Locke: Daily intelligence, I'm going crazy finding bargains!

The moment the red light burst out of the treasure chest, the three of them held their breath.

As the light faded, a jet-black magic wand lay in the box. The wand looked as if it had been burned by something, with dark red light flowing across its surface and black flames burning on it.

[Black Flame Soul (Legendary): A mage's wand that amplifies magic power by 50%.]

[Attached Skill: Black Flame Cage (Releases a magical cage made of black flames, weakening enemy elves' stats by 20% and inflicting a burning status. Can be equipped by two-star mages)]

Luo Xing picked up the wand and weighed it in his hand, discovering that the flames did not burn him.

The ability to buff oneself and reduce abnormal statuses near enemies, when combined, maximizes the dominance in battle.

He is currently at one star and cannot use it for the time being, but once he is upgraded to two stars, the true value of this staff will be revealed.

He didn't say much, put his wand back into the star chart, clapped his hands, and stood up.

"Let's go see if there are any more treasure chests around."

The three of them wandered around Starfrost Cliff for nearly twenty minutes, finding only two empty boxes with their lids wide open and nothing inside. They must have been taken by other mages.

The last NPC in the secret realm was nowhere to be found.

Su Mumu glanced down at the time, then suddenly looked up: "It's almost twelve o'clock."

"The four-school showdown starts in four hours. Xing-ge, shouldn't we go?" Huang Jindou counted on his fingers, then looked a little anxious.

"No rush, there are still things to finish." Luo Xing squatted down next to the empty box, his gaze falling on the snow beside the box, where there was a series of footprints, not deep, with small strides, which should have been left by the fallen girl.

He slowly followed the footprints, with Su Mumu and Huang Jindou following behind.

After walking about two or three hundred meters, the footprints stopped in front of a patch of ground covered by weeds and dead branches.

Luo Xing pushed aside the branches covering the hole, revealing a trap nearly a meter in diameter. The soil around the entrance was loosened by trampling, indicating that someone had accidentally stepped into the trap and fallen in.

Luo Xing lay down at the cave entrance and looked down, but it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything.

"Is anyone there?" he called out.

"Help!!!"

A voice came from inside the cave. The shout came so suddenly that Douzi was so startled that he jumped back half a step and almost tripped over his own feet.

It was a girl's voice, trembling noticeably, suggesting she had been in the cave for quite some time.

Then a noise came from inside the cave, as if someone was struggling to stand up and look up.

Light emanated from the cave. Luo Xing squinted and looked inside. Just then, a face was tilted up towards the cave entrance. The hair was messy and stuck to the sides of the face. The eyes were red and the face was covered in mud.

After seeing it clearly, Golden Bean suddenly let out a strange cry, startling Luo Xing.

Su Mumu was also stunned for a moment, her expression showing some surprise.

Luo Xing didn't quite understand what the two had seen, and was about to instinctively kick the bean.

Golden Bean took a photo out of his coat pocket and handed it to Luo Xing. It was the same photo he had found in the shopping elevator earlier, a signed photo of Xu Yifei.

"Look!" Huang Jindou's voice trembled.

"What photos are you looking at now...?"

"Look!" Douzi pointed anxiously at the people inside the cave.

Luo Xing took the photo, glanced at it, and then looked into the cave.

The people inside the cave look exactly like those in the photos.

Golden Bean completely disregarded everything else, shoved Luo Xing aside, hurriedly pulled a rope from his backpack, and frantically wrapped it around a large rock three times, tying a crooked knot that looked rather unreliable.

"Come on, grab it!" He swung the other end of the rope into the hole.

The person at the bottom of the cave hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the rope and began to climb up. The sound of boots scraping against the cave walls could be heard.

Then it stopped, and with a splash, it fell down again.

"I...can't climb up."

The girl's voice carried a hint of reluctance as she tried again.

The hole was too deep, nearly six or seven meters deep, and Xu Yifei couldn't climb out on her own. Huang Jindou's strength in pulling the rope was also unstable. After a while, with a "whoosh," she slipped down again.

Luo Xing glanced at the depth of the hole, estimated it, handed the rope to Huang Jindou, and then climbed down while holding onto the rope.

As he got closer, the face became clearer, and Luo Xing was certain that it was indeed Xu Yifei, but he always felt that the girl in front of him was not quite the same as the one in the photo.

She took a half step back, pressed her back against the cave wall, raised her chin, looked somewhat frightened, and gripped the rope tightly with her fingers.

"Don't be nervous, I'll carry you up," Luo Xing comforted her.

Xu Yifei was a little shy and hesitated to move forward. Seeing that there was no reaction, Luo Xing turned around and made a gesture as if she was going to climb up.

"……Wait a moment."

She spoke softly and slowly extended her arm.

Luo Xing turned around, put his arm around her waist, grabbed the rope with his other hand, and with a few quick movements, climbed up to the cave entrance and gently put her down.

As soon as Luo Xing put the person down, Su Mumu immediately came close and hugged his arm tightly. She looked all smiles, but there was a hint of hostility in her eyes.

Huang Jindou didn't care about anything else and rushed over with a big smile on his face. He didn't know where to put his hands, which startled the other person, who jumped back a big step and almost fell in again.

"Hello, hello! My name is Golden Bean!"

Xu Yifei paused for a moment, tidied her hair, took out three photos from her coat pocket, and handed them over.

"Thank you. I don't have anything else on me, so please accept these."

The three photos were all signed, and each had a small stamp in the lower right corner.

Huang Jindou took the photo, holding it in both hands, her eyes shining.

Luo Xing looked down at the card in his hand, remained silent for two seconds, and a vague sense of unease rose in his heart. The mysterious reward... could it be this?

He still held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that the system wouldn't be so deceitful.

Then a notification sound rang.

[Ding! Today's intelligence report complete!]

[Completion Rating: F]

Congratulations on obtaining: 1 Advanced Gulu Ball.

Luo Xing: ...

"Brother Xing, you still don't want it?"

"Take it." Luo Xing tossed the photo to him, utterly speechless.

Mission accomplished, he brushed the snow off himself and called to the two, "Let's go. Go back and take those poachers with you. It's time to leave the secret realm."

Just as I turned around, I heard Xu Yifei's voice from behind.

"Um...could...you take me with you?"

The girl stood there, head down, fingers twisting together, her voice even softer: "I don't really know the way... I can't find the evacuation point..."

Luo Xing glanced at her, then at Su Mumu, and then at Huang Jindou.

Golden Bean had already raised his hand high, his face saying "I do, I do".

Su Mumu hugged him tighter, without saying a word.

On the other side, on the playground outside the secret area, Lao Wang had been circling around in place for who knows how many times, constantly sending messages.

Teams from various schools arrived one after another, but there was no information about Luo Xing and Su Mumu at all, and they couldn't get in touch with them no matter what they tried.

Bai Qiuxue stood to the side, arms crossed, holding little Par in her arms.

"That brat must have gone into the secret realm. I haven't asked about the little thing's situation these past few days."

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Xing, inside the secret realm, sneezed twice in a row, tilted his head back, sniffed, and looked around.

"That's strange, is someone insulting me?"