Chapter 117
Chapter 117
Wei Sen walked into the forest, her peripheral vision flicking toward Lin Ze, who was still following her.
She and Lin Ze had reached an agreement on investigating the lead about Ether Group. If either of them found any relevant information, they could sync it to the other through their Watch at any time.
Now that they had finished discussing Ether Group, both of them returned their focus to the current Instance.
Only after clearing this Instance could she go alone to the next one and verify whether she had any connection to Ether Group.
So right now, she needed to investigate the clues for achieving a Perfect Clearance of this Instance. Yet Lin Ze was still following her.
“Do you have something else to say?” Wei Sen asked in confusion.
“It just happens to be on my way.”
From Wei Sen’s attitude toward Meiya that morning, Lin Ze had guessed that her thoughts were probably similar to his. At the moment, they were both planning to visit Meiya’s house and find out what was going on.
Wei Sen looked thoughtful. So he had come to the same conclusion she had.
It was nothing unusual for multiple Order Keepers to investigate the same lead inside an Instance. Since Lin Ze had put it that way, Wei Sen did not ask any further questions.
The two soon arrived in the village. After asking around, they found Meiya’s house.
But just as they approached the tightly shut gate, a burst of furious barking erupted from inside. It quickly drew someone over to open the door.
The man who opened it was over fifty. Judging by his age, he was most likely Meiya’s father. Behind him were three black vicious dogs, all straining as if they might lunge out at any moment.
“Who are you?” Meiya’s father looked extremely stern, and he reeked heavily of tobacco.
“Sorry to bother you. We’re tourists…”
Before Lin Ze could finish, Meiya’s father heard the word “tourists” and slammed the wooden door shut with a dark expression.
Lin Ze and Wei Sen looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.
“Looks like we’re not very welcome,” Lin Ze said.
“Did you notice? He looks a lot like the village chief.”
“That’s because he’s the village chief’s blood brother.”
Wei Sen was puzzled. “So there’s that connection too… But the village chief is warm and hospitable, while his older brother hates tourists. How strange.”
Wei Sen suddenly thought of something. Since Meiya’s father reacted so badly the moment he heard the word “tourists,” then how had He Xu and Zhou Jie visited Meiya’s house yesterday and even found a clue about the cave?
Lin Ze headed toward the back of the house. Seeing this, Wei Sen immediately followed.
“Can you get in?” Wei Sen asked, already guessing what Lin Ze intended to do.
Since they could not use the front door, there was only one path left to them-climbing over the wall.
But judging by sight, the enclosing wall was more than two meters high. It would be difficult for her to get over alone. On top of that, there were three vicious dogs inside. Barging in rashly could lead to unpredictable consequences.
She was actually a little curious to see how the person ranked first on the Hero Ranking would handle this problem.
Lin Ze looked at her solemnly. “Are you sure you want to follow me?”
“It just happens to be on my way,” Wei Sen replied, returning his exact words to him.
Lin Ze pressed his lips into a straight line.
Because his and Wei Sen’s thoughts were far too in sync, there was a high chance their routes for investigating clues today would overlap entirely.
Rather than pretending not to see each other, temporary cooperation was not a bad choice.
Although he did not like teaming up with others, the woman before him was smart enough and had a strong sense of boundaries. Because of that, he did not find her quite as objectionable.
Lin Ze quickly tapped his Watch several times. Then two White Robes appeared out of thin air in his hands.
Wei Sen’s eyes brightened slightly. As expected, the Watch could store Anomalous Artifacts. However, this kind of advanced function was probably something one could only obtain after clearing an SSS-Rank Instance.
This man had stayed in the Eerie World for a full fifty years. During that time, just how many SSS-Rank Instances had he cleared? How many Clearance Rewards from this world had he obtained?
Thinking about it that way, her System was still somewhat useful. A new function that others had to survive an SSS-Rank Instance by the skin of their teeth to obtain was nothing more than a factory default for her.
“After putting this on, you’ll be invisible for five minutes. We’ll split up. Watch the time and retreat accordingly.” Lin Ze handed one of the White Robes to Wei Sen.
“Thanks.” Wei Sen didn’t refuse. For the time being, she and Lin Ze were teammates.
///Ding~ Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the B-Rank Anomalous Artifact: Invisibility Cloak.
Instructions: After putting it on, you will remain invisible for five minutes. It has no effect on anyone wearing the same model of Invisibility Cloak.///
The moment Wei Sen touched the Anomalous Artifact, the System’s voice automatically rang out in her mind.
After putting on the White Robe, the two of them quickly took action.
Lin Ze hoisted Wei Sen onto his shoulder, letting her step on him to climb up the wall.
Wei Sen got up with ease. She had to admit, those sturdy shoulders felt incredibly reassuring underfoot.
Immediately after, Lin Ze took a running start and leaped. His hands caught the edge of the wall, then he flipped over it and landed steadily on the other side, successfully infiltrating the courtyard.
Standing on the ground, Lin Ze reached a hand toward Wei Sen, who was still on top of the wall.
Wei Sen stared, momentarily stunned by that whole sequence.
It seemed that over the past fifty years, he had done his fair share of wall-climbing.
With that thought, Wei Sen judged the distance to the ground and jumped down in one smooth motion.
All right. She was far more agile than he had imagined.
Thinking that, Lin Ze withdrew his hand.
To avoid alerting the three vicious dogs in the front yard, Wei Sen and Lin Ze could only creep quietly toward the main room.
At that moment, inside the main room, Meiya’s father was sitting in a chair smoking coarse tobacco, while Meiya’s mother was sweeping the floor with a broom. The sound of the broom nicely covered the footsteps of the two approaching intruders.
“This is all the sin you committed!” Meiya’s mother glared viciously at the man smoking, sweeping even harder.
“Who do you think is to blame for this?! Isn’t it that precious daughter you gave birth to?!” Her father’s beard trembled with rage. “We shouldn’t have stopped her from being offered up back then! If she’d died sooner, how could she have caused so much trouble?!”
“No, it’s my fault! It’s all my fault! I was blind enough to marry you! Blind enough to marry into this man-eating Ping’an Village! Serves me right for spending all these years living in fear every single day!”
Her father exhaled a long stream of smoke, his gaze turning even more sinister. “What are you so scared of?! So many years have already passed. What could they possibly find out?!”
Wei Sen and Lin Ze both heard the exchange. As expected, Meiya’s family was hiding a secret.
The two exchanged a look. After entering the main room, they split up and slipped into the other rooms to search.
Meiya’s house wasn’t large. Wei Sen first went to Meiya’s parents’ bedroom. The quilt was folded neatly, and the room was filled with the smell of tobacco.
She searched quickly but found no useful clues.
The door to the room next door was tightly shut. Taking advantage of the couple arguing in the main room, Wei Sen carefully pushed the door open and slipped inside.
This room was also a bedroom. The bed was bare, and a thick layer of dust covered the headboard, as if no one had lived here for a long time.
Wei Sen saw many photographs hanging on the wall. They were all of Meiya when she was young.
Meiya in the photos looked around twenty, full of youth and vitality, with a bright smile on her face. She was completely different from the weathered woman at the inn.
There were many photos on the wall, all preserving Meiya at her most beautiful. But one of them caught Wei Sen’s attention.
That photo was hidden among the others. The edges clearly overlapped, which meant there was another photo behind the one in front!
If she hadn’t looked closely, it would have been very difficult to notice the one behind it.
Wei Sen took down the deliberately concealed photo to examine it. It was a group photo of Meiya with a man and a woman.
And the other woman in the photo was none other than Li Shuhan!
The man beside her wore gold-rimmed glasses and had an extremely gentle face. He stood next to Li Shuhan with their fingers interlaced.
It was obvious that this man was the same man whose face had been gouged out of the photo on the fourth floor of the inn!
As for Meiya in this photo, she stood behind the two of them, staring straight at their backs. Her gaze was extremely complicated, as if frenzied envy and jealousy were intertwined within it.