The seasoned detective looked tense, pointing towards the distance. I followed his gaze and noticed a pile of dung on the ground.
"Duke, do you think there might be a fierce beast?" I inquired.
"Nonsense. This is human excrement, with flies on it. It seems fresh, produced within the last few hours," Duke replied.
We crawled up a dirt slope, and about a dozen meters away, a dark green tent came into view. We both immediately dropped to the ground.
There was also a tent nearby, with four or five people going in and out, while two more tents were being set up. Shi Jingxia was tied to a pine tree.
The southern side of Yanmen Mountain was mostly covered in locust trees, while the northern side had more pine trees. From our current position, it seemed we were on the northern side.
But there was no sign of Bai Ruoxue.
"Dugu Guangting, you're here sooner than I expected."
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind. It was Bai Ruoxue.
I instinctively reached for my gun. In an instant, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet embedded itself deeply into the soil beside me.
"Don't move, or I'll shoot you dead."
Raising my hands slowly, I turned around to face Bai Ruoxue, who was holding a pistol with its black muzzle pointed at me.
She disarmed me and searched my belongings before taking me back to the camp.
"Guangting, Guangting!"
"Xiao Jing, Xiao Jing!"
Shi Jingxia struggled desperately, but to no avail.
Glaring at her, I demanded angrily, "What are you up to?"
Bai Ruoxue said coldly, "As the saying goes, 'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.' I've been waiting in Korea for over a month, only for things to go awry. You've ruined my plans repeatedly. According to my judgment, I should just shoot you on the spot, but..."
"But what? What other mischief are you brewing?" I interrupted.
"To tell you the truth, the reason I lured you to Yanmen Mountain like this is to propose a cooperation," Bai Ruoxue explained.
Next, Bai Ruoxue recounted an incident.
Half a month ago, she and her friends were dining out and heading home around nine o'clock at night when they passed by an antique street and noticed a suspicious person.
The person was carrying a bulging backpack on their back, which seemed to contain something valuable.
Although the antique street had already closed for the night, the person continued to look around. Clearly, they were not from around here and had ulterior motives.
Due to her professional sensitivity, Bai Ruoxue struck up a conversation with the individual. His name was Sun Tiedan, and inside his backpack was a bronze tripod, likely from the Western Zhou period based on its craftsmanship and style.
However, there were no inscriptions on it. Otherwise, it could have been worth a fortune.
Bai Ruoxue purchased the bronze tripod for 20,000 yuan and managed to extract some valuable information from him.
Sun Tiedan claimed that he lived in Yijun County, Tongchuan City, and the bronze tripod was left by his grandfather, who was a company commander under "Northwestern King" Hu Zongnan.
Back then, when "Northwestern King" Hu Zongnan suffered a defeat in Yijun and Baishui counties, Sun Tiedan's grandfather buried the bronze tripod under a big tree and left behind clues.
Many years later, Sun Tiedan found the bronze tripod based on his memories, and that's how it ended up for sale in the capital city, where Bai Ruoxue encountered it.
Based on this, Bai Ruoxue speculated that there might be an ancient tomb or a hidden treasure of the Kuomintang in Yanmen Mountain.
As everyone knows, Sun Dianying once looted the Qing Dynasty's Eastern Mausoleum to raise funds, causing a sensation across the city.
However, who can guarantee that besides Sun Dianying, no one else would engage in similar activities?
"What's the use of telling me all this? You should go find that person named Sun Tiedan and have him lead you," I suggested.
Bai Ruoxue shook her head, explaining that this was already their second time coming to Yanmen Mountain. The first time, Sun Tiedan had led them, and they had successfully found the location where the bronze tripod was hidden, in a desolate area at the foot of the mountain.
They dug in the same spot, but the soil layers showed no signs of disturbance underneath, indicating that there couldn't possibly be a tomb.
So they resorted to the Mei Flower probing method.
The Mei Flower probing method involved digging a central probe hole and then four additional holes around it. From each of these, four more holes were dug, and the process continued outward.
The advantage of this method was that it wouldn't miss any clues; if there was a tomb below, they would surely find it. However, the downside was the extensive workload, usually reserved for large-scale archaeological excavations.
After several days of searching, the ground was covered with probing holes, yet there was still no breakthrough.
This approach wasn't feasible. Bai Ruoxue considered that the situation might have been urgent back then, and Sun Tiedan's grandfather might have temporarily stored the bronze tripod here, not expecting that decades would pass by.
The real tomb, or the hiding place of the Kuomintang's treasure, should be in Yanmen Mountain.
Upon hearing they were going into the mountain, Sun Tiedan shook his head vehemently, refusing to go. He claimed there were wild boars, leopards, and other ferocious beasts in the mountains.
Sun Tiedan even mentioned that the 20,000 yuan from selling the bronze tripod would be enough to marry a wife, raise children, and tend sheep, indicating he wasn't interested in becoming wealthy, fearing that fortune might bring misfortune.
He was truly insightful.
Under the promise of a hefty reward, a brave man emerged.
Finally, Bai Ruoxue offered a reward of fifty thousand yuan, promising Sun Tiedan a bride from the city, fair-skinned and beautiful. Sun Tiedan's heart was swayed, and he agreed.
Following that, Bai Ruoxue staged this entire drama, deceiving me into coming.
"White, this is the territory of the White Gang. I won't meddle in this mess. Give up on this idea," I retorted.
"Humph! Don't think I care about you. If you hadn't turned Liu Zuizi into an imbecile, I would've put a bullet in you long ago."
In the White Gang, Liu Zuizi played a role similar to Zhang Wenjie, responsible for allocating funds and making decisions. Now that Liu Zuizi had become an imbecile, the White Gang was effectively blinded.
However, their methods differed.
Zhang Wenjie relied on geomancy and his profound theoretical knowledge, belonging to the scholarly faction.
Liu Zuizi, on the other hand, used sound to discern locations, finding dragon points based on the sounds of wind, rain, thunder, and animal cries. His success rate was extremely high because wherever auspicious points existed, there was vitality.
Just then, a person setting up a tent suddenly turned to look at me, drew a dagger from his waist, and lunged at me fiercely, aiming to kill me in one swift move.
"I'll kill you."
I paled in shock and hastily dodged.
"Who are you? I have no quarrel with you, no enmity in recent days. Why do you want to kill me?" I demanded.
"I'm Liu Zuizi's son, Liu Yuanbao."
Upon closer inspection, Liu Yuanbao bore a striking resemblance to Liu Zuizi, only much younger, appearing to be around thirty years old.
"Yuanbao, we'll discuss Uncle Liu's matters later. Don't ruin the big picture," Bai Ruoxue interjected.
Liu Yuanbao snorted, "I won't spare you. This debt will be settled sooner or later."
Turning to Bai Ruoxue, I exclaimed, "You're repaying kindness with enmity! That night at the abandoned brick factory, if I hadn't saved you, you might have..."
"Shut up!" Bai Ruoxue's voice thundered with anger, her face flushing slightly. She pointed the gun at me and continued, "Will you agree or not?"
Seeing my silence, she turned the gun towards Shi Jingxia.
"Believe me, I'll shoot this ugly one dead with one bullet."