Chapter 2506: Time Traveler

"Have you ever heard the legend of the 'Time Tree Hole'? It is said that some people, after passing through certain mysterious tree holes, can travel to the past or the future."

Xia De asked the two sisters again, and based on the ancient texts shared by the church, he voiced his own speculation.

"There have indeed been such rumors, but we have never seen it with our own eyes..."

Grace stopped halfway through her sentence, and the three of them looked at the cupboard together—

"Accordion Hotel, Room 321, bedroom, third black book from the left on the bookshelf, I am at 17..."

An exceptionally blurry voice came from the lower level of the cupboard. The voice was so distorted that it was impossible to even distinguish the gender.

Xia De and the two sisters waited in surprise for a while. After confirming that the voice had abruptly disappeared, Xia De bent down and opened the cupboard door again. As expected, there was still nothing inside.

"Is this also a voice from the past? Could it be the lady the gentleman is looking for?"

Helen asked softly.

"Not sure. We aren't even sure if the Accordion Hotel Room 321 mentioned by the other party is the point in time we are currently in."

Xia De asked them to stay in the broom closet for the time being to prevent the voice from appearing again, while he left temporarily and went alone to Room 321, which was also on the third floor.

He returned in less than five minutes, holding a black notebook in his hand:

"The window of Room 321 faces the Golden Music Hall, and there is even a piano inside; it should be a VIP room of this hotel. It looks like a lady lives there alone, but it shouldn't be the lady I am looking for. I found this on the bookshelf in the bedroom."

He shook the notebook in his hand, summoned a ball of light, and opened it.

The notebook looked new, but in fact, it was filled with dense text and illustrations, and even had newspaper clippings tucked inside.

All of this content consisted of investigation reports regarding the "Accordion Hotel Missing Persons," and the notebook detailed the list of all people who had gone missing here since the hotel was established in the General Calendar year 1809.

The earliest missing person was the youngest son of the first owner of the Accordion Hotel—of course, he was also the uncle of the current owner—and the notebook stated that this case had yet to be closed.

The last missing person recorded was Mary Atlas, a maid who worked at the hotel three years ago.

"A detective's investigation report?"

Xia De guessed, but after flipping through a few more pages, he determined that this was not a detective's investigation record, but more like a writer's research notebook. Dorothy liked to keep such records when researching real cases.

"Seven people have gone missing in 40 years."

Helen said softly, her eyes shining in the darkness:

"Sir, why not investigate these missing persons one by one? The earliest missing person only disappeared 40 years ago; their relatives and those who knew the situation at the time should still be alive. Perhaps, through the details they provide, we can deduce how the cupboard's most stable connection state appears."

Grace reached out and affectionately pinched her sister's cheek:

"Helen, now is not the time for you to play detective games. Let's save the person first. Sir, you should understand what the three numbers and seasons written on the title page of the notebook mean, right?"

The title page of the notebook had "1698 Spring," "1763 Winter," and "1814 Summer" written on it, with the three numbers and the three words representing the seasons circled together.

"I roughly understand. Isn't the spring of 1698 the point in time I just went to?"

This was easy to deduce:

"So, the person whose voice came from the cupboard just now was in the winter of 1763? Could it be the lady you are looking for?"

"Not sure. The voice just now was too blurry. I did see a few letters on the desk in that room just now, but I am not familiar with the handwriting. Of course, it is also possible that the handwriting was deliberately disguised... If it is not her, then there is one more missing person?"

"Do you need us to go downstairs and ask about the rental period of the tenant in that room? The lady you are looking for didn't she just move in recently?"

Grace asked considerately again, and Xia De shook his head again:

"Although she only arrived recently, the Battle of Moon Bay hadn't ended when I learned the news about Brookwood Town. I am not sure about the specific time she rented the room.

Besides, it doesn't matter if it's her or not. Since that person who is suspected to be in 1763 knows the inside story, we can completely find him or her first, and then go find the lady I am looking for."

Grace and Helen both nodded:

"Then sir, how else do you want to try?"

"Just now I guessed that this cupboard is related to the 'Time Tree Hole,' and the 'Time Tree Hole' is related to that ancient Tree God. In the case of not knowing how to use divine items, using power of the same origin to stimulate it is the best choice."

As he spoke, he took out the black and normal time keys, and then took out a 【Leaf of Youth】:

"It's a pity that the 【Flute of Time】 was taken back to Saint Byron's by Amelia, otherwise we could have tried that relic."

The 【Leaf of Youth】 was the first to be tried, but unfortunately, nothing happened. As for the two time keys, because the cupboard itself had no lock and no keyhole at all, Xia De carved a keyhole on the cupboard himself, and then tried the normal time key first.

The hastily carved keyhole did not match the size of the time key, but with just a gentle push, Xia De easily pushed the key in.

"It works?"

Helen asked softly, standing behind Xia De with her hands on her knees, while Xia De was squatting in front of the cupboard:

"Not sure, it could also be that the key itself played a role. After I turned it, I went directly to the time in the past—may the World Tree protect me in time."

He tried turning the key and found that it could indeed be turned. But Xia De pulled the key out and tried inserting the black time key, which could only be used next month.

The black time key successfully entered the keyhole, and when Xia De chanted the incantation again and turned his wrist, he found that this key could not be turned.

Helen, who was standing behind the two, summarized on their behalf:

"If the gentleman said that the black key, which should have been unusable, could also be turned, it means that the cupboard's characteristics are being triggered now; but since the black key cannot be turned, then what the normal key triggered just now is probably the characteristic of the time key itself."

"Sir, since you said when chatting with us just now that the tree hole might also be a special space left by an ancient god, then according to the process, how should it be opened?"

Grace in the white dress asked again, and Xia De suddenly realized:

"That's right, a step is missing."

Steam mist diffused behind him, and the destiny ring appeared amidst the sound of bells and whistles. Because the broom closet was too small, Xia De's destiny ring automatically adjusted its size, appearing much smaller than usual.

"I still like the big one."

Helen muttered, and Grace patted her sister's hand to tell her to be serious, but Helen still smiled happily.

The 【Space-Time】 spiritual rune projected a brass-colored spiritual light onto the cupboard in front of him. The cupboard itself did not change, but under the gaze of the three, the paint on the surface of the two doors below the cupboard peeled off, revealing the wood inside, and the tree grain on the wood became clearer and clearer in the spiritual light.

The keyhole that Xia De had chiseled with his fingers just now gradually deformed and shrank until it became the shape of a real keyhole.

"Looks effective!"

Xia De picked up the black time key again and inserted it into the keyhole:

"May the World Tree protect me in infinite time."

With a gentle twist, amidst the crisp sound of a click, the black key that could not be turned before was actually turned.

"Sir, be careful."

Grace reminded, and Xia De nodded, pulling the left door of the cupboard outward. But this time there was no thick white mist behind the door that Xia De was familiar with; a patch of sunlight spilled in from behind the door.

"Success!"

"The door has appeared again!"

A strange man's voice came from the sunlight. Just before Xia De could reach his hand behind the door, a man's hand wearing an emerald ring actually reached out from the cupboard.

He moved as fast as a loach, poking most of his body out, which allowed Xia De to see that his face was severely scalded, and even his right eye had rotted away.

The strange man only saw three people standing outside the cupboard door with the help of the light ball's illumination. However, he obviously did not have 【Dark Vision】, so he could not see the faces of the three people clearly at all with only one light ball here, but he still cast a spell at the first opportunity:

"Time Stop!"

Click~

The floating dust in the air and the expressions and movements of Grace and Helen "froze" at the same time, while the man with the scorched face still punched Xia De, who looked the tallest.

His fist was covered with a faint blood-red light, and the fierce fist looked like it was going to pierce Xia De's chest directly, but it was grabbed by Xia De before it touched Xia De's chest.

Xia De didn't care about the faint stinging sensation in his palm at all, and looked up and down at the stranger who crawled out of the cupboard:

"Although I don't know what you encountered, we should be considered to have saved you. Is this how you repay your benefactor? Answer me, what point in time do you come from?"

Xia De's right hand exerted force suddenly, crushing the man's right hand with a crack, but because he wanted to know the other party's encounter and what happened behind that door, Xia De didn't want to kill him immediately.

The Chain of Sin had already wrapped around the man's body along his arm, but after a soft bang, the man disappeared from Xia De's eyes instantly, and crawled out of the cupboard again in the next second.

【Time reversal targeting oneself.】

This time the man didn't try to attack Xia De again, but jumped directly upward and disappeared through the ceiling.

His movements were too fast, and Xia De only had time to tie his right leg with the chain. After the man whose body had already crossed the ceiling struggled a few times, that right leg fell down with blood.

He cut off his own leg decisively in order to escape. ===== CHAPTER 2507 =====