Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 205

The watch that was magnetized yesterday has been handed over to Flying Eagle for safekeeping. I'm just worried that the strong magnetic field that appears during special times might cause extreme damage to everyone's thinking system.

“Let’s go out. Also, please arrange a place where we can dig deep. I will have someone bury Old Man Li’s body.”

The guardian spirit's sense of smell is exceptionally sensitive; if buried too shallowly, the body would inevitably suffer further damage. From the perspective of traditional Chinese values, filial piety is paramount, and burying Li Zun'er's body in the belly of a snake would be the greatest blow to Li Kang. I hope to protect the rights of every member of the expedition team; only by doing so can the team maintain its cohesion.

He Jishang's lips twitched slightly, making a "why bother?" expression, but still obediently agreed: "I will put a snake and insect poison at the burial site, and the body will be fine. Some of your Han people's habits are really pedantic and troublesome, not as straightforward and easy as the Miao people in the mountain village."

I couldn't help but laugh: "You're right, but Tibetans like 'sky burial' but don't appreciate the Miao people's 'insect burial.' Just like you Miao people like 'insect burial,' if one day you're forced to use eagle beaks for 'sky burial,' wouldn't you also rise up in resistance?"

As I descended the stone steps, before I even reached the village gate, my satellite phone suddenly rang, displaying an extremely unfamiliar number.

I was slightly taken aback. He Jishang pointed forward and saw a bald man in white clothes standing on a hillside to the southeast, holding a phone in his hand.

"Look at that man, he seems a bit strange!" He Jishang quickly took out a pair of binoculars and handed one to me first. Through the binoculars, the man had a sincere smile on his face, his right hand on his chest, and he bowed towards the village gate, like the mountain people welcoming outsiders.

I understood his lip reading: "Phone, phone..." I immediately pressed the button to answer.

"Hello, Mr. Feng. I have long admired your reputation in the martial arts world. It is an honor for us to have you grace our territory of the Southwest Caravan today." His voice was soft and pleasant, and he spoke fluent Mandarin. He was about twenty-five years old, with broad shoulders, and looked like a well-rested super hound.

Part Two: A Smile That Captivates a City

— Chapter 7 - Rouge —

The afterglow of the setting sun enveloped his white clothes, fluttering like clouds. I could tell that he was not carrying any weapons, but there were at least forty people hidden in the jungle behind him, with more than a dozen dark sniper rifle muzzles peeking out from among the withered trees and tangled grass.

The villagers were completely unprepared, and the wooden buildings offered no bulletproof protection. Even if they took cover in the nearest building once the battle began, they would still be blindly shot and killed by the enemy.

"You flatter me." I remained highly vigilant.

The sniper was about sixty paces from the gate. He Jishang and I were like two highly conspicuous moving targets. There was no cover nearby, and if the enemy opened fire, we would be either killed or wounded immediately. Clearly, we were already in the enemy's sights as soon as we left the wooden building, and the gate was the perfect sniping spot, a dilemma of whether to advance or retreat.

"Our boss wants to discuss a business deal with Mr. Feng, so he sent me to inform you. We're all seasoned veterans of the underworld, and you know the reality of the situation very well. Once you enter the jungle, it's the caravan's domain. Whether you live or die is up to our boss, isn't that right?"

His attitude was arrogant; his feigned politeness couldn't hide his smugness at having the situation under control.

"Yes, please speak." I had no other choice; I didn't want to implicate all the innocent people behind me, regardless of age or gender. To navigate the world, one needs not only the passion to fight desperately, but also the resilience to endure hardship.

“The sniper scope will be affected by the sunset sunlight. If we move fifteen steps due south, the glare will cause the sniper to be temporarily blinded. Ten seconds is enough time to get close enough to kill the enemy.”

He Jishang smiled as he uttered these chilling words. Everyone understood that under the high-powered sniper scope, no expression on our faces could escape the sniper's observation.

“You’re wrong. At a 30-degree angle to the south, 30 paces away, on the treetops; and 50 paces due east, behind the trees, there are snipers lurking. The strength of the caravan isn’t as scattered and dilapidated as the outside world says. Otherwise, it would have been swallowed up by forces outside the mountains long ago. How could it have survived until today?” I didn’t hide my lip movements. The other person could use lip reading, so naturally, they could “read” what I was saying.

This is a classic pocket formation. No matter how we move, we'll be in a near-straight line of aim from three snipers. In a tenth of a second, or even less, a bullet will whistle close in.

He Jishang adjusted the telescope to observe the two directions, then sighed sadly, "You're right."

I don't try to be mysterious. Whenever I'm in a crisis, I just realistically compare the strengths of both sides and find the wisest course of action. For example, right now, I can only passively accept the other side's conditions without any other choice.

“Mr. Feng is indeed clever, hahaha…” The young man laughed, raising his right hand to vigorously stroke his bald head. A silver ring inlaid with red agate on his thumb emitted a blood-red light.

"Rouge?" I called out his name.

“That’s right, I am Rouge.” His expression grew increasingly smug and excited. [QiS Jar eBook Download Paradise]

According to authoritative diagnoses by international criminal psychologists, if a seemingly normal man deliberately adopts a woman's name or uses accessories with distinctly feminine characteristics, it indicates that he has over 50% feminine tendencies. If such a man happens to become a criminal and has the freedom to wield power, he will become a super-killer ten times more ruthless, twisted, and cold-blooded than a normal criminal, defying all reason and unable to be bound by so-called "codes of honor" or "underworld rules." To deal with such a person, one must either stay far away or strike decisively to prevent future trouble.

Undoubtedly, Rouge is such a super killer.

"The boss said he'll take 90% of the treasure in the mountains, and outsiders can only take 10%. If you agree to this, we can all live in peace. You search for your treasure, and I'll take my share. If you disagree, you'll die immediately. Don't delay everyone's reincarnation as ghosts or as gods. Do you understand?"

Rouge was always smiling. Her skin was fair and delicate, her eyebrows were arched, and her eyes were watery. She looked like an actress who was very good at taking care of herself.

I immediately agreed: "No problem, deal." In fact, anyone should understand that discussing profit sharing with the caravan is more difficult than negotiating with a tiger. In the end, let alone a ten percent, whether they can even leave the mountains alive is unknown.

“Mr. Feng is a very straightforward person. We’ll chat more another time then—” Rouge slowly retreated and disappeared into the jungle. The snipers also retreated in an orderly fashion, clearly seasoned veterans.

He Jishang sighed in frustration: "They've forced their way to our doorstep."

She was an expert in poisons, but not so skilled in offensive tactics. How could a single isolated stronghold possibly sustain them here permanently? Modern sniper weapons could hit their targets within 500 meters to a kilometer; often, they wouldn't even see the enemy before their own men were shot and fell.

The Southwest Caravan just didn't want to touch her; once the attack began, the existing Five Poisons Sect disciples would have no way to defend themselves.

I've been wondering if Su Lun's disappearance is related to the caravan. I'm not just blindly following any idea; I'm rationally considering all the factors and not letting any suspicious clue slip by.

In the eyes of the caravan, Suren was an earlier expedition team than ours, so naturally they would use the "nine out, one in" rule to deal with her. "Will she? Won't she?" This multiple-choice question kept churning in my mind when I suddenly caught a glimpse of a thin, dark figure hiding and lurking at the corner of the wooden building on the right.

"Who?" He Jishang was the first to ask.

The man turned out timidly, forcing a smile at us: "Mr. Feng, it's me, Bakun. There's a little thing I don't know if you'd be interested in, it's about donkeys... the donkeys that Miss Suren and Mr. Schiller rode."

Bakun's thin face was framed by a pair of small, yellowish-brown eyes that occasionally flashed with a greedy glint.

I suddenly realized that I had been neglecting those two donkeys all along—the one Schiller had ridden in the palace, and the one He Jishang had taken in in the village. Perhaps the rapid changes had confused my mind; seeing only that the donkeys were alive and unharmed, I assumed there were no valuable clues about them.

"Let's talk about it later, we have other things to do." He Jishang declined Bakun's offer on my behalf. The moment the image appeared was getting closer and closer, and that was what she cared about most.

Bakun nodded repeatedly and retreated meekly.

What could he discover? What could a mute donkey tell him? The unpleasantness brought on by Rouge was quickly dispelled by Bakun's mysterious demeanor. As hunters of the jungle, they often discover things from corners that others overlook. What did he discover this time?

He Jishang had already switched to another wristwatch and kept looking down at it, calculating the time second by second.

I sat cross-legged on the grass, my mind heavy with thoughts, my thoughts divided into four or five parts, especially He Jishang's description of the actual situation deep inside the Lan Valley. If all the unknown locations were below the mountain, then wouldn't all of Su Lun's previous preparations have been in vain?

The most urgent task is to mobilize personnel and rush to the tunnel she mentioned to conduct the most accurate on-site survey, without believing any hearsay.

The words of the Jiang brothers, Jiang Guang and Jiang Liang, have been completely refuted; they were likely deceived by Kongkong Xiaosheng—a renowned tomb raider rarely tells the truth, as it's a necessity for survival. So, Kongkong Xiaosheng must have entered the Epang Palace? If someone has been there, I'm confident I can follow the same path to get in.

"Feng, more than a minute has passed, why haven't those images appeared yet?" He Jishang said anxiously.

Indeed, the second-floor window was quiet, and I could clearly see the bloodstains and mess on the floor that hadn't been cleaned up yet. The strong magnetic field from yesterday hadn't reappeared, and her wristwatch continued to work steadily and easily.

Five minutes later, He Jishang sighed sadly, "It seems that Brother Tian will not appear again. Can you tell me why?"

I silently shook my head. More than 80% of the mysterious phenomena in nature cannot be explained by applied physics. He Jishang angrily slammed his hand on a withered tree, causing all the dead leaves to fall in a rustling sound.

"Do you think Brother Tian might have gone deep into that tunnel, to the legendary Heavenly Ladder or underground tomb?" Her mood became extremely irritable, and her thinking ability dropped sharply, so she just kept asking random questions.

"The philosopher said that to know the taste of a pear, you have to taste it yourself. Miss He, if you want to unravel the confusion in your heart, why don't you come with us tomorrow? Perhaps I can happen to be able to crack those stone pillars blocking the way. If we work together sincerely, we will surely be able to follow in the footsteps of our predecessors and find what we are looking for. What do you say?" The goal we are pursuing should lead to the same destination, and if my elder brother has left any clues, they must be at the end of Lan Valley.

He Jishang suddenly looked up alertly: "I know what you're thinking. You want to use the 'Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad' to avoid the flying snakes' attack—"

At this moment, she resembled a frightened wild beast, a fierce murderous intent suddenly appearing on her face. She had been disfigured and expelled from her sect for the sake of the "Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad," forced to wander the martial world; naturally, she would cherish that treasure as if it were her life.

I smiled, got up, and walked towards the village gate. In this matter, the best explanation was no explanation at all; let the facts speak for themselves. Before meeting He Jishang, my goal was to cross Lan Valley to reach the Heavenly Ladder; I hadn't considered the "Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad" at all. She didn't want to join, and I would never force her, much less covet someone else's treasure.

"Hey, don't go!" He Jishang leaped over my head and blocked my way.

I calmly looked at her face and said, "Ms. He, you must have misunderstood. We're leaving early tomorrow morning and have been bothering you for the past two days. Thank you very much."

She was still scrutinizing me with extreme suspicion, so I walked past her and into the village gate.

“Mr. Feng, I’m here, I’m here!” Bakun ran over, bowing low.

I couldn't figure out the donkey's secret for the moment. Looking at its greedy yet pitiful appearance, I asked directly, "What do you want to tell me? How much is it worth?"

As the saying goes, time is money, and efficiency is life. To quickly obtain useful information, my most common method has always been to use money as a means to an end, and it has often proven effective.

“Five…five hundred yuan, RMB.” Bakun straightened up excitedly.

I nodded and whispered to him, "Speak."

He cleared his throat immediately and continued, slightly nervously, "After Mr. Schiller appeared, everyone was busy trying to save him and calling for help. I was the one who managed to tether the donkey. I noticed that its hooves were missing. Before going into the mountains, I followed Miss Suren's instructions and removed the iron shoes from all the requisitioned animals and replaced them with leather shoes to make them easier to walk on the mountain paths. As a result, the hooves of the other donkeys were still there, but the ones of this one were missing."

We talked as we walked toward the wooden building where the donkey was tied.

The villagers remained calm, unaware that the southwestern caravan had menacingly reached the village gate and then vanished without a trace. Even Flying Eagle's men lacked the necessary vigilance; in this state of combat, they were no match for Rouge's team.

A new idea suddenly popped into my head: "In Su Lun's exploration plan, besides Li Kang's group and Flying Eagle's team, could there be another ambush force?"

Suren is very cautious and should know the Eagles' combat capabilities better than I do, so it's entirely possible that he's employing a "three-pronged approach," creating the illusion of two reinforcements while the real main force remains. If it were me, I might do the same, leaving the old, weak, and disabled soldiers on the surface to deliberately mislead the enemy, while in reality, if an emergency occurs, the last and strongest team would immediately appear to clear the obstacles.

“Mr. Feng, Mr. Feng, shall I continue?” Bakun misunderstood my silence.

We had reached the eaves where the donkey was tethered, and it was lying lazily on the ground, resting with its four legs stretched out. Even without Bakun pointing it out, I could see that the donkey's paw pads were gone, leaving only bare soles.

“At this rate, it won’t be able to walk ten miles of mountain road before its feet are worn raw by the stone slabs and thorns. Soon, all four legs will be ruined. Mr. Feng, the problem isn’t with me. All the leather shoes and nails were carefully selected. The other donkeys are fine, only these two.”

He scratched his head in confusion and gave me a wry smile: "I don't know what this means, but the leather saddles that were nailed last time can travel at least 500 kilometers without falling off. Why is that?"

First, we can rule out one possibility: no one would deliberately try to remove a nail from a donkey's paw with pliers. What comes to mind is something else entirely: if the donkey had been in an incredibly strong magnetic field, would the nails have been attracted to it? There's an example of a magnetic experiment conducted by physicists who placed a wooden box covered in nails into a magnetic field. When the magnetic force was increased to an infinite value, even long nails would be pulled out, eventually causing the box to crumble into pieces.

I felt that only this example could explain the disappearance of the leather paw, but unfortunately, given Bakun's limited thinking, he couldn't discuss this scientific issue with me. After taking the five banknotes I gave him, he left happily, probably to show off to his brothers.

Li Kang had already moved and buried his father's body, and He Jishang's men had quickly cleaned up the murder scene and lit an incense burner. When I went back up to the second floor, everything had returned to normal. Judging from the surface, no one would realize that Jiang Guang, Jiang Liang, and Li Zun'er, three living people, had disappeared from this world.

I desperately want to make a call to someone—right now, I need someone by my side to listen to my analysis of these mysterious events, and then discuss and verify them one by one. Being unconventional is one of humanity's noblest qualities, but in the midst of a predicament shrouded in mystery, one needs a partner of roughly equal wisdom to encourage and correct each other, avoiding detours. I don't want to, and dare not, waste any more time. Suren's whereabouts are unknown; finding her sooner will minimize the harm she suffers.

He Jishang is intelligent enough, and her martial arts and poison skills are also quite formidable. However, her thinking is too far removed from mine, and she subconsciously feels hostile whenever the "Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad" is mentioned. Therefore, she cannot be as close to me as Su Lun and Xiao Keleng.

There are still many unfinished matters in Hokkaido, so Xiao Keleng naturally cannot leave; she is needed to manage the situation there alone.

Instinctively, I dialed a number and placed the phone on the table by the window. The dial icon on the screen kept flashing. After about ten seconds, the other end answered with a sweet, gentle female voice: "Feng?"

I was stunned. The satellite phone number was only activated after we arrived at the concubine's palace; she couldn't have known about it beforehand.

"I know it's you, Feng. How are you?" He couldn't see her expression, but he could tell from her voice that she was smiling.

I picked up the phone, surprised and delighted: "Miss Gu, how did you guess it was me?" Whenever the guqin is mentioned, I think of her, and I firmly believe that her skill in the guqin far surpasses that of my brother, Gu Zhijin. However, I never expected that she would call out my name immediately.

“So what? I have the Gypsy witch’s magic crystal ball. No one can escape its image tracking. Moreover, I also know that you are on the 30th parallel north in the southwestern border region. Your specific location should be along the line connecting the Ruin Pit, Fallen Phoenix Slope, and Concubine Palace, all the way south, right?” She said confidently, but her tone was calm and not at all aggressive. It was like a cup of fine oolong tea, with a refreshing aroma.

We laughed out loud on both ends of the phone, feeling like best friends of ten years despite having only met once. Of course, she didn't have a crystal ball, nor was she a gypsy witch. I hoped it was a perfect attempt at telepathy, that she was thinking of me just as I was thinking of her.

The sun had already set, and across from the window, He Jishang stood there blankly, staring in my direction.

Tomorrow, I will lead my men away and head south. Subconsciously, I deeply believed He Jishang's words, which is why I called Gu Qingcheng to inquire about the guqin.

“Feng, you’re always the type to come to the temple without a reason, only seeking help when it’s absolutely necessary. Please ask whatever your question is. As long as it’s about the guqin, I’ll do my best to answer it without reservation.” She was even more straightforward than me, getting straight to the point with almost no small talk. I admire her “putting business first” approach the most.

“Miss Gu, I would like to inquire about a guqin. It has a small seal with the character ‘雎鸠’ (jujiu) engraved on it—” I entered the secret room, turned on the computer, and found the simplified drawing of the guqin drawn by He Jishang. The black-and-white sketch didn't reveal many details; perhaps I would gain a more intuitive understanding after arriving outside the tunnel tomorrow.

On the other end of the phone, Gu Qingcheng softly hummed in agreement.

"Seven strings, seal, I only have a rough sketch. I will give you a more detailed on-site description tomorrow." No one would carve the pattern of the guqin on both sides of the tunnel entrance in the mountains for no reason. It would be a sign or even some kind of clue.

The sound of typing came through the receiver, and then Gu Qingcheng spoke cautiously: "Feng, I can't be sure of its origin right now. If you have any pictures of the actual object, please send them to me as soon as possible. That way, I can guess for now that there should be sixteen such guqins in total, divided into eight pairs, each pair being exactly the same, with the following sixteen characters engraved on them: 'Guan Guan, Ju Jiu, Zai He, Zhi Zhou, Yao Tiao, Shu Nu, Jun Zi, Hao Qiu'."

"The guqin originated from the palace of the King of Chu. It is said that after the King of Chu met the goddess in Wushan, he had a wonderful dream. He then built the 'Kuai Zai Terrace' in the capital and selected the best guqin players to cut wood from Yelang and fish sinews from the East Sea. It took three years to make these sixteen guqin, in preparation for welcoming the goddess's arrival. Unfortunately, the King of Qin swept through the six states and imprisoned the licentious King of Chu in a prison cart. The guqin were also transported back to Xianyang."

Our great China is truly vast and rich in resources, with a long history. Just pick up a few ancient zithers and you'll find such a long and rich history, not to mention the countless cultural relics in the Forbidden City that are kept on high shelves.

Gu Qingcheng clicked her tongue in envy and sighed, "Feng, sometimes I really don't understand. Is it only tomb raiding experts who can get up close to all kinds of treasures? If I had known this, I should have told my father to study archaeology instead of music."

She was just being modest. With Gu Zhijin's extensive collection, full of antiques and rare treasures, how could she possibly envy others?

I smiled and said goodbye: "I'll call you again tomorrow afternoon."