Life Game In Other World
Chapter 327: Follow the Vine to Find the Melon (Big - , Please Bookmark, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 327: Chapter 327: Follow the Vine to Find the Melon (Big Chapter, Please Bookmark, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

As the sun rose, the cruise ship finally docked at the harbor of the Nolai Republic.

The support ship from the Research Institute unloaded the extraordinary items from the ship, and others were dispatched for transportation.

Survivors like He Ao, who had emerged alive from the ruins, were arranged to fly directly back to Central Earth on a private jet.

The ship docked at about seven in the morning, and the plane was set to take off at eleven, with roughly two hours needed to get from the harbor to the airport, so there wasn’t much rest time for everyone.

He Ao placed the Adam model, Arbitration Scales, Puppet Crystal Ball, and Spacetime Beacon all into the Pirate Treasure Box.

The Magician’s Top Hat he had brought from Xidu, as well as the remaining Corpse Flower Solution, and the most conspicuous of all, the bone sword, were carried on his person; if these items disappeared, he would need to explain why.

The Miracle Wand, because it couldn’t fit into the Pirate Treasure Box, was still tucked at his waist, hidden inside his coat.

After disembarking from the cruise ship, the group had a brief moment to take in the foreign scenery.

Most of the buildings in the Nolai Republic resembled those of the Tia Empire, with which they were once affiliated; after becoming independent, they still retained a lot of the traditions of the Tia Empire.

Fortunately, there was Kaifeng cuisine available here.

He Ao took Liu Nan to a Kaifeng cuisine restaurant, ordered two burger combos, and asked for two paper bags.

The Kaifeng cuisine here did not have those special dishes supplied in Central Earth, but some classic burger combos were still available.

Liu Nan was not picky, she would eat whatever He Ao ordered.

"One does not give without a motive," Liu Nan narrowed her eyes at He Ao, her finger as white as jade lifted slightly and twirled in the air, "Eating your food isn’t easy, do you need my help with something?"

"Was the cruise ship that took us to the ruins always docked on the island?"

He Ao, not holding back, took a paper napkin and wiped the table in front of him, and softly asked.

The question stemmed from the Tomb Guardian.

The Tomb Guardian was a Dark Seed planted by Daybreak within the Research Institute, assigned to enter the Relic Tower in attempts to gain control of the tower.

He Ao now was fairly certain that the person instructing the Tomb Guardian to enter the ruins was very likely the same one who, ten years ago, had entered the ruins and taken the central processor from the Relic Tower.

After ten years of preparation, he sent the Tomb Guardian into the ruins to take the Spacetime Beacon that was hidden in the Central Control Room’s restroom.

He had even disguised himself with commander privileges for this purpose.

Although in the end, both the Spacetime Beacon and the tower’s commander privileges ended up in He Ao’s hands.

After the ruins’ adventure concluded, the Tomb Guardian did not survive to return, and the enemy’s plans had failed; they were certainly investigating the cause of the Tomb Guardian’s death.

The enemy definitely wanted the Spacetime Beacon that He Ao possessed.

The exposure of the transferred tower privileges was only a matter of time.

Even if no issues were discovered this time, the next time the ruins opened, or the time after that, once the enemy sent people into the ruins and discovered they couldn’t get into the tower, they would surely suspect the survivors from this occasion.

And this time, Daybreak’s daring attack on the Research Institute’s cruise ship might well have been out of suspicion that the Spacetime Beacon had ended up in the hands of the Research Institute.

Therefore, for He Ao, instead of waiting to be investigated by others, it was better to take the initiative, to keep abreast of the enemy’s plans and keep the upper hand in his grasp.

He also needed that central processor that had been taken to understand what exactly was being held beneath the tower, something related to Super Memory.

So as soon as He Ao emerged from the ruins, he began to investigate the identity and whereabouts of the enemy.

Now, by indirectly learning about Daybreak, He Ao had a guess about the enemy’s identity, but mere conjecture was not enough; he needed a breakthrough, a way to thoroughly understand and confirm the enemy’s identity.

The Tomb Guardian represented just such a breakthrough.

Even though the Tomb Guardian was dead, traces are inevitably left behind in this world by those who pass through it.

The Tomb Guardian had entered the ruins on orders from the enemy, disguised as a C-level Transcendent.

In the morning, Yang De brought He Ao the appointment letter and contract for the deputy minister position, along with access to the deputy minister’s privileges.

The moment he obtained the deputy minister privileges, He Ao immediately looked up the Tomb Guardian’s information.

Of course, he didn’t only check the Tomb Guardian’s data; he reviewed the information of all those who had entered the ruins this time and placed the Tomb Guardian’s file towards the middle to later part of the list.

This seemed like a newly appointed deputy minister curiously reviewing the data of colleagues.

However, even deputy minister privileges didn’t reveal the true identities of Special Appointed Researchers, but it was possible to see the extraordinary items they had registered before entering the ruins.

For example, what He Ao registered were the Magician’s Top Hat and Corpse Flower Solution.

When setting off for the destination, the local director of the Research Institute would check that the extraordinary items of Special Appointed Researchers entering the ruins matched the registered items.

There was also a strict security check before boarding the plane in Dongdu to verify that no additional extraordinary items were being smuggled.

He Ao could even access the security check video footage.

The Tomb Guardian hadn’t registered any extraordinary items; He Ao reviewed the footage and clearly saw that he brought nothing, simply boarding the plane.

However, in reality, the Tomb Guardian wielded a C-level extraordinary item, the Puppet Crystal Ball, within the ruins.

Ah, and that crystal ball is now in He Ao’s possession.

From the fact that the Tomb Guardian could control a squirrel that died in front of He Ao, it can be deduced that when he first entered the tower, the Tomb Guardian was behind He Ao, only after He Ao left did he find and take control of the deceased squirrel.

This means that when the Tomb Guardian arrived in the ruins, he was farther from the tower than He Ao.

His physical abilities were far inferior to He Ao’s, and he was further away to begin with, but he reached the high tower before He Ao did.

It indicated that from the outset, he had utilized the power of the Puppet Crystal Ball to ride an exotic beast.

According to the archives of generations from the Research Institute, areas where Explorers first descended into the ruins are relatively safe, with exotic beasts not exceeding E-grade, and the locations are completely random.

Therefore, the chances of a Tomb Guardian happening to find an ’unclaimed’ C-level Puppet Crystal Ball near the descent area were almost zero.

From this, it was evident that the Puppet Crystal Ball was something the Tomb Guardian had brought into the ruins from the main world, and given that there was no sight of the crystal ball during security checks, it’s not likely that the Tomb Guardian had brought it from Central Earth.

Of course, that would be reasonable. An E-grade Transcendent with a C-level Transcendent item would indeed seem suspicious.

Thus, the only possibility was that the Tomb Guardian acquired the Puppet Crystal Ball after leaving Central Earth.

But the flight from the Research Institute was a direct one to the Liu Family’s private island, and there was no chance of interacting with other people along the way. The Institute’s personnel on the plane had undergone strict security checks and could not have brought any other Transcendent items.

And on the private island, everyone was restricted to a single hall, surrounded by Yang De’s people from the Research Institute, all his trusted personnel. The likelihood of them being bribed by Daybreak was slim.

Furthermore, Yang De would occasionally gather them for speeches, so the chances of the Tomb Guardian obtaining the Puppet Crystal Ball on the private island were not high.

That left only one other possible location,

On the cruise ship en route to the passage to the ruins.

Aboard that ship were Liu Family’s workers. When He Ao needed barbecue ingredients, Liu Nan was able to immediately have someone bring the ingredients to him. These were the ship’s original crew, people of the Liu Family.

Winning over the Liu Family’s people was easier than winning over those from the Research Institute.

It was also on that cruise ship that the Tomb Guardian bumped into the Speech Master, who said he was acting sneakily. At that time, he might have been searching for the crew member who was his secret contact.

Of course, there was one last issue. There were power restrictions on entering the ruins; this time, the highest allowed was D-grade.

That’s why the Research Institute sought out people below D-grade to enter the ruins. Exceeding D-grade might have prevented entry into the ruins or even caused the passage to shatter.

This D-grade limit applied to Transcendent items as well.

If He Ao’s conjecture was correct, that the Tomb Guardian was able to bring a C-level Puppet Crystal Ball into the ruins, it proved that his backers might have control over a method to bypass the ruins’ passage power restrictions to some extent.

The parties involved were unlikely to have discovered this method on their own, as the Research Institute was still out of their depth with it, and the technological gap between them couldn’t be that great.

Thus, the method clearly originated from the Central Processor that had been taken away.

That Central Processor probably held many hidden secrets unknown to others.

He Ao gathered his thoughts and continued to watch Liu Nan.

If the cruise ship’s crew had given the Puppet Crystal Ball to the Tomb Guardian, then where did the crew get the item from?

This was the reason He Ao was seeking Liu Nan this time.

"Can’t be," faced with He Ao’s question, Liu Nan shook his head,

"The cruise ships aren’t always kept at the island. I remember those ships were allocated from a nearby group’s cruise rental company. They’re towed over when needed, and when not in use, they’re still there to make money."

"Where were they allocated from?"

He Ao asked softly.

"Seems like it was from a cruise rental company in the Nolai Republic, hold on..."

Liu Nan took out her phone, apparently searching for something.

He Ao went to the bar to get some food, placing a burger in front of Liu Nan.

"It’s from a rental company in the Nolai Republic," Liu Nan put down her phone and spoke softly,

"The crew members have been working with the group for many years, mostly from Central Earth. The cruise ships were directly towed by tugs to the island, and all crew members underwent security checks before departure."

From the Nolai Republic to the private island, it was almost the same route they had taken to get there previously.

"Did they encounter any other vessels along the way?"

He Ao asked casually.

"I’ll ask."

Liu Nan opened the burger box and sent a message to someone.

After a while, she picked up her phone and showed He Ao, "They had a fuel resupply en route, but it was a lateral transfer. They just threw over a hose for fuel delivery, no human contact, and they even recorded a video. Look here."

"Can you send me the video to take a look?"

He Ao bit into his burger and glanced casually.

"Why are you suddenly interested in this?"

Liu Nan asked softly.

"It’s my first time seeing the ocean. I’m quite curious about the ocean, ships, refueling, and private islands. I didn’t have time to be curious before, but now that I have a moment, I wanted to ask."

He Ao answered nonchalantly, "The bread of the burgers here is pretty hard, kind of tough to chew."

He Ao was indeed curious, but more importantly, he wanted to investigate the origin of the Puppet Crystal Ball.

Liu Nan glanced at He Ao, then turned to gaze out at the rippling blue sea outside the window, lost in thought.