Chapter 160 What kind of dungeon is this?

Later on, the old woman and the members of the royal family became scattered across various lands, and their ruler, Ah Yuan, went missing without a trace.

This was precisely why the old woman was so emotionally overwhelmed upon seeing Ah Yuan now—after all, this was their true monarch!

Upon hearing this, Ah Yuan stood frozen in place. She no longer knew what words could possibly express her feelings. Such a thing was utterly bizarre; someone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to inform her that she was the ruler of an entire kingdom.

Seeing Ah Yuan's reaction, Xi Yan understood the turbulent thoughts racing through her mind. He turned to the old woman and asked, "If that is the case, how did you end up stranded in a place like this?"

The old woman sighed deeply and replied, "Yes, I belong to that kingdom, and so I have spent centuries searching for our monarch. Yet, despite searching for hundreds of years without finding any trace of our ruler, I wandered into this place by chance. For reasons unknown, my memories have been steadily deteriorating, fluctuating between clarity and confusion, which is why I remained stranded here."

This explanation finally made Xi Yan understand why the old woman had acted like a completely different person moments ago. So this was the reason.

When she finished speaking, a sudden silence fell among them, and no one dared to break it first.

After a short while, the old woman spoke up hesitantly, "My Queen... what kind of life have you lived over the past few centuries? Have you been doing well? Has anyone bullied you?"

Ah Yuan smiled and shook her head, "I've been doing fine, and no one has bullied me. I just never imagined I could possess such an identity."

At that moment, Ah Yuan was plunged into bewilderment. How could she possibly be the ruler of a kingdom?

Meanwhile, Xi Yan was wondering whether he should help Ah Yuan recover her lost memories, though he remained uncertain if Ah Yuan herself even desired such a thing.

"My Queen, I am willing to help you reclaim your kingdom!" The old woman suddenly turned deadly serious.

Her abrupt declaration left Ah Yuan completely at a loss as to how she should respond.

Looking somewhat helpless, Ah Yuan cast a glance at Xi Yan, silently seeking his assistance.

Xi Yan offered Ah Yuan a reassuring smile, then stepped forward to block the line of sight between her and the old woman.

The old woman was deeply displeased by Xi Yan's actions, yet she refrained from saying anything further. She could clearly perceive that Xi Yan and Ah Yuan shared a very close bond, and that Ah Yuan relied heavily on him.

Offending Ah Yuan by alienating her companion was the last thing the old woman wanted to do.

"Your kingdom has already vanished, and Ah Yuan now has her own life. The matter of restoring the kingdom should be put aside for the time being," Xi Yan said firmly.

"This... very well, let us leave it at that for now..." The old woman initially intended to refuse, but when she caught the deep, unwavering reliance shining in Ah Yuan's eyes as she looked at Xi Yan, she swallowed the words she had meant to say.

"Thank you for your understanding," Xi Yan said with a slight smile.

The old woman pressed her lips together. Although reluctant, she still kept her objections to herself.

At that moment, Ah Yuan, hiding safely behind Xi Yan, suddenly asked the old woman, "Granny... are there any instances nearby? I want to go in and train myself..."

For reasons unknown, no matter how hard she tried, Ah Yuan could never bring herself to act sternly toward this old woman, and her tone remained as docile and obedient as a little lamb.

The old woman looked astonished. "My Queen, such inferior instances are utterly unworthy of your presence for training! Your abilities are so formidable!"

Ah Yuan awkwardly wiped away a nonexistent bead of sweat from her forehead. Where on earth were her abilities formidable? While she wasn't weak, she certainly wasn't strong enough to bypass the need for training.

"I still need to work hard, so do you happen to know the location of the instance?" Ah Yuan asked again.

Seeing that Ah Yuan genuinely wished to find the instance, the old woman hesitated for a moment before answering.

"There is one right here within these ruins, though I am unfamiliar with the method to activate it. However, we can simply wait for others to trigger it and then enter."

"Thank you," Ah Yuan replied sweetly.

Following that, the three of them quietly remained within the ruins to wait. Whether it was the strong allure of the instance here or simply a high volume of lost travelers, they could not be certain.

They waited for just over an hour, during which three or four groups of passersby had already drifted through the area. None of those groups chose to enter this instance, however; two parties simply walked away, while a few others—whose affiliations remained unclear—decided to stay.

They sat quietly in another section of the ruins. Although they noticed Xi Yan and his companions, they merely cast a single glance in their direction before ignoring them entirely.

They sat huddled together, whispering indistinctly among themselves.

"Big Brother, look at them. Do you think they are the ones waiting to enter the instance?" Ah Yuan edged closer to Xi Yan's side and whispered softly.

Xi Yan glanced at the group in the distance, carefully observing their words and actions before replying to Ah Yuan, "If I am not mistaken, they are indeed here for this instance. I simply wonder what kind of instance it could be to make this group willing to wait so patiently."

Ah Yuan nodded, unable to comprehend the motives of those people either.

Just as Ah Yuan and Xi Yan were murmuring to each other, a few more figures walked into view from ahead.

They glanced at Xi Yan, then turned to look at the other group sitting in the distant ruins. After rolling their eyes thoughtfully, they finally chose to settle down in a different section of the ruins directly opposite Xi Yan.

The structures here had long been reduced to broken walls and shattered foundations, bearing no resemblance to standing buildings; the only boundaries separating the areas were jagged partitions of masonry.

Consequently, Xi Yan was not very far from either of the two groups. Moreover, these newly arrived individuals were clearly much more talkative than the previous group.

Furthermore, their vigilance was noticeably lower, allowing Xi Yan to overhear fragments of their conversation clearly.

"How long do you think this opening will last? Do you think we can find any treasures?"

"Who cares how long it lasts? We'll be forcefully ejected when the time is up anyway, and forget about the treasures—as long as we get inside, there's money to be made. What is there to fear?"

There were three people in this newly arrived team. One of them wore gold-rimmed glasses and remained silent, while the other two conversed in hushed tones. However, the physical attributes of survivors far exceeded those of ordinary people.

Thus, Xi Yan, sitting right next to them, heard every single word of their exchange without missing a syllable.

Hearing their conversation, Xi Yan glanced over casually. To his surprise, that single glance was caught by the man with the gold-rimmed glasses.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses immediately spoke up to the other two men, "Keep your voices down for a moment."

The two men seemed remarkably intimidated by the bespectacled man; the moment he snapped at them, they instantly shut their mouths.

Subconsciously, Xi Yan lingered his gaze on the bespectacled man for an extra second before withdrawing his eyes.

Noticing Xi Yan's reaction, Ah Yuan lowered her voice and asked, "Brother, is there something wrong with that man?"

"That man is dangerous. If we end up entering the same instance, do not provoke him," Xi Yan replied quietly.

Ah Yuan obediently nodded and cast a cautious glance at the bespectacled man as well, though the man paid no attention to her scrutiny at all.

The reason Xi Yan considered this bespectacled man dangerous was precisely because the man possessed extraordinarily sharp intuition.

Earlier, Xi Yan's glance in his direction had not involved any large movements—one could even say he hadn't moved at all—and Xi Yan had been positioned in semi-profile to them. Yet, the man had still managed to detect Xi Yan's gaze, which spoke volumes about his acute perceptiveness.