Chapter 75

After confirming La Tiao was fine, Chen Shicheng began searching the main hall.

Well, he actually found quite a lot of stuff—occasionally bits of junk could be turned up from under the spiderwebs: rusted swords, broken mirrors, porcelain bottles holding specks of flying ash, a few dusty jade slips—too bad, just as the camel said, because they're far too old, these things have completely lost their spirituality.

He merely picked up the sword lightly, and the thick rust on it scattered all over the ground; a slight flick, and the blade snapped straight into four or five pieces.

Helpless, he could only aim his gaze at the stone pedestal in the center of the hall, hoping there might be some treasure unafraid of time's erosion.

After clearing the spiderwebs on top, Chen Shicheng suddenly realized this wasn't a stone pedestal but a huge stone coffin placed on a lotus base—though the coffin lid flung wide open made his heart skip a beat.

Feeling a bit disappointed, he casually stirred inside twice, and ended up feeling a hard object amidst the bone fragments that crumble at a touch.

Chen Shicheng's eyes lit up; he hurriedly took out that icy‑cold thing, and instantly a pungent bloody smell assailed his nostrils, making him frown slightly.

【Absolution Merit Plaque: a certificate used to prove one's identity, forged from the Underworld‑specific blood‑soaked cold iron.】

The plaque is about palm‑sized, not light in weight—even Chen Shicheng feels it a bit heavy in his hand.

Its entire body is made of black‑red metal, constantly exuding a rich bloody odor; the front is engraved top‑to‑bottom with a line of ghost‑talisman‑like script, while the back bears a golden lotus.

"Why didn't the First Emperor unify this as well?"

Chen Shicheng looked at the unfamiliar script, feeling helpless, and could only ask Hui Siye for help, "Hui Siye, do you know what kind of writing this is?"

"I can't even fully recognize human writing, you're asking if I can recognize this ghostly scribble?" Hui Siye rolled his eyes slightly, "Put it away; the material is quite good, a special metal only found in the Netherworld, rarely seen."

"Rare just means it's very precious, right?"

Chen Shicheng no longer bothered with what was written on it, smiling as he stored the plaque in his storage compartment.

Apart from this plaque, the coffin held nothing else worth seeing; the inner walls had some reliefs, seemingly depicting the coffin owner's life story, but they had been corroded by the slime on the spider webs, making them impossible to recognize.

He searched the coffin again, finding no classic secret passages or hidden compartments, and no longer wasting time, he casually picked a direction and continued exploring the underground palace.

Perhaps because this place is near the spider nest, there were no traces of wild monsters around; the corridor contained nothing but spider webs.

Even after leaving the spider nest's range, he wandered aimlessly like a headless fly for four or five hours, ending up encountering nothing alive except the corpses of monsters whose materials had been harvested.

"No way, are your hand speeds really that fast?"

Upon entering the underground palace, Chen Shicheng first encountered over ten levels of carrion worms, then a sky-covering swarm of spiders; he had thought this would be a smooth and satisfying leveling journey.

But now it seems, "smooth and satisfying" my ass! Players swarmed like a locust plague, plowing every place accessible to humans, not even sparing the eggs in the corners—either crushing them or scattering them.

Fortunately he discovered the spider nest a step ahead; otherwise, facing those starving players, those spiders wouldn't even be enough to stuff between their teeth.

There was nothing to be done; the wild monsters were all killed, and lingering here was pointless. After a moment's thought, he decided to retrace his steps to grind wandering souls at the bottom of the fissure.

"Hurry, dry three connections, make up the lack, Western Double Marsh, important target discovered, the main force is requesting support—speed up!" Just as Chen Shicheng was about to leave, a sudden urgent voice came from behind, and then the people from the Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department overtook him, brushing past.

Moreover, it wasn't just one person; three or four people in a row looked hurried, holding compasses, rushing toward a direction.

"Important target?"

Chen Shicheng's spirit jolted—anything the Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department could call an important target was definitely not something ordinary!

So what exactly could this thing be? He suddenly felt that going back to grind monsters for levels might not be a good choice, but he didn't understand the I Ching-based directional term "dry three connections, make up the lack, Western Double Marsh" at all, having no idea where the specific location was.

Fortunately, this wasn't a big problem; just following those few people ahead would do.

Chen Shicheng quickly directed the Evil Ghost Pill to follow, but he didn't trail too closely, for if those people spotted him and mistook him for a wild monster in the underground palace and killed him, he would lose his guide.

He kept a distance behind the Evil Ghost Pill all the way, tailing those few Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department personnel as they rushed toward the "important target" direction.

After a few minutes, the Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department personnel, who had been winding through the underground palace, finally slowed down, likely nearing their destination.

Sure enough, not far ahead, the underground palace corridor gradually disappeared, replaced by a tunnel filled with artificial excavation marks, connecting to a huge pit, and those few people tidied their gear and resolutely jumped down.

Chen Shicheng quickly switched to his own view and hurried over.

As he neared the edge of the pit, he heard explosions and bowstring vibrations, plus multicolored Five Elements Divine Lightning flashing and striking the ground above the pit, kicking up large clouds of stone dust.

The fight has begun!

Without a doubt, a large-scale group battle was underway in the pit ahead.

Chen Shicheng quickly piloted the Evil Ghost Pill upward, and as altitude increased, the full scene at the pit's bottom came into view.

This place seemed connected to the outside rift; the pit floor was littered with corpses, over a dozen reservists in novice cloth armor stood on the bodies, holding up gleaming crossbows, yet they dared not fire.

Because on the battlefield ahead, the few who had just guided Chen Shicheng were now teaming up with their companions who had arrived earlier, fighting side by side against a masked player entangled with them.

However, the more Chen Shicheng looked at that person, the more familiar he felt; gradually, the figure of the player controlling Flame that swept in all directions overlapped with Yu Wei.

"Holy shit, it's him!"

Chen Shicheng also hadn't expected that Yu Wei, who should have been hiding like a sewer rat to avoid the perversions of official organizations, would dare appear here.

Uh... it seems I inadvertently scolded Hui Siye as well just now.

Feeling guilty, Chen Shicheng glanced at Hui Siye, then turned his head to look at the reservists who dared not act rashly.

He hadn't expected that the familiar face wasn't just Yu Wei; the person standing in front of the reservists turned out to be none other than Captain Song Bingyuan of the criminal police squad, with whom he'd had a few encounters.

(End of chapter)