Chapter Eighty-two: The Strange Palace

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  According to the old mouse prime minister, when Queen Medusa fell asleep, in this so-called "Evil Eye Kingdom", this prime minister was the number one leader...

  With such a person or companion in tow, Duwei and the other three, plus one mouse-like person, set off towards Medusa's palace.

  All the mice they met on the way turned around and ran away, deeply proving the famous saying "hiding one's head and running away like a mouse". In the previous chaos, the prime minister was caught, but unfortunately these mice did not have the courage to take back their leader... It seems that from ancient times to now, describing cowardly people as "mouse guts" is indeed very apt.

  Of course, this animal kingdom is not just mice, there are also crows, those are the only ones that Gerge Wu can conjure up with a little magic as scouts. These flat-haired beasts will only hover in mid-air and shout "Outsider! Outsider", then these noisy sounds irritated Hussein, who shot up with one sword and killed seven or eight of them before they scattered.

  "Alas, Sir Knight, do you have any idea how much effort I've put into training these crows to stand watch and teaching them to speak? The number of experiments I've conducted is countless..."

  Du Wei couldn't help but feel a little curious: "How did you teach these crows to speak?"

  Gegi smiled: "I'm proficient in transformation techniques, so I naturally understand living things the most deeply. My first half of life was spent studying animals. Don't mention a crow, even if it's a horse..."

  "I recall telling you that if I ever heard you lie again, I'd cut off your rodent head." Hussein coldly interrupted the boastful Mouse Prime Minister. The knight said calmly: "Do you think I wouldn't see through it? Those crows can't actually talk; you just used magic to alter their voices. Crows aren't intelligent, but at least they have animal instincts and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, making a ruckus when encountering outsiders. You magically altered the sound of their calls to make them seem like they're saying 'outsider'. Duwei, if you don't believe me, let this mouse command those crows to say something else. If they can't, I'll cut off its rodent head right now!"

  As soon as the words came out, Gegeru indeed closed her mouth obediently. Du Wei secretly smiled in his heart, but he was also very interested in Gegeru's clever ideas. It turned out that it was just a magical way to transform the crow's vocal cords and tongue. Just like in Du Wei's previous life, those who raised parrots would use tools to flatten the parrot's tongue when they were young so that they could speak. The methods are different, but the general principle is roughly the same.

  Du Wei thought for a moment and smiled, "Gegel Wu, actually I understand your thoughts. You were originally human, but now you've become an animal, the most annoying thing in your heart is being seen as an animal that can speak human language, seen as a monster. So although you live in this desolate place with no one around, you involuntarily want to make all the surrounding animals able to speak human language, so it seems like you're not alone, right?"

  Gege heard this and although she didn't say anything, her eyes couldn't help but reveal a few hints of emotional light.

  Inside the canyon, there are two more magnificent city walls that have been built. The wall is majestic and looks extraordinary! Although it's just made of some large stone blocks simply piled up, it looks a bit rough, but it wins with its height and grandeur!

  "We have many strong slaves. In the canyon, there are many stone people who were petrified by Queen Medusa. If you're petrified by Medusa's spell, not only will you turn to stone, but if she wants to, she can also bring you back to life, though you'll become a stone slave without your own consciousness, purely following her commands like a zombie." Gege Witch finished speaking and couldn't help but shiver: "This is the most terrifying part, even in death, you won't be able to rest in peace."

  Du Wei sighed: "This should also be one of Queen Medusa's terrible magical abilities? If she wants to, just take a look at some people or magic beasts, and they can form a stone army."

  "I never doubted that. If she's willing, she can turn all the magical beasts in the entire Icebound Forest into stone slaves." Gege sighed.

  Du Wei suddenly asked, "A Medusa Queen as powerful as you, why have you always been hiding in this valley? The Ice Forest is so vast, but your territory has only been this small valley?"

  Du Wei began to ponder, but then walked up a slope and turned a corner, they finally saw the palace of Queen Medusa!

  The palace was as high as the mountain slopes on both sides, and surprisingly, the main building was not made of stone, but wood! Du Wei immediately recalled the words of Old Wood, the leader of the Tree People outside, that this palace was built from the bodies of several real Tree People. Remembering the gentle and kind-hearted Old Wood's tone when he mentioned this matter, which was full of anger and gritted teeth, Du Wei couldn't help but sigh.

  Gegi stopped in her tracks, hesitating for a moment: "Are you sure you want to go in?" The mouse prime minister couldn't help but roll his eyes wildly, looking around as if he was ready to make a run for it at any moment.

  "Yes." Hussein gave it a cold look: "You too."

  Geggie wailed and begged, "You want to go in and find Queen Medusa, just go ahead, the palace isn't that big anyway. Why do you have to bring me along? If Medusa gets angry, I'll be the one who gets punished! I once angered her before, and she turned me into stone for a whole month!"

  "Do you think she'll have another chance to punish you?" Du Wei furrowed his brow: "Are you certain that once we go in, we'll definitely be killed by her?"

  Although Gugu didn't say it, the expression on her face was clear. However, she quickly noticed the anger on the knight's face and hastily added: "I haven't seen humans for many years, nor do I want you to die in vain. Why don't you leave now? After all, she never leaves the palace, and everything outside is up to me. If I don't say anything, it's as if you've never been here, isn't that good? If you're after that so-called Fountain of Youth, I can tell you that it's completely useless. Look at me, I drank a lot of that cursed spring water, what benefits did I get?"

  "We're not here for the spring water." Du Wei said calmly: "We want to get Medusa's eyes... wasn't she a golden-eyed python before?"

  "Good heavens..." Gege Wu groaned again, but this time the look in her eyes as she gazed at Du Wei and his two companions was almost as if she were looking at three lunatics or corpses.

  No matter how unwilling the mouse prime minister was, Hussein picked it up and forcibly put it on. Du Wei and Dada Nile both wore "sunglasses", originally proud Hussein, although his face was very cool, but he was also a clever person, would not have underestimated Medusa's strength, and also wore a pair of "sunglasses".

  Pushing open the tall palace gate in front of him, a gust of cold wind blew out immediately, and the chill was overwhelming. The three people walked into the main hall, and in this gust of cold wind, a row of gems on the walls around the main hall suddenly emitted light, illuminating the entire hall.

  In the spacious great hall, the most striking thing is a giant statue in front of you. The main body of the statue is a beautiful woman with curly long hair, although it's just a stone carving, but the appearance of this woman is very clear, her eyebrows and eyes are charming, sharp chin, has a few points of seductive flavor, only the expression is too cold, after the charm, there are three more parts of sinister air. Her body is almost ***, but there are several large snakes coiled around her body, covering up several key parts. Those few large snakes are vivid and lifelike, raising their heads to spit out their tongues, revealing sharp poisonous teeth.

  The beautiful woman with the poisonous snake, this statue is obviously full of mysterious temptation and danger. Du Wei took a look, then turned his head to smile at the Mouse Prime Minister: "This must be your masterpiece? It can't be that Medusa herself would carve it? I didn't expect you to have such good carving skills."

  Gegi smiled wryly: "I've been facing the stone in this valley for twenty years, even if I didn't know anything at first, twenty years is enough time to learn a lot of things."

  Beyond the stone carvings surrounding the grand hall, there was a door. After pushing it open, a straight passageway stretched out before them. Du Wei stood at the entrance and took one glance before furrowing his brow: "Hmph, this is a magic array. Keke Witch, did you also teach her about this?"

  Right at the entrance, looking inside, this passage is almost bottomless, seemingly endless... But a palace, how can it be so big? Obviously, it was enchanted by the owner, making this passage a very useful defensive facility. If someone who doesn't know magic walks in, they will keep going forward, endlessly, forever unable to reach the end.

  "This is actually just a magical deception of your eyes and senses. If you walk in like this, you think you've walked very far, but in fact, you're just treading on the spot. A small obstacle to remove is very simple, just close your eyes...” Du Wei said here, suddenly paused, revealing a deep thinking expression, meaningfully whispered: “Hmmm…this Medusa Queen's most fearsome weapon is her gaze, yet she set up this magic array that makes all outsiders who enter have to close their eyes, isn't that abandoning one of the most powerful weapons?”

  Or perhaps it's just that they don't want to mistakenly hurt their own people?

  Du Wei immediately gave himself an explanation in his heart.

  Then the three of them closed their eyes and walked into the passage. Du Wei had a strong sense of perception, Hussein was close to the level of a Holy Knight, with keen senses, and it didn't make much difference whether his eyes were open or closed. Dandanier followed the two naturally without any problems, while Gege Wu was familiar with this place.

  After entering the passage, this magic array indeed lost its effect. In a short while, Hussein reached out to the handle of the second door. However, when he pushed it open, the three of them opened their eyes and were stunned...

  Behind the second door...... it's actually all black! Not a single ray of light!!

  "There are no more lights behind." Gigi whispered: "Unless you bring your own torches."

  "Has it always been like this?" Du Wei asked the Mouse Prime Minister a sentence.

  After getting Gegie's affirmative answer, Du Wei suddenly smiled, with a deep meaning.

  "This Medusa Queen is strange... If it's just a coincidence that the magic array makes people close their eyes. But here, it's set up in complete darkness, as if she's afraid someone will accidentally stumble in and get petrified! Doesn't she worry about hostile guys breaking in from outside? Like us, it's as if she's forcing us not to see her eyes. She herself has given up on the most powerful weapon, what is the reason?"

  (Want collection, want smash vote~~~)

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