0p0 Chapter 808 The Person Used as a Key
Chapter 808 The Person Used as a Key
Paimon had barely put his hands on his hips and hummed in response, before he could even say, "My answer is absolutely correct," when Katarina had already given the correct answer.
"It seems the answer is undoubtedly 'shadow'."
Paimon turned around abruptly and found that his enormous shadow, cast by the firelight, completely obscured the altar-like object.
Kong pondered for a moment and said, "When there is light, it appears in an instant; it is exactly the opposite of our actions, always contrary to them; it accompanies us in our eternal sleep, never separated from us, and even raging fire cannot harm it in the slightest. It is indeed a shadow... Brother, so you thought of it earlier!"
Xu Ning smiled and tapped the campfire on the ground. "It was Paimon's reminder that brought this up by chance. Let's take a look at what's there first... Of course, if what Paimon said is true, and someone opened the door and lit the fire before us, then that person must have already solved the riddle and taken what we're looking for..."
The altar was empty.
Perhaps, as Xu Ning said, the person in front of him had indeed taken that thing away.
Caterpillar seemed to have considered a possibility, and his expression turned somewhat grim.
"It seems we need to speed things up. Now we just hope he's not going in the same direction as us. We need to get at least one item from each of the four quadrants to be invincible."
Caterpillar practically sprinted out of the underground ruins.
The second location is underground near Kabdisburg in the east, and it's still a long way down.
As they walked along, seeing the wide-open doors in front of them, everyone's hearts sank.
It seems we've fallen behind that person. Now we can only hope that person is still inside and hasn't left. If we can corner him here, that would be the best outcome.
Since they didn't need to find a mechanism to open the portal, the group moved very quickly and soon arrived at an altar with a riddle written on it.
It was the same portal, the same water curtain seal. The only difference was that there was a campfire next to the seal before, but next to this seal lay a half-dead person.
Paimon picked up a small twig from somewhere and poked the person lying down, but there was no response.
"Is it him? The one who's always been ahead of us?"
Kong shook his head and walked straight over to help the person up.
Xu Ning glanced at the man and said, "Judging from his clothes, he should be a mercenary or something. This reminds me of that little crybaby."
Everyone also remembered Jacob; when they first met, it was he who was causing trouble with some mercenaries.
Could it be that the person walking in front of them is actually him?
"But why would he leave the person he brought here? Did he know we were coming, and then this person suddenly fell ill and couldn't move, so he had no choice but to abandon him in haste..."
Paimon instantly transformed into "Famous Steamed Egg" and made a deduction that sounded extremely like Kogoro's.
Xu Ning held up the gourd and pointed to the riddle on the wall. "I think the truth of the matter should be in this answer."
On the wall, just like in the previous quadrant, there was an extremely similar riddle.
"This is the quadrant of desire, the temple of desire, between desires... often contradictory... Born in an instant, accompanying you in eternal slumber, never to be separated... tainted with the fruit of sin..."
"Another riddle like this. But what does this riddle have to do with the person lying on the ground? Hmm, is there a tainted fruit? Could the answer be a sinner?"
Paimon slammed his fist down. "Right, this guy must be a criminal, captured by Jacob to be used as a key to open the door. Come on, let's lift him up and throw him onto the seal and see what happens..."
Xu Ning pointed at Paimon, both amused and exasperated. "Are you a devil? He's already in this state, and you still want to throw him out to open the door? And if the answer is a sinner, isn't Jacob himself a wanted criminal in Fontaine's Shadow Court? He could just throw himself up there; why would he need to specifically capture someone else to use?"
Paimon nodded in agreement, "That's true..."
Just then, Caterpillar suddenly spoke again, uttering devilish words.
"I think Paimon might be right, this person really was used as a key."
"After all, according to the riddle, it is born in an instant, accompanies you to sleep forever, and is never separated. Moreover, according to the characteristics of the Fontaine people, they are born with the fruit of sin, so the real answer should be life."
Kong asked doubtfully, "What you said makes a lot of sense. But this altar isn't the kind that requires sacrificing a life. Jacob can go up by himself. Why bother grabbing someone to be the key?"
Katarina sighed and explained, "I'm afraid Jacob, like me, has already changed his life form and no longer belongs to the meaning of life defined by Teyvat. He might not even be recognized by this water curtain seal. He can't open it, so he has to go and grab someone else."
Kong looked at the unfortunate guy on the ground and said, "So that's how it is. Now it all makes sense."
Xu Ning patted Kong on the shoulder, "Now that you already know, why don't you go? Although there's a high probability that Jacob has already taken everything inside, we're already here, it would be a shame not to take a look. Go for it!"
Kong paused for a moment, then looked around.
Katarina, of course, goes without saying; she just stated that her life form would not be recognized by Teyvat.
Paimon, whose origins are still unknown, has never encountered anyone like her on her journey so far, so she's probably not a native Teyvat being.
But why don't you go yourself, brother? Or... are you not...?
The thought flashed through Kong's mind for only a moment before he took a step forward, saying, "You must know I am also from beyond the heavens. Whether Teyvat recognizes me is still uncertain..."
He pressed his palm against the water curtain, but the water curtain remained completely still.
Paimon, standing to the side, couldn't help but hum smugly again.
Xu Ning sighed, "Alright, we'll have to be devils for once after all."
The three carefully lifted the person from the ground, and Paimon grabbed his hand and pressed it against the water curtain.
The water curtain disappeared, revealing the empty altar once again.
"Okay, we're down by one point again."
Xu Ning pushed the person into the air, "This person is not in immediate danger. Let's put him into the Dust Song Pot first, in case we need him later. After this is over, you can find a port to send him there for medical treatment."
After two failed attempts, everyone was getting angry. Kong shoved the person into the pot, and everyone raced out again.
"It seems Jacob has the same idea as us, he's probably also collecting... Speaking of which, I still don't know what he's collecting, Katapila?"
As Katarina ran, she sighed, “...What we’ve collected are the materials necessary to forge the Narcissus Cross Holy Sword. They are four fictional substances that do not exist in the material world, recreated by the Narcissus Cross Society based on the mysterious philosophy of the Underworld and Ancient Fontaine.”