Fatty and I looked at each other; his expression was hard to describe.
Did I believe in these things that Jin Wantang was talking about? Not at all. Using Qimen Dunjia to look for his past life, which just so happened to be a grave robber? Based on his tendency to bullshit and talk a big game, I figured he made it all up on the spot right before entering the door.
But this body…I was certain that it was real and that it was Guotang Feng’s corpse. Regardless of its origin, the identity of this body was pretty obvious.
If this was the case, then I could guess the purpose of Jin Wantang’s visit this time—he wanted to lure us back into the business. Among all the ancient tombs Guotang Feng had robbed in the past, this one was definitely worth visiting. Jin Wantang hadn’t made a name for himself in this business for a long time, but now that he had this body, he had to be looking for the most reliable team.
But why did Fatty and I look at each other? It was because the world’s second most valuable tomb was unheard of. It was almost equivalent to a myth or legend. In our line of work, only extremely amateur liars would spout this kind of nonsense.
Jin Wantang looked at us and knew we had some doubts, so he quickly said, “Fat Master, let me put it this way. I won’t argue with you about the authenticity of this matter, but I swear to God that I didn’t come here to mess around. I came here to do business. Take it as me being genuine. If this whole thing is real, then you can go together and do the big job I didn’t manage to finish in my past life. Ok?”
“There are no marks on the ground indicating that there’s an ancient tomb under the grassland. But if we assume that what you said is true, then Guotang Feng was injured in the tomb, moved his injured body to the grove, and died there. So, the tomb is probably nearby. But if it’s not there, then he was injured for some other reason and died long after he left the tomb, which means there won’t be any clues. Don’t be too optimistic, Master Jin.”
“When it comes to supernatural things, Little Master Three tries to abide by the three noes first and the four don’ts later (1). But as long as it’s something that Little Master Three wants to investigate, it’s never impossible to find, right?” Jin Wantang gave a sly smile. “This is my unfulfilled, long-cherished wish from my previous life. I know I’ll definitely dream of returning to that green grassland. I have an authorization letter here. If the two of you participate, in accordance with international conventions, you can directly exchange the discovered items for the appropriate cash equivalent with relevant divisions.”
As Jin Wantang spoke, he took out two A4 papers from his bag.
I picked them up and took a look. The first one was a permit and a reward promise given to Jin Wantang by the relevant department. There didn’t appear to be a cap on the reward. This kind of thing wasn’t easy to get, but it seemed that Jin Wantang had been very close to the relevant departments recently.
The second one was a contract, which stated that Jin Wantang had provided the key clue. If the executive team managed to find the ancient tomb based on the clue, then there would be a bonus that would be split fifty-fifty between the parties.
I cast a confused glance at Fatty, who took a look at the documents and said to Jin Wantang, “I kind of believe you now. You’re definitely not the type to joke when it comes to money.”
At this time, I saw that there was actually a small note attached to the back of the second A4 paper. I tore it off and saw that it was a two-digit number: 44.
“What’s this?”
Jin Wantang smiled, “This is the ranking.”
“What do you mean?” Fatty gave him a blank look.
“Well, this is the second most valuable tomb in the world. It’s extremely dangerous. Even my past self, the legendary grave robber Guotang Feng, came out seriously injured. So, I learned a lesson from the past and didn’t put all of my eggs in one basket. This time, I went all the way south and visited forty-four groups. You guys are the last one. So, I’m sorry to say that your number is forty-three.”
Fatty immediately became furious, “This is fucking ridiculous! You’re using the Northern School’s ancestor as venture capital! Leave the ancestor here and hurry up and get out! Although this ancestor was also a bastard, he shouldn’t stay in the hands of a profiteer like you!”
“You two won’t go?”
“Get out! Whoever wants to go can go!” Fatty was about to lay hands on him, but I stopped him. I had noticed that Jin Wantang seemed very confident, so he must’ve been absolutely certain that we’d give in.
“Master Jin, let’s not talk about what’s true and what’s false. Since you’ve contacted forty-forty groups, let me be so bold as to ask you who ranks number one?” I asked.
“You don’t need to be so polite about this kind of thing. I’ll directly tell you who it is. Group One is already on the road. They’re not strangers. In fact, you should know them.”
<Chapter 3><Table of Contents><Chapter 5>
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TN Notes:
(1) The “three noes” are: no contact, no negotiation and no compromise. More info here. I’m probably wrong, but I think the “four don’ts” is a principle applied to accident management: the cause of the accident hasn’t been discovered, the responsible personnel won’t be free to go, the rectification measures won’t be ignored, and the relevant personnel won’t be free to go if they haven’t been educated. I only found info on Baidu.
MereBear's Translation 