Chapter 554: The Lost Land of Gold

The moment you climb in, Bai Liu falls into the ocean.

Bai Liu felt the tremendous pressure around him, and if it wasn't for his current inhuman panel quality, he would have been squeezed and burst from the water pressure the moment he was transported into this sea.

The deep sea is dark everywhere, but every now and then a wave of water tells Bai Liu that there must be some kind of large fish swimming around.

All in all a place not to stay for long.

Bai Liu turns his eyes to the only source of light in this deep sea - a huge city sunken at the bottom of the sea.

Bai Liu was suspended very high above the sea floor, the city was below him, he couldn't even see the boundaries, and even more bizarrely, the city was encased in a huge semi-circular glass shield - a shield that Bai Liu had a familiar feeling of, when he had been When he was taken to the Heresy Bureau, the shield outside the Heresy Bureau was of this type.

It is supposed to be possible to see inside through the glass shield, but with golden dust floating above the whole city, one can only get a vague glimpse of the city's magnificent buildings.

It looks like a city that once thrived, but has somehow been shielded and sunk to the bottom of the sea.

From Bai Liu's viewpoint above, the city glows with a warm golden light, and the golden dust inside floats up and down as if it were snow, looking like an oversized crystal ball of snow, with a fairytale quality.

--This would be the [Land of Lost Gold].

[System Alert: Please enter (The Lost Land of Gold), to unlock the main quest.

Bai Liu swam downwards and he soon touched the top of the shield, and the moment he did so he fell into the golden kingdom beneath the sea.

Bai Liu's eyes were downcast as he looked up at the seemingly never-ending flurry of golden dust in the sky, reaching out to catch a bit of it and sip it away.

The texture is so fine, it feels like you can breathe in.

The ground was covered with this fine gold dust, from the magnificent and stately domed palace building in the sky to the buildings in front of us, all covered in a strange golden dust, and the ground was also covered with gold dust, so golden that one could not see it, and the whole city was incomparably quiet, not to mention the sound of people, not even the chirping of birds, so silent that only the sound of falling dust could be heard.

[System Alert: Ask player Bai Liu to find a fairy tale book that is widely circulated in the Golden Land to learn the backstory of the copy and unlock the main quest.

Bai Liu jumped off the rooftop with a flick of the wrist. After landing, he found a landmark building nearby and sent a message to his teammates to meet up here, and within three or four minutes, all four team members arrived.

"No npc's or monsters were encountered on the way to stop us." Tang Erda received her gun behind her waist and frowned, "No encounters with Golden Dawn's men either."

"I had expected them to come in fast and furious as soon as they entered the copy, but along the way I observed the dust on the ground and saw no footprints of anyone else's movements other than ours."

"Yeah." Mu Sicheng looked at the bizarre surroundings of the replica and rubbed his goosebumpy arms, "I was all set to run, but no one came after me."

"It might have something to do with the game setup of this copy." Liu Jiayi tilted his head and tapped on his system panel, "Because the background explanation and main quest of this copy are different from the previous ones, instead of being given as soon as you enter, you have to explore on your own, the other party might be prepared to unlock the main quest first before acting like us."

Muke nodded in agreement, "But overall it's not bad for us, it kind of gives us a cushion."

"I don't think so." Bai Liu shook his head in denial, " Golden Dawn was never meant to be a team that played a speed game, playing speed stations was our response, they like to slow down the tempo, but slowing down the tempo is not good for us players who can CD skills."

"The general idea is still the same as before, a quick fix."

Bai Liu's eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced down at the gold dust that had fallen on each of them, "I always felt more threatened by this copy itself, than Golden Dawn gave me."

"Let's find the fairy tale first."

"Yes!"

The group was led by Bai Liu into the nearest building, which was also covered in floating gold dust. The notice board at the front desk was so thickly covered in gold dust that it was hard to read, and Liu Jiayi knelt down and wiped the thick gold dust off the board before seeing what was on it.

Liu Jiayi stared at the writing on it for a moment, then waved his hand, " Muke, I can't read such characters."

"Here it is." Muke walks over to the notice and stares at it for a moment, pondering for a moment, "It's a very old little language, I can't understand it all, but I've taken an optional course in the modern language that evolved after it, so I can understand the general meaning."

"This notice says this month's notice that thirteen households have not paid their utility and gas bills this month, and that one household with serious arrears owes about 500g in total utility bills ......"

"Gold?"

Muke's tone was clearly hesitant when he saw the last phrase.

"Wow?!" Mu Sicheng crouched over with great interest, "A pound of gold for utilities, what did this family do at home? Did they raise goldfish?"

"What surprises me more than this is the rest of the place." Muke flipped the notice board forward, looking more and more peculiar as he did so, "This place has no currency of its own, the general equivalent of their daily transactions is gold, utilities are paid in gold, everyday food is bought in gold, three apples 2g gold, a whole leg of beef smoked in 12g gold."

"...... uses gold for everyday transactions?" Mu Sicheng staggered at the sound of it, as he silently converted in his mind, "These prices are so outrageously high, people here are so rich."

"To be able to use gold as a trading currency and prices so high, this would be a very economically developed place, they did have a lot of money at one time." Muke frowned, "But certainly not recently, the rent for this building has recently increased four or five times, the unit cost of the various utilities supplied has increased almost forty times, and food like this can basically be said to sit on the floor and change price from day to day."

"That's why there were previous tenants who owed a pound of gold on their utility bills."

"All sorts of things are going up in price." Mu Sicheng questions hesitantly, "Shouldn't that mean that people in this place are getting richer?"

Muke looks at Mu Sicheng for a moment: "It depends on what the price increase is."

"If the price increases are for non-essential items that are already at a premium, such as luxury cars and watches, which are toys for the rich, then it means that people have money for something other than the necessities of life to enjoy, and this is really only a sign of areas that are getting better economically."

"But judging by the announcement of this building, some of the slightly higher end foods, like cheese, are dropping in price, instead the price increases are all for necessities like smoked meat apples utilities and rentals, that can only mean that money, or gold, is flowing into survival products in this area, which means that people in this area are having a very bad time, which is what is causing them to hoard in large quantities in a panic essential goods, causing the price of essential goods to double."

"What I'm seeing is basically the same thing." Muke nodded to the bulletin board, "There are more and more tenants in this building who can't pay their rent."

"But I actually find it hard to imagine that a place that uses gold as its circulating currency would necessitate a premium of this magnitude." Muke spreads his hands, "As long as the place has a port and they're willing to use gold for foreign trade, I'm sure there are plenty of places in the world where 2g of gold would sell them four hundred apples, but I see no sign of foreign trade."

"A pound of gold, which has been the cost of living for many families for several years, is just a few months' worth of utilities for this building."

"The world is full of people who are madly thirsty for their gold, but they are cantoned here, unwilling to trade with the outside world and allowing prices to rise wildly."

"Maybe it's because too many people want their gold that they don't want it?" Bai Liu knelt down on one knee and raised his eyes to Muke who was stunned for a moment, "What is this little language you speak of in this place?"

"That's one of the things that's strange to me." Muke ponders for a moment and replies, "I am learning a very rare and minor language that is spoken in very few countries in the real world, a minor language whose origin is a civilised language that exists only in legend."

"It is said that more than a thousand years ago, beside this overseas sea of the Ancient Luo Sea, there was once a very prosperous ancient country, although this country was not a vast country, just a small coastal country, but this country was very rich, so rich that almost even the floor of their palace was paved with gold, and it was known as [the country of gold favoured by God], at that time it was almost the world's economic centre of exchange, and the small surrounding countries aspired to this country, and they imitated the language of this country, which has been passed on to the present day, and is this little language that I am learning now."

"But everything about this country at the moment has been deduced by everyone based on some existing historical documents from the surrounding countries, there are no real relics or historical information to prove that this country really existed, nor is there anything to prove that the language I learned originated from this land of gold."

"But now it seems." Muke looked at the gold dust covered display next to the reception desk, the radio, and a couple of very modern mobile phones, "this country really does exist."

"And it also developed silently, out of our sight, for a thousand years until its demise."

Mu Sicheng listened with mixed emotions: "...... How did you learn such a small language that is so remote?"

"Because my father wanted me to learn that a son like me, who couldn't inherit the family business, could only be used as an external showcase, and when I learned things that no one around me knew how to do, he would feel honoured by that, so I learned a lot of things that I found useless but he found classy, small languages being one of them." Muke replies with a wry smile, "You could interpret this as the boring vanity of a rich man."

"But it's not all bad if it comes in handy now, I guess."

"So the system is asking us to explore why this country fell, is it?" Liu Jiayi frowned and said softly, "[The Land of Gold favoured by God], that sounds like a lot of-"

She didn't go on, and Bai Liu looked at each other, and all was lost in translation.

--sounds just like Bai six.

"We're looking for fairy tale books, right?" Tang Erda looked carefully through the front desk directory, "Residents with children are more likely to have fairy tale books in their rooms, right?"

"There are three residents with children on the first floor and also on the third floor."

Tang Erda turned to Bai Liu with the address book in her hand, "Shall we go up and look for it?"

Bai Liu nodded, "Let's go."

The search for the fairy tale book was not difficult and as soon as Tang Erda pushed open the door to the second room, they found a fairy tale book on the gold dusted table top without any problems.

"The name of this one is [The Land of the Gods' Favoured Gold]." Muke took the book and read the words on it, then looked up at everyone, "This should be the one."

"You translate and we'll listen." Bai Liu sat down on the small bench next to the sound and assumed a posture of attentive listening.

"I don't always get all the flips right." Muke took a deep breath, "But I try."

He turned the first page of the heavy fairy tale book, which was covered in gold dust.

"A long, long time ago, perhaps as long as a thousand years, there was a beautiful seaside country called Gloren, beside the Gulo Sea."

Meanwhile, Georgia stood in the palace, his eyes downcast at a place he knew and yet was unfamiliar with - the land of Gloren, which he had sunk with his own hands after ten years, the largest and most expensive heresy he had guarded on the sea for a whole decade, his only, unforgettable homeland.

This palace, this gorgeous palace sprinkled with gold dust, was where he was born and brought up, and he remembers when he was ten years old and the whole country celebrated his birth, the young man standing outside the palace terrace, standing on his tiptoes and looking down from beside the fence that was higher than he was, and the square was filled with his people cheering for his growth.

They set off fireworks, waved gold ground into gold dust, and called his name loudly and affectionately.

" Georgia!"

" Georgia!"

Gold dust and fireworks spilled over Georgia's shoulders, and the people's eyes reflected the best glow in the world as he held onto the railing in a daze, looking at the glitz and glamour and murmuring softly, "Am I really worth all that they've done for me?"

His father, the king of Gloren, laughed and held him by the shoulders: "You are the crown prince of Gloren."

"You are the king who will lead them to a brighter golden age in the future, who will protect them and uphold them."

"You certainly deserve it all!"

"But what if ......" Little Georgia clenched her fists hesitantly, "I can't do it right?"

"You won't do badly." The king stroked his forehead lovingly, "You are the best of princes, I know it, you may look cold and harsh but you are actually a good boy who has been responsible from the time you knew how to behave, and your greatest fear is to fail these people who are so eagerly waiting for you."

"And he who has such fears will surely make a good king."

"Hey." Seeing Georgia's ever-present frown, the king awkwardly stroked his brow open, "My boy, do you remember that fairy tale?"

"When the day does come that you don't do well, we are a nation of gold favoured by God and we can still go to God for help."

"But what if God doesn't help us?" Georgia couldn't hide his worry, which made him look a bit teenage, "No one will help us all the time for no reason, God helps us and will definitely make us pay for it."

"How can that be?" The king laughed innocently, "The whole point of God's existence is to make his followers happy who believe in him!"

"Captain?" Chrissy inquired softly, "What's wrong with you?"

"The system prompted us to find the fairy tale book and you led us all the way here, is this a place you know well?"

--The existence of Heretic 0073 is a top secret of the Three Bureaus, and apart from Georgia and Lu Yizhan, almost no one knows what Heretic 0073 looks like.

Georgia closed his eyes, gathered his thoughts, and when he opened them, he was the same calm and dignified captain of the Third Bureau again, "Yes."

"I remember that there is a book of fairy tales here, but I forget exactly where it is, so go and search elsewhere in the palace."

"Yes, Captain!"

Several members of the team responded and then trained themselves to start carpet searching the entire palace.

And after a brief stop, Georgia headed for the prince's bedchamber in the palace, walking with the same steady dignity as on the day he became crown prince, past the high platform where he was cheered by the people, past the meadow where he learned archery, past the flower bed where Armand had been knocked, and finally to his bedchamber.

Everything here is as stereotypically standard as it was then, with thirteen bows and arrows of different sizes hanging on the wall in harnesses, and a huge bookshelf opposite containing various books in separate categories, many of which have been thumbed through and have gold leaf bookmarks pinned inside - specially made for him by his father.

When he was young, he would fall asleep reading them. In order to force himself to read more, Georgia secretly hid an ice basin under his bed, and when he became sleepy, he would stand barefoot on the ice basin for a while, relying on the cold temperature to keep him awake and force himself to read more.

After Armand found out and reported it to his father, Georgia was punished by his angry father.

[The body is fundamental to the rule of the state.] His father rebuked him sternly, [You are so eager and utilitarian to learn things that you cannot remain calm in such a peaceful environment, how can you make the people follow you without fear?!

At that time Georgia was punished for not being allowed to read, and although he received his punishment on his knees and was calm, he was also uncontrollably anxious.

-- as if something would happen to this kingdom, which is favoured by God's favour, if one minute of his gaze were missing.

At that time, the only book Georgia was allowed to read was the fairy tale book, The Land of Gold for the Families of the Gods.

This book is a household name for fairy tales in Gloren country.

But Georgia didn't like the fairy tale book and he resisted reading it, but he read it anyway at that time.

Georgia went to the bed and slowly sat down on the bed covered in gold dust, and on the bedside table was a Quan family blessing, which he wiped clean and saw Armand, only a few months old, and himself, with a stern face but still with a smile in his eyes, his father, who was smiling a little foolishly, and his mother, who was sitting in a chair, smiling brightly. mother.

-- Armand was four years old when their mother died, after which their father fell into disarray and gave the title of Crown Prince to himself in advance.

So this is one of their few Quan family portraits, and one of his favourites, so it was kept by his bedside, but when it sank Gloren, he was in such a hurry to carry a sleeping Armand that he didn't even have time to take it.

I never thought I would finally see it again after so long.

Georgia was quiet, then he turned over his pillow and saw the book of fairy tales that he had hidden under it, and he turned to the second page:.

" The people of Gloren are industrious and kind, and although the country they possess is not vast and the land is not fertile, each one of them lives happily by their hard work."

"It was a time when everyone was after gold, but there were no gold mines in the Gloren country and they couldn't get it, so they ended up getting used to a smooth life and multiplying from generation to generation."

" The people in the kingdom of Gloren were so happy in spite of their poverty that this happiness attracted the attention of God, who came down to the then king of Gloren and smiled and said, "Will you make a bargain with me?"

"The king asked, God, we are a poor nation and have nothing to trade with you."

"God smiled and said, "Yes there is."

"-that is the joy that is in you."

"In exchange for the pleasure you deliver to me and the pain you pay, I give you an inexhaustible supply of gold, enough to last you a thousand years."

"But after a thousand years, you will pay me for the pain."

"And the king thought long and hard, and he summoned the nation, and asked the opinion of every one of them, and the nation rejoiced, and no one could hate gold, especially such gold as fell from heaven, and all agreed to the gods' bargain."

Muke turned to page six and continued reading softly.

" The Gloren country has changed forever."

"This formerly goldless land became a land of gold, where peasants dug everywhere and patches of gold appeared in the earth, fishermen fished out and the fish in their nets spat out stones that were gold and didn't even need to be forged anymore, and soon Gloren became the richest country in the world."

"But this riches attracted many nations with evil intentions towards Gloren, who wanted to wage war against it and rob it of its gold, and the wise king, in his desperation, found the gods again and said to them, O God Almighty, please hide us and leave only a small opening where the gold can be sold, and it will be done. "

"God agreed, and he hid Gloren from the world, and no one will ever again be able to search out the land of Gloren."

"And so, after a thousand years of peace and plenty, it was time for Gloren to pay the price."

Muke turns another page and the fairy tale book ends.