Chapter 360: The Secret of 3911

Jiang Ran looked at the Treasure Chest Sang Biao held aloft.

It glittered with golden light and was encrusted with all sorts of jewels. The design was incredibly over-the-top, looking just like a final reward from a cartoon or video game.

This made Jiang Ran wonder. After all, Pompey was a man in his fifties or sixties. Could he really have such childish tastes?

“Is this… really Pompey’s treasure?”

Jiang Ran crossed his arms.

“Brother Biao, don’t you think this Treasure Chest’s design is a bit much? It looks like a kid made it.”

“There’s no accounting for the taste of the rich!”

Sang Biao’s face was flush with excitement.

“If Pompey could hide an amusement park on the 42nd sub-level, then he must be an incredibly childish man. A Treasure Chest like this would be perfectly in character!”

Uh…

Fair enough.

Jiang Ran didn’t argue.

From Sang Biao’s perspective, he had no idea the amusement park was a product of Cheng Mengxue’s imagination and had absolutely nothing to do with Pompey.

“Where did you find this Treasure Chest?”

Jiang Ran asked curiously.

“We looked for so long just now and couldn’t find it. How did you suddenly manage to?”

“Hahaha, for that, we have that little girl who’s with you to thank!”

Sang Biao chuckled.

“She was riding those big cats all over the place. When she saw me and Old Third searching for something, she came over and asked what we were looking for.”

“I just told her straight up that we were looking for Pompey’s treasure and asked her to keep an eye out while she was riding around on her cats.”

‘We’re screwed!’

Jiang Ran suddenly realized Sang Biao was celebrating prematurely.

Cheng Mengxue was the underlying framework of this Virtual World. She herself wasn’t even aware that she possessed the power of Words Become Law—the ability to make her thoughts reality.

Whatever she subconsciously believed, no matter how outrageous, would become real.

‘No wonder this Treasure Chest is so over-the-top…’

‘This has to be what Cheng Mengxue imagined after hearing Sang Biao’s description!’

Jiang Ran gave a resigned smile.

“How exactly did you describe it to her?”

“The little girl was pretty interested in Pompey’s treasure. She asked me what exactly the treasure was.”

Sang Biao continued.

“I told her it’s a great treasure that can grant any wish! Just like Magic, it can do anything, make your wildest dreams come true!”

“Then the little girl thought for a moment and said, ‘If it’s treasure, it’s usually hidden in a castle, right? Why don’t you go look in that castle over there?'”

“Old Third and I thought that made sense, so we took her advice and went to look in the fairytale castle nearby. And what do you know! Right in the middle of the grand hall, we found this huge Treasure Chest! We were so excited we came straight to you!”

…

At this point, Jiang Ran understood everything completely.

The still-grinning Sang Biao had yet to realize that fate was playing a cruel joke on him.

He had, in his excitement, unconsciously given Cheng Mengxue a psychological Suggestion. His unwavering conviction had made her truly believe that there was, in fact, a treasure hidden in the amusement park.

And so, Cheng Mengxue’s “Words Become Law” ability activated. Her subconscious believed the treasure had to be in a glittering Treasure Chest, and the Treasure Chest had to be in a castle… just like in the storybooks she’d read.

Therefore, in that instant, fiction became fact, and Sang Biao got his wish and found the huge Treasure Chest.

The only problem was, this was completely wide of the mark.

If you had to be precise, the Treasure Chest contained Cheng Mengxue’s treasure, not Pompey’s.

And who knew what Cheng Mengxue’s subconscious had decided to put inside it.

“Well, hurry up and open it.”

Jiang Ran urged Sang Biao on, suppressing a laugh.

“I’m surprised you had the self-control to wait until you got here to open it.”

“Like hell! This thing’s too tough! Old Third and I couldn’t get it open!”

Sang Biao, ever the honest one, plopped the Treasure Chest on the ground.

“Here, you grab that side, we’ll grab this side, and let’s all pull together!”

“It’s weird, though. The Treasure Chest is so light, but why is it so hard to open?”

Jiang Ran gave it a try.

‘It really is tight,’ he thought. ‘It’s like the Magdeburg hemispheres experiment. Is it vacuum-sealed on the inside or something?’

“Alright then, let’s all three of us try.”

But even with all three of them using every ounce of their strength, the Treasure Chest didn’t budge an inch.

“Something’s not right!”

Jiang Ran also sensed something was off.

“We’re pulling this hard, there should at least be a small gap, right? This Treasure Chest must have some kind of trick to it… or, more accurately, a specific mechanic.”

‘The one who created the problem must be the one to solve it.’

He glanced out at the amusement park and saw Cheng Mengxue riding the roller coaster with the Rhine Cats, having the time of her life.

‘Looks like we’ll just have to wait for Cheng Mengxue to get back,’ he thought.

“Boss!”

Suddenly, the pudgy Old Third seemed to have discovered something and pointed to the bottom of the Treasure Chest.

“Boss, look! There’s a Spell written here! It must be the password to open the Treasure Chest!”

Jiang Ran and Sang Biao quickly looked over…

Sure enough, there was a line of incredibly embarrassing text written on the bottom of the chest. Forget Jiang Ran; even Sang Biao, who was as shameless as they come, couldn’t help but cringe.

“This Pompey guy is a real freak! Did he have to make it so cringey?”

“Ah, whatever! To open the Treasure Chest, we’ll just have to bite the bullet.”

“Okay, let’s get this straight first! No one breathes a word of what happens today! This is a secret between the three of us, and we’re taking it to our graves! Come on… let’s get in a triangle and chant the Spell together.”

“Huh?”

Jiang Ran froze.

“Do I have to say it, too?”

He waved his hands dismissively.

“I don’t want any of the treasure, so you don’t need to include me. You guys can just do it yourselves.”

“That won’t work!”

Sang Biao yanked him over.

“The Spell is inside a triangle, so it must need three people chanting at the same time to work! Play along, man! We’re on the last step!”