Chapter 253: Concubine |
"I told you there'd be something," Bai Mu said, nodding in satisfaction.
The moment he extracted the Blood Jade, a notification chime rang in his ears.
[You have slain the "Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost".]
This Blood Jade seemed to be the ghost's vital weakness. Extracting it was like ripping out a living person's heart, saving Bai Mu the trouble of destroying the mummy and the coffin.
"All done. Let's wrap it up." Bai Mu took out the Twin Phones (White) and waved at his four teammates.
Scattered Fireflies flashed him an OK gesture. This was their prearranged signal, meaning he had found the right target and successfully killed the female ghost. Now, the "Box of Sealing Containing Something" had reverted back to just the "Box of Sealing".
Following that, he saw Work Three Rest Four pick up the Twin Phones (Black). The shared video feed on the screen suddenly vanished, replaced by an incoming call. Bai Mu pressed the answer button, and the first voice to come through was Brewing Cat's.
"Brother Bai, you're amazing," Brewing Cat said. "By the way, what was that glowing red, jade-like thing you just found? Could it be some super powerful piece of equipment?"
"It's just a special item. Judging by the description, it's formed from the condensed essence and blood of those tomb raiders. I have no idea what it actually does, but I'm guessing it might come in handy later in the script," Bai Mu replied. He glanced at the Blood Jade in his hand before storing it in his inventory.
"No worries, I'll just wait for you in this tomb chamber," Bai Mu replied. "It should only take you five or six minutes to get here."
"Well... alright then, we'll be right over. Be careful, Brother Bai."
"Big Brother Bai, we'll be right there," Scattered Fireflies hastily added, seemingly afraid that Bai Mu would forget about her, eagerly making her presence known. "Alright," Bai Mu responded casually.
Earlier, he had shared the usage rights of the Box of Sealing with Scattered Fireflies, allowing her to store the box in her inventory and carry it away.
Great Northern Wilderness had previously demonstrated this sharing mechanic to him back during the "Death March" script, which was how he had temporarily acquired a wear-resistant suit. However, while inside a script, players could only share the usage rights of items and equipment; they could not trade outright ownership.
If the player who owned the item failed to retrieve it before the script ended, the item would be lost entirely. Similarly, a non-owning player carrying the item would not be able to take it out of the script.
The only way to actually transfer ownership of items and equipment was through formal "trading" back in the Community.
In truth, this was an excellent rule for players in team-based scripts, especially the weaker ones.
It largely eliminated the possibility of teammates turning on each other. After all, even if you murdered a teammate or caused their death, you couldn't take their items. With no benefits to gain from causing a teammate's death, and a guaranteed drop in personal survival rates, no one in their right mind would engage in such a completely counterproductive act. Getting back on topic, after waiting for five minutes, Bai Mu saw the glow of a bronze lamp emerging from the darkness.
During that time, Bai Mu had studied the Emperor's Jade Dragon again. The object's luster had grown a bit brighter. It seemed his recent actions had earned him another wave of admiration from his teammates, allowing him to take another step forward on his "Path to Becoming Emperor".
On the opposite side of the tomb chamber's stone doors, Brewing Cat waved at Bai Mu enthusiastically, sporting a bright smile as if they were the best of friends. After witnessing Bai Mu's stellar performance, this seemingly innocent but calculating female player seemed to have completely shifted her attention away from I Love a Sword.
Bai Mu didn't exactly hate her behavior, but he couldn't say he liked it either. Still, it was marginally better than having her give him the cold shoulder in utter silence. He decided to just pretend she was genuinely concerned about him.
"Your phone." Bai Mu placed the white phone into Brewing Cat's hand. Before they arrived, he had briefly used some silk to wipe his hands. They were mostly clean now, though a faint odor still lingered.
Brewing Cat didn't show any signs of disgust. With a faint smile, she took the phone back. "Received."
"Big Brother Bai, your box." Scattered Fireflies also returned the Box of Sealing. "We peeked inside earlier, but that female ghost didn't leave anything behind."
"Mhm," Bai Mu acknowledged, stowing the Box of Sealing away once more.
Upon reaching the scene, I Love a Sword pinched his nose. The smell inside the tomb chamber was truly awful. A sickening mix of rotting wood, the sharp tang of rusted bronze, the peculiar caramel-like sickly sweetness of aged silk, and the heavy stench of rotting corpses hit them in waves, making everyone feel nauseous.
Seeing how calm Bai Mu had been earlier, he initially thought the smell wasn't that bad. Discovering it was a completely foul, overpowering stench only deepened his respect for Bai Mu.
Work Three Rest Four furrowed her brows as well. However, Brewing Cat simply waved her hand, releasing a burst of green luminescence. Suddenly, a refreshing sensation washed over the group. The smell hadn't completely vanished, but its effect on them had been drastically minimized.
"Purification Spell," Brewing Cat said with a squinted smile. "It can cleanse our abnormal statuses and simultaneously increase our tolerances." "That's a nice skill," I Love a Sword commented, stretching his shoulders. He felt much better now.
"But it only lasts for ten minutes," Brewing Cat added. "And even with the Purification Spell, I definitely wouldn't dare to explore freely on my own like Brother Bai did."
"What's our next move, captain? Are we still moving forward according to the original plan?" Bai Mu asked.
"Hold on, let me investigate this tomb chamber first," I Love a Sword replied. "We might be able to figure out her true identity, along with who these tomb raiders were. Right, can you let me take a look at the Blood Jade you pulled out of the mummy's mouth?"
"Of course." Bai Mu retrieved the Blood Jade and showed it to the group.
I Love a Sword studied it for a moment before saying, "It requires a living extraction... Does that mean if the mummy was destroyed beforehand, this item would have just disappeared? The difficulty of obtaining this is incredibly high."
"Big Brother Bai, how did you even know there was a Blood Jade in the mummy's mouth?" Scattered Fireflies asked.
"Since those corpses were tomb raiders, even after mutating into zombies, there should have been some bodily fluids left when I slashed them to death. However, I only found a tiny bit of moisture in their large intestines, with absolutely no trace of blood on their bodies. Combining that with the script's brief about the commoners being sucked dry into mummies, it was easy to deduce that these men also had their blood completely drained by the female ghost," Bai Mu explained. "So I approached it with a 'give it a try' mentality, thinking I might find something on the female ghost's body, and as it turned out, I did."
"You're incredibly meticulous, Brother Bai," Brewing Cat said in praise. "If it were me, I definitely would have completely missed this item."
"Indeed." I Love a Sword thought to himself, 'Out of the five of us, Bai Mu is probably the only one who could have obtained this Blood Jade.'
"Before you arrived, I already pushed open the stone doors on the other side." Bai Mu pointed across the room. "Up ahead is a narrow corridor that should lead to another tomb chamber. Also, I found some things inside the coffin that I couldn't quite understand. Brother Sword, take these and see if you can make sense of them." Bai Mu handed over a few pieces of embroidered silk, a bronze personal seal, and a silver hook belt to I Love a Sword, patiently waiting for his analysis. "A personal seal, a silver hook belt..." I Love a Sword murmured. "This woman... it seems she was a concubine of the King of Huainan."