It was still hazy at the crack of dawn. Despite the fact that it was drizzling, the visibility level had improved. Just when the two of them got out of their tent, they heard a loud and clear gunshot from the valley.
Bang…
Bang…
The gunshots sounded very different, as if they’d been hastily shot.Though the gunshots came from afar, they could hear it so clearly in the midst of the quiet jungle. It not only startled the birds, but also echoed back in the valley.
“What was this all about?!”
Miao Ying was shocked, and Zhao Yu felt confused.
“Over there!”
Very quickly, Zhao Yu was able to identify the direction of where the gunshots came from. When they looked over at the direction, they observed that there was a huge amount of smoke rising from one to two kilometers above the bottom of the valley.
The smoke must be a result of the previous explosion!
Miao Ying took out her electric batons and signaled to Zhao Yu, “Come! Let’s go!” Both of them hurried over to the spot where the smoke was rising from.
As they started running forward, the gunshots stopped, and the valley was restored to its serenity. Zhao Yu wanted to use his binoculars to take a closer look. However, there were many trees in front of him, blocking his view.
While they were running, Zhao Yu did not stop analyzing the cause of the explosion. He suspected that the Tomb robbers could have set the explosives off to reveal the buried treasure. However, he still could not figure out the cause of the gunshots.
Gunshots?!
Could it be Fu Jianxing and his colleagues?
Was it because Fu Jianxing had a shootout with the Tomb robbers?
And, the heavy explosion, could it be… what the “qian” hexagram had indicated?
With many questions on their minds, Zhao Yu and Miao Ying hastened their footsteps toward the explosion spot. The huge amount of smoke rose up, only to be dissipated by the drizzle, evaporating out of sight.
However, the two of them could remember the spot very clearly and soon came near. Zhao Yu realized that the source of the explosion was near a river, which was two to three hundred meters away from them. Both Zhao Yu and Miao Ying walked along the stream, approaching it cautiously, attempting to take a good look at what could have happened.
Shocking the both of them, they found a broken arm at the side of the stream! They could tell from the appearance of the arm that it belonged to a human. The broken arm had a short sleeve on it, and also a watch! It must have been washed down the river by the water current, and got caught in between the rocks. What a sight it was!
Ah!
Miao Ying was taken aback at the sight of it, while Zhao Yu felt a shiver down his spine, as it was his first time witnessing such a sight.
So… could the explosion be the bombing of people and not objects?!
“Ah…Argh…Ah…”
Suddenly, there came a distressed whining sound from a few meters away. Hearing the sound gave both of them the creeps.
“Hey! Hold it there, do not cry or shout!”
The distressed whining sound did not stop, and then came another voice that said, “Taoist priest, save me… Taoist priest… I do not wish to die… Ah…”
A man with a deep low voice said, “Shut up and hurry up!” This sounded like a command from a leader. The man commanded, “You, you, and you… Quickly go and take a look to see if there is anyone still alive. And, watch over the old man. Do not let him get away!”
Hearing those words, Zhao Ying and Miao Ying threw a hasty glance at each other and carried on, moving a few meters forward.
“Taoist priest, police… this… can be very troublesome!”
“It seemed like there was something that was washed down the river just now. And there could be more policemen out there. Taoist priest, let’s… retreat!”
“Yes, it will not be long before the whole valley is filled with policemen. That would be very troublesome…”
The man with the deep low voice shouted, “Shut up! Stop talking nonsense!”
After the man shouted, the crowd quieted down. Even the distressed whining sound became hardly audible.
Zhao Yu and Miao Ying took this chance to move quickly towards the explosion scene, and came before a lawn. They pulled apart the lawn, surprised at what they saw. What lay before them was a wide river bank. It was obvious that this was where the explosion took place, as it had left behind a big hole.
And to their horror, the shoal was littered with many corpses! The corpses were blackened, due to the explosion, and were badly mutilated and indistinguishable. It was a ghastly sight!
Apart from the corpses, they found five to six people, who were alive. These people were wounded, with burn marks and tattered clothes. Fortunately, their injuries were not life-threatening. Some of these people were treating their own wounds, and others were picking up scraps from the ground.
In the middle of the crowd, stood a short man in a leather jacket, with boots on his feet and a ponytail. He held up a pistol in front of the crowd and shouted, “Do you think I wished this to happen? I was forced to do so! If we do not blow up the policeman, we would all be done for!”
“Taoist priest, I do not understand. We were so careful, how could they have discovered us?” an older man asked. “Why would they trace us to this place? Give it a thought. Had they found something they could hold against us?”
“Hmm…” The so-called Taoist priest frowned, refusing to concede defeat.
A voice belonging to a middle-aged man said, “Taoist priest! This man is dead!”
Zhao Yu came to understand that the dead person was likely the person who let out the distressed, whining sound. And that this person could have succumbed to his serious injuries.
After hearing the conversations between the men, Zhao Yu could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He deduced that the corpses were all policemen.
Could these be the corpses of Fu Jianxing and his colleagues?
Fu Jianxing is… dead?!
How could it be?
This is… too cruel, isn’t it?
“Alright! While there’s life there’s hope!” The Taoist priest sighed helplessly and said to his men, “It seemed that I am not destined to retrieve the Gold Buddha at this time! We will come around the next time!”
Ah?!
Hearing the Taoist priest mention the Gold Buddha made Zhao Yu more certain that this group of people were the Tomb robbers who robbed the Qui Cheng Prefecture Tomb.
It must be them, who murdered the old expert, Dong Peizhuo.
They were the ones who had been searching for the legendary Gold Buddha!
They were also the ones who set explosives off to bomb the Moyang Branch’s policemen, including Fu Jianxing!
These…people are utterly detestable!
Suddenly, a young Tomb robber retrieved a gun from the hands of a corpse and said to the Taoist priest, “Wow! This gun is definitely more powerful than ours!”
The Taoist priest ignored the young Tomb robber and faced a man with an enormous physical stature, who was standing by the bush. The priest said to the man, “We have come so far, we might as well finish off our unfinished job here! Da Niu, I leave this to you!”
As soon as the priest finished speaking, two Tomb robbers pulled out two persons from the bush near Zhao Yu and Miao Ying. These two were bound up, with their hands behind their backs and their mouths sealed with tape. Both Zhao Yu and Miao Ying scrutinized the two persons and realized they were none other than the two missing old experts!