Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 302 - 195: Lock and Key + Successfully Surviving for 20 Years
"It’s nothing. I suppose I’ve been dead for too long. I never thought this broken body would be so weak. COUGH, COUGH—"
"You shouldn’t talk anymore," Qi Yuan said urgently.
"...Let’s go."
"Hand over what you stole, or neither of you is leaving." Gu Yin instantly blocked their path, coldly eyeing the ones he’d just defeated.
With his lazy and cold-blooded personality, he normally wouldn’t have bothered with such trivial matters. No matter what land flooded, as long as he and An Jin didn’t drown, he couldn’t be bothered to care.
But now that he had been half-tricked, half-coaxed into this mess, he had no intention of coming all this way for nothing, and more importantly, he didn’t want to disappoint her.
The sound of powerful currents surged from behind them. The Mermaid reinforcements were about to arrive. The man in black thought for a moment, then threw something at Gu Yin.
"Here, the thing you want."
Gu Yin caught the object. When he looked up again, the two of them had vanished without a trace.
In his palm lay a small, square white stone. It seemed to have been carved by hand and had a thin indentation in its center.
When Yi Yue and the others arrived, Gu Yin handed the stone to him.
"It’s our clan’s Holy Artifact! You actually got it back! Did you find the thief? What did he look like? I’ll put out a bounty on him across the entire ocean floor!"
"I didn’t get a good look at his face. He was wearing a cloak. But it wasn’t just one person; there were two. The other was a young Beastman boy..."
Gu Yin thought for a moment and added, "Black hair."
"Hmph! I’m going to issue a wanted notice across the entire seabed right now! I refuse to believe we can’t find them!" Yi Yue said viciously.
When An Jin heard Gu Yin mention a "black-haired boy," she was almost certain who it was.
’But besides that little villain, there was someone else? The system didn’t mention two villains, did it?’
"This isn’t the time for that! We need to return the Holy Artifact to the Secret Realm quickly. That will stop the Sea Beasts from going berserk! The impending sea calamities will be averted!"
However, when Yi Yue finally calmed down enough to get a good look at the Holy Artifact in his hand, he froze. "Huh... wait, this isn’t right. Why is there only a lock? Where’s the key?"
An Jin asked curiously, "A key?"
"Yes, our Holy Artifact has two parts: a lock and a key. We’ve only recovered the lock..."
Yi Yue said in frustration, "Sigh, it’s all my fault. I didn’t explain it clearly to you beforehand. But getting the lock is good enough. The key isn’t really that useful anyway..."
The large group returned to the city in a grand procession and placed the Holy Artifact, the "lock," into the depression on the stone pedestal in the Secret Realm. It fit perfectly.
An invisible wave of Energy instantly swept across the entire sea.
The Sea Clan warriors battling the Sea Beasts suddenly found that the rampaging creatures before them had all calmed down. Their crimson eyes returned to their normal azure blue.
Under the astonished gazes of the Beastmen, the Sea Beasts lowered their enormous heads and emitted a wondrous, melodic soundwave, like a chant echoing across millennia, piercing the river of time.
Their massive bodies slowly sank.
They once again dove deep beneath the seabed, merging with the rock layer and becoming one with this stretch of the ocean, resuming their watch over this domain.
They would only reawaken when the next invader threatened.
...
’Although Yi Yue acted as if the so-called "key" was of no importance, since it was a Holy Artifact left to their clan by the legendary Beast God, it must have its own purpose and significance.’
’Besides, even though the sea disaster had clearly been averted, the system hadn’t registered the mission as complete.’
’Things weren’t that simple.’
So, An Jin found a free moment to ask Yi Yue about the "key." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
They had weathered a crisis together. Furthermore, An Jin was not only his "cub’s" honored guest but also the female he admired. Yi Yue had been racking his brain for ways to help his boy win her favor, so he now told her everything he knew without reservation.
"According to the teachings left by our Merfolk ancestors, these two Holy Artifacts each have a different duty."
"The [Lock] stabilizes the ocean and protects all the Beastmen within it. It’s because of the [Lock]’s existence that we have been able to live and thrive peacefully in our current home, building such a magnificent tribe and city."
"Compared to the [Lock], the [Key]’s existence is more or less optional—but of course, that’s just for us."
"According to our ancestors’ last words, the [Key] is the key to a mysterious forbidden land. It’s said that a great monster is sealed inside. That damn man in black was probably after that..."
Seeing An Jin’s serious expression, Yi Yue just chuckled and said, "But don’t worry. That forbidden land was sealed long ago by the King Beasts of that era. No one can find that legendary place."
"And even in the worst-case scenario, if they got the key and found the legendary forbidden land, it would still be impossible to open it!"
An Jin asked, "Why?"
"Hmph, how could our wise ancestors not have thought of that? To guard against these wicked Beastmen with ulterior motives, they worked together to place a seal on it! Absolutely no one in this world can break that seal!"
’—This world?’
An Jin’s eyes widened slightly. In Yi Yue’s casual words, she seemed to have found a hidden meaning.
"What if... and I’m just saying what if... what if it’s someone who isn’t from this world? Could she open the seal?"
"What are you talking about, young lady?" Yi Yue gave her a strange, completely bewildered look.
"Never mind, it’s nothing."
She shook her head, brought up another topic to distract Yi Yue, and then left the palace.
’My transmigration... maybe it wasn’t so simple. It feels like there’s some other destiny at play, hidden from sight.’
An Jin looked up toward the deep, dark surface of the sea, resting her fingers on her brow.
Countless schools of fish swirled above her, so close they seemed within reach, yet raising a hand, she realized the surface was still thousands of miles away.
It was time for her to return to the city.
[Ding—Main Storyline Cleared! Unlocking Host’s Final Mission Objective!]
[Mission (Survival) Objective: Successfully survive for 20 years (Progress: 4/20). Prevent the great war in 20 years!
Mission (Construction) Objective: Successfully build an S-level Royal City, advance the civilization of the Beast World, gain tens of thousands of citizens, and recruit more powerful Beastman Warriors!]
An Jin suddenly understood.
’I thought this was a construction game, but it turns out it was a survival game all along.’
She finally understood what Mirror Mirror had said at the very beginning—*This system’s ultimate purpose is to help you grow quickly, to make it easier for you to survive in this perilous world!*
’All the missions the system had issued, whether planning the tribe, building the city, bringing in residents, or anything else, had only one ultimate goal—’
’To better ensure she could survive longer in this world.’
’Survive for twenty years, and prevent the great war twenty years from now.’
