Chapter 403: Stone Shadow: Sichuan and Parting

In the end, we still didn't go out. The person selling donkey meat sandwiches at the gate was one of Huo's people, who persuaded us to go back, saying it was too dangerous to go out now, and if we needed to buy anything, we could just make a list tomorrow.

The next day was shopping day. Xiao Hua came over and asked us to list everything we needed, and they would go shopping. Fatty made them pay through the nose. When the equipment was delivered in the evening, we realized that Poker-face had been the most ruthless. Because among his items, there was a box that looked very valuable at first glance.

Xiao Hua said, "My grandmother said you would need this thing."

After Poker-face opened it, he took out an ancient knife. Its size and shape were surprisingly very similar to the one he had before.

He drew it from the scabbard; a cold light flashed, revealing a very special color inside, only the blade was not made of black gold.

"It was dug out from our family's storeroom. Do you want to try it out?"

Poker-face weighed it in his hand and then inserted it into his equipment bag. Fatty was jealous: "Damn, why didn't you get one for us?"

"This kind of knife isn't something just anyone can use," Xiao Hua said. "It's too heavy."

Most of the other equipment had been used before. Fatty was not very satisfied with his machete; he said the blade was too thin and might chip when chopping trees, saying a thick-backed bush knife would be better.

I didn't even look at my own things; Fatty wrote the list for me. As I watched them pack the equipment, I felt very resistant, so I rested on the side.

After that came the rest period. Xiao Hua and the others had to do preparatory work, and we recuperated in this mansion. Xiuxiu got me a TV, so I watched TV in my spare time.

Poker-face was studying that knife on the side; it was obvious that there was still a difference in weight, and he was adapting to it.

During this time, with nothing to do, I kept pondering the whole matter, trying to incorporate the latest information into my previous deductions to see what changes would occur.

If we temporarily call the behind-the-scenes force that forced them to carry out the "largest scale in history" tomb raiding activity "It," after "It" obtained countless Lu silk manuscripts, "It" might have deciphered the secrets of the silk books earlier than Jude Kao and carried out a series of activities, all of which probably ended in failure.

I even suspect that the method Jude Kao used to decipher the silk books back then was brought out by some person or group related to "It" and secretly revealed to him.

Fatty said that in that era, the people advanced and the state retreated; the social atmosphere began to loosen. Many things that were once formidable, like trade unions and neighborhood committees, increasingly degenerated in function. Bold people started small businesses, and the household contract responsibility system was also implemented around then. At the same time, foreigners began to enter the Chinese people's field of vision. New things completely replaced the old. The system in which "It" existed might have disintegrated during that renewal.

Just like in today's enterprises, although the organization disintegrated, the project remained. Capable people would take the project with them and continue to look for the next investor.

Perhaps, within the forces of "It"s organization, there was a person or group who, due to some relationship, cooperated with Jude Kao to carry out the unfinished "project."

The "Zhangjia Lou" archaeological activity and the "Xisha" archaeological activity should be products of this period. This can explain why the scale of these two activities was much smaller than the activities of the Old Nine Gates back then, even requiring "Third Uncle" to prepare equipment himself, and it was also hard to say whether it was intentional or not, the descendants of the Old Nine Gates lurking in the cultural system were gathered together. Times changed, and nearly twenty more years passed. The economy began to balance against politics. The Old Nine Gates disintegrated in terms of power, but due to their old foundations, they formed their own solid bases in many places. The Huo family and the Xie family married into high officials in Beijing. Our Wu family, through "Third Uncle"s efforts, gained a firm foothold in old Changsha. The other families either completely cleaned up and switched professions, or simply disappeared entirely from society.

At this point, it is hard to say whether "It" truly still exists. From Wenjin's behavior, "It" might still exist, but like other things in this society, it has become more secretive and low-key.

I was very hesitant about whether to tell Old Mrs. Huo about Huo Ling. Old Mrs. Huo's persistence felt familiar to me, and at the same time I could empathize. My previous thought was: I have no right to decide anything for anyone; I should tell others everything and let them choose for themselves. But after going through so much, I now feel that some truths are really better left unknown. Knowing or not knowing is just a matter of a few seconds, but your life might change from then on. And not knowing is not necessarily a bad thing.

Unfortunately, some roads, once you step on them, cannot be turned back. A resolute person might cut off their own feet, but the heart will still move forward.

After agreeing, we discussed some more details. Having to go underground separately from Poker-face and Fatty made me feel both uneasy and a bit excited. But what the old lady said made a lot of sense, and Poker-face himself agreed. In terms of my position, any objection from me was pointless. Either I withdraw, which was impossible. And Fatty was eager to go back to see Yuncai and completely ignored my feelings.

On the other hand, I was truly exhausted both physically and mentally. The path that Poker-face was taking was said to be extremely dangerous; just thinking about it made me anxious. I was somewhat worried about those two, but then I recalled the situation in that cavern. If I hadn't been there, they might have been able to get out unscathed. Looking back at everything before, in almost every situation, I was a burden, so I had no complaints. Fortunately, the old lady estimated that they would be back within a week at most.

The old lady, Fatty, and Poker-face were confirmed to depart for Banai three days later. Xiao Hua and I would leave for Sichuan two days after them, because although our side was safe, the equipment was very special and needed to be ordered from abroad, which gave me a bit of an ominous feeling.

The following days were very pleasant. Since we couldn't go out, we could only drink old wine and sunbathe. I would occasionally feel anxious, but upon careful thought, I would feel relieved. However, if I didn't think rationally and just thought about this matter, I would always feel that there was some problem I hadn't noticed, unsure if it was intuition or psychological effect.

Fatty asked Xiuxiu to buy us playing cards, and for the next few days we played "Big Two" all day. The little girl was especially interested in us and came every day to play with us. Whenever she came, Fatty would put the jade seal into his pocket, and the two of them would tease each other, to the point that I got annoyed.

Three days later, they packed up and left. Suddenly, the entire mansion was left with only me. The old house was empty and deserted, feeling eerie even during the day. It was then that I realized how precious Xiuxiu was. We talked a lot about childhood memories. Many scenes I had completely forgotten began to become vivid. In fact, we had only met once or twice back then, and it only took an hour for a few kids to go from strangers to acquaintances. I suddenly felt emotional: when we knew nothing except playing "Eagle Catching Chickens," the adults in those rooms were actually caught in such a complex vortex.

Sometimes I always feel that a person's growth is a process of losing happiness, rather than the opposite.

The mansion at night was even more terrifying. I stayed up almost two nights without sleeping, always feeling someone breathing in my ear, scaring myself quite badly. When the equipment finally arrived, I practically leaped out of that old mansion.

At the airport, we were delayed another four hours before Pink Shirt finished the freight procedures. I noticed that his ID name was Xie Yuchen, so I wondered why he had two names. He said "Jie Yuhua" was his stage name. In ancient times, the rule was that when you go out into the world, you couldn't use your real name, because being an actor was a very lowly profession, to avoid tainting your parents' reputation. Also, people wouldn't accept that a male dan actor's real name was something like "Dog Egg." "Jie Yuhua" was the name his master gave him when he learned opera. Unfortunately, that name was very dominant, and now his real name was almost forgotten.

I found that very reasonable. Then I suddenly thought, could Poker-face also be a stage name? If he were to sing opera too, he could probably play something like a Yasha.

On the plane, I fell into a dead sleep. There was a local contact wherever we went, and for once I didn't care. During this period, Fatty sent me a picture message. I saw it was a photo of Yuncai and him; it looked like they had already arrived at Agui's house. Fatty's grin stretched from ear to ear. Afterwards, we went to pick up the cargo at the airport and saw for the first time those so-called special equipment.

They were all things like steel-framed "ribs," seemingly like the chest part of animal skeletons made of iron, half a person tall, and could be disassembled. "What the hell are these?" I asked Pink Shirt. He said, "This is our nest."