Chapter 186

That figure flashed by—who could be sneaking around like that? I didn't have time to think much, silently crept to the cave entrance, peeked, and immediately understood: outside, the moon shone bright as day, silver light spreading across the ground, and there was a furtive figure walking toward the direction of the ancient Guge Kingdom city, carrying a sack on his back—no stranger, but Ah Dong, Ming Shu's lackey.

I had long seen that Ah Dong was no good—oily hair, powdered face, thief's brows and mouse eyes—and sneaking back to the Guge ruins in the middle of the night? No need to ask; he was surely eyeing that silver-eyed Buddha statue.

Ah Dong's boss, Ming Shu, is a major thief; that little trinket wouldn't catch his eye, so it shouldn't be Ming Shu who sent him. With crowds during the day, it's inconvenient to act, so he waited until night to move—his plan was sound enough, but in this world, nothing comes that easy. Since I ran into him, it's your turn to suffer, you little bastard.

Thinking this, I immediately returned, covered Pangzi's mouth, and shoved him awake. Pangzi was snoring like thunder, his mouth and nose blocked, so he couldn't help but wake. Seeing Pangzi open his eyes, I instantly gave him the silent gesture.

Pangzi took ten seconds to fully wake from his sleep, then whispered, asking what was going on. I led him quietly out of the house, keeping an eye on Ah Dong's shadow ahead while trailing behind, and recounted everything to him along the way.

Pangzi flew into a rage upon hearing: "That Buddha statue—Pang Ye wouldn't even dare take it, yet this grandson dares to beat us to it? He's seriously lacking in social morals, huh? Commander Hu, what should we do? Should we teach him a lesson? How to deal with this grandson—leave his corpse in the wilderness, or dismember him into eight pieces for the vultures?"

I gave Pangzi a wicked grin and said: "We haven't had a chance to pull pranks in two years—today's the perfect chance to practice on this thief. We'll scare him first…" Then I swung my hand downward, meaning to knock him out, toss him onto the mountain, and let him limp back tomorrow in disgrace. But Pangzi thought I meant to kill him, so he started feeling around his body for a paratrooper knife. However, he'd rushed out unprepared—aside from his personal flashlight, he had nothing. Pangzi said no knife was fine; I could sit him to death with my butt, but first we'd need to give him a little "study session." I finished with another wicked hehehe grin.

The more I thought about it, the more fun it seemed to scare Ah Dong, my heart bursting with wild joy—but I still told Pangzi, "Take it easy; just let him learn his lesson. Don't cause a death, that'd be bad." Also, this stays between you and me—absolutely no telling anyone, not even Shirley Yang.

Pangzi kept nodding: "Naturally we can't tell him; otherwise the Meiguo advisory team would again accuse us of neglecting our duties. But before we move out, let me first… relieve myself."

I said there's no time now—we'll find a chance to pee on the road. If we don't hurry up and catch up, that grandson will vanish without a trace.

We got into it, using the terrifyingly huge moon in the sky to silently follow Ah Dong from behind. Afraid he'd notice us, we didn't dare get too close, trailing him all the way to the base of the hill where the Guge ruins lie.

Ah Dong's stamina is poor—after rushing back and forth during the day, still lugging an oxygen tank for Ming Shu, he's utterly exhausted. Sneaking back at night without stopping, plus heavy mental pressure, by the time he reached the mountain's base he could barely breathe, so he sat down against a earthen wall to rest. Judging by his expression, he meant to catch his breath, then head straight for the "Samsara Temple" to steal the silver-eyed Buddha statue.

I thought this grandson wouldn't recover until the Year of the Monkey and Horse—better we circle around ahead and set an ambush. So I signaled Pangzi, and we circled via the ruins' side to get ahead of Ah Dong.

Halfway there, we regretted it—turns out the ruins of this royal city only have the main road passable; the rest is severely deteriorated. Walking through the rubble of houses, we nearly sank with every step, and daren't make loud noises, so we moved especially slowly. Fortunately, we finally found a street, and the two of us, hurrying and dawdling, squeezed into the Hall of Guardian Deities.

Before we could even finish admiring the fiery Tantric dual cultivation mural, we heard footsteps from behind—heavy breathing and steps, clearly Ah Dong. I couldn't believe he'd caught up so fast—maybe our detour took too long.

Pangzi and I hastily scrambled over to the "Samsara Hall," but the hall was empty inside—no place to hide. In desperation, we stepped on the layered lanterns on the red pillars and each climbed up a pillar.

Besides that one fallen fake pillar, the red pillars were still solid, and their height limited—Pangzi, who fears heights, could barely manage to climb up.

Just as we'd climbed onto the pillars, Ah Dong followed, feeling his way into the hall. Bright, snow-like moonlight streamed through several large holes in the roof, flooding the hall with light—everything was crystal clear. I signaled Pangzi to stay calm; we suppressed our urges, first watching to see what Ah Dong would do, planning to scare him only when he was busy moving the statue—then it'd be fun.

The hall was utterly silent, save for Ah Dong's heavy panting below, his chest rising and falling violently—he was clearly worn out. After resting a moment, he began moving stones, prying open the wall we'd previously sealed, working while singing to himself for courage. Pangzi and I clung to the pillars, fighting laughter, our sides about to split—but seeing Ah Dong's agility, we noted he moved bricks and stones silently and smoothly. No outsiders were in the hall, so he didn't need to be this careful—making no sound at all when moving things, unless it was habit. I guessed he was a "Buddha Grandpa" specializing in wall-breaking—Beijing slang for thieves is "Buddha Grandpa." Turns out he's a pro at this, and thieves don't return empty-handed—he'd come all this way just to turn around and fire a parting shot, all for that silver-eyed Buddha statue.

The sealed wall behind the secret cave was just our rough cover—didn't take much effort. Once out the mouth, the moonlight angle happened to shine straight in, so even without a flashlight, the inside was clearer than in daylight.

Ah Dong first stood at the cave mouth, bowed reverently before the Buddha statue, kowtowing several times, muttering under his breath—nothing but the usual thief's excuses: elderly mother, young children, frail and weak, unable to support them, then claiming he was forced into this, begging the Buddha's mercy, compassion for the suffering, don't make life harder for the unfortunate…

Pangzi could hold back no longer—he burst out with a "Ha!" laugh, quickly clapping a hand over his own mouth. I inwardly cursed: this idiot, couldn't he hold it a little longer? Now he's given us away—at most we'll slap him twice, but what's the fun in that?

We two hid on the pillars, at an angle opposite Ah Dong—he couldn't see us from his spot, but still clearly heard someone suddenly laugh. This ancient city was already a ruin after its inhabitants were slaughtered; in the dead of night, under cold moonlight, a laugh echoed suddenly in the Samsara Hall—how could Ah Dong not be terrified? He was so frightened he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Seeing Ah Dong hadn't noticed us, I secretly rejoiced—【Wu Ai】 felt the pillar I was hugging had many dried, swollen wood flakes; I casually pried off a small hard chip from the red pillar, threw it from behind the pillar into the wall corner, it made a soft sound, then I held my breath, pressed tight against the pillar's rear, daring not to move.

Ah Dong's attention was indeed drawn from near the pillar, but his courage truly lacking—he dared not go see what made the sound, merely cowered in place, trembling, muttering to himself: "Must be a little rat, nothing to fear, nothing to fear." Ah Dong chattered on, afraid to move, which kept Pangzi and me from daring to peek from behind the pillar, for the moonlight was bright now—if we poked our heads out from behind the pillar, we'd be fully exposed.

I turned my head, looked at Pangzi clinging to the adjacent pillar—under the moonlight he was baring his teeth at me, grinning. I knew his meaning: he really couldn't hold his urine anymore; better to scare Ah Dong now, or he'd end up wetting his pants.

I waved at Pangzi, telling him to hold on a few more minutes—but dragging this out really wasn't fun. I couldn't see how Ah Dong was doing now, then suddenly heard a chain scraping sound in the hall. Left with no choice, I risked being discovered, peeked from behind the pillar, glanced downward—only to feel something was wrong.

Ah Dong had actually mustered the courage, heaved the silver-eyed Buddha statue out—its base originally chained to the black iron door behind. I estimated he hadn't made big moves, like using a hoe or similar tool, so lifting the statue seemed impossible—but I hadn't expected this "Buddha Grandpa" to be so skilled at twisting doors and picking locks; that old, heavy lock was child's play to him—I hadn't kept my eye on it, and already he'd removed the chain.

Ah Dong carried the Buddha statue up from the secret cave, but hearing the chain move, I realized—beneath the lotus base of the silver-eyed Buddha statue, there was still an extremely long chain connected to the black iron door. Ah Dong, now blinded by greed, suddenly forgot his fear, couldn't find the lock's weak point, so he yanked hard—though he didn't use much strength, he actually pulled the door in the cave wide open.

From behind the pillar I looked down: in the moonlight, the black iron door stood wide open fourfold, but the angle was poor—though the moonlight flowed like water, I could only see the door itself; what lay inside was completely invisible. Meanwhile, Ah Dong on the ground happened to be able to see inside. I watched his expression—he seemed frozen from extreme terror, rooted to the spot, staring blankly.

Pangzi and I exchanged a glance, both feeling a chill—Ah Dong may be timid, but what terrifying thing could have paralyzed him like this, leaving him unable to move, not even able to cry out?

Just then came a gurgling sound—we hurriedly looked down, and saw Ah Dong had collapsed on the ground, eyes wide open, body rigid—he had literally been frightened to death. Sky clouds drifted across, veiling the moonlight, making it flicker bright and dim. In that uncertain glow, I saw a deathly pale arm stretch out from the black door.