The craftsman of the jewelry shop

 

On the way to the gold shop, the blank book in Lu Mingze’s arms trembled lightly. He took it out and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

The blank book wrote: “Nothing. I have a guess, but it needs verification. We’ll talk about it later.”

Lu Mingze: “……”

He stared at that line of text, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if he had heard this sentence countless times before.

Cao Qian, Guan Ling, and Qian Jinlai also leaned in to look at the words. The three exchanged glances and said in unison, “This sentence feels way too familiar, doesn’t it?”

The four of them: “……”

“Everyone linked to my wristband used to be a teammate,” Lu Mingze said, raising his wristband. “This blank book corresponds to Xing Ye’s wristband, so I think it’s normal that everyone finds his way of speaking familiar.”

“But the fact that all four of us find it unusually familiar is a bit strange,” Cao Qian said thoughtfully. “And Xing Ye seems to know a lot of things. Could it be that he’s the only one among us who still has his memories? And precisely because he remembers everything, the game turned him into an item, preventing him from telling us what happened in the past?”

“If that’s the case,” Lu Mingze said softly, “then remembering everyone while everyone else has forgotten him must feel really painful.” He touched his chest, recalling Xing Ye’s gaze, and suddenly felt a little heartache for him.

Oh no…
Could it be that he’s actually falling for him?

As Lu Mingze thought this, his intimacy level with the item quietly rose to 60.

Carrying that faint sense of familiarity in their hearts, the group arrived at the gold shop. The shop had originally been three stories tall, but now it had been destroyed down to just one floor. When Lu Mingze and the others entered, they saw the place in complete disarray—it looked as if it had already been looted once.

The statue had said that the gold shop owner hid the gold underground. The shadow creatures had also said that the town’s residents hid underground during the day and only dared to come out at night to search for food…

That made it sound like the gold shop owner was just an ordinary resident too, Lu Mingze thought.

The four began searching for the entrance to the basement. Lu Mingze, Guan Ling, and Qian Jinlai were all good at finding things, and before long, they discovered a mechanism beneath the smashed floor of the counter. The entrance and staircase were revealed—pitch-black and a little frightening.

Holding an oil lamp, Lu Mingze went down first as usual. Cao Qian stayed at the rear, while Guan Ling and Qian Jinlai walked in the middle. After descending the stairs, they found that although it was underground, it wasn’t damp at all. The walls were warm, as if someone had been heating the place continuously.

Qian Jinlai sniffed the air and said, “It smells really nice here. The owner should be a woman.”

“Why does a pleasant smell mean it has to be a woman?” Cao Qian asked in confusion. “Don’t men wear perfume too?”

Qian Jinlai lifted her leg and kicked Cao Qian lightly, saying disdainfully, “You can’t even tell men’s and women’s fragrances apart? You’re going to be straight forever!”

Cao Qian glanced at Guan Ling and saw that he looked just as confused. She felt a little relieved—at least she wasn’t alone.

The underground space was very large; there was even a workshop. Lu Mingze felt like he was trespassing into someone’s private home and felt a bit embarrassed. As he walked, he spoke softly, “Shop owner, sir or madam, hello. I’m the prince sent by the king to govern this town. I have something I’d like to ask for your help with. Are you here?”

No one answered in the empty basement. However, Qian Jinlai found a door and whispered, “The scent is strongest here. This must be the bedroom.”

Lu Mingze gently knocked on the door and said quietly, “Hello, I’m the prince. Is anyone inside?”

There was no response from inside. Since they were here to seek help, it wouldn’t be appropriate to kick the door down—that would be too rude. They could only stand stiffly in front of it.

Lu Mingze tried to investigate further, but to his surprise, there was no mirror inside. Someone who sprayed pleasant perfume, kept the room tidy, and clearly cared about their appearance—how could they not have a mirror?

Just as Lu Mingze was puzzled, the final wristband suddenly heated up.

It was the wristband bearing the name “Yan Hebi.” Judging from the name, it should belong to a man. Could he have a way to resolve their current predicament?

Lu Mingze tapped the wristband. A man over 185 centimeters tall appeared in the basement. Since the basement ceiling was only 1.8 meters high, both Lu Mingze and Guan Ling felt a bit cramped—Yan Hebi’s head slammed directly into the ceiling.

“Ouch! What kind of place is this?” Yan Hebi bent down, covering the top of his head where it hurt. “It’s way too low—not even as tall as me.”

“Who are you people?” He looked at Lu Mingze and the others. “I was just working overtime and scanned a QR code on my computer—how did I end up here?”

Before Lu Mingze could answer this last teammate, the door that would not open no matter how much they knocked suddenly swung open. A woman wearing a long dress stood there. She had a hat pulled low, covering half her face and revealing only a slender chin.

She was only slightly taller than Cao Qian, about 155 centimeters tall. After opening the door, she ignored Lu Mingze and the others entirely and instead said to Yan Hebi, “Hello. Please come in.”

The four of them: “……”

“Why did she open the door the moment Yan Hebi appeared?” Qian Jinlai whispered to Cao Qian.

“How would I know?” Cao Qian felt a little depressed inside—everyone was taller than her.

Yan Hebi was still completely confused, but when a beautiful woman invited him into her room—especially one living in such a dark place, clearly someone who looked like she might be in trouble—how could a central air conditioner refuse? (NT: slang for a man who is gentle and considerate to all women)

Looking at her lower face, pale from long lack of sunlight, Yan Hebi nodded unconsciously and said, “Alright, thank you.”

“The doorway is a bit low. You’re tall, so lower your head a little,” the woman said. She even naturally reached out and looped her arm around Yan Hebi’s.

Lu Mingze and the others: “……”

Why did the entire tone of the game change the moment Yan Hebi appeared? This was clearly a dark underground basement, yet the background now seemed to turn pink.

“We’re Yan Hebi’s teammates. Can we come in too?” Lu Mingze quickly asked when he saw the woman linking arms with Yan Hebi and leading him inside, seemingly about to ignore them.

“If you’re friends, then come in,” the woman said in an extremely pleasant voice.

Lu Mingze rubbed his nose. This was the first time he had ever lost to another man in front of a woman—how was that even possible?

The woman’s bedroom was very spacious. Even with several people inside, it didn’t feel crowded. Only Yan Hebi felt a bit cramped, but as long as he stayed seated and didn’t stand up, it was manageable.

“Hello, my name is Yan Hebi. May I ask your name, and what place this is?” Yan Hebi asked.

Lu Mingze pulled Yan Hebi back slightly and said to the woman, “I’m the prince sent by the king to rebuild the city. The statue of the Son of God told me that you have his golden armour.”

He briefly explained what he had experienced since arriving here. Meanwhile, Cao Qian and Qian Jinlai pulled Yan Hebi aside, showed him their wristbands, and in just a few words explained the game, the one-day time limit, completing tasks, and recovering memories.

When Yan Hebi heard them talk about amnesia, he nodded as well. “Now that you mention it, I’ve been having dreams lately too—dreaming of a woman whose face I can’t clearly see. In the dream, she’s very cool and very handsome. I…”

“Is that woman the one you love?” the woman asked gently, handing Yan Hebi a cup of black tea. She completely ignored the universally beloved little prince.

Lu Mingze: “……”

This was the second consecutive defeat for him. What was going on with this Yan Hebi? What kind of ability did he have?

“I’m not sure,” Yan Hebi said naturally after accepting the tea and softly thanking her. “It’s just that in the dream, she’s very far away from me. I can’t reach her.”

He lowered his eyes and said with some sadness, “I always feel like I shared a deeply unforgettable past with her, but I can’t remember it. The reason I scanned that obviously suspicious QR code was because my intuition told me it was the only way I could find her.”

“You love her,” the faceless woman said, showing a complicated smile.

“I don’t know,” Yan Hebi shook his head. “I can’t tell whether it’s love or reverence. But I do know that I don’t want to forget her. I want to recover my memories. Miss…”

“Call me Yuna,” the woman said. “I understand how you feel—loving someone you can never truly reach.”

As Yuna spoke, she revealed a bitter smile. Her long fingers lifted to remove her hat, and under the dim glow of the oil lamp, she revealed the upper half of her face.

When everyone saw her face, they all sucked in a breath of fear. Yuna smiled wryly and asked, “Scary, isn’t it?”

“A little…” Yan Hebi answered honestly. “Your eyes…”

Yuna’s eyes were two enormous empty hollows. She had not been born blind—someone had gouged out her eyes.

No wonder there were no mirrors in her room—she didn’t need them. No wonder she showed no interest in Lu Mingze’s face—she couldn’t see it at all.

“This is my sin,” Yuna said calmly. “I saw something I shouldn’t have. My eyes were invaded by demonic energy. To survive, and to avoid losing my sanity like those bandits, I dug out my own eyes.”

She spoke of such a horrifying act with astonishing calm.

Lu Mingze sighed softly. “You’re very brave.”

“That’s pleasant to hear,” Yuna said, taking a piece of white cloth and covering her eyes so as not to frighten them. “But I don’t like short men. Your name is Yan Hebi, right? Repeat what he just said.”

Lu Mingze: “……”

He suddenly remembered—no matter how much they had knocked earlier, Yuna showed no interest at all. But the moment Yan Hebi arrived in this world and hit his head on the ceiling with a cry of pain, Yuna immediately opened the door. So she had identified Yan Hebi’s height by sound alone?

“I’m not short!” Lu Mingze said indignantly.

Yuna pinched Lu Mingze’s cheek and laughed. “You sound about as tall as the Son of God statue—still just a boy.”

Lu Mingze, who was 175 centimeters tall, was furious.

At that moment, the blank book moved slightly. Lu Mingze opened it, and after reading the words by the oil lamp, he suddenly understood. “You… don’t tell me you fell in love with that awful city lord?”

Yuna paused slightly, her voice turning serious. “How did you know?”

Lu Mingze didn’t know that this realization had been prompted by Xing Ye.

But with Xing Ye’s reminder, he recalled several details and said, “I’ve seen the portraits on the walls of the city lord’s mansion. I know the former city lord was a young, handsome noble—tall, long-legged, very charismatic. But he wasn’t a good ruler.”

“I know,” Yuna said. “But women in love are foolish. I really was deceived by him. He never loved me. He only knew that the Son of God’s golden armour was forged by my own hands, and he believed I knew the secret of becoming a god. That’s why he pretended to love me.”

Lu Mingze asked, “Your eyes… were they corrupted by demonic energy because you saw them dividing and consuming the Diamond Heart?”

 

Translator : DarNan