Chapter 69: Broken Limbs? Oh, I Think I've Experienced That Too
"I want that fishing rod."
Haruto answered without a moment's hesitation.
Since the Mermaid Prince's Horn possessed a genuine summoning ability, this fishing rod likely held a similar level of power. Studying it carefully might yield some unexpected surprises. Besides, while Kaguya, as the Princess of the Moon, undoubtedly possessed countless treasures—many far more precious than an SS-rank reward—there was no need to be greedy.
A good brother's things were basically his own, right?
The only thing that truly piqued his curiosity was the special effect of the fishing rod. If the horn wasn't just some useless trinket, then the rod surely wouldn't disappoint.
Kaguya was slightly taken aback, not having expected him to choose that specific item. After a moment of thought, however, she seemed to grasp his reasoning.
"I don't have the fishing rod on me right now. I'll give it to you when we get back," she said. "Are you sure you don't want any other treasures? I have plenty of good things here. Even if that fishing rod is a hidden item with some unique effect, my collection isn't necessarily any worse."
"As brothers, aren't your treasures also mine? There's no rush," Haruto replied with a perfectly straight face, his tone utterly matter-of-fact. "Don't worry, I'm a very reasonable person. My things are naturally yours as well."
The corner of Kaguya's lips couldn't help but twitch. "Treasures, my ass! If you said I could have a share of the things in your Gap, now that would be more like it."
The Gaps of Boundary Youkai were, in essence, connected, functioning like a massive, shared storage dimension. Yakumo Yukari had lived for an eternity and collected a truly staggering number of treasures. Although Kaguya hadn't seen most of them, she had heard from Eirin that Yukari's hoard even included stockpiles of things like Mushroom Bombs.
"I can't do anything about Sister Yukari's things. I can't exactly go steal them, can I? Besides, I have no idea where she even hides them," Haruto said with a shrug. "Unless she gets too old and becomes unable to move, leaving her inheritance to me..."
Too old?
So old she can't move?
Kaguya's gaze turned subtle.
Despite their habit of calling them 'old fogies,' from the perspective of long-lived species, Yakumo Yukari and the others were actually still quite young. Beings of their caliber had long transcended the limits of lifespan. As long as they weren't killed by some external force, living as long as the heavens and shining as brightly as the sun and moon was no issue at all.
And as for Haruto, a newly born Boundary Youkai... Kaguya looked at his clean, youthful face and suddenly felt that the most valuable thing about him was, in fact, himself.
"Seeing how pitiful you are, I'll give you a few more treasures," she sighed softly. From her sleeve, she produced a translucent, crystal-clear ring and handed it over.
"What's this?" Haruto took two steps back, his expression one of disbelief. "You're not going to drop to one knee and confess your love to me in the next second, are you?"
"You clueless youkai! Figure it out yourself; I'm not telling you." Kaguya curled her lip in disdain. But when she saw him start to slip the ring onto the wrong finger, she couldn't stop herself from speaking up. "That's supposed to be worn on the middle finger of your left hand. Where are you putting it?"
"It's the same no matter where I wear it." Though he said this, Haruto still obediently moved the ring to his left middle finger.
Beside them, Yotsuya Miko's mouth opened slightly. She seemed to know the ring's purpose, but seeing that Kaguya clearly had no intention of explaining, she ultimately swallowed her words and brought up another matter.
"Brother Bai Liu, we found a secret passage on the third floor earlier."
Haruto nodded, intrigued. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed there was a secret passage on the third floor. He distinctly remembered tapping every single wall up there, and they had all been solid.
"The walls on the third floor were soundproofed and particularly thick," Miko explained. "Lao Lao was the one who found it."
Haruto's eyes flickered toward the blind girl. He was beginning to realize that Lin Xuelao's hearing was indeed many levels beyond that of an ordinary person.
"What did you find?"
"The secret passage is a spiral staircase that leads directly down from the Observation Room on the roof."
"So that's how that guy got in," Haruto mused.
"Yes." Miko nodded grimly. "At the very bottom, there's a long corridor with many rooms on both sides. The first section is filled with the skeletons of previous players. In the middle of it all... we encountered a former player who was still alive."
"A former player? You mean they can be brought back?" It wasn't a possibility Haruto hadn't considered, but he was surprised someone had actually survived down there.
Miko shook her head, her clenched fists trembling slightly as a flicker of guilt crossed her features.
"Did you finish him off?" Haruto asked suddenly.
Yotsuya Miko flinched, startled by the question.
"I didn't peek at you; I'm just guessing," Haruto explained calmly. "Since he was locked up, he was most likely being kept as spare food. And if he's food, he'd be lucky not to starve to death, let alone live like a normal person. I expect his limbs were broken and he was chained there."
"At that time, he..." Miko lowered her head, her voice growing heavy as she slowly recounted everything that had happened. By the end, her voice was trembling as she asked, "Brother Bai Liu... do you think it would be especially painful if your limbs were twisted like that? How much suffering must he have endured...? I... I..."
"Don't be too sad," Haruto comforted her softly. "It was impossible for you to bring him out of there, and he had already given up on survival. For him, death was a release."
He paused, then added with the same placid tone, "As for how much it hurts to have your hands and feet twisted off... it definitely hurts, but as long as you make it through the first five or six minutes, you can actually endure it if you just grit your teeth."
Miko nodded subconsciously, then froze as his words registered. Her eyes widened, her gaze locking onto him.
"This young lady hasn't guessed wrong~" Kaguya chimed in with a faint smile. "Your dear Brother Bai Liu has experienced that sensation long ago, and more than once or twice. Never mind just having his hands and feet broken; he's even experienced them being twisted into the shape of a fried dough twist."
Hearing this, the expressions on Miko and Lin Xuelao's faces went beyond shock into sheer disbelief. Miko, especially, knew a little about Haruto's true identity; even the shikigami in his house was the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox. Who could possibly do such a thing to him?
"Don't overthink it," Kaguya continued, seeing their expressions. "The person who did it wasn't some stranger. It was one of his 'sisters,'someone from the same generation as my Eirin and his family's Yukari." She gestured vaguely. "Remember that parasol Haruto took out at the beginning? That umbrella belongs to her. As for why she beat him up... it was simply her way of'training' him."
For a moment, beyond the shock, Miko and Lin Xuelao felt an even deeper wave of sympathy. When they had first seen that powerful parasol, they had inevitably felt a pang of envy. Now... they could only say that Haruto thoroughly deserved to have it.
"So the 'dust fragrance' the veteran player mentioned is this, right?" Haruto closed the Gap that had been hovering before his eyes. He reached under the bed to the corresponding position he'd just observed and pulled out two palm-sized pieces of a fragrant, solidified powder, along with a small note.
He unfolded it.
[By the time you see this, we should all be dead. To ensure this wasn't all for nothing, we have left two pieces of dust fragrance. They can confuse the Lady's vision for ten minutes.]
There was only this one simple sentence on the note, nothing else.
"Brother Bai Liu, were there no other notes under the bed?" Miko asked.
"No." Haruto shook his head. "I just used the Gap to do a thorough search. It's impossible for them to have left any other clues."
"But they left the dust fragrance, and they clearly meant to help us..." Miko trailed off, confused.
"It's simple," Haruto said, placing the two pieces of fragrance on the table. "Would you dare to believe the clues they left? Would I believe them? Would anyone else... choose to believe them?"
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