Buddhist Pagoda Ghost Tomb

wedge,

In a dark room, a tall man sat behind a swivel chair. The light was too dim to see his face clearly. A short man stood in front of him, looking very respectful.

"You found her?" the tall man asked slowly.

“Yes, young master,” the short man said, his voice hoarse and seemingly very old. He took a CD from the safe, put it in the notebook on the table, and then pushed it in front of the tall man. “Young master, please take a look.”

A video popped up on the computer screen. On the street, the camera's focus remained on a girl in her early twenties. Although she wasn't exceptionally beautiful, she was still pretty and charming. She wore a sun hat, her long hair flowed down her back, and her figure was undeniably graceful.

Are you sure she's the one?

"Yes. I searched for a long time before I found her, there's no mistake."

"Very good." The tall man's lips curled into a strange smile. "To obtain that treasure, we'll have to rely on her."

I. Kidnapping

"Miss, may I buy you a drink?" A male voice rang out beside her. Qin Wen rolled her eyes. Here we go again. When will these men ever stop? She just came to the bar to have some fun.

"Sorry, I already have a boyfriend." Qin Wen didn't even bother to turn her head, taking a sip of lemonade at the bar. The man seemed persistent, "But I didn't see any male companion with you..."

Unable to bear it any longer, Qin Wen grabbed Yin Li, who was sitting next to her drinking a cocktail, turned around abruptly, and said to the young man dressed in rock attire, "She is my lover."

The young man stared at the two of them in surprise. Yin Li's forehead was covered in cold sweat. Qin Wen smiled and said, "I know what you're thinking. That's right, I am a lesbian, commonly known as a lesbian or LES!"

Yin Li's face slowly turned ashen.

"Sorry to bother you," the young man said hastily, disappearing without a trace as if avoiding a plague. Qin Wen breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away a cold sweat. "Luckily I reacted quickly. These men are so annoying." Before she could finish speaking, she felt two murderous glares. She shivered and turned to look at Yin Li, who was hovering on the verge of a volcanic eruption.

"Don't you think you should explain this to me?" Yin Li said with a dark face. "When did I become a lesbian?"

Qin Wen chuckled foolishly twice and said, "I suddenly remembered, we forgot to lock the door when we came out. You play, I'll go back and check if anything's missing." Before she finished speaking, she had already jumped up and sprinted towards the dance floor at top speed. The area was filled with a wildly dancing crowd, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone. Yin Li gritted her teeth in hatred. "You ran fast, huh? How dare you ruin my reputation today! Wait till I get back to the hotel and see how I deal with you!"

"Miss." A male voice sounded in her ear. Yin Li turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a protruding head and a big belly grinning lewdly at her. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Yin Li's face darkened, and she said to the bartender, "Bring me a bottle of Golden Crown XO. He said it's on me."

Before she could finish speaking, the man had vanished, even faster than Qin Wen. Yin Li rolled her eyes. "Luckily you ran fast. If you had really invited me to drink Golden Crown XO, I would have drugged you and made you regret it."

Qin Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief as she left the noisy bar. Xiao Li was really scary when she got angry; she should avoid using her as a shield in the future.

Night had fallen, and the streets were nearly deserted. The dim streetlights were somewhat murky. She looked up at the star-studded night sky. This was Karamay, the famous oil city. Half a month had passed since she left Yecheng, and even now, thinking back, she still felt a lingering fear.

The eerie princess's tomb, the dead and surviving tomb raiders, the archaeological team members, and the undercover police officer Situ Xiang—it all feels like yesterday.

Over the past two weeks, she and Xiao Li have traveled north from Kashgar, passing through Aksu, Korla, Urumqi, and Shihezi. Now they have arrived in Karamay. Along the way, they visited many historical sites, but compared to the Princess's Mausoleum, these were like stones on the riverbank, utterly devoid of novelty and value.

So she suggested going to Karamay, and then to the Urho mining area downstream of the Jiamuhe River, 100 kilometers away, the infamous Devil City, where perhaps the nightmares that haunted their dreams every night could be appeased.

It was already 10 p.m. when they returned to the 'Future Hotel' where they were staying. The clerk sitting behind the counter greeted her with a smile: "Miss Qin, you're back?"

"Jemila, is there hot water tonight? I want to take a shower," Qin Wen said. Water resources are extremely scarce throughout Xinjiang, and the water supply here is even more intermittent. As a result, Qin Wen has not showered for three days. In this hot weather, it is simply torture for her.

"The water supply will end at 1 a.m. tonight, so you'd better hurry." Jamila nodded to her. Qin Wen was so excited to hear that she could take a shower that she immediately ran to her room. But when she opened the door, she suddenly froze.

On the beautiful sofa covered with velvet cushions sat a young man, about twenty years old, of East Asian descent, holding a glass of scarlet liquid in his hand. On the table beside him was a bottle of red wine, marked with the year 1986.

Qin Wen frowned, stepped back to check the door number. She hadn't gone to the wrong place. Who was this man?

"Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" Qin Wen said rudely, becoming more vigilant. "If you've just entered the wrong room, please leave immediately."

The young man slowly raised his head. It was an extremely handsome face with fair skin, overly delicate features, and a pair of deep black eyes, which reminded Qin Wen of the legendary evil yet noble vampire.

"Are you Qin Wen?" the young man asked.

Qin Wen was taken aback: "You know me?"

A strange smile curled at the corner of the young man's lips as he reached for the expensive bottle of red wine: "HAUTBRION, interested in a glass?"

"Who exactly are you?" Qin Wen took a slight step back, a Taekwondo starting stance, ready to attack at any moment. The young man still didn't answer her question directly. "Petrus is supposed to be the king of liquors, but it has a very beautiful Chinese name—'Red Beauty.' When meeting a beautiful woman, you still need to bring this liquor to win her heart. Don't you think so, Wen?"

Qin Wen's lips twitched twice: "Such sweet words, but they won't work on me. If there's nothing else, please leave. I need to take a shower, don't waste my time!"

"Before you send me away, take a look at what I brought." The young man took a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, and with a flick of his finger, the paper landed steadily in her hand. Qin Wen's heart skipped a beat. This man not only knew martial arts, but he was extremely skilled. She probably didn't even have a one percent chance of winning.

Sweat began to slowly seep from her forehead. Qin Wen flipped open the white paper in her hand, her expression suddenly changed, and she couldn't take her eyes off it anymore.

On the paper was a strange drawing, seemingly a pagoda, very similar to the pagodas popular in countries like Thailand and Cambodia, yet with subtle differences. Behind the pagoda were a pair of beautiful, outstretched wings.

“Futu…” Qin Wen’s lips moved slightly as her memory returned to three years ago. She was a sophomore in college and the captain of the school’s women’s basketball team. When that incident happened, she had just finished practicing and was resting on the sidelines when a boy playing basketball suddenly collapsed, twitched twice, and lost consciousness.

Blood flowed from beneath the boy, spreading across the plastic turf floor. But the blood was very strange; it was just a thin line that spread into the shape of a tower, with a pair of huge wings spreading out behind it.

Chaos erupted on the court. The school doctor arrived quickly, provided first aid, and evacuated everyone from the court. Qin Wen returned to her dormitory, filled with doubt. She recognized the boy; he was Zheng Hao, a key player on the boys' team, and always appeared healthy. How could he have suddenly collapsed?

Seeing that she was sullen, Yin Li asked her what had happened. She told her friend everything she had seen. Xiao Li's face suddenly turned very pale, and she said that he was either cursed or poisoned by a Gu,

……