Free Web NovelComing out of the restroom, Lu Yibei inwardly cried out that something was wrong, thinking this wave was over.
Unexpectedly, that guy Hu Yue really had big problems!
Just now in the restroom, the Spiritual Energy fluctuation detected by his spiritual sense was foul, sinister, and disturbingly unpleasant, comparable to the witchs egg.
If the witchs egg's Spiritual Energy fluctuation was like a girl covered in blood, that Spiritual Energy fluctuation was like a woman with sinister and vicious thoughts.
In short, neither of them were good people!
Originally, Lu Yibei was already exposed to the view of the person holding the bone flute on the plane.
Exposing Hu Yue's trickery, however, only changed the state from the enemy being hidden and him being exposed, to both sides being exposed.
As long as he could bluff his way through and not show hostility towards him, perhaps they could continue to coexist peacefully.
However...
The Z-Hua language and culture are vast and profound, and coupled with body language, they become even more complex.
Saying the same words, and wiping hands on Hu Yue's shoulder in the same way, whether the water stains frosted over or not conveyed vastly different meanings.
Lu Yibei originally wanted to express, "Professor, I have no idea what you're doing, you can feel free to continue."
Now it's good, he's probably going to be understood as, "Little brother, I've got my eyes on you, you'd better behave!"
Lu Yibei looked at the layer of white frost that had condensed on his right palm, feeling complicated.
What the ♦ is going on! Did I have this ability before?
Don't suddenly have an "epiphany" at such a strange time, okay?
Hopefully, this visiting Professor of Literature isn't very good at physics and won't realize that ice doesn't form that fast at minus five degrees...
Passing through the passage and returning to Professor Ma's side, Lu Yibei was about to sit down when he was pulled up by him.
"Don't sit, didn't you say the car picking us up is here? Then why aren't you hurrying out?"
"Uh..." Lu Yibei froze for a moment, turned his head to look in the direction of the restroom, then looked at Professor Ma, and asked doubtfully, "Professor, aren't we waiting for Professor Hu?"
Professor Ma waved his hand, "No need to wait, he just sent me a message saying he won't be returning to the hotel with me. He wants to visit an old friend in Tang City first and will meet up with us at the hotel later."
Hearing this, Lu Yibei was stunned.
He just left like that?
This is good too. With him around, it always felt creepy. If the air crash didn't succeed, maybe he'd cause a car accident later.
However, I'll have to keep a close eye on him from now on, if he still wants to pull any tricks...
Lu Yibei was thinking when Professor Ma's words suddenly drifted into his ears.
"Lu Yibei, time is tight, we must strike first!" freёwebnovel.com
Lu Yibei, "?"
"Professor, what did you say?"
You also noticed Professor Hu was acting strange and are preparing to kill him? Lu Yibei thought.
Noticing Lu Yibei's strange look, Professor Ma patted his shoulder and explained, "I also have an old friend in Tang City who specializes in the antique business. After returning to the hotel to drop off our things, we'll go see him first to see if we can find out any information about that batch of cultural relics."
I knew it, it's not yet time to kill that old guy Hu Yue... Lu Yibei muttered inwardly, nodded, and followed Professor Ma towards the exit.
——————
Ten minutes later.
Outside Tangcheng Airport, near the parking area.
Professor Ma wrapped his coat tightly, his hands tucked inside his sleeves, shivering in the bleak cold wind.
Although the temperature announced on the plane was minus five degrees Celsius, standing in this parking area, the cold wind carrying the dampness of melting snow blew, causing much more "damage" than minus five degrees. Ordinary clothes couldn't defend against it.
Professor Ma squinted at Lu Yibei, who was spacing out beside him, and said faintly, "Lu Yibei, didn't you say the car is here? Why have we been waiting so long and still haven't seen anyone? Speaking of which, do you have the contact number for the project team staff?"
Wasn't that to prevent the two of you from developing into an elderly wrestling match? Lu Yibei felt a ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) bit guilty, avoided Professor Ma's gaze, and changed the subject, saying, "Professor, speaking of which, this mission is so arduous, where should we start?"
As he spoke, he also tucked his hands into his sleeves, imitating Professor Ma.
He didn't know if it was because his body was undergoing some unknown changes, or if the cold wind in the parking area was truly biting.
He hadn't been standing there long before his hands felt like they were freezing, his fingers icy cold.
"Stinky kid!" Professor Ma saw through Lu Yibei's little trick but didn't expose him. After muttering a low curse, he continued, "Before those cultural relics are recovered, research probably can't begin for now."
"At that time, we will be responsible for appraising some of the cultural relics recovered by the relevant departments. I know you're not good at this kind of thing, but you can leave it to me and Professor Hu."
"At that time, you can follow the young people in the project and visit the transaction markets together. The vendors in those places see the people from the relevant departments all the time and are familiar with their faces, so they won't easily bring out genuine items. You young people from out of town going there might have unexpected results."
Visiting the transaction markets? Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully, looked at Professor Ma, opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden commotion behind him.
Not far away, a man wearing sunglasses and a mask, escorted by several burly men in black, walked towards them. Behind them, a group of fans holding posters and LED light boards chased after them, like they were possessed, letting out bursts of cheers and screams.
Looking at the fans who kept trying to get close to the man and were constantly being intercepted by the burly men, Lu Yibei curled his lip indifferently, "So it's a celebrity? I thought it was a terrorist attack on the airport!"
Professor Ma glared at Lu Yibei and lectured him, "Stinky kid, always talking nonsense. How could there be a terrorist attack on the airport for no reason?"
Why not? You were just sleeping leaning on a suspected terrorist! Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly. Just then, a scream suddenly came from the direction of the unknown celebrity.
Following the sound, he saw a man in the crowd who had appeared among the fans at some point, desperately pushing his way forward.
The man was tall and strong, nearly two meters tall, wearing only a thin black hoodie on a cold day. His hands were as large as cattail fans, and he strode through the crowd of slender fans with imposing momentum, like a heaven-shaking lion descending from the clouds, or a ground-shaking Pixiu approaching its seat.
As he walked through, it was like a bowling ball hitting pins, unstoppable.
Even the burly men beside the celebrity who stepped forward to stop him couldn't.
Just as the male celebrity thought he was being attacked and was scared out of his wits, screaming, the man pulled three autograph boards from his hoodie pocket, lifted his hoodie to reveal his face, grinned, and said in a booming voice, "Hey, could you sign these, please? Thanks!"
Facing the man's 'robbery-style' request for autographs, the male celebrity didn't dare to refuse. Tremblingly, he took the paper and pen, signed his name on the three autograph boards, and then quickly ran towards his minivan.
Before long, the minivan drove away, and the enthusiastic expressions on the faces of the "fans" who had just been crowding around the male celebrity quickly dropped to freezing point as the cold wind blew.
Two or three of them walked out and came up to the tall man, their faces showing disgust, and they cursed, "Hey! Who brought you here to find work? Don't you know the rules?"
At that time, the man was squatting on the ground, writing and drawing on a piece of cardboard with an oil-based pen, acting as if he hadn't heard their scolding, without even lifting his head.
Seeing that the man didn't speak, those people pressed on, "We who are here to meet people are mainly acting, do you understand acting?"
"That is, we need to create the impression that the celebrity is very popular, and also help them block out the real fans."
"We can't get close to those celebrities, don't you know that? Don't you want your pay?"
Just then, the man finished writing on the cardboard, suddenly raised his head, and a cold light shot out from under his sword-like eyebrows.
He didn't say anything or make any movements, just an unhappy look, which startled the professional "fans" into taking a step back in unison.
Seeing those people retreat, the man picked up the cardboard, walked to an open area by himself, and held up the cardboard in his hand. It was scribbled over messily several times, with only one line of text remaining.
【Professor and his students】
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So it was him? Did he... forget our names? Lu Yibei rubbed his forehead and patted Professor Ma's shoulder, "Professor, the car picking us up is here."
Professor Ma, "..."
"Professor?"
Professor Ma, feeling a bit dazed from the cold, lifted his eyelids and whispered, "Hmm? Oh... you're finally here?"
Lu Yibei, "..."
----
Three minutes later.
An old Jinbei van rattled along the road towards the Tangcheng Four Seasons Hotel.
Lu Yibei and Professor Ma were still "thawing out" in the car's heater when the tall man, after glancing at a note in the car, started talking to himself.
"You two must be Professor Ma Zhen and Lu Yibei, the junior student? Hello, my name is Mao Sanyou. I'm a second-year graduate student in Cultural Relics and Museum Studies at Tangcheng University. My Teacher, Hou Jun, sent me to pick you up..."
Before Mao Sanyou finished speaking, Lu Yibei heard Professor Ma curse under his breath.
"So it's that old bastard? Hmph, that scoundrel!"
Lu Yibei was taken aback and turned her head to look, only to find that Professor Ma, who had been as wilted as an eggplant hit by frost just moments ago, was now sitting upright and chest out as if injected with chicken blood.
He had a bit of the air he had in class, holding the roll call book, ready to fail people.
Catching a glimpse of Lu Yibei's puzzled look, Professor Ma slightly turned his body and whispered in her ear, "Hou Jun was my university classmate. When he was young, he coveted your Teacher's wife for a long time, but he never succeeded."
Lu Yibei nodded, thinking it was understandable.
Although Professor Ma had a strange temper, he was handsome!
In his fifties, he hadn't grown ugly; instead, he had become a rare kind of handsome old person. It was imaginable that in his youth, he was also a destructive force.
Handsome and knowledgeable, popular with girls, plus a personality...
How hated Professor Ma must have been when he was young! Just like me... Lu Yibei thought.
"Anyway, after that guy graduated and started working, he always targeted me, whether in life or academics. He would even oppose anything I said. I guess he's participating in this research project just to get at me."
Hearing this, Lu Yibei frowned and interjected, "Is he a contrarian?"
"..." Professor Ma thought for a moment and said seriously, "Hmm, a contrarian who only targets me."
After speaking, he looked at Mao Sanyou in the driver's seat and asked seriously, "Kid, let me ask you, what is your Teacher doing right now?"
"He..." Mao Sanyou smiled awkwardly, "He took two junior students and went to wander around Taohua Road Antique Street. He said he was going to try his luck and see if he could find the lost cultural relics."
Hearing this, Professor Ma mused for a few seconds, then patted Lu Yibei on the shoulder, "Lu Yibei, you go too later. You must get ahead of that old bastard Hou Jun and find the cultural relics."
Lu Yibei was startled for a moment, pointing at her nose, "Wait, Professor Ma, I'm going alone?"
Professor Ma glanced at the snowflakes dancing in the wind outside the window and the frozen river around the city, narrowed his eyes slightly, and murmured, "That was the winter of '99. I went to the countryside with a few colleagues to search for a set of ancient jade slips. We encountered a blizzard, and I accidentally fell off a cliff and broke my foot. Since then, every time it's cloudy, I..."
So, there's a reason why you old thing are disliked... Lu Yibei covered her forehead and interrupted, "Alright, alright, can't I just go?"
Anyway, I was planning to act alone when I had a chance, see if I could find Smelly Girl and get something out of her, and also report to the Tang City Si Ye Hui. Lu Yibei thought.
----
Tang City East Railway Station.
In a scene of quiet peace, the cold wind wrapped fine snowflakes and danced in the air, slowly falling onto the ruins of the half-demolished railway station.
Since the new railway station was built and high-speed rail was connected, this place had been abandoned for several years. It was originally scheduled for demolition at the beginning of this year, but the project progress was temporarily shelved because of a few urban legend incidents during the demolition process.
Liu Banxian stood on the road opposite the railway station, holding two train tickets and a yellowed family photo in his hand. Looking at the half-demolished railway station, he kept looking and remembered things from forty years ago, and his nose, reddened by the cold wind, felt a pang of sadness.
Forty years ago, Liu Banxian, who was only twenty-eight years old, was just a steel mill workshop worker. On the eve of the Spring Festival that year, he took his wife and daughter back to his hometown for the New Year and came to Tang City East Railway Station.
His daughter, who was only three years old at the time, got lost then.
It was just for a moment, while the couple kindly helped a passerby lift luggage onto the train. When they turned their heads, all that was left behind them was the bustling street and countless surging crowds.
His mind went blank, he was burning with anxiety, then he started imagining all possible tragic outcomes, and finally, after his emotions completely collapsed, he picked up that slim hope.
Since then, Liu Banxian and his wife settled down in Tang City, doing odd jobs while looking for their daughter, and they stayed for three years.
In five years, the two of them spent all their savings looking for their child, but there was still no news of her. His wife advised him to have another child while they were still young, but Liu Banxian just smoked, shaking his head while wiping away tears.
Not long after, his wife, who could no longer bear that kind of life, also left.
That night, Liu Banxian got himself completely drunk and stumbled into a dilapidated temple not far from where he lived.
At that time, due to financial difficulties, Liu Banxian could only live in a run-down rented house in a remote suburb. The surrounding area had poor security. He had known about the abandoned temple for a long time but had never gone inside, nor did he know which deity was worshipped there.
Before entering the dilapidated temple, Liu Banxian was still consoling himself in his drunkenness, but an adult's breakdown often happens in an instant. After seeing the clay deity statue whose appearance could no longer be discerned, and recalling everything from yesterday, he suddenly broke down.
Crying loudly, cursing heaven and earth, cursing people and deities, and then...
A vibrant green light seemed to grow branches in the dark night, and the deity actually appeared before him, beat him half to death, and then pointed him to a clear path.
Although that clear path ultimately did not lead Liu Banxian to find his daughter, it at least gave him the capital to keep searching—Spirit Marks and the art of divination.
Now, having learned that the deity was in trouble, he knew it was time for him to repay the favor...
----
When Liu Banxian withdrew his thoughts, the bus had already stopped near Jianlou Ancient Street. He hadn't been to Tang City for many years, and the bus routes had changed a lot. He had gone a long way around to find this place.
Fortunately, apart from the two commercialized streets in Jianlou Ancient Street, the surrounding old houses and alleys hadn't changed much. Liu Banxian navigated through them following his memory and quickly found the old pawn shop.
As soon as Liu Banxian walked into the pawn shop, the owner, Tan the Wealthy, who was always drowsy, suddenly sat up, widened his eyes, looked at him, and exclaimed, "Well now, you old fellow are here too?"
"Have you found your daughter?"
Liu Banxian smiled bitterly and shook his head, "After all that effort, I only know she's still alive, but I haven't found her yet."
"Oh..." Tan the Wealthy nodded and murmured, "It's good that she's still alive. As long as she's alive, there's a chance to find her."
Liu Banxian cupped his hands, "I'll take your good words."
"Oh, right, you should go up later! That one is taking a nap." Tan the Wealthy reminded him, "You know her temper. If you disturb her sweet dream, I'm afraid you'll suffer."
Liu Banxian glanced upstairs, nodded, then pulled up a stool and sat beside Tan the Wealthy, warming his hands with his hand warmer while chatting.
"Speaking of which, Brother Tan, it's been a long time. Should I do another divination for you? See how your luck is this year?"
Tan the Wealthy glanced at Liu Banxian, shaking his head like a rattle-drum, "No need, no need. You did a divination for me back then, and now out of my three shops, only this smallest one is left. If you do another one, I'm afraid I'll be sleeping on the street tonight."
Tan the Wealthy saying this to Liu Banxian was originally just friendly teasing between old friends, but who would have thought it would become a prophecy.
...
Just as Liu Banxian was talking with Tan the Wealthy, across the old street, a pair of somber eyes withdrew their gaze, and then slowly put the white porcelain plate in the palm of their hand into their pocket.
Although the person supporting Ju Meng wasn't intercepted, with a flash of inspiration, Ju Meng's hiding place was found by him!
