Saman looked up and glanced outside, "If you want to know the answer to all of this, you have to unravel the clues one by one. Let's look for the second clue first: Two lines intersect, and life and death meet. Let's go to the grass skiing field again. This time, our target is the slope, or rather, the turf."
"En," Ren Yifei picked up the golden badge and took one last look at the ship model, "Let's go. The sooner. the better." ZdPSUQ
The bottom of the ship model was fixed to the ground and could not be taken away. Furthermore, the size of it was too large. The two of them moved the wooden carving back, re-installed the ship model, put back the miscellaneous items, and covered it with the white cloth.
Passing by the noisy wooden cabins, the two walked towards the top of the mountain. On the way, they met four or five players who were holding the head of the goddess they saw yesterday.
As if he had not seen anything, Ren Yifei continued to walk up the mountain, but Saman glanced back at them a few times.
When they reached the top of the mountain, it was empty, and no one was there. The players had all left with the goddess idol. Ren Yifei saw that a lot of turfs had been lifted by the players, revealing the compacted yellow soil below. Ca4LMe
There was even a spot where they dug up nothing.
"Have they checked the turf?"
Saman checked several turf slides, "Only this one; the others were just lifted."
The grass skiing field was not natural but was made of artificial turf, which had come in four colours: yellow, white, red and green. Each artificial turf has guardrails on both sides, leaving room for a sledge to be placed in the middle.
The entrances and exits of each turf were marked with numbers, and there were a total of eleven numbers on site.
Ren Yifei closed his eyes and recalled the details of the model ship.
Pictures flashed through his mind, the tourists, the crew, the restaurant, the deck... the rooms.
He immediately opened his eyes, walked to the entrance of the grass skiing field and compared them one by one, "That's right." v9SLKg
"What's wrong?"
"All the room numbers in the ship model that start with 9, 8 and 7 are the VIP rooms, and the door numbers are gold. The ones starting with 6, 5 and 4 are the staff's rooms, and the door numbers are silver. Finally, there are 3, 2, and 1. These rooms came at a discounted price, and the door numbers are bronze."
Ren Yifei pointed to the various coloured turf and the white numbers on it, "Look, don't these numbers also correspond to the three colours yellow, white, and red?"
The turf that the previous players had lifted and dug up was... green. 618yua
"I'll try," Saman approached a piece of yellow turf, lifted it slightly, then dug about ten centimetres to reveal a bit of something greyish in colour. It looked a lot like a concrete slab, and only upon closer inspection did he realise it was a natural stone slab.
He did not rush to lift the turf. Instead, he asked Ren Yifei, "Do you want to lift it now or wait until night?"
"Why wait until night? With the numbers as a secured code, they wouldn't be able to come to the same conclusion as us," Ren Yifei asked in surprise. If it was for secrecy, wouldn't the players come out at night to sneak around? This kind of public location simply could not be hidden.
Saman shook his head, "This is a supernatural type instance, NPCs act as people in a play, and most of their reactions are inconsistent with players. The daytime sunlight is too strong." It would be easy to see a person's expression, and a slight difference could be spotted.
Just because of this? Ren Yifei instantly understood what Saman meant and hummed lightly, "Thanks, but it doesn't matter. Go at your own pace, and leave the rest to me."
Although his tone was light, it was full of confidence. Saman could not help but laugh, "l was overthinking."
Thus, he held the guardrail in one hand, pulled a small folded shovel out of nowhere, and started digging.
A tilted stone tombstone appeared in front of them that was about sixty centimetres wide and one meter long. There was a string of numbers on the tombstone, but other than that, there was nothing else.
Two lines cross, and life and death meet. Yes, it's here.
"The number correlates with the room number," Ren Yifei was sure, "Dig up the soil next to it, 'bury the bones in yellow sandy soil', this will definitely not be just a tombstone."
His guess was confirmed when he saw a gap; this was not a tombstone but a stone coffin. raEX6u
"Look for number 9001; that's the captain's room number." At that moment, Ren Yifei looked unusually calm and had a small smile on the corner of his mouth. His relaxed attitude gave people a strong sense of confidence.
After determining that these tombstones were related to the rooms in the ship model, the next step was easily done. Ren Yifei and Saman went to the ninth grass skiing field, a bright yellow artificial turf.
Number 9001 was in the first one. It could be seen as soon as the yellow soil was shovelled away.
After cleaning up all the yellow soil, Saman tried to push it, and it actually opened as soon as he did. The large stone coffin was filled with the bones of a completely skeletonised corpse, with a letter found next to it. TJ4BG9
Ren Yifei directly took the letter, "We'll read it together later."
Saman did not doubt him, "I'll take out the bones and piece them together."
Hearing this, Ren Yifei also wanted to help.
"Your injury..." gPiATJ
"I won't die," Ren Yifei forgot the pain in his shoulder; his desire for the truth was the best anaesthetic.
Seeing his insistence, Saman did not continue to speak. Sympathy for the strong was an insult, and Saman respected him and the strength of his soul.
Fortunately, this was a complete skeleton, which greatly aided both of their assembling processes. If it were a badly damaged skeleton, many misleading possibilities would appear.
Of course, even with a complete skeleton, some of its orientations would be hard to determine. At this moment, Saman was holding the radius and comparing it with his arm to determine its position. c4C9vr
As a result of working together, in addition to the pressure of being spotted, their speed became astonishingly fast. They were actually able to set up an entire skeleton in five minutes.
There were no missing pieces, and there was no noticeable damage to the surface.
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Over on his side, Saman picked up the skull, "This occipital bone on the back side of the skull is closed, forming a bulge. Therefore, these bones belong to an adult. Judging by the frontal bone, cheekbone, lower jaw bone, and other places, it is most likely an oriental male with a square face shape."
"Furthermore, the crown of the tooth is severely worn," he put the skull down and picked up the pubic bone in the centre. After seeing the general shape, he observed the surface of the joints, "The greater sciatic notch is narrow, and the edge of the pubic symphysis surface shows signs of continuous erosion; there are traces of waves patterns and depressions." VwGfv6
Ren Yifei picked up the rib and observed the ends, which was also an effective method of determining a person's age, "Combined with what we've observed, we can conclude that this is an oriental male, aged between forty and fifty, has a fracture in his left leg."
"No bones are missing, and it's also well preserved. The surface does not have any bite marks, fractures or scars. After death, the corpse did not receive any damage from animal bites, physical trauma, or cuts," Saman added some final details.
"I'll take the liberty to ask, are you a forensic doctor?" Ren Yifei was a little puzzled. He had more than a few special experiences himself, so it was understandable that he knew a little more. But what was this man's occupation? Not only does he understand programming, but he also has forensic knowledge.
"No," Saman stood up, "I'm a businessman." IdvO54
Hehe, Ren Yifei did not believe a single punctuation mark.
"An oriental male in his forties or fifties, with a square face and a sturdy figure," Ren Yifei said and turned on his mobile phone.
There was a photo of the captain's figurine on the phone, which basically matched their conclusion.
"Also, don't you think this captain is a bit like someone?" Ren Yifei enlarged the picture. 7I4tXg
Saman pondered for a moment and also thought of a person.
"Shh— the people below seem to have noticed." From the corner of Ren Yifei's eyes, he saw players from several places below approach.
That's right, their movements were so loud, and their location was so easily seen during the day. They were not blind, so how could they not see?
If there was no benefit, then so be it. But if there was, why wouldn't they come to check? The most that could happen was that time was wasted. Time is worthless when the work is ineffective. tNeO p
"Sweep the bones back, then push open a few stone coffins to confuse them," Saman led Ren Yifei to the side and sped up, pushing three stone coffins open before the other players came up.
These stone coffins also contained bones, as well as a briefcase, a cell phone, and even a doll.
By this time, the players were close to the top of the mountain, and the whirring of a drone sounded in the sky. Saman glanced up and found the girl with glasses and the little girl from the mushroom house among the approaching crowd.
Ren Yifei also took notice and began to make his eyes look dull. His limbs dropped weakly, and he assumed the pitiful appearance of having his three views shattered. KDi7IO
Because of the wound, he naturally became timid, 'frightened', and showed no signs of contradictions.
The players arrived faster than expected. They saw that Saman was shovelling the soil, the stone tablet under the turf, and the stone coffin under the stone table; they also saw Ren Yifei sitting on the edge of the grass skiing field in shock.
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The players stopped for a while. They did not expect the player and NPC combo would discover a pivotal clue. Was it possible that finding an NPC to be their partner really has such a miraculous effect?
Saman has shovelled the dirt off several stone coffins and pushed them open, revealing more clues. He took a cursory look around and found bones in each stone coffin, most of which were accompanied by wallets and cell phones. CSJOtw
"Need help?" the players asked him, but in fact, they were actually asking: Can I join in and get a piece of the pie?
With two to three steps, Saman's long legs walked across the rough stone tablets before reaching the top. He glanced at Ren Yifei, "This is Gu Xingye. He told me that the ancestral tombs were right here in the past, and the local custom was to build 'chair tombs'. He also told me the stone tables are always attached to the burial chamber, so we came to check them out."
The players were shocked. This NPC was so useful?
Ren Yifei was overwhelmed by the stares and wondered, "You didn't know?" ap2EVz
Since it was an ancestral tomb, how can you not know?
The player, who was wearing the appearance of a local but did not know anything, "...Ahaha, let's help."
The player grabbed the corner of a strip of turf and jumped, ripping the turf up as they slid all the way to the bottom; their method was both efficient and fast.
The other players dispatched all kinds of treasures to start shovelling the soil. Ren Yifei was in awe as his eyes widened; he was very confused by how those things appeared in their hands out of nowhere. 7 uINQ
There was still an NPC there. Was this the beginning of letting themselves go?
The player simply did not have their sights on the NPC, who could be used as tools and thrown away, as they wondered about the meaning behind the numbers, "It seems that the numbers at the beginning of each row are the same. Look, here's the first, here is the second..."
Saman and Ren Yifei became background characters and watched the fun on the sidelines.
Since they did not know the reason behind those numbers, it was useless no matter how many stone coffins these people dug up. They had come to work for Saman and Ren Yifei but did not even know it. 6qtNen
Ren Yifei openly took the envelope out. However, since the NPC's light was too bright, the more upfront he was, the less suspicious others would be.
There was only a room card and an old photo in the envelope.
The room card had the same number as the ones on the stone tablet, and the picture was of a cruise ship. They had already guessed it, so it was not surprising.
The photo was old and yellowed. It showed a little boy and an antique western ship with a statue of a goddess on the bow in front of the ship. m8d279
The goddess statue on the bow was exactly like the severed head carving they had seen. She wore a golden crown and held a trident as her skirt fluttered in the breeze. Her long hair was like waves, her eyes were like torches, and she seemed to be in a battle against the storm and sea monsters. She looked powerful.
When turned over, the back of the photo reads: Chen Li and the Goddess of Starlight.
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This corpse belonged to the captain, and the ship's name should be the Goddess of Starlight.
Ren Yifei glanced at the picture and then put it away. He took two steps to the side and brushed shoulders with Saman; the photo appeared in Saman's hand. Taking advantage of this gap, Saman looked at the picture before he put it away. q6f2Io
The two looked at each other and turned away naturally without saying anything.