Picture

  The next day when I woke up, Zhao Wang had already come to work. As soon as he saw me going downstairs, he warmly greeted me and asked: "Xie Ge, have you eaten breakfast? I'm just about to go buy some." He had just graduated from college, was in his early twenties, and had the vigor of a young person. He didn't call me boss, but instead called both me and Wang Meng "Ge".

  I thought about it all night, and I still decided to go to San Shu's address to investigate. After a busy night, I was really hungry, so I asked Zhao Wang to buy breakfast. He bought two bowls of hot wontons, packed in plastic boxes. It was only 8 o'clock in the morning, and there were basically no people on the streets. My brother and I sat at the wooden table, slurping down the wontons, when he suddenly said: "Xie Ge, last night Wang Ge called and said your phone was always off, asking me to tell you that everything is going smoothly with the things you asked him to do."

  I took out my phone to take a look, only to find that it was out of battery and had automatically shut down. After more than a year of tempering, Wang Meng was already familiar with the affairs at Pan Kou, and among the people I left by my side, he was the one who followed me for the longest time, so I could only trust him. He was in charge of all the above-board businesses in Pan Kou, and would report to me once every half month. Yesterday was supposed to be the day for reporting.

  I nodded, took a sip of the last mouthful of wontons, and found that Zhao Wang opposite had drunk even the soup. Indeed, young people have good appetites. I found him staring at me all the time, so I said: "Do you have anything to say to me? Let's make it clear first, don't mention a raise."

  Zhao Wang smiled and said, "No, I'm just looking at your two dark circles under the eyes, boss, didn't you sleep well last night? Was it a ghost?"

  I glared at this kid, who's been getting bolder lately, and said with a dark face: "Is the name Wu Xie taken in vain? With me around, no ghosts or monsters can come near." Zhao Wang swallowed his saliva and said: "But I've heard that antique shops are the most prone to attracting ghosts." I found this kid to be somewhat off today, as he's never discussed such topics before, but now he's getting more and more worked up. I couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What's gotten into you?"

  Zhao Wang grasped his own fringe, smacking his lips and saying: "Xie Ge, the night you left a few days ago, I closed the door on my way home, walked halfway and then remembered that I had forgotten to bring my phone, so I went back to get it. As a result, I heard a loud rumbling noise from the second floor, just like someone was rummaging through things..." He swallowed hard with tension, and I felt a shock in my heart, knocking on the table calmly and steadily saying: "And then?"

  Zhao Wang saw that I didn't have any expression, so he said again: "I thought I had invited a thief at the time, so I picked up the iron rod for locking the door and went upstairs. As a result, when the light was turned on, there was no one, and all things were intact. At that time, I was scared to the point where my whole body's hair stood up. Xie Ge, have you ever encountered such a situation?" I took a sip of soup, knocked Zhao Wang's head, and gave him a white eye, saying: "Damn it, I've encountered it before, in my dreams."

  Zhao Wang rubbed his head and muttered: "I'm telling the truth, believe it or not."

  I naturally believe what he said, but I don't think it's some kind of ghost. It seems that things are more complicated than I imagined. As soon as I left, my home was burglarized, and this thief can instantly hide his tracks without taking anything. What is he looking for?

  I suddenly had an epiphany, and my hand holding the spoon couldn't help but tremble for a moment. In an instant, I thought of something - Gui Xiang! I don't know if Zhao Wang noticed that something was off about me. If it were in the past, I would have immediately rushed upstairs, but now I didn't dare to. It's not that I don't trust Zhao Wang, but rather these years of experiences have taught me that at any time, you can't let others see through you, otherwise, the things you want to protect the most will be lost even faster.

  After finishing the last mouthful of soup, I wiped my mouth, narrowed my eyes and let out a yawn, turned around and went upstairs. Zhao Wang asked from behind: "Xie Ge, aren't you going out?" I gave him a white eye and said: "So early, am I going out to take a walk?" Zhao Wang was speechless, by the time he reacted, I had already gone upstairs.

  As soon as I reached the second floor, my lazy body suddenly stiffened, and I rushed into the room, locked the door, pulled up the curtains, and the whole room instantly darkened.

  On the bookshelf against the wall, there was a pen holder with several pens of different models. I took down one of the fine gold wolves, and on the tip of the pen, there were carved patterns. I opened the top layer of books, and behind the bookcase, a small hole appeared. I inserted the pen tip into it, and after a click, a mechanical sound started, and the back bookcase slid to the side, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall.

  This shop was given to me by Third Uncle, and it had this hidden compartment when it was designed. Over the years, I've been putting all the valuable things inside. Now there's only one thing wrapped in a yellow cloth in this compartment. I see that the thing is still here, and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. If this thing were to be lost, I would immediately rush out and jump into West Lake. Not to mention its value of several billion, even if it's just for me to make a living ten years later, this thing cannot be lost.

  I closed the door of the dormitory and went downstairs, reciting the address on the letter in my mind: Nanwei Road Old Teaching Dormitory 1 Building 303. As soon as I stepped out of the door, Zhao Wang asked strangely, "Yē Gē, aren't you not going out?" I looked back at him and said lightly, "Walking the bird."

  Zhao Wang suddenly climbed up and said, "Brother Ye, take me with you." I scolded him, "Take you? My shop won't be able to open for business anymore?" Zhao Wang chuckled and said, "It's been half a month since it opened, one more day doesn't make a difference." I thought about it, Zhao Wang's rented house was just in the southern part of the city, taking him would also save some trouble, so I let him close the shop door and told him the address.

  When we arrived at Nantailu around 12 o'clock, this area was an old district where most of the residents were migrant workers. Zhao Wang asked: "Xie Ge, do you want to go to my home and sit for a while?"

  "I said, 'What's the point of going to your house? Staring at each other with big eyes? Hurry up and find the way.' Zhao Wang said he knew the way, and followed him for half a time, but the road got more and more biased. I was a bit suspicious that this kid wanted to rob me, so I asked: 'How much longer?'"

  Zhao Wang stopped in his tracks and said, "We're here." We were now standing amidst a sea of ruins, with shattered concrete slabs everywhere. The only thing still standing upright among the rubble was an old building with cracked walls. I pointed at it incredulously and asked, "That one?" Zhao Wang nodded and said, "If we'd been a few days later, it would have ended up like what's under your feet."

  I shook my head and told Zhao Wang to wait for me downstairs, then I entered the old building alone.

  The stairs under my feet were old and grayish white, the corridor was dimly lit, the residents here had long since moved away, leaving only one empty building. I went straight to the third floor, counting the house numbers painted on the wall with green paint, finally stopping in front of 303.

  There was no iron gate, but an old-fashioned wooden door. The door's surface was mottled with peeling skin, and I pushed it with my hand, only to find that it was locked. This kind of old wooden door has only one lock head, which is the type that doesn't prevent gentlemen but prevents petty thieves. I directly kicked it a few times with my leg, causing my legs to go numb from the shock. On the third kick, the entire door was kicked open, and a dull smell wafted out.

  The electricity in the corridor has been completely cut off, and the entire corridor is dark. The room in front of me is pitch black, I can't see my fingers when I stretch out my hand. I subconsciously took a step back, and the bad memories from the Geremu Sanatorium emerged, and goosebumps appeared on my arm.

  I was already scared before I even went in, the more I thought about it, the more timid I became. I scolded myself a few times in my heart, and then lit a lighter and walked into the room. Subconsciously, I looked up at the ceiling, fortunately, there were no ghosts or anything else.

  I found that the opposite side was a thick curtain, so I immediately opened the curtain. The sunlight outside shot into the room instantly, and the originally gloomy room was covered with a warm light by the noon sun.

  The unease in my heart settled instantly, and then I began to take stock of this room. It was a single room with a row of bookshelves along the wall by the door, a desk in front of the bookshelves, an iron bed opposite it, and everything inside was shabby and worn out. I couldn't imagine at all that Third Uncle had once lived in such a place for some time.

  Then I started searching the house, the layout of the whole room was obvious at a glance, there was no place to hide anything. I searched through all the drawers and bookshelves, and even got a layer of dust on my body, but still found nothing.

  I paced around the room, feeling a bit disappointed to find that there were no clues left behind. My gaze shifted to the desk, where a dusty Chinese map lay on top. The map was laminated, and although it was covered in dust, wiping it clean would reveal its contents.

  I took a book and tore off the two blank pages at the beginning, wiped the map clean, and this time I made a discovery. The map had been deliberately drawn with a line.

  The line's opening is in Sichuan, forming an arc that spans across Qinghai and Xinjiang regions. I was shocked to see the trend of this line, which clearly resembles the general outline of the Kunlun Mountains. Could it be that I had actually figured it out? Before he left, Third Uncle had been studying the topographic map of the Kunlun Mountains.

  Suppressing the shock in my heart, I carefully examined this map again. The scale of this map is relatively large and it's a 3D effect map, which belongs to a more professional topographic map. Generally, only professional travelers would buy it, and the price is also relatively expensive.

  The entire map was over a meter wide, with mountains and rivers marked on it. Next to the artificially drawn lines were notes. Because the map had been laminated, the ink did not preserve well and I accidentally erased what was originally written, only seeing the marks where the words used to be. I hastily opened the drawer to see if I could find a pencil to transcribe the notes, but as soon as I stood up, my entire back of the head suddenly felt a sharp pain, and for an instant, my brain was in chaos. As I fell, all I saw was Second Uncle wearing a Tang suit with a furrowed brow looking at me.