Passing by onlookers, please leave a comment...
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"Lin Xue... is this the mysterious old man you were talking about?"
"When did I ever say he was a mysterious old man?" Lin Xue rolled her eyes, "I just said he has an unusual item."
"Even if he is just the NPC guarding a mystical item, he must have something special about him... this appearance..."
In front of us, an old man with dark skin, a dirty shirt, and gray pants rolled up to his knees, was holding a large bowl and slurping noodles as if he hadn't eaten in a lifetime. He occasionally scratched his furry calf, seemingly immersed in his world of noodles, completely oblivious to our presence.
"Don't underestimate this old man," Lin Xue whispered, "Gu Zhengfeng was once the most famous tomb raider in China. He raided more tombs than you've visited supermarkets and almost never came back empty-handed. Unfortunately, during his last grave robbery, he touched something he shouldn't have, angering someone he absolutely couldn't afford to provoke. He fled to this place to escape death."
"Really..." I took another serious look at this scruffy old man battling with his noodles, unable to believe such a powerful figure stood before me.
Lin Feng leaned in conspiratorially, "There's more. It's said that the day after he hid in this Exile Town, his pursuer choked to death on a meatball..."
"You rascal! Are you here today just to annoy me?" The scruffy old man had already slurped the last noodle into his mouth and glared at Lin Feng. It turned out he had been listening to our conversation all along but had been too lazy to respond.
"Not at all!" Lin Feng cupped his hands and laughed, "We've come today with an important matter to discuss with you. May we go inside to talk?"
"Cut the crap," the old man gulped down the rest of the broth and wiped his mouth, "I can't oppose anything on your turf."
We followed the old man into an ordinary-looking clay house.
The sight inside was beyond my expectations.
The small room was filled with old jars and tools with indeterminate uses, leaving almost no place to step. The walls were hung with dirty, relic-like items, making the already dim room even darker from the sheen of ancient artifacts. I felt like I'd stepped into a freshly dug tomb.
"These things are what got me into this mess," the old tomb raider navigated the clutter with ease, "But I can't bear to part with them."
"Any one of these must be worth a fortune," Qianqian carefully stepped over a fragile-looking old pot, speaking softly.
"Don't even think about taking these," Lin Xue whispered, "Gu Lao would fight you to the death. When he first came to this town, he donated 227 artifacts and all his property on the condition that no one touch the remaining items before his death."
With his keen hearing, the old tomb raider chuckled, "After I die, you can do whatever you want with them. But when that day comes, I want to lie among these treasures---Old Gu spent his life robbing the graves of nobles. When I die, I want to rest like them, surrounded by my treasures!"
Hearing his words, we could only roll our eyes in exasperation.
"Alright, sit." After a difficult journey, we reached the only clear spot in the room. The old man dragged out some nearly broken chairs for us.
Sitting amidst these ancient treasures, we felt like we were in a graveyard meeting...
"So, you came for that item?" the old man seemed to know our purpose.
"Yes." Lin Xue replied bluntly.
"I can give it to you," a sharp light flashed in the old man's eyes, and his scruffiness vanished, revealing the sharp, cunning look of the veteran tomb raider he once was, "If it weren't for my greed bringing it out, I wouldn't be in this situation. To me, it's a curse. But I can't give it to you so easily—you know my rules."
It dawned on me then that Lin Xue wanted the very item that almost got the old tomb raider killed, piquing my curiosity about the mysterious item.
Lin Xue paid no mind to his rules, pushing the curious Qianqian forward, "This is Xu Feng's daughter, Xu Qianqian. If what you say is correct, this girl has the qualifications to activate it—how about we test it?"
"Hey—" I interjected, worried Lin Xue was asking Qianqian to do something dangerous.
"Relax, I won't harm your sweetheart, just need her cooperation for a test."
The old tomb raider scrutinized Qianqian, then laughed, "Hey, the missing man's daughter? Her father was a staunch materialist who didn't believe in any of your superpowers and cursed me out. Does his daughter believe in this nonsense? Wait here, I'll get it."
As the old man went to retrieve the item, Qianqian and I asked together, "Uncle Xu (Dad) came here?"
"Yes," Zheng Yiming answered this time. "The ruins they were investigating were special, so before setting out, we arranged for key expedition members to come here, hoping to get that important item from Gu Zhengfeng. Fortunately, Mr. Xu resonated with it, but he completely dismissed our warnings, calling it pseudoscience and berating Old Gu..."
Qianqian looked embarrassed, seemingly expecting her father's stubbornness.
Hearing Zheng Yiming's description, my curiosity about the mysterious item grew, "You say it could 'resonate'? And Qianqian, as his daughter, can also 'resonate'? What exactly is this item?"
"You'll see. One thing's for sure, it's more mysterious than our superpowers."
At that moment, we heard a noise. The old tomb raider had brought the item.
"This is it?" I looked at the unremarkable object in the old man's hand, a palm-sized hexagonal metal plate, appearing rusted with black and red grime, bearing faint, incomplete symbols. It looked like junkyard scrap.
Could this piece of metal be the lauded mysterious item?
As I suspected the old man of hoaxing us, Pandora's voice came through our Spiritual Connection, "This is a Spirit Beacon!"
"What?!" I was shocked, "Pandora, you recognize this?"
"Spirit Beacon, used by Imperial Army members for emergency teleportation to evacuate battlefields. It can also serve as a navigation device for small-scale space jumps. I possess a similar device. For a Xyrin Warrior, a Spirit Beacon is crucial... how did it end up in this world..."
Just then, something interrupted my mental conversation with Pandora.
Following Gu Zhengfeng's instructions, Qianqian placed her left hand on the metal plate Pandora called a "Spirit Beacon", which began to hum softly.
"Impossible!" Pandora's voice in my Spirit World was filled with surprise. I'd never seen her so emotionally agitated, "How can something from the Xyrin Empire resonate with a Carbon-based Life?"