Chapter 30: Decoy and Discovery

After thinking for a short while, Sules’s gaze became resolute.

Only a fool would pass up a free advantage—at worst, she could just keep the fishskin diagram as a trump card for leverage.

Besides, that magic array wasn’t insignificant.

No matter what, it would be good to get it.

She put the diary back in the dark, then lay down to sleep.

The next morning, Sules got up and walked into the living room.

Compared to last night, the family’s attitude today was noticeably much warmer.

But in Sules’s eyes, who knew exactly what they were up to, this kind of enthusiasm was no different from a weasel wishing a chicken a happy New Year—clearly up to no good.

A Seg merchant never lets their emotions show. Sules wore an expression of pleasantly surprised shyness and exchanged pleasantries with them for a while.

Leide, always the family favorite, never bothered with such social niceties. After waiting a bit, he impatiently dragged Sules away.

Ryan and the other two, seeing this, became even more convinced of their previous guess—Leide was clearly interested in Sules.

But what they didn’t know was that, as soon as Leide pulled Sules away, his first words were: “Did you find it?”

Sules shook her head.

“No, but I guess it’s probably in your parents’ room. You’ll have to help me get them out, so I can look for it.”

Leide nodded immediately.

“That’s easy. Just wait, I’ll take them out right away.”

Sules grabbed his arm.

“Wait, don’t be hasty, listen to me. When you get them out, make sure it’s for a reason that helps me. Like you need to buy some daily necessities for me or something, got it?”

Leide looked a bit confused.

“Why?”

Sules sneered inwardly.

Of course, it was to get his ‘good’ parents to act faster, so she could strike back sooner.

But she couldn’t say that out loud.

“Because that way your parents will think our relationship isn’t that close, and they’ll lower their guard against me.”

Leide said, “Captain, you’re really meticulous. Who would notice such details? Fine, I got it, you can rest easy.”

Only then did Sules watch him leave with a smile.

As expected of the most privileged in the family—Leide had barely gone in before Ryan’s family all came out.

“Captain Sulia, we’re going out to buy some things, we’ll be back soon,” they said.

Sules pretended to be worried.

“Should I go with you? I could help carry things. It’s not good to leave me alone at home, right?”

Bruce’s father said, “No need, Captain. Four grown men like us don’t need your help. We trust your character, so just stay home and relax.”

Sules then obediently stood at the door, sweetly watching them leave.

As soon as they were gone, she turned and rushed straight for Bruce’s wife’s bedroom.

Claire was already up by now.

Seeing what Sules was doing, she nervously and anxiously asked, “Sules, what are you doing? This is someone else’s house, we can’t just go snooping around.”

Sules kept searching as she replied, “Don’t worry about it. There’s a traitor in their family, so of course I have to make good use of that. Besides, none of them are good people. For the next few days, don’t eat anything they give you. When we go back to our room, we’ll just eat our own black bread.”

Even though their main target was her, who knew if they’d drag Claire into it?

Clearly, they wanted to drug her into submission.

If Claire accidentally ate the drugged food, that would be a disaster.

Claire was kind by nature, but her parents had always reminded her of the world’s dangers.

On a perilous planet like Shuizhi, it was never wise to be blindly kind.

A saint?

That was just someone to be despised.

So even though Claire felt Sules’s actions weren’t quite right, she didn’t say anything more.

Sules was her captain.

As long as it wasn’t something truly atrocious, she would always stand by Sules.

No, actually, even if Sules did something truly unforgivable, at most Claire would just not help—but she’d never betray or report Sules.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

Claire asked.

Having deviated from the original game storyline, Sules actually didn’t know what kind of person Claire really was.

In her mind, Claire belonged to the kind and lawful camp—yet faced with Sules’s rather rebellious behavior, not only did she not persuade her otherwise, she was actually willing to go along with it?

Sules was a bit surprised.

“You want to help me?”

“Of course,” Claire replied matter-of-factly.

“You’re my captain—who else would I help if not you?”

Only then did Sules begin to understand Claire’s thinking, and she couldn’t help but feel moved.

In such a strange world, having someone who trusted her unconditionally was a true blessing.

But there was still something Sules found strange.

After all, she herself was not the original Sules Sulia from Shuizhi.

So why hadn’t Claire, who spent every day with the original, noticed anything?

But now wasn’t the time to think about that.

Sules thought for a moment, then said, “Help me look for any blueprints or anything strange in this room.”

The two of them started searching together.

Sules casually opened a box on the study’s bookshelf. Inside was an enormous pearl, as big as a fist.

In a world of the sea, pearls were nothing special.

But one this big—this was her first time seeing such a thing.

Especially since this pearl was clearly multicolored, incredibly magical.

Such a pearl, Sules was certain, was priceless.

If she sold it, she could buy a house even in the center of the continent, let alone in such a remote place.

Why would the Bu Lusi Family just leave such a treasure here?

“Wait!”

Sules was about to put the box back when she suddenly noticed another small box hidden behind it.

She opened it and found a small pearl inside.

Compared to the multicolored one, this pearl was only normal-sized and looked quite unremarkable—except that it was black.

But after seeing the giant pearl just now, nobody would pay much attention to this little one.

They’d just take the big pearl and leave the small one behind.

Most people would think that way—but not Sules.

She knew merchants’ tricks all too well. In fact, she was even more interested in this little black pearl.

If it was useless, why would Bruce’s wife hide it even deeper?

She curled her lips and rubbed the big pearl with her finger.

Sure enough, she wiped off a layer of paint, revealing the creamy-white pearl underneath.

So the big pearl was just an ordinary one, painted to look multicolored.

Of course, a pearl this big was still valuable, but compared to a real multicolored giant pearl, the price was worlds apart.

Clearly, Bruce’s wife used the big pearl as a decoy to hide the true treasure—the black pearl.

She didn’t know what this black pearl was for, but Sules still put it in her bag.

A treasure’s use could always be discovered later—might as well take it while she could.

Claire was also searching seriously.

After checking the last corner of the cabinet, she sighed, “We’ve checked the desk and the cabinets—there’s nothing strange. Sules, could what you’re looking for not be here?”

Sules shook her head.

“They don’t know our real goal, so there’s no way they’d do the opposite and hide it in plain sight. They must have hidden it in a secret spot to stop us from getting curious. Ryan’s father didn’t leave this room all day yesterday—he was clearly guarding something. So it should be here.”

But now, they’d already searched all the obvious places.

Searching further would be pointless.

Sules frowned, thinking about where else in this room something could be hidden.

She walked around the room, and when she reached the door, she stopped.

Scanning the whole room, she suddenly had an idea.

“Hey, if you were going to hide something in a study, where would you put it?”

“In a book, of course,” Claire replied.

“But we’ve already checked all the books—there’s nothing in them.”

Sules smirked.

“But there’s one book in this study we haven’t noticed yet.”

“Which one?”

Standing at the doorway, Sules pointed to the two bookshelves at the very back of the room.

“Look at those two shelves—don’t they look like a book?”

Sure enough, the two shelves, which should have been placed side by side, were at a strange angle. Seen from the door, they looked just like an open book.

Sules walked straight to the gap between the shelves and told Claire, “You pull that side, I’ll push from this end—let’s see if we can open them a bit and check what’s behind.”

Claire nodded and began to help.

The shelves were heavy, but as a warrior, Claire had plenty of strength. Soon, the shelves were pushed aside.

Behind them was a small cabinet.

This must be where the thing she wanted was hidden.

Sules squatted down and saw, sure enough, it was locked—hidden very securely.

Claire stood beside her, shaking her head helplessly.

“The key must be on Bruce’s wife.

There’s no way we can open this—we don’t know how to pick locks.”

Sules grinned slyly.

“Who says you have to unlock it before you can open it?”

She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

“Just chop it open!”

Claire stared at her in shock.

“But if you do that, won’t the Bu Lusi Family find out?”

Sules explained, “This thing is hidden behind the shelves—it’s hard to move them, and doing so makes a lot of noise. So before we leave, Bruce’s wife probably won’t have a chance to check if it’s still here. After we’re gone, who cares how they react?”

With that, she handed the knife to Claire.

“You’re the warrior—this should be easier for you. You do it.”

Claire nodded, and with a few quick chops, the box was open.

Sules crouched down and picked up a piece of yellowed fishskin paper from the debris.

On it was a mysterious diagram, and next to it was a small slip of paper listing the magic array’s materials and uses.

Finally, she had what she wanted.

Sules quickly put everything away, preparing to push the shelves back with Claire.

Just then, the two of them suddenly heard the click of the front door opening.

The Bu Lusi Family was back!