Chapter 42: Treasure Vault and Murals
"You're lying."
The Wolf Butler suddenly turned around, pulling off his bow tie as if preparing to strike.
"Is that so? Then just wait to become a pile of scrap. Once you're scrap, perhaps Alice will create a new Wolf Butler?"
"?!"
At the word 'new Wolf Butler,' the Wolf Butler's face twisted. He didn't fear his own destruction; what he feared most was Alice creating a new Wolf Butler and forgetting him.
"Or rather, has your twisted loyalty to Alice turned into admiration? When a new Wolf Butler appears, you'll just be a heap of scrap metal. Your Queen Alice will forget you, or perhaps something will happen between her and the new Wolf Butler? What exactly will happen between your queen and your replacement? How interesting."
Su Xiao's words were like knives stabbing into the Wolf Butler's heart—though he had no heart.
"Impossible. The Queen will never forget me."
The Wolf Butler's hands trembled. This was his greatest fear. He had accompanied Alice for far too long. He had never actually thought of anything happening with Alice; he only needed to stand behind her. But now, he was about to become lifeless alchemical material.
"Who knows? Half a month ago, I made an alchemical raven. Now that I think about it, I seem to have forgotten where I put it. Ah, right, here."
Su Xiao took out the discarded alchemical raven. He hadn't actually forgotten it; this little thing had helped him with many tasks.
Seeing the alchemical raven in Su Xiao's hand, the Wolf Butler's pupils contracted.
"This is a little toy I made on a whim. Its shared vision ability is quite good, but unfortunately, its core alchemical array shattered."
Bubu Wang rolled his eyes beside him. His inner thought was: 'He says he forgot, but he's been carrying it in his storage space all along.'
"A pile of discarded alchemical materials—that's its current state. Repairing it is impossible. As for awakening it, I don't have that ability for now."
The Wolf Butler kept staring at the alchemical raven in Su Xiao's hand, which made him think of himself. Would he end up like this too? No, he definitely would. He would become a pile of discarded materials, placed in some corner of the castle, no longer able to host the castle games. If lucky, he might become a decoration, while a new Wolf Butler would accompany Alice.
"Wolf Butler, haven't you realized?"
"What?"
The Wolf Butler's thoughts were interrupted by Su Xiao.
"Your core material... has been reused. That means you might be a replacement for another Wolf Butler. Are you the second Wolf Butler, or perhaps the hundredth? Where did the previous Wolf Butlers go? Could it be that Alice used those discarded materials to make other things? Waste not, want not—that's something alchemists often do."
Su Xiao's words were no longer like stabbing the Wolf Butler's heart with a knife; they were like driving a greatsword down from his crown, straight through to his soles.
The Wolf Butler stood frozen in place. He had considered this possibility too, because ever since he gained consciousness, the castle games had been running smoothly. The old tenants imprisoned in the castle seemed very familiar with him.
Seeing the Wolf Butler's reaction, Su Xiao's brow twitched. He had just been guessing blindly, but it seemed he had hit the mark. There had been a previous Wolf Butler before this one.
"Does the awakening process... pose any risk to the caster?"
The Wolf Butler regained his composure.
"Who knows? As I said, I don't know much about awakening."
Su Xiao fell silent, and both parties lapsed into silence. However, a seed had been planted. When that seed would sprout depended on how much time the Wolf Butler had left. For a high-level alchemical creature like him, existence spanned a long time; centuries were normal.
Boom.
The wooden cabin came to a stop. The Wolf Butler pushed open the door, and Su Xiao observed him from behind.
The hostility hadn't disappeared; in fact, it was stronger. But the Wolf Butler no longer showed it directly. As for mutual destruction, now that he had hope, the Wolf Butler was unlikely to do so unless Alice directly ordered it.
Su Xiao stepped out of the wooden cabin and entered a treasure vault. More accurately, it resembled a palace.
Inside the vault stood rows of square stone pillars, with rows of antique wooden shelves arranged within. The number of shelves stretched beyond sight, filled with collections.
Alice's collection totaled 1,582,043 items. From the sheer number, one could imagine how vast this vault was.
The lighting in the vault was somewhat dim, casting a dark golden hue over everything. The red carpet on the floor was embroidered with gold threads, and several murals adorned the ceiling. Su Xiao stopped to look.
First mural: A female warrior holding a long blade fought against a wolf-headed man. Beside them was an iron cage, pitch black inside.
Second mural: The female warrior raised her long blade high, her pupils blood-red. In this mural, her style leaned toward the sinister.
Third mural: One of the female warrior's arms was severed. The surrounding void was full of holes, as if caused by battle. She was stepping on the iron cage.
Fourth mural: The female warrior's arm had healed. Blood dripped from her long blade, and in her other hand, she held a wolf's head. The iron cage had disappeared.
Fifth mural: The scene had changed. A headless body held the iron cage, and two arms reached out from inside the cage, grabbing the headless body's hands.
Sixth mural: The headless body fell, and the iron cage was opened.
...
There were only six images, seemingly telling a story. After viewing these murals, Su Xiao felt that the Wolf Butler resembled the wolf-headed man somewhat, but only in appearance.
At the end of the murals, a line of text was written:
'Silver Ebo, my lifelong love, you traded your life for my freedom. What I must do is not merely survive. In my castle, you will be eternal.'
Connecting this to the mural's content, Su Xiao guessed that Alice had once faced a crisis and was saved by a wolf-headed man named Silver Ebo.
One thing Su Xiao could confirm was that the wolf-headed man was not the Wolf Butler. Their temperament and facial details differed. Perhaps the Wolf Butler's creation was originally meant to be a replacement—a contradictory replacement. Its core was forged from that iron cage, yet its appearance resembled the wolf-headed man, symbolizing imprisonment and salvation?
The Wolf Butler was also looking up at the murals, his thoughts unknown.
"You have ten minutes to choose."
Leaving these words, the Wolf Butler walked deeper into the vault.
"Ten minutes..."
Su Xiao looked around. He felt he had been tricked. The antique wooden shelves around him indeed held many items, but these items were 'unremarkable,' showing no special qualities. He tried touching one item.
[Sealing Cup]
Quality: Sealed
Category: Sealed
Rating: Sealed
Description: Sealed
...
Apart from the name, all other information was completely unknown. Were all the items in Alice's vault good? The answer was no. More than 90% of them were likely souvenirs—relics left by game participants. He had already found evidence.
Not far from Su Xiao, on a wooden shelf, lay an item that looked familiar. It was a broken pair of glasses, definitely a relic of the gold-rimmed glasses man.
This result was not surprising. Alice's vault held a total of 1,582,043 items—no, now it was 1,582,044 items.
Among such a vast collection, there were bound to be many souvenirs. Souvenirs could be of white, green, or blue quality, since their value lay not in the items themselves but in their significance.
What Su Xiao needed to do was find the good items among these 1,582,044 pieces. This was very difficult.
PS: (Thanks to the alliance leader 'Su Xiaochun~' for the alliance leader reward. Cough, Feiwen already owes Su Damingzhu many chapters. Will work hard to repay the debt.)