Cloud Thinking

"If that's the case, then there's no need to look at this image stone any further. If it's true as the little princess said, that this was fabricated by the gods in order to interfere in the royal government, then we must not fall for their tricks."

After Ansel finished speaking, he extended his hand to Alfie, motioning him to bring the Image Stone.

Alfie narrowed his eyes slightly and met Ansel's gaze, seemingly thinking about the reason for his behavior.

Soon, he shifted his gaze to Helia beside him, and seeing that she acquiesced to Ansel's actions, he couldn't help but smile.

He did not hand over the Image Stone, but instead held it tightly in his hand. "If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to destroy it? It's useless anyway."

"And if there's any other tampering with it, we won't be able to find out, and it might be bad for Her Royal Highness the Princess. It's better to destroy it and put an end to it once and for all."

His eyes stayed fixed on Helia's face, carefully observing her reaction, waiting for a flaw -

Ever since everyone saw the contents of the video stone, Helia's reaction has been a little strange. It was clearly her who insisted on watching it at the beginning, but now she has gone against her normal behavior and said so much, talking about this and that. Isn't the ultimate purpose to stop everyone from continuing to watch?

Her reaction was as if someone had discovered a huge secret and she couldn't wait to cover it up.

But she didn't know this secret beforehand, otherwise she wouldn't have clamored to see it just now. Now she felt like she was shooting herself in the foot.

He now said he wanted to destroy the Image Stone. If Helia really cared, or if she only knew a little about the secret, she would definitely not allow him to do so.

Then she will definitely show strange emotions.

But Helia's expression didn't change at all. She naturally met Alfie's inquiring gaze and nodded, "Well, let's destroy it. After all, it's a creation of God. Who knows what other functions it has that we don't know about?"

Alfie summoned his wand and placed the Image Stone on an empty table nearby, as if he was going to destroy it with magic.

He turned his head away and asked again uncertainly: "Then I am really ruined, don't regret it--"

"and many more."

Unfortunately, it was not Helia who spoke out to stop her, nor was it Ansel who was devoted to her, but Grammy.

"Since it is said to be a creation of God, it may have some kind of defense mechanism hidden in it. Don't let your own magic backfire instead of destroying it. We'd better be cautious." Grammy advised.

Alfie looked at Helia again, and she was a little annoyed. She frowned and said impatiently, "Why do you keep looking at me, Sir Alfie? I support you in destroying this image stone, but you don't seem to believe it. What do you want to see from me?"

Alfie just smiled and put away his wand. "No, I just felt..."

"Your Highness is particularly beautiful today, and I can't help but look at her a few more times."

He ignored Helia's dead fish look, picked up the two image stones again, and handed them directly to Helia.

"Since it cannot be destroyed easily, let's give it to Your Highness for safekeeping. After all, half of it belongs to Your Highness."

"Let me take it, just in case there's something dirty hidden on it." Ansel helped Helia take the image stone directly, and without waiting for others to refute, he stuffed it into his pocket, looking as if it was a matter of course.

"So now, should we go back to rest or continue moving forward?" asked Weikes.

Helia glanced outside the door. It was still light outside and the time was still early, so she didn't discuss it in the name of democracy and directly ordered, "Continue."

Elroy surprisingly did not object to her. He just rubbed his belly, glared at Helia with resentment, and then followed slowly.

The third floor is dotted with rooms of all sizes, numerous in number and with complete functions, including bedrooms, study rooms, piano rooms, closets and jewelry rooms, tool rooms, etc. But the strange thing is that the layout is a mess.

Helia found the largest bedroom and walked in. Wow, the bed in that room was big enough to accommodate ten people. If she slept on it and waited to get up, she would have to crawl several meters to reach the bed, right?

The others followed her in and now spread out to look for clues everywhere, while Vikes blocked the door and prevented it from closing to avoid being locked in the secret room again.

Fortunately, the conditions of the mission on the second floor were not tricky, it was just a dance, but who can guarantee that the next secret room mission will be so simple and easy? What if the evil taste of the gods drives them to set a mission that can only be completed by killing each other, then how can they resist?

All I can say is, we have to be on guard and it’s better to be cautious.

"Uh...is this blood?" Helia grabbed a corner of the quilt with one hand and lifted it up. She saw a large dark red area on the bed sheet that resembled a human figure, and asked uncertainly.

Ansel came over to take a look, touched it with his hand, and confirmed, "It's blood. It's been dry for a long time."

"Could it be someone from the Fethros family?" Helia guessed.

"This is their territory, who else could it be if not them?" Elroy asked back.

"Intruders like us...?" Helia said uncertainly.

She rolled up the quilt and piled it on a chair beside her. She knelt on the bed with her right leg and reached out to pull off the sheets, revealing a thick mattress underneath.

She tentatively pressed down on the area that was seeping with blood, but soon she was not satisfied with just pressing it. She pulled out the dagger from her waist, slashed the mattress with it, then pried open an opening and rummaged inside.

"Is there something in there?" Seeing that Helia was so obsessed with this "crime scene", the other people who hadn't found any clues gathered around and stared intently at the hole in the mattress.

The mattress was very thick, and Helia had to dig for a while before she could barely reach her hand in and feel the bottom. When she touched something hard and familiar, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she blinked and looked at everyone, "Found it!"

Vikes, Carlisle, Lydia and Ansel worked together, each grabbing a corner of the mattress, slowly moved it off the bed, turned it over, and spread it on the ground.

Alfie used magic directly, and the hole became bigger with a crackling sound, and the stuffing in the mattress flew out by itself and floated to the open space on the side, revealing the objects that shouldn't be there -

The bottom layer was a complete human skeleton, which was what Helia had just touched.

Helia: Oh! We're old acquaintances!

But above the skeleton, separated by the third-to-last layer of filler, are a series of shriveled organs arranged in a regular pattern. The heart is the easiest to identify. Looking from directly above, you can find that its position corresponds exactly to the left sternum of the skeleton below.

The thing closest to the surface of the mattress was a piece of human skin that was so complete it was a little scary. Even the hair was well preserved, black and shiny, and it didn't look like something a dead person would have.

"This...what is this..." Grammy touched the goose bumps on his arms and felt a little nauseous.

But when he turned around and saw the indifferent look on the little princess' face, and then looked at the relatively calm expressions of the others, he couldn't help but doubt himself: Could it be that my experience is not rich enough... ?

"What do you think?" Helia looked at Ansel beside her and asked for his opinion for the first time.

"This is definitely not something that can be done by human power alone. It must be magic or... some kind of forbidden technique." Ansel analyzed, "Do you feel that the way this person died is like lying on a bed, sinking little by little, and being peeled off as he sinks?"

"First, the flesh was peeled off and left on the surface, followed by the skin, then the organs, and finally the bones."

"This mattress is like a sieve, separating people into layers."

Helia nodded in agreement, "I think the same as you, but I don't understand why you do this."

"Why do you screen people like this? Is it a punishment? Or is it to achieve some other purpose?"

"And what's most strange to me is that when I first discovered the bloodstain on the bed, I used my magic to sense it—"

"I didn't detect any magic left."

"But no matter if it's magic or the so-called forbidden technique, the source of its power is magic power, or natural elemental power. It's impossible for it to be without any trace."

"unless……"

Helia didn't finish her words, and Elroy naturally took over her words and continued: "Unless this power is not a natural elemental force, nor is it magic power, then there is only one possibility left - the power of God."

"Whether it's a magician or a magic swordsman, they all use magic by absorbing and transforming the power of natural elements. Only saints, or so-called believers in gods, get their power from gods."

“This is what the saints did, this is what the pagans did.”

"But... if as Aya said, this is a test set for her by Wisdom, then what does He want to convey by leaving these things behind?" Ansel asked.

Hearing that name, Helia turned her head and glared at him, but all she got was a smiling response from him.

Helia looked at the shattered corpse and felt that it was somewhat familiar. Suddenly, a light flashed in her mind and she suggested, "Maybe... we need to piece this thing together?"

When she was trapped in the ruins of the Sky God before, she pieced together Adalasi's body that had been decomposed beyond all possibility of decomposition, and then resurrected Adalasi.

Then can this corpse...

The others looked at him with confusion, shock and puzzlement, only Lydia remained indifferent, and Ansel couldn't help but laughed twice.

Although he laughed, he was the first person to implement Helia's idea. "Okay, let's put it together. Who knows, after we put it together, it might come alive and tell us the clues."

Elroy looked at Ansel's movements, as if he had thought of something, and suddenly looked at Helia: "I suddenly remembered that you have fought before, right?"

"You and Britney Drummond put the bones of the God of the Sky together, and then... resurrected Him..."

Alfie & Grammy: "What?!"

Carlisle & Vikes: "..."

Although they were also surprised, they always felt that this was indeed something Helia would do.

"Uh... is there anything wrong with this? Why are you so surprised..." Helia said, thinking that there are more weird things you don't know...

She rolled up her sleeves and squatted down, and started to piece together the dead with Ansel, and Lydia joined in. The three of them first stuffed the skeleton into the human skin, and then filled in the shriveled and withered organs one by one.

Helia: I feel like if I clean up a little, I can even switch careers and become a corpse collector...

Vikes looked at Helia's skilled movements and felt an inexplicable pain in his heart. How many strange things did the school girl go through to be so calm...

He couldn't imagine what terrible things Helia had been going through when he couldn't see her.

He felt guilty for doubting Helia before. She had just walked alone in the dark for too long. If she didn't change, she wouldn't be able to protect herself. But they didn't know anything, so what qualifications did they have to judge her transformation from a high position?

If possible, Helia would definitely want to always be the spoiled little princess who lives under the love of everyone, and not be indifferent to any strange and terrible things that happen to her.