Hu Hai had no idea that thousands of miles away, someone was worrying about his safety. He was currently standing in a simple, ancient courtyard, looking up at the brilliant starry sky.

A fox fur cloak was gently draped over his shoulders. Hu Hai withdrew his gaze and looked at the man standing half a step behind him, his crimson eyes still flickering with incredulous emotion.

The person who had always bowed respectfully with restraint, forever keeping his head lowered, carefully following behind him, never speaking out of turn, always serving him with utmost care, and who was finally killed by his own hand due to a misunderstanding.

Though the memory was very distant, it remained vivid, because Hu Hai would never forget Zhao Gao’s indifferent explanation when he learned he had misunderstood Sun Shuo.

Ha, saying it was the second lesson he was teaching him – how to distinguish loyalty from treachery…

Yes, how could he forget that all his subsequent attendants were given the same name as this person, because he was afraid he would forget the mistake he had made…

“Sun Shuo…” Hu Hai called out gloomily, knowing that the person before him wasn’t truly alive, but rather a humanoid puppet created by Zhao Gao using puppet arts after his soul had attached to that bronze weight and been found by Zhao Gao.

“This servant is here.” Sun Shuo replied quietly, his voice sounding somewhat ethereal in the night.

“Zhao Gao… what exactly does he want to do?” Hu Hai finally couldn’t help asking. When Zhao Gao had appeared before him, it was like a nightmare. His bone-deep fear of Zhao Gao made him instinctively follow without any resistance.

Heh, he also knew how those in the history books wrote about Zhao Gao, thinking him foolish and absurd for daring to point at a deer in the imperial court and call it a fine horse.

But it was precisely this seemingly inappropriate trick that allowed Zhao Gao to easily distinguish which people in the court obeyed him, which were hypocritical, and which absolutely refused to submit. Such straightforward, simple, bold probing methods made all the later roundabout, tedious factional struggles seem pathetic!

This also showed just how terrifying this person’s schemes and methods truly were.

So when Hu Hai found himself essentially under house arrest in this remote mountain estate, he was even more silent as a cicada in winter. Even with Sun Shuo’s comfortable company, he lived in constant fear day and night, finally unable to resist asking this question.

Of course, when he asked this question, he felt Sun Shuo probably didn’t know the answer – he just wanted someone to chat with.

Unexpectedly, after Sun Shuo pondered for a moment, he actually spoke: “Master should have some scheme in mind.”

Hearing Sun Shuo, who should have been his own attendant, so naturally call Zhao Gao “Master,” Hu Hai was furious and laughed coldly: “Oh? What do you know? Tell me.”

“It should be related to a shop called ‘Dumb House.'” The winter night was cold. Though Sun Shuo was only a puppet, he still retained human habits. When a cold wind struck, he drew his sleeves together and hunched his shoulders, suggesting: “Young Master, let’s go inside to talk.”

“No need. I’m wearing a cloak, and you don’t fear cold anyway. Why go inside? I want to stand outside for a while.” Hu Hai snorted coldly. With Sun Shuo beside him, he seemed to return to being that arrogant young prince of Qin, just not wanting others to be comfortable. “Continue speaking. What does this have to do with some Dumb House shop?” Could it be that Zhao Gao had discovered the Boss’s identity? Hu Hai’s heart jumped, and thinking of his missing imperial brother, he became even more anxious.

Seeing that his young master didn’t want to return inside, Sun Shuo didn’t insist. Instead, he stepped forward half a pace, cleverly blocking the direction from which the night wind blew, then lowered his head and spoke slowly: “This must be told from the Dumb House’s history.”

“History? Isn’t the Dumb House just an antique shop built by that Boss? What history could it have?” Hu Hai raised his hand to smooth his silver hair scattered by the night wind, casually tucking it into his cloak’s hood.

“Not so. In fact, collection of antiques began with Minister Gan’s master. It’s said that the Daoist’s sect specialized in collecting ancient divine artifacts scattered throughout heaven and earth. After the legendary eras of Emperor Yan, Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu passed, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth dissipated. The divine artifacts remaining in the world would have tremendous effects on mortals, so several treasure vaults were established throughout the Central Plains to seal away these artifacts one by one. Of course, divine artifacts were only a small part. Many objects like me that had souls attached or had developed their own spiritual intelligence also belonged to the category requiring sealing.” Sun Shuo spoke slowly, his tone and cadence as gentle and calm as always, without the slightest fluctuation even when speaking of himself.

“Treasure vaults?” Hu Hai’s attention was immediately drawn to these two words, his crimson eyes unable to suppress their gleaming light. “Speaking this way, it makes perfect sense. Those ancient divine artifacts were extremely difficult to damage, so there’s no reason they would just suddenly fade into obscurity. I originally thought it was because they gathered dust after their masters died, but it was actually for this reason!”

“The Guangya states: ‘Ku means dwelling.’ There’s also ‘she,’ which is the colloquial pronunciation of ‘ku,’ but it’s not pronounced ‘kù’ but ‘shè,’ the same sound as ‘she.'” Sun Shuo’s voice paused, as if giving Hu Hai time to think, then continued slowly after half a breath: “So the Dumb House is not a simple shop name, but one of the treasure vaults.”

“The character ‘ya’ (dumb) comes from ‘mouth’ and ‘ya,’ with ‘ya’ also providing the sound. Here ‘mouth’ refers to making sound, while ‘ya’s original meaning was the inner palace of the imperial city. ‘She’ means vault, so the name ‘Dumb House’ originally meant the emperor’s inner treasury – referring to those treasures that could only speak within the palace city. Those treasures could all speak, so one can imagine what kinds of treasures were stored in that inner vault. Of course, several other treasure vaults were built later, and as dynasties changed through Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods, few knew the name Dumb House. Until the Boss’s master resumed collecting antiques and used this name again.” Besides stating what he knew, Sun Shuo inevitably mixed in his own speculation: “Perhaps during his millennia of wandering, the Boss also inherited his master’s will and opened the Dumb House as an antique shop to hide the truth.”

Hu Hai looked with an indescribable expression at the man bowing beside him: “Sun Shuo, how do you know so much?”

Sun Shuo smiled: “Young Master, this servant has always retained consciousness and has lived over two thousand years. Moreover, antiques are quite gossipy, especially those that can speak.”

Hu Hai’s breathing hitched. Thinking that he was the cause of this situation, he immediately had nothing to say. He took a sharp breath of cold air and stiffly changed the subject: “The Dumb House is just one treasure vault, right? And the antiques in it aren’t even sealed. Zhao Gao’s appetite shouldn’t be so small. So what’s his purpose? Does he want to seize the other treasure vaults?”

“This servant doesn’t know. But to find those treasure vaults, one must use a compass.” Sun Shuo answered simply.

“A compass?” Hu Hai suddenly thought of the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass in the Dumb House.

“Yes, that compass is called the Nie Compass. Legend says it can twist space-time, allowing a person’s soul to flow backward through the world for true nirvana rebirth.” Sun Shuo couldn’t help getting excited speaking of this, because he too wanted rebirth – wanted it so desperately he was going mad. His words carried obvious trembling: “But because this Nie Compass was too heaven-defying, the compass needle and compass were separated for storage and have long since scattered to unknown places.”

Hu Hai narrowed his eyes, thinking that the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass in the Dumb House also twisted space-time. He just didn’t know whether what was on it was the Nie Compass’s needle or the compass itself. Silently memorizing this intelligence, seeing that Sun Shuo had stopped speaking, Hu Hai frowned and asked: “Why did Zhao Gao capture me if he wants to excavate treasure vaults?”

Hearing this, Sun Shuo laughed quietly: “Master said that since he happened to find me, he owed me one wish.”

“A wish?” Hu Hai stared blankly as Sun Shuo, who had always kept his head down, finally raised it. Puppets all had very strange complexions. Though his features vaguely resembled the face Sun Shuo had originally possessed, his skin was indeed pale blue-white. Seeing it suddenly was like seeing a talking, moving corpse.

“Because my wish was to return to Young Master’s side…” Sun Shuo still smiled with that gentle, humble manner, but the smile at the corner of his lips curved into an eerie arc.