Chapter 91: Wu Sansheng’s Goal
The three of them looked at each other, but couldn’t figure out the killer’s goal in doing this.
After a while, Wu Xie rubbed his hair with a headache, messing up his hair that hadn’t been cut for a while into a messy bird’s nest: “Forget it, let’s first sort it out. Who knows our exact position? Let’s first speculate on the possible identity of the killer?”
Lin Yan nodded silently and cracked his fingers: “The first is us ourselves, directly exclude that. The Ship Captain and they also know we’re here, but they’re missing now and we can’t confront them. The people at that Port in Xisha should only know we’re going to Yongxing Island, so they can be excluded. Then there are those people responsible for resupplying on Yongxing Island, do they know? The rest are the people from that Marine Resource Development Company. They have no reason to kill their own people, right?”
Wu Xie shook his head and raised three fingers at him: “Three possibilities—first, the Ship Captain and his people, who have controlled A Ning and her company’s people, wanting to wait for us to come out and then kill and rob? Or collude with the pirates in this sea area to kill and rob? If that’s the case, then only a few people from A Ning’s company were killed on the ship, and they had no reason to run. With more than a dozen of them, plus dozens of pirates, are they afraid of just a few of us? So this situation can be excluded.”
Lin Yan thought about it and agreed. Moreover, judging from the Ship Captain’s behavior along the way, he didn’t seem like someone who would do such a thing, and there was no need to risk the Storm to send them here. Besides, A Ning and they told outsiders it was salvaging a sunken ship. Even for the sake of profit, they wouldn’t strike before they came up, right? Waiting for them to come up and join, then wiping them all out wouldn’t be great? As for colluding with pirates, that’s even more impossible. Although he didn’t know much about pirates, from the news reports in his previous life, pirates left no chickens or dogs when passing through, and they still expected them to leave a ship? Wishful thinking!
“Then what about the other two possibilities?” After excluding the Ship Captain and his group’s suspicion, there weren’t many people left. Could it really be A Ning and her company’s people who did it? Killing their own people?
Wu Xie put down his hand and asked him: “Do you know about A Ning and her company?” Lin Yan asked him strangely: “Why do you say that?” His knowledge of A Ning’s company was limited to knowing A Ning and Qiu Dekao who wanted Longevity, plus their endless Equipment and… money, money, and money! It was evident from this Xisha trip—just because of a clue from Wu Sansheng, not only did they prepare various equipment, but double the amount! They even rented two ships, not to mention the manpower dispatched! Unreasonably rich!
Wu Xie saw that Lin Yan knew nothing, which was his fault. After speculating on the general background of A Ning and her company, he didn’t brief Lin Yan, leaving him confused now.
“The full name of A Ning and her company is International Marine Resource Development Company. This kind of company is actually just a shell. Essentially, their work is the same as what we’re doing now, only we go Underground, they go Underwater, cloaked in legality operating on the high seas. Does that make sense?”
Holy crap, so A Ning and her company are so rich, but essentially started from the lowest rung? Lin Yan was dumbfounded. He finally understood why everyone in A Ning’s company was so “professional”—turns out besides the Boss’s demands, their main business was sea scavenging? He had thought this was just Qiu Dekao using the excuse of making extra money to seek Longevity, but unexpectedly it was their main job.
Lin Yan nodded, having a hard time accepting it for a moment. He had thought A Ning’s title of “Expedition Leader” was a real one, but it turned out to be this kind of “exploration”! He looked at Zhang Qiling. On the way here, Zhang Qiling had disguised as Zhang Hao to blend into the team: “I have a doubt. A Ning’s company should be the type with very strict screening, right? How did you get in? I saw A Ning seemed quite familiar with you. Even if you can disguise and shrink bones, how did you fake the personality? You can’t fake it so convincingly without long-term imitation! You didn’t plan to infiltrate a long time ago, did you? How did you know they were going to invite Wu Xie?”
Zhang Qiling shook his head, signaling he was overthinking: “Wu Sansheng asked me to come.”
“What, Third Uncle? He contacted you before he went missing?” Wu Xie suddenly straightened his back and looked at Zhang Qiling, almost twisting his ribs out of place again, his face contorted in pain for a moment: “What else did he tell you?”
Zhang Qiling looked at him and shook his head: “When he came, he gave me Zhang Hao’s data and videos, gave me three days to imitate him, then used some means to swap me with the real Zhang Hao, so I could come down with you. I know what you want to ask—” He interrupted Wu Xie’s hesitation, “He only told me to pretend to be Zhang Hao wherever A Ning was, and after entering the tomb, as long as I separated from A Ning, I didn’t need to anymore. He also gave me a fee to protect you. As for his own whereabouts, he didn’t say.”
After hearing this, Wu Xie stared blankly at the ground, then let out a bitter laugh after a while: “That’s good at least. At least I know this trip down was his doing. He should have his own plan, and I am one part of his plan. Forget it, as long as he’s not dead, I can give Second Uncle and them an explanation when I go back.”
Hearing this, Lin Yan remembered something: “Wu Xie, your Third Uncle… is basically the Wu Family’s representative, right? Who is the current head of the Wu Family?”
Wu Xie looked up at him, the bitter smile still on his lips: “The current head is my Second Uncle. My Third Uncle is probably the most active person from the Wu Family in the outside world. What’s up?”
Lin Yan touched his chin: “Do you think your Second Uncle and them know about this? After all, the Wu Family’s only person active outside is missing, aren’t your Second Uncle and them anxious? Maybe when you go back, your Third Uncle is already home!”
“…Holy crap!” Wu Xie couldn’t help but curse angrily at the thought of that scene: “Then what the hell did Third Uncle call me here for? Just to make me go down to this Underwater Tomb? And he called Fatty and Xiaoge Zhang Qiling too, why insist on gathering us together? Why not call Panzi too while he’s at it? Everyone from the Lu King’s Palace trip except Da Kui would be assembled! What’s the point of having us go down the tomb together? Is there any? What thing is in this tomb? Either Sea Monkey or Forbidden Woman, at most a model of Cloud Top Heavenly Palace… And what else? That dry corpse that blasted through the entire tomb? Damn, what does he want from me that he can’t say directly? I’m not unwilling to come with him! Why beat around the bush with all this? Is it fun? If Xiaoge couldn’t drive the boat, even if we escaped, we’d just be waiting to die at sea!”
He was so angry his face flushed red, breathing made his rib injury ache faintly. Sensing Wu Xie’s resentment, Lin Yan quietly sat farther away from him to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the furious Wu Xie.
But Wu Xie did hit the key point. What exactly was Wu Sansheng’s purpose in making him come down this time? Lin Yan summarized the clues in the Underwater Tomb, and those related to later events were just three: Snake-browed Bronze Fish, Cloud Top Heavenly Palace, and Wang Canghai. Oh right, and the Forbidden Woman from twenty years ago. What exactly did Wu Sansheng want to hint to Wu Xie? What was it that he couldn’t tell Wu Xie directly, but had to let Wu Xie discover through his hand? And… in Wu Sansheng’s scheme, did it include him or not?
