There was no chest full of Gold Shields like he'd imagined.
Under the bed lay only a thick layer of dusty, rotten straw, mixed with a few dead rats and a ceramic jar that reeked of sour rot.
He Xi used his wand to pry up one corner of the jar lid and peered inside.
It held a tangled mass of long black hair, its roots still streaked with dried blood. It looked as if it had been torn straight from someone's scalp.
"Damn..."
He muttered a curse and quickly put the lid back on.
"Woof, over here."
Bruce's voice came from the other end of the room.
He Xi turned to look. Bruce was crouched in the corner, nose pressed to a crooked little wooden cabinet as he sniffed incessantly.
He hurried over and opened the cabinet.
It was filled with glass bottles of every shape and size. Some had their necks sealed with wax, while others were stoppered with moldy corks.
He Xi had no idea what the variously colored liquids were for, and he didn't have time to identify them one by one.
He'd have to pick by instinct.
That slender bottle filled with golden liquid and bubbling with faint light looked promising, so he took it. The bottle beside it contained a blue potion that gave off a faint sulfurous smell and a cool sensation. It was probably good, too, so he stuffed it into his bag.
It was a shame his backpack had limited space. Otherwise, He Xi would have hauled everything away—and might even have tried to carry off the cabinet itself.
After searching for a long time, he still hadn't found the Blue Stone.
Then He Xi walked over to a table on the left side of the room.
Like the other tables,