Inherited 100 Million - Chapter 17

What the hell.

Xue Yizhuo’s expression was numb as she followed the woman step by step, wanting to turn around and run away several times.

What on earth did I save?

“It’s not a ghost, is it?” Xue Yizhuo muttered. The woman heard her voice and turned around, thinking she was tired. “Just a little further, Miss Xue. We’re almost at Lotus City.”

“Lotus City?” Xue Yizhuo asked blankly.

“Lotus City is the capital of Guque,” the woman said. “My home is on the outskirts of Lotus City.”

The woman then turned her head back, not seeing Xue Yizhuo’s serious expression.

Guque was destroyed two hundred years ago. Even if some of the buildings remained, she would most likely see only ruins and broken walls. Yet, the woman’s tone made it sound as if Lotus City was a fully functional city and Guque had never been destroyed.

If she hadn’t transmigrated, she had just run into a wandering spirit of the desert.

Xue Yizhuo tightened the cloak around her, feeling the temperature drop even further.

As they walked on, the ground in front of them began to show traces of bricks and stones. Occasionally, she would see a few broken walls standing in the sand. The woman kept trying to comfort Xue Yizhuo in a soft voice. “The environment outside may be a bit rough, but it will be better once we get to Lotus City.”

No, Xue Yizhuo thought to herself. I think it will be worse once we get to Lotus City.

After what felt like an eternity, a city suddenly appeared before them. Its worn-out walls extended in both directions, stretching as far as the eye could see. The moonlight cast a pale, ghostly glow on the bricks.

“We’re here!” The woman’s voice was tinged with excitement. She grabbed Xue Yizhuo and ran toward the city gates. “This is Lotus City!”

Xue Yizhuo was already very light, and it was easy for an adult woman to pull her along. They were already at the city gates. Xue Yizhuo frantically shouted “Wait!” but by the time she said the first word, she had already stepped inside Lotus City.

The heavy city gates quickly closed behind them. Xue Yizhuo turned around and looked through a small crack in the gate, where she saw the path she had just taken. Her eyes widened.

There was only one set of footprints in the sand.

A cold hand touched Xue Yizhuo’s shoulder. “Miss Xue, my home is nearby. Please, let me take you to rest.”

Inside the city, it was as if they were in a different world.

The Lotus City that Xue Yizhuo had seen from the outside had city walls that were half-buried in sand. Looking through the crumbling city gates, the city was completely silent. But after stepping inside Lotus City, everything was brightly lit. The streets were bustling with people coming and going, making it seem like a vibrant city.

It was probably past midnight, yet the vendors on the street were still open for business. The owners were enthusiastically shouting out to customers. Some stalls were surrounded by layers of people, creating a lively atmosphere.

Children holding lotus lanterns ran past Xue Yizhuo with gleeful laughter. One of them accidentally bumped into Xue Yizhuo’s leg. “Ouch!” the child exclaimed as he fell onto his bottom. The lotus lantern rolled a few times on the ground, and its candle went out.

“Oh, my lantern!” The child cried out, not caring about his sore bottom. He scrambled up and ran to pick up the lotus lantern. The anxious look on his face only disappeared after he borrowed a flame from his friends to light the lantern again.

Xue Yizhuo asked thoughtfully, “Are all the lanterns in the city shaped like lotuses?”

Not only was the child holding a lotus-shaped lantern, but even the lanterns hanging from the eaves of the shops were shaped like lotuses.

“There are other shapes of lanterns, but we all love lotuses, and lotus lanterns are the best-selling ones,” the woman said, looking at the children who had run off with a gentle expression. “I have a lotus lantern in my home, too.”

Xue Yizhuo, however, felt that there was more to the lotus lanterns than met the eye.

She had clearly seen that after the candle in the lotus lantern went out, the child’s body also became transparent. Only when the candle was lit again did his body return to its solid form.

“Miss Xue, my home is here,” the woman said to Xue Yizhuo, pointing to a deep, dark alley. Xue Yizhuo nodded and walked inside. The alleyway shielded them from the noise of the street. She walked all the way to the end of the alley and saw a warm lotus lantern hanging from an eave.

“One of them has gone out…” The woman looked down in disappointment.

There was a lotus lantern hanging on each side of the courtyard gate, but now only one was lit. The woman reached out as if to take the lantern down and relight the candle, but after a moment of hesitation, she pulled her hand back.

“Miss Xue,” the woman said, opening the courtyard door and stepping aside. “My humble home is not much. Please bear with me.”

“It’s fine,” Xue Yizhuo said, shaking her head as she stepped into the courtyard.

The courtyard was small and a little messy, with a lot of random items piled in the corner. The woman led Xue Yizhuo to the main room and said, “I’ll go tidy up a bit. You can rest in this room for the night, miss.”

The woman went into the room to prepare the bed, but Xue Yizhuo didn’t follow. She stood in the center of the courtyard, closed her eyes, and searched through her inventory for a long time until she finally found what she needed.

“How do you use this thing?” Xue Yizhuo asked, frowning at the bronze mirror that was a little larger than her palm.

The bronze mirror was called “Lie Annihilator,” and it was a divine artifact in the game. The system’s description was “dispels all control effects.” Its function here was probably not the same as in the game, but Xue Yizhuo guessed the effect wouldn’t be too different.

Xue Yizhuo believed she was trapped in an illusion.

The Lotus City she saw from the outside was real, and the one she saw from the inside was fake. Something must be affecting her senses, making her believe that everything around her was real.

An illusion… is a control effect, right?

Xue Yizhuo thought with uncertainty.

She used the Lie Annihilator to look at various things, but nothing changed.

“Maybe I’m not using it right?” Xue Yizhuo wondered.

She decided to use the Lie Annihilator on herself.

However, in the bronze mirror, besides herself, there was a second face: a pale, sickly green face. It was like a corpse from a morgue, its skin a menacing green, filled with deathly energy.

Xue Yizhuo was startled by the face that had suddenly appeared behind her. Her hand trembled, and the bronze mirror fell.

Clatter.

Xue Yizhuo bent down to pick it up, but a hand reached it before she could. The woman’s expression was calm as she handed her the mirror. Although her hand was pale and thin, it had a hint of a healthy flush to it.

The woman smiled faintly. “Miss Xue, your mirror.”

Xue Yizhuo lowered her eyes to the mirror. The woman in the mirror, who looked like a corpse, also gave a stiff smile.

“Thank you,” Xue Yizhuo said, her expression unchanged as she took the mirror.

“I have already changed the bedsheets. If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to tell me,” the woman said sincerely. “Lotus City is a major city in the Yangsuo Desert. Your companions will surely pass through here.”

“…Thank you.” Xue Yizhuo hugged the mirror to herself.

She didn’t know if Old Li and the others would pass through Lotus City. All Xue Yizhuo knew was that she wanted to run away right now.