Chapter 325: The Smell

It took Agui a long time to translate this sentence, and he obviously found it very strange too—what did it mean? I was even more confused.

What does "smell of the dead" smell like? The stench of a corpse?

I wanted to keep pressing him, but Pan Ma shook his head and told me not to ask that question: the smell of the dead is the smell of the dead. If you want to know other things, ask quickly. This matter, he could only say this much—believe it or not, he didn't care.

Naturally, I wasn't willing to give up just like that, but Pan Ma's attitude was very firm. I begged him a few times, but he showed no expression at all, not even bothering to respond.

Then Agui gave me a few glances, signaling me to stop pressing, afraid that pestering Pan Ma would make him turn hostile, so I stopped. In my heart, I couldn't help cursing the old bastard for being too ungrateful.

I could tell that Pan Ma must have a lot on his mind. Though he showed no outward sign, every word he said told me he knew a lot. But he seemed somewhat evasive, with a contradictory attitude. From how he remained unmoved by Poker-face, I could tell this old man had definitely seen the big world.

I thought for a moment, putting myself in his shoes—when does a person act like this?

One possibility is when they're holding something back to bargain. I've dealt with some middlemen before, and they all talk like that—give a little, hold back a little. But this old ghost didn't seem much like those brokers.

Another possibility is that he has a secret he absolutely can't tell, but he sees a phenomenon related to that secret. If he doesn't speak up, something serious might happen. In that contradiction, he can only offer some ambiguous words. For example, if a spy is already suspected, and he sees a kid playing with a metal disc, knowing it's a landmine, but if he warns the kid, his spy identity might be exposed. Then he'd say to the kid: "If you keep playing with that thing, sooner or later it'll kill you."

I think this possibility is very likely. When I first came here, I only wanted to know some details and the timing of Wenjin's group entering the mountains, but after he saw Poker-face, some subtle hints made me think more. In other words, I deduced that he thinks Poker-face is a landmine that will blow me up. He has a secret that tells him Poker-face is a landmine, but he's unwilling to say it.

Interesting! Suddenly I wasn't angry anymore. Hell, it's not that I'm afraid you won't leak the secret, it's that I'm afraid you have no secret. This old ghost warned me, which shows his conscience isn't dead yet. At least I can say his impression of me probably isn't bad. Cursing now is useless. With a little patience, I might still get something out of him.

However, showing my prying intentions from the start would make him alert, so I decided to keep a straight face and change the subject. So I nodded and said: "Fine, since you don't want to talk about this, I won't force you. Can you tell me about that archaeological team?"

After hearing this, Agui sighed in relief, obviously afraid we'd quarrel. Without giving me any chance to ask further, he quickly translated this question. Only then did Pan Ma raise his head, but he shook his head again and said something. Agui immediately translated back: "The old man says you're mistaken. That wasn't an archaeological team. Those people were soldiers."

"Soldiers?" At first I thought I had misheard. Agui translated again. I hadn't misheard.

Thinking it over, I figured old man Pan Ma must have been mistaken. The people back then all wore green army uniforms; he might have taken them all for soldiers.

(The following dialogue all involves Agui translating, so for convenience I won't specify each time.) "The situation was tense back then. A bunch of soldiers came, all carrying submachine guns. They said they wanted to go into Yangjiao Mountain and needed someone to guide them. Agui's old man then found me, and I took them into the mountains," the old man continued.

I frowned and suddenly recalled the border disputes with Vietnam back then. In the seventies, there were sporadic battles here. I hadn't considered that this area was a war zone at the time, making the situation even more complicated.

This was truly something I hadn't expected. I immediately fell into deep thought, with many things flashing through my mind.

In that environment, for an archaeological team to come and investigate here made things strange… Wenjin and her group really had far-reaching connections.

Could there really be a valuable ancient tomb in Yangjiao Mountain?

"Those people had very deep backgrounds…" Third Uncle's words flashed through my mind, sending a shiver down my spine.