Chapter 172: Memory Wind Chimes! Shea’s Biggest Secret
It was a room of about 60m2 to 70m2. There was no door and there was no water above. He had no idea how he got into this place.
At the center of the room was a light beam with a peculiar shape that extended from the ground in various directions into 6 small lights that illuminated the entire room. There were some things placed in the room, including table, chair, mirror and so on. It was likely a hidden room below the bath pool that was cleverly designed as there was no feeling of dampness or lack of ventilation.
He didn’t know why, but the strong fluctuation that was close suddenly disappeared again. However, it should be in this hidden room. Chen Rui had the intention to solve the mystery of the “God-Eating Mask”, so he moved forward. No matter how hard, he had to remove this troublesome thing from his face. (Who am I kidding! Even if it’s not for other reasons, for Athena alone, I have to take it off… otherwise, how am I supposed to kiss her with this on my face?)
The things in the hidden room were a bit messy. When Chen Rui walked past the mirror, the mirror suddenly glowed and an image appeared in it. It turned out to be an unrivalled pretty young lady dancing.
Is this the secret of “God-Eating Mask”? This can’t be right! This unrivalled pretty girl has… blonde hair, purple eyes, slender figure, and that look… it’s actually Shea!
Precisely, it was Shea in her teenage years. She was wearing a white dancing dress. Her dance was elegant and moving, fascinating people’s hearts with her beauty. What surprised Chen Rui even more was that her expression wasn’t the iceberg-like indifference, but a smile that was filled with joy and tenderness.
For the first time, he saw her full smile.
Perhaps because of the strong contrast, when Chen Rui saw this gentle smile, he suddenly felt lost. It was unimaginable that Shea, who was generally regarded as the iceberg princess, actually had such a touching smile. Perhaps, this smile could be traced in a unintended smile.
“I don’t remember when was the last time I smiled… I’ll leave this type of happiness to Alice.”
Chen Rui suddenly thought of a sentence that Shea had said. He felt that his heart was a little heavy. Recalling what Athena had said and the sister in Alice’s memory, she was once a very gentle girl. What turned this gentle and beautiful girl into a cold and ruthless female lord?
How much tenderness of the past still remains under that cold, ruthless mask?
Chen Rui didn’t look into the mirror anymore. He looked across the room. Most of the things kept in the room were small objects. Although they were of little practical value, for Shea, each piece was likely to bring a precious memory that was sealed up.
Chen Rui walked to the table and gently brushed the hanging wind chimes. Suddenly, he felt guilty for peeping at the other’s privacy and sighed.
“Why!”
Shea’s voice! It contains both anger and sadness.
How did she show up! Even <Analytical Eyes> didn’t show anything!
Chen Rui, who was guilty for sneaking in, was shocked. His heart was tightened immediately. It’s over. This hidden room should be Shea’s biggest secret. Even without this stupid mask, she will definitely kill me.
Besides, in this airtight room, even Dark Will couldn’t teleport out.
“Why did you kill all of them?!”
The sound was actually coming from the wind chime. Chen Rui was relieved. This should be a memory magic item with something like a recording effect.
“They are just my friends…”
“I don’t want this kind of strength… I don’t want to be the lord… I don’t want to be the empress…”
In the end, it was already a crying voice. Chen Rui never thought that such a cold and strong woman would cry, and the cry was so soft and distressing.
Chen Rui suddenly thought of what Shea said when he mentioned the word “friend”, friend was a luxury for her and a nightmare for him. From the crying of the wind chimes, it should be happened before Shea succeeded as the lord when all her friends were killed. The person who made that order was likely to be her deceased father, Grimm, the Crown Prince, only for the so-called “strength.”
The cry faded away gradually. Chen Rui tried to touch the wind chimes again. Some of them were laughters, some were weeps and then a firm voice sounded.
“From today, I, Shea Lucifer’s life no longer belongs to myself, but it belongs to the entire Dark Moon Estate. I will defend this land with my life, protect my sister with my life, and recover the glory of Lord of Midnight Sun’s bloodline with my life.”
Can’t even control her own life? Chen Rui was silent for a while, then he gently touched the wind chime again.
This time it was laughter. It sounded like she couldn’t stop herself from holding her stomach and laugh.
“This guy actually makes Aldas far… in front of so many people… haha… that’s so funny!”
“The furthest distance in the world isn’t the distance between life and death. Instead, it’s that I’m standing in front of you yet you don’t know that I love you… No matter if it’s true or false, these boring feelings don’t belong to me…”
Chen Rui remembered that this should be Shea’s mood after the Master Challenge at the arena and the beautiful misunderstanding at the Royal Garden. In this sentence, Shea was laughing all the time. It was perhaps unresistable at the beginning, but what about the latter?
A crisp wind chime sound continued to ring.
This time it was a sad sigh.
“Why did I let him go to the mines like that? Why didn’t I make him stay forcibly? Why? Should I bury a man that I can never forget… Shea, you’re such a selfish and cold-blooded woman. I hate you…”
“If there’s one day that I can truly defeat Obsidian and regain the throne, I don’t know what else would be left in me…”
“Chen Rui, you must stay alive… Chen Rui…”
This was about him decided to go to Mountain Xilang at the regular meeting. I remember that she didn’t even ask me to be careful, but she was facing this wind chime…
The final whispered call made Chen Rui’s heart trembled a little. He never thought that the “admirer” that was made due to a misunderstanding would actually move the bit of tenderness in her heart after repeated “misunderstandings”. Even if was only a little, she was still moved.
It turned out that the unsmiling and ice-berg like woman had buried her fragile heart under the strong shell in this hidden room. The suppressed crying and scolding could only be released here. She could cry and laugh out loud, but once she was out of this room, she was still the expressionless, fearsome and cruel princess.
The bloodline of the emperor, the last wish of his father, the younger sister who needs to be protected, the terrifying enemies around her… the burdens that this woman carries are too heavy.
Without Athena, perhaps, he would be tempted to be truly moved. Chen Rui couldn’t deny that he was attracted by that beautiful appearance, but if he were to be truly moved, it was definitely not just because of the body but more of the soul.
It’s just that now… I’ll do my best to help her fulfill her wishes step by step. I’ll try to share those burdens not only for myself.
Chen Rui stopped touching the wind chimes. In other words, he stopped touching the soft heart again. He felt his heart sank.
At that moment, the heat of the “God-Eating Mask” reappeared. The sensation this time was unprecedentedly strong and the source was the strange light beam at the center.
Chen Rui tried to reach out to touch the light, but before he could touch, he was bounced back by a miraculous force. His fingers that touched were slightly burnt. It seemed to be a powerful defensive magic array.
The “God-Eating Mask” glowed automatically and began to emit plumes of white smoke. The white smoke contained bits of faint purple lights that wrapped around the light beam.
Chen Rui suddenly thought of something. After he devoured Glorfin’s consciousness, there were some faint memories in his brain. When Glorfin was in the battle with Lord of Midnight Sun, he was badly defeated. Eventually, he used a secret method to escape even when his artifact was damaged. That was why the mask had a broken piece on its forehead.
The injuries that Glorfin sustained from his defeat by the Lord of Midnight Sun was second to the heavy rebound he received when he used a secret method after the God-Eating Mask was broken. It made Glorfin’s body face the edge of collapse. He must absorb the power of Moonlight stone to resolve the rebound of the secret method.
Glorfin, who had once occupied Dark Moon for a while, knew that there were Moonlight stones under the Mountain Xilang’s mines. He immediately changed his escape route and came all the way to the Mountain Xilang’s mine. With the help of his territory’s power, Glorfin absorbed the Moonlight stone below the main pit and the crystals from his territory also polluted the entire mining area. That was the cause of waste ores for 400 years.
However, the number of Moonlight stones was too little. They still couldn’t make up for the “God-Eating Mask” rebound. Relying on his territory’s senses, Glorfin broke the seal of the entrance toward the underground world and searched deeper into the underground world.
The area with the most Moonlight stones was the Earth Elemental’s Earth Realm. To search for Moonlight stones, Glorfin broke into the earth elemental’s territory and killed several earth elementals who got into his way. As a result, he alarmed the Earth Elemental King.
Glorfin was conceited with his Demon Overlord’s strength and thought he could control the underground world. He didn’t expect that the underground world of the Dark Moon Estate actually had the one and only Earth Elemental King. Both of them were Demon Overlord, but the Earth Elemental King was born not long ago, so he couldn’t rival Glorfin at first. Yet, Glorfin was wounded. Along with the mask’s rebound, he finally lost to the Earth Elemental King and his body was destroyed.
However, the power of the artifact shouldn’t be underestimate. As the master of the “God-Eating Mask”, Glorfin’s willpower hadn’t disappeared. He began to further emit the power of territory to absorb the Moonlight stone. This power also caused serious interference to the elemental power in the Earth Realm. Although the Earth Elemental King destroyed Glorfin’s body, he couldn’t destroy the consciousness hidden in the artifact. He could only use his strength to suppress it, but he was controlled by the “God-Eating Mask” instead.
What happened later was Chen Rui’s personal experience.
In the war 400 years ago, the artifact fragment that was separated by a secret method couldn’t be taken away by Glorfin, and it fell into the hands of Midnight Sun Lucifer. According to these memories, the fragment was likely to be sealed in this hidden room of Dark Moon!
This is why the “God-Eating Mask” is summoned! It wants to absorb the fragment and restore into a complete artifact!
The white smoke from the “God-Eating Mask” wrapped the light beam. The light beam that was initially stable began to flicker with unstable light. The six corners shone a strong light, even the magic array on the ground lit up – it was a hexagram array!
A powerful force pushed against Chen Rui. The “God-Eating Mask” was releasing all its white smoke. When the power of the hexagram array met the white smoke, it was like a snow lion encountered fire and suddenly disappeared without a trace. However, the hexagram array started to tremble slightly.
Shea, who had closed her eyes in her chamber, suddenly opened her eyes and revealed a frosty coldness.