Chapter 341

Besides these water sounds, Su Yu heard the cries of crows again, only these sounds began to seem increasingly shrill as he went deeper.

...As if they were afraid of something.

Su Yu slowed his pace, trying to hear something clearly amidst the pools of blood and the hoarse cries.

But he had no chance to hear clearly, because Su Yu could feel those sounds getting smaller and smaller, then gradually fading into nothingness.

It was getting quieter and quieter.

Quiet to a point that made one feel creepy.

Su Yu stopped and communicated with the two Machine Emperors in his Card Imperial Space.

"I feel... something is wrong here, very wrong, and I have an inexplicable feeling..."

Dijiaro replied:

"Nonsense, I can see something is wrong too... but what can you do? You can only move forward, and you must move forward, otherwise, give the secret realm to someone else."

Su Yu closed his eyes. It was undeniable that this was a treasure he had worked hard to obtain. If he were to really hand it over to someone else, it would be better to just kill him.

Su Yu took a deep breath and slowly adjusted his mindset.

He held a few Magic Cards in his hand, which flashed with a faint light in the darkness, but it was very dim, better than nothing.

In the midst of darkness and silence, Su Yu chose to continue walking forward.

He slowly probed forward, then stepped on something.

Su Yu was startled, immediately jumped back a step, and moved the Magic Card in front of what he had stepped on.

Then he saw the object.

It was a dead bird with extremely beautiful feathers, but perhaps because it had died so miserably, the feathers were mixed in a pool of blood, looking terrifying and disgusting.

Su Yu lowered his head to study it for a while but couldn't see anything, so he stopped dwelling on it and continued walking forward.

This was the second floor of the castle.

Su Yu hadn't expected the stairs from the second floor to the third floor to be locked, but he hadn't finished exploring the second floor yet, so he continued walking inside.

The further inside he went, the heavier the bone-chilling cold became. Later on, Su Yu couldn't see any light at all; it was pitch black before his eyes.

There was no treasure. Su Yu turned around and soon walked back to the stairs.

But it was locked. Even if Su Yu knew there was treasure above, there was no way to get past it.

"Look for a key," Gale Thunder reminded him, "This kind of solo secret realm doesn't have a complete dead end; there must be a key. Think about it."

Su Yu wanted to think, but this environment was too oppressive and quiet, making it easy to feel panic, and as for thinking, it became much more difficult.

But Su Yu was still Su Yu. His talent level was SSS, and the strength of this talent level was reflected in every aspect.

For example, at critical moments, he could calm down very quickly and enter a state of thought.

Su Yu rested his chin on his hand and looked out. He didn't hear any more bird cries.

Why?

In extreme calmness, even his brain was spinning at high speed.

Bird chirping... bird cries...

Su Yu finally thought of something. He turned around and walked back a few steps, then shone the light on the dead bird again.

Since the key could be in any corner of the castle, was there a possibility that it was hidden inside the body of the dead bird?

Su Yu was startled by this thought, but immediately he squatted down and began to fiddle with the bird's body.

"Is it hidden inside its body?" Dijiaro asked.

Su Yu had the same thought. He took back his card, then took out a dagger and sliced open the bird's corpse.

A foul, fishy smell wafted out. Su Yu felt disgusted, covered his nose, used his hand to widen the opening, and turned it over, dumping everything inside out.

As some scarlet things were dumped onto the ground, Su Yu also heard a "clatter."

That was the sound of a key falling to the ground. At this moment, it sounded like heavenly music to Su Yu.

Su Yu felt around and picked up the key. Borrowing the dim light, he examined it and found that the key's patterns were very complex, and the weight in his hand wasn't like an ordinary key.

Su Yu suddenly had an interesting and absurd thought.

If this key was heavier than an ordinary key... perhaps the bird's soul was residing on it.

Su Yu didn't delay too long. After getting the key, he quickly tried to open the door, and sure enough, this key matched the lock on the stairs.

Su Yu opened the lock and looked up.

Usually, he only cleared one level, but today he clearly had extra time, and he didn't need to do anything else, so he planned to clear a few more levels to prepare for the future.

Su Yu stepped onto the third floor.

To his surprise, the third floor wasn't as dim as the second floor. On the contrary, the third floor had several windows, and the cold white light from outside spilled in. Although there was still a hint of terror, it was much better than the dim second floor.

And in the very center of the third floor, Su Yu found a treasure chest.

The treasure chest was in the middle of the third floor, with light from all around shining onto this spot, giving it a bit of a "center of attention" feeling.

Su Yu didn't walk over rashly; instead, he went to the side of the stairs to see if there was a fourth floor.

The result was that there wasn't.

Su Yu thought about it and felt that this might be the finale of the entire castle. After all, the castle was just a small level in the Xunfa Secret Realm and didn't count for much.

"That's your treasure, go get it." There was even a hint of excitement in Gale Thunder's voice; it seemed he also wanted to know what was inside.

Su Yu was careful of the mechanisms nearby and only dared to walk over after confirming it was safe.

Fortunately, the treasure chest wasn't locked, and one could see what was inside just by opening the lid.

Su Yu's mood was as excited as Gale Thunder's. He also wanted to know what the result of his psychological torture was.

After steadying his mind, Su Yu finally opened the treasure chest.

At that moment, Su Yu could even imagine the golden light radiating the moment the chest opened, but his imagination didn't hold up, because he found that there was only a notebook lying inside.

Su Yu looked at the yellowed notebook, and it was no exaggeration to say his mood plummeted from the clouds to the bottom of the valley in an instant. He couldn't imagine that the reward for the castle finale was just a yellowed book, although he didn't know what this thing was for.

"Haha," Dijiaro laughed mockingly, "This thing is really... shabby."

Su Yu's hands trembled slightly as he took the item out of the treasure chest.

Gale Thunder said: "Maybe this thing has value as a treasure. You have to know that the key isn't what the book looks like; the key is what's inside it."

Although Gale Thunder wasn't wrong, Su Yu still felt a bit disappointed. In his mind, the reward for clearing the castle should at least be something slightly valuable, but facts often make people feel disappointed.

Su Yu didn't continue walking; instead, he withdrew from the Xunfa Secret Realm. He wanted to rest, so he took the notebook and left the secret realm.

Su Yu returned to the ship, half-reclined in his seat, and sighed softly.

"...Are you very short on money?"

Seeing Su Yu like this, Gale Thunder couldn't help but ask.

Su Yu was stunned for a moment and replied: "Is there anything about me that makes you think I'm short on money? I'll change it."

Gale Thunder seemed to laugh: "I feel like you've written 'I'm short on money' on your face. Before you opened the treasure chest in the castle, you must have guessed it was something valuable, right? Quite a pity."

Su Yu also felt it was a pity, but he really wasn't short on money.

At his stage, even if he were short on money, he could use many methods to obtain it. The higher the level, the less one pursues such external things, and the more the goal is to improve oneself.

For example, many people with long experience and advanced age are completely unbothered by money.

But clearly, Su Yu hadn't reached that realm.

Su Yu stopped dwelling on these things and began to focus on the contents of the notebook.

This notebook was clearly quite old and should have been left behind many years ago. And because the person who wrote it had messy handwriting, looking at it now, many years later, Su Yu's expression was the same as a head teacher looking at a poor student's homework.

"Can someone tell me what exactly is written on this?"

Su Yu flipped the pages faster and faster, making the notebook rustle.

But he actually wanted to review it slowly. If it weren't for the handwriting, Su Yu felt he might have been able to comprehend something from it.

Unfortunately, until the end, Su Yu didn't understand anything.

"Wait, flip this notebook to the first page. I might be able to understand something."

This was Gale Thunder's voice. Su Yu immediately did as he was told.

Gale Thunder's expression was somewhat solemn. Even in the Card Imperial Space, he said very solemnly:

"I don't know if you can understand if I talk to you about the concept of a dynasty."

Hearing him say this, Su Yu was stunned.

"A dynasty? Are you referring to those feudal dynasties of ancient times?" Su Yu asked.

"Yes, and no."

Gale Thunder's tone carried a hint of mystery, making Su Yu feel curious.

The less he understood, the more he had to ask; this was Su Yu's personality.

"Alright, stop keeping me in suspense. I really can't imagine how just a notebook like this can be equated with the feudal dynasties of before."

Gale Thunder laughed, then slowly began to explain to him.

"The dynasty I'm talking about is the most glorious time of those ancient civilized nations. Do you know why I want to bring up such a concept? Because I actually saw the handwriting of the Giant Rhinoceros ancient civilization, which I was familiar with, on the first page of this notebook."

As soon as Gale Thunder finished speaking, Dijiaro said in shock:

"What did you say? Giant Rhinoceros ancient civilization? Come on, that's an ancient nation that existed thousands of years ago. Even if you wanted to find this ancient nation now, I'm afraid it would be very difficult... No, it doesn't exist at all."