Ergou's family was very poor. Their yard wasn't even enclosed by earthen walls, but by a makeshift fence woven from branches and sticks.
Zhou Yuan pushed aside a few branches, found a foothold, and vaulted over the fence.
The entire yard was pitch-black, devoid of any light. He approached the only decent-looking main house in the yard and cautiously crept to the window.
"Mom, I'm cold."
"Quick, get in the warm water. Husband, stop going to the Dragon Palace to steal treasure. A few more trips and Ergou will be dead."
"I won't dare go again. Ergou almost didn't make it back today. I'm never going again."
"What? Didn't Ergou do it the way I told him? You can't afford to offend the Dragon Palace guards. That's how my husband died. Ergou can't make the same foolish mistake."
A young woman's voice drifted out. Zhou Yuan guessed it was Cui Niang, Ergou's new wife.
"Cui Niang, you're the one who told us about the entrance to the Dragon Palace. Our family is blessed because of you, so how could we not listen?
"It's just... everyone's stride is different. You said to take exactly thirty-six steps, but Ergou drew the guards' attention after only thirty-two.
"Luckily, he's a fast runner and wasn't greedy, otherwise he would've been skewered."
"Sigh, it's also that boy Shi Tou's fault for being so clueless. If he had married into our family, he could be the one going in the water instead of Ergou.
"In this village, we can only trust Shi Tou. He's all alone. As long as he has an heir with us, our two families can become one."
"Dad, stop talking about that. It's embarrassing.
"But you're right. I only trust this family. If I had married into any other household, I would never have dared to speak of the Dragon Palace.
"I'd be afraid they'd bury me alive for those pearls."
"Cui Niang, give me a hand. Let's add more hot water for Ergou. Make sure he gets a good, hot soak."
"Okay, coming..."
Listening from outside, Zhou Yuan was stunned. *Is Ergou's family delusional?*
A Dragon Palace in the Qingsha River, under the Stone Arch Bridge? And Ergou can steal from it?
"*Hahh...* I feel alive again.
"That Dragon Palace is no place for a living person. It's bone-chillingly cold in there. One trip nearly costs you half your life."
"Dad, Mom, my dear wife... we got more than twenty pearls. We're rich now, but this is wealth we have to hide.
"If I make it back from my military service, we'll say they were my spoils of war.
"If I don't make it back, but Brother Shi Tou does, you can just say they were my last possessions."
"Nonsense! Don't say such unlucky things. Of course you'll come back. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
"When you do, we'll move to the city and live a proper life."
"No, Dad. If we all leave, who will keep marking the location?
"What if a storm changes the river's course? Future generations will never be able to find the entrance to the Dragon Palace."
"You have a point. We must leave a path for those who come after us. When you return, you can take Cui Niang to the city. Your mother and I will stay here."
After listening for a while longer to the family's dreams of a better future, Zhou Yuan finally tiptoed out of the yard.
"I underestimated Ergou. I didn't realize his family was so calculating.
"I thought he was genuinely sharing everything with me, but it turns out they were just interested in my circumstances—alone and easy to win over."
"Cui Niang is a clever woman, too. She was lucky to end up with Ergou's family, who had no other options.
"Had she married into a family with many brothers, they might have actually killed her for the secret of this so-called Dragon Palace."
Zhou Yuan didn't know if this "Dragon Palace" was real, but there had to be a place in the Qingsha River that produced pearls, with a manageable level of risk, for Ergou's family to have profited from it.
Bathed in moonlight, he quickly made his way to the Stone Arch Bridge.
A thick layer of algae floated on the river's surface. The water was murky, but the current was fairly calm.
Zhou Yuan stripped off his clothes, clamped his wood-chopper firmly between his teeth, and slipped into the river with a splash.
He had assumed the entrance to this "Dragon Palace" would be well-hidden; otherwise, Ergou's family wouldn't have needed to talk about making marks and counting steps.
But to his surprise, the entrance that was so clandestine for Ergou's family was glaringly obvious to him.
There, on the riverbed covered in silt and weeds, he saw a black vortex.
And hovering over it were two lines of blood-red text.
【Instance: Qingsha General's Nest】
【Recommended Level: 15, Recommended Party Size: 5-10】
Excellent. The recommended level and party size were clearly marked. His game-like vision had come in handy once again.
There was just one small problem: Zhou Yuan's own status panel showed no character level.
"Is this a bug? What the hell is a 'recommended level'?
"Don't tell me my game system and this instance are incompatible. How is that even possible?"
Zhou Yuan wasn't surprised he could see the instance's information. He was already used to seeing health bars over everything, so a portal to an instance wasn't much of a stretch.
"Ergou said thirty-six steps was the safe zone. He's got short legs, so I won't use him as a benchmark. I'll just go twenty steps."
Zhou Yuan had no intention of backing down. After all, Ergou's family had already run the experiment. It would be a shame to pass up such a golden opportunity.
He plunged downward, making contact with the pitch-black portal.
The next moment, he found himself in a spacious corridor. Its length seemed finite, but its width was comparable to a four-lane highway on Blue Star.
Most strikingly, the floor was paved with dark red coral. Pearls of varying quality were embedded in the crevices, creating a path that resembled a starry sky.
Lining both sides of the corridor stood six shrimp-headed, humanoid monsters. They held tridents and stood perfectly still, like stone statues.
Above their heads were not only health bars but also identifying text.
【Lv. 15 Cold Tide Shrimp Soldier】
A bone-chilling cold permeated the entire corridor. The water droplets on Zhou Yuan's body were already beginning to freeze.
"There are plenty of pearls right here. Why did Ergou insist on going to the very edge of the safe zone?"
Zhou Yuan tried to pry one loose with his wood-chopper and immediately understood why Cui Niang's first husband and Ergou had ventured so close to the shrimp-headed monsters.
The reason was that the pearls were embedded so firmly that they were nearly impossible to pry out. After a bit of effort, Zhou Yuan had broken several, managing to extract only two in perfect condition.
Strangely, the closer he got to the Cold Tide Shrimp Soldiers, the more brittle the coral floor became, and the higher the chance of prying out an intact pearl.
Fortunately, Zhou Yuan's goal wasn't to collect pearls but to investigate the "Dragon Palace" Ergou had described—the instance he saw before him.
Thus, after gathering six pearls and taking about twenty steps, he suppressed the urge to advance any further.
Although their names and levels suggested they were just gatekeeping mobs, these shrimp soldiers could affect the temperature in their immediate vicinity.
No matter how reckless Zhou Yuan could be, he knew he couldn't defeat them. There was no need to draw their aggro and personally test their attack power.
The last guy who was this reckless had his wife remarry. Ergou's family really owed that man their thanks.
However, just because he didn't engage them didn't mean Zhou Yuan couldn't estimate the Cold Tide Shrimp Soldiers' strength.
"Let's assume a standard game progression. A starting character has a base stat of 1 and gains at least one stat point per level.
"That means there's a minimum fifteen-point stat difference between me and a Cold Tide Shrimp Soldier. As for skills, those are impossible to estimate."
"Of course, that's just an idealized assumption. The actual gap could be far greater.
"With that kind of power, combined with the instance's respawn mechanic, they could truly be considered immortal demons."
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