?

  I cursed inwardly, the fat guy was right, you can't judge people by their appearance. Earlier I thought this girl was like a goddess, but now she's got an arrogant and cold attitude, it's simply infuriating, even gods would scold her. But since I had to ask for help, I forced a smile and saw Mr. Zhang nodding his head, saying to the fat guy: "It wasn't clearly stated what exactly it is, no description of size or shape, but there's an interesting word used here - 'Ultimate'."

  "Bastard." The fat guy finally couldn't hold back either. Upon hearing these two words, he suddenly blurted out a curse.

  "Zhang's face changed, and he said, 'Do you still want to know what happens next?'"

  Fatso quickly covered his mouth, nodding and bowing: "Look at this stinky mouth of mine, you say it, I guarantee I won't interrupt." Fatso is the kind of person who would scold even if he saw the King of Heaven himself, but this time, for the sake of that thing on the birth certificate, we had to buy wine and apologize, and now in front of Mr. Zhang, we have to be as obedient as a grandson.

  Damn it, this time if I don't get you out of the bronze gate, then Xiaoye and Pangzi these bastards will have been fooled in vain.

  As soon as I thought of the oil bottle, I squeezed out another smile. Dr. Zhang's attitude towards us was still satisfactory, and he nodded before saying: "This thing was placed inside a door, it is something that everyone must guard, then this person returned to the northwest, probably in today's Qinghai-Tibet region. This appears to be the format of a memoir, it seems that there should be many more important records behind, unfortunately, it's an incomplete work."

  I exchanged a glance with Fatso, knowing that was the end of it, and asked: "Dr. Zhang, do you have any relevant texts? I'd like to go back and study them thoroughly." Dr. Zhang furrowed his brow and said: "There are some, but they haven't been fully deciphered yet. Considering Professor Shi's relationship with me, if you need it, after this ghost language investigation is completed, I can give you a copy."

  My heart skipped a beat as I asked, "The place you're heading to, isn't it Yabuda?"

  Dr. Zhang seemed somewhat surprised, and nodded immediately: "Not bad, so far this name I have only seen in two places. The first time was in the rubbing my teacher brought back from the desert years ago, and the second time is this photocopy of yours."

  I smiled and said, "Excuse my straightforwardness, you also mentioned earlier that Oni Japanese is a very niche thing. You returned from abroad to serve the motherland, why not study something more valuable? Is there something here that attracts you?"

  "Zhang surname smiled and said, 'You're trying to get me to talk?' To be honest, her smile was identical to the image of my goddess in my heart, but unfortunately, she had a terrible temper."

  I also smiled and said: "Where can I? It's just that I said earlier, I'm a very curious person."

  Mr. Zhang narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath and said: "My teacher is a professor who sixty years ago had organized an expedition team to enter the Taklamakan Desert in China. According to my teacher, there was his supervisor and classmates in that team. His supervisor was fascinated by the research of Western China's cultural heritage, so he formed the team. Their original goal was to explore the legendary site of the Western Night Kingdom, one of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions. However, due to an unexpected event, they lost their way and instead discovered another city.

  "The secret hidden in that city shocked the instructor. At that time, my teacher was just a student and didn't know what the instructor had discovered. Later, the instructor became obsessed with investigating the city until a black storm came and all the investigators were killed. Only my teacher and another female student survived. When the instructor covered for my teacher to escape, he left behind a sentence: 'Come rescue us, no matter how long it takes, we are still alive.'"

  After finishing, looking at me and the fatty, shaking his head and laughing: "Do you think this sentence is thrilling?" I didn't find it thrilling, but I felt that this sentence seemed to let me grasp a very important piece of information.

  No matter how long, we are still alive.

  Was there a secret of eternal life in Jabuda, the place where Sundara had once gone?

  Sixty years ago, what did that mentor discover in the city? Why would he say such a strange sentence?

  I once again thought of the German in Kunlun Mountains, that person who lived for almost over a hundred years, is there really some kind of connection between them? What exactly did the Tsenden people bring out from Yabuda?

  Perhaps it is written in another half of the Book of Life.

  Fatso said, "It's a bit surprising, isn't it? Are you going to rescue your teacher's teacher this time? If you do, you'll become a rice dumpling too." As soon as the words "rice dumplings" left his mouth, I was so angry that I wanted to slap Fatso. He actually blurted out our secret language! These archaeologists have been fighting guerrilla warfare with us tomb raiders for over a hundred years, and they're familiar with every one of our codes.

  I hurriedly went to see Miss Zhang, she didn't react much, it seems that she is a returnee from overseas and hasn't learned our local dialect's slang yet.

  Dr. Zhang said, "Through years of research, the teacher inferred that the mentor back then might have discovered some important information. You know, we archaeologists are searching for the truth of history. My teacher is old now, so I personally organized a team this time. Is there anything else you're unsure about?"

  "Alright, alright, we won't bother you anymore. Let's keep in touch when we're free." Mr. Zhang nodded and said, "Don't rush to leave, I've helped you with your business, shouldn't you help me too?" My friend and I exchanged a glance, then I said, "Haha, you must be joking! We're just two small antique shop owners, what could we possibly do to help you? Are you kidding us?"

  Mr. Zhang shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it, I just want to ask, did you guys really get this thing from an old farmer?" I smiled and calmly replied, "You know how our line of work is, we travel all over the place collecting goods. If we don't go to rural areas, we can't collect good stuff."

  She asked again, "In which territory was it received? Can we still contact the person?" I casually said that someone had come to our door themselves. In the end, the three of us had nothing more to say, and I left with Fatty. Before parting ways, Ms. Zhang gave me a business card, saying she had similar copies that I could ask for her help anytime.

  As we walked out of the museum, Fatty sighed and said, "Cloud is still the best. A woman like that, who can handle her?" I was still thinking about Yabuda's situation and didn't respond to him. Seeing this, Fatty patted my shoulder and said, "What do we do now? That Zhang guy said that the Songta people sent something called 'Ultimate' into a large gate, probably the thing inside the Bronze Gate. What should we do now? Go into the Bronze Gate and smash it?"

  I'm annoyed and said in a bad tone: "If you can smash it, Xiao Ge would have smashed it earlier. The fact that this thing has existed for so long must mean it has its own special properties. No... Fatty, I think if we want to figure out what this thing is, first, we need to understand the other half of Zan Sheng Jing, and second... I think we still need to make a trip to Yabuda." What exactly that thing was, no one could say clearly, but it had been entangled for thousands of years, so it must not be simple. Perhaps it's something even more extraordinary than the Bronze Tree.

  Fatso patted me on the back and said, "It's just like I thought, but that Yabuda, even satellites can't find it. The two of us, how are we going to get there? Besides, this time we're not landing, and we can't use a compass either. The two of us will be lost in the desert, unable to tell north from south."

  I gritted my teeth, looking at the business card in my hand, and said: "Let's go back and discuss it carefully. If all else fails, we'll follow the inspection team, or if that doesn't work out, we can directly turn to Mr. Zhang for help."

  Fatso cursed: "Damn it, she's going to make a fool of him all the way."

  I kicked him and said, "Damn it, little brother has saved us so many times, to save little brother, what's the big deal about pretending to be a fool, grandma's, even turtles have to pretend."

  The two of us were driving and cursing all the way, just about to return to the courtyard when Fatso received a call. His face changed color as he cursed: "What the hell! Don't panic, tell outsiders that Fat Brother is traveling and can't be reached by phone, keep this under wraps." After hanging up the phone, Fatso's eyes changed expression several times, and he stepped on the gas to change direction. His face looked terrible, like he had eaten a rice ball. I quickly asked: "What happened?"

  Fatso's face twitched a few times, and he said: "The plate mouth was checked by the police, but they haven't pursued it further yet. At the latest, I'll have to go to the police station tomorrow. This matter is fishy, Tianzhen, you can't stay in that quadrangle courtyard anymore. I'll send you to my old house. As for Yabuda's affairs, we'll discuss them later. If all else fails, we can rely on Zhang's family. Ah, grandma, let's just pretend to be a good boy, Fat Master didn't used to pretend when he first came to Beijing either."

  As soon as I heard what Fatso said, my heart suddenly cooled down by half.

  How did this happen? Is it a nationwide crackdown on cultural relic trafficking? But why are all the people who got into trouble around me?

  "Can you handle it?"

  Fatso waved his hand and said, "As long as it doesn't get to the point of investigating our shipments, nothing big will happen. My accounts are all in order, I'll just be careful and respond accordingly, should be no problem. What I'm afraid of is someone intentionally trying to frame us." As he spoke, Fatso stopped the car in front of a very old building, he didn't get out of the car, directly tossing the keys to me, saying "Room 504 upstairs, you'll have to make do for now. Also, something's come up with your Wu family too, don't go wandering around aimlessly if there's nothing going on. Once things blow over here, I'll contact you."

  I looked at the key in my hand, then at the expression on his face, and couldn't help but say: "Damn it, you're really treating her like a precious treasure, what do you plan to do now? Can I help?"

  Fatso shook his head and said, "There will be a time when you'll have to put in effort, and Fat Brother will be the first to pull you out to use as a cow. However, this matter should be handled with low profile, the fewer people involved, the smaller the loophole. You're too naive, now is not the time for you to show off." After finishing speaking, Fatso stepped on the accelerator and left.

  I stood there for a while, picked up the phone to call Wang Meng, but no one answered, I didn't know what he was doing, and my mind was all over the place.

  In front of me is an old building, the surrounding environment is very messy, most rooms are empty. Fat boy mentioned to me before that he and a brother lived here when they first arrived in Beijing, this house was built last century and should have been demolished long ago, but for some reason it has been left untouched, I heard that soon there will be real estate development here.

  To some extent, the fat man is a very nostalgic person, so this house has been preserved.