From a distance, trailing behind that Crystal Skull member, Han Su moved away from the banquet hall, passed through several corridors, and descended a few flights of stairs.
Eventually, he saw the other party enter a door. Not daring to take risks, he directly chanted Fisherman’s Chant and followed under the effect of invisibility.
But the moment he turned this corner, he immediately sensed his spiritual power rapidly depleting.
With a quick glance, he saw that as many as six people were standing in this corridor.
Among them, at the far end, one person held a device connected to a surveillance camera by wires, seemingly tampering with something.
And directly facing him were three members of the Crystal Skull organization. They were staring straight ahead—if he had been the slightest bit careless, he would have fallen right into their line of sight.
His heart tensed slightly. Seeing a half-open door nearby, he silently slipped inside.
Perhaps because he had escaped from the Ancient Castle too many times, this was his first time doing such a sneaky trailing act, yet he felt remarkably at ease.
It seemed the experience in the Ancient Castle not only turned him into a memory-searching master but also a stealth master?
Upon entering this door, he found it was a place resembling a lounge, and fortunately, it was empty. Han Su slightly relaxed, but his spiritual power had nearly been depleted. He had no choice but to hold his breath and wait patiently.Just then, he faintly heard a voice from the inner compartment complaining: "Why is it bleeding again?"
"Who exactly hurt you? This wound... it seems like it just won't heal!"
"The pageant is only a week away. In your current state, you're far from perfect. The chance of earning the Beauty Pageant Queen title is less than ten percent. What kind of commission made you pay such a heavy price?"
"......"
It was clear that she was overwhelmed. The voice was almost a shout.
As Han Su listened, he felt a subtle stir in his heart: "Wei Lan is injured? Could it be because of me?"
The response to the outburst came in a laughing voice. Wei Lan sounded like she didn’t really care: "I was never perfect. I’ve always had a scar on my forehead."
"How is that the same?"
The earlier voice shouted, "That scar is small—hardly noticeable unless you look closely. But now there’s a bleeding wound on your face!"
"Which Beauty Pageant Queen goes on stage covered in blood?"
"You know how important this competition is. It determines whether you can truly become a member of the Queen Organization. If you want to be a queen, you must be perfect. Even if you’re not, you must strive to become one, to imitate perfection!"
"......"
Listening to this, Han Su felt increasingly curious. He had guessed that Wei Lan’s identity might not be simple. Now it seemed her line of work was actually part of a mysterious organization?
As he pondered this, he heard Miss Wei Lan chuckle and say, "The wound’s already there. No point talking about it."
"Someone's listening outside. Go see who it is."
"......"
Han Su's heart tightened. He had only stopped here to catch his breath, hadn't made a sound, not even moved a step—and yet he’d been detected?
He once again chanted Fisherman’s Chant. His figure vanished, and he swiftly left the room.
And just as he exited, the inner door was pushed open. The assistant glanced around suspiciously:
"Who’s out here?"
"Are you trying to distract me on purpose?"
Hearing that, Wei Lan only smiled without responding. She poked her head out for a quick look, confirmed there was no one, and laughed, "In today’s Lilac Courtyard, it's no surprise if someone shows up anywhere. Bring me the outfit I need to change into."
"The extra-large one that can wrap up my figure..."
"......"
"......"
Han Su moved through the shadows. By the time he got outside, the corridor was already empty—those Crystal Skull members had vanished.
He glanced around, confirming that there were only two doors in this corridor.
One led back to the banquet hall. The other led to a room—not large, with a simple layout, and didn’t seem to hide any secret passage.
'A concealed area?'
That wasn’t a problem for him. Seeing no one nearby, he raised a hand and covered his left eye.
As his spiritual power concentrated in his right eye, he felt a brief stab of pain in his eyeball. Instantly, the scene before him doubled in vision.
Then, the overlapping images began to part, like two layers of painting pulling away from each other. On the previously bare wall, a lavish wooden door emerged.
"My right eye’s basic ability, when used properly, isn’t inferior to my left hand..."
Thinking to himself, he reached out and tested the door—finding it unlocked, or perhaps already opened by someone else. He was finally reassured.
Being able to discover this door didn’t mean he had the power to open such hidden passages.
He stepped in cautiously. Behind the door was a quiet zone, bright and spacious. Surveillance cameras overhead pointed everywhere, leaving no blind spots.
However, all the cameras had been shut down—the red lights no longer lit.
Still, Han Su acted carefully, only moving forward under the effect of invisibility.
Before long, he saw two servants lying on the carpet, unconscious—likely knocked out by the Crystal Skull members.
It appeared they truly did avoid killing.
"The Crystal Skull people really are quite capable..."
Always vigilant, Han Su advanced steadily. After passing through two doors and a corridor, he finally arrived at a wide-open secret door. The interior was pitch-black.
By estimating his path, he figured he had already reached the deepest part of the Lilac Courtyard. The target must be just ahead.
So he found a blind spot, took a brief rest, and once again chanted Fisherman’s Chant, dashing into the opened dark door.
Descending all the way, just as he was about to reach the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly felt his spiritual power plummeting. At once, he knew—he had entered someone’s line of sight.
He quickly glanced around and ducked behind a thick column, quietly waited a few seconds, and then peeked.
Just one glance—and his heart skipped a beat. His gaze turned solemn.
Below the stairs lay what seemed like a high-tech platform. Around it stood five or six people dressed in different styles.
Two stood with their backs to the stairs, watching outward vigilantly. The other four stood inside, forming a faint arrangement reminiscent of the six-blockade formation used by the Disaster Management Bureau.
Their eyes glowed with crystalline light—a sign that their mysterious power was fully active?
And atop the platform sat neatly the mechanical fragment Han Su had previously seen in the photograph.
'Fortune favors the bold—it’s really here?'
At the sight of the mechanical fragment, Han Su’s heartbeat accelerated.
But he remained calm, continuing to observe. He planned to find an escape route before snatching the fragment and fleeing.
But then—one glance turned everything upside down. A shiver ran down his spine, and he almost cried out.
The storage space was very small, holding only a few items.
Beside the platform that held the mechanical fragment, against the wall, stood a bronze upright armor statue. Its top was shaped like a flat-headed cobra, while its body was unusually massive.
The moment he laid eyes on it, Han Su felt the back of his left hand blaze with heat. His spiritual power seemed to converge there uncontrollably.
Faintly, a strange metallic noise echoed in his ears—as if an indistinct voice reverberated.
He didn’t know if it was from the shock, but for a brief moment, he felt dazed. The dust-covered bronze armor statue seemed to slowly raise its head and look directly at him.
Two ruby-like eyes emitted an eerie glow.
But all this happened only in that fleeting moment of illusion. When he focused again, everything appeared normal—the bronze armor statue stood quietly, unmoving.
The sound in his ears was just an auditory hallucination.
Yet the shock in his heart did not fade in the slightest.
"This bronze armor statue—isn’t it the one I saw on the fifth floor of the Ancient Castle?"
He even examined it carefully, not missing a single detail, and finally confirmed his suspicion.
There, along both sides of the corridor, rows upon rows were filled with identical bronze statues. But this was the first time he had seen an object from the Ancient Castle appear in reality.
It felt as if something from a nightmare had suddenly descended upon reality—that oppressive yet thrilling sensation surged within him.
"Something from the Ancient Castle has appeared here..."
"The connection between Lilac Courtyard and the Ancient Castle is even deeper than I imagined..."
"......"
Just as Han Su was still calming his nerves, he saw the four Crystal Skull members in the secret room inspecting the collection, likely checking for abnormalities to ensure no interference with their task.
When their leader-like elder saw the bronze armor statue, he was visibly surprised and paused for a moment.
A nearby follower whispered, "Professor, is there something wrong with this armor?"
That question drew the attention of the others.
But the Crystal Skull elder addressed as ‘Professor’ observed the statue for a long time, then muttered, "It’s a replica."
He didn’t even phrase it as a question. He chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "I’ve only seen something like this in the Crystal Brain. If this were real, it couldn’t possibly exist in a place like this."
"Heh, probably some bronze-worshipping lunatic noted its appearance from ancient texts and made an artistic replica to store underground."
A nearby follower asked curiously, "Is it powerful?"
The professor only smiled faintly and said, "If this thing were real, once activated, it could destroy half of Qinggang City."
"Qinggang would never allow something like this to be hidden beneath it."
"After all, this is one of the thirty-two most dangerous weapons in the world—a divine weapon once used in ancient battlefield ruins to wipe out entire races: the Living Bronze Puppet."
"Let’s focus on our task."