Time was of the essence, so Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin devised a plan and returned to Mermaid Royal Palace.
From the outside, Merfolk Clan Palace looks like a giant jellyfish, surrounded by countless small seashell-shaped buildings connected by transparent ribbons.
Mo Xuemin still can't figure out what kind of cutting-edge technology was used in the construction of the Mermaid Royal Palace to make it float steadily in the ocean without falling or drifting to the surface, as if it were fixed there by some magical force.
The Merfolk Clan have lived in this sea area for generations. For the first two days after entering the sealed chamber, Gui Yuanzhang and Lao Mo were not used to their "suddenly growing tails." After a few days of adaptation, the two can now swim skillfully in the deep sea at an extremely fast speed of 200 km/h.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the entrance of Mermaid Royal Palace.
Because of the Invisibility Cloak, the guards at the gate did not see them. Gui Yuanzhang pulled Lao Mo into the palace and quickly walked forward along the long corridor.
As Old Mo walked, he recalled the map of the palace.
These past few days, apart from following " Xiao Lou " in investigating the case, he has spent the rest of his time wandering around the palace. Unfortunately, the maze is too large, and he has very little time to act alone each day. So far, he has only explored half of the western part of the maze.
The Mermaid Maze has a unique feature: each fork in the road leads to a room. Based on the clues Old Mo currently has, there are a total of 180 rooms of various sizes in the western half of the maze.
With so many rooms, where will Liu Qiao be locked up?
Old Mo said, "We only have two hours. It's definitely too late to check every room one by one." He looked at Gui Yuanzhang and said, "How about we go check on Xiao Liu's place first? What if she was just knocked unconscious and is still in her room?"
Gui Yuanzhang nodded: "Let's go."
Liu Qiao is likely in a coma, and the possibility that she is still at her residence cannot be completely ruled out.
As a princess of the Merfolk Clan, Liu Qiao resides in the largest palace on the west side of the royal palace complex. The palace is shaped like a pink seashell and is very easy to recognize.
Because Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang had frequently visited Liu Qiao a few days ago, they knew the place well and quickly found Liu Qiao's residence based on their memory.
There were also guards at the entrance to the princess's palace. Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin went around to the side window and quickly climbed in.
On the table in the reception room was a plate of exquisite pastries, which were Liu Qiao's favorite snacks.
Merfolk Clan's food mainly consists of deep-sea algae, small fish, and shrimp. This dessert is made primarily with seaweed. The green dessert is crystal clear and neatly arranged on the plate, except for a piece missing from the very center, which should have been eaten.
This plate of pastries is likely poisoned. Who brought it? Was the copy of Xiao Lou here just now?
Gui Yuanzhang's expression changed. He strode to the bedroom door, pushed it open with his left hand, and gripped his calligraphy brush tightly in his right, ready to attack any potential clones of Xiao Lou.
However, the room was empty, there were no signs of struggle, and even the bed was neatly made.
Gui Yuanzhang walked around the room and concluded, " Liu Qiao may have eaten the poisoned food that Xiao Lou brought, or the other party may have controlled her using methods we don't know. Liu Qiao suddenly lost consciousness and didn't resist at all."
Old Mo asked, " Does Merfolk Clan have places to imprison prisoners? Could Xiao Liu be locked up?"
Gui Yuanzhang shook his head: " Merfolk Clan's prison is far away. I remember it was in the deepest part of the ocean, so dark that you couldn't see a single ray of light, like hell. Liu Qiao only lost consciousness for a few minutes. If that Xiao Lou took her to the deep sea, locked her up, and then came back to drug me, there wouldn't be enough time. Liu Qiao should still be in the palace."
Old Mo thought about it carefully and said, "There are tribespeople living all over the area west of the palace. Liu Qiao is, after all, the Mermaid Princess. Taking her there would make her easy to be discovered. So it's more likely that she was taken to the East District?"
"There are quite a few members of the royal family living in the East District…" Gui Yuanzhang suddenly paused, frowning as he said, "Could he bring Liu Qiao to his residence?!"
"It's possible!" Old Mo said nervously. "This fake Xiao Lou is Prince Merfolk Clan. He brought his sister to his palace, so even if someone saw them, it wouldn't arouse suspicion. Besides, that's his territory, and he can monitor Liu Qiao at any time."
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Go and look for it quickly."
The two hurried toward the prince's palace.
Although the palace has a complex layout, Old Mo had visited Xiao Lou's bedroom two days prior to discuss the case. He has an exceptional sense of direction and would never get lost once he'd been there before.
With Lao Mo as their guide, Gui Yuanzhang followed behind him and arrived at the entrance of the Blue Palace on the east side in less than ten minutes.
Xiao Lou's residence looked very grand. The blue palace's exterior resembled a giant starfish, and there were a large number of guards standing in a neat row at the palace entrance.
Gui Yuanzhang swung his brush, and a hurricane swept in, violently shaking the seawater inside the palace, quickly forming a whirlpool not far away.
The guards' expressions changed, and the tallest captain said, "How can there be a whirlpool in the deep sea? You guys come with me, let's go take a look over there."
He led a few men to the whirlpool to investigate, while Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin took the opportunity to sneak into the palace.
A few days ago, everyone gathered here to analyze the case, but we didn't go into the side halls around the palace at that time. Judging from the starfish-shaped building exterior, we can infer that the palace has a total of five side halls. Gui Yuanzhang said, "Let's search them one by one."
Five rooms weren't a lot, but they still made Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin a little dizzy from walking around.
The five side halls were arranged exactly the same and were interconnected. Even more strangely, Xiao Lou's palace seemed to rotate; each time you entered a side hall and came out, the direction would change, easily causing confusion about whether you had actually been there before.
Gui Yuanzhang simply took out the [ Four-Way Arrow ] and marked the entrance to the side hall he had visited to avoid entering it again.
The two walked through four side halls but did not find Liu Qiao.
The moment they entered the fifth side hall, the captain of the guards' voice suddenly came from outside: "His Highness has returned."
Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin's hearts tightened, and they hurriedly put away the arrow markers on the doors of the four rooms and slipped into the last side hall.
The layout here was the same as the rest of the room. The two quickly entered the bedroom and took a closer look—
On the spacious seashell bed, Liu Qiao lay quietly, her face as pale as paper, her eyes tightly closed.
Gui Yuanzhang rushed to the bedside and reached out to check Liu Qiao's breathing.
His breathing is normal; it seems he has simply lost consciousness.
Old Mo also came over, rummaged through Liu Qiao's pockets, felt something familiar, and said, " The card holder is still here."
Gui Yuanzhang hurriedly said, "Carry her on your back and hurry!"
Outside the door, Xiao Lou's voice, tinged with laughter, said, "I just went out for a bit. Did anyone come looking for me?"
The guard said, "No... By the way, Your Highness, a strange vortex appeared over there just now, but it disappeared when we went to check it out. We don't know what happened."
Xiao Lou laughed and said, "The occasional whirlpool is probably related to crustal movement on the seabed, so don't worry about it."
He pushed open the door and went straight to side room number 5.
The enormous seashell bed, nearly 3 meters wide, was empty— Liu Qiao was gone.
Xiao Lou squinted slightly, staring thoughtfully at the open window beside him.
Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin's hearts were pounding. Almost the instant Xiao Lou pushed open the door, they jumped out the window. Mo Xuemin, from Liu Qiao... Find the [ Invisibility Cloak ] card in the card holder, cover Liu Qiao with it, and carry it on his back. Mr. Old Gui then quickly drew a wind trail with a brush.
Inside the Mermaid Royal Palace, all the tribesmen had to walk on two legs, and the corridors were full of forks and obstacles, making it difficult to swim quickly with their tails exposed. Fortunately, Old Gui's brush could control the wind force and direction, and with the brush's assistance, the two carried Liu Qiao and quickly escaped the palace.
Merfolk Clan can swim freely in the vast sea outside the palace.
Mo Xuemin and Gui Yuanzhang's legs transformed into long tails in the sea, and with each flick of their tails, they could swim hundreds of meters away in an instant.
Within 10 minutes, the two swam to the surface of the sea.
A soft light shone from a wrecked ship in the distance, and several figures could be vaguely seen.
The two recognized it immediately; it was the light emitted by the luminous pearl.
Old Mo was overjoyed and quickly swam towards the wrecked ship with Liu Qiao on his back. Gui Yuanzhang took out the Luminous Pearl card and illuminated the nearby sea.
Upon seeing the familiar light, Xiao Lou exclaimed, "Is that Senior Gui?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Yes, we took Liu Qiao away from the palace. He will soon discover that Liu Qiao is missing."
Xiao Lou was somewhat surprised— was it too easy to rescue Liu Qiao so quickly?
But time was of the essence, and he didn't have time to think further. Shao Qingge confirmed Old Gui's authenticity using Telepathic Connection, nodded to Xiao Lou, and Xiao Lou finally relaxed, asking, "Does Xiao Liu still have his card?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Everyone's here. Are you planning to dive into the deep sea now? Or should we discuss the subsequent plans first?"
Rushing into the deep sea might not end well. Xiao Lou said, "No rush. Now that Xiao Liu has been rescued, let's discuss what to do next."
Gui Yuanzhang thought carefully and said, "I'll take you to a deserted island. The island is far from the Merfolk Clan's residence. I discovered it by chance many years ago when I went out with some of the Merfolk Clan's elders. It should be relatively safe. Also, Liu Qiao's card can transform once a day. You need to adapt to the Merfolk Clan's abilities as soon as possible."
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "Okay, senior, please lead the way. Let's transform into mermaids and get used to the underwater environment."
Gui Yuanzhang from Liu Qiao Take out the card [The Little Mermaid] from the card holder and use the skill " Mermaid Princess ". This skill can turn all teammates within range into mermaids.
The moment the card was used, everyone's legs turned into long tails.
Ye Qi touched his fish tail and swayed precariously on the boat. He quickly grabbed Shao Qingge's arm and said, "I feel like my legs don't even belong to me anymore. How am I supposed to walk?"
Shao Qingge turned around, looked at Ye Qi's cute tail, and couldn't help but chuckle: "You'll learn once you get in the water."
After saying that, he suddenly grabbed Ye Qi's hand and jumped directly into the sea.
Ye Qi can't swim and has an innate fear of seawater. After entering the water, a large amount of seawater rushed into his lungs. He was about to cough when he found that he didn't feel any stuffiness in his chest. He was completely immersed in seawater and didn't feel uncomfortable at all. It was as natural as breathing air.
Shao Qingge pulled him forward, and Ye Qi tried wagging his tail, and his body indeed moved forward a few meters.
He found it amazing and turned to Shao Qingge, saying, "It seems this is Merfolk Clan's talent. I don't even need to learn how to swim anymore; I'm self-taught!"
The next moment, Lu Jiuchuan, Tang Ci, Yu Hanjiang, and Xiao Lou also jumped into the sea one after another.
There were no obvious changes to their upper bodies, except that they all grew Merfolk Clan tails, which looked quite nice.
Ye Qi suddenly asked, "By the way, our legs have turned into tails. If we turn back into humans later, will we still have our pants?"
Everyone: "......"
This guy always thinks about weird and strange things.
Shao Qingge was both amused and exasperated: "Of course it is. When I shrunk to the size of a thumb and then turned back into an adult, my clothes didn't tear. Transformation is a change in the entire appearance. What nonsense are you thinking?"
Ye Qi blushed slightly, wagged its tail, and quickly swam forward with the others.
Gui Yuanzhang led the way, with the others following closely behind. With the fish tails, they swam faster and faster in the sea, and the group of nine swam over a hundred kilometers away in less than half an hour.
Gui Yuanzhang said, "We're here. This is it."
Xiao Lou poked his head out of the water and, sure enough, spotted the deserted island that Gui Yuanzhang had mentioned.
There were no signs of ships around, so this place must be rarely visited. Using this isolated island as a temporary base would indeed be safer, Xiao Lou said. "Let's all settle down here for now."
A group of people went ashore. Lao Mo put Liu Qiao down from his back. Xiao Lou went over and held Liu Qiao's wrist with his fingers. The pulse was beating normally. He said, "Xiao Liu should just be knocked unconscious. He is not injured."
Yu Hanjiang frowned as he looked at Liu Qiao, who had been placed on a large rock by Lao Mo. She was the Mermaid Princess. After entering the sea, a tail automatically appeared on her. The silvery-white tail was two meters long and spread out on the rocks by the sea. Under the moonlight, it shone with a lustrous sheen and was very beautiful.
Ye Qi sat down next to Liu Qiao and said, "I wonder what that clone fed Liu Qiao? How long will she be unconscious?"
Xiao Lou said, "If it's just a drug-induced unconsciousness, it won't last long. He should wake up tomorrow."
Everyone was concerned about when Liu Qiao would wake up when Yu Hanjiang suddenly asked, "Are you sure that the Liu Qiao we rescued is the real Liu Qiao?"
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