Chapter 337 : Chapter 337

Chapter 337: The Underground Secret Room

"The entire Ninglan Township Fortress has been occupied by our people, but we haven't seen the old City Lord. We've found many incomplete..."

"That's enough," Ninglan Qiuyu waved his hand, stopping the other person from continuing.

Any further, and it would get rather bloody.

He didn't care about the dead, nor did he care about the dead Nightmare Demons.

To him, they were all enemies.

To him, this was all a game, a game where he would become the City Lord after walking into Ninglan Township Fortress.

At this moment, he had arrived at the City Lord's office in the center of Ninglan Township Fortress.

The central position, where his father had once sat.

Every time he came here, memories of being scolded in the past flooded his mind.

But now, everything had changed.

It was his turn to sit here in this game.

Every corner here was stained with the filth of the turmoil, the bloodstains coagulated and turned black.

Even the City Lord's main seat was the same.

He didn't believe his father would die so easily.

Having been his son for so many years, how could he not know what his father was thinking?

This position would be his sooner or later.

He had heard this sentence many times, but so what?

This position was his now.

He still remembered when he was a child, he had curiously rummaged through the cabinets here and was scolded by his father after being discovered.

Then, the cabinets here were locked.

Now, the locks on this huge desk had been violently pried open.

He opened every drawer, bored and tirelessly, but he no longer had the same feeling as when he was a child.

The people standing here thought Ninglan Qiuyu was looking for something, which was not out of place.

But if they knew that this young man who was about to become the new City Lord of Ninglan New City was just reliving his childhood joy, they would never believe it.

"Hmm?"

As Ninglan Qiuyu was searching, he suddenly found a small, exquisitely made box placed right in the center of the central drawer.

It seemed out of place here.

Ninglan Qiuyu opened it without hesitation.

He had thought there might be many things inside, but when he opened it, there was only a key.

Ordinary, extremely ordinary.

He picked up the key and observed the teeth and shape of the key.

A door from a long time ago, one that he had almost forgotten, appeared in his memory.

That was a very old memory.

It was actually the basement of the Ninglan Township Fortress.

He had been there when he was very young, but no one knew what was there.

After getting this key, Ninglan Qiuyu had a strong urge to go and find out.

"Ninglan Qiuyu, you've already sat in the City Lord's position so quickly. Are you trying to experience the responsibilities and burdens of a City Lord in advance?"

A sudden call of his full name immediately startled Ninglan Qiuyu.

His hand movements paused for a moment, then he closed the drawer as if nothing had happened, and the key was smoothly grasped in his hand.

Then he looked up and saw a familiar face.

At this moment, there were not many people who would call him by his full name, and Ninglan Qiuyue was one of them.

"Why are you here?"

Ninglan Qiuyu frowned, having a considerable opinion about Ninglan Qiuyue's arrival at this moment.

"Is there any reason I can't be here? The things you asked me to do are done. Do you expect me to personally participate in the suppression?"

Ninglan Qiuyue's tone was not polite at all, and she directly retorted.

"Then you shouldn't have left your people and come here alone. You'll only cause me trouble here."

"What trouble can I cause you? Isn't it you who are guarding against me? I just came to see my father. Where is our father?"

After retorting, Ninglan Qiuyue scanned the area.

Besides the bloodstains, there seemed to be nothing else.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? What do you mean?"

Ninglan Qiuyue frowned.

She now knew what her father's attitude was towards Ninglan Qiuyu's resistance.

It was just a game of power.

"Literally. If you are very free, then please go and do what you should be doing," Ninglan Qiuyu stood up and said, then left this place.

Since there was no result for now, he didn't mind taking this time to go and have a look there.

His father would never have put this key here so abruptly.

He knew his son very well, at least on the surface.

Ninglan Qiuyue watched Ninglan Qiuyu's departing figure and said no more.

It wasn't that she didn't have questions to ask this brother of hers, but she knew very well that even if she asked, there would be no result.

"Didn't see father..."

She muttered to herself and turned around.

At this time, Tan Han's figure also followed.

"Is the matter settled?"

"I suppose so. At least Ninglan Township Fortress has been completely controlled."

"Unbelievably simple," Tan Han lamented.

"It should be. Let's go first. It seems we are not welcome here... by the way."

"What?"

"Tan Han, is it convenient for you to introduce me to the leading figures of the other transcendent academies? I have something I want to talk to them about."

"Although I'm not very familiar with them, if you want to see them, you probably don't need my introduction."

After Tan Han said this, Ninglan Qiuyue also didn't care too much about the formality.

To find the place where the outsiders gathered, she could just ask around a little.

And she also had some friendship with the outsiders before, but she didn't know every single one of them.

And here had long gathered students from various transcendent academies.

At a glance, the characteristics were obvious.

The most conspicuous was naturally the Holy Angel Academy, followed by the team of many elves gathered together, naturally the team led by the Aphrodite Academy.

The remaining beast academies were very mixed.

Tan Han's gaze scanned, and she was also a little puzzled.

Among the three top-tier academies, it seemed the Wizard Academy was missing.

"Miss, is there something you need from me? I see you have looked in my direction several times. Let me introduce myself, Aqier Charlie. Just call me Aqier."

"Hello, I'm Ninglan Qiuyue. I'm sorry, I was preoccupied with something just now."

"Ninglan... oh. I wonder what Miss Ninglan needs from me?"

Aqier asked in a gentle tone.

When he heard the other party's name was Ninglan, he probably understood the identity of the young girl in front of him.

But his gaze turned to Tan Han at the side.

He was also very familiar with this one, an old acquaintance.

A simple greeting was considered a hello.

"It's like this. I want to know some details about your previous battle."

"Oh? You want to know about this. We didn't really help much, so there's not much to say. But if you want to know anything, just ask."

Then, Ninglan Qiuyue took this opportunity to learn about some things she had not seen.

There was nothing remarkable, and the process was even a little boring.

"There's really nothing much to say about our experience here. Are there any other questions?"

Aqier asked again as usual.

"Oh... that's about it. By the way, let me ask one more thing. Before your operation, did my brother, that is, Ninglan Qiuyu, conduct a screening for Nightmare Demons with you?"

"A screening for Nightmare Demons? What kind of screening are you referring to?"

Aqier frowned and asked.

"That is, to check if one's own body or carried items are possessed by a Nightmare Demon or something. To be honest, not long ago, I was ambushed by a Nightmare Demon. If it wasn't discovered in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable," Ninglan Qiuyue said, holding the pendant on her chest, her tone filled with lingering fear.

"What? Nightmare Demons have such a method?!"

"Didn't my brother tell you?"

"No, he didn't. Maybe... considering that the battle was imminent, it wasn't convenient to dampen morale in this way," Aqier shook his head and said.

"Such an incident is more serious than the blow to morale brought by a screening. Even I understand this low-level mistake," Tan Han said at the side.

"Although it is indeed improper, you can't criticize a person's imperfection after the fact. At least everything now shows that he made the right bet."

Although Ninglan Qiuyue was very unwilling in her heart, the reality was that no accident had occurred.

"By the way, Aqier, I want to ask, have you seen anyone from the Wizard Academy?"

Tan Han also asked at this moment.

"That's also one of my questions. I had seen people from the Wizard Academy before, but then I didn't. I guess..."

At this moment, Aqier also didn't finish his sentence.

After all, there were many factions in Ninglan New City.

They chose Ninglan Qiuyu in order to violently restore stability in Ninglan New City, and then find a way to go back.

And they had locked the key to the problem on the Nightmares, and the subsequent events followed one after another.

"Let's not worry about it for now. Even if time was tight before, now that we have the chance, it's best to screen everyone. So I still want to ask again, do you really have no effective means to detect the existence of a Nightmare Demon?"

The means to detect a Nightmare Demon, Ninglan Qiuyue had communicated with Tan Han about it before.

Tan Han had given several suggestions, such as detection spells, reconnaissance spells, scanning spells, and so on.

But none of these had been verified, and Tan Han couldn't guarantee that they would definitely be discovered.

Then she learned from Tan Han that different transcendent academies had their own unique methods, and maybe she could ask the outsiders to try more.

"I don't know if the divine arts I've mastered can discover such a hidden Nightmare Demon, but... may I ask, how did you discover that Nightmare Demon before?"

"It was discovered by Teacher Little Han. Oh, Teacher Little Han is the one you all call Yang Yuehan, a student from the Witch Academy."

"Yang Yuehan..."

Hearing this name, Aqier's eyelid subconsciously twitched.

It was clear that he still had some unpleasant memories of this name.

"Didn't you ask the other party what method it was?"

Finally, Aqier squeezed out this question.

"This... I'm afraid we can't replicate the method Little Han used," Tan Han said at this moment.

Tan Han knew many things, such as Spirit Vision, Floating World level.

That was a height she couldn't aspire to.

"That's true. After all, your Witch Academy's means are spellbooks. Without a spellbook, it's meaningless," Aqier also echoed.

"Maybe," Tan Han did not correct him.

"But we really should go and screen everyone. Let's notify the other transcendent academies."

...

At this moment.

Ninglan Qiuyu walked alone in an empty corridor.

The people who were following him had been sent away by him.

Some things could not be known by others, such as that basement.

There must be a secret in there.

At least before he knew it, he didn't want others to know.

He walked, his pace becoming more and more urgent.

He took out the key that had been carefully placed in a side pocket of his hand.

Until he went deep into the dark underground.

The atmosphere here was as gloomy and damp as a dungeon, and there was a strange smell and a faint smell of blood.

Suddenly, Ninglan Qiuyu stopped, bent down, and wiped his hand lightly on the ground.

It was blood that had not yet dried.

Then he got up and looked at the end of the road.

He seemed to know what was there.

He came here.

This place seemed to be exactly the same as the door in his memory.

Back then, his father had scared him by saying that a demon was locked up here.

If he sneaked here again next time, he would be eaten by this demon.

And this time, he came here again.

He took out the key, and it matched the keyhole.

As the key was inserted, the sound of metal echoed here.

Every movement of his would produce a violent echo that stimulated his nerves.

What he was doing was very simple, just inserting the key into the keyhole and then opening it.

Click.

With a crisp sound, the door was opened.

As he pushed open the heavy door, the inside seemed to be just a small secret room.

And in it, a figure that was very familiar to Ninglan Qiuyu entered his eyes.

Ninglan Qiuyun, his father.

Ninglan Qiuyu was not surprised, or rather, he had expected it just now.

"You're here, Ninglan Qiuyu. You haven't changed. You still like to rummage through that drawer of mine," Ninglan Qiuyun also said at this moment, but his voice was full of weakness.

"Weren't you waiting for me to come? What is this place?"

"I don't know. I took over the position of City Lord in a hurry, just like you. I knew nothing about it. Then I was busy and forgot about it, until... that Nightmare Demon mentioned it. I guess... this is probably the protection of Destiny that has gathered our Ninglan New City and allowed us to continue."

"Destiny?!"

"I'm guessing. Something as ethereal as Destiny, to believe in its existence is to give up acknowledging the efforts of the pioneers of Ninglan New City for generations... but when I truly saw it, I understood. It is precisely because of our efforts that Destiny protects us."

As Ninglan Qiuyun spoke, the expression in his eyes changed from confusion to determination.

Then he looked up at Ninglan Qiuyu at this moment.

"You are my proudest son. Some mistakes, once made, can never be repaired.

Falling into the trap of the Nightmare Demon is the biggest mistake I have made in my life.

Ninglan New City is now in your hands.

You also have to try to become a qualified City Lord, not a child who will never grow up."

"..."

"The position of City Lord represents responsibility and more. Anyone and anything in Ninglan New City can be sacrificed, including the City Lord, except for Ninglan New City itself."

"Anyone can be sacrificed... just like my mother?"

The silent Ninglan Qiuyu suddenly said at this moment.

"Yes... but... Ninglan New City is now in your hands. I only hope that you will continue it well."

"You don't have to worry about that. But compared to this, what... is stored here?"

"I don't know... but, this is what the first Ninglan City Lord left behind. Perhaps... you should experience it yourself."

After Ninglan Qiuyun finished speaking, he moved half a step to the side, and the existence he was blocking finally entered Ninglan Qiuyu's eyes.

It was a round, exquisite work of art.

It was a finished product carved out of a high-purity white crystal.

It itself emitted a soft light, exquisite and transparent, as if it contained extraordinary power.

And what was even more eye-catching was the thing inside that seemed to be surrounded by stars, which was out of place with this white crystal.

After Ninglan Qiuyun took a closer look, he could only distinguish that it seemed to be a seed, illusory and ethereal, but its skin was dry and even cracked.

"This is... a seed?"