Chapter 29

Without seeing it with their own eyes, no one would have imagined that Bloody Hand Ruhl could have hoarded so much wealth.

Although they were still quite far away and couldn't clearly see how much money was there, the mere radiance of the gemstones was enough to show that it was a massive pile of treasure.

A golden, glittering pile formed entirely of gold coins.

"I never thought... that 'pile' could be used to describe gold coins," Palin muttered, his eyes wide and fixed.

"This guy must have kept the majority of the loot he plundered for himself," Gerald said.

Ryan was the calmest of the three. Perhaps due to his professional habits as a thief, he immediately shifted his gaze from the pile of gold to the ground nearby.

Then, he took out a magic wand used for illumination.

This simple magical item could provide a long-lasting, stable cold light source. It didn't consume air, which prevented suffocation, and it wasn't afraid of being submerged in water. Aside from being a bit pricey, it was practically the perfect lighting tool for an adventurer.

Under the slightly pale, cold light, the old thief carefully inspected the ground and soon found several traps.

Yes, several traps, and there were likely many more ahead.

"Bloody Hand Ruhl is truly ruthless! He already used a magic circle to lock the entrance to the treasure, yet he still insisted on setting traps inside!" Gerald said indignantly. "Dirty! Too dirty!"

"Many treasure hoarders have this habit; it's not strange," Ryan said indifferently. "Back when I was adventuring, I once found a total of one hundred traps in a necromancer's treasury."

He said it so casually that Gerald and Palin both turned green.

A hundred traps in a single treasury?! If that many traps were triggered, let alone their lives, there wouldn't even be a corpse left!

"What happened after that?" Palin asked.

"Nothing much, two teammates died, and the traps were cleared," Ryan continued in the same nonchalant tone. "After we split the money, I retired."

The conversation cooled down for a moment. Ryan didn't rush to clear the traps ahead; instead, he used adhesive to fix the magic wand to the wall beside him, then turned back to search the area where they had teleported in.

"What are you looking for?" Gerald asked.

"The mechanism to leave this place," Ryan said without looking up. "This place should be accessed via teleportation magic. Find the exit mechanism first and make sure it can be triggered at any time. If something unexpected happens, we'll have time to escape."

The old veteran's extensive experience earned the respect of the other two, but this left them in an awkward position. There were traps ahead and no way back, leaving them stuck in this small space with nowhere to go.

Palin was fine; he took out a book and began reading by the steady, soft cold light of the magic wand. Gerald, however, was miserable. His massive frame made the space feel cramped and narrow, and since he couldn't walk around, he felt quite restless.

He wanted to swing his axe to smash away some of the surrounding rock, but he feared that doing so might cause a collapse and bury them all alive. In the end, he had no choice but to sit down with his knees hugged to his chest, and he soon began to yawn.

Time passed bit by bit. Ryan worked methodically, while Palin finished one book, put it back in his pack, and took out another. This time it was a magic book; he read it carefully while tracing lines of mana in the air with his fingers, conducting some basic research.

As for Gerald, out of sheer boredom, he had fallen asleep.

I don't know how much time had passed when suddenly, a green light flashed. Ryan let out a cry of surprise, his body enveloped by the green light, and he vanished without a trace in an instant. Immediately after, the teleportation magic circle on the ground, which he had been tinkering with for so long, emitted a violent, intense light and exploded into pieces with a loud boom. Crimson toxic gas surged up, spreading in the blink of an eye and engulfing both Gerald and Palin.

Gerald, who had been fast asleep, inhaled a large mouthful of the toxic gas and was instantly jolted awake by a violent coughing fit. He opened his eyes to see, in the cold light of the magic wand, Palin curled up on the ground in agony, his hands clawing at his own throat until they bled, yet it did nothing to help his plight.

This young mage, the boy who loved to read, was dead.

Gerald froze for a moment, then turned to look for Ryan, but he couldn't find a trace of the old thief.

"What's going on? Where's Ryan? And this trap is..."

The highly toxic gas filled his trachea and lungs, forcing him into another bout of violent coughing. From his nose and mouth to his throat, trachea, and alveoli, a sensation that wasn't sharp but was incredibly agonizing interrupted his thoughts.

The powerful body personally crafted by Sui Xiong once again proved its superiority by allowing him to survive in the toxic gas without suffering truly fatal damage. However, Gerald was completely unaware of this at the moment. His mind was filled with confusion, anger, and a sense of bewilderment; he had no idea what was happening.

"Your Majesty..." he tried to pray, but he didn't know what to pray for.

The moment he prayed, Sui Xiong, who had been focused on his research, was startled awake. The threads of his soul extended along the Bone Bracelet, and he saw the situation clearly.

"What is going on? Weren't they supposed to be treasure hunting? How did three people end up with only one left? One is dead, and the other—don't tell me he died so thoroughly that not even a corpse remains?"

He muttered to himself while channeling his mana, transforming it into a gust of wind to disperse the toxic mist.

However, the toxic mist was extremely bizarre. Instead of dissipating when hit by the wind, it became even thicker. The red mist filled the entire treasure cave, to the point where one could barely see their own hand in front of their face.

"Damn! Even after transmigrating, I run into smog? The environmental protection agency of this world is definitely a total failure!" Sui Xiong grumbled. He analyzed the composition of the toxic mist, then suddenly pulsed his mana, which transformed into a ring of soft green light that slowly expanded.

This time, the power of the green light perfectly neutralized the mana that made up the toxic mist. Wherever the green light reached, the red mist vanished.

Like a magic trick, the green ring swept through the treasure cave, and the red toxic mist disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.

"Gerald, what on earth is going on?"

"Your Majesty, I... I don't know either..." Gerald said, feeling uneasy. "I just took a nap, and when I woke up, it was like this."

"...You can even sleep while treasure hunting, you're truly talented!" Sui Xiong sighed. "I guess I'll have to ask someone else."

There was someone else to ask? Gerald was stunned.

A hazy black mist emanated from the Bone Bracelet and slowly dispersed into the air. A gloomy, obscure, and unsettling atmosphere spread, making one feel a heavy weight in their heart.

After a while, countless tiny specks of light rose from the body of the deceased Palin, slowly gathering into a vague, humanoid shape.

"Your Majesty, is this Palin's soul?"

"No, it's just the lingering thoughts left on his physical body," Sui Xiong said. "His soul has already departed for the realm of the dead, but memories don't exist solely within the soul; the physical body retains them as well. I am now activating the lingering thoughts on his flesh and re-infusing his body with vitality. This way..."

"He'll be resurrected?" Gerald asked excitedly.

Sui Xiong hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

If this were on Earth, once a person's body regained vitality and their consciousness was restored, they would, of course, be considered resurrected. Even if he were facing a Nobel Prize-winning academic giant, he would dare to stand tall and make such a claim.

However, in this world, life is not merely a matter of the flesh; there is the far more important factor of the soul. Palin's soul had already departed for the Underworld. Unless that soul were dragged back from the Underworld and stuffed back into this reanimated body, it could not be called a "resurrection."

Strictly speaking, the current Palin was nothing more than a walking corpse without a soul.

As the vague humanoid shape slowly finished coalescing, Sui Xiong cast another beam of green light over the dead youth's remains. The wounds inside and outside the body vanished rapidly, restoring him to perfect health. A surge of vigorous vitality erupted from within, bringing color back to his pale cheeks.

An invisible force seized the humanoid shape formed from the residual thoughts and shoved it into the body.

The next instant, the youth opened his eyes.

At first, his gaze was somewhat dazed. After a moment, his eyes gradually regained focus, and his thoughts began to clear.

"Didn't I... die?" he said hesitantly. "I remember... I was killed by the Death Cloud Spell..."

"You did die, that's true, but you've been resurrected," Gerald said with a smile. "Matters of life and death aren't for us mortals to ponder. Tell me first what exactly happened."

Thus, Palin abandoned his contemplation of philosophical questions and sank into his memories.

"I was reading, and suddenly I heard Ryan's exclamation. I looked up just in time to see him being teleported away, and then I saw the trap trigger and the red death cloud spread. Before I could even run, the death cloud engulfed me. I felt extreme pain from my throat to my chest, and then I knew nothing more—until I was resurrected."

"So, Ryan had an accident while trying to disarm the trap?" Gerald mused. "I wonder how he's doing... I hope he's alright."

At this moment, Sui Xiong let out a cold laugh.

"Rest assured, he's fine. He's doing quite well right now!"

A blue light projected from the Bone Bracelet, forming a transparent screen in the air. The screen displayed the scene in the forest where the treasure was located.

Ryan was busy, shoveling dirt incessantly to fill in the large pit that Gerald had dug. Sui Xiong zoomed in on his face, revealing a smug, triumphant grin.

There was no need to say anything more or to overanalyze; one look at his expression was enough to know exactly what had happened.

"Damn him!" Gerald roared in fury. "That despicable old thief! I won't forgive him!"

"So... it was he who backstabbed us..." Palin shook his head in disbelief. "Why would he do this? Was it to keep the treasure all to himself?"

"Why would he do this? Keep watching and you'll find out," Sui Xiong's voice echoed in the air. "Let us set aside our anger for now and see what this despicable old man is really up to."

"I believe the cause and effect of everything will soon appear before our eyes..."