Chapter 254 Compensation

According to Pierre, when trapped in the small village in the woods, the flow of time for various things fell into a strange state. Some things would decay rapidly, while others would show temporal stasis. So, what would happen when the village's space-time distortion suddenly disappeared?

Currently, it seems that all these distorted times were instantly "compensated."

The three-hundred-year-old village instantly decayed into ashes, and the forest blocked outside the wall occupied this former civilized soil in an instant. Those villagers who had completely merged with the village and become part of this magical system were regarded as dead objects: they were also instantly compensated into time.

Pierre was surprised and delighted to see Hao Ren and his party. What happened just now shocked and terrified him. The sight of everything around him decaying in an instant and the forest crushing over made him almost have another heart attack. The Wang brothers and Catherine beside him seemed much more confused: the three of them had been trapped in the village for too long that they almost lost their ability to think freely. What happened in the past few years was a hazy dream for them, and even the memories before the dream seemed to have been lost a lot.

After hearing Pierre's explanation of what happened before, the Wang brothers looked disbelieving, and Catherine's eyes widened: she thought she had just set off from a research camp outside the forest, and was preparing to collect plant and animal data in this forest.

However, in the blink of an eye, everything had changed.

"Now that the curse here has disappeared, what are your arrangements next?" Hao Ren asked, looking at Pierre. "Also, have these three behind you... considered their future?"

Obviously, the Wang brothers and Catherine hadn't thought about such far-reaching things, or even if they had thought about it, they probably had no clue: such a bizarre experience had only been heard in myths and legends. Who knew what to do when you really encountered it in reality? Moreover, even the myths and legends didn't seem to mention how to deal with the aftermath of encountering such a thing. Everyone had heard the story of Wang Zhi watching immortals playing chess and losing hundreds of years, but the story didn't seem to tell how the unlucky guy who was tricked by the immortals to lose a hundred years later made up for his ID card…

However, Hao Ren felt that the situation of these three in front of him was at least more fortunate than Wang Zhi, who watched immortals playing chess in the story: they had only been disconnected from the outside society for a few years to a dozen years, and finding someone to make a fake certificate could basically restore them to normal…

"I really have to consider changing careers," Pierre said from the bottom of his heart, while nodding to Vivian, "Your advice is very reasonable. With my physique and luck... if I continue to do this, I estimate that within five years, my photo will have to be hung on the wall. As for these three friends... to use an ancient Eastern saying, meeting is fate. After all, we've been trapped together for so long, I'll give them a hand, at least let them return to their respective hometowns and live normal lives."

Hao Ren was relieved to hear this, thinking that Pierre was willing to take on this troublesome matter, which would save him a lot of trouble. However, he still curiously asked, "Do you have connections? Do spirit detectives even handle this? It's okay for these two brothers, but Catherine seems to have disappeared in the year when Little Bush came to power. It's been fifteen years since she disappeared. It'll be difficult to restore her to normal, right…"

Pierre smiled slightly, "Spirit detectives also have their own network of contacts, and although there are very few cases of people who have disappeared for many years and reappeared, it's not non-existent. As long as their families are still there, everything will be easy to handle. And even if there are unexpected situations, the worst case scenario is to find someone to make a fake certificate for them…"

Hao Ren: "…"

After all this effort, is this all this detective master has to offer?

"Okay, as long as you can take care of yourselves," Vivian waved her hand. "But if you really encounter difficulties, you can go to Athens, Greece, and draw a six-pointed star and an eye on any monument near the city center. Someone will find you. At that time, you can give my name, and you can get a help from the Shadow Council."

Pierre was immediately moved. This was probably the first time in his many years as a spirit detective that he was about to come into contact with this level of supernatural power. Although he didn't know what the Shadow Council was, just hearing the name was enough to make him excited. While he was excited, Hesperides reminded him from the side, "Oh right, there's something to pay attention to."

"Please tell me." Pierre immediately responded with a serious attitude.

"Use clean water when drawing the pattern, don't use paint," Hesperides covered her forehead. "Last time, two idiots from the Brotherhood of the Americas used spray paint to draw a contact code on a city monument. We bailed them out of the police station…"

Pierre: "…"

Hao Ren patted the spirit detective on the shoulder: "Change careers as soon as possible, the daily life of these monsters is not as high-end as you think."

Pierre continued: "…"

After arranging the affairs of these "victims of the strange village," Hao Ren and the others did not rush to leave, but turned to the overgrown ruins of the village and walked towards the depths of the wilderness.

If it weren't for personal experience, it would be hard to imagine that this place was a village with hundreds of "people" just a few hours ago. But now, all that can be found here are overgrown weeds and shrubs. These plants, which grew rapidly due to the distortion of space-time, are still in an unstable state. They are constantly growing and withering at a speed almost visible to the naked eye. Under the cover of these plants, you can see the severely weathered remains of the village: fragmented rotten wood and gravel that was once used to pave the road.

Hathaway followed behind everyone in invisible form. Based on her memory and the special identification skills under the undead vision, she pointed out the way for everyone. Soon, they arrived in front of a seemingly unremarkable depression.

As for Pierre and the other three, they wisely did not follow to join in the fun: after a series of events, these people already knew that the area ahead was not a realm they should be in contact with.

"It's right here," Hathaway floated above the depression. Her voice could only be heard by Hao Ren and his party. "Dig down."

Lily took the lead and jumped down.

The husky girl's claws flew, and the rotten soil and gravel were quickly thrown out of the pit. In a short while, a huge pit appeared in front of everyone. Then, Lily's claws seemed to touch something, making a "ding" sound.

The dog girl was keenly aware and immediately braked urgently, otherwise no matter what was at the bottom of the pit, it would probably be cut into pieces by her strange power and those claws that could cut iron like mud.

Vivian summoned a group of bats to fly down. Soon, with the cooperation of the bats and Lily, a black metal box that looked quite heavy and was about one cubic meter in size was lifted up.

The metal box had been buried underground for more than two centuries, but it was still intact and strong. The dark black box exuded a metallic luster, and each surface was engraved with mysterious ancient runes and patterns. As the light and shadows swayed between the trees, the ancient runes on the metal box seemed to come alive and constantly refracted various colors.

"This is what Heracles brought out of Mount Olympus," Hathaway said softly. "He regarded it as his life, and this is the only 'relic' left to him by his majestic father—although these things are just his burden."

"How should this box be opened?" Hao Ren curiously studied the structure of the box. He found that it had no clear top, bottom, left, or right, and he couldn't see the lid or clasps—this thing should be a sophisticated mechanical container, and it probably couldn't be opened like an ordinary box.

"He foresaw his own death, so he told us how to open the container," Hathaway slowly landed on the ground, and her ethereal fingers gently slid across the surface of the ancient metal box. The ancient runes began to flicker regularly as she touched them one by one. "However, I can only remove the rune lock here. Next, it needs a crucial key."

"Key?" Hao Ren and Vivian asked in unison.

"The blood of an Olympian descendant," Hathaway looked at Hesperides. "Zeus personally designed this container and limited it to be opened only by the descendants of Olympus to prevent these valuable materials from falling into the hands of outsiders. Heracles also mentioned this restriction when he told us how to open it. He knew that there were still some survivors of the Olympus family in this world, so he asked us, if necessary, to transfer this thing to his clansmen. But you also know what happened afterwards: the situation was out of control, and we failed to fulfill his request. But now, this sacred agreement can finally be fulfilled."

Hearing Hathaway's words, Hesperides' expression gradually became serious.

She took a deep breath, walked forward with an almost solemn expression, cut her finger, and squeezed a drop of blood onto the metal box.

Vivian grabbed Hesperides' finger and put it in her mouth to suck, while looking at the changes in the metal box. Hesperides' expression was a little strange: "...What are you doing?"

"Don't waste it," Vivian said as a matter of course. "My magic power is greatly depleted, so I'm taking the time to replenish some nutrients. By the way, your liver fire has been a little strong recently, right?"

Everyone: "…"

At this moment, a slight sound suddenly came from the metal box. This complex mechanical container finally opened gradually.