Chapter 187: Meeting an Old Acquaintance

I grabbed He Yu by the collar, dragging and pulling him back toward safety. Just as I started to move, I heard a strange noise from outside. It wasn’t coming from Tian Xiaoqi’s direction, but from the steep cliffs above.

Sensing something was wrong, I immediately stopped dragging him and crouched down, clicking off my flashlight. My position was incredibly awkward; I was lying flat at the edge of the pit, while He Yu’s head was in the hollow and his feet were stuck in the mud. He was caught in limbo. Soon, I heard the sound of stones tumbling down the rock face, followed by several flickers of fire emerging from a newly carved hole.

The figures leading the way were short in stature, each holding a fire starter. As soon as they broke through the wall, they began shouting, their voices echoing loudly. They spoke in a dialect I couldn’t understand; they didn’t seem like my Fourth Brother’s men.

I checked He Yu’s pulse. It was beating quite strongly, so I felt relieved enough to ignore him for the moment and let him lie quietly in the mud. We were far enough away, and Fourth Brother had mentioned that many people would likely catch wind of the news and follow us secretly. I had no idea what kind of people these tomb raiders were, so coming out now was definitely not a good idea.

“Third Master! Does this mean we’ve reached the Main Hall?”

Amidst the noisy chatter, a sentence finally popped out that I could understand. I immediately looked up and saw Qiao Sangui poking his head out of the hole. Tian Xiaoqi hadn’t lied to me this time; this bastard was actually still alive. They say bad grass grows tall, but for him to survive an explosion of that magnitude back in Yunnan was truly something else!

I was about to adjust my posture to keep watching them when I suddenly remembered that Tian Xiaoqi and Lu Ayao were still under the Snake-Tortoise’s jaw. One was a girl and the other was severely injured; they couldn’t have run far. If they were caught by this gang and interrogated under torture, it would be a disaster!

Anxiety flared in my chest. I still had a dead-to-the-world He Yu with me, and I couldn’t just leave him in the mud and run back alone. While I was caught in this dilemma, I turned my head to find that He Yu had woken up at some point and was currently groaning as he sat up from the mud.

“Wait, what’s the situation here…”

Before he could finish his groan, I lunged forward, grabbed him, and clamped my hand firmly over his mouth to keep him silent. He seemed confused about what was happening, but once he saw Qiao Sangui and the others lowering ropes in the distance, he immediately shut up.

He swatted my hand away and rubbed his face with both hands, whispering, “What’s going on? Where is this? Did you drag me here? Why… why didn’t you bring Tian Xiaoqi and the others? Ow, why does my face hurt so much?”

I really wanted to slap him again. I lowered my voice and hissed, “You have the nerve to ask me? You better think long and hard about how you got here yourself.”

“How should I know? You were the one on watch.”

Feeling like our voices were getting too loud, I quickly covered his mouth again and scolded him under my breath, telling him that the man leading the group on the cliff was Qiao Sangui. If he didn’t want to die, he needed to lower his voice.

“Holy shit, Qiao Sangui? Looks like we didn’t use enough explosives last time if we couldn’t kill him. Wait, how did he get in? You don’t think that girl sent him a message, do you?”

I shook my head, lying flat beside him at the edge of the pit. “Doesn’t look like it. This group dug a horizontal tunnel to get in. This rock wall is very thick. Logically, the tunnel should have led directly into the Main Hall. We’ve been crawling through tunnels for so long just to get this far; who knows how long these people have been digging to break through.”

He Yu glanced at me. “You never learn. Go ahead, keep defending her. If you’re wrong and that girl is in league with Qiao, Old Lu is basically in their hands now. They can do whatever they want with him.”

His words made my confidence waver, but then another thought occurred to me, and I wanted to kick him.

“Damn it, this is all because of you! If it weren’t for you, would I have run this far? I knew your willpower was weak. You got possessed by some ghost or something, caught in a trance, and no matter how much I yelled, you wouldn’t wake up. You almost strangled me in the mud just now. We still have a bone to pick over that!”

“What? Possessed? I was possessed?”

Qiao Sangui and his men were sliding down the ropes one by one. I pressed myself lower and made a silencing gesture to He Yu, then mouthed: I’ll settle the score with you later. Let’s see what they’re up to first.

On the other side, the bald man next to Qiao Sangui pulled in the rope and said, “Whew, Third Master, so this is the legendary Gune Kingdom City? Didn’t they say the roads were paved with gold? Looks like a bunch of ragged rocks to me, nothing grand about it!”

“What do you know? Who told you this was Gune Kingdom City? If you don’t know what you’re talking about, shut up. Don’t make a fool of yourself!”

Hearing Qiao Sangui’s words, I frowned slightly. It seems Qiao has also realized this isn’t the legendary Gune Kingdom City. But if this isn’t his target, why did he go to such great lengths to get in?

“Hey, you’re acting a bit naive there,” He Yu whispered. “Old Chiefs like him have been making a living this way since they were kids. Since this is a tomb, there’s bound to be good stuff inside. Now that they’re here, it would be a waste not to take the treasures. What does it matter if it’s the Gune Kingdom or not?”

I fell silent and continued listening.

Qiao Sangui spat on the ground and said, “Don’t think we can relax just because we’ve reached the Main Hall. All of you, keep your eyes peeled. This tomb is extremely fierce. We lost so many men just in the Yin-Yang Thirteen Palaces. I’ve never been in such a pathetic state!”

I did a quick count. Including Qiao Sangui, there were only five of them left. The numbers weren’t that different from our group. From what Qiao said, the men he brought down must have been lost to those White Corpse Turtle Immortals in the Yin-Yang Thirteen Palaces.

Seeing that their numbers were few, I wanted to crouch low and sneak over, but before I could stand, He Yu pinned me back down.

“What are you doing!”

“Going to save them! What if Qiao Sangui finds them?”

“Go? Go where? My foot! Stay put. Qiao hasn’t found Tian Xiaoqi and the others yet, and we don’t even know what the situation is over there. Both Old Lu and Tian Xiaoqi are more capable than you. They might already be hidden. If you rush over like this, they’ll have to come out and save you instead. Don’t be impatient. Stay down and see how things play out.”

He patted my head. “Be a good boy.”

I jerked my head away to shake off his hand, still staring uneasily at the firelight held by Qiao Sangui’s group.

As they walked a few steps toward the Snake-Tortoise, Qiao Sangui, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped. My heart leaped into my throat. Then, I heard the sound of blades being drawn and guns being cocked.

Qiao Sangui looked at the remains of the fire on the ground and said, “Be careful. Someone’s already been here, damn it.”

The bald man behind him asked, “Then we need to get into the Main Hall fast! If the treasure’s been taken, won’t we be going back empty-handed?”

I saw Qiao Sangui turn around and give him a sharp rap on the head. He sneered, “Even if they were gods from heaven, they couldn’t move the treasures from here. That tomb door is sealed tight. If you’re in such a hurry to get in, I’m afraid you’ll have the life to take the Mingqi but not the life to spend it.”

“Go! All of you, search the area! If anyone is hiding nearby, I want them dug out, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground!”