Chapter 39: An Unexpected Visitor (Please follow and recommend)

“It is all fate.”

Wei Lin’s gaze began to wander restlessly around the room.

“In the beginning, all of us thought that following Big Miss would bring us benefits, so little by little, we stepped into this trap.

“I never believed in things like Great Luo Feng Shui or the Three-Day Sealed Treasury. But after helping Big Miss with a few tasks, I discovered that those things were actually real. It was as though everyone were being manipulated by something, compelled to carry out tasks that seemed meaningless, yet absolutely had to be completed.”

I stared at Wei Lin’s face. At that moment, he looked exactly like someone who had been brainwashed.

“None of us, except Big Miss, knows why the Yuan family is searching for the Map of the Four Directions and Mountains and Rivers. But Big Miss once told us that the moment the Yuan family gathered all four of those things, she would die.

“Hah. We understood perfectly well that she was warning us. She wanted us to stop the Yuan family from assembling them. Otherwise, every one of us would be killed by her.

“So we thought that either we should stop the Yuan family, or else go all the way and make the Yuan family disappear from this world. After all, they were nothing more than a band of tomb robbers.

“But Big Miss refused to let us do that. She said, ‘Before the ship is found, no one will dare lay a hand on them. The Yuan family will die, but they absolutely will not be killed by someone else. Because the moment anyone tries to take their lives, the ship... will take that person’s life first.’

“At the time, we understood nothing. We thought Big Miss was simply afraid. So several men secretly planned to kill Yuan Long, the current head of the Yuan family.

“But...”

Wei Lin’s eyes seemed to freeze in an instant.

“They had only just finished making their plans when, on the following night, every one of them died. They were found in a hotel, lying in several adjacent rooms. Their corpses were sprawled across the beds, as though they had been dismembered by five horses. Their arms and legs had been torn from their bodies, and their heads were missing.

“After Big Miss learned of it, she said nothing. She told us that if we wanted to stay alive, we had to reverse the destiny chart of the Great Luo Feng Shui that still existed in this world before the Yuan family found all four parts of the Map of the Four Directions and Mountains and Rivers.

“She said reversing the chart would not be difficult. The crucial thing was to determine the location of the Three-Day Sealed Treasury.

“So we began searching everywhere for it like a pack of mad dogs. In truth, people like us could never have found that place. But then, one day, someone sent us an email.

“I remember it very clearly. It contained a video. The video had been filmed on the stage of an opera troupe. At first, a woman with an unnaturally white-painted face was singing Yue opera. We thought someone was playing a joke on us, but then the image suddenly flickered.

“We saw an extremely strange photograph.

“It showed a female corpse. She was completely naked, and her entire body was covered in red totems. There was also a tattoo on her lower abdomen that looked like a human face.

“But before long, the image changed again, and the video showed a grassland...

“After we showed the video to Big Miss, she was astonished. She kept staring at the female corpse. Then, as though she had suddenly thought of something, she began repeatedly watching the woman who had been singing opera.

“After watching her for an entire day, Big Miss told us that the Three-Day Sealed Treasury was somewhere in Mongolia. That video was a clue someone had sent us.

“We were utterly bewildered. We wondered whether someone else had already found the Three-Day Sealed Treasury. But anyone capable of finding it had to be an insider. If they had found it themselves, why would they reveal such important information to us?

“Big Miss said nothing. For six whole months, she gave us no assignments at all.

“She cut out the segment of the woman singing opera from the video, and during those six months, she searched for something throughout Suzhou.

“It was only a year ago that she finally gathered us together again and began planning this operation.

“And when Big Miss returned from Suzhou this time, a girl named Zhuge Xuan appeared at her side. That woman was extraordinary. She knew everything about what we were going to do, and she told us with absolute certainty that as long as we found the Snow Crane Feather in Zhuge Ke’s tomb, we would definitely be able to enter the Three-Day Sealed Treasury.”

At this point, Zhuge Xuan’s face rose once more in my mind—that face which could be fierce one moment and adorable the next. But suddenly, I found something strange.

“You mean Zhuge Xuan knows where the Three-Day Sealed Treasury is? Was she the one who sent you the email?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But I do know that what mattered most to Big Miss was not the photograph in the email, the one hinting at the Three-Day Sealed Treasury. It was the woman singing opera.

“After she came back, Big Miss became even stranger than before. She watched that woman in the video day and night, and sometimes she even sang along with her. She told all of us to obey Zhuge Xuan, as though she no longer cared about the Three-Day Sealed Treasury at all.

“Later, through our connection with Professor Chen, this archaeological operation began in name only.

“But in truth, we did not trust Zhuge Xuan very much. We believed that if we wanted to resolve all our troubles, we had to kill the Yuan family.

“Looking back, I suppose we were afraid. Everyone who violated the rules laid down by Big Miss met a terrible end. Who could say whether one wrong step in this game would bring disaster?

“But by then, it was too late. Finding the Snow Crane Feather was our only hope. However... things are different now.”

Wei Lin’s expression suddenly became even more sinister.

“What’s different?” I asked.

“This ancient tomb will protect us,” Wei Lin said in a low voice, as though afraid of waking something. “As long as we don’t leave, no one can make us die.”

As he spoke, he kept pointing at himself.

“Look at me. I’m already different from you people.”

I knew very well that Wei Lin had gone completely mad. And if I was now trying to communicate with a madman, I probably was not much better myself.

“So you mean that you’ve abandoned the plan to deal with the Yuan family directly?” I continued.

Wei Lin began cackling again. I stared at him and said nothing more.

“Even if we don’t do it, that doesn’t mean we aren’t prepared.” After laughing for a long while, he continued, “Big Miss arranged someone inside the old Yuan family long ago.”

A shiver ran through me when I heard that.

Perhaps he noticed the change in my expression, because Wei Lin immediately said, “What do you think? You never imagined it either, did you? Heh. Everyone says the old Yuan family’s system is impenetrable, that no one could possibly imagine there was one of our pieces on their own side.”

In an instant, I thought of Tan Wei.

“I heard that the person you planted there has already been discovered.”

Only after saying it did I realize something was wrong. If Tan Wei was that person, then Wei Lin and the others should have recognized me. Yet he seemed to know nothing about my background.

“Discovered?” Wei Lin tensed for a moment, but then quickly composed himself. “Impossible. No one could discover that he was one of ours—not even if they investigated him personally.”

If it was not Tan Wei, then that meant the person was actually inside our old Yuan family. And if the other side had deliberately arranged it, that person might hold a position of considerable importance within our family.

I could no longer endure the oppressive feeling in my heart, so I asked directly, “Who is that person?”

Wei Lin looked at me darkly.

“How do you think we learned about Liu Jinsun?”

I had never expected him to answer that way. Liu Jinsun... That was right. Even if Grandfather’s identity was highly unusual, how could Wei Lin and the others have known that name? Could it be...

I clenched my teeth and used every ounce of strength I had to restrain myself.

“You mean that person has some connection with Liu Jinsun?”

Wei Lin fixed me with another cold stare.

“You seem very interested in the affairs of the old Yuan family.”

I realized that I had become too agitated. After thinking for a moment, I said, “Of course. Aren’t they the core of this entire game?”

Wei Lin gave a cold laugh.

“They are for now. Soon, they won’t be...”

“You still haven’t answered my question. Who is the person you planted in the Yuan family?”

“Planted? No. He was the one who came to Big Miss on his own. The old Yuan family simply failed to clean up after themselves.” Wei Lin spoke slowly. “The second fool of the Liu family... Hmph. Does that even count as a name?”

The moment I heard that name from Wei Lin’s mouth, my mind went completely blank.

“You’re talking nonsense!”

I could no longer pretend. I opened my eyes wide, roared, and charged at Wei Lin, knocking him to the ground.

P.S. Old Bei is begging for your monthly votes!