King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 84

I raised an eyebrow and interjected, "The roof tiles have been rattling. Was that your footsteps?" I had initially thought it was the strong north wind in the mountains making the roof tiles rattle.

The Plague suddenly revealed an extremely surprised expression: "You can hear my footsteps? Oh my god—you can use hidden weapons to break my 'Heaven and Earth Illusion' lightness skill? Who exactly are you? How do you know this kind of 'electric eye supernatural power'?"

As he arched his body upwards, blood gushed from several wounds simultaneously.

I turned off the tap and slowly shook my head: "Electric Eye Ability? What kind of skill is that?"

The Plague rubbed his eyes again, tilted his head and stared intently at my face, hissing and gasping for breath. After a few minutes, he shook his head with a sigh of relief: "No, you're not the great hero Yang Tian! I used to think that no one in the world could possess such miraculous skills except him, but it seems I was wrong... Haha... I was wrong!"

He's really strange to be so happy about something he did wrong.

"You know the great hero Yang Tian? The legendary 'King of Tomb Raiders' Yang Tian?" I suppressed my excitement. The legends about my brother in the martial arts world were all vague and fantastical; I wanted to get more detailed information.

The plague's beady eyes began to dart about again, and I suddenly realized: "I've been too emotionally expressive, and I'm afraid I'm giving him another opportunity to take advantage of me!"

"Haha! Haha!" Plague chuckled dryly, tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and gasped for breath.

The wind outside picked up again, and this time it was the real sound of the roof tiles being blown by the wind, rattling loudly.

The faucet wasn't completely turned off, and water dripped down incessantly, making a monotonous and strange sound.

"Is Guan Baoling's disappearance related to the faucet? Or to the sound of bubbling water?" I stretched out my hands and pressed them against the mirror, right where the two handprints and water stains had been.

The glass was cold, smooth, and clean, with nothing unusual about it.

I slowly moved my hands to the sides, pressing them against two water stains on the frame, and gradually applied pressure, mimicking Guan Baoling's attempt to lift the mirror. The mirror was extremely heavy; the inlaid mirrors on all four sides were genuine bronze, weighing a good twenty kilograms.

That weight was something a girl like Guan Baoling couldn't possibly lift, meaning her disappearance was primarily unrelated to the mirror.

"Hey, kid, you want to know about Yang Tian? You've come to the right person—" The plague had recovered, and his tone gradually became arrogant and conceited. He pulled his knees back and tried to stand up by holding onto the door frame.

I turned around abruptly, sneering, "What if I want to know? What if I don't want to know?" Facing such a seasoned veteran, I'm afraid he'll be able to predict every single one of my thoughts.

"If you want to, pay to listen; if you don't want to—there are plenty of rich people in this world waiting to hear their legendary stories, I won't force you..." His hand gripped the door frame, and he was halfway up when I suddenly raised my hand and shot out a knife. With a whoosh, it flew through the air and pierced the door frame with a snap, right between his index and middle fingers.

For master thieves, their most valuable and cherished possessions are these two fingers; they are their lifeline and their only means of survival.

"I don't want to resort to violence, but if you keep playing dirty tricks, don't blame us younger generation for disrespecting our seniors..."

I have money, but it seems that the temptation of money alone will not be enough to sway the plague tonight.

Plague struggled to his feet, glancing at me sideways: "One word! Give me ten million, and I'll tell you all the information, file by file! Master Yang Tian? We're old friends, and we even sparred in front of the fireplace just now. Oh, right, it was just a friendly spar between fellow martial arts enthusiasts—he's famous and can hold his liquor, but compared to me…"

Fortune tellers have said that people with yellow faces are natural liars; even if they tell a huge lie, their faces will not show any trace of it.

Plague's beady eyes kept darting around, making me skeptical of what he said.

"Ten million?"

“Yes, ten million US dollars. I can give you the information, and there’s something else that you, a greenhorn, have probably never even heard of—the ‘Book of Purgatory’…” He kept glancing at me sideways. The five bullets I fired earlier had really hurt him, and he must be gritting his teeth and hating me right now. That makes it even harder for him to believe the deal he was making of “ten million for information”.

How could I not know about the "Book of Purgatory"? That wondrous book that Japanese monks dreamed of possessing. Only by combining it with the incantations in the "Book of Purgatory" could one possibly unravel the secrets of the "Tower of the Dead."

I laughed out loud three times, because many Japanese conglomerates and global explorers had offered up to five hundred million US dollars for this book, mobilizing all the underworld forces in the world to acquire it. If the Plague knew the whereabouts of this book, why would it waste its time here with me for a million or ten million?

"Are you kidding me? The 'Book of Purgatory'? In your hands? Hahahaha, just kidding..." I laughed, a bitter laugh with a furrowed brow.

Blood seeped from Plague's neck, splattering onto his clothes, but he didn't bother to wipe it away, laughing even louder than I did: "Haha, you think you're some clueless brat? You still won't believe me! Of course I have this book. Think about it, who am I? I'm the number one master thief, 'Plague,' right? All the treasures in the world, if I see them, I can take them with my bare hands. 'Black Angels' is the world's number one thief gang; our master thieving skills are at least fifty years ahead of other gangs... Never mind, I won't get paid to teach you, I should go..."

The existence of "Angels of the Night" evokes a strange sense of pride in many South Koreans, much like how they feel proud of industrial brands like Samsung, LG, and Daewoo. Indeed, "Angels of the Night" has lived up to the nation's high expectations, winning the title of "Number One in the World" at the "Global Master Thief Conference" in Berlin, Germany for five consecutive years, impressing tens of thousands of master thieves from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

I have no desire for the "Book of Purgatory," I just want to find Guan Baoling as soon as possible.

"If you want to leave, either tell me where that girl is, or leave your life behind. The choice is yours..." My left arm drooped, and another small knife slid into my hand. I only carried these two concealed knives with me because of Suren's strong insistence. In truth, given my ability to adapt to changing circumstances, carrying them was unnecessary.

“She…she disappeared into the water. I saw it with my own eyes. When the water started to flow in the opposite direction, she vanished…”

The knife was quite intimidating, and finally, the topic of the plague came up. He leaned against the doorframe, swinging his injured leg, his left hand constantly rubbing above his head. This strange movement didn't catch my attention, because his words were too shocking—

"Water reverses? How can water reverse?" I didn't react for a moment.

"The water was flowing from the faucet into the sewer, then suddenly it changed direction, flowing out of the sewer and back into the faucet. Her hand was under the faucet, and suddenly it was gone. I thought she had been sucked into the faucet..."

Before he could finish speaking, I burst out laughing: "What what what?"

I slammed my fist on the stainless steel faucet, making a loud banging sound—his words were utterly absurd. This wasn't a horror movie; how could a faucet suck people away?

The Plague laughed sullenly: "I'm telling the truth, believe me if you want!"

I slapped the tap a dozen times, my palms turning bright red, before turning back to him and asking, "If she was sucked away, why wasn't I? Why are we still standing here perfectly fine? Why?"

He didn't explain, nor could he explain, that I paid a million dollars and all I got was this absurd, bizarre, and incomplete story.

“I should go now… Believe it or not, I’m telling the truth. If you’re interested in the ‘Book of Purgatory,’ we can talk about it tomorrow night, but my medical expenses will all be on your tab…” He walked toward the back window, preparing to use his bone-shrinking technique to leave again.

I don't know whether I should believe him or not. "Disappearing into the faucet" is by no means a reasonable explanation for Guan Baoling's mysterious disappearance.

"Hey, senior, I have plenty of money. If your information is compelling enough, no amount of money is a problem!" I called out to his retreating figure. The assets left behind by the scalpel can only be described as "astronomical" and "countless." If I could buy some valuable information, I think Suren would definitely not hesitate to spend it.

The plague, with faltering steps, had already reached the window. He reached out and opened it, turning back with a smile: "Little friend, my information is certainly valuable, otherwise..." He didn't finish his sentence, but instead, with one hand on the windowsill, he lightly leaped out, his body suddenly shrinking into an extremely flat sheet, sliding effortlessly through the gaps in the fine and sturdy security bars.

I slowly walked to the window, silently facing the north wind and the wilderness. Tonight's events were even more frustrating than last night's, with one strange thing after another happening. I had no choice but to turn to Xiao Keleng for help.

Back in the living room, I dialed the number Xiao Keleng had left: "Something happened at the villa..." After this opening line, I realized that the scene of Guan Baoling climbing over the door seemed hard to accept, so I abruptly stopped myself and said, "Xiao Xiao, something strange has happened. Can you come over and talk?"

Xiao Keleng hesitated on the other end of the phone: "This..."

Such dialogue often appears in third-rate romantic films, where the male lead uses this kind of line when trying to seduce the female lead. Xiao Keleng must have misunderstood me; that's why she hesitated to answer.

I punched the sofa hard in frustration and quickly said, "Oh right, it's fine to talk in person tomorrow, sorry to bother you!"

Xiao Keleng replied with a mixture of disappointment and hope, "Oh, is that so..."

I couldn't think straight, and hung up the phone, utterly exhausted, my mind filled with frustration.

If the truth behind Guan Baoling's disappearance is as the plague described—because of the strange incident of "water flowing backwards and people disappearing" in the bathroom—then where did she go? A fourth-dimensional space? A secret passage in the castle? Or was she simply captured by a monster?

Should I call the police? Will Guan Baoling's driver and that pretty boy call the police?

Curled up on the sofa, my mind was a jumble of questions, a jumble of unanswered questions. Honestly, knowing my personality, I'd rather just pay the plague ten million and unravel these questions one by one. Perhaps only then could I get a good night's sleep.

I added more firewood to the fireplace, gazing at the dancing flames and hoping for that strange bubbling sound. With Guan Baoling's disappearance as a precedent, even if a torrent of seawater suddenly spewed from the fireplace now, I wouldn't be alarmed.

Unfortunately, nothing happened. I kept staring at the flames until I was exhausted and leaned against the sofa, where I drifted off to sleep. Nothing strange happened after that.

I had a dream—

Guan Baoling lay in the water, the crystal-clear water churning and surging upwards like a blooming lotus flower. She lay peacefully in the center of the lotus, her hands elegantly clasped and placed horizontally at her waist. The water was deep, extremely clear, yet it stretched unfathomably downwards. Countless huge bubbles churned and rose to the surface, making a continuous, strange "gurgling" sound.

I don't understand what this place is. It looks like a huge swimming pool, but judging by the looks of it, it's at least fifteen meters deep. What swimming pool in the world is that deep? It's practically a well—ah, right, it's a well, the "Well of Spirits" in Fengge Temple, a well with magical precognitive abilities. I've been here before. Looking down again, the bluestone beside the pool is carved with layers upon layers of lotus flowers, lifelike and endless. It truly is the "Well of Spirits."

So, is this Fengge Temple?

What happened to Guan Baoling? In my memory, there was another person lying like this—Tengjia, who lost his soul in the Tulihan Pyramid. If anyone should be lying in the well, shouldn't it be Tengjia?

Just as my thoughts shifted to this point, the person lying down truly transformed into Fujika, still clad in that strange golden cylinder, lying quietly with his eyes closed.

My mind was a bit muddled. Was it Teng Jia or Guan Baoling? Both were missing, but Guan Baoling's disappearance seemed far more mysterious and unpredictable. Just then, the bubbles vanished. Having lost its upward support, Teng Jia's body slowly sank to the bottom of the water, falling, half a meter, a meter, two meters… until it became an infinitely smaller shadow in my sight…

"Miss Fujika!" I shouted, waking up instantly.

There was no well, no water bubble, no vines or bells; all that remained was the gradually dying embers in the fireplace, and the glass door was already bathed in the light of dawn.

I felt extremely sore all over, especially since I slept without a pillow and my cervical spine wasn't properly aligned. It felt like thousands of needles were pricking inside me, causing unbearable pain and swelling.

Another night has passed, and I really wonder if this deadly torment will continue indefinitely. The bathroom is quiet, and I'm too lazy to look. I know Guan Baoling definitely hasn't appeared, otherwise she would have already gone back to the living room.

Xiao Keleng's knocking came at seven o'clock in the morning. When I opened the door for her, she looked up at me with a slight blush on her cheeks and said, "Mr. Feng, what happened last night? I'm so sorry I couldn't come."

I shrugged, understanding what she was thinking, and smiled wryly, "It's okay, coming here today is exactly the same."

It's perfectly reasonable for a girl to respect and love herself; I'm the one who should be apologizing for having ulterior motives.

I returned to the sofa in the living room and briefly recounted how Guan Baoling entered and disappeared, in about twenty sentences. Xiao Ke listened calmly with a furrowed brow. Only after I mentioned the plague's departure and ended the conversation did she let out an "Oh," slowly nod, then stroked her shiny short hair and blinked her bright eyes—

I was hoping she could give me some inspiration, but after she finished all those actions, there was no follow-up.

The sun is rising, and birds are singing outside again; it's a beautiful morning.

"Xiao Xiao, can you give me some advice?"

I noticed that her short hair had just been washed, was clean, and had been sprayed with high-quality hairspray, making it jet black and shiny. Her eyebrows and eyes had also been carefully drawn, paired with a clearly defined red lip, giving her a poised and elegant look. She had also changed into a neat gray suit, which seemed quite different from her previous cheerful and energetic image.

She smiled somewhat absentmindedly, "Me? What advice can I give you? But I remember seeing a play called 'Hong Fu's Night Flight' in college; those plot points might inspire you, right?" With that, she got up and went to the bathroom, leaving me utterly bewildered. [QiS Jar eBook Download Paradise]

"Hongfu's Night Flight? What does that mean?" I didn't sleep well all night, my head hurts and feels heavy, and my thoughts seem to have stopped flowing.

I got up, feeling a little dizzy, and followed her to the bathroom. I saw her carefully checking her appearance in front of the mirror, completely unconcerned about my bizarre experience.

"Xiao Xiao, what I mean is, should we... call the police?"

Xiao Keleng secretly pursed her lips in the mirror and leisurely asked, "Call the police? Call what police?"

I looked at her: "Guan Baoling is missing. If we can't find her, won't we have to call the police? What if her agent comes looking for her and starts investigating—"

Xiao Keleng turned around, looked at my face, and answered clearly, word by word: "Do you think the police will believe what you say? I know that Japanese police are all pigs, pig-headed and pig-brained—but even if you said what you just said to pigs, would they believe it? Not even a single word?"

I rubbed my hands with a wry smile: "Could it be... could those words be so hard to understand?"

Xiao Ke looked around the cold and quiet bathroom, strode to the window, and flung it open, letting the cold morning air blow in, which made me shiver.

"Mr. Feng, stop joking! You have absolutely no talent for humor—it's dawn, jokes over! Do you want to go to Fengge Temple today? If so, I'll have Anzi and the others contact us beforehand to make preparations… Oh, sorry, I forgot, you spent the night with the big star, you might need some sleep. I'll come back before lunch, so as not to disturb your rest—"

Xiao Keleng was slightly annoyed. She tossed her short hair, brushed past me, and walked straight into the living room. She stepped out the door, her high heels clicking on the floor. To be fair, in this outfit and with the high heels, she had a rather noble and elegant air about her.

I understood everything Xiao Keleng said; after all, I'm not a stupid fool.

"A big star sneaking in at night, a man and a woman alone in a room, a beautiful woman disappearing unexpectedly... These events, when put together, are like a clichéd plot from a soap opera!" Yes, if someone else told me this, I wouldn't easily believe it either, especially with the emergence of the plague, the saying "water flows backward, people disappear," which pushed the bizarre events to a climax.

Xiao Keleng had just used the faucet, and nothing strange happened.

Volume Two: The Tower of the Dead

The first book, The Mysterious Villa

— Chapter 11 — The Mysterious Map in the Sword Sheath —

The distance from the bathroom door to the mirror on the opposite wall is three meters; the distance from the south wall on the left to the northernmost window is about eight meters. The floor is paved with sixty-centimeter square bluestone slabs, extremely clean and tidy. The bathroom walls are bare, unpainted and unplastered, revealing the original blue shale, with white cement grouting, just like the floor.

The roof is a flat plate made of reinforced concrete, painted with white latex paint, with a rectangular white plastic ceiling light installed in the center.

This is roughly what the restroom looks like. There are no dark rooms, secret passages, or cabinets large enough for an adult to hide in. It was here that the famous actress Kwan Po-ling disappeared.

I turned the tap on and off repeatedly, letting out half a cubic meter of water, but I didn't see any "water backflow." I angrily cursed the plague seven or eight times in my mind, then left the bathroom and went upstairs to my bedroom. I hadn't slept well for two nights in a row, and I was extremely exhausted, especially since I had taken a long flight from Cairo to Hokkaido before coming to Xunfuyuan.

The bedroom was spotless. The large Simmons bed was covered with pure white sheets, pillowcases, and blankets, all exuding a fresh fragrance. Before I could even take off my clothes, I plopped myself down on the bed, pulled the blanket over myself, and after a few wriggles, drifted off into a sweet dream.

This time, I didn't dream anymore and slept soundly for a long time.