NOVPUBChapter 650: Chapter 648 Xiaomei’s New Invention
Chapter 650: Chapter 648 Xiaomei’s New Invention
…
Sally and Rong Ruo stood on the mountaintop, looking at the Northwest Royal Mansion Xiaomei had mentioned.
It had already disappeared.
In its place was a serpentine river—the Thousand Ghosts Tomb, with its rolling yellow waters churning up mud and sand in a torrential flow.
[Xiaomei? What should we do?] Sally felt like giving up. Curiosity was one thing, but it shouldn’t be limitless.
Xiaomei scanned the nearby Thousand Ghosts Tomb and excitedly said to Sally, [The Northwest Royal Mansion is underwater, submerged. Host, go take a look, and if you can’t find anything, then it’s not too late to give up.]
Sally looked at Rong Ruo beside her, “It’s your turn to make a move, let the waters recede to reveal the ruins of the mansion below.”
Rong Ruo, as a Quasi-Sea God, found controlling water as simple as breathing, “Open!”
The turbid and fierce river suddenly became tame and quietly receded into the distance, revealing the underwater Northwest Royal Mansion.
The rundown Northwest Royal Mansion was no longer the bustling hub of bygone times, only the four gilded characters on the gate announced the identity of this ruined structure.
Sally said to Rong Ruo, “I’m going down to take a look. You keep watch here, make sure no ghosts or goblins from the Thousand Ghosts Tomb come over.”
Having experienced Sally’s strength in the Ghost Vine Forest Sea, Rong Ruo was not worried about her safety. In fact, she sometimes underestimated her own power. If she really fought with all her might, even a God Venerable would have to give way to her.
Not to mention, the treasures she possessed were enough to make others wary and deter them from provoking her.
When Xiaoqi had last returned to the Sea Emperor Palace, he had quietly mentioned—there was an unwritten rule among the Divine Clan now, to provoke anyone but never the Goddess Mother!
Sally turned into a little white mouse and cautiously approached the Northwest Royal Mansion.
Rong Ruo watched her petite figure with a smile, “Being a bit muddled isn’t so bad!”
The river was called Thousand Ghosts Tomb because it hid thousands of water ghosts within.
Large ghosts and goblins noticed the anomaly here and came to check what was going on.
But upon seeing the Divine Light faintly emanating from Rong Ruo, they turned tail and ran, even deciding to avoid this area for at least a thousand years!
Sally said to Xiaomei, [This ruined place won’t collapse as soon as I enter, will it?]
Xiaomei replied, [Rest assured, Host, Xiaomei will protect you.]
Only then did Sally cautiously enter through the grand entrance of the Northwest Royal Mansion.
‘Clang—’ The gilded door plaque fell to the ground!
Sally, startled, her white fur on end, slowly turned back and looked at the shattered plaque, immediately affixing several Defensive Talismans to herself—it was more reliable than Xiaomei…
She opened the System Map, not even sparing the underground, searching inch by inch.
She entered a room whose doors and windows had long since deteriorated.
Everywhere there were traces of water damage, and an empty gilded beast cage which Sally eyed for a moment before taking with her, planning to give it to Zulu for raising some birds or animals.
On the decayed table sat a map. Sally reverted to her human form, picked up the map, and shook off the sand and mud to reveal a clear route.
After all these years, the Northwest Royal Mansion was in ruins, yet the map was undamaged, suggesting it was no ordinary map.
[Xiaomei, check this map for me.] Sally stored the map in the System Space.
Xiaomei was quite excited, loving this type of data material, [Alright, Host.]
Sally checked the room again. The System Map indicated there was a compartment with human skeletal remains inside!
She pushed aside the rotted bookshelf, revealing the compartment behind it, which could also be called a secret chamber.
Because she had already seen the skeleton on the System Map, it wasn’t as horrifying.
There was also a table in the locked room, with something that should have been placed on it before, and a dagger was nailed right into the bullseye on the tabletop.
Sally finished examining the room and then walked toward the skeleton.
He lay on the bench by the window, holding a book between his fingers that was already tattered, “Xiaomei, can you restore his appearance?”
“Of course, Host,” Xiaomei replied.
Quickly, the skeleton in Sally’s eyes turned into a tall, handsome young man with fine features.
Suddenly, that young man stood up.
The dilapidated locked room also gradually transformed into a luxuriously exquisite room.
The young man walked backwards to the table, pulled the dagger off, and tucked it into his waistband. Positioned on the table was a map that looked roughly the same as the one Sally had packed up, but there were differences in certain spots.
“Xiaomei, what’s going on here?”
“Hehe~ This is a new feature I’ve developed, Detective Mode,” Xiaomei said.
“Detective Mode? You really are a little genius who loves to invent and create~ So, is this now what’s called deductive reasoning to reconstruct the scene?”
“Yes, Host.”
Sally chuckled. If that was the case, then he might as well follow Xiaomei’s abilities and see.
The young man stored the map and after leaving the secret chamber, entered the room outside. It was a study, with densely packed books, shelves reaching the ceiling.
He placed the map on a bookshelf and then retrieved another diagram from between the shelves, which he laid out on the desk. And this diagram was precisely the one Sally had collected.
There was an empty teacup on the table. The man picked up the teacup, and as he sipped, the tea went from being nonexistent to half-full…
“This man had no external injuries, drank this cup of tea, arranged maps, and lay down on the bench by the window to read, and then died?”
“Yes, it seems that way for now.”
Sally couldn’t find the teacup and therefore was unable to trace back the time of the tea, or even who had brought it in.
Time withdrew from the deductive reasoning.
Sally looked at the skeleton in front of him and left the room.
After she left the room, the skull of the skeleton suddenly moved… its dark empty eye sockets seemed to be watching Sally’s retreating figure!
Sally visited other rooms in search of clues.
Xiaomei seemed to have taken a liking to the newly developed deductive reasoning, constantly placing Sally into deduction scenes.
Finally, they arrived in a room that was better preserved.
Sally saw a teacup and picked it up… “Huh? Isn’t this the cup that the man drank from? It actually ended up in this room.”
Tracing the history of the teacup, the last one to place it here was Nanny Hua.
And it was indeed Nanny Hua who had served the young man the tea.
Something had been smeared on the rim of the teacup by Nanny Hua.
“In a big family, danger lurks. A servant could also not be a servant, but a murderer.” Sally picked up the teacup and stored it in the System Space for Xiaomei to analyze.
“A murderer?”
“Yes, that skeleton was once a living human. If it were a ghost, even if it managed to develop a physical body, it would disappear along with its demise and wouldn’t leave behind this kind of carbon-based matter.”
“Xiaomei has checked the skeleton’s data and compared it with human information in the database, it should be a twenty-seven-year-old male human.”
“Okay. All right, Xiaomei, let’s head straight for the Skull Lock,” Sally said, looking in the direction of the mountain peak where Rong Ruo was standing, like a guardian deity, casting a warm and tender patch in her heart.
