24: Guarding the Treasure Chest

“Hey! Ask Noya for me if she’s seen a faintly glowing metal box?” Luo Chen poked his head out from the animal hide, looking at Xue Shang, whose face was flushed red in the corner, and said in an unfriendly tone.

This woman hadn't conveyed his message, causing him, a grown man, to be assaulted in public.

Fortunately, he took the initiative in the end and successfully salvaged some of his masculine pride.

Xue Shang glared fiercely at Luo Chen, then asked Noya in Newt Language: “Your man is asking if you’ve seen a large, glowing box.”

“A box?” Noya sat up from under the quilt, her flawless white skin exposed to the air. She unhurriedly picked up her clothes from the ground and put them on.

She looked curiously at Luo Chen, who was still in bed.

Luo Chen endured the sub-50-degree temperature, stretched his hand out from under the quilt, and gestured the approximate outline of a treasure chest.

After thinking for a moment with her head tilted, Noya gestured with her hands and said: “It’s under the Hunting God statue. Abba doesn’t let me touch it.”

Saying this, she pointed towards the wall in the center of the igloo where the animal hide painting hung.

Luo Chen’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly scrambled out of the animal hide quilt, picked up the clothes from the ground, and started putting them on.

Seeing Luo Chen’s exposed body, Xue Shang’s previously calm face flushed red again. She quickly covered her eyes with her hands.

“Why did you climb out of the quilt without saying anything?” Xue Shang secretly peeked through a slit in her fingers, curiously examining Luo Chen, and said in a soft voice.

“You’ve been watching and listening for so long, what’s a little more now?” Luo Chen rolled his eyes, got dressed, and walked quickly towards the wall.

Xue Shang had untied the ropes at some point and followed behind him like an agile snow fox.

“Be careful, that painting is strange.” Xue Shang lowered her voice to warn him, her eyes under her white eyelashes glinting with vigilance.

A light, clear female voice sounded in Luo Chen’s ear.

Luo Chen turned his head, and a delicate, pretty profile appeared in his vision.

He glanced at Xue Shang, who was very close. Her face was delicate and small, as if carved from white jade. Under the candlelight, even fine hairs could be seen.

Her thick white eyelashes now trembled slightly like butterfly wings, and a pair of deep blue eyes stared straight ahead.

Seeing that Luo Chen didn't react, Xue Shang turned her head and met his gaze calmly: “Why are you staring at me? Hurry up and open it!”

“Why did you come over here?” Luo Chen pouted, saying nothing more.

He slowly lifted the animal hide scroll that was trailing on the ground.

What kind of material was it?

It was surprisingly heavy.

Luo Chen had to use both hands, lifting the animal hide scroll with considerable effort.

Suddenly, Luo Chen felt his hands slip, and the huge animal hide scroll fell, piling up and pressing Luo Chen’s hands to the ground.

Behind the animal hide scroll, a square opening was revealed in the wall, and a white bronze treasure chest carved with a Train pattern appeared.

The treasure chest emitted a faint white light, indicating it hadn't been opened yet.

Xue Shang was overjoyed and eagerly reached for the treasure chest.

Seeing this, Luo Chen quickly pulled his hands out from under the heavy scroll and slapped Xue Shang’s arm hard.

Immediately, a large red palm print appeared on her fair, lotus-root-like arm.

“Why did you hit me?” Xue Shang looked at Luo Chen with resentment.

Fortunately, Luo Chen’s strength wasn’t much for her, and the red palm print quickly faded away without a trace.

“This is what I worked hard for; it has nothing to do with you.” Luo Chen glared at Xue Shang, then slowly reached for the treasure chest.

When his fingertips touched the treasure chest, a chill ran up his spine.

The faint white light suddenly brightened, and a complex image flashed by. Luo Chen didn't have time to see it clearly before it vanished without a trace.

The treasure chest also lost its white disguise, reverting to its original color.

“This is... the Hunting God’s mark.” Noya suddenly knelt on the ground, her forehead pressed against the ice, murmuring a prayer in Newt Language.

Hearing this, Xue Shang immediately turned her head, looking at Noya with curiosity and a very puzzled expression.

Luo Chen didn’t understand Newt Language, so he naturally didn’t know what Noya meant.

He took a deep breath, moved the treasure chest out of the ice hole in the wall, and then opened it.

Inside were the usual star coins, train coins, cores, and a roasted chicken.

What surprised him a bit, however, was that there were three cores: two green and one yellow.

Besides that, five large sweet potatoes lay in one corner of the box.

“So many coins, share some with me.” Xue Shang’s eyes lit up as she looked at the coins piled like a small mountain in the treasure chest, and she eagerly reached in.

Slap!

Luo Chen slapped Xue Shang’s hand away.

“They’re all mine. Don’t even think about it.”

He quickly put the star coins, one by one, into the satchel he carried with him.

He had prepared it in advance for cores and coins, and now it came in handy.

“Hmm? Why is there an animal hide too?”

After Luo Chen took out most of the star coins, an animal hide that had been pressed underneath them was revealed.

Xue Shang, who was sitting aside, pouting with resentment as she watched Luo Chen take the star coins, immediately leaned her head over curiously when she heard him: “What is it?”

Luo Chen ignored Xue Shang and, on his own, pushed aside the star coins to get the animal hide at the bottom of the box.

He unfolded the animal hide, which was densely covered with unfamiliar writing.

“Do you know what’s written on this?” He held the animal hide in front of Xue Shang and asked her.

“I don’t know!” Xue Shang stared at the writing on the animal hide and shook her head:

“The background pattern on this is somewhat similar to the painting that was hanging on the wall just now. You can ask Noya, she should understand!”

She didn't understand Newt Language at all, let alone the Newt people's writing. She could only communicate with Luo Chen and the others through the translation function on her bracelet, which converted her language to other languages.

“Background pattern?” Luo Chen picked up the animal hide and examined it carefully, only then discovering a very faint beast head pattern beneath the writing.

“Noya, can you understand this?” Luo Chen immediately handed the animal hide to the girl kneeling on the ground.

Although Noya didn't understand Luo Chen’s words, she understood that her man was handing her something to look at.

She curiously took the animal hide and slowly unfolded it.

When her gaze fell upon the writing and the beast head pattern underneath, her pupils suddenly contracted. She spoke with a hint of confusion in her voice:

“This is... Newt people’s writing.”

Xue Shang’s face lit up with joy upon hearing this, and she eagerly urged Noya to read the contents aloud to her.

“It says that the Hunting God entrusted our Newt tribe with the task of guarding a treasure chest... until the arrival of the Train... If the owner of the Train opens the treasure chest, the Newt tribe must not make things difficult for them.”

Just then, the igloo’s door curtain was opened from the outside, and a cold wind, carrying snow, rushed into the igloo. The remaining warmth inside the igloo dissipated once more.

Abu walked in happily, carrying a harpoon. However, when he saw the animal hide scroll fallen on the ground and the treasure chest being opened by Luo Chen, his face, originally pale from the ice and snow, instantly turned as red as a burning flame.

“Blasphemer!” Abu roared, raising his harpoon and pointing it directly at Luo Chen’s throat.

His muscles tensed, and his eyes burned with anger: “You... you, you dared to trample on the Hunting God’s statue and even opened the sacred object bestowed by the Hunting God!”

Luo Chen instinctively took a step back, his body against the cold wall, his right hand quickly reaching for the pistol at his waist.

But Abu’s speed was astonishing; he instantly appeared in front of him.

The harpoon firmly pressed against his throat, the cold metal tip piercing his skin. Luo Chen felt the icy sensation as if it had already penetrated his body.

How could he be so fast?

Luo Chen looked at Abu, who was glaring at him in anger, with a mix of confusion and sudden realization in his eyes.

At this moment, he understood why Xue Shang hadn’t run away even after the ropes were loosened.

He was just a bit confused as to why Abu had obediently dropped the knife when he had pointed the gun at him earlier.

“Abba! No!”

Just then, Noya suddenly rushed forward, gripping the harpoon in Abu’s hand tightly with both hands, using her body to shield Luo Chen behind her.

“The treasure chest is not a sacred object! It’s a gift from the Hunting God for us to give to outsiders!”