Chapter 274 Emerald City, Sang Zhitao looked at Maria and pointed...
Sang Zhitao looked at Maria and pointed to the bottles at her waist: "Are these bottles related to the Hollow People?"
She remembered that her original book didn't mention anything about memory bottles.
Maria looked down at the bottle at her waist, which was filled with pink liquid. It wasn't full, but it was about eight or nine tenths full, and it emitted a faint yellowish light as the carriage swayed.
She lightly tapped the bottle with her slender, fair fingertip before looking at Sang Zhitao and saying, "Yes."
"Thirty years ago... no, a hundred years ago, a group of magicians who guarded the tower developed this memory bottle."
Although Maria reacted quickly, the strange slip of the tongue about the timing still reached Sang Zhitao's ears. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, feeling that whether it was the reactions of the various tribal chiefs, Maria's reaction, or that strange memory bottle, they were all telling her that there were secrets in this world.
“Our memories are visualized in bottles, so when we are infected by the memory plague, we are not as unaware as we were at the beginning. Instead, we can notice it immediately when we see the memories in our memory bottles decreasing and seek help.”
Maria didn't mind Sang Zhitao's silence and continued to explain.
"There's already a solution to the memory plague?" Sang Zhitao frowned. She remembered that in the original book, this plague had never been resolved.
After all, although it is named after a plague, it is essentially just a result of a change in the rules.
Sang Zhitao looked up at the gray sky not far away.
From the moment she stepped into this world, she was surrounded by the intense aura of darkness and corruption that only her true self possessed.
Perhaps this anomaly is not solely due to changes in the rules; perhaps there is some real manipulation at play.
As she pondered this, a serious expression inevitably appeared on her face.
"You know about this plague?" Maria looked at Sang Zhitao, her eyes flashing with curiosity.
Sang Zhitao snapped out of her daze, looked at Maria, and asked curiously, "Why do you think I don't know?"
Maria was taken aback for a moment, then said somewhat embarrassedly, "Because..."
"Whoosh!" The sound of the knights drawing their swords outside the carriage interrupted her unfinished words.
"Who!" the leader, Aurel, shouted sharply, pointing his sword forward.
A rustling sound came from the grass in the distance. A black-haired boy of about eighteen or nineteen years old stepped out from the middle, glanced at Aurel, then at the magnificent carriage, nodded expressionlessly, and walked to the other side.
Aurelius watched him warily until his figure disappeared down another path, then he breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword.
"Your Excellency, our next city is Emerald City, a famous commercial city in our area. We will rest there for a day." The carriage continued to move forward.
Soon after, Aure rode the magical beast to the carriage and whispered to Sang Zhitao.
They didn't travel particularly slowly, but their mode of transportation was rather old, and it took them a whole day to reach the next city where they could stay.
“The Emerald City is a nice place,” Maria explained to her with a smile.
Sang Zhitao rubbed her cheeks and then her waist. She had been sitting for a long time and her back ached. She had just taken a short nap against the car wall, but she hadn't rested well.
Noticing the fatigue on her face, Maria carefully lifted her skirt and sat down beside her, rubbing her temples.
She had just wanted Sang Zhitao to sleep on her lap, but Sang Zhitao refused because she thought her skirt was too slippery and she couldn't sleep soundly. Now she couldn't help but regret it, so she didn't refuse her service again.
"What's fun to do in Emerald City?" Sang Zhitao asked with a yawn.
Maria continued working with her hands, then lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "As far as I know, Emerald City has a fantastic theater and several well-known auction houses. There should be an auction going on in the next couple of days."
Sang Zhitao tapped her fingertips on her knee a few times: "An auction..."
"Are you interested, Your Excellency?" Maria said with a smile. "We can stay for a few more days."
Sang Zhitao raised an eyebrow: "Is that so? Won't that interfere with the rest of the itinerary?"
Maria shook her head, her hand unconsciously stroking Sang Zhitao's hair, the smooth black strands brushing against her fingertips: "No, we can teleport away, and everything can make way for your needs."
Sang Zhitao opened her eyes and glanced at her. Maria's lowered eyes and her pair of emerald green pupils fell right into her eyes.
"Okay, let's take a look."
Since she said it wouldn't affect her schedule, Sang Zhitao naturally didn't object.
As evening fell, they finally arrived at Emerald City, but Sang Zhitao discovered that the closer they got to Emerald City, the more frequently the hollow people appeared.
However, considering that Emerald City is far more densely populated than those small towns, it wasn't surprising.
Emerald City is a city that never sleeps, and it's bustling with activity right now.
The aroma of wheat wafted from the bakeries lining both sides of the road, while in the tavern not far away, swordsmen were arm in arm, boasting about the ferocious monsters they had just hunted.
Further into the bookstore, the mages who came in and out glanced disdainfully at the unrefined swordsman before quietly laughing with their companions as they entered their private quarters.
The carriage continued forward, only to be blocked by a magnificent carriage in front of a jewelry store. A beautifully dressed lady, holding a folding fan made of magical beast feathers, gracefully entered the store, lifting her skirt.
Upon seeing the royal convoy approaching, the attendants driving the carriages changed their expressions and hurriedly spurred the carriages to make way.
Aurelius and his entourage didn't even stop, walking past the group of noble ladies with their heads held high in haughtiness.
Not far away, in front of the auction house, gentlemen and nobles, dressed in their finest clothes and carrying exquisite invitations, walked in hand in hand, exchanging polite yet insincere smiles.
“These two are the largest auction houses in the Kare Empire; they can always find sufficiently precious treasures,” Maria said, pointing to the most magnificent of the two auction houses with carriages parked in front of them.
She then pulled out a booklet from somewhere, flipped through a couple of pages, and said, "Tonight's just an appetizer, nothing fancy. Tomorrow night is the annual grand auction. I'll get you two invitations."
Sang Zhitao sat up curiously and glanced at the booklet in her hand, which contained the auction catalogs of the two auction houses.
Seeing her curiosity, Maria handed her the list: "You can take a look and see if there's anything you're interested in. If there is, we can buy it directly without going through the auction process."
"Is that even possible?" Sang Zhitao was somewhat surprised. She had participated in more than one auction on Earth, but apart from special circumstances, she had never seen anyone manage to secure an item before the auction even started.
Maria guessed what she was thinking and her face showed a hint of arrogance: "This is a privilege of royalty."
As she spoke, she bowed slightly and looked at Sang Zhitao respectfully: "This privilege can only be used by a few people, and you are one of them."
Seemingly afraid that Sang Zhitao might not think this privilege was prestigious enough, she quickly explained, "Besides the chieftains of each tribe, only the emperor of the Kare Empire and his crown prince possess such a right."
Sang Zhitao waved her hand dismissively, and seeing the carriage stop in front of the hotel, she simply pushed open the door and got out.
This is the most expensive hotel in Emerald City, with exclusive suites reserved for members of the royal family. At this moment, it was directly requisitioned by Aure for Sang Zhi Tao.
Maria accompanied her, not even lingering in the lobby, and went straight to the top floor in the magic elevator.
Seeing Sang Zhitao examining the magic elevator, Maria smiled and explained, "This is a product of cooperation with the Magic Continent. Although their magical abilities are not very good, their magical technology is quite impressive."
Sang Zhitao nodded thoughtfully. She hadn't expected that the Magic Continent and the Sky Continent had already reached the point of technological exchange.
After all, at the end of the original book, the two continents were still in a state where they could cooperate but were also wary of each other.
Thinking of this, she recalled Maria's earlier slip of the tongue and the attitudes of the clan leaders, and subconsciously felt that these were connected.
Maria prepared the food for her, then ran the water, made the bed, and adjusted the lighting before saying, "I'll clear the dishes in a bit. You can wash up before you eat."
Sang Zhitao yawned and nodded.
After she finished everything, she lay in bed and fell asleep to the aromatherapy Maria had prepared for her.
The next morning, when she woke up, breakfast was already laid out on the table, along with two gold-embossed incense invitations.
After finishing her breakfast, Sang Zhitao didn't go downstairs. Instead, she picked up a book and started reading on the sofa.
This is an adventure book about a magical boy who receives a divine oracle, travels around saving people who have lost their memories, develops a medicine to cure the memory plague, defeats the mastermind behind the scenes, and marries the princess.
A typical Western heroic legend.
However, the author's writing style is good, with gorgeous language, and the arias are also beautifully written, so that even a native of the East like her does not find them uncomfortable to read.
After all, she's the kind of person who gets a headache just from trying to remember the names in books written by Westerners.
After she finished eating, she went to the window and drew back the curtains.
A pale mist shrouded this ancient city-state in the style of the 11th century, and the architecture of the city walls seemed somewhat distorted in the drifting mist.
The silence outside the window was deathly still; the only sound she could hear was the faint footsteps on the thick carpet in the hallway outside.
Sang Zhitao frowned and subconsciously looked up at the magic clock hanging on the wall. A clear sun symbol was hanging at the position the hands were pointing to. A noblewoman doll popped out of the small window below the clock, wearing morning clothes and sunbathing on the lawn. Every now and then, her hand reached to the small table next to her and picked up a small cake or teacup.
Sang Zhitao stared at the doll, then at the somber surroundings outside the window, feeling a sense of temporal and spatial disorientation.
"Knock knock." Three knocks sounded on the door, and Maria walked in with a maid pushing a clothes rack.
"These are the dresses prepared for you." Sang Zhitao looked at the gorgeous princess dresses worn by noble girls, the magic robes worn by magicians, and the swordsman's uniforms worn by swordsmen, each one extremely gorgeous.
She wandered around for a long time before finally choosing a light blue princess dress that didn't require a tight waist.
"This is a new model that incorporates elements from the magical continent; it's more comfortable and more luxurious." Maria chuckled to herself as she watched her make her choice.
In her eyes now, no matter how noble the other person's status is, they are ultimately just a little girl who likes pretty dresses.
She also secretly noted down Sang Zhitao's preferences and used magic to inform the others, asking them to make more dresses that met the requirements as soon as possible.
Sang Zhitao put on a princess dress, styled her long hair into an updo with an exquisite crown, and wore the jewelry that Maria had given her.
"Shall we set off now?" Sang Zhitao looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't help but ask.
Maria helped her straighten her skirt, looking somewhat hesitant: "Now... not now."
Sang Zhitao tilted her head and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Maria sighed, brought her a glass of juice, and then said, "It's Hollow Man's time now, we can't go out."
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