone door, “This seems to be an insignia unrelated to the Undersea City.”

But Luo Qiu had seen this circular insignia—at the Penglai Treasury.

Specifically, it was in the Penglai Treasury, within the residual spiritual realm of the ice-sealed Penglai Immortal Cicero’s courtyard.

The Penglai Treasury was modeled after the Shop—a place capable of responding to wishers’ desires constructed from Wansu, not utilizing altar-like power.

At the moment, upon careful observation, one could find two palm-sized indentations remained on this large insignia.

The three simultaneously noticed the presence of these indentations.

Konghai thought and said, “It appears to open this stone door, some kind of keys are needed… and two of them.”

“Looks like they might be two square objects,” the maid observed further—before this, she too had reached out to press against the door.

And something surprising for the maid occurred—that was, she couldn’t open the stone door with her current power.

Of course, this was merely a test of strength—she hadn’t yet attempted an attack or destruction, so the outcome was unknown.

“It seems, for now, it can’t be opened,” Konghai shook his head.

Boss Luo suddenly chuckled and said, “That may not be certain… Maybe by waiting here for a while, an opportunity will arise.”

Konghai looked at Luo Qiu questioningly, pondering, “Did you discover something?”

Boss Luo casually said, “If you’re interested in what’s inside the stone door, you might as well wait here.”

“Alright.” Konghai nodded decisively.

Boss Luo once again turned his gaze to the insignia on the door—his memory was not wrong, this insignia indeed came from Cicero’s spiritual realm courtyard.

He said the courtyard was a place he built in the past—belonging to a world that had already perished.

This insignia seemed to be Cicero’s emblem as an Aristocrat of the Eternal Empire—his identity mark—hence, this stone door might be Cicero’s legacy.

In Konghai’s memory, he walked out from this stone door—thus suggesting Konghai might carry some Eternal Empire information?

Boss Luo squinted his eyes, in the vision of Black and White, Konghai’s soul was immediately observed clearly… Apart from being brighter, there wasn’t anything particularly unusual for now.

“Master, these giant beasts, I’ve never seen them,” the maid suddenly said, “Can I collect some specimens and research them later?”

“Do as you please,” Boss Luo readily agreed.

Konghai seemed to have a keen interest in excavating these giant beast bones and requested to join in. To this, Ms. Ren did not object.

Luo Qiu continued to look at the imprint on the gate, contemplating something—in fact, there was a way.

Information from the altar.

However, regarding the matters of the Eternal Empire, Luo Qiu decided not to obtain information from the altar—he couldn’t explain why.

This should be a subconscious behavior, causing him to avoid this direction, like how a person’s vision can actually see their own nose, yet people always overlook the part where they can see their nose.

It was entirely a subconscious behavior.

Luo Qiu slowly closed his eyes—if he could only wait here, then he would temporarily focus his attention on his other two selves.

Strictly speaking, these weren’t clones, but projections of his will.

…

…

Ke Duojin felt a constant pressure in his chest, and at the same time, his mouth was occasionally obstructed, then filled with a large amount of air.

He suddenly opened his eyes and instantly locked gazes with another pair—his lips pressed tightly against a sensation, making Ke Duojin instantly understand what he was enduring.

He abruptly pushed Reya away and then covered his own lips with his hand, a surge of warmth rising… Even his ears turned slightly red.

“Y-you-you, what are you doing—!!” Ke Duojin’s voice now had a slight change, a tremor, “Reya! Listen, I’ve always just considered you my classmate, at most half a friend… a tool person! Do you understand a tool person? I don’t want to develop any strange relationships!”

“Eh, you’re back to normal?!” Reya was overjoyed, “Looks like hitting you really worked!”

“Hitting me?” Ke Duojin frowned and then looked around, his expression changing slightly, “Where is this? Why am I here?”

The surroundings were dim, seemingly a cave, with a small pool beside it… On the surrounding rock walls of the cave were minerals emitting dots of blue light.

“You don’t remember?”

Ke Duojin thought for a moment, “Remember… remember what? I remember, after the race, I went to the imperial palace to find the Emperor… then… then?”

Ke Duojin suddenly looked at Reya, surprised, “I don’t remember what happened later!”

—Just like the residents of the Undersea City after the tournament ended that day!

Reya murmured, thinking these must be arrangements by the Emperor… He wasn’t sure what the purpose of Louis XXXIX’s arrangements was. However, due to Ke Duojin’s situation, Reya found himself resisting the Emperor much more unconsciously.

“This is the Somna Trench.” Reya said slowly, “I came out this time to train for the Flywheel, along with Louis XXXIX. As for why you’re here, I’m unaware… But you did appear and attack me, and I haven’t settled this with you yet.”

“The Emperor… I attacked you?” Ke Duojin was immediately confused, looking at Reya with a face full of questions, “Do you think I’m a three-year-old child? If this is the Somna Trench, how can we breathe air?”

Reya said, “This is a hollow area within the trench rocks. See this pool? Going out from here is the trench… This place possibly has existing air and might even date back to the pre-submergence era.”

Ke Duojin shook his head vigorously, feeling a bit dazed… He sighed and said, “I’m still confused now… But I don’t want to think too much; let’s just leave this ghost place first.”

Saying this, Ke Duojin intended to leave by jumping into the pool but was hurriedly stopped by Reya.

“Wait, the shield’s energy has been used up!” Reya quickly said, “Relying solely on the Flywheel Protective Suit’s pressure resistance, you’d be crushed into a pulp exiting!”

“What should we do then?”

“I released a distress signal.” Reya thought for a moment, “Now, we can only wait for rescue… But it’s uncertain how long it’ll take. However, this place seems much larger than imagined; we might explore around. This place has air, and the humidity is adequate; perhaps we can find food… In any case, we’re in distress now, so we must urgently replenish strength.”

Ke Duojin subconsciously looked at Reya, frowned and said, “Reya, you seem much more reliable than before… You used to be impulsive, but now you’re quite calm, looking somewhat grown-up.”

“Hmm.” Reya replied casually, still exhibiting a youthful pride.

“You really have no idea how I ended up here?” Ke Duojin quickly asked again, “Wait, why did the Emperor invite you here for Flywheel training? I don’t accept!”

Unexpectedly, Reya suddenly rushed in front of Ke Duojin, pinned him against the wall, and covered his mouth with his hand.

“You… you-you-you want to do what?!”, Ke Duojin panicked, his voice squeezed out from Reya’s palm, his body trembling, “I am not that type of person! Same sex… Same sex is against the law, have you forgotten?!”

“Shh, don’t make noise!”, Reya whispered, “I think there’s a sound!”

“A sound… sound?” Ke Duojin paused, subconsciously, “What sound… No, it seems there really is a sound.”

Both held their breath simultaneously.

“Seems like… singing?” Ke Duojin tentatively asked, “It’s singing, right?”

Reya nodded, and then looked towards the direction from where the sound was coming—it was most definitely a melody humming, but a language Reya had never heard before.

The twists and turns, the poignancy… The sorrow contained within the singing slowly seeped into Reya’s heart, causing him to irresistibly head towards the source of the singing.

Ke Duojin was also enchanted, as the singing became clearer, he followed Reya toward the depths of this large cave where air existed.

As they delved deeper, the singing grew ever clearer; soon, Reya and Ke Duojin arrived at a spacious area.

The humidity around was greater, and due to the presence of numerous glowing crystals, the area became exceptionally bright.

And the singing emanated from beside another pool.

The two saw a beautiful silhouette, sitting at the pool’s edge, with long hair cascading… seemingly not wearing clothes.