“Xiang Ye, you really hit hard!”
The fatty clutched his face, looking at me with a mournful expression.
My abdomen still felt uncomfortable, and my throat itched terribly. After a few coughs, I spat out a lot of blood.
When I came to my senses, I realized I was lying by a lake. The surroundings were no longer a white desert but a somewhat barren plain.
Fu Honglang was in the lake, searching for something. Soon, I saw him drag someone ashore.
“Where is this?” I asked the fatty.
He shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
I asked him to help me up, and I quickly went to help.
It turned out that the person Fu Honglang had pulled ashore was Jin Qiaoyue. She had completely fainted. After Fu Honglang pressed on her abdomen a couple of times, she slowly woke up.
Seeing everyone safe and sound, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Is everyone here?” the fatty asked, looking at the calm lake.
Fu Honglang replied, “Probably no one else… it seems Brother Ayuan might…”
He said this with a look of helplessness.
“We were very lucky this time,” the fatty said. “Who would have thought the exit to the ancient city would be in a pool of water…”
The fatty was right. We were truly lucky this time.
Thinking back to what happened before I fainted, I was truly shaken.
That feeling, I never wanted to experience it again in my life.
It wasn't that the dive was too deep, but in such a desperate situation, a person's psyche could easily collapse.
After resting by the lake for a while, I noticed my watch had started working again. It seemed we had left the magnetic field.
However, now the four of us had nothing but the clothes on our backs.
Plus, we hadn't eaten for almost a day and a night. Everyone was so hungry their stomachs were sticking to their backs, and we were all sweating profusely after walking for not long.
“Hang in there a little longer, I can already smell something…” Fu Honglang said.
“Smell what?” I asked weakly.
“I put a special spice packet made by my wife in my original backpack. That spice packet has a very unique scent and lasts for a long time.”
He sniffed and said, “In another hour at most, we’ll find Li Chuang and Rexiti.”
Hearing this, we, who were already weak, gritted our teeth and quickened our pace with renewed spirits.
Just as Fu Honglang had said, it took us just over fifty minutes to find Li Chuang and Rexiti.
They were waiting for us at the original campsite and hadn’t left.
When the fatty saw the tents and the campfire, he ran like lightning, shouting, “I’m starving! I’m starving!”
However, he didn’t run far before he tripped and fell flat on his face, unable to get up for a long time.
When I went to help him up, the fatty looked at me with teary eyes, “Xiang Ye… I have no strength… can you help me get the food?”
“Have some backbone, will you? It’s only a few more steps, get up quickly.” I reached out to pull him up.
The fatty reluctantly got up slowly. When we reached the campsite, I immediately asked Rexiti to cook a pot of thin compressed biscuits.
After all, given our condition, if we ate the dry compressed biscuits directly, we might choke.
We could only put the compressed biscuits in water to make them thin and drink them bit by bit.
Besides the compressed biscuits, Rexiti also got us a few cans.
While we were eating, I repeatedly warned the fatty not to eat too much, just enough. But he didn’t listen at all and kept wolfing down the food. He ate almost half the pot of compressed biscuits by himself.
It wasn't that I was unwilling to give him more, but I was afraid he would overeat.
After we had eaten and drunk our fill, I finally felt a bit more alive.
During this time, Li Chuang asked us several times what had happened, but we didn’t answer him.
Now that we were full, we naturally told him the general situation.
After listening, he said, “So, you didn’t find the Sui Hou Pearl?”
“It’s good enough that we managed to get out alive,” I said with annoyance. “Now that Master Fu San and his bodyguard are dead inside, how do you plan to handle it when we get back?”
I expected Li Chuang to be troubled, but he looked nonchalant. “When we came, we had already signed an agreement. If anything unexpected happened, we would not be responsible for anything…”
He then smiled slightly and glanced at Jin Qiaoyue, “Miss Jin, you know the contents of the agreement, right?”
Jin Qiaoyue didn’t answer him. She remained silent, looking preoccupied.
Seeing that it was getting late, we decided to rest for the night and head back the next day.
With the reduced number of people, there were more tents. I couldn’t stand the fatty’s snoring, so I slept separately from him.
Lying in the tent at night, although I was exhausted, I wasn't sleepy.
Although I didn’t find the Sui Hou Pearl on this trip, I did find some clues about my father.
When I go back this time, as long as I find An Ying and manage to help her recover her memories, I will be able to understand the whole story. Then, I will naturally be able to figure out what my father did back then.
Who was most likely to want to kill him?
Why did they kill him?
Of course, I will also know who killed my father!
Thinking of this, I took a deep breath. I felt a mix of excitement, anger, and melancholy.
I climbed out of my sleeping bag, unzipped the tent, and was about to light a cigarette when I saw a pair of feet appear in my field of vision.
I poked my head out and looked up to see Jin Qiaoyue.
“You can’t sleep either?” she asked me.
I nodded, “Just going to have a cigarette and then sleep.”
“Can you walk with me for a bit?”
I thought about it and crawled out of the tent.
I knew she was more agitated than any of us right now. She might need someone to talk to, and I also wanted to talk to someone.
We walked to a small mound near the campsite. I smoked a cigarette and gazed at the starry sky not far away. “Are you still thinking about your uncle’s business?”
“What’s the use of thinking about it? What happened has happened, and I can’t change anything.”
“It’s best if you can think that way…” I exhaled a puff of smoke and smiled.
Jin Qiaoyue looked at me and asked, “What are your plans when you go back?”
“What plans can I have? I opened an antique shop in Guangling. I’ll just continue my small business when I get back.” I said insincerely. “What about you? What are your plans?”
“With my uncle’s accident this time, Chinatown is bound to be in chaos…” she said with a worried look.
“Actually, you don’t need to worry about those things. You’re still young. Isn’t it better to do something you want to do?” I said.
“Something I want to do?” She gave a wry smile. “I’ve grown up in the gang for so many years… I don’t think I can ever leave the gang.”
Hearing her say that, I didn’t know how to persuade her.
Everyone has their own way of life, and I wasn’t qualified to make her do as I wished.
“So, when you go back this time, are you planning to take over your uncle’s position?” I asked.
She took a deep breath. “It seems I have no choice… I just don’t know if I can ultimately secure that position.”
As she said this, the corners of her lips turned up, revealing a brilliant smile befitting her age. “Xiang Fei, are we friends?”
“Of course, we are. We’ve risked our lives together.” I said with a smile.
Hearing my words, her smile widened, and the melancholy and worry in her eyes instantly vanished.