Chapter 87: The Disappearance in ’98

Calluses from handling guns?

The moment I heard that conclusion, I suddenly felt a chill sweep through the air around me.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of guns. According to He Yu, his marksmanship was pretty sharp. Every year when the He family went into the mountains to hunt pheasants, he could practically sweep the woods clean. But even with all that, the calluses on his hands were just a thin layer—nothing like the thick ones on Chen Canghai’s hands. Chen Canghai was younger than me. How could someone his age have such heavy calluses from shooting? It just didn’t make sense. It was almost laughable.

“I asked him about it when we boarded the boat. Did Han Jian ever tell you that he went behind Han Cheng’s back and made the decision to buy a Tomb Raider’s rubbing manuscript on his own?” Lu A’yao asked me.

My heart skipped a beat. The story was changing again. Han Jian had only shown me a photocopy of the rubbing manuscript. As for the seller, he didn’t say much—just mentioned that the person had gone missing. But now it turns out that the missing seller was a Tomb Raider?

That made things a lot more complicated. I wasn’t in that line of work myself, but after spending summers at Ying Gan Hall and listening to the guys talk shop, I’d picked up a few things.

Tomb Raiders and people like us—who act more like legal consultants or advisors—were worlds apart. We were just consultants at best. Tomb raiding was a technical craft. Splitting the loot was a skill. Getting away clean after fencing the goods was an even greater skill.

Old-school Tomb Raiders were extremely cautious. They had their own trusted networks. When they got their hands on something, they wouldn’t just take it to market and sell it openly. In fact, most of the artifacts that eventually made it to the market and got recovered had changed hands a dozen times. By the time they surfaced, no one could trace them back to the original source.

Just based on that, Han Jian was clearly not like his brother. He’d been out of the game too long. He had no connections, no reputation, no standing in the underground circles. If this rubbing manuscript really was a treasure map looted from some ancient tomb, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why someone would sell it to him so easily.

But weren’t we just talking about the calluses on Chen Canghai’s hands? Why was Lu A’yao suddenly bringing this up?

Snapping out of my thoughts, I asked, “What does any of this have to do with that Chen Canghai guy?”

Lu A’yao replied, “When Han Jian told me all this, he happened to mention that the Tomb Raider who sold him the rubbing manuscript also had the surname Chen.”

Suddenly, it all clicked. That’s what he was getting at. If that’s the case, then a lot of seemingly baseless motives start to make sense. This kid had gone to great lengths to make sure he got on this boat. Looks like he already knew what we were up to. Was he here to find someone? If we chalked it up to coincidence, it wasn’t impossible, but based on all the trips I’ve taken, I’d say the odds of that were close to zero.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the boat started to pull away. I looked up and saw several off-road vehicles speeding down the road toward the dock. A few men jumped out, clearly agitated when they saw the boat already setting off. I glanced at their license plates—looked like Qiao Sangui’s men.

“Well, since you already figured all that out, why didn’t you just kick him off the boat earlier?” I asked bluntly, not bothering to analyze further. I figured Lu A’yao would probably think I was asking something stupid and ignore me.

But surprisingly, Lu A’yao actually answered. “He’s just here to find someone—or maybe a corpse. He’s headed the same way we are. He won’t get in our way.”

It felt like I was hearing a ghost speak. Since when did Lu A’yao become so… considerate? That wasn’t like him at all.

He was acting strangely normal, which in itself was abnormal. But there was a good chance—maybe eighty percent—that he was telling me all this as a way to make peace.

I looked at the complete piece of Luan Bi hanging around his neck, glinting with the shimmering reflection of the river. If we set aside all the unpleasantness that had happened before, this piece of Blood Jade had, in a way, been returned to its rightful place. Without thinking, I asked what was really on my mind: “Who’s worth all this trouble for you to go to such lengths? Lu Xiaosu?”

It was just a casual question, but Lu A’yao fell silent again. His gaze darkened in an instant. This time, I’d guessed right. But instead of feeling satisfied, I just wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“How long do you think it’ll take us to reach the place marked on the rubbing manuscript? Have you been there before?” I tried to imitate He Yu’s way of rambling to deflect.

Lu A’yao lifted his head. “Back in ’98, she suddenly said she had to go on a long trip to take care of something. But she never came back. I haven’t seen her since. She didn’t say a word before she left—just gave me this half of the Blood Jade. But China’s a huge country. Searching blindly would be impossible. So I waited. I needed a lead.”

His tone was calm, without much emotion, so I naturally followed up, “So you waited five years, until the Nine-Ring Jade Casket appeared. You think Lu Xiaosu’s disappearance is closely tied to it?”

Lu A’yao nodded firmly. His eyes were resolute. “At first, I just wanted to give it a shot. I didn’t have high hopes. But then I found the other half of the Blood Jade with you guys. So no matter what, I have to go see for myself.”

“I’ve never wanted to talk about it, mostly because I didn’t want you to get dragged in deeper because of your Fourth Brother. Fate is a strange thing—no one can predict it. When Lu Xiaosu picked me up and brought me home, it was already set in stone that I’d be entangled with the Five Masters and that mysterious box for the rest of my life. But what about you, Gan Ji? Your mother already escaped. Now, the only one in the younger generation still connected to the Gan Family’s Five Masters is you. So what’s your fate? If all of this is part of some carefully orchestrated game, why would someone like you, who’s free, willingly step in just to become a disposable pawn?”

The freighter ship was passing through a narrow gorge, and the wind rushing in nearly knocked the breath out of me. The sun was a thin line on the horizon, and in that moment, I saw a sunset so breathtaking I knew I’d never forget it for the rest of my life. The fiery glow reflected off the churning river below.

“If this really is a game…” I murmured, watching the endless mountains dance with the evening light. My voice was quickly swallowed by the wind.

He Yu came stumbling over, face flushed from drinking, and slung an arm around my shoulders. Pointing at the sky, he shouted, “Huh? Who slapped a monkey’s butt on my face? Hey! You wicked beast, show your true form! Watch out, your Grandpa Sun’s coming for you!”

He kept yelling nonsense as he collapsed to the ground. I hurried to catch him from behind, and Lu A’yao came around to help lift his legs. While we hoisted him up, she muttered, “Damn, this cripple’s butt is cursed or something. Why do I feel like I’m floating?”

“Stop squirming! Move again and I’ll toss you in the river to feed the fish!” I snapped at him.

Every step I took, I gave him a little scare, and soon enough He Yu stopped moving altogether. Then Lu A’yao and I carried him into the cabin like we were hauling a dead pig. The moment we laid him down on the makeshift bed made of cargo, he started snoring.

“When He Yu wakes up, I’ll talk to him. I’m sure he’ll be willing to help too. Three heads are better than one,” I said. Then a sudden thought popped into my mind. “But hey, if someone finds out I’m helping you, I won’t just disappear too, right?”

Lu A’yao was in the middle of shifting one of He Yu’s legs, trying to roll him over. When she heard me, she immediately looked up with a serious expression.

I laughed at her. “I’m joking, come on. Don’t take it so seriously. Relax, with my brilliant brain, I wouldn’t leave behind some vague cryptic clue. At the very least, I’d leave you an acrostic poem. Something like, ‘I’m dying, come save me.’ Eight characters, nice and clear. How’s that for obvious?”

Lu A’yao gave me a helpless look as she finished flipping He Yu over.

Neither of us planned to leave the cabin again—we were trying to stay out of the wind. It was bound to get worse as night fell in the gorge. The sky darkened quickly, and the howling wind pushed the freighter forward. I was dozing off when I suddenly felt the ship veer. I wasn’t sitting steady and nearly got thrown to the floor, but Lu A’yao reacted fast and grabbed the back of my collar.

Then we heard the captain shouting from outside, “Fog ahead! Slow the ship down!”