"Well..."
Chen Fan lowered his head and glanced at Xiaowen in his arms. He didn't recognize this writing. Perhaps Xiaowen...
However.
The next moment, Xiaowen burrowed deeper into his arms.
All right.
Clearly, Xiaowen didn't recognize it either.
"There."
The Middle-Aged Man said with a sigh, "These are the Secret Chambers I told you about, the ones that need puzzles solved. There are five in total. One had its door open, with a monster sitting inside."
"Nothing but a skeleton."
"I thought it was just a decoration, but the moment I approached, ghostly flames suddenly flared in its eye sockets, and it attacked me."
"After killing it, I took those three exotic treasures."
"The other four Secret Chambers are all like this, locked tight."
"I reckon we need clues to solve the puzzles. I've seen this sort of plot in human storybooks. Secret chambers in Forbidden Lands often require you to unravel a whole series of clues before you can enter."
37
Chen Fan stared at the writing on the wall. After a long pause, he said softly,
"Unless I'm mistaken, this should be the Headquarters of the 'Skeleton Race.' These five Secret Chambers should contain things important to them, things outsiders aren't allowed to access."
"They wouldn't leave clues."
"If they didn't want outsiders opening them, there'd be no reason to insist on leaving clues for outsiders to solve. That would just be asking for trouble out of sheer boredom."
"What about deeper inside the Palace?"
He looked past the five Secret Chambers into the depths of the Palace, where there was another corridor.
"Collapsed."
The Middle-Aged Man shrugged. "This Palace is too old. Apart from these five Secret Chambers, everything else has collapsed."
"Mm."
Chen Fan nodded. Only after a long pause did he head back down the