[Vol. 7] Chapter 16: The Hidden Chamber and the Nautical Map
"Got it… I'm not rushing you or anything."
Nodding, the priestess chose to wait patiently.
Le Qiaoqiao was actually an amazing genius, in some ways, even more impressive than the disciples of the [Shocking God Sect]. She was just a little… clumsy.
Her talent lay in her extraordinary observation skills, incredible learning speed, and exceptional dexterity, in the most literal sense.
After all, being a thief wasn't just about beating people up, or as some might think, just picking locks and sneaking around.
Whether in the Ancient Spirit Realm or the Origin Realm, a true thief was a legitimate profession. Their real work was solving puzzles, finding treasures, and exploring ruins.
Or, to put it more accurately, they were more like detectives, treasure hunters, or scouts.
That was exactly why Violet had brought both of them along for this mission. And now, it was proving to be the right choice.
"Oh… I got it!"
After circling the massive pool multiple times, tapping and testing different spots in ways that made no sense to an outsider, the thief girl suddenly let out a strange yell.
She quickly pulled out a sharp dagger and stabbed it forcefully into a thin gap in the floor near the edge of the pool!
"Click!"
It looked like nothing more than a crack between the floor tiles, yet somehow, half of the dagger sank straight into the ground, triggering a barely audible mechanical sound.
But Le Qiaoqiao wasn’t done yet.
Leaving the dagger in place, she jumped to her feet and hurried over to the cabinet filled with antiques near the desk.
She began inspecting the items one by one, moving quickly.
In less than thirty seconds, she found what she was looking for—a small metal artifact, no bigger than the palm of her hand.
Gripping it tightly, she twisted it several times…
"Click!"
The mechanical click this time was much louder, like a key fitting perfectly into a lock and in the next instant, the water in the pool suddenly began draining away rapidly!
"Th-This is…?!"
The princess widened her eyes in shock, clearly unable to believe what was happening before her.
But Le Qiaoqiao simply waved her hand with a grin, as if she had already guessed what the princess was about to say.
"You were going to say that this decorative item was already checked before, and it had no hidden mechanism, plus it could be removed easily, right?"
"The trick isn’t in this artifact itself. The real core of the mechanism is actually the entire shelf! It doesn’t matter what’s placed on it because the whole thing acts as a lever that’s linked to the mechanism."
"This is a linked trap system. If you don’t activate the first hidden trigger near the pool, then nothing else will respond, no matter how much you check. On the other hand, even if someone accidentally triggers the first mechanism under the floor, it still won't do anything unless they know the correct next step.”
The thief girl smirked, placing her hands on her hips.
"Hmph! Child’s play, if you ask me!"
"Didn’t you just say it was brilliantly designed a minute ago…?"
Violet sighed and shook her head, although she couldn't help but complain. Still, she patted Le Qiaoqiao’s shoulder in approval.
"Nice work. I’ll treat you to a good meal when we get back."
"Boss, you’re the best! I want meat!"
"Yeah, yeah, fine…"
To be honest, when the priestess first entered the room, she had already quietly used her divine sense to scan the entire space.
She had vaguely sensed the existence of a hidden chamber.
However, this was the royal palace of the Merfolk, and one of the last places King Willipol had stayed.
The fact that the room had been preserved in such perfect condition for years showed how important and sentimental it was to many.
If she could avoid it, the priestess didn’t want to forcefully break any mechanisms.
After all, who could say what kind of chain reaction that might trigger? It could end up destroying valuable clues left behind.
"Let's go down and take a look."
With a quick call, the black-haired girl leaped lightly, descending like a feather to the bottom of the drained pool.
Following closely behind, Le Qiaoqiao, Hongyan, and Nitila all jumped down as well.
The pool was several meters wide and over three meters deep, but even the physically weakest among them, the young merfolk princess, was far from an ordinary person, so this height was no challenge at all.
Upon reaching the bottom, Violet immediately noticed something unusual that had been revealed by the triggered mechanism, even before the thief girl could point it out.
On the side wall of the pool, which should have been tightly sealed and unable to allow even water to penetrate, there now appeared a square slit about half a person's height. Water shouldn't have been able to seep through before, yet now a thin opening had appeared along the side.
With a gentle push, Violet pressed against the wall, causing that section to rotate like a secret door, revealing a dimly lit space beyond.
She exchanged a glance with the others, especially Nitila, whose expression was a mix of excitement and deep emotions.
Then, Violet nodded and took the lead, stepping into the passage first.
The hidden space beneath the pool was a narrow tunnel, about ten meters long, just wide and tall enough for an average-sized merfolk to move comfortably.
As they walked through, they arrived at a hidden chamber, just as Violet had expected.
Judging by the direction, this secret room was located directly beneath the bedroom on the other side of the royal quarters.
"It seems like this was King Willipol’s true private space… I’d guess even your mother, the current Merfolk Queen, had no idea this place existed…?"
Violet spoke casually as she waved her hand in mild disgust, trying to clear the stale air lingering in the room.
It was obvious that no one had entered this space for a very long time.
Cobwebs covered the small, hundred-square-meter chamber, and a thick layer of dust had settled over the floor and furniture.
But in a way, that was a good thing, because it meant that the original traces of whatever had happened here were still preserved.
King Willipol wasn't here, neither his body nor any sign of him.
But one thing was certain, he had definitely entered this secret chamber before his disappearance. Something must have happened here. Otherwise, this place wouldn't look so... strange.
A single overturned chair lay on the ground. A magic lamp, once used for illumination, had been shattered into pieces. Dozens of scattered manuscripts littered the floor in complete disarray.
It looked as if someone had suddenly stood up from the desk, making a series of abrupt, large movements, which must have caused all this chaos.
“This is…?”
Nitila carefully looked around, then bent down and picked up a page.
Her sapphire-blue eyes gleamed with curiosity as she studied it closely.
On the paper was a roughly drawn map, marked with several place names and a few long, meaningless lines.
But as soon as she saw it, she immediately recognized what it was.
“This is a sea chart…? A route to some offshore location?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“It looks like a section of the Emerald Sea… but… something about it feels… off.”
Many of the islands were positioned differently, some locations were entirely unfamiliar. Islands that she had never seen before.
“Strange… where exactly is this map showing…?”
“The answer isn’t too hard to guess. Look.”
Violet, who had also picked up a scattered manuscript, walked over and held up her own map fragment beside Nitila’s.
When the two maps were aligned and compared, Nitila quickly realized. They were showing the same sea region.
But the positions of the islands were shifted, altered in a strange way.
Violet’s map covered a larger area, and along its outer edges, Nitila recognized several familiar island formations, ones that marked the borders of the Emerald Sea.
That meant… The adjacent sea region beyond the Emerald Sea was…
At the moment she realized the answer, Nitila’s heart skipped a beat.
An overwhelming sense of unease washed over her, causing the hairs on her arms to stand on end. Her brilliant blue eyes shrank in shock.
“This is… a sea chart of the [Ghost Sea]?!”