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Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Chp29. part1
Even Owen noticed. “Is that an anchor? Could it be related to the Anchor Point?”
“It’s possible,” Pei Han said.
The Delivery Man asked, “Should we try scanning it?”
The cross-dressing guy said, “Even if we have to scan it, shouldn’t we find all three medals Little Husky mentioned first?”
His reasoning was perfectly sound.
Everyone took turns examining the Bronze Medal.
Social Bro, holding the medal and studying it, asked Pei Han, “Brother Pei, where did you find this?”
“Following Little Husky’s clues, in a snake nest in the Royal Palace garden,” Pei Han replied.
Social Bro immediately threw the medal away.
Despite his full-body tattoos and ability to fight for hours without flinching, he was terrified of snakes.
Teacher Su caught the medal and said helplessly, “What are you afraid of? It’s a medal, not a snake egg.”
The cross-dressing guy marveled, “That was fast! You finished the task in no time.”
Pei Han said, “Actually, I had Iris take me around the palace earlier. By the way, I discovered that the sewing workshop pays two Silver Solons a month. Ten Silver Solons equal one Gold Solon.”
So it took five months of needlework to earn a single Gold Solon.
No wonder the people who received the 10,000 Gold Solon reward after yesterday’s Sacrificial Ball were so happy, and why the crowd watching was so envious.
This was equivalent to receiving four thousand years’ worth of salary in one go, like someone earning four thousand a month winning a two-hundred-million-dollar lottery.
No wonder some people still participated in the Sacrificial Ball, even knowing people would die.
When they survived and collected their award, shouting “Generous Her Majesty the Queen, benevolent Viscountess!” they must have been genuinely sincere.
Ning Ge thought to herself, the Sacrificial Ball hadn’t angered the heavens or incurred the wrath of the people. In fact, yesterday’s actions had boosted the popularity of both the Queen and her heir, Viscountess Nona.
The mission was complete, but the Sprint Time drawing hadn’t been used yet. Everyone collectively nominated Engineer Zheng to draw again.
This time was also successful, yielding seven minutes of Sprint Time.
They now had a total of nineteen minutes of Sprint Time. Though they didn’t know what it was for, they felt the more the better.
Once everyone had gathered, they headed to the dining hall for a meal.
It was already late afternoon, but Iris still ordered the Wooden Puppets to serve breakfast.
The breakfast was extravagantly lavish. Under the service of twenty Wooden Puppets, they ate until they were full before heading upstairs to find Little Husky and retrieve the clue for the second medal.
Surprisingly, Little Husky wasn’t being mischievous. It was still dozing in its second sleep, but it sat up groggily when they entered.
The moment it spotted the Bronze Medal in Pei Han’s hand, it snatched it away.
“That’s right! It’s my Bronze Medal! You’re quite quick!”
Ning Ge asked, “So, what competition is this medal from? Did you win something?”
Little Husky shook his head. “Actually, I stole it.”
The others were speechless.
Little Husky puffed up with pride. “The Empire holds a Puppet-Making Competition every year. The top three winners each receive a medal: bronze, silver, and gold. That year, I lost and didn’t get a medal, so I was very unhappy and stole all the other winners’ medals.”
The others were speechless.
Calling it mischievous was no exaggeration.
Little Husky said, “It was my favorite toy. Unfortunately, I lost all the medals before it broke. Can you help me find them?”
“Can you give us another clue?” Pei Han asked.
Little Husky clutched the Bronze Medal happily. “The next place should be the Hidden House by the lake north of the Royal Palace.”
Ning Ge asked, “Hidden House? What is it?”
“The Hidden House was a vacation cottage built by the former Minister of Internal Affairs by the lake. It’s been abandoned ever since he was dismissed and exiled.”
Ning Ge asked curiously, “Why was the Minister of Internal Affairs dismissed and exiled?”
“Because he opposed Her Majesty the Queen’s ascension to the throne! He supported the Queen’s brother instead,” Little Husky said. “After he died, the Hidden House started being haunted. Everyone who went in never came out, so no one dares go there anymore.”
Little Husky shivered violently.
Ning Ge: “…”
Most people assumed puppets were the most likely to be haunted, but she never expected a puppet to be afraid of ghosts himself.
Little Husky jumped down from the table. “The Hidden House is hard to find. I’ll take you there.”
Social Bro asked Pei Han, “Brother Pei, we’re going to a haunted place. Should we grab some weapons from the Royal Palace?”
Ning Ge thought: To deal with the System’s kind of “ghosts,” a generator would be more useful than weapons.
Too bad this world doesn’t have one.
“No need,” Pei Han said. “This is a brain-power Dungeon, not a physical one. We probably won’t need them.”
As they left, Iris was waiting quietly at the door. Little Husky immediately sized him up.
“Hey! Big Ocean Doll, did Mom make you as a new puppet servant while I was away?”
Iris bowed to Ning Ge and the others before lowering his voice and letting his long lashes droop as he replied to Little Husky, “I’m not a ‘Big Ocean Doll.’ My name is Iris. The Viscountess isn’t your mother; she’s our master.”
Both wooden puppets were the Viscountess’s creations, and they seemed to look down on each other.
A group of people, accompanied by two Wooden Puppets, set out to find the “Hidden House” behind the Royal Palace.
As they walked, Owen chatted with his beloved Little Husky.
“Even when you don’t have a head, you can still see and hear everything around you, right?”
He seemed to envy Little Husky’s ability to function without one.
“It’s not seeing or hearing, it’s more of a feeling, like being covered in a layer of paper,” Little Husky replied. “Having a head is much more comfortable.”
Little Husky blinked. “Eyes are professionals at this. They see much more clearly.”
Iris, ever thoughtful, explained softly, “Puppets are different from people. Each part can use infused spiritual power to think and sense the surroundings, but it’s not very clear. If you add a head, it will rely solely on the head for thought and use the eyes for vision.”
The group descended the steps, following Little Husky around the Royal Palace towards the back entrance.
As they passed the front of the palace, Little Husky veered far from the paved stone path, leading them onto the grass beside a patch of violets.
Pei Han asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Why are we taking this detour?”
Little Husky shivered.
“We shouldn’t take that path. It feels like walking over my past life’s grave.”
Ning Ge understood. She looked up. “You fell from up there last time, didn’t you? And landed over there, shattered into pieces?”
Little Husky shivered again. “That’s right.”
Ning Ge was puzzled. “Why did you jump off the building? Did you fall by accident?”
Little Husky thought blankly for a moment. “Little Husky can’t remember at all.”
He must have lost his memory from the fall.
At the back entrance of the Royal Palace was a parking area lined with wooden carriages. Instead of horses, Wooden Puppets pulled them.
Iris said, “Please wait a moment, my Lady. I’ll fetch your personal carriage.”
He soon returned with several carriages. The wood was meticulously polished, gleaming in the afternoon sun. The seats inside were cushioned with thick, soft silk.
Iris carefully helped Ning Ge into the carriage.
The Viscountess’s carriage was spacious but had only two seats. Little Husky clamored to get in, but Iris firmly blocked him.
“If you ride in the carriage with my Lady, you’ll disturb her rest. I don’t even ride in the same carriage as my Lady.”
The words “even I” provoked Little Husky, who rolled his eyes at Iris. “How am I anything like you? You’re just a Wooden Puppet Servant doing chores, while I’m Mother’s precious son.”
Iris: “……”
While they were arguing, the mantis caught the cicada, and the oriole was right behind.1 Pei Han had already nimbly boarded the carriage.
After settling beside Ning Ge, Pei Han casually remarked, “I’m the Viscountess’s companion. This seat should rightfully be mine, shouldn’t it?”
The puppet carriage rode with extreme smoothness, not a single bump.
They passed through the streets and alleys outside the Royal Palace. As they traveled, the streets gradually emptied, and the surroundings transformed into a forest.
The carriage stopped on a narrow path.
Not far away stood a towering wall of thorny bushes, several meters high and meticulously trimmed into flat, straight lines.
Yet despite the bright daylight, not a soul was in sight.
The bracelet, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly chimed with a notification.
[Task: Enter the Hidden House and retrieve Little Husky’s Silver Medal.]
[Instructions: Complete within two hours.]
[Failure Penalty: Randomly select a player to execute.]
The countdown began the moment the task was issued.
Finding the Bronze Medal had taken three hours, but now finding the Silver Medal only allowed two. The medals were improving, yet the time allowed was shrinking.
There was an entrance to the thicket. The moment they reached it, Little Husky took a step back. “The Hidden House is through this maze. Mom, you go.”
Ning Ge turned to look at him.
Little Husky said seriously, “They say this place is haunted. Little Husky is too scared to go in.”
Ning Ge was speechless. If Little Husky is too scared to go in, how did he manage to drop the silver medal inside?
Iris quietly stepped forward. “I’ll accompany my Lady inside.”
Hearing this, Little Husky opened his mouth in protest, but his fear of the Hidden House won out, and he remained silent.
Iris’s long golden eyelashes drooped obediently. Ning Ge couldn’t help but smile slightly.
Footnote:
- “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind” (čŗčæčīŧéģéå¨å)” it is a very popular metaphor often used in historical fiction:
– The Cicada: The target or victim who is completely unaware of any danger.
– The Mantis: The first attacker or plotter. They are so focused on catching the “cicada” (their immediate prize) that they lose situational awareness.
– The Oriole: The final predator or the “true” mastermind. They wait for the mantis to strike so they can capture both the mantis and the cicada in one move. âŠī¸
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