Chapter 111 The Riddler (Part 7)

The fortress, like a towering mountain peak, was half-hidden by clouds. A robust lizardman was trimming the flowers and plants; he must belong to the logistics department and should have a good understanding of vegetation.

Lisa asked him about the tree mentioned in the riddle, and the guy replied without hesitation, "There's a tree like that in front of Renn's house."

Who is Renn?

“As one of the high-ranking members, you can be arrested no matter what you want, whether it's a tree, a flower bed, or even a fence.”

Richie was indeed deliberately making things difficult for everyone again.

Raine's house was nearby, built as ugly as an oversized toad, with a filthy pond in the front yard where small swamp animals crawled and splashed mud everywhere.

Their movements resemble crawling rather than swimming, making them difficult to appreciate.

The tree Richie mentioned is probably the one in front of the pond. It seems to have done something wrong, and it looks like it has been whipped and is covered in scars.

The guard was a guy with glaring, ghostly eyes, like a watchdog guarding dung, refusing to leave no matter what.

Just then, a sticky belly emerged from the slimy pond—it was a crocodile. It came ashore, walked to the tree, and patted the wood with its sticky belly, its posture resembling a sailor climbing a mast. The poor tree gained a few more scars.

Whether it was a mistake or not, the tree Richie mentioned actually moved slightly, slowly, and despite the absence of wind, its branches and leaves swayed wildly and crackled.

This is a spirit tree imbued with magic by a druid, usually only found in the Nian Forest. The fact that one is planted in Raine's courtyard suggests that he may have come from Nian.

The crocodile fell from the tree with a thud, like a fat toad, unable to turn over.

Several guards immediately displayed countless skills, working together in groups of five or six, before they were able to flip it over.

That's when everyone realized that it wasn't a crocodile at all, but a crocodile-man!

He is Ryan himself.

The olive-colored guards with protruding ribs supported Renn, their taut muscles tense, their expressions revealing pain, easily reminding one of those who were enslaved.

After Raine and the guards left, a group of people quickly rushed into the courtyard and came to the tree.

The spirit wood seemed to be wearing ill-fitting armor, patched up all over, its reflection in the mud resembling claws.

Two plump earthworms wriggled in the soft soil, confirming that something had been buried here before.

Digging down into the soil, I found a heavy fishing line. With a sudden pull, I yanked the hook out of the ground.

Sure enough, there was a note hanging on the hook. Just as I was about to open it, a voice came from behind me.

Give it to me.

The speaker was none other than White.

When did he follow us? Lisa was certain that this guy had used some kind of invisibility spell and was also a master at hiding his tracks.

"We are searching for relevant evidence."

"Is this your reason for barging into the courtyard?"

"How can we find Irenshere if the clues are insufficient?"

“I’ll say it again, it’s true that the high-ranking officials have granted you search privileges, but don’t misunderstand the word ‘privileges.’ Also, you should know whose territory this is. There is no cooperative relationship between Rein and Irenshere.”

“Indeed, but the more you say that, the more I want to investigate. Everyone inside the wall is a target of our search.”

White took a few steps forward and spread his hands: "You've done enough. What you found in Ryan's house must be Ryan's property. Give it to me."

"No."

"What did you say?"

Just as things were at a stalemate, Renn heard a noise outside and came out to check it out himself.

This smiling crocodile was trying hard to put on a classy expression, but for some reason, it looked more like it was frowning.

He first asked White what had happened, and White said, "They found clues about Irenshere in your yard, and I asked them to hand over the evidence to me."

“Oh? You think I hid that guy in the yard?” Ryan asked the four agents.

Lisa seemed to understand why Richie had buried the hook in as well. At this moment, they were like fish with the hook in their mouths, and Ryan was just waiting for them to jump ashore.

Lisa was more frustrated than ever before. When facing Raine, she could only mutter or grunt before handing over the note.

Without even looking at what was written on the note, Ryan handed it to White.

White unfolded the note, looked at it from one side, then the other, then held it upside down in the sun to look at it again. Finally, he frowned and tied his brows into a knot.

The spirit tree behind them seemed to see the joke and swayed slightly.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Renn snatched the note, then wrinkled his hard nose in disgust and raised an equally disgusted eyebrow. "I thought it was a clue to finding Irenshere, but it's just a blank piece of paper!"

Ryan's neck turned blue, as if a fishing line had been snapped by a big fish.

Lisa took the note and found that there was indeed nothing written on it. However, based on the previous riddles, including the fishhook that hinted at fishing, this note must be what Richie wanted them to find.

But why didn't I write anything?

White repeated what Ryan had just said: "Yes, I also thought we had found a clue to Irenshere, but it turned out to be just a blank sheet of paper."

He wanted to continue by expressing his disappointment with the investigators, but his lips seemed a little thin, and he didn't dare to speak loudly after Ryan arrived.

Incompetent—that was the first impression the four agents left on Ryan. He strode over the sand on the porch and left without saying goodbye.

White was also sullen. He thought he would finally be able to show off his skills in front of Ryan, but instead he ended up in an embarrassing situation. He couldn't put all the blame on the four investigators.

He reluctantly said a few words like "Don't cross the line again" and then left.

Richie probably designed the blank paper segment so that Lisa and the others could see the darker side of the high seats.

On the way back, Lisa thought about it carefully, and took out the white paper again to examine it in the sunlight. Could it be invisible writing that had been enchanted? But in terms of magical perception, no trace of magic was left on the paper.

This is indeed just a blank sheet of paper!

As evening fell over the fortress, the silent, shining star sank below the hill, but did not disappear completely. It was partially obscured by an unassuming flag, and then by a logistics worker in trousers, revealing only a small pizza-shaped piece.

Lisa was inspired again and reopened the strip of paper, discovering that all four sides were irregular shapes, proving that the strip of paper was torn from a whole sheet of paper.

"Do you remember how many riddles we collected in total?" Lisa asked.

Five? I can't remember.

"Do you carry them with you?"

"I wouldn't dare throw something this important away."

Biris, Mia, and Aisha each have several.

After Lisa laid each one out flat, everyone realized that these strips of paper were all torn from a single sheet of paper, and the irregular blank strip was right in the center of that sheet.

Rearrange them in order, and you can see the text forming a pattern.

Because two levels were skipped, two notes were missing, but this did not hinder the investigation.

The image depicts a house with a simple design and a clearly identifiable chimney.

In front of the house is a ladle-shaped lake. There are only a handful of lakes in the fortress, and it is located on the north side of the ring, very close to the intelligence group building.

However, Lisa and her group had clearly been there several times, and it was certain that there was no house like the one in the picture.

Richie is giving everyone a tough time again; hopefully, this is the last time.