Chapter 402: Stone Shadow: The Plan

Xiao Hua very quickly explained the entire plan to us. I felt dizzy and disoriented, as if I had suffered a dual blow to both body and mind. I barely caught the first part, and basically didn't take in anything after that.

It's hard to describe that feeling, but I guess it was frustration. For example, you're chatting with someone, and suddenly a group of people bursts in and says, "Hi, let's go out the day after tomorrow." I had no time to even consider whether I was free the day after tomorrow. Then they say, "If you go, I'll give you a lot of money, but you have to decide right now, or the opportunity will go to someone else," and then they start counting down.

At that moment, your friends all express their agreement. In such a situation, you simply can't think. Then they start cheerfully discussing where to go, and only then do I calm down.

Thinking back, it really fucking felt like a clunky scam.

After they left, I looked at the drawings Xiao Hua had left, asked Fatty a few questions, and finally figured out where exactly they were going.

The first thing I understood was that this time, there weren't one team, but two.

One team would go to the lakeside of Banai, and the other team would go to Sichuan. And the two teams seemed to be connected, not independent. I saw they had set up a communication system, and through various methods, it seemed the two teams would exchange certain information.

When I asked why this was the case, Fatty said Xiao Hua had said he didn't know either, but the old lady said it was absolutely necessary—these two places must have some connection, and both sides had to coordinate.

The trip to Guangxi was obviously for that ancient building. Xiao Hua said their analysis indicated that the ancient building should be inside the mountain, likely encased within the entire mountain mass. They needed to find the crevice we came out of earlier and go in again, and they might be able to locate the ancient building through those crevices.

As for the Sichuan side, I immediately thought of the place Jin Wantang mentioned—the site of the largest tomb-raiding activity in history. It seemed that all of this was indeed intricately connected. Fatty said he decided to go to Guangxi because he missed Yuncai. This time he would definitely bring lots of gifts back. And also see if he could propose marriage.

I didn't want to think about all that. I saw Poker-face sitting there, staring at those sheets of paper. I took a deep breath, walked over, and asked him, "Why?"

He looked up at me, expressionless.

"You should have discussed it with us before agreeing," I said. "I think we fell for their trick today." He lowered his head and continued looking at the drawings, only saying, "It has nothing to do with you."

"I—!" I was so angry I couldn't speak. I wanted to keep yelling, but I saw him intently studying the drawings, obviously not spacing out but researching.

I looked into his eyes, and a sense of distance washed over me. I suddenly realized that Poker-face had changed somehow. This sense of distance was actually not unfamiliar to me—it was the aura he had before he lost his memory. After he lost his memory, I had lost that feeling for a while, but suddenly, it returned.

Had he regained his memory? My heart jolted, but then it didn't feel like it. If he had regained his memory, he would definitely disappear suddenly, without caring about anything.

I sighed, not daring to provoke him further, and thought about what to do. Suddenly, I saw him stand up and walk outside.

"What's going on?" Fatty was startled and jumped up.

Poker-face walked to the door, then suddenly stopped and looked at us. "Which of you has money?"

Fatty and I exchanged a glance, then both walked over. I asked, "What do you want to do?"

"I'm going out to buy something," he said indifferently.

I exchanged another glance with Fatty. I couldn't describe my feeling, but I suddenly felt like laughing—whether it was a bitter laugh or a confused laugh, I didn't know. Fatty slung his arm around Poker-face's shoulder and said, "All right, you poor little thing, I finally feel like you're a normal person. Come here, let your daddy Fatty spoil you. Where are you planning to go? Liankafo or the zoo?"