"Have you heard of the legend of the 'Time Tree Hole'? It is said that some people can go to the past or the future after passing through some mysterious tree holes."
Shade asked the Xiang sisters again and gave his guess based on the ancient texts shared by the church.
"There are indeed rumors about this, but we haven't seen it with our own eyes."
Grace stopped mid-sentence, and the three of them looked at the cupboard together——
"Bedroom, Room 321, Accordion Hotel, third black book from the left on the bookshelf, I'm 17"
An unusually vague sound came from the bottom of the cupboard. The sound was so vague that it was impossible to distinguish between men and women.
Shade and his sisters waited in surprise for a while. After confirming that the sound suddenly disappeared, Shade bent down and opened the cabinet door again. As expected, there was still nothing inside.
"This is also a voice from the past? Could it be the lady that sir is looking for?"
Helen asked softly.
"We're not sure. We're not even sure whether the room 321 of the Accordion Hotel that the other party mentioned is the time we are at now."
Shade asked them to stay in the broom room temporarily to prevent any further noise, while he left temporarily and went alone to Room 321, which was also located on the third floor.
He left for less than five minutes and then came back again, holding a black notebook in his hand:
"The window of Room 321 is facing the Golden Concert Hall. There is even a piano in the room. It should be the VIP room of this hotel. It seems that a lady lives in it alone, but she is not the lady I am looking for.
.I found this on the bookshelf in my bedroom.”
He shook the notebook in his hand, summoned the light ball and opened it.
This notebook looks new, but in fact it is filled with densely written text and illustrations, and even clipped newspapers are included.
These contents are all investigation reports on the "Missing Persons of the Accordion Hotel". The notebook details the list of all the people who have disappeared here since the establishment of the hotel in 1809.
The earliest missing person among them was the youngest son of the first owner of the Accordion Hotel, and of course, he was also the uncle of the current owner. The notebook said that this matter has not yet been closed;
The last recorded missing person was Merry Atlas, a maid who worked in the hotel three years ago.
"The detective's investigative report?"
Shade guessed, but after flipping through a few pages, he determined that this was not a detective investigation record, but more like a writer's notebook. Dorothy liked to make such records when collecting information on real cases.
"In the past 40 years, a total of seven people have disappeared."
Helen said softly, her eyes shining in the darkness:
"Sir, it's better to investigate these missing persons one by one. The earliest missing person only disappeared 40 years ago. Their relatives and people who knew the situation at the time should still be alive. Maybe, we can speculate based on the details they gave.
Find out how to achieve the most stable connection state of this cabinet.”
Grace reached out and pinched her sister's face affectionately:
"Helen, now is not the time for you to play detective games. Let's rescue the person first. Sir, you should understand what the three numbers and seasons written on the title page of the notebook mean, right?"
The title page of the notebook reads "Spring 1698", "Winter 1763" and "Summer 1814". The three numbers and three words representing the seasons are circled together.
"You probably understand. Isn't the spring of 1698 the same time I went just now?"
This is easy to reason about:
"So, the person who made the voice from the cupboard just now was in the winter of 1763? Could it be the lady you are looking for?"
"Not sure, the voice just now was too vague. I just saw a few letters on the desk in that room, but the handwriting of the letters is not familiar to me. Of course, it may be that the handwriting was deliberately disguised. If it wasn't her, then she was missing.
Is there one more person?"
"Do you need us to go downstairs and find out how long the tenant of that room has been renting? Didn't the lady you're looking for just live there recently?"
Grace asked thoughtfully again, and Shade shook his head again:
"Although she only came here recently, when she learned the news about Ximu Town, the Battle of Moon Bay had not yet ended, so I am not sure of the specific time when she rented the room.
Besides, it doesn’t matter if it’s her or not. Since the person suspected of being in 1763 knows the inside story, we can definitely find him or her first, and then go to the lady I’m looking for.”
Grace and Helen both nodded:
"Then sir, how else are you going to try?"
"I just guessed that this cabinet is related to the 'Time Tree Cave', and the 'Time Tree Cave' is related to the ancient tree god. Without knowing how to use magical items, it is best to use the power of the same source to stimulate
the best choice."
As he spoke, he took out the black and normal time keys, and then took out an [Eternal Youth Leaf]:
"It's a pity that [Ocarina of Time] was brought back to St. Byrons by Emilia, otherwise we could still try that relic."
[Eternal Youth Leaf] was the first one to be tried, but unfortunately nothing happened. As for the two time keys, because the cabinet itself had no lock or keyhole, Shade carved one on the cabinet himself.
keyhole, and then tried the normal time key first.
The hastily carved keyhole did not match the size of the time key, but with just a little force, Shade pushed the key in easily.
"it works?"
Helen asked softly, standing behind Shade with her hands on her knees, while Shade squatted in front of the cabinet:
"Not sure, it may be that the key itself played a role. After I turned it, I went directly to the past time - may the World Tree protect me in time."
He tried to turn the key and found that it could be turned. However, Shade took out the key and tried to insert the black time key that could not be used until next month.
Sure enough, the black time key successfully entered the keyhole, but when Shade recited the incantation again and turned his wrist, he found that the key could not be turned.
Helen, standing behind the two of them, concluded on their behalf:
"If Sir said that the black key that should be unusable can also be turned, it means that what is triggered now is the characteristic of the cabinet; but since the black key cannot be turned, then what was triggered by the normal key just now is probably the characteristic of the time key itself."
"Sir, since when you were chatting with us just now, you said that the tree hole may also be a special space left by the ancient gods, then according to the process, how should it be opened?"
Grace in the white dress asked again, and Shade suddenly realized:
"Yeah, there's a step missing."
The steam mist dispersed behind, and the life ring appeared amidst the sound of bells and whistles. Because the area of the broom room was too small, Shade's life ring automatically adjusted its size, making it appear much smaller than usual.
"I still like the big ones."
Helen muttered, and Grace patted her sister on the back of her hand to tell her to be more serious, but Helen still smiled happily.
The [Time and Space] Spirit Rune casts a brass-colored spiritual light on the cabinet in front of them. The cabinet itself did not change much, but under the gaze of the three people, the surface paint of the two doors under the cabinet peeled off, revealing the internal wood, and the wood on the wood
The tree pattern became clearer and clearer in the aura.
The keyhole that Shade had just chiseled out with his fingers gradually deformed and shrank until it took on the shape of a real keyhole.
“Looks like it works!”
Shade picked up the black time key again and inserted it into the keyhole:
"May the World Tree protect me in infinite time."
With a slight twist, the black key that could not be turned was actually turned with a crisp click sound.
"Sir, be careful."
Grace reminded, Shade nodded, and opened the door on the left side of the cabinet outward. Only this time, there was no thick white mist that Shade was familiar with behind the door, and a patch of sunshine came from behind the door.
"Success!"
"The door appears again!"
A strange man's voice came from that patch of sunshine, but before Shade could reach his hand behind the door, a man's hand wearing an emerald ring actually stretched out from the cupboard.
Like a loach, he reached out most of his body from it very quickly, which also allowed Shade to see that his face was highly scalded, and even his right eye was rotten.
This weird man saw three people standing outside the cabinet door through the light of the light ball. However, he obviously did not have [dark vision], so he could not see clearly when there was only one light ball illuminating here.
The faces of the three people still cast the spell immediately:
"Time pauses!"
Click~
The dust in the air and the expressions and movements of Grace and Helen "frozen" at the same time, but the man with a burnt face still punched Shade, who looked the tallest.
There was a faint blood-red light attached to his fist, and the vicious fist seemed to penetrate Shade's chest directly, but before it touched Shade's chest, Shade stretched out his hand to hold it.
Shade didn't care at all about the faint tingling sensation in his palms, and looked up and down at the stranger who came out of the cupboard:
"Although I don't know what happened to you, we should be able to save you now. Is this how you repay your benefactor? Answer me, when did you come from?"
Shade's right hand suddenly exerted force and crushed the man's right hand with a click. However, because he wanted to know what happened to the other person and what was behind the door, Shade did not want to kill him immediately.
The chains of sin had already wrapped around the other man's arms and towards the man's body, but with a soft bang, the man disappeared from Shade's eyes in an instant, and emerged from the cupboard again the next second.
【Looking back in time for oneself.】
This time the man did not try to attack Shade, but jumped directly upward and disappeared through the ceiling.
His movements were so fast that Shade only had time to tie his right leg with a chain. After the man who had already crossed the ceiling struggled a few times, the right leg fell down with blood.