Chapter 53: Li Wanchou’s Revenge

From Xiao Wu’s brief description, I gathered that the bottom of the pool still had a stone-paved shore, but it was directly beneath us, completely concealed by the overhanging rocks.

But beyond the stone shore, Xiao Wu also mentioned that something else lay at the far end of the pool beneath the waterfall.

As soon as Xiao Wu finished speaking, Hou Jinshan’s eyes lit up with greed. He scrambled through his bag and pulled out a large coil of rope, stuffing it into my hands and urging me, “Quick, quick, quick! Get me down there too!”

Human greed knows no bounds. Everyone’s attention was now fixed on the bottom of the cliff. If earlier they had hesitated to take the first step, now they were scrambling to be first, afraid that if they went down too late, they’d miss out on their share.

I tied the rope for Hou Jinshan and lowered him down using the same method as before. Then it was Lai Qi and his two lackeys. In the end, only Li Wanchou and I remained.

There was no way I was going down before Li Wanchou. For one, we had nearly come to blows just moments ago—I had no idea how vengeful he might be. I wasn’t planning to harm him, but I couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t try something on me.

For another, the last person to descend had to unfasten the rope tied to the tree root. I had planned for this—I intended to rig a simple timing mechanism—but it was tricky to execute, and I knew Li Wanchou wouldn’t be able to get the timing right.

Li Wanchou gave me a cold sneer before slowly climbing down the cliff. I ignored him and picked up a plastic bag Hou Jinshan had dropped earlier. I filled it with sand and tied it shut.

Then I took a short length of safety rope from my waist, looked up, and chose a sturdy branch at the right height to hang it from. The spot was too close to the waterfall, and the spray soaked my face. I wiped it off and tied the sand-filled bag to one end of the rope.

Next, I pulled a dagger from my backpack and found a few heavy stone slabs. I tied the blade facing upward to the other end of the rope, securing it tightly. I let go and tested the distance—it looked about right. I’d made the dagger end heavier on purpose, giving myself enough time to find a foothold before the mechanism triggered.

Finally, I went to pick up the forty-meter rope lying on the ground.

The rope was tied to the tree root, right above the dagger. Everything was ready, and I was about to secure the rope to myself when I noticed a barely visible tear about two meters down. And every few meters after that—another cut.

I was instantly furious.

This wasn’t caused by rocks. The rope I bought was professional-grade—normal wear from rocks or thorns couldn’t have made such clean cuts. These were deliberate, knife-made slashes!

It had to be Li Wanchou. That’s when it hit me—this guy wasn’t just all talk. He really wanted me dead. With this many cuts, if I hadn’t checked the rope, I would’ve plummeted to my death without ever knowing why.

Maybe I’d taken too long up top, because Xiao Wu’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie: “Young Master, are you still up there? Something wrong? That guy Li is getting impatient.”

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down, and replied, “No problem. I’m securing some gear. Give me ten more minutes.”

Anger wouldn’t solve anything. Not now. I looked around—there wasn’t another rope I could use. If I wanted to get down, this was my only option.

Looking at the rope with at least a dozen cuts, I wiped my face and rolled up my sleeves. I folded the rope in half, doubling it up. That halved the length, and I wasn’t even sure it would hold my weight.

I secured the rope, then pulled out my machete and made a small cut in the plastic bag. As the sand began to pour out, I kicked off the rocks and began my descent.

I hadn’t gone more than ten meters when the terrifying sound of rope scraping filled my ears. The rocks below were slick with moss—every step was a slip. I forced myself not to look down and kept moving as fast as I could.

At around twenty meters, I found a large rock with less moss and landed on it.

I had a reason for stopping there. Not far from the rock, a rope hung from a branch. Judging by the color, it was Xiao Wu’s. It was hidden well—none of the others would’ve spotted it. If my rope had been long enough, I wouldn’t have stopped here either.

I checked the time, gave my rope a tug—and it snapped instantly, falling away. I slashed the rope around my waist with the machete and dodged to the side. The rope, along with the carabiner attached to my harness, plummeted down.

I tugged on Xiao Wu’s rope. It was long enough and tied with skill. I strapped it on and slowly slid the rest of the way down.

A group of people stood at the bottom. Xiao Wu came over to help me up, and the moment he saw the rope I was using, he froze.

I didn’t have time to explain. I quickly unfastened the rope and, burning with fury, was about to go confront Li Wanchou—only to see him crouched by the water, blood streaming down his head, while Lai Qi frantically tried to bandage him.

“What happened?” I changed direction and walked over to Hou Jinshan.

He leaned in, his face red as he struggled to hold back laughter, looking more like he was about to cry. “Guess what? We were just sitting around waiting for you, and that bastard Li stood up—bam! Got nailed by a falling carabiner. Karma’s real, man. Serves him right for acting like a big shot in front of me.”

Before he even finished, Li Wanchou glared at Hou Jinshan while clutching his head and barked, “What are you standing there for? Get me some gauze!”

“Ah! Boss Li! What a tragedy! Who does something so uncivilized—throwing stuff from above! Coming, coming! What kind of gauze would you prefer, sir?” Hou Jinshan’s tone flipped in an instant as he scurried over.

All the rage inside me vanished in a flash. I turned away and burst out laughing.

Xiao Wu crouched down to examine the bloodstained rope I had thrown down earlier. He walked over and said to me, “All the cuts are from blades, Young Master. This trip might be more dangerous than we thought. And this isn’t even the deep part yet—should we turn back?”

I waved him off. If I’d wanted to turn back, I wouldn’t have used that rope to come down in the first place.

The pool beneath the waterfall was wide, its depths impossible to see. I slung off my pack and went to the water’s edge to wash my hands. Xiao Wu crouched beside me.

I glanced over at Li Wanchou in the distance and asked, “I didn’t think he’d go that far. Just a few harsh words and he really wanted me dead. Have you run into people like that before?”

“We have. There are plenty like him. That’s why, just to be safe, I stashed a spare rope for you. Didn’t expect it would actually come in handy.” Xiao Wu seemed a little shaken too—if he hadn’t left that rope for me, I might not have made it down.

“I haven’t gone to many places with the Boss,” Xiao Wu said. “But the ones I did go to were all remote, kind of like this. When people end up in places where no one else is around, their true nature tends to come out. Young Master, have you thought about what it would cost if you got hurt out here in the wild?”

I knew what he meant. We were already approaching the core area of Shennongjia. Our emergency supplies were decent, but we weren’t professionals.

If something serious happened—say, a broken arm or leg—it’d take at least a full day to get out of these woods by the fastest route. By the time we reached a hospital, it might already be too late.

But when it came to this casket, I didn’t think I had a choice.

Seeing me stay silent, Xiao Wu asked, “Young Master, is this really that important? Are you sure those two deaths weren’t just accidents?”

I nodded. “When I was in Gansu, I found out that nearly the entire Five Masters are investigating this Jade Casket. You saw it too—Yu Jingzi brought a whole team in. There are too many people involved. I can’t see the full picture yet, and now we’ve lost contact with Fourth Brother. If I don’t get involved, more people are going to die.”

Xiao Wu blinked at me. I could tell he hadn’t fully grasped it, and I was just about to stand up when he tugged at me again and asked quietly, “Young Master, it’s just the two of us—don’t you think that’s a bit unsafe? Should we try contacting the Lu family or the Tian family? Even if there aren’t many of us when we team up with the Lu family, at least we’d have some backup, right?”

I sighed. Did he really think I didn’t want help? Like I wasn’t worried about teaming up with a bunch of old foxes?

“That was my mistake. I forgot to leave a phone number. So now it’s just the two of us, relying on each other.” I patted his shoulder.

Just then, Xiao Wu slowly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. The thing was filthy, its color showing clear signs of having been soaked and then dried in the sun. On it was a phone number, scribbled in ballpoint pen.

“Lu A’yao left this before he left,” Xiao Wu said. “Told me to call him if anything came up. I forgot all about it. My clothes got wet earlier, and when I was hanging them up to dry, I remembered.”

“…”

I stared at him. I must’ve looked pretty grim, because Xiao Wu actually flinched under my gaze. Even the way he addressed me changed.

“You can’t blame me entirely, right? Y-you didn’t ask either…”