After finally persuading Jiang Ye and seeing that his emotions had stabilized a bit, I asked the question that had been lingering in my heart.
What had he heard Jin Qiaoyue say on the phone before?
Jiang Ye told me the truth now, saying that he had heard Jin Qiaoyue mention that she would send a signal upon reaching her destination.
"Send a signal?"
"In my opinion, people will also come when the time comes," Jiang Ye said. "This is equivalent to violating the contract!"
Even if Jin Qiaoyue sent her destination through a so-called signal, her people wouldn't be able to arrive immediately.
Could it be that Ayuan wasn't going to kill the Wolf King, but to meet up with others?
No, even if they were meeting up with others, there was still some distance from the place where the wolves attacked to the destination.
I hadn't expected it to turn out to be something like this after all this time.
Jin Qiaoyue calling for people via satellite phone was something I needed to tell Li Chuang quickly.
After chatting with Jiang Ye for a few more words, I hurried to find Li Chuang and discovered that he was actually talking with Jin Qiaoyue.
Seeing this, I lost the urge to find him for a moment.
Had this guy been bought off?
I was a bit unsure how to handle this matter, so I decided not to stir up any more trouble.
Anyway, the contract was between them and Guan Zhenwan, what did it have to do with me?
My purpose for coming out this time was to find the Suihou Pearl. As for other matters, it had nothing to do with me how they handled them.
Thinking this way, I felt much more relaxed.
It seemed that before, I had taken my role as the overseer of the expedition team too seriously.
After resting for more than four hours, we continued our journey at noon.
We reached our destination by evening.
I knew when I came that the destination was probably not as simple as we thought, and finding the Suihou Pearl would not be easy.
Now it seemed I had been too optimistic.
This place had nothing but some wild grass; there was not even a trace of ancient ruins on the large flat ground.
The treasure map clearly stated that there was an ancient city in this place, and in a room to the east of the ancient city, there was a secret passage that led to an underground chamber, where the Suihou Pearl was kept.
Thinking about it, this treasure map appeared during the Qianlong period, and it had long since become unrecognizable with the passage of time.
"This, is the place you were talking about..." Rexiti pointed at the open ground. "I don't know what you're here for. Now that we're here, when can we go back?"
I glanced at everyone, and they were all staring at me.
Li Chuang came over and asked me, "Mr. Xiang, what do you think?"
What do I think?
Of course, I use my eyes to see!
What a foolish question!
I let out a sigh and took out the treasure map. Based on the ancient script and patterns on it, I judged that there should have been an ancient city here before.
Could it be that the ancient city was dismantled?
Impossible. We had encountered several ancient ruins before. If this ancient city had been dismantled, those ancient ruins would also not exist.
After thinking about it, there was only one possibility: the city was buried underground by sandstorms.
I called everyone over and explained my speculation.
After listening, everyone basically had no objections.
"So, what do we do now? Dig down?" Fatty asked.
I said, "Let's dig and see if we can find anything. We need to confirm if my deduction is correct before proceeding to the next step."
Fatty nodded, "Alright, let's split up and start digging."
We divided into two groups: Fatty, Song Bing, and I were one group, while Rexiti, Li Chuang, and Jin Qiaoyue were the other.
As for Jiang Ye and his wife, we didn't expect them to do anything anymore.
We dug from noon until night, digging down about six or seven meters, and finally unearthed some bricks and tiles.
Having confirmed that my deduction was correct, we now had to find a way to locate the room where the secret passage was hidden.
But with the entire ancient city buried underground, how could it be easy to find that room?
For a moment, everyone became discouraged. Such a massive undertaking was clearly beyond the capabilities of these few people.
Even if we dug desperately, we would still need sufficient food and water.
"Alright, this trip was for nothing," Fatty patted the dust off his clothes. "Mr. Xiang, we've at least completed half the mission. Can we get some of the hardship pay?"
I gave a wry smile, "I'm afraid it's unlikely."
"Ah? Then we worked for nothing?" Fatty said.
"Don't worry, even if he doesn't pay you the hardship pay, I will pay you then," I said weakly. "Go get some water and food. I'm exhausted."
Fatty ran over, got some compressed biscuits from his backpack, and brought back two bottles of water.
We sat on a small mound, eating and chatting.
"Mr. Xiang, tell me the truth, do you have another purpose for coming out this time?" Fatty asked, looking around slyly.
I didn't want to hide it from Fatty. Since he asked, I explained the whole story to him.
"So, we came out this time to find that Suihou Pearl?" Fatty asked.
I nodded and sighed, "But it seems difficult now..."
Looking at the boundless plain and the scattered weeds, a sense of powerlessness arose in my heart.
The sun slowly set, and darkness began to engulf the land.
We set up a campfire and tents at night. Everyone was exhausted, but someone had to keep watch.
This arduous task naturally fell to Fatty and me. Although I was tired, I had no sleepiness at all.
The search for the Suihou Pearl had been fraught with twists and turns. Just when we were about to find it, we encountered another difficulty.
My mind kept replaying my father's search for the Suihou Pearl. Was it like mine now?
Looking at the starry sky, I lay by the campfire, feeling very dejected.
Just then, Fatty's voice came from not far away.
"Mr. Xiang! Help!"
This guy said he had a stomachache and went to relieve himself, so why was he suddenly shouting for help?
I rolled over and got up, grabbed the flashlight, and ran towards the source of the sound.
When I ran over, I found that Fatty had fallen into a large pit.
Seeing his pathetic state in the pit, I felt both amused and annoyed.
"You really know how to pick a place to go to the bathroom."
Fatty pulled up his pants, looking helpless. "I haven't even started yet!"
This large pit was about ten meters in diameter and over three meters deep, making it not easy to climb out.
"I had just found a spot and taken off my pants when it collapsed," Fatty said.