[Time flows and you blow the trumpet again.]
[The Great Priestess Riley the Flutist of the Forest Elves has appeared before you and issued you an urgent task.]
[Investigate the Underwater Prison: Seven hundred years ago, a group of forest elves went on a sea voyage led by an elder, but something happened and they have yet to return. Recent rumors suggest that the missing elves might be connected to the Octopus King in the Evil Spirit Sea Area.]
[Task: Go to the Underwater Prison to investigate the validity of the missing elf clan rumors. If true, attempt to rescue the surviving elf clan members.]
[Reward: Determined based on the task completion.]
As expected, the rumor he spread worked. The forest elves’ task changed from the utopia task to this last-minute ’urgent task’. He was asked to investigate the Underwater Prison.
This task can be completed now and will not be available if passed on. It needs to be chosen first.
Mu You then went back a few times.
The results were predicable: the same excuse from the Fairy Lady. The dark elf still had the original underground city task.
Once he confirmed that there were no more suitable tasks, Mu You didn’t hesitate and chose Riley’s task directly.
[You have accepted the ’Investigate the Underwater Prison’ task.]
After accepting the task, it was close to midnight.
Mu You teleported to Phoenix City, ready to go to the Sunlight Forest to catch a few Mana Floating Dragons.
But at this moment, a friend message suddenly popped up in the game.
[Your friend Edward Jack sent you a private chat message.]
Mu You raised his eyebrows. In two or three days, it would be the 26th, and all nine shards’ ownership had been clarified. Jack sent him a message at this time...
Mu You opened and checked it.
[Edward Jack: Bro, you there?]
[Paperclip: Yeah, what’s up?]
[Edward Jack: How about your shards? Haven’t sold them yet?]
[Edward Jack: Great!... I found our fourth collaborator. Quick, let’s unite!]
[Paperclip: I thought when you had collected three shards you’d throw me away.]
[Edward Jack: What are you saying? Am I, Jack, such a disloyal person?]
[Paperclip: What is your relationship with the Son of Heaven now?]
Mu You, did not rush to go along with his words, but instead probed into the situation of the Son of Heaven.
After the encounter at the Evil Spirit Sea Area last time, he wasn’t sure if there was any other communication between the Son of Heaven and Jack. So he took this opportunity to probe.
[Edward Jack: The Son of Heaven? Don’t mention him. We just saw him yesterday. We originally went to negotiate with him in a friendly manner. But that bastard directly attacked us without saying a word upon seeing us. Now we have declared war on the Son of Heaven.]
[Edward Jack: Of course, even without this, we couldn’t possibly coexist peacefully with the Son of Heaven. According to the information we have, the Son of Heaven holds both the first and ninth entry shards. That means, if we want to find the entrance, we either have to follow the Son of Heaven or we have to snatch the shards from him.]
[Edward Jack: In short, here must be a battle between us and the Son of Heaven!]
[Edward Jack: Oh yeah, bro, why did you suddenly ask that?]
[Edward Jack: Wait... You haven’t joined the Son of Heaven, have you?]
[Paperclip: Relax, not yet.]
Mu You’s reply was ’not yet’, instead of ’no’, implying he didn’t rule out the possibility of joining forces with the Son of Heaven.
There was something odd about the fact that the other party came to him at this time. He was already in possession of three shards and should not need him... So Mu You planned to coax the other’s intentions through this method.
[Edward Jack: Bro, you can’t do this!]
[Edward Jack: Really, you can ally with anyone, but you absolutely cannot ally with the Son of Heaven!]
[Paperclip: Oh? Why is that?]
[Edward Jack: Fine, as a sign of goodwill, I won’t hide it from you anymore. I also just learned the news: Many people believed that among the nine shards of each map, only ’159’ were valid shards, and the others were just fillers. But that’s not true; every shard has its own value!]
[Edward Jack: Someone has already collected all nine shards of the same Sky City. And from the full map structure deciphered, this person came to a conclusion: After entering the Sky City from two entrances, one cannot reach the city center in a straight line but must follow a fixed path, hopping around the periphery. Only after following this fixed path can one enter the city center. The specific route is shaped like a paperclip: ’12365’, and ’98745’.]
[Edward Jack: You can draw a line connecting these two columns of numbers on the grid to understand the meaning of the route.]
Mu You drew it on the grid.
12365, which is like walking a paperclip-shaped route. Similarly, 98745 is the same paperclip route and completely symmetrical to the previous one.
That is to say, to reach the city center, there are only two fixed routes, and at least five squares have to be covered.