Chapter 223: The Dungeon's Background Story?

Since Little Spoon now shared a telepathic link with Lan Qingyou, the little creature no longer needed to scurry around dangerous places searching for treasure like before.

It simply had to convey the general location to Lan Qingyou or let her sense it directly.

In truth, a Treasure Hunting Rat's fondness for seeking out valuables didn't stem from a desire to use them for self-improvement; it was purely a natural instinct, treating the treasures like toys.

Therefore, who ultimately claimed the treasure mattered little. The joy was in the discovery itself.

Now that it had signed a contract and become Lan Qingyou's Familiar, it naturally wanted its master to find the loot before anyone else did.

"Since it's a ship, having a cabin makes perfect sense, doesn't it?"

Looking at the dumbfounded group, Lan Qingyou chuckled lightly.

The situation was mostly just awkward.

Earlier, they had all declared they would search thoroughly. Yet, after witnessing the little mouse's capabilities, they completely forgot they were on a ship and blindly clamored on the deck, asking where the treasures were hidden.

Gu Xiaobei scratched her head with her torch-bearing hand, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'll take the lead. You just stay behind me and hold the torch to light the way."

Li Huai was intimately familiar with the group's composition. To put it bluntly, they were a team of glass cannons. Even the three who seemingly held the front line were essentially as fragile as paper.

If not for Lan Qingyou's golems, they wouldn't have reached this area so quickly, and they likely would have suffered casualties along the way.

Why were there no deaths?

Because everyone possessed their own life-saving skills.

Truthfully, Lan Qingyou could have cleared this dungeon entirely on her own; it just would have taken her a bit more time and energy.

"Why can't my pink infantrymen take the lead?"

"..."

Lan Qingyou's interjection left Li Huai opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Unable to formulate a retort, he tactfully stepped aside from the passageway entrance.

She had a point. There was no need for him to put himself on the front line.

"Let's get moving then. By the way, does anyone want this blood-stealing sword? If not, I'll take it."

The High Priestess asked this just as the pink infantrymen forged ahead.

After all, they weren't a formal guild. There was no guild master to distribute the spoils; everyone had an equal claim to the loot.

That was why she made sure to ask the group first.

She couldn't just pocket the item without saying a word. Even though the residents of the villa wouldn't voice any complaints or even mind it, she had her principles.

To her, taking things without asking was behavior befitting an overgrown child.

"I don't mind."

"A vampire wielding a blood-stealing sword makes perfect sense."

"Take it if you want it."

Seeing that the High Priestess wanted the lifestealing longsword, everyone quickly voiced their refusal. Lan Qingyou even picked up the blade and handed it directly to her.

Although vampires weren't known for their Strength, the eighty bonus points in Strength provided by the weapon itself were more than enough for the High Priestess to wield it comfortably.

Granted, the High Priestess wasn't a swordswoman, and she rarely even used her World Item.

But that didn't stop her from swinging around a fancy lifestealing sword, did it?

"Speaking of which, what exactly does this sword do with the blood it steals?"

The High Priestess asked Lan Qingyou after thoroughly inspecting her new weapon and coming up empty-handed.

Lan Qingyou simply rolled her eyes in response.

"You call yourself a researcher? Where do you think the energy fueling the sword's anti-decay enchantment comes from?"

"..."

She felt thoroughly judged.

With the pink infantrymen leading the way, the group descended the stairs without a hitch, smoothly arriving at the cabin located between the two ship bows.

"Wow!!!"

Gu Xiaobei let out a loud gasp of amazement upon entering the cabin, immediately scurrying over to one side.

As her torch illuminated the space, the rest of the group laid eyes upon a mountainous pile of jewels, golden artifacts, and gold coins marred with dark, speckled stains.

Aside from that, there were also...

This "pile" of gold was absolutely massive.

It occupied anywhere from a third to almost two-thirds of the entire cabin's floor space.

Judging by the haphazard and careless way the treasure was dumped, it wasn't hard to deduce that these riches had likely been plundered from other vessels.

"The pattern on these gold coins looks vaguely familiar."

Compared to Gu Xiaobei, whose face was flushed red from the torchlight reflecting off the gold, the rest of the group maintained their composure.

The Magician even stepped forward, casually picking up a gold coin to calmly inspect it.

Truthfully, such a staggering amount of gold was awe-inspiring.

However, it wasn't anything that would cause them to lose their minds in shock.

After all, they were all reputable individuals with substantial "assets" to their names.

Not to mention the others.

Lan Qingyou alone owned shares in a biological mine—and the majority stake, at that.

Oh, right. Li Huai was also a minor shareholder in that very same mine.

Lan Qingyou picked up a gold coin to examine as well.

The coin bore an engraving that looked like a fractured shield, or perhaps a large leaf.

"Can we infer, then, that the 'background story' of this dungeon involves the wreckage of two battling fleets being washed up here by the ocean currents?"

The Sun had also stepped forward to carefully examine a coin, voicing her hypothesis.

However, the High Priestess standing nearby wasn't entirely convinced.

"It's not impossible, but I lean more toward it being man-made. After all, there's a fully built dock outside, along with that pieced-together platform that looks like an altar."

"I don't think they built it entirely by choice. After all, no one would willingly live in a place like this," The Pope chimed in. "I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The wreckage washed up here, and the survivors used the remains of the ships to build this settlement. Then, for some unknown reason, those survivors all turned into the Undead and were forever trapped in this place."

The Pope certainly knew how to find a middle ground.

And honestly, his blended theory made a lot of sense.

Otherwise, it was completely impossible to explain why there were so many monsters haunting the area.

They couldn't have all just been washed ashore one by one, right?

Granted, the ocean definitely brought in some debris, but an army of nearly ten thousand monsters definitely wasn't just drifting in on the tide.

"If that's the case, then a population of around ten thousand could certainly construct these structures, especially with the aid of magic," the Magician agreed.

The Magician nodded in agreement with the Pope's assessment.

"Hey, let's put a pin in the lore for a second. Let the little mouse sniff out the good stuff!"

Gu Xiaobei waved her hand dismissively. Did the backstory, the origin of the coins, or where the monsters came from really matter right now?

Of course not!

In the face of a massive treasure hoard, none of that mattered one bit.

Everyone turned their attention back to Lan Qingyou. Meanwhile, she leisurely began plucking items out from the massive pile of gold, tossing them backward one by one.

Seeing this, Li Huai immediately used his wind elemental magic to gently catch them mid-air.

He then lowered them to the others, allowing the group to neatly stack the items off to the side.

Since Lan Qingyou possessed her Magic Eye, it stood to reason that every single item she tossed back was a genuine treasure, right?

The group wasn't entirely certain, but they obediently followed her lead.

For now, the only thing they could do was wait to see what they had uncovered.