A familiar distress signal in the ancient ruins of the Nether Void Realm

After seeing the location of the Palace, although the materials and structure of the Palace aroused Lin Yu's suspicions, and Li Nian's additional statement about the unusual absence of puppets inside the Palace was definitely not a "good thing" in Lin Yu's eyes...

But I still have to go.

Lin Yu would not stop just because he had doubts.

"Fishing Man" Chen Le wasn't the only one concerned about the whereabouts of the "Nine Treasures".

Although Lin Yu doesn't need to use the "Nine Treasures" to open his "Heart Domain," he might even be more concerned about it than Chen Le.

After all, Chen Le's advancement to the "Tier 4" was also in Lin Yu's best interest.

And...

Studying the "Nine Treasures" and the supporting "Nine Treasures -scale facilities" created for them will also help Lin Yu further understand what happened in the "Nether Void Realm" back then and allow him to glimpse the Truth of the Nether Void Realm. For Lin Yu, the more "hidden history" he knows, the stronger he will naturally become.

Most importantly...

If this thing can really help me pinpoint the location of the "Nine Treasures," and if I'm lucky, I might even be able to cross worlds and obtain the location of the "Nine Treasures" in the hands of the "Player"...

Although Lin Yu knew that [Naga's Guidance] was with "Li Hua" or was being hidden by Li Hua, it wouldn't be difficult to use his identity as "Director" to inquire or obtain information.

But... Lin Yu was naturally concerned about something else.

He wanted to know more than anyone else where the [Echoes of Mu Continent] was—he didn't really want the [Echoes of Mu Continent], he just wanted to know its location and which Player had it.

Therefore, even if he had some doubts, Lin Yu would temporarily suppress them and choose to risk going there.

At least last time Li Nian went in, nothing major happened.

This time, he also brought along "Fishing Man" Chen Le, so he has a strong bodyguard.

Even if things go terribly... the Nether Void Realm is still the territory of the God of Banquets. At worst, he can swallow his pride and cry out for help to the God of Banquets, or have Hannah call for her sixth uncle. Even in the worst-case scenario, he probably won't lose his life.

"Hey, A Nian, aren't we going through the main entrance?"

As the three of them drew closer to the Palace, Chen Le noticed that Li Nian was starting to move towards the back door of the Palace.

Li Nian nodded. "Yes, the main gate is closed, it can't be pushed open at all, we can't get in Brother Le... Although you might have a way to push it open directly, firstly, I think forcibly opening the door might be considered damaging the building and might cause some changes, secondly, I already found a safe and convenient back door route last time, so it would be safer to follow the route I found last time."

Although Li Nian is mostly a very carefree little girl, she can also be quite meticulous and thoughtful at times.

Hearing Li Nian's words, Chen Le and Lin Yu were naturally convinced.

The three of them quickly approached the base of the Palace's outer wall and walked around the path beneath the solemn, five- or six-person-high blue stone wall.

Although Li Nian said there were no puppets inside the Palace, there were indeed quite a few "pedestrians" walking back and forth outside the Palace.

At the same time...

Having traveled this far, the road outside this Palace is the only one in the city without a waterway.

Therefore, all those walking outside this Palace were Human Race; not a single "Tail Race" could be seen.

Meanwhile, the Human Race roaming here exude an air of nobility in their attire—compared to the other Human Race in the city who dress simply and mostly wear plain-colored uniforms, the Human Race here, although still wearing ordinary long-sleeved shirts and straight-leg trousers, are much richer in color and pattern, and full of individuality.

They walked faster, and the roads under the city walls were narrower, so...

Even though Lin Yu and his companions tried to avoid physical contact with the puppets, they still accidentally bumped into some of them.

Of course, this is also because they didn't deliberately avoid these puppets completely.

Just as Li Nian said, these puppets would not react at all even if they were bumped, as if Lin Yu and the other two did not exist.

Until...

"Feel sorry."

After Lin Yu accidentally bumped his shoulder into a passing Human Race puppet...

An apology, uttered almost instinctively, came from the Human Race puppet's mouth.

The apology came so naturally that Lin Yu even subconsciously replied, "It's okay."

Until the two passed each other and took two more steps...

Lin Yu suddenly stopped and turned around.

"A Nian, Brother Le, wait a minute—a puppet bumped into me and then 'apologized' to me."

Lin Yu immediately spoke up, calling out to Li Nian and Chen Le.

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Li Nian and Chen Le, who had been traveling leisurely, suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Li Nian was somewhat surprised. "Really? Sister Zhu Ming, you didn't hear me wrong, did you?"

"Absolutely true."

Lin Yu said with certainty.

Chen Le immediately spoke up, "So you think I heard it just now, but I didn't notice it subconsciously... Where is that puppet?"

Chen Le spoke, Lin Yu immediately pointed to the puppet that had continued walking on the road and was a few steps away from the three of them, but had not gone far.

"That's the one."

After Lin Yu finished speaking, Chen Le immediately began to carefully sense the puppet, and then said in confusion.

"This... seems no different from the other puppets?"

Lin Yu had already used his Soul Power and Mental Power to scan the puppet from top to bottom, and he knew that the puppet was just an ordinary puppet.

"There's not much difference, but he did apologize to me just now."

Lin Yu spoke in a low voice, and Chen Le thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"I don't understand, but this is too strange... We can't just leave this weird thing unattended before we enter the Palace."

"I'll go test him."

Chen Le spoke, he quickly stepped forward, caught up with the puppet, and then patted it on the shoulder from behind.

"Hey!"

Chen Le even took the initiative to greet the other party.

But...

The puppet who had just apologized to Lin Yu ignored Chen Le's greeting and pat on the shoulder.

Chen Le did not stop there, but escalated his actions further—following Li Nian's instructions, he interfered with these puppets at the Highest Level —by tripping one of them to the ground.

The puppet then exhibited the reaction Li Nian had described—it fell to the ground, initially showing signs of pain, then got up somewhat frustrated, dusted itself off, sighed, and continued forward.

It was as if he had really just tripped and fallen by accident.

This smooth and seamless process seems to prove once again...

"This puppet seems to be fine?"

Chen Le looked at Lin Yu and Li Nian and said.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he said, "Could it be that his 'apology' was just a subconscious reaction, and he didn't really feel like he bumped into someone? After all, if many people don't watch where they're going and bump into a lamppost, don't they subconsciously say 'sorry'?"

As Chen Le spoke, Li Nian stroked her chin and said, "Yes, that's a possibility... After all, among the people I observed before, there was one who liked to talk to himself when he got home, which startled me at first."

"Maybe it's really like what Brother Le said. Although that guy 'apologized' just now, it wasn't really an apology to you, Sister Zhu Ming."

Li Nian also analyzed.

While this may sound like comforting words or ignoring the anomaly, upon closer examination, it is actually the most likely explanation.

After all, Lin Yu roughly estimated that there might be tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of puppets "living" in this Ruins City. Moreover, although these puppets do not have real life, they are very likely to be modeled after real living people and replicating their behavior patterns. Therefore, it is possible that there is a type that talks to itself or will subconsciously apologize when it bumps into a telephone pole.

Only...

Lin Yu was still more inclined to believe that there was something strange about this puppet.

The reason is quite simple...

While Chen Le was investigating whether the puppet that bumped into him had any special characteristics...

While Li Nian and Chen Le weren't paying attention, another Human Race puppet passed by Lin Yu and gently bumped into him.

And this time...

After the collision, Lin Yu felt the other person stuff a crumpled piece of paper into his palm.

While Li Nian and Chen Le were focused on the puppet, Lin Yu also saw what was written on the paper—there were words on both sides.

The sign on the front reads "Keep it quiet."

On the other side it says... "SOS".

If Lin Yu had initially doubted whether the puppet was faulty, Lin Yu was now absolutely certain...

The problem, the unusual one, isn't that puppet.

Instead...

Own.

The note itself proves this point.

The crooked, messy ink handwriting was simple and crude, and did not belong to anyone Lin Yu knew.

But Lin Yu chose to remain silent.

He didn't tell Chen Le and Li Nian.

Although the handwriting wasn't familiar to Lin Yu was very familiar with the style of the paper.

This is...

The Manuscript Paper he used during high school, the kind that was distributed by the school.

Although the note is incomplete, being a torn piece of Manuscript Paper, this part happens to be the top of the Manuscript Paper, preserving the red heading printed at the top.

The six characters "Jiangcheng Experimental Middle School" are clearly displayed there.

A piece of Manuscript Paper from Lin Yu's alma mater met and reunited with Lin Yu in the Nether Void Realm.

"This is really... so interesting."

Lin Yu quietly crumpled the note back into a ball and hid it in his palm, murmuring something to himself.