Inherited 100 Million - Chapter 18

The bed was made and the room was tidied up, yet Xue Yizhuo stood in the center of the room like a wooden post, not wanting to touch anything.

On this night alone, only the mirror in her arms could give her a sliver of warmth.

The moment she entered the room, Xue Yizhuo used the mirror to scan it. As expected, she saw that the teapot was filled with sand and the bed was just a few broken wooden planks covered with tattered cloths. An illusion was, after all, just an illusion. It couldn’t conjure up real objects.

She was currently in the ruins of Lotus City… She just didn’t know who had set up this illusion to show her what Lotus City looked like more than two hundred years ago, before the country of Guque was destroyed.

And the people she saw in Lotus City didn’t seem to be illusions either. They were probably lost souls who didn’t realize they were dead.

What was the relationship between the lotus lanterns and the souls? Xue Yizhuo recalled the child who had gradually become transparent after his lantern went out. If a lotus lantern went out and wasn’t relit in time, would the ghost disappear forever?

Xue Yizhuo lowered her eyes in contemplation.

She suddenly realized something and looked up as if waking from a dream.

“Why am I worrying about all this?” Xue Yizhuo patted her head. “It has nothing to do with me!”

Her goal for this trip was to cross the Yangsuo Desert and get to Great Yan. As long as she took Old Li with her and left the desert, her goal would be accomplished. What did Guque, illusions, and lost souls have to do with her?

Once she figured this out, Xue Yizhuo prepared to leave. She had originally wanted to go through the front door, but she remembered that the long-neglected gate would let out an ear-piercing creak. She didn’t want to disturb the ghosts in the courtyard, so she pushed open a window and climbed out.

A pop-up window suddenly appeared in front of her. Startled, Xue Yizhuo’s foot twisted, and she almost fell to the ground. She held onto the window frame and barely managed to stand.

The inconspicuous system suddenly gave her a quest: [Main Quest Three: A Dense Fog. Under the influence of an illusion, you have seen Guque, the Country of Lotus, from over two hundred years ago. The lost souls wander the city, unable to pass on. To uncover the secret of Guque’s demise, please investigate the royal palace.]

“No, thank you.” Xue Yizhuo coldly abandoned the quest.

The system did confirm some of Xue Yizhuo’s theories about Lotus City. Unfortunately, she had no interest in Guque’s secrets. All she wanted was to reunite with Old Li and the others and get out of the desert as soon as possible.

Xue Yizhuo rubbed her slightly swollen ankle. She found some medicine in her inventory, casually applied it, and started walking back the way she came. Thankfully, the woman’s house was indeed very close to the city gates, and the tall city walls were prominent enough that she wouldn’t get lost on such a short walk.

Xue Yizhuo walked along the base of the wall, trying to stay in the shadows to avoid drawing attention. She quickly reached the city walls.

The city gates had been open when she entered, but now they were tightly shut. Xue Yizhuo looked at the soldiers guarding the gates and decided to rely on herself and simply climb over the wall.

A white figure, unnoticed by anyone, lightly landed on the city wall.

Xue Yizhuo’s immense cultivation seemed to only be useful for climbing walls. Since she was too lazy to use the front door, she was used to climbing over courtyard walls. It wasn’t awkward for her to climb a city wall now. She was about to jump down from the wall when a “wall of sand” suddenly appeared not far away.

A sandstorm was rapidly moving toward Lotus City, sweeping over everything.

“…Again?” Xue Yizhuo was stunned.

She knew that sandstorms were extremely frequent in the Yangsuo Desert during the sandstorm season, but she had no idea they would be this frequent.

Xue Yizhuo, ever so resourceful, turned around and jumped back down into the city.

She went to her quest log, found the quest she had just abandoned, and accepted it again. A map temporarily replaced her mini-map.

Xue Yizhuo followed the red arrow on the map.

Looking down at Lotus City, she could see that it was a perfect square, with the royal palace in the center. The main avenues in the city were all straight. Once she reached one of them, all she had to do was walk straight ahead.

Lotus City seemed completely unaffected by the sandstorm. When Xue Yizhuo looked back, she saw that the sand that had crossed the city walls melted like snow under the moonlight, as if a protective barrier was enveloping the city.

But Xue Yizhuo knew it was just an illusion.

She calmly looked away after only a moment. The main avenue was brightly lit and bustling with people, but at the end of the road, there was a deserted island.

The royal palace of Guque was located on an island in the middle of a lake.

The lotus flowers on the lake were in full bloom, and under the moonlight, their snow-white petals seemed to be covered in a layer of cool, white silk, gently swaying in the night breeze. But in the Lie Annihilator, there was no lake and no lotus flowers, only the same yellow sand as everywhere else.

Xue Yizhuo walked around the lake for a long time but couldn’t find a bridge to the island.

[Solve the specific puzzle, and the bridge to the royal palace will surface. Please search for the puzzle nearby.]

Xue Yizhuo completely ignored it. She pulled out a small wooden boat from her inventory and threw it into the water. The tiny boat, which had been smaller than her palm, instantly grew to a normal size.

Xue Yizhuo carefully stood on the boat, holding up her skirt. She didn’t have to paddle; the boat sailed toward the center of the lake on its own.

The lotus flowers and leaves on the water’s surface were pushed aside by the boat, one by one, and were left behind. After Xue Yizhuo stepped onto the land, she waved her hand, and the small boat returned to its original size, landing in her palm.

[The royal palace of Guque holds the country’s greatest secret.]

After the system said this, it didn’t give any more hints. No matter how much Xue Yizhuo prodded, it didn’t respond.

Xue Yizhuo suddenly felt the urge to scold the game developers.

She summoned a paper lantern and held it in her hand, illuminating the ground beneath her. The ground was covered in weeds, most of which were taller than her ankles. Xue Yizhuo couldn’t find a path and could only push through the weeds until she reached the steps of the royal palace.

As a royal palace of a small desert country, it wasn’t very large. Its area was probably equivalent to a high school. Because the entire building was white, it didn’t look like a royal palace to Xue Yizhuo. It looked more like a temple.

The stone steps under her feet were made of an unknown white stone. Some parts were already shattered, and the parts that weren’t had cracks. It even wobbled a bit when she stepped on it.

Xue Yizhuo quickly climbed the nine steps.

Before her stood two extremely heavy stone doors. On either side of the doors were two stone beasts that Xue Yizhuo didn’t recognize. They looked a bit like lions but had two heads and appeared to have more luxurious manes. They sat on either side of the doors, looking majestic, as if they were the palace’s guardians.

Xue Yizhuo tried to push the stone doors. To her surprise, the doors seemed to have some kind of mechanism. Although they were very heavy, all the person pushing them needed was a small amount of force to open them.

The main hall was pitch black.

Xue Yizhuo opened a small gap in the doors and squeezed through cautiously. She raised the paper lantern to illuminate her surroundings, but the space inside the hall was much larger than she had imagined. The paper lantern could only light up a very small area. All Xue Yizhuo could see was the polished white stone floor under her feet.

She closed the hall doors, and the hall became even more silent. Xue Yizhuo could only hear the sound of her own footsteps, which had a slight echo.

It was a little spooky.

There was no other light in the hall besides the lantern in her hand. It felt as if she could never reach the end of the hall. Xue Yizhuo’s courage was beginning to fail her. This was a quest she could do or not do. Maybe she should just give up, wait for the sandstorm to pass, and meet up with Old Li when they found the ruins of Guque.

Once she decided to retreat, Xue Yizhuo turned around and walked back.

But after only two steps, a faint voice of a young girl spoke from behind her. “Why… aren’t you going forward anymore?”

Xue Yizhuo: “…”

Xue Yizhuo took off running.