Chapter 271: A Thief? An Inside Job?
Golden City, the royal capital of the Golden Kingdom, boasts a treasury that was once the pride of the city.
With a storied past, just how many treasures could be hidden in that treasury?
Yuliya, with a sparkle in her eye, couldn’t help but wonder.
The treasury’s entrance lay behind the main hall of the royal palace, and Yuliya trailed after Andrew to get there.
“Your Highness, this is the treasury’s great door. Do you happen to have the key?”
“The key?”
Yuliya tilted her head in thought.
Then, she reached for her beloved little bamboo basket.
“Surely this must be it! But how do we open it?”
“You just walk right in,” Andrew instructed.
Yuliya lifted her bamboo basket and strolled over.
As she got closer, the basket began to morph, ultimately turning into a swirling vortex.
“All set! Please go in, Your Highness.”
“Is that how it works?”
Yuliya raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise on her face.
But upon reflection, it did make sense.
In a grand kingdom like this, the treasury couldn’t possibly be just like any ordinary one.
What looked like a door to a room was actually a gateway to another dimension; the surface-level treasury was nothing more than a spatial coordinate locator.
No wonder it didn’t need guards—who could possibly plunder such a place?
Eagerly, Yuliya stepped into the treasury, while Andrew, wanting to stay outside, was called in as well.
“I can’t handle setting up the rewards alone—it’s too much to think about. I’ll have Maria and Kane help later.”
“Of course.”
Inside, the space resembled a starry night sky, faint stars struggling to illuminate row upon row of shelves.
But the most dazzling sight was the towering mountains of gold coins right at the entrance.
There were three mountains of gold coins, each as tall as dozens of Yuliyas stacked!
Ah, the Golden Kingdom—this is what the golden life feels like!
Yuliya dashed forward, her excitement bubbling as she gazed at the coin mountains.
Oh my, how high, how big—just how much money is this?!
She spun around the mountains in a dizzying circle.
Then, she noticed that the last mountain was significantly shorter than the first two.
“Andrew, come take a look!”
“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”
Frowning and pouting, Yuliya pressed, “Do you know how many gold coins are here?”
“Um…” Andrew glanced at the three mountains, shaking his head. “Apologies, Your Highness, I didn’t manage the treasury before, nor did I have access, so I’m not familiar with the details inside.”
“Who does know?”
“Uh… perhaps only you, Your Highness, might know.”
“Sigh, but don’t you find the last mountain feels off? Doesn’t it seem like it’s missing a lot?”
“Seems that way…”
“Are you sure I’m the only one who can access this treasury?”
“Absolutely certain. Your Highness, Golden City has just revealed itself; it’s impossible for anyone to have gotten here first.”
“Right. Was it always like this?”
Yuliya pondered, feeling something was amiss.
Judging by appearances, it seemed like the third mountain was about one-fifth shorter than the first two.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head; she jumped onto the third mountain of coins and began… tossing coins around!
After all, she had over one hundred million gold coins.
Her mission was like an achievement; just because she completed it didn’t mean she lost her fortune.
Before completing it, she primarily traded with gold notes, but missions required actual gold coins.
When she went to the royal treasury with stacks of notes, she nearly sent the clerks into a panic.
So much! Was she trying to empty the vault?
But hey, she was an imperial princess; if she wanted to empty it, no one could say a word!
For quite a while, she’d been walking around with bags of money.
If she ran into a player who managed to rob her, they’d really hit the jackpot!
Too bad no one dared, nor did they have the ability.
Now, it was time to stash her little treasures away!
This entire treasury was hers, and those mountains of coins were hers too! So let’s pile them up!
Clink, clink, clink—gold coins cascaded down like a river.
Listening to the sound, Yuliya felt a flush on her cheeks.
No wonder dragons love to pile up their gold—they must enjoy lounging on it while they nap!
She loved it too!
Who doesn’t?
Clink, bang!
As the final crash echoed, Yuliya tilted her head in confusion.
“Eh? Is that it?”
She looked down at her mountain of coins, comparing it to the first two.
There was still a noticeable gap!
Even with a hundred million coins thrown down, the last mountain still fell short by at least one-tenth compared to the first two.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had swiped her little treasure.
Yuliya murmured quietly, “Andrew, is there any way to seal the treasury completely, just to keep anyone from getting in?”
“Well… with your current strength, that’s quite difficult.”
“Is that so? I guess I’m still too weak to safeguard my own coins.” Yuliya sighed. “Fine, I’ll have to come check on it every day. If I forget, remind me!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Andrew complied but inwardly scoffed—he really didn’t believe anyone could steal from the Golden Kingdom’s treasury.
Unless it was an inside job.
But how could there be an inside job?
While he thought that, he still planned to carry out the princess’s orders properly.
“Oh, by the way.”
Yuliya suddenly thought of an extra precaution and called out mentally, “Sister Tong, help me keep an eye on things too! I absolutely can’t let my money go missing!”
“…”
“Didn’t Sister Tong lose a lot before? If she needs cash, she could borrow some—no interest charged.”
“…”
“Eh? Is Sister Tong not here?”
Well, if she’s pretending not to be, that works too…
Putting the coin situation aside, Yuliya began exploring the treasures in the vault.
However, after looking around, she realized…
“Everything here seems… not particularly eye-catching.”
That’s her high EQ interpretation.
Low EQ? Forget it—this is my treasury, and anyone who dares to utter that word will get smacked!
“Your Highness, this is just the first layer of the treasury; there are still two more layers behind it, but they’re sealed and will only unlock once Golden City is restored.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
If Andrew had mentioned this sooner, Yuliya would have rushed to repair Golden City from day one.
Anyone who tried to stop her would get a smack, not even a dragon would be safe!
Just kidding. If the dragon came, it could very well steal from the treasury.
He might have been eyeing Golden City all along, just waiting to plunder this treasury.
Suddenly, an idea struck Yuliya.
With a quick motion, she closed the entrance and her little bamboo basket reappeared in her hand.
Then she started rifling through it, pulling out a scroll.
The prototype of the so-called “egg box.”
“Andrew, is this from the treasury?”
Andrew glanced and nodded firmly, “Yes, it’s from the second layer.”
So she’d been rummaging through her own treasury—no issue there!
Since the little bamboo basket served as both a key and a spatial item, it made sense for it to connect to the treasury.
It’s too bad the actual treasure she could extract was uncertain. If she could just skip class and clean out the second layer, she could be unstoppable!
“Well then, let’s settle for this. The stuff in this first layer is pretty average for me, but for other adventurers, it would already be quite the reward.”
