Chapter 78

What Jiang Liu asked was—

“In this sea region, are there any other things that didn’t originally belong here?”

Jiang He and Tang Ruo were both surprised, not quite understanding Jiang Liu’s intention.

Only Jiang Liu stood there calmly, never once looking away, her focus entirely on the mermaid queen on the throne.

She seemed uninterested in the three questions, merely lowering her eyes and remaining still for a moment. It seemed as if time had frozen again, just like before, and the air around them thinned once more.

A moment later, she gave the first two their answers.

She raised her hand with some difficulty, and after a slight tremble in mid-air, it stopped accurately in Jiang He’s direction. “He is on the island.”

As for Tang Ruo, all she got was a gentle shake of the head.

Tang Ruo immediately breathed a sigh of relief, though it was unclear whether she felt fortunate or worried.

When it was Jiang Liu’s turn, a flicker of doubt seemed to cross the queen’s brow. The emotion quickly vanished, and she tilted her head and asked, “For example?”

Jiang Liu took out the recording pen she had put away.

The queen seemed to understand and quickly gave her answer. “There are two more things like this at the bottom of the sea.”

She casually plucked a scale from her already battered fishtail. The object, as if with a mind of its own, quickly rose high into the air and stopped in front of Jiang Liu.

It emitted a faint blue light, but it was already very weak, just like the queen’s current state… on the verge of death.

Such a small action seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Beads of sweat had already appeared on the queen’s forehead. She waved her hand at Jiang Liu. “It will lead you to the items and protect you on your way to the island. I wish you a smooth journey.”

After speaking, she closed her eyes wearily, her expression heavy.

Tang Ruo felt a little uneasy and subconsciously asked, “What about you?”

The ones hiding here were all old, weak, sick, and disabled. At this point, a few random people could probably come down and wipe out their entire clan.

The queen’s eyelashes fluttered, as if she had heard her question, but she did not answer.

Instead, a young woman on the other side spoke softly. Her physical condition was even more appalling, with a huge, bloody gash circling her neck, but her mental state was still relatively good.

“Aunt is just too tired. Now that she knows you will help Sister Lin Sa, she can finally rest peacefully for a while.”

Her face looked a bit familiar. Jiang Liu recognized her as the woman who had greeted her on the island.

As if sensing Jiang Liu’s gaze, the girl smiled. “After you leave, the final defense will be activated here. Unless Sister Lin Sa returns, no one can open this door. You can rest assured.”

After saying this, she coughed lightly in discomfort, then stared at Jiang Liu seriously. “Thank you for saving us.”

Looking into those bright eyes, Jiang Liu had an indescribable feeling in her heart. This feeling only gradually dissipated after she was led out of the palace by the scale.

Gao Yuan was waiting furtively behind a reef, occasionally peeking his head out for a quick look. His messy seaweed hair was plastered to his head, which oddly dispelled some of the heavy atmosphere.

“You’re out?” Upon seeing Jiang Liu, Gao Yuan waved enthusiastically, his face full of excitement.

Jiang Liu gave him a suspicious look, her expression hard to read. “Where were you just now?”

Gao Yuan rubbed his nose and replied righteously, “I broke in without the System’s authorization. I’m considered Unofficial Personnel. If the original mermaids found out, I’d be expelled.”

After saying that, he couldn’t help but complain, “If it weren’t for you two, would I have to be so sneaky?”

He was a High-level NPC, after all, a powerful figure who had always commanded respect in the instances. When had he ever been so wronged?

Jiang Liu sighed. “I know it’s not easy for you. I’ll drink with you when we get out.”

At the mention of the word “wine,” Gao Yuan’s previously lifeless eyes lit up, and his tail wagged rapidly behind him. “It’s a deal!”

Feeling as if the gloom in his chest had dissipated somewhat, Gao Yuan’s face lit up with joy. He patted Tang Ruo with his tail and spoke with great familiarity, “I’ve heard about you from Lin Jiao. You’re very impressive.”

Lin Jiao was the instance supervisor Tang Ruo and Tang Rui had mentioned. She was said to be a strong woman who was nothing like her name, decisive and efficient, but Jiang Liu had never met her.

Tang Ruo wasn’t surprised that Gao Yuan knew Lin Jiao and nodded noncommittally.

Clearly, after learning that Xu Meng had entered ahead of time, her trust in instance supervisors had plummeted.

The three humans and one fish followed the scale. Jiang Liu’s eyes shifted to Gao Yuan, and she asked tentatively, “I’ve never heard of an instance supervisor. Are they like you and Zhao Ziming?”

Gao Yuan sneered, looking at Jiang Liu warily. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. I stopped falling for such tricks decades ago.”

But on second thought, it wasn’t a secret that had to be kept. Not saying anything would just make him seem petty. Gao Yuan shook his head and decided to be direct.

“Xiao Zhao and I are just ordinary friends. He respects me with some good wine, and I provide some convenience. That’s all.”

Jiang He clicked his tongue behind him. “How is that ordinary?”

Gao Yuan glared at him, then turned his head and continued, “But instance supervisors and players are in a bound state. Only specific NPCs can freely go out and select players. Generally, the ones bound are those with great potential and a certain level of desire.”

He pointed at Tang Ruo, indicating her as an example.

A military academy graduate, agile, with urgent needs—such a person was better for an instance supervisor to cultivate.

After listening for a while, Jiang Liu calmly asked, “So? Are there any benefits to binding with a player?”

Gao Yuan nodded quickly. “Of course. The more capable the player, the higher the instance supervisor’s reputation, and the more value they provide to the System.”

“Then can you become an instance supervisor? Are there any specific conditions?”

Tang Ruo, who had been listening for a while, followed up on his words.

Gao Yuan scratched his head. “I don’t have such lofty ambitions, and I’m too lazy to lead people, so of course I don’t meet the conditions. But Xiao Yang can. She’s highly valued by the System.”

At this point, he glanced at Jiang Liu. “She came in a bit earlier than me. I heard that in the beginning, she also bound with a few players, but later it all came to nothing.”

He spoke quickly, and Jiang Liu’s mind raced, extracting the key points.

First: Currently, only specific people could become instance supervisors. Most, like Tang Ruo, were directly placed in the Points Arena. They were rarely seen in the normal fields.

Second: Yang Caisi had once bound with several players, but for some reason, there was no news of them later.

As they spoke, the scale had already stopped next to a rockery. Something was shining on the top of the mountain.

Jiang Liu’s eyesight was excellent, and she identified the location almost instantly, but for some reason, her heart began to pound.

She pushed aside Gao Yuan who was blocking her way, propped herself up on an exposed rock, and climbed to the top with a few nimble movements. She finally saw clearly that it was a rusty dagger.

The dagger was made of ordinary iron. The casting mold was very rough, and you could see some differences at the edges, but Jiang Liu’s gaze was instantly drawn to it.

This was a very familiar dagger.

Except for the material and decoration, the appearance was almost identical to the one currently tied to her arm. This style of knife was very common, so a similar appearance was not strange. But to have the patterns and small details depicted exactly the same was definitely intentional.

Looking at the rusty dagger, Jiang Liu’s palm trembled slightly. Scenes flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern, finally settling on a modern house.

The layout there was also very familiar. It was the apartment she had bought in a small city after wandering for a long time and deciding to settle down.

Jiang Liu had dreamed of this place before. She dreamed that she and Yang Caisi had planned to go to an amusement park together, but she was complained about by the girl for getting up late.

This time was the same.

She saw herself leaning against the window drinking tea. The little girl who used to be like a small radish had grown to her chin’s height. She was holding a broom and stopped by the living room wall, her gaze falling on the dagger hanging there.

It turned out that this thing was already very old back then. The blade, which should have been sharp, was duller than the kitchen knife at home. The ironworker who made it had used poor materials and workmanship, and now it was covered in rust.

The young girl stared at the dagger for a long time without blinking. She secretly glanced over to see what she was doing. Seeing that Jiang Liu hadn’t noticed her actions, she smiled slyly, took the dagger down from the wall, and brandished it in her palm, as if imitating the wandering heroes from TV dramas.

When she was tired of playing, she quietly hung it back up and, feigning innocence, asked, “Sister, is this thing of yours considered an antique?”

She had a child’s heart and mistakenly thought she had been discreet, but she didn’t know that Jiang Liu had seen everything. Still, she pretended not to notice and calmly drank her tea, her peripheral vision already glancing her way, a smile playing on her lips.

Jiang Liu heard her own reply, “It’s not the oldest thing in this house.”

Then what is?

A question quickly formed in Jiang Liu’s mind, but she received no response.

Just as the memory surfaced in her mind, like looking at flowers in a fog, it existed for only a moment before disappearing, leaving her with nothing but confusion.

She reached out and gripped the dagger. Although it was crudely made, its weight was almost identical to the one she had. It was probably just a replica.

And the one she was using now was the one she got from Zhang Xiaochen in the theater.

She remembered that at the time, he had just gone out for a bit and came back with such an extraordinary defensive weapon. How could that be a coincidence?

“Huh?” Gao Yuan had approached at some point and let out a sound of confusion. He looked at the dagger from left to right, scratching his head in puzzlement. “Isn’t this the one from the warehouse? How did it end up like this?”

Jiang Liu keenly caught the key element and looked up at him. “The warehouse? The place where the cross is kept?”

Gao Yuan grunted in agreement, turning it over in his hands before shaking his head. “It’s a good imitation, but it’s not the real thing.”

Jiang Liu’s breathing hitched for a moment. She suddenly remembered that the so-called warehouse, according to Zhao Ziming, was the place where the spoils of the former player were stored.

Was Zhang Xiaochen trying to tell her her true identity?

Was he actually trying to remind her?