"The passage here is blocked by standing water."
"It seems that the depth of this ruins is very wide. I have walked for so long and still haven't found the bottom..."
"Maybe we should have chosen to go up from the beginning."
"Are you worried that all the downward passages will be blocked by water? Hmm... It is indeed possible in theory."
Back in time a little earlier, Duan Qing and Xueling Huanbing had just set out. They encountered the problem of seawater intrusion among various choices of paths forward. The passages that had been checked were surrounded by
The traces of manual cutting, the stone steps under the feet and the abandoned fire platform also prove that this place once existed. However, due to the accumulation of water, these traces full of history have been soaked into disgrace. Even ordinary people have been soaked.
It is very difficult to identify. There are many scratches on the rock walls around the passage that look like ghost drawings. Some of them can vaguely form readable words. However, due to the light, Duan Qing cannot confirm that these have been there.
What did the people here want to express? The roar from the surrounding seawater and the deepening darkness made him have no time to think about it. He just wanted to find what he wanted in this complicated and indivisible passage.
Answer.
"The road we came on was a downward road, and there was no room to go up at all." Duan Qing turned around and muttered: "Maybe the platform we reached before... is already the highest point in the harbor.
.”
"But they may also have dug a road directly to the surface." Xueling Huanbing from behind raised his long sword: "So there may be a way upward."
"Don't forget how we got down. This place must have enough air pressure. If this sealed space was connected to the outside world... we would have been drowned by now." Duan Qing explained helplessly: "Besides...
…We are here to find the treasure, why are we looking for those escape routes?”
"It's better than being stuck here all the time, right?" Xue Ling Huan Bing frowned slightly: "Otherwise, where should we go?"
"Well……"
After looking around the narrow cave in front of him, Duan Qing fell into deep thought again. It wasn't until Xue Ling Huan Bing behind him couldn't help but turn around that he calmly stated his plan: "We...
How about just snorkeling from here?”
"What?" the woman couldn't help shouting: "I don't know how much of this passage is flooded, and you actually want to continue going down? And we have encountered so many passages before, why did we choose this one?
Where’s one?”
"Because the sea water here is very special." Duan Qing pointed to the water in front of the two people: "Compared with the sea water in other channels, the sea water here does not have any trace of fluctuations, nor does it fall with the receding tide.
, indicating that this road is not connected to other paths that may lead to the sea..."
"In other words... the road in front of us is a dead end?" Xue Ling Huan Bing said angrily: "Then why are we going down?"
"A path without fluctuations may be a dead end, or it may lead to a unique end point." Duan Qing explained in a low voice: "If I were a pirate and discovered and occupied this natural secret seaport, I would definitely find a way.
I want to run this place airtight, and at the same time try to use my own conditions to maintain the safe operation of this place. For this reason, it is not enough to have an inner port where ships can dock. I should hope that there are also some places where food and weapons can be stored.
A large storage room, a dock that can repair ships, a circulation facility that can provide water and air, and an observation deck that can monitor the nearby sea..."
"Hey, what are you talking about?"
"Well, pirates are a group of reckless men who don't use much brains. They don't have the intelligence to build such a huge project." Duan Qing pointed to the top, bottom, left and right of this space: "They don't even compare this place with
The lower buildings are dug together to create a good traffic environment, because they are just a group of bandits and do not have such patience at all. But with the mentality of pirates, there are some things they must have, such as what I just mentioned
An observation tower, and... some kind of captain's cabin suitable for a big shot."
"You want to say... that the platform we just found is the observation tower?" Xue Ling Huan Bing replied helplessly: "And this road in front of us... is the command room or something like that?"
"Pirates are cautious by nature, otherwise they would have easily perished in the fish's belly." Duan Qing smiled and nodded: "A captain with great power must not only live in the highest place, but also in the safest place.
.”
"So you old players... all like to play psychology."
After saying these words dully, Xue Ling Huan Bing took out his water stone: "Then let's go there together. Anyway, we can come back if we find the mistake..."
"Believe me, this is definitely not a waste of time." Duan Qing made a gesture of invitation: "Under this speculation, the more dead ends we have, the more we have to try, as long as there is a place that we guessed..."
"We will definitely be able to dig out a lot of valuable things."
The aqua blue light shone again under the control of a certain woman, gradually surrounding the figures of the two people, and then after a period of movement, slowly submerged into the water in front of them. After a period of time,
On the other side of the passage, a blue light mask popped up again like a bubble, but this time the air they faced seemed more nervous than the previous one: "It seems... we didn't make a mistake.
place."
"Since it's the highest-level safe room... there won't be any mechanisms here, right?"
"Ladies first, so... you can go ahead and have an interview."
"Huh... do you think I will be scared?"
The heavy sound of falling to the ground appeared in a small space as the words fell. It was the sound of a certain stone door being pushed down by Xue Ling Huanbing's hand. The woman whose arms were still in the air seemed not to have expected it.
As a result, no other sound was made for a long time: "..."
"It seems... this place has been around for a while." Duan Qing, who was behind him, poked his head and looked at it for a while, and finally took it back before the woman on the side of his face was about to get angry: "Even the door made of stone has no quality guarantee.
"
"Perhaps as you said, it's because their workmanship is not good." Xue Ling Huanbing patted her shoulder: "It is really an extremely 'safe' place."
"It's a pity that there are no shining treasures waiting for us." Duan Qing also stepped into the door: "Besides... this place actually has magic lights."
"You can choose to take one away later." Xue Ling Huan Bing replied expressionlessly: "You will be responsible for providing the lighting we need for our subsequent explorations."
The small living room was brightly illuminated by the firefly-like lights on the wall. At the same time, a place like a conference room was displayed in front of the two people. Surrounded by stone tables and chairs, one table was full of
A bed full of debris was placed in the center of the room, giving the scene of this place a strange atmosphere. Because of the rough and uneven walls, there seemed to have been some map-like things posted on it, but because of the
With the erosion of time, there are only a few fragments covered with marks left there. Also turned into fragments are the flags standing behind each stone seat. In addition to various fragments of indistinguishable patterns on them, there are only those that are inserted diagonally.
The flagpole behind the seats still remains intact like those stones.
"Is this... some kind of mysterious ritual?" Xue Ling Huan Bing frowned and said, "A group of flags surrounding a bed?"
"That may not be a bed, but a table temporarily used as a conference table." Duan Qing reached out and picked up a piece of debris, then easily crushed it into pieces: "There may be a wooden board on it, and something like a wine glass.
Same thing…”
"So... the people here are having a meeting?" Xue Ling Huan Bing shook his head: "And... because of someone's temporary betrayal, they all died here?"
"Have you read too many novels and movies, girl?" Duan Qing squinted and shook his head: "Where are the bones? Where are the traces of the battle? Judging from the current situation... no one has died here at all."
"..."
As if feeling a little disappointed that the imagined plot did not happen, Xueling Huanbing walked to the center of the room and became silent. However, it didn't take long for the patterns on the flags to attract her attention again: "Skeletons."
Flag...they are all pirates."
"Follow the clues provided by a pirate and come to look for the pirate's treasure... If what you find has nothing to do with pirates, then you are really seeing a ghost." Duan Qing sighed helplessly: "But... from what I can see
Judging from this situation, these pirates who were sitting here for a meeting did leave here in a peaceful way."
"They didn't even take away their pirate flag." Duan Qing muttered, "Could it be that... this is where the incident in the record happened?"
"What incident?"
"..."
When the woman turned to ask, Duan Qing, who was bowing his head and thinking, didn't react at all, because at this time, he just happened to place his eyes on one of the pirate flags, and then slowly walked over: "...
Palin Putris, Freewind Pirates? Weird..."
"What's wrong?"
"This name... I seem to have heard it somewhere."
Ignoring Xue Ling Huan Bing's question, Duan Qing turned around and came to another broken flag: "There should be other places...well, Captain Tiffani, the King of the East China Sea Pirate Group, with such a domineering name, you are not afraid of being
Will others rise up and attack?"
"Dallas Camparella, the Black Heart Pirates...the name is good, and the flag is well preserved, but I've never heard of it."
"Meadow Starlim, Medov's pirate group... It seems to be a pirate group that was built from scratch. Even the group's name is named after him... Huh?"
Squatting in the middle of a group of stone chairs, Duan Qing repeated the name just now in a low voice: "Stalim, Stalim..."
"Have you... heard it somewhere?" Xueling Huanbing on the side did not care about Duan Qing's attitude of ignoring him, but reminded him softly: "For example, the record you mentioned before?"
"There is indeed a record in which several names are mentioned." Looking around, Duan Qing replied in a low voice: "But that record... has nothing to do with pirates."
"It seems like I really saw a ghost today."
After checking the names left on the seats of several flags again, Duan Qing pinched his eyebrows and stood up. His originally relaxed expression became serious with these discoveries: "Stalim, Ke
Ke, and Fandral...these names, and that family history..."
"So what exactly did you find?" Xue Ling Huan Bing asked helplessly: "Can you first explain what surprises you?"
"These names are all names that have appeared in the history of the Lord of Freedom City. They are all families that once stood at the top of Freedom City." Duan Qing replied in a deep voice: "But now they appear in the pirate's lair...
…Isn’t this secret powerful?”
"That is to say... the successive city lords of the Free City are actually a group of pirates?" Xue Ling Huanbing's eyes flashed with surprise: "Are they the masterminds behind the group of villains who occupied the East China Sea?"
"No, there's one thing we haven't figured out yet."
Looking around the place again, Duan Qing murmured in a daze: "Since it comes from the Void Library, I will first assume that those two records are true, but if we want to compare these two periods of history,
It all makes sense, but there is still something missing in the middle..."
"We still need a piece of support, or...evidence." Duan Qing's eyes stayed in the corner of the room: "According to the habits of this game...such evidence should be very obvious.
"
He walked forward and stopped at the pile of sawdust scattered in the corner. After a while, he leaned over to search and pulled out a simple small box. Perhaps due to the use of some special material, this box
The box has not turned into dust in the past time, so when Duan Qing opened the box, the contents inside appeared in front of Duan Qing intact.
"This is..." Xue Ling Huan Bing behind him whispered: "A letter?"
"To be precise, it's a contract."
Standing up with the box in hand, Duan Qing's eyes gradually became brighter, but a series of system prompts sounded one after another at this critical moment, pulling the two people's consciousness back from the path of exploring the secret.
The two people hurriedly opened the system prompt bar and focused on the life status of the team members. There, the lives of Teacher Zhou Xue, who had previously formed a team with them, were being cleared one by one, and then turned into dead ones.
state.
"Such a fast speed...can't be a mass suicide, right?" Duan Qing took a deep breath: "It seems that we have encountered some trouble."
"...What do you guess it is?"
"We didn't encounter any monsters along the way, so it can only be other players."
As the two people looked at each other, Duan Qing let out a low laugh: "Judging from the death speed of those three people, their strength can be several levels higher..."
"There are probably only two or three possibilities."
This chapter has been completed!