Death... and me

Chapter 3693: Facade

Zangeshu and the others stopped inside the ruins, unable to find a way forward. The ruins were in a state of disrepair, and they could easily be destroyed. It’s not that they were locked in one place. In fact, they had already explored everything here, so quite a few were giving up or getting impatient.

"Hmph! There must be a hidden passage here somewhere. Let’s take the walls down." Someone didn’t resist much longer.

Everyone nodded, and they began to take the walls down in the various rooms. However, aside from connecting to other rundown places, they found no clues whatsoever. It was actually easier to bump into other experts who were checking other rooms for the eleventh time or more...

Zangeshu ignored them, taking a device out of his Pocket Dimensional Realm. He turned it on, and millions of invisible lasers shot in all directions. They were harmless and only served to give more detailed information about the area, creating a virtual map.

The device’s interface was displayed in Zangeshu’s CD, and he quickly checked the information. He had been doing it ever since everyone entered the ruins. So, at the moment, he had a very detailed map of the places they had been, which was pretty much the entire ruins. ’This doesn’t make sense. We have been in these ruins for days, but the layout of the map I got with this exploration doesn’t point out any special hidden places.’

Using the cracks of the ceiling of the ruins, Zangeshu flew out of the ruins, joining a few other experts who were already outside. There was really quite a bunch of them looking for the so-called inheritance. He narrowed his eyes, trying to find some pattern until...

*Ring...*

His CD received a call. This place also received the Werdlem Empire’s Signal.

-Yo, Zangeshu. We have just finished our cultivation. Come back so we can think about our next move.-

Zangeshu shook his head in response. "That won’t do, Master. I’ve got information on an Iron Vein Crawler Worm inheritance. I don’t want to leave without acquiring the metals from it."

-Hum? What kind of Demon Beast is that?-

Zangeshu then passed Rean a link so he could check the information regarding the worm.

-Oh! No wonder you are interested. If what is written here is right, this worm’s minerals should be very good for the Divine Sense Runes’ signal transmission. They would communicate quite well with each other, and we can use them under the protective layer of the System Armor runes.-

Zangeshu nodded. "Master truly understands me. I’m trying to find the location of the inheritance, and there are a few hundred experts around doing the same. Yet, none of us had any luck so far."

Following that, Zangeshu shared all the information about the ruins he acquired.

-First of all, how did you even know this inheritance appeared?-

"As far as I know, it was divination," Zangeshu answered. "According to them, the inheritance would be accessible around this time somewhere in these ruins."

-Are you sure it is not a trap to catch a lot of big fish?-

"I thought so too," Zangeshu didn’t deny that. "But considering we have experts from various powers from various continents in the central area of the Divine Realm, I don’t think any other power would meaninglessly start a fight with them all. I might be wrong, of course, but I’m ready to escape at any moment. I got a lot of experience during these last 900 years, you know?"

-I’m sure you have,- Rean agreed and took a look at the information Zangeshu sent him. Then, he faintly smiled. -Here’s a question for you. The Worm lives most of its life underground, rarely coming to the surface, even a Divinity Realm one is no exception. And yet, you are exploring a bunch of ruins that are supposed to hold this worm’s inheritance. Does it make any sense in your mind?-

"This..." Zangeshu shook his head.

Rean didn’t stop, though. -Good. Another question. Have you noticed that these ruins have pretty much no furniture around? They are all empty. Why would anyone rob this place of the furniture it had, since they would all be broken, old, and without much benefit to keep?-

-Then we have this sudden ’divination’ thing. Why would anyone tell about this inheritance to others? If this is not a trap, there is only one reason. The ones who made this divination already came to these ruins, found nothing, and shared the information. Why? It could be because they want to see if someone else would find the inheritance, and they could steal it for themselves. Or maybe they gave up and at least tried to make some money from this information.-

-I genuinely think the first option is more likely. Now, let’s combine the information we got. This place has already been combed throughly, but no inheritance was found. The divination is here, and the ones behind the information believe it is here.-

-Last but not least, those worms wouldn’t really have lived in this place before they became extinct. That means one thing: this place holds no inheritance whatsoever. Instead, it holds the key to discovering the true location of the inheritance.-

Rean worked on the map Zangeshu gave him of the ruins. He reorganized the rooms in that virtual map. -The main clue is in the fact that there is no furniture, paintings on the walls, or things like that around. These are very, very plain ruins. Other than the size of the area they occupy, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for them to be here. Even their location is quite shit if you consider the environment those worms lived in.-

Zangeshu saw in his CD how Rean’s reorganization of the rooms in that virtual map began to take a distinct shape.

-So, the ruins themselves were the real key behind this. Even though most rooms seem identical, they have very, very subtle differences. They match each other like a huge jigsaw puzzle. If you put the right pieces in the right places... take a look.-

Zangeshu’s eyes lit up. The ruins inside that virtual image became a map. "This is quite nice. How did you know that?"

-My dad loved these things back on Earth.- Rean commented. He wasn’t lying. Romario truly had a weak spot for those puzzles. Rean couldn’t help but remember that even though his emotions were suppressed back then, his father still forced him to spend time putting the pieces together. -I had almost forgotten about it...-

"Earth?" Zangeshu obviously didn’t know.

-Oh, nothing, nothing. Just some old memories. Anyway, I’m pretty sure this map matches some location in the continent you are in. Alright, this is it. I’ll see you here in seven days. If you don’t find the worm, just give up.-

Five days later, Zangeshu was back where the entrance to the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm was located. He found the inheritance, but he didn’t touch it. He left it for the fortunate ones in the future. All he took away was the remaining minerals of the worm’s dead body, almost two tons, a big reward in his eyes.