Chapter 154: Coffin

Upon entering the garden, Xiao Lin’s eyes widened. This garden was like a different world, the sounds and smells from the outside disappeared immediately. It was extremely quiet there and only their footsteps could be heard.

The castle gate was not locked, nor were there any traps. Xiao Lin and Lilith managed to get in easily and were immediately assaulted by a bright flash of light. The entire interior of the castle was filled with white crystals, including every inch of the walls and ceiling, which were adorned with diamonds and jades. Standing inside felt like they had entered a dream-like crystal palace.

The castle was very spacious and simple. Other than a huge hall, there were no other rooms or hallways. At the end of the hall was a black coffin, which contrasted heavily with the pure and holy hall.

Xiao Lin and Lilith exchange glances, their mutual shock evident. Their gazes then turned back toward the coffin as the two of them walked closer.

Could Ivanovich be inside the coffin?

The two of them let their imaginations run wild, but hesitated for only a moment before deciding to open the coffin to investigate. It might be disrespectful to the dead, but they could be facing the greatest mystery in the history of the colonists.

Getting closer, Xiao Lin gasped. He noticed that the cover of the coffin was slightly shifted away from the body; it was not completely shut.

Could someone have opened it already?

They could not tell what the coffin’s material was. It felt smooth, like jade, but was extremely heavy, much heavier than any metal they knew. Even the two of them together had a lot of difficulty opening it. When they looked inside, they were shocked.

The coffin was empty; there were not even any bones inside. Of course, they had some guesses beforehand, so it was not that shocking, but the curious part was that there were a bunch of random objects inside the coffin, like a pen, a pocket watch, and pictures. Xiao Lin picked up the pen and the pocket watch. The pen was not that special and was rather old-fashioned. The pocket watch was frozen in time, having stopped working for a while.

They were obviously not magical objects and seemed to be from the last century on Earth. Lilith carefully took out the picture and could not help but pale as she said, “This is Ivan’s photo. I think this really is Ivanovich’s burial spot.”

Xiao Lin hurried over to look at the photo. It was a very old black-and-white photo, and the image was a little blurry. However, a young Russian male could be made out, and a middle aged woman stood next to him. He asked, “Who’s that woman?”

Lilith explained, “That’s his mother. I’ve been to the museum at Voyna Akademiya, and this very photo was displayed there. I heard that Ivan’s mother passed away when he entered the academy, so he has a lot of photos of his mother to remember her.”

Xiao Lin’s face paled as he said softly, “If this really is Ivan’s grave, then where is his body?”

The two of them were silent as they looked at the empty coffin.

They did not solve the mystery. All they did was make it bigger.

“The good news is we aren’t face to face that legendary man. We can’t be sure if he’d be friend or foe.” Xiao Lin half-jokingly broke the silence.

However, it was not really good news. Xiao Lin would actually rather face a living Ivanovich. Friend or foe, at least they would be able to find out a little about their surroundings, unlike the clueless flies they were right now. They did not know what their next step would be, and lacked water and food. Xiao Lin did not even know how much longer he could last.

After some discussion, the two of them decided to look around within the castle. There might be some secret passageways that could lead them somewhere.

After half an hour, they did not find any secret passages, but they found other things. More accurately, they found some texts. In the surrounding crystal walls, rows of black-colored block characters appeared when they got close.

“It’s Ancient Normese!” Xiao Lin had worked under Professor Brown for more than half a month, and had been interacting with those difficult words every day, so he recognized it immediately.

Xiao Lin worked hard to translate. His Ancient Normese had been LV1, but during his half a month of work, he had been trying to learn the language as he copied the tablets. Thanks to his Academic Genius skill, his Ancient Normese had definitely leveled up to probably LV2 or 3, so the words in front of him were not completely foreign.

“Give me some time,” Xiao Lin said.

“No problem, we have all the time in the world,” Lilith said over her shoulder before trying to see if they had missed anything.

Xiao Lin was left alone in front of the crystal walls, reading word after word. He did not plan on completely translating the whole thing, it would be too large of an endeavor. However, Lilith and him were in an awkward spot right now. Where would they go if they left the castle? Would they continue to wander around aimlessly in that field with nothing on it until they died?

He hoped there would be some clues on how to get out in those Ancient Normese texts. It was their only chance.

“This probably means sky? No, that’s wrong, there’s an adjective in front, so maybe it’s color? So blue-colored sky? No, that isn’t blue, red? Blood! Yes, this definitely refers to the blood red sky.”

“This sentence could be talking about light and darkness combining? Doesn’t seem right, but the word should mean that. Maybe mixed? Yes, this should mean it’s mixed.”

“This one is easy. Start point? What the heck is a start point. Start could mean beginning... The point of beginning? The original place? Final Lands! Yes, let’s use that first.”

...

Even if Xiao Lin’s Ancient Normese had improved in half a month, it was still a taxing endeavor to translate so much. Thankfully, he felt that his brain power was not too bad. He could only make out about half the words, but filled in the rest of the contents with guesswork and estimates.

It was obviously very hard at the start, and he even had to leave some harder words alone, but after diving deeper, especially once he realized the contents seemed to be describing the Final Land, he started to have a basis to his guesses, and the contents came to him clearer and faster.