192: Chapter 192 Palace Wandering

The next morning, Li Xin rose bright and early.

The sky had just brightened. There was a gray-white mist over the river, obscuring the ancient fort on the opposite bank until it was barely visible. He stood by the window for a while, then went downstairs.

Rajiv was brewing tea in the courtyard. Seeing Li Xin, he beckoned him over.

"Mr. Li, up so early?"

Li Xin gazed toward the river. "The air is good by the river. It's comfortable to wake up early and catch the breeze."

Rajiv smiled and poured him a cup of tea.

"Did you sleep well yesterday? Did you hear any strange noises?"

Li Xin picked up the tea cup and blew on it.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, just asking out of curiosity." Rajiv poured himself a cup of water, his tone deepening slightly. "Last night, something strange happened at the palace again."

Li Xin leaned forward slightly, his tone calm. "Oh? Tell me about it. What strange thing happened?"

Rajiv's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzzing, but his eyes kept darting toward the palace.

"It's extremely eerie. Last night, someone bold enough to pass by the palace wall heard the sound of metal clashing inside, even though that courtyard has been locked for at least ten years. He peeked through a crack in the window and saw several black shadows swaying back and forth... He was so scared that he nearly lost his soul."

Li Xin nodded gently, his tone peaceful. "Did that person not go back to check? Has no one in town gone to the palace to investigate?"

Rajiv waved his hand, his face showing dread. "Who would dare go back? After returning, that person came down with a high fever and is still bedridden. The townspeople all believe that something in the palace is warning outsiders; no one dares to go within half a step of the palace gates."

Li Xin shook his head meaningfully. "That may not be the case. There are always desperate people in this world who don't believe in evil. As the saying goes, 'Wealth is sought in danger.' Isn't this the perfect time to fish in troubled waters?"

"You actually guessed it right." He scoffed. "There really were a few fools who didn't know any better and snuck in. But they didn't make it a hundred meters before the patrolling security guards pinned them down. After interrogation, it turned out they were looking for a secret passage to find the Treasure Trove."

Li Xin took a sip of tea.

"No wonder there was a strange noise last night. I suppose that was the commotion caused by this group of people."

"Exactly. I heard from the security guards that they were banging on the walls like they were beating drums. You could hear it from far away." Rajiv shook his head.

"I don't know how many of these people we catch throughout the year. They all read posts online saying there's a Treasure Trove here, and they just rush over on a whim."

"Online rumors are the most harmful. A few words can entice people to break in regardless of the consequences. No wonder the town is never peaceful; it's all caused by these treasure hunters coming here for the fame."

"Who's to say otherwise? Things like 'The Secret Underground Passage Treasure of Orchha Fort' are written like novels. Some people even set up a forum to discuss it every day."

Rajiv put down his tea cup. "But it's all nonsense. If there really were a Treasure Trove, it would have been dug up long ago. Would it still be waiting until now?"

Li Xin laughed along and took the opportunity to continue. "That's true. If there really were treasures, it wouldn't be up to outsiders to find them."

...

Shortly after the meal, the tour guide, Kavita, appeared on time. She was around forty, with short hair and glasses, and a blue sari that made her look quite energetic. "Hello, Mr. Li. Today, I will be taking you on a tour of the palace."

Li Xin responded gently. "Hello. Then I will trouble you to give me a tour."

"Very well. What would you like to focus on?"

Li Xin did not answer immediately, but instead asked a counter-question. "Young Miss Kavita, before I came, I read some interesting rumors online. Do you think this vast palace really has any unknown secret passages?"

She pushed up her glasses, her tone calm. "Many tourists ask this. The Bundela Dynasty royals did build emergency passages back in the day, but they are ancient and mostly collapsed. There is no such secret passage leading to a Treasure Trove as described in the legends."

Li Xin smiled, feigning regret. "So that's how it is. It was written so convincingly online that I actually believed it a little."

Kavita said seriously. "And regarding the matter of the secret passage... you'd best not ask about it in public."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"This place is often harassed by those treasure hunters, so security is extremely strict now." Kavita frowned, a hint of helplessness in her tone.

"If you go around asking, you will likely be treated as a 'high-risk individual.' By then, let alone sightseeing, whether you can leave the country smoothly will be a problem."

Li Xin smiled and shrugged helplessly. "Alright, that was reckless of me. Rest assured, I am just here purely for sightseeing."

Kavita did not reply, just sighed deeply.

"Because this place is sinister. Last year, there was a foreign professor who insisted on finding some secret passage and snuck in at night... The next day, he was carried out, burning with fever, muttering words no one could understand. It took him over twenty days of recovery before he was okay again."

"That's a coincidence, right?"

"It's not a coincidence." Kavita was very serious. "The elders say that the Treasure Trove under the palace has a 'Guardian.' Whoever tries to touch it must pay the price."

Li Xin smiled.

"Then I won't ask anymore. Let's go."

The two walked out one after the other.

The street was sparsely populated. A few old men were sitting by the roadside playing chess, with a circle of people around them. A yellow dog was sprawled lazily in the middle of the road basking in the sun. When car wheels drove right past it, it only lazily twitched its ears, not even bothering to lift its eyelids.

Kavita walked in front, her pace neither fast nor slow.

"The Raj Mahal Palace is the pride of the Bundela Dynasty, built in the sixteenth century. Later, successive royals expanded it, so you can see architectural styles from different periods."

Li Xin listened, nodding occasionally.

After walking for over ten minutes, they arrived at the palace entrance. It had stone door frames carved with patterns. Two security guards stood at the entrance, wearing gray uniforms, holding sticks in their hands.

Kavita bought the tickets and led Li Xin inside.

The inside of the palace was very large. The floor was paved with stone slabs, worn smooth by footsteps, with some places worn into pits. The surrounding walls were built of stone, carved with patterns—some of elephants, some of peacocks, and others that were unrecognizable.

Tourists were scattered about, each busy checking in.

A small group of people gathered by the wall, holding their phones high to take photos of the stone carvings, their camera flashes flickering one after another.

Li Xin mingled among them, strolling leisurely, looking left and right. He only stopped in front of the scenery he was truly interested in, lifting his Leica camera to frame the shot quietly.

Walking to a corridor, there was a wall in front. The wall was very thick, built of stone, with a smooth surface and no door. But at the base of the wall, there was a crack, very narrow, only wide enough to fit a hand.

Kavita stood to the side.

"This is the location of the legendary secret passage. But no one can get in."

"Why?"

"The door has been sealed shut. Some say it was filled with molten iron, others say it collapsed due to explosions."

Li Xin squatted down, pretending to tie his shoelaces, his hand pressing against the ground.

"AI System, Scan this area."

[Scanning. Approximately twelve meters ahead, underground structure detected. The space is quite large, with dense signals. Estimated gold content exceeds Jaigarh Fort.]

"How much?"

[Preliminary estimate: approximately three to four hundred tons. Additionally, there is a large amount of gold and silver jewelry; a detailed inventory will require Extraction for precision.]

Li Xin stood up and brushed the dust off his hands.

Three to four hundred tons. Twice as much as Jaigarh Fort.

He took a step forward. Suddenly, his temple throbbed with pain. It wasn't a dull ache, but a sharp, stabbing pain, like a needle prick.

He steadied himself against the wall.

Kavita walked over.

"Mr. Li, you don't look well."

"It's nothing, just an old ailment acting up."

Kavita was skeptical.

"Then... would you like to go to the rest area and sit for a while? There are chairs over there."

"No need, it's nothing serious. Let's continue the tour." He glanced at the wall.

Kavita nodded and led him in another direction.

Li Xin followed behind, the System ringing in his mind.

[Warning. Less than thirty meters from the spiritual core area. Energy pressure is surging; it is recommended to move away immediately.]

He ignored it and kept walking.

But his pace slowed, each step firm.

The voices in his mind began to appear. It wasn't chanting, but other sounds. Someone was speaking; he couldn't identify the language. It wasn't Sanskrit, nor Hindi. The tone was deep, sounding like a command, or perhaps a warning.

He gritted his teeth and endured it.

After walking for a while, the sound faded. His temple stopped hurting too.

Kavita turned back and looked at him.

"Mr. Li, are you really okay? Would you like to drink some water?"

"Thank you, no need. Let's go."

The two continued walking. They crossed a courtyard and arrived at a corridor on the other side. There were fewer tourists here, only two people taking pictures, holding SLRs and aiming them at the carvings on the wall.

Kavita pointed to the carvings on the wall.

"This is the most famous 'Elephant Corridor' of the Bundela Dynasty. The patterns of each elephant are different, representing different royals."

Li Xin looked; they were indeed different. Some were fat, some thin; some had their trunks curled, others had them hanging down.

He picked up his camera and took a few shots.

After taking the photos, he stood by the edge of the corridor and looked out. He could see the whole town of Orchha; the houses were low and huddled together. The Betwa River was in the distance, gray and hazy; he couldn't see the water, only the trees on the riverbank.

"Kavita, you are very familiar with the palace?"

"I've been guiding tours for over a decade. I could walk through it with my eyes closed."

"Then have you seen treasure hunters?"

Kavita was stunned for a moment.

"I have, many."

"Have they found anything?"

"Of course not. If they had found the Treasure Trove, it would have been spread around long ago." Kavita shook her head.

"It's just people banging randomly on the walls or digging holes in the ground; they've all been kicked out by security. A few were even arrested and locked up for a few days."

"Then why do they still come?"

"They won't give up." Kavita sighed. "Those posts online make it sound so real. Stuff like 'The royal Treasure Trove is worth a fortune' or 'The secret passage entrance is somewhere in the palace.' Everyone who comes thinks they can find it."

Li Xin didn't speak.

They walked for another stretch and arrived at a platform. The view was open, and he could see the full layout of the palace. The gray-white stone buildings had moss growing in some places. There were birds on the tower tops—crows, cawing.

Kavita pointed into the distance.

"That way is the Betwa River, that way is the old town, and that way is..."

Li Xin didn't listen. He was thinking about what just happened. Three to four hundred tons. Twice as much as Jaigarh Fort. But the intensity of the spiritual entity was also more than twice as high.

"The tour is about done. Let's head back."

"Okay."

The two walked out. When passing that wall, Li Xin didn't look. He walked right past it.

After exiting the palace, the sunlight was intense. It shone on the stone walls, the reflection blinding.

Kavita stood at the entrance.

"Mr. Li, are you going to other places this afternoon?"

"No, I'm going back to rest."

"Then I will be going now. Do you need me to guide you tomorrow?"

"We'll see. If I need to, I'll contact you."

"Okay, goodbye."

Kavita left. Li Xin stood at the entrance and lit a cigarette.

The smoke dispersed in the sunlight and quickly vanished.

He walked back along the stone-paved road. There weren't many people on the road. A few children were playing soccer, and the ball rolled into the middle of the road. He kicked it back. The children shouted "Thank you" and ran off to chase the ball.

Returning to the homestay, Rajiv was sitting in the courtyard. Seeing him, he stood up.

"Mr. Li, did you go to the palace today?"

"Yes. Kavita is a good guide."

Rajiv poured him a cup of tea.

"Did she not tell you about the secret passage?"

"She mentioned it briefly. She said there is a Guardian."

Rajiv sat down and picked up his tea cup.

"It's not just a legend. The night before last, a treasure hunter tried to sneak into the palace at night and was scared off by a 'ghostly shadow.' That person is still in the hospital, saying he saw people dressed in ancient costumes standing in the corridor."

"Surveillance, have you checked it?"

Rajiv shook his head. "The palace has no surveillance. However, the person who caught the treasure thief was a former subordinate of mine, and he told me the truth. This matter cannot be fake."

Li Xin didn't speak further, just looked at the silhouette of the palace in the distance. "Interesting."

In the afternoon, Liu Mo arrived. He was holding a tablet, and his expression was not good.

"Boss, there is a new situation."

"Hmm, what is it?"

"There are at least four groups of people here. A team of foreigners, five of them, staying at the most expensive place in town. Two local groups who can't stand each other; the atmosphere is very tense. There is also a group of black market brokers who thought it was too high-profile, so they are now disguised as parking lot vendors selling water."

"What kind of equipment does the foreign team have?"

"Professional detectors, drones, encrypted communication. Even more opulent than that group in Jaipur."

"Have they found anything?"

"No. I inquired and found out they have been here for two weeks, wandering around the periphery of the palace every day, but have never entered the core area."

Li Xin pondered. "Perhaps it's not that they don't want to enter, but that they can't."

Liu Mo looked at him. "You mean..."

Li Xin spoke calmly. "Observe first. Don't rush. Don't provoke them, but you can secretly cause some trouble for them."

Liu Mo nodded.

"Boss, there is one more thing."

He paused, as if recalling the chaos of the morning.

"Those two local groups got into a fight at the palace gate this morning. To grab a good spot, they pulled out knives. The police sirens wailed all the way, and three were arrested."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Yes, minor injuries, needed a few stitches."

Li Xin thought for a moment.

"Let them fight. The messier, the better."

"Understood." Liu Mo left.

Li Xin sat on the terrace, looking at the palace in the distance.

It was almost dark. The sunset shone on the ancient fort, and the gray-white walls turned orange-red. The reflection on the river was golden.

He opened the system panel.

The cooldown had four hours left.

[Target energy field Rank: S-. Estimated Extraction rate decrease: 20% to 30%. Mental defense Rank has been set to maximum.]

Li Xin whispered.

"Tomorrow at dawn, I'll test the mettle of this royal."

He closed the panel and stood up.

He walked into the room and lay on the bed.

He closed his eyes.

The insects outside the window began their chirping.