Chapter 397: Qionglong Stone Shadow: The Most Bizarre Thing in the World

The surface layer of the silk manuscripts was soaked through with fresh blood—so much blood that it could only mean someone had their head cut off and blood sprayed everywhere, or many people had been wounded and suffered. Later it was proven that these items had been carried out in the arms of six people; of those six, four were already dead, and the other two were lying in some tent outside, their fate unknown.

The Lu silk manuscripts had an extremely difficult code to crack, and very few remained in the world. Jin Wantang knew at a glance that this batch was of that type. Decoding it overnight was utterly impossible; he could only restore the general text and transcribe it into modern Chinese characters, and the meaning embedded in the code might not be solved even in another ten years.

The oppressive atmosphere was suffocating, but after a long rest he had recovered enough to relax, so he quickly got into the zone. Over the following ten days, he restored all recoverable silk manuscripts with quality and quantity.

Because his mind was extremely clear, the regret of not having "taken the opportunity to pilfer" occasionally tugged at his heart while he worked, especially on the eve of completion, when a sense of anxiety grew within him.

The Lu silk manuscripts were priceless; even rubbings, if clearly made, would be a considerable fortune. Pilfering one was absolutely the right move. But seeing how tense Old Nine Gates was, and that these items were bought with lives, taking one might bring great disaster upon himself, and there was also a moral condemnation. But if he didn't take one, he was already on a thief's boat; he had no idea if he'd even get paid, and even if he did, after three years the money would no longer be a fair trade. If he didn't take one now, there might never be another chance.

He hesitated back and forth, and in the end his body made the decision for him. He stealthily slipped a Lu silk manuscript into his sleeve—it happened while he was still hesitating, his hand moving unconsciously. By the time he realized it, he had already done it. Fortunately, no one noticed.

Since he had already done it, there was no reason to put it back. He finally made up his mind. That night, in his bedroll (because three people shared a tent), he carefully sewed that silk manuscript into the sole of his cloth shoe. He thought it over and decided it couldn't be a problem. These items were already incomplete; one missing piece, and no one had counted them, so there was no reason to be discovered. He gradually calmed down.

But after the relief, just like in some fables, another thought suddenly occurred to him: stealing one was stealing—why not steal another?

So the next day he tried the same trick, but this time something went wrong. He hadn't expected that this day would be his last there. That day he finished the final sorting work, with the silk manuscript hidden in his sleeve, ready to return to the tent and hide it again, when suddenly someone came to tell him that he was arranged to leave the mountain directly that evening and return to Beijing.

This caught him off guard. He had originally thought he'd be staying for at least a few more months, but hearing that he could leave the mountain was undoubtedly good news. After a moment of shock, he immediately agreed.

No one came to see him off. Old Mrs. Huo had been quite polite to him in Beijing, but he didn't expect much here; he figured the old lady had no mood for such things. So he returned to his tent to pack his bags. To his surprise, what awaited him there was a thorough full-body search.

That was Master Xie the Ninth's philosophy: I won't try to prevent your petty thefts, but in the end, anything you've stolen, you absolutely won't be able to take away.

Jin Wantang still remembered his embarrassment that evening. When he heard he was to be searched, cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes. In that moment, he thought of countless ways to avoid it, but time was too tight—he had no chance to deal with it.

At first, the men conducting the search were quite polite, which gave Jin Wantang his only bit of leeway. He first moved his shoes very close to those of the person next to him, then slowly opened his belongings for them to check. At the same time, he tried to think of an excuse, but he couldn't come up with one fast enough. As he opened his things, one man checked them while another invited him to another tent for a body search. He pretended to be very casual, deliberately put on the neighbor's shoes, and went out with him, thinking he could drop the silk manuscript in his sleeve on the way. Unfortunately, he was caught on the spot.

After that, the men were no longer friendly. In the tent, his bedding and clothes were all torn open, and every corner of the tent was checked. He was stripped naked, and his shoes were pried open. Luckily, he had switched shoes beforehand, so the manuscript in the shoe was not discovered.

Then he was taken under escort to the Nine Gates. It was there that he saw the tenth person, outside of the Old Nine Gates.

It should be noted that this person, in Jin Wantang's account, was a very crucial but eerie presence.

Jin Wantang had never seen him before, but he heard others address him as: the Leader.

Speaking of which, even the entire Old Nine Gates rarely showed their faces in the camp. In three years, Jin Wantang had seen them very few times. On the road, he could only look from afar and couldn't tell who was who. Seeing them this close was almost a first for him, and only then did he learn that besides the nine of them, there was also someone who seemed to be the leader.

This leader was under thirty years old. At the time, he was discussing something with others. What Jin Wantang remembered most was that the man's fingers were very unusual. However, he had no mind to observe carefully; he was scared to death. He lied that it was his first offense, that it was an uncanny impulse, that his purpose wasn't money but an interest in the silk manuscripts and wanting to decode them, and so on.

That leader looked into his eyes, walked over, and pressed his two strange fingers on Jin Wantang's Touwei acupoint. Suddenly exerting force, Jin Wantang almost heard his own skull about to crack, suffering such pain that he nearly went mad. Yet the young man's expression remained blank, and his fingers kept exerting pressure.

Then the leader began questioning him. Jin Wantang still wanted to lie, but under that intense pain, he found he couldn't think at all. His lies were full of holes. Amid the unbearable agony, all hope left him, and he even confessed about the shoe.

The intense pain at the Touwei acupoint is a symptom of neurasthenia and extreme brain fatigue. Pressing the Touwei point can cause temporary difficulty in thinking and a false sense of fatigue. When people are extremely exhausted, they will abandon lying and resistance to seek relief and peace. CIA research also shows that physical torture is less effective than mental torture, so fatigue interrogation has become a main means of torture in many places. On TV, I often see interrogation rooms using lights shining on faces, round after round. In China, the use of acupoints for torture has ancient roots.

After he spoke, he thought he was going to die. Fortunately, Old Mrs. Huo felt he had been reliable in the past and might be useful in the future, so she pleaded for him. Also, because the Old Nine Gates seemed to be brewing something huge, they didn't care much about his matter. So the leader let Old Mrs. Huo handle it. In the end, he was only stripped of all his pay and then driven out naked.

He returned to his tent, put on his torn clothes and shoes, roughly patched them up, and then someone came to hurry him. He slunk out of the mountain, warned not to say anything.

After arriving in Beijing, he remained uneasy for several years. But then the Old Nine Gates declined more and more, and eventually fell silent. Only then did he gradually relax. Later, he heard some rumors that after he left, a major incident occurred on the cliff, with countless casualties among the Old Nine Gates, severely weakening them.

So when Old Mrs. Huo's letter arrived, he was scared half to death, thinking the old matter was being brought up again.

After Huo Xiuxiu finished, she said, "That leader who interrogated him—who do you think he could be?" As she spoke, she looked meaningfully at Poker-face. "Does this give you any clues?"

I remained silent. Fatty also looked at Poker-face. Outside the window, the moonlight was obscured by dark clouds, and the room was almost completely dark.

I understood Xiuxiu's hint, but I didn't want to speculate for now, because such speculation couldn't be confirmed.

Fatty pondered for a moment and asked, "Did Jin Wantang himself have any guess?"

Huo Xiuxiu said, "He thinks that this person being called the Leader means he had great power. It's unlikely that he had no connection to the Nine Gates. But clearly he was not one of the Nine Gates. Being called the Leader might indicate a situation where the Nine Gates had someone who commanded the whole group, elected by them. This leader could be one of the Nine Gates."

I glanced at Fatty. Fatty shook his head: "Not necessarily. Old Nine Gates is just a ranking in the underworld, not a hierarchy. Zhang Dafoye was so old, he couldn't have been on site. Even if it were Zhang Dafoye himself, he would need a great reason to command these people. This man being so young is even more unbelievable. A junior commanding seniors is impossible. If they were to elect a leader, it should be someone like Chenpi A'si, right?"

I nodded, also having thought of this, but it didn't necessarily conflict: "A junior commanding seniors is impossible, but Zhang Dafoye's status at the time was very special. His children wouldn't be commoners. Although they were juniors in the Old Nine Gates, in the social hierarchy, they might have held a very prominent position that allowed him to command these tough guys. It might not have been his ability or seniority, but his status at the time and the interests that status represented."

"That's true. If that's the case, it's even possible that this person wasn't Zhang Dafoye's son."

Fatty said, "Alright, let's summarize. Damn it. The old lady and her friends once took part in a failed but large-scale grave-robbing operation. Then, decades later, her daughter and her mother's friends' children also took part in a very mysterious archaeological activity. Then her daughter went missing. Then, at some point, she started receiving videotapes, with images of her daughter. What do you make of that?"

"Someone wants to tell her that her daughter is still alive," I said.

"Or, it's a warning," Xiuxiu said.

"But, from our experience, these videotapes should have been sent by Wenjin," I said. "Why would she do that?"

"That's what we need to investigate next," Xiuxiu said. "We?"

"You see, my information is actually very crucial to you, and of course, your information is also excellent. So, brothers, we should cooperate fully."

Fatty and I exchanged a silent look. Fatty lit a cigarette: "Damn it, I won't even mention Tianzhen, he's already old. You're still young, you're wasting your life. Heaven didn't give you birth to do this."

Xiuxiu didn't look at Fatty, but looked at me: "You can't understand our hearts if you're not our kind, right?"

I didn't want Xiuxiu to be like me, but I also didn't know how to convince her. In fact, I knew people like us couldn't be convinced, and I wasn't in the mood to think about that. I recalled what Wenjin had said to me back then. At the time, she didn't tell me that she had also sent videotapes to Huo Ling's mother.

Of course she didn't need to tell me that. In fact, she only told me the parts I needed to know, so that I could find an excuse to stay away from this matter.

I remembered the videotapes she sent me, remembered A Ning, remembered the situation at that time, and also remembered the old lady's situation. An idea lingered in my mind.

"Do you remember the videotapes we received?" I interrupted Fatty and Xiuxiu who were lecturing each other. "The purpose of those tapes being sent wasn't the content of the tapes, but the tapes themselves." I had found a key and an address inside them.

"The content of the tapes was just to confuse any possible interceptors."

"Huh?" The two of them fell silent.

I continued: "The old lady isn't familiar with videotapes, and she's also a mother whose daughter has been missing for years. Upon seeing the content of the tapes, she must have been stunned. She wouldn't have had any imagination left to think about the true meaning of the tapes."

"But the Huo Ling in this videotape is fake."

"She doesn't know that. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Wenjin kept sending her things for several years. If my guess is right, there must be something hidden in those videotapes. We need to take them apart." I looked at Huo Xiuxiu. "Girl, didn't you say you wanted to cooperate? Come on, show some sincerity."

"You want me to steal the tapes?"

"That's not stealing. You're her granddaughter. You can pretend you just happened to see them and thought they were porn tapes, secretly watching them. At your age, we often did that kind of thing." I said, "At worst, she'll give you a beating or deduct your allowance."

The girl looked at me and said, "No need. I can take the things out without anyone noticing. I don't think my grandma checks every day whether they're there. But if you take them apart, then my grandma will definitely find out. She's not the kind of person you can easily fool."

"Now is not the time to worry about that." I said, "Wenjin tried to send a message to your grandma for several years. That message must be very crucial. If your grandma had deciphered the message back then, things might not have developed to where they are now."

The girl thought for a moment, then nodded: "Alright, let's first see what's inside. But if there's nothing, I'll strangle you."

"When can you get them?" I was always afraid that a long night would bring many dreams, knowing that the faster many things are done, the better.

"Can't rush. At my grandma's place, I need a reason to get close now, because I haven't lived there for a long time. If I suddenly show up, my grandma will definitely be suspicious. I need to find a good time. Also, she rarely leaves her room." She said, "This matter has to be done my way."

I rubbed my face, knowing she was right. But suddenly I had no interest in talking about anything else. All my attention was on those videotapes.

After gulping down a few mouthfuls of strong liquor, I lay down on the floor and took a few deep breaths before finally releasing myself from that tangled state of mind.

Before, I thought I could give up investigating these things, as long as I could find Xiao Ge's background. Now it seems everything is connected. No matter which point you start from, in the end you'll be caught in the same mess.

Fatty patted me, and Huo Xiuxiu sighed: "Sometimes, I feel like I'm reading a book backwards. You start from the ending and go forward bit by bit, and you find that you have to guess every detail."

I took a deep breath. So true, that's exactly the feeling. Involuntarily, I clinked my bottle with Xiuxiu's: "I should really hug you and have a good cry."

Fatty was dismissive, clicking his tongue to show contempt for people like us. Huo Xiuxiu was about to retort when suddenly we all heard the gate in the yard below creak open. Then flashlight beams swept through the window.

Fatty jumped up with a start and looked out through the ivy. Huo Xiuxiu and I also crowded over. Before we could see anything clearly, Huo Xiuxiu sucked in a cold breath: "Oh no, my grandma is here!"

Then she immediately looked around: "What did I ask you for?" She said, "I can't let my grandma know I'm investigating her. You must not say anything. I need to hide." She looked around for a place to hide.

The whole old house was bare – no place to hide, not even any cover. Fatty then called out: "Up there, go up to the roof."

I had just remembered there was a skylight above. Fatty grinned mischievously and reached for Xiuxiu, saying, "Come on, little sister, Big Bro Fatty will carry you up."

"No need!" Xiuxiu laughed. Then she suddenly flipped onto the table, jumped again, and her body, like an acrobat, silently went up onto the beam. I couldn't even see how she did it. I just saw a few strange twists of her body. The girl had a nice figure, a supple waist, and her movements were very graceful.

But as soon as she was up, Fatty exclaimed "Oh no" and got anxious. I was puzzled, but then I saw the girl take the imperial jade seal that Fatty had hidden up there. She said softly, "So this is where it was. Hiding it in such an obvious place, looks like you don't want it. I'll take it, okay?"

Fatty panicked: "No, no, dear ancestor, you're pulling a 'black eat black' on me?"

Xiuxiu giggled. Hearing the footsteps approaching, she tossed the seal down. Fatty lunged like a tiger to catch it. Then, using the same strange acrobatic movements, she reached the skylight, leaned out, and looked back: "Your ancestor here isn't interested in this thing. See you tomorrow." In an instant she was gone.

Fatty and I looked at each other. Meanwhile, we heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He sat down and carefully placed the seal aside, saying, "These demon women of the Huo family are really a pain to deal with. Just finished with the demon granddaughter, now we have to serve the demon grandmother. We're almost like emotional escorts."

I shushed him. The girl was quite useful to us, so we couldn't expose her. I watched the door. After a while, the door was pushed open. Fatty and I stared, suddenly stunned. Huo Xiuxiu walked in, followed by several people carrying bedding sets and liquor. She looked at us in surprise: "Hey, did you go buy bedding yourselves? Didn't I tell you not to go out?"

Fatty looked at me, I looked at Fatty. Even Poker-face sat up straight instantly. Our faces turned pale instantly.