Chapter 36: Looks Like… We Don’t Need To Spend Money After All?
The person who came saw them and was stunned for a moment. The woman asked doubtfully: “Boss Wu, Mr. Lin, you’re here too? I didn’t expect you to come looking for Boss Wang just in time.”
Wu Xie was stunned for half a day, feeling that this scene was utterly absurd.
This woman had almost injured Lin Yan for the treasure chest after they rescued her in Lu King’s Palace; then she took advantage when Corpse Beetle King was around to exploit the situation, indirectly causing Da Kui’s death. And now she was casually chatting with him without batting an eye? It was already a testament to his good upbringing that he hadn’t cursed her out.
Lin Yan had no such reservations. As soon as A Ning uttered those words pretending nothing had happened, he couldn’t hold back. If he hadn’t been so angry for a few seconds that he couldn’t speak, he would have already unleashed a tirade.
The shop thus fell into an awkward silence by chance. Wu Xie was desperately holding back from cursing, while Lin Yan was too furious to speak. However, after a few seconds without a response, A Ning couldn’t help but speak up again.
While speaking, she took a business card from the pocket on her shirt chest and handed it to them. Some of the snowy white at her chest peeked out from the lace shirt with its open collar, and Wu Xie couldn’t help but slightly avert his gaze.
“Right, I forgot to introduce myself. We are from the International Marine Resource Development Company. This time we’re here to find you two—oh no, and Boss Wang too. We’re here for the three of you because—”
She hadn’t finished before Lin Yan interrupted her.
He slapped the business card away with one hand, glared at A Ning, and pointed to the door: “Don’t think changing clothes means I won’t recognize you. You almost killed us under Lu King’s Palace, and now you have the nerve to come find us, acting like nothing happened? You’ve got some thick skin! Turn right when you leave, see yourself out!”
He didn’t care if A Ning would fall for Wu Xie later or if Wu Xie would take a liking to him. This woman kept flaunting her little schemes in front of him repeatedly—did she really think he had no temper?
A Ning was stunned for two seconds, her expression turning cold as well. She didn’t even pick up the business card.
Seeing them at a standoff, the man beside him stepped forward and took over: “You two, please don’t be angry first. How about hearing why we’re looking for you? Trust me, if after hearing it you decide not to cooperate with us, we’ll turn around and leave right away.”
“You—” Lin Yan grew even angrier upon hearing this, but Wu Xie, who had calmed down first, reached out a hand to stop him: “I can talk with you, but I have one condition.”
He pointed at A Ning: “Have this woman leave first.”
A Ning’s mouth twitched. Perhaps realizing she was truly unwelcome, she politely nodded to them and left decisively.
After she left, the atmosphere in the shop eased somewhat.
Wu Xie and Lin Yan suppressed their anger at seeing A Ning again and focused their attention on this man.
The man was around thirty, slightly chubby, and somewhat balding. He gave a nervous smile, probably because A Ning had been the one in charge among them, and without her, they had lost their backbone.
“Here’s the thing: two weeks ago, a Mr. Wu Sansheng approached our boss. After chatting about something unknown, he mentioned an underwater ancient tomb.”
He glanced at Wu Xie, as if confirming whether he knew about this.
Wu Xie nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.
“After he provided the clues, our board of directors unanimously agreed to develop this underwater ancient tomb with Mr. Wu. We also provided some spare equipment, personnel, and ships to search for this ancient tomb near North Reef.”
At this point, he glanced at Wu Xie again, seeming to hesitate on how to euphemistically phrase what came next.
Wu Xie frowned slightly, wondering if something had happened to Third Uncle. But if everything had gone smoothly, why would this company’s people come to him?
With this thought, he wanted to ask the man what exactly had happened to Wu Sansheng. Meanwhile, Lin Yan, who was closely watching their expressions, had already guessed it: Wu Sansheng must be trapped in the underwater tomb, which was why the company had come to them. After all, his intersections with Wu Xie and Fatty were only at Lu King’s Palace, and Lu King’s Palace’s bronze fish was connected to the underwater tomb. From the fact that this company had even engraved the bronze fish’s code on a belt, they had clearly been investigating this for a long time—otherwise, A Ning wouldn’t have appeared in Lu King’s Palace.
Seeing Wu Xie about to speak, Lin Yan discreetly tugged his sleeve, reminding him to stay calm and not let this man lead him by the nose. It was like a negotiation—whoever spoke first lost the initiative.
The balding man saw neither of them responding, and after an awkward few seconds, he still spoke up: “Everything was going smoothly at first, but yesterday afternoon, their ship disappeared from the satellite system and hasn’t reappeared since. So…”
Wu Xie cut in coldly: “So you came to me to ask if I have clues about the ancient tomb? Or simply want us to take you there?”
After Lin Yan’s tug just now, he had calmed down from his initial concern-induced panic. This balding man was deliberately saying this to make him flustered and possibly reveal clues. He sneered inwardly—Wu Sansheng hadn’t told him anything before leaving, not even a vague location, so their trip to get clues from him was completely futile.
But Third Uncle…
He set aside his worries, exhaled, and asked: “What exactly happened with the signal loss? Is the satellite positioning signal that weak? Did something go wrong with the equipment on the ship?”
The balding man shook his head: “The satellite positioning system doesn’t fail under normal circumstances unless it suffers severe damage. But we didn’t receive any distress signals before the signal disappeared, so something major must have happened—they didn’t even have time to send a distress call.”
Wu Xie pondered for a few seconds and asked him: “If it wasn’t an accident, then they might have found the ancient tomb, where there’s naturally no signal. If they’ve entered the ancient tomb, just wait for them to come out for pickup. So why come to us?”
The balding man gave an awkward smile: “It’s like this: based on the timeline, they might have indeed entered the ancient tomb by the time it happened. But the signal from the ship outside disappeared too, so when they come out, there might be no maritime support… And if the weather forecast is correct, a low-pressure system has appeared in that sea area. If we don’t find them soon…”
Wu Xie naturally understood what he meant. Even if there was air below the ancient tomb for them to breathe, without ship support upon exiting and coinciding with a storm, it could really turn into a bad omen.
He rubbed his forehead: “Then why come to me? Just go directly to the signal-loss location and arrange ship support.”
The balding man touched his nose: “That’s the problem. When your Third Uncle negotiated terms with us, he used approval certificates from yn side. But according to the final positioning, the tomb’s location might be in domestic waters. Based on weather intel, we have at least three days, but we don’t know where the ruins’ entrance is. The final GPS sea area is a full three square nautical miles, and we have no means to find the exact position of the ruins.”
He glanced at Wu Xie, seeming hesitant to continue.
Wu Xie sighed, realizing he had no choice but to go this time. He didn’t know how his Third Uncle could have done something so muddled—if reported, wouldn’t he end up serving a long prison sentence? He looked at Lin Yan, wanting him to stay—this was his family matter, no need for him to risk it together.
Lin Yan saw his expression and understood, nodding. If he remembered correctly, this underwater tomb was Wang Canghai’s tomb—they hadn’t gained much from it anyway, so going or not didn’t matter. According to the plot, both Fatty and Zhang Qiling would go, so Wu Xie’s safety was assured. It was just that A Ning…
Just as Wu Xie was about to agree, he suddenly remembered Zhang Qiling’s note, and his heart stirred: “But I have two conditions. If you can meet them, I can go with you.”
The balding man nodded: “Go ahead.”
Wu Xie pulled Lin Yan in front of him: “First condition: I don’t know what Fatty chooses, but Lin Yan must come with me. If we need to split up for searching, don’t separate us, and you have to provide the equipment.”
Hmm? Didn’t he just want him to stay? Lin Yan was confused, looked at Wu Xie, and saw his determined gaze—he had clearly made up his mind, probably thinking of something suddenly.
Wu Xie continued: “Second condition: within two days, I want a millennium blood-infused jade, must be a jade pendant or pearl.”
The balding man nodded at the first condition, but at the second, he rubbed his pant leg in bewilderment, hesitated for a while, then said: “I can’t make the call on this one, I need to ask…”
He cautiously pointed toward the door, afraid of upsetting Wu Xie and the others.
Wu Xie lifted his chin: “Then go get whoever can make the call.”
No matter what A Ning had done before, since they were cooperating now, it wasn’t suitable to burn bridges.
Not long after, A Ning came back in expressionless, her voice cold enough to form ice shards: “Mr. Wu, we can meet your demands. If no issues, once we settle with Boss Wang, we’ll book airplane tickets and depart—the sooner the better.”
Wu Xie nodded: “As you wish, whatever. But before going down the tomb, I want to see the blood-infused jade.”
A Ning nodded and left with the balding man. Before leaving, the balding man gave them an embarrassed smile, waved his hand slightly in farewell.
They weren’t fond of A Ning, but their impression of the balding man was decent, so they nodded to him in acknowledgment.
Once they left, Lin Yan sat back down, turned to Wu Xie, and asked: “Why suddenly want me to go too? Weren’t you asking me to stay here?”
Wu Xie nodded: “That’s what I thought before—it’s my family matter, can’t drag you into it. But then I remembered the note Zhang Qiling left, which said if I go down a tomb, I must bring you. I don’t know why, but it should be for your good, so I decided to include you.”
Lin Yan thought for a moment and understood. Speaking of yin energy and resentful energy, where was there more than inside a tomb? Zhang Qiling had Wu Xie bring him down for his own good—a bead every week was too expensive; better to hit a big tomb for a big haul. Besides, without following Wu Xie, could he even find a tomb to go down on his own?
Thinking this way, it seemed he had to go too?
Moreover, probably, maybe, sort of, he wouldn’t need to find pearls himself anymore?
