Chapter 502: Heading to the Duke’s Mansion (3k)
The hoarse voice quickly caught Su Jiu’s attention. He got up slightly, turned to look, and his mouth opened slightly the next moment.
The person in front of him looked severely injured, wearing a military green beret. His forehead, under the hat, was wrapped with bandages, slightly seeped with blood. His face, like his body, was thin and dark. His coffee-colored eyes met Su Jiu’s gaze quietly.
After a moment of stunned silence, Su Jiu quickly came to his senses, revealing a gentle smile, and said softly, “You must be Officer Stun. We are from Count Herbert’s people, and we happened to be passing by, so we wanted to ask about the letter.”
“Count’s people?”
His gaze swept over the guards. Seeing them nod, Stun squinted his eyes. He took out a black envelope, wrapped as if in demon skin, from his pocket and handed it over, saying softly, “The letter is inside. You must understand the contents. As for whether to believe it, I cannot control your thoughts. Tally up your gains. I need to heal…”
“Understood.”
Su Jiu chuckled, took the envelope, and rubbed the grooves on its surface with his fingertips. Finally, he bent his fingers and pried open the button-like seal. With two fingers, he took out a piece of material that looked like some kind of demon skin.
“This is the skin of some reptile, with broken scales…”
Under everyone’s gaze, Su Jiu spread out the demon skin. The writing was on the outside, meaning on the side with the scales. Wherever her eyes fell, she pressed with her hand, also feeling the uneven grooves, caused by the white scales that had not been completely removed.
Stun sat down by the charcoal fire, lowering his head, and began to sort through the gains in his storage bag. At this moment, Bairnis stepped forward, took a light blue potion from the storage bag, and handed it over with a smile, without saying a word…
“Thank you.”
Stun glanced at her, nodded, took the potion, and thanked her, also remaining silent, appearing somewhat dejected.
“This is…”
Withdrawing her gaze, Su Jiu looked at the writing on the outer side of the demon skin, her eyes serious. The handwriting wasn’t very good, but the content inside was almost identical to what had been said before.
However, since Su Jiu suspected something was amiss with the letter, she wouldn’t accept the content as is. Her mental power, comparable to a War God Level, swept over the skin letter. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and paused slightly on the scales that had not been completely removed, a slight smile curving her lips.
“As expected, this letter is problematic. Others were too quick to judge, causing them to overlook the most basic form of illusion.”
Very soon, she slightly raised her head and looked at Stun, who was applying the potion to his wounds, smiling gently, “Officer Stun, what do you think is the probability of this letter being genuine?”
Stun stopped his actions, his eyes darting. He looked at Su Jiu through the gap in the bandages. After a moment of silence, he slowly said, “One hundred percent true. Demons wouldn’t deliberately mislead humans with Battle Lord Level information.”
“I think so too. First of all, we need to understand that they don’t need to use language that we can understand in their communication. But they chose internationally common English, which I think is superficial insurance.”
Su Jiu smiled, her gaze shifting to the burning charcoal, and she said softly, “Secondly, demons do not need to huddle around a fire. Yet, they have filled their storage bags with charcoal. The purpose of this charcoal is self-evident.”
Everyone was naturally drawn to Su Jiu’s words, their minds flashing with thoughts. Even Rancy’s expression was surprised. She stared blankly at the letter in Su Jiu’s hand, thinking, “There’s such a method?”
The young guard who spoke earlier suddenly clapped his hands, his expression one of sudden realization, and he exclaimed repeatedly:
“They want us to burn this letter, right? Just like in Dragon Country dramas, where masters transmit information implicitly, and the real information becomes visible when exposed to fire.”
“Yes and no. This is a second trap, and it’s intentional for us to use fire. Dry, this kind of skin ignites easily and isn’t a special alchemical item… Moreover, we humans can ignite things with external qi; why can’t demons?”
Su Jiu continued to smile gently, holding the amphibian-like skin pouch, and walked towards the charcoal in the bamboo basket next to her. She then reached out and grabbed a piece. Her gaze fell on the scales that had not been cleaned off, and she abruptly rubbed the letter with the charcoal.
“Sizzle—”
The sound of charcoal rubbing against the strange letter echoed. Black charcoal powder drifted in the air. A child holding pastries cautiously approached to watch. Suddenly, a little girl exclaimed in surprise:
“The writing is all covered, and it’s revealing so many things that look like earthworms, it’s amazing!”
Everyone’s attention was drawn by the girl’s voice, including Bairnis and Stun. When everyone looked carefully, they found that the original writing was completely blackened by the charcoal.
However, some parts of the scales could not be blackened. They connected to form what looked like distorted characters, but these characters were of a shape that humans had not yet encountered.
The young guard asked with a puzzled expression, “What is this?” As his question echoed, everyone looked at Su Jiu, only to see her looking equally bewildered.
She had considered it might be a clue, but she hadn’t expected this clue to be something incomprehensible.
“The communication language of specific demon races, most likely the specific language of this vast region. To understand this, one would either have to ask intelligent demons… or humans with relevant knowledge, such as myself.”
From behind Su Jiu, the girl’s voice sounded faintly, with a hint of confidence in her words. Bairnis put her hands in her pockets, her gaze fixed on the writing. She narrowed her eyes and suddenly said with a rather serious tone:
“There are approximately three layers of meaning – first, to wreak havoc on the weather of the western countries.”
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Bairnis with some surprise. But as they listened to her words, astonished expressions appeared on their faces, and then their astonishment turned into anger.
The reason their country had erupted into war with the opposing nation was largely due to the extreme cold weather, which had frozen energy resources while creating a shortage of thermal energy. Furthermore, the country’s railways had been destroyed by an unknown force, making it impossible to transport purchased energy from abroad…
They had all believed their adversary nation was responsible, as there were frequent conflicts. Now, it appeared to be the mischief of demons.
“Damn it, it was the demons!”
“Bang!” Stun’s bandaged fist slammed heavily onto the ground, his face contorted with extreme anger. The wrinkles on his face twisted.
No one, especially an old officer like him, hated war more.
Bairnis glanced at him and continued reciting, “Second, to eliminate all forces attempting to rebuild the western defenses of Bear Country.”
“Third, there is only a vague meaning – to trap Him.”
After hearing the three objectives, Su Jiu’s face showed a look of “as expected.” This information made sense. Now, the objective was to find the Duke…
She then asked, “Is there a recipient?”
Glancing at Su Jiu, Bairnis paused, her gaze falling on the last scale, and she said softly, “There are also patterns representing the recipient behind… A long neck, three heads, and a bird’s body. It should be the totem of some demon.”
At this moment, Rancy, who was already curious, suddenly trembled upon hearing this. Her face suddenly showed a look of horror, and her voice almost blurted out:
“That Ice Sky Vulture looked exactly like that!! Lan- ¥】Dream〚Ren〇⑻Wu]Lin⑨〲Shan`Liu Jiu”
Rancy’s voice caught Su Jiu’s attention. She grabbed Rancy’s slightly trembling shoulder, exhaled a breath of white air, and said in a deep voice, “We need to go to the Duke’s mansion immediately. We can’t delay any longer.”
“Why?”
Rancy also came to her senses. Her gaze met the girl’s blood-red eyes, and feeling the pressure comparable to that of a university dean, she almost blurted out the question.
“Because the Duke has been continuously investigating clues about the Ice Phoenix, and they are targeting the Duke!”
Su Jiu looked at her with a serious expression, her heart beginning to fear for the Duke’s safety. Not getting the feathers was a minor issue, but if the Duke couldn’t find the Ice Phoenix and establish absolute defense.
It was highly possible that countries already coveting Bear Country would make their move. Refugees would inevitably pour into the sparsely populated eastern regions of Bear Country, and the Ancient God Sect might gain a large number of human believers…
At that time, the entire situation would inevitably undergo a major shift!
Su Jiu remembered that in the book, when a massive sacrifice was happening, and the [Singer] was close to succeeding, it was disrupted by the Male Protagonist Bai Ming, along with several War God Level Snow Demons.
However, now that the butterfly wings of fate had been touched by her, no one knew if the other party would perform the sacrifice in advance after gaining a large number of human believers. Bai Ming had not yet been seen anywhere.
Coming to her senses, Su Jiu slowly released Rancy’s shoulder, scanned Bairnis with her gaze, and said decisively, “We need to contact the Duke immediately!”
“Three of you…”
Stun patted the dust off his pants, revealing an unappealing smile, and pointed to a military alchemical SUV not far away.
“If you don’t mind, I can give you a ride.”
Su Jiu quickly nodded in agreement, and the three of them soon got into the SUV.
“MuMu—”
The SUV, as if ignoring the snowdrifts, emitted a fluorescent energy shield, pushing aside the snow and advancing violently. The Duke’s mansion was located in the city center, about thirty kilometers away from here.
In the car, Rancy appeared anxious, her gaze constantly looking outside. Her left hand rested on the window, while her right hand tightly grasped the folds of her skirt.
“Don’t worry. I heard that the Duke also has War God Level strength. Your father will be fine.”
Beside her, Su Jiu patted Rancy’s shoulder, comforted her softly, and offered her some snacks she had bought on the way.
Taking the snacks, Rancy forced a smile, “I hope so.”
Su Jiu smiled and looked at Bairnis, who was diligently taking notes. Just as she was about to say something, the phone suddenly rang.
“At this time…”
Su Jiu quickly took out the phone from her pocket. Looking at the Caller ID marked as [Unknown Number], her eyes immediately focused. She soon slid the button.
“Hello! Cousin, it’s your cousin Akan… the one working with you in Huaian! I called you last night saying I was going to send some local specialties, remember?”
Ren’s familiar voice echoed, with a slightly rough Huaian accent, sounding much like an ordinary elder who talks about daily life.
