Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 874 Compass Principles
"Oh, here it is." Su Weiyu took out the compass and handed it to Xia Shou.

Xia Shou took the compass, and the golden pointer on it swayed from side to side, not clearly indicating the direction, but the pointer swung within a range of at least 180 degrees, which could be considered as indicating the approximate location.

At least it doesn't drift erratically in 360 degrees.

"It seems promising. Let's go, let's try our luck," Xia Shou said.

Following the direction of the compass, they passed through several villages outside the royal city. To speed up their journey, Xia Shou even bought two horses, the money for which Su Weiyu crowdfunded from passersby.

They traveled all day and came to a grove at night. But at that moment, the compass needle changed direction. The previously erratic range suddenly widened, and the needle began to swing wildly, losing its guiding function.

Xia Shou rode his horse back a little further, and when he passed a certain location, the pointer's swing range returned to the original half-plane area.

"Could it be that kind of mechanism?" Xia Shou had a guess about how the compass worked.

Captain Sparrow's compass can point the direction of what the holder desires most.

The Bureau of Control states that the compass will only begin to provide guidance when the holder's desire for something exceeds a certain limit.

What if the compass actually guides all desires?

Perhaps desires are like invisible, elastic threads tied to the pointer of a compass. The greater the desire, the greater the elasticity of the thread and the greater the pulling force. When the pointer is pulled to one side, the elasticity of the desire thread on that side decreases, while the pulling force on the opposite side increases, and thus the pointer begins to sway.

The threads formed by desire do not obey the laws of physics, so they can really pull the compass needle back and forth like a perpetual motion machine. When there are too many threads, it becomes a chaotic system and starts to spin unpredictably, so ordinary people cannot predict the pattern at all.

Ultimately, it became the result of the Bureau of Control's research: unless the pull of a desire is strong enough to be pointed at by the pointer, and its own pull is at its minimum, it can still resist the pull of all other desires at their peak, then the compass will stably point in one direction.

Now, the fact that the compass needle is spinning very little proves that his desires are very clean and simple.

Xia Shouneng could guess the reason behind this. Although he himself could not judge the intensity of his own desires, he knew that he must have desires that could only be fulfilled by returning to the present world, and the compass could only indicate things that had a "location" in space.

Therefore, a large part of my wishes are now blocked and cannot be displayed, which is why the compass is so efficient.

Of course, this is just a guess. The idea suddenly appeared in Xia Shou's mind, like a burst of inspiration. He suddenly felt that the principle might be like this.

"I want to find the people from the Control Bureau, I want to find Lin Rizhe and Huangfu... Hmm, is there anything else?" Xia Shou muttered to himself as he analyzed, staring at the compass in thought.

After Xia Shou told Su Weiyu about this hypothesis, Su Weiyu thought for a moment and said, "Then why was I able to find Lin Rizhi's diary directly by following the signs in the palace's collection?"

What do you think your wish is?

"I can't say for sure. I must have had a lot on my mind at the time. I wanted to escape alive, and I hoped that you wouldn't encounter any danger or trouble. I also wanted to finish the investigation as soon as possible and return to the modern world... Actually, I don't really know either," Su Weiyu recalled.

It seems the analysis still has some gaps, but the gains are already considerable. If the compass really works on this principle, then by starting with the underlying logic of this sealed object, we can use it to do many things.

For example, if he had the ability to delete or modify memories at will, he could completely erase memories and leave only a thought or desire. In that state, holding a compass would accurately guide him in the corresponding direction.

Xia Shou glanced down at the wildly swinging hands and sighed regretfully. Unfortunately, now he could only rely on guesswork to find what he wanted.

Xia Shou chose a direction and continued forward. He didn't know what he could find ahead, or even if what he wanted was there, but he could only keep moving forward.

In this era, they had no way to contact the control bureau team that had traveled here, and the whereabouts of their colleagues who had fallen down decades ago were unknown. It was possible that everyone except Lin Rizhe and Huangfu had betrayed them, after all, there were already such signs in Lin Rizhe's diary.

Xia Shou didn't think they were wrong; everyone has their own choices.

Finally, a huge cave appeared before Xia Shou, a cave he was very familiar with—the Blood Cave.

The entrance to the underworld.

"Is this where the underworld falls?" Xia Shou suddenly perked up, feeling that the person he was looking for might be here.

Actually, if you think about it from another perspective, the underworld is a very good place to preserve your body and prolong your life, because once you enter the underworld, you will not die, and even if you are torn to pieces, your body will remain fresh!

If I were Lin Rizhi, I might hide here.

Xia Shou gently squeezed the horse's belly with his legs and walked towards the entrance of the Blood Cave. Halfway there, the horse dared not go any further. The strong smell of blood frightened the two horses so much that their eyes turned red.

Xia Shou dismounted and walked over. Su Weiyu suddenly spoke up: "You and A Yue came here last time, right?"

This place is great for me right now. I can sleep here, and even if I get killed by the Spear of the Rift in my dreams, I won't die. I can just rebuild myself, right?

Xia Shou nodded and walked into the huge cave opening.

But inside was not the blood-soaked cave one might imagine, but a huge crevice, like a rift in space that had been cut open.

Crossing the rift, they could see the red moon when they looked up. They skipped the Blood Cave process and went straight to the underworld.

Su Weiyu stared wide-eyed at the scene before her and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, that's quite spectacular!"

Xia Shou was stunned, because the underworld in front of him was completely different from when he last came here. The underworld had been reduced to ruins, but now there were rows of well-preserved ancient tile-roofed houses standing there.

It's like... it's like someone rebuilt this place.

"Did Sprite rebuild this place?" Xia Shou asked, frowning.

No, this house is in the style of ancient China. Sprite would never build such a house unless someone with relevant knowledge assists her.

But regardless of who rebuilt it, this matter remains puzzling.

Why rebuild? What is the purpose of rebuilding? What exactly happened in the underworld?
(End of this chapter)