Chapter 9: Capturing Aning Alive

After learning from Xiaoge what Wu Yu had fed him, Wu Tianzhen and the others were filled with envy.

Kirin Gourd! A legendary treasure! It couldn't be helped; while the item existed in modern times, it lacked the necessary age. Newly cultivated versions were as common as radishes, but the one Wu Tianzhen had consumed was at least several thousand years old. If there were no other valuable treasures in this tomb, the Kirin Gourd he had just eaten would undoubtedly be the grand finale. Moreover, for those in their line of work—digging for a living—the Kirin Gourd was nothing short of a divine artifact.

Even so, the thought was hard for Wu Tianzhen to stomach. Knowing it had been taken from a corpse and had sat there for thousands of years made him shudder. Suppressing his discomfort, he changed the subject. "So, how do we open this box?"

"This is a treasure!" Uncle San touched the box as if he were caressing a young girl. "This is a purple jade box, something ancient dignitaries used to store their most precious items. It’s extremely difficult to open; if you try to force it without the correct key, the contents will be destroyed in an instant!"

"Huh? Is there a bomb inside?" Tianzhen asked, skeptical.

"There are special chemical solutions inside. Once they come into contact with the air, they will rapidly corrode or ignite, depending on what is being stored and which solution is required," Uncle San explained to Wu Tianzhen, looking unhurried.

Watching this, Wu Yu nearly burst out laughing. Good heavens, they were all world-class actors! While he could understand Xiaoge’s amnesia, he hadn’t expected Uncle San’s acting skills to be so refined. If he hadn’t seen Uncle San open one himself using his own methods, he would have actually believed him! While some ancient boxes were indeed hard to open, the purple jade ones were not among them. During his time at the 11th Warehouse, he had studied these things extensively. With modern technology, many of these structures could be analyzed and cracked quickly via scanning. It was just that only the 11th Warehouse utilized such methods, and the outside world remained oblivious.

"Alright, let's find the key first!" Fatty interjected. "But let's agree on this beforehand: we split everything fifty-fifty! I’ve contributed my fair share, so you can't be stingy!"

"Fine, fine! We haven't even opened it yet and you're already worried about the loot. You open it then!" Uncle San glared at Fatty.

"Tch!" Fatty retreated two steps, muttering something under his breath.

"There’s no key on this male corpse!" Pan Zi stood up after a thorough inspection. "Then it must be on the woman." He reached out to touch the female corpse, but for some unknown reason, she suddenly sat upright. This change startled everyone.

Only Xiaoge remained calm. He stepped forward, touched the back of the corpse, and looked at Wu Yu. "It’s not a reanimated corpse, just a gravity-triggered mechanism in the back."

"Your technique just now... it’s impressive." When Wu Yu had searched for the Kirin Gourd, he hadn't triggered the mechanism, but the moment Pan Zi touched it, the trap sprang. This showed the disparity between them. Anyone in this line of work knew the importance of a nimble pair of hands. As the saying went, one gain always comes with a loss. Why else would the Zhang family practice the "Rich Woman’s Finger" with only one hand instead of two? It was simple: gaining certain abilities meant sacrificing others, so one hand had to be kept intact.

"Even if she has been dead for thousands of years, she is still a lady, so one must show some manners," Wu Yu said with a smile.

Xiaoge nodded and continued, "It’s a trap. The moment she sat up, the crossbow bolts hidden inside her body were cocked."

"Crossbow bolts?" Pan Zi was stunned. "Hidden inside the body?"

"That’s too cruel!" Tianzhen exclaimed. "It’s not enough that she was buried; they had to turn her corpse into a trap!"

"There’s another reason: the key to the purple jade box is hidden inside her!" Wu Yu stepped forward and pointed toward the area near the neck and chest. "Right around here. The trap is secondary; its main purpose is to destroy the key. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have had time to dodge, and then..."

"Move!" Before he could finish, Xiaoge’s expression changed, and he flung his Black Gold Ancient Blade.

*Clang!*

A spark flew in the cavern as the Black Gold Ancient Blade sliced a bullet in half. Xiaoge leaped into the cave tunnel simultaneously. Everyone expected a fierce battle, but moments later, Xiaoge emerged carrying a woman.

"Is that... A-Ning?" Wu Tianzhen’s eyes lit up. He scrambled over, acting like a total sycophant.

"Uncle San, can we arrange some blind dates for my cousin once we get back?" Wu Yu asked, looking at Tianzhen with a mix of amusement and disbelief.

"Indeed, the boy is already twenty-three!" Uncle San agreed, fully supporting the suggestion. He had been dreaming of having a grandson, and if Wu Tianzhen could fulfill that wish, he would have no regrets. A-Ning had just fired a shot at them; if not for Xiaoge’s quick reaction, one of them would have been down. Yet, Wu Tianzhen had forgotten it the moment he saw a pretty face. It was truly a disgrace to the Wu family.

"Third Master, foreign-made!" Pan Zi handed A-Ning’s gun to Uncle San. "It seems the supplies and tents we saw earlier belong to them."

"Mhm." Uncle San nodded. "Are you alright, Xiaoge?"

"The blood corpses we encountered earlier had only recently mutated, quite different from that Blood Corpse King. If I’m not mistaken, they were her subordinates," Xiaoge said, looking at A-Ning.

"Uncle San! Brother! A-Ning is injured! We have to save her!" Wu Tianzhen stared anxiously at her wounds.

"Fine, save her," Uncle San hesitated, perhaps for Tianzhen's sake, or perhaps out of consideration for the foreigners, and signaled to Pan Zi.