Chapter 465: Mysterious Coffin Hauled into Ancient Tower

He looked at me, and the atmosphere was utterly silent. My tension grew stronger and stronger, and soon the veins on my forehead began to throb. If it weren't for the mask covering my face, my expression would definitely have been terrifying.

"I don't know." After a long silence, he finally spoke.

I immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time, a surge of joy filled my heart.

This reaction indicated two things: first, Pibao might have guessed correctly—the real archaeological team's purpose wasn't archaeology. Second, my question hadn't aroused his suspicion, so my subsequent questions would be much safer.

"You don't know?" I asked him. "There's no way you don't know."

"All of us were deceived," he said. "Layer upon layer of secrecy; I doubt more than three people knew. If we had known, maybe I wouldn't have ended up like this." He suddenly looked up. "Wasn't this matter proposed by your 'Chenqing faction'? Don't you know either?"

"Mm." I made a judgment in my mind—this guy didn't seem to be from Third Uncle's faction. "Chenqing faction" was just a phonetic translation I'd heard; I didn't know the exact characters, but it was definitely one of their factions. "Our knowledge isn't much more than yours."

"After all this, it turns out no one really knows what all of this was for."

"But I'll find out soon," I said, trying to test how he would treat us next.

He made a sound that could barely be called a laugh, didn't follow my lead, and only said, "Back then, did you foresee the outcome and decide not to join us?"

"Did that kind of outcome need to be foreseen?" I said.

"Then why did you let your people get involved in this? You shouldn't even be here. It doesn't add up. You said the higher-ups had already let you go—there's absolutely no reason for you to come to this place again."

"Things have changed."

"Is it because of those foreigners?"

I thought about it. I really couldn't explain what was going on. I came to Banai without any specific purpose—it was just to figure out Zhang Qiling's background. I never expected so many things to happen.

"Actually, it's for one person," I said. "Zhang Qiling."

As I spoke Poker-face's name and watched his reaction, he suddenly laughed. "Impossible. You're joking."

"What's impossible about it?"

"You came back here for me?" he said. "Bullshit."

I was stunned. Then I felt completely dazed, as if struck by lightning. Staring at the person in front of me, my first reaction was to run out immediately and jump off a cliff.

At that moment, I nearly collapsed on the spot.

In that instant, the whole world felt unreal. Luckily, Fatty patted me in time and said, "Third Master, keep your cool."

"What?" the other asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I'm telling Third Master not to joke with you—you can't handle jokes right now," Fatty said. Then Fatty gave me a hard slap, snapping me out of my nightmare.

I took a deep breath, hiding my shock. I wasn't sure if I had heard correctly, so I hesitated and asked, "You actually remember your name? I thought you'd forgotten it long ago."

"Our names mean nothing. Unlike your 'Chenqing faction', we can't have a past, nor a future.

So maybe it's better for me to be here; you think it's miserable that I turned out like this, but when I think about it, maybe it's actually a good thing," he said. "Come on, tell me—what really made you get involved in this again?"

I took a deep breath and thought, Damn, I can't keep talking like this. I wanted to rush up, kick him over, and throw all my endless questions in his face. Then I'd use the rack and chili water—any cruel method would do—to force him to spill every secret.

But I couldn't. Fatty was right—keep my cool. Otherwise, I'd end up like the last few times, getting nothing.

"It really is for Zhang Qiling, but not you," Fatty said from beside me. "It's another person named Zhang Qiling."

Good one, Fatty!

When Fatty said that, I was startled at first, but then I realized he'd phrased it perfectly. It threw the question back to him, letting him analyze it. His analysis would definitely reveal a lot of information from his own mind—handing him the initiative to analyze the problem.

Unexpectedly, the ghostly figure wasn't even surprised; he just gave an "Oh" and said, "They found another one?"

I stayed silent, praying in my heart: "Say more, say more, let a little slip!"

He paused and said, "I don't know what significance that name has. They searched all over the country for so many people named Zhang Qiling, but in the end, only I was left. Looks like this plan kept going even after it 'died'."

I thought for a moment, and a huge weight suddenly lifted from my heart. So it wasn't what I'd imagined. From what he said, their organization had once screened everyone named Zhang Qiling nationwide. They were looking for someone named Zhang Qiling. And apparently, they'd gathered a group and tested them.

Only the person in front of me was left in the end.

I suddenly realized that in this piece of history, all the Zhang Qilings I'd investigated weren't just one person. Could that be why the information I found was chaotic and useless? I'd been looking at the intertwined histories of two completely different people.

But if that was the case, what was the organization's goal? Were they just trying their luck?

"Maybe it's because you died that they thought you weren't the one they were looking for," Fatty continued. "I'll be blunt, bro—this Zhang Qiling we're looking for now wouldn't end up in such a sorry state like you."

Ghost Shadow Man didn't pay any attention to him; he only made a gesture for me to continue speaking.

I quickly constructed a story in my mind and told him that this Zhang Qiling was very special. I recounted many incredible feats.

I told him that even the elders of the Old Nine Gates were wary of this Zhang Qiling, so the previous generation of the Old Nine Gates had entrusted me to help him search for his past, and so on.

Ghost Shadow Man didn't speak; he was silent for a long time before saying, "Where is he now?"

I pointed at the ground below: "He's in the team you mentioned, the one that's already dead. He's in the mountains now. Fatty said... inside a mirror."

"You've made the biggest mistake of your life," he said.

"What?"

"You're about to lose the key to unlocking all the secrets," he said. "The only key."

"Why are you so sure they're going to die?"

"In any case, they're definitely going to die. That's already settled. If I tell you the reason, you'll think there's still a chance, and that'll only add to your worries."

He paused. "What a pity. I never thought this secret would have a chance to be solved."

"What if you went to rescue them?" Fatty asked him.

"I'd have a slightly better chance than you, but I'm not going in. However, I can send you in. Let's go."

"You know our resolve?" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"No, it's because I don't want to kill you with my own hands," he said. "You know I can't let anyone know I'm still alive. I didn't expect to run into you here.

I've been thinking about how to deal with you. Now it seems sending you in to die is the most suitable option."

He stood up and led us among the mortar shells, moving aside a few boxes to reveal several long, dark green boxes. He picked up a stone, knocked off the iron seals, and kicked the lids open.

"You'll need these."

Inside were all rifles, each wrapped in blackened oil paper, with brass bullets gleaming yellow underneath—over a hundred rounds.

"Still usable? Won't they explode in the chamber?"

"You'd better hope they still work."

"Just give me back my 'Little Doraemon,'" Fatty said. "These old guns have too slow a rate of fire."

"You've got at most twenty rounds left for your gun. The number of bullets you need is twenty with two zeros added," said Ghost Shadow Man. "Take them." He picked up two rifles and tossed them to us.

We slung the rifles over our shoulders. Fatty started pulling bullets out of the oil paper and loading them into magazines, asking as he did, "How far can you take us? That building seems hard to get into."

"It's not as complicated as you think. I'll tell you when the time comes. It's useless to talk about it now."

He rummaged among his belongings, found a few bags, scooped all the bullets into them, and tossed them to Fatty. "Get that done after we're inside. There's no time. It'll be dawn soon."

Fatty and I exchanged a glance. Ghost Shadow Man had already walked out quickly. Fatty said to me, "Stop asking. Just watch and you'll know."

I nodded. I heard Ghost Shadow Man whistle in the darkness. We followed him out, wondering what he was doing, when we saw a rustling in the grass and a few lynxes darted out.

He made some strange sounds, and the lynxes immediately turned and headed forward. Ghost Shadow Man gestured for us to follow.