King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 80

"Hmm! This house is a bit strange..." I stared at the mirror, and the person in the mirror stared back at me, as if it were a still mural.

The bathroom is spacious and airy. Upon entering, you are greeted by a white porcelain sink and mirror. Turning to the right, you will find a high-end, moisture-proof wooden door that separates the bathroom fixtures from the sink, ensuring a clean and dry separation.

The walls and floor were a somber bluish-gray, especially the floor, which was paved with bluestone slabs and grouted with white cement, blending seamlessly with the living room. I shrugged, looking at my slightly bewildered face in the mirror. What was behind the mirror? And why was there a bubbling sound?

After calming myself down, I went back into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror.

The most direct way to find out what's behind the mirror is to take it down. However, I had another consideration: I decided to hold off for now, lest the Anzi sisters develop serious doubts about my mental state, intelligence, and thinking. I'm here to take over the villa, not to be paranoid and tear it down.

The sound of the bubble only rang once before disappearing, as if a fish had suddenly entered some mysterious space, blew a bubble, and swam away without making a sound.

I dried my hands suspiciously and went back to the living room.

I don't know what method Xiao Keleng used to politely refuse, but Guan Baoling had already left with that pretty boy, leaving only the four of us in the villa again.

I sat down on the sofa, feeling both frustrated and confused about discovering that the villa was in a "trapped position." Fortunately, I wasn't entirely the owner of the villa yet, so as long as I got away quickly, it shouldn't cause me any serious harm. Especially those inexplicable bubbling sounds; they kept me on edge, constantly worried that groundwater might suddenly gush out.

My experience with the Tsarist pyramids taught me a profound lesson: never immediately dismiss the unknown or the unknown world without careful consideration. As long as the Earth and space exist, anything is possible. Humanity's understanding of the Earth and life is far too superficial. As the ancients said, "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" We certainly have far more questions about our own existence than a hundred thousand "whys" to explore and answer.

Xiao Keleng instructed Anzi and her sister to continue cleaning upstairs, while she herself sat on the sofa next to me, looking preoccupied.

The sun was shining brightly outside, but the living room fell into an awkward silence because of our shared silence.

Opposite me was the fireplace that had caused my confusion; even with the lovely, vibrant roses as a backdrop, it couldn't lift my heavy heart.

"Mr. Feng, if today's events continue unchecked, it might affect whether we can continue to live and work peacefully here. Watanabe Castle has very close ties to the Yamaguchi-gumi—I think it's very unwise of you to take action for Guan Baoling. And do you know? Guan Baoling is also here to acquire the villa. It seems there are many others eyeing the villa. Based on my understanding of the Japanese character, they often stop at nothing to achieve their goals. If open and aboveboard methods don't work, they'll definitely resort to covert and forceful means. Therefore, I regret your actions."

Xiao Ke's attitude really turned "cold," her expression became very serious, and she followed my gaze and stared straight at the fireplace.

I smiled and remained silent about her misunderstanding.

"Will the consequences be severe?" I asked with a smile after a pause.

She frowned, scratched her short hair, and sighed, "It's not that serious... I can't quite put my finger on it. The backers of Fengge Temple, namely the Hokkaido branch of the Buddhist Association of Japan, have sent me over a dozen business letters, hoping to acquire the properties around Muwanzhoushan. They have a high-sounding reason: they want to turn this entire area into private cemeteries for temple patrons, so the deceased can forever bask in the Buddha's light. If everyone's fingers are pointing at Xunfuyuan's real estate, then this problem is a bit strange, because this villa complex really isn't worth that much money, and... and about the feng shui layout..."

She raised her hand, gave a helpless bitter laugh, and didn't say it outright.

I continued her topic: "Xiao Xiao, has Mr. Scalpel explained to you why such a passively laid-out villa exists? The 'arrow through the heart' layout is so powerful that anyone with even a basic understanding of feng shui would be scratching their head. Isn't he afraid of being harmed himself?"

Now, there's nothing to fear from the scalpel anymore; it has turned to ashes and lies buried underground.

Xiao Keleng shook his head: "Mr. Scalpel only told everyone not to stay here, he didn't say anything else. Moreover, a long time ago, the staff of Xunfuyuan have always followed the same rule, all of them leaving at night and never staying overnight here."

I laughed self-deprecatingly: "Hey, you should have told me last night! Otherwise, I would have been paranoid and made a mess of the house!"

This made Xiao Keleng laugh: "Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I really don't understand what you're saying. What 'bubbling sound'? The villa has been here for so long, and I've never heard of it before—"

I stood up thoughtfully, walked to the fireplace, and assumed a posture of attentive listening.

For a long time, I have noticed that my hearing and vision are significantly different from others. In certain special situations, I can hear many subtle sounds that only I can hear.

“Mr. Feng, don’t overthink it. Old houses always give people a bit of unease, especially the layout of this house, which is often criticized as extremely ominous. That’s what I’m most puzzled about. Why would Watanabe Castle pay such a high price to acquire it in one fell swoop?”

I looked at the firewood that had just been placed in the fireplace, then suddenly looked up and asked, "Regarding this villa, are there any architectural plans or other documents left behind? I suspect... I suspect there might be some kind of secret room..."

In early villas, owners often set up special secret rooms to hide private treasures or to escape war. In many old houses, secret rooms and passageways are almost indispensable.

Xiao Keleng lowered his head and replied wearily, "What you suspected, Mr. Scalpel had already suspected and explored long ago. There are no blueprints, but there are definitely no secret rooms or passages. The actual structure of the house is as simple as it appears on the surface."

God can bear witness, I truly heard that bubbling sound. If it were only coming from under the fireplace, that would be one thing, but why was there even behind the bathroom mirror? What secret could be hidden in the walls? It's utterly unbelievable…

After cleaning upstairs, the An sisters returned to the living room and showed me most of the government approval documents, land deeds, property deeds, and tax payment records for Xunfuyuan Villas over the years. As Xiao Keleng had said, Xunfuyuan's business was neither good nor bad, only showing an extremely slow upward trend. It could be said with certainty that this villa complex had no commercial highlights and was not worth the effort of other conglomerates to acquire.

"Watanabe Castle offered 200 million, and Miss Guan Baoling's price is even more outrageous—she's so eager to buy Xunfu Garden, she can offer 500 million just for this manor we're currently in... I can hardly believe I'm dreaming, 500 million? It's practically a miracle in the Japanese real estate industry."

Xiao Keleng was extremely confused and completely forgot that Guan Baoling was her idol.

Thinking of Guan Baoling's alluring face, figure, and voice, my mind immediately started racing: "What else did Miss Guan say? She came in such a hurry, it can't be as simple as just buying a house, right?"

Xiao Ke gave a cold, mocking smile: "It's that simple! You're the hero who saved the beauty. When she comes over another day, you can talk to her in person."

Anko and Nobuko exchanged knowing smiles and made faces at each other in silence.

The more I explain this kind of question, the more guilty I seem.

I didn't want to say anything more, so I got up and went upstairs to let Xiao Ke calm down and sort out these confusing issues.

Watanabe's arrogant attitude of being determined to win left a very deep impression on me. I have reason to believe that if he is willing to pay a high price of 200 million, he will at least get more than 400 million in benefits.

For example, his heavy industry consortium once won at least five obviously unprofitable high-speed rail projects in a certain country's government, which was ridiculed by its competitors, Siemens Electric of Germany and the Paris Metro Federation of France, for six months. However, six months later, the government's economic compensation for rising global material prices in the projects resulted in the consortium making a profit of $70 million on paper, effectively swallowing this huge piece of meat with a planned total profit of $450 million.

Watanabe is a highly skilled businessman with a keen business sense; he would never fight a battle he couldn't win.

As I reached the corner of the stairs, I heard the grandfather clock start chiming loudly; it was already 11 a.m.

Looking back into the living room from the corner, the most striking feature is the sculpture above the fireplace. Its strong three-dimensionality suggests that its creator intended for each viewer to have a completely different experience from every angle. However, it's clear that its presence clashes sharply with the overall style of the living room.

I prefer to see it as a protective figure to counteract the feng shui layout of a villa, rather than just a decoration.

Brother Yang Tian and Scalpel are not ordinary figures in the underworld. Their existence can be considered two milestones in the global tomb raiding industry, and they will be forever recorded in the annals of tomb raiding history, their fame lasting for eternity.

I walked into the living room on the second floor and naturally sat on the sofa I had been sitting on earlier, diagonally opposite the giant grandfather clock.

The doors to the study and bedroom were open, and the rooms were spotless and gleaming. Japanese girls are world-renowned for their housekeeping skills, leaving no corner untouched by dirt.

Looking at the sculpture's shape, it resembles a general commanding thousands of troops, holding a clock in his hands—this is truly a unique creation of modern clockmakers, combining an ancient general with a modern clock...

Bronze artifacts always evoke a sense of antiquity and antiquity. When I looked at the statue, it seemed as if it had existed for thousands of years, and I might mistake it for a genuine antique. Sunlight shone on the hilt of the sword at the statue's waist, its surface polished to a gleaming shine.

Out of curiosity, I got up, grabbed the hilt, and tried to pull out the bronze sword, which was about one and a half meters long.

Legend has it that the ten most famous swords of ancient times were mostly forged during the Bronze Age of the Warring States period, and their sharpness was so great that it still amazes later generations.

Simply put, as history progressed from the primitive, ape-like era to the unified slave societies of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the technology of smelting and casting bronze was only rudimentary, far from being refined or sophisticated. The casting tools of the time were extremely rudimentary, consisting only of ordinary charcoal and leather bags for blowing air. To obtain a sword capable of cutting through iron like mud under high-temperature tempering was virtually impossible. In other words, even if ten thousand swords were forged, perhaps not one would truly qualify as a "famous sword."

I noticed that the underside of the hilt had been filed with a steel file. That area is often where the sword's name is marked.

I pulled hard twice, but the sword didn't budge, as if it were cast into the scabbard.

Such an exquisite bronze sculpture, yet it carries a sword that's merely for show—it's truly astonishing. I patted the general's arm and chuckled to myself, "Friend, who would have thought you were... a silver-plated spearhead?"

The statue was tall and majestic. When I stood next to him, I had to look up slightly to see the expression on his face as he gazed into the distance. His armor was very realistic, inlaid with countless copper studs. His helmet was a standard military helmet, with a high pointed top, two wings protecting the temples, a curtain behind the neck, and T-shaped wings protecting the forehead and nose.

My gaze slowly moved to his legs, and I was surprised to find that the high-top combat boots he was wearing were the kind used by ancient cavalry, with spurs on the heels.

"Hmm, is this an ancient cavalryman? But making it into the shape of holding a clock is really hilarious, it's just ridiculous!" The statue has a cold, eerie blue light. If it were on a cloudy day or at night, it would definitely give people a creepy feeling, it's not a very auspicious thing.

In ancient times, weapons were considered instruments of death and war. Apart from the underground tomb of Qin Shi Huang, no one would easily place a menacing statue of a warrior in their home.

Unable to draw the sword, I reached out, opened the watch cover, and took off the lotus-shaped key.

This key is very rare; the lotus petals are polished to a gleaming shine, suggesting that the winding cycle of an old-fashioned clock becomes increasingly shorter, causing significant wear and tear on the key. The key is heavy, carrying an inexplicable chill—

I bet I heard the sound of bubbles again. There's no need to describe the sound anymore. A deep chill ran through me, and goosebumps suddenly rose on my back. I couldn't help but clench my keys tightly.

The sound came from behind the statue, one after another, urgent and loud.

The lotus stung my palm, jolting me awake. I took a step back and examined the statue again from head to toe. The helmet, armor, boots, bell, and sword were clearly visible; the pendulum was still swinging. Superficially, there was no reason for it to make that sound. Besides, this was on the second floor, with the living room downstairs, and three living people in the living room. How could there be a bubbling sound?

There is no kind of water in the world that can rise up to the second floor; this is a villa, not a watermill in the Japanese countryside.

I gritted my teeth, my gaze fixed on the statue's face. Based on my not-so-basic experience appreciating art, I knew that in any human figure, the sculptor would deliberately focus on the face, especially the eyes. Everyone knows that the eyes are the windows to the soul; when the eyes come alive, the entire statue is filled with boundless vitality and charm.

Volume Two: The Tower of the Dead

The first book, The Mysterious Villa

— Chapter 7 - A Beauty's Night Walk —

The statue's face has very rough skin, which can be interpreted as the result of a year-round battle on the frontier. His eyes do not have the usual fierce and ruthless killing intent, nor the sorrow of being away from home and missing his wife and children. There is only a longing look in his eyes. When I saw his eyes, the first thing that jumped into my mind was the idiom "longing look".

"Is he gazing into the distance? Where is he gazing?"

I took another step back and examined the direction the statue was facing, which was exactly the midpoint between the west and the north.

Actually, there's no point in me making such a wild guess. It was probably just casually placed in the living room on the second floor by its previous owner, and the northwest-facing orientation was simply for neatness and aesthetics, without any special meaning whatsoever.

"Where is that bubbling sound coming from? Could there be some hidden waterway leading directly to the 'sea eye'?"

I don't know if Japan has "sea eyes," but from the materials Su Lun used to research Tanino's identity, I read about this detail: on the grasslands of Outer Mongolia, there are small, moving lakes, which the locals call "sea eyes." The larger lakes are nearly a thousand square meters, while the smaller ones are only a dozen square meters. They appear and disappear at will. It is said that these elusive lakes are connected to the vast eastern and northern seas, forming an "eye of the sea" encircling Russia…

It was by tracking the movement of tens of thousands of underwater eyes that Gu Ye discovered more than a dozen large and small underwater tombs of nobility and princes in Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia (the People's Republic of Mongolia), making a huge discovery that shocked the global tomb raiding community.

When a sea eye appears, people nearby will first hear a "gurgling" sound of bubbles, because the water flows out from a narrow channel, inevitably carrying a lot of air and creating countless bubbles.

I wiped the cold sweat from my face, switched the lotus key to my other hand, and really wanted to call Xiao Keleng up to listen. Such a bizarre thing, if I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't have believed it no matter what others said, just like Xiao Keleng's attitude towards me.

The sound of bubbling water suddenly disappeared, like a tape abruptly ending. My heart, which had been suppressed for so long, slowly relaxed, and I let out a long breath. Only then did I realize that all the muscles in my body were sore from being overly tense, especially my neck, which was aching terribly from looking up at the statue's face.

Outside the window, the sun shone brightly, but inside, it was eerily quiet.

The hour markers on the dial are indicated by stars, just like on a regular clock, with four stars set at the twelve, three, six, and nine o'clock positions. What's particularly striking is that the clock's case, hands, and bezel are all made of bronze, a rather rare feature.

I looked at the key in my hand, and as if possessed, I raised it and inserted it into the upper winding hole on the left.

The click sound was likely the sound of the lotus key engaging with the gears in the base. This hole is for winding the mainspring, while the other one makes the pendulum chime.

The intermittent sound of bubbles made me feel as if it were all a dream.

Xiao Keleng called out from downstairs, "Mr. Feng, Mr. Feng, it's Sister Su Lun on the phone, please come down and answer it..."

Because of Xiao Keleng's sudden interruption, I stopped studying the statue and inadvertently left the key on the dial. This unintentional mistake unexpectedly contributed to the strange events that followed.

Actually, I should have called Su Lun first to let her know I was safe. If there is anyone in the world who truly cares about me, it should definitely be Su Lun, and it can only be Su Lun.

I quickly leaped down the stairs, and at the corner, I somersaulted and jumped down, landing as lightly as a cotton ball in the wind. Although I didn't mean to show off, it already made the Anzi sisters look at me with expressions of uncontrollable admiration.

The telephone, a large, antique-style ivory-white telephone, was placed on a small side table next to the sofa. Both the handset and the base gleamed with an elegant sheen.

Xiao Ke held the receiver, speaking in a low voice with a mischievous smile on her face.

I took the receiver, and Su Lun's gentle and calm voice rang out: "Xiao Xiao said that everything is going smoothly, and the value of Xunfuyuan's properties has always been highly sought after?"

Even across the vast distance of time and space, Suren's voice still captivated me, and I couldn't help but smile: "Yes, we are sought after, but it seems we don't lack this money. Suren, do you really mean I should dig three feet into the ground and uncover the secrets of Xunfu Garden?"

When two people reach the level of intimacy we have, we can tell what the other person is thinking just by hearing a sentence or even a few words from them.

Suren was silent for a moment, seemingly flipping through some documents, making a rustling sound as the pages scratched, before continuing, "Brother Feng, that's true. Your will specifically mentioned Xunfu Garden, proving your deep curiosity about that villa complex. As we all know, for the past fifteen years since the disappearance of Hero Yang Tian, your brother has only been interested in clues related to finding Hero Yang Tian's whereabouts. In my analysis, something... well, whether it's written materials or decorative objects, could be the key to this matter. So, after I finish what I'm doing, I'll fly to Japan to meet you."

With Suren around, I feel like I have a strong support system for everything I do, and no one can replace that.

In front of Xiao Keleng and the Anzi sisters, I couldn't say anything more intimate, so I just smiled awkwardly and asked, "What's so important?"

Suren's voice became noticeably more depressed: "It's like this, one of my brother's properties in mainland China, a private museum near Xi'an and Xianyang, was completely looted by thieves. The agent there called to say the losses amounted to two hundred million US dollars. Actually, the money is a small matter; the key issue is a set of mysterious bronze keys—alas, my brother has said countless times that each of those twelve keys should hold a secret. If they fall into the wrong hands, it will cause a great disaster."

I've seen pictures of that set of keys; they're all in the oldest and most archaic form, specifically designed for large locks from the late Song and early Yuan dynasties. Each key is 30 centimeters long and 2 centimeters in diameter, with the handles cast in the shapes of the twelve zodiac animals. I acquired them from a tomb raider for a total of 120,000 RMB.

In an antique illustrated book by the scalpel, there was a record about zodiac keys: "Twelve people, each holding a key, simultaneously insert them into twelve locks, and then the heavens collapse and the earth opens."