Tomb raiding: Carrying a coffin during a funeral procession, rewarded with the Dragon Elephant Prajn

"Who goes there?!"

Ah Ning paused for a moment, then quickly reacted, pulling out the dagger hidden in her boot, her face wary.

At this moment, the group also spotted the dark figure in the mine.

The dark figure was slightly shorter than an ordinary person, and its true appearance was obscured in the dim light of the air-raid shelter.

And just as Ah Ning's men shone their flashlights over, the dark figure suddenly let out a strange cry and turned to run away.

"stop!"

Ah Ning's face turned cold, and she led her men to give chase.

Her mercenaries worked together seamlessly, and in just a short time, they surrounded and captured the darting shadows.

But when everyone saw the true face of the shadowy figure, they were all startled.

It turned out to be an old ape, its fur grayish-white. It was currently bound with ropes and was baring its canine teeth at the crowd, making threatening squeaks.

Upon seeing the old ape, Guide Zhang Wei quickly said, "I've seen this old ape before. It's been frequently coming to the camp to steal food these past few months. But it doesn't hurt anyone, so we haven't bothered with it."

Ah Ning nodded, preparing to release the old ape.

But just then, one of his white mercenaries suddenly brightened up and shouted, "Miss Aning, there's something on that ape's neck!"

Having said that, the white mercenary couldn't wait any longer and immediately parted the old ape's gray fur, pulling out a collar from its neck.

The necklace was made of red rope, which has turned black over the years.

But what's most surprising is that there's a gold medal hanging below the collar!

To be precise, it's a small, square gold medal about the length of a thumb.

The white mercenary's eyes lit up, and with a slight effort, he snapped the rope.

Immediately afterwards, he handed the gold medal to Aning as if presenting a treasure.

Aning took the gold medal and discovered that it was engraved with words.

"Guanshan Taibao?"

"Why is that old ape wearing a gold medal? And what's the meaning of this 'Guanshan Taibao'?"

Just as A Ning was puzzled, Xiang, the leader of the crowd, suddenly let out a soft exclamation, stepped forward, and stared intently at the gold medal in A Ning's hand.

Ah Ning's gaze shifted, and she quickly asked, "Does Chief Xiang perhaps know the origin of this gold medal?"

Xiang nodded and sighed, "I do know a little bit, but I never expected to run into Guanshan Taibao under these circumstances."

For the first time in a while, Xiang had been a mature and steady man, and this was the first time that everyone had seen him so preoccupied with worries.

Clearly, there must be a story between Chief Xiang and this Guanshan Taibao.

Li Changsheng crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of the air-raid shelter, pulling out a handful of sunflower seeds from somewhere.

Seeing this, Black Bear scratched his head and tried to appease him.

"Consultant Li, could I have a handful of sunflower seeds too?"

"Thank you, one hundred dollars."

"..."

Instantly, Hei Xiazi looked as if he had seen a ghost.

He's the one who usually tricks people, I never thought I'd be tricked myself...

but……

He figured he couldn't fight city hall, and if he didn't make a move, what if they held a grudge?

So he had no choice but to painfully take out his money and buy a handful of sunflower seeds.

the other side.

Looking at the gold medal of Guanshan Taibao, Xiang Batou's expression was complicated as he slowly recounted a story from before the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at, but I spent several years in prison. It was there that I met a remarkable man, became his apprentice, and learned a great deal about feng shui. My master's surname was Zhao. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was extremely famous in the north, an expert in finding auspicious dragon veins and identifying auspicious sites, and was respectfully called Zhao the Eye of Heaven. At his peak, he had hundreds of apprentices and was a frequent guest of many warlords. When the warlord Sun Dianying bombed the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi, it was my master who presided over the operation."

While cracking sunflower seeds, Hei Xiazi casually remarked, "So you're Zhao Guanshan's apprentice!"

Foreman Xiang was taken aback, and exclaimed in surprise, "My master was arrested in the early days of the People's Republic of China and never got out of prison until he died of old age. You know my master?"

"I've only heard about it."

Black Bear hurriedly changed his tune, thinking to himself that he had almost revealed his own involvement.

Although he was a Mongol, he had a difficult life from childhood, especially due to the exploitation by the Eight Banners nobles. Several members of his family died at the hands of the Eight Banners nobles, so he harbored a great deal of hatred for the Manchus. Otherwise, he would not have changed his surname to Han and never wanted to talk about his origins.

Xiang nodded, thinking that his master was famous, and it was normal for some older people to know about his deeds.

He continued his narration.

"In the early days of the People's Republic of China, my master met a man surnamed Feng, who was a descendant of the Guanshan Taibao!"

At this point, Xiang, the foreman, suddenly turned to look at Director Zhang Wei and said with a smile, "Director Zhang actually said something wrong. Not all members of the Feng family were arrested and sent for reform back then. There was actually one who escaped."

"Is that the person your master encountered?!"

"That's right!"

When the mysterious Feng family was mentioned, Xiang Ba Tou's face showed obvious hatred.

"This person initially put very little effort into his disguise, even fooling my master. He said he wanted to collaborate with my master to excavate a large tomb, and the treasures inside would only be for viewing and would never be sold privately. That's why my master took the risk and agreed to come out of seclusion."

"But who knew that after the tomb was excavated, he secretly replaced several national treasures inside and smuggled them out of the country. He even went so far as to report my master before leaving, which was unethical."

"My master was originally sentenced to death, but due to good behavior, surrendering himself to the police and performing meritorious service, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment."

Upon hearing this, Director Zhang Wei quickly asked, "You mean, some members of the Feng family have also fled abroad?"

"That's right. In fact, I had been following this person for several years, but unfortunately the trail went cold in Australia in the 1980s. All I knew was that he changed his surname to Sun and made his fortune with those national treasures. He lived a carefree life abroad."

Hearing this, Hei Xiazi finished cracking the last sunflower seed and comforted him, "Even if that person is still alive, he's almost ninety years old, and probably won't live for many more years."

Xiang pursed his lips and remained silent.

All his skills came from his master in prison, and if possible, he would naturally want to avenge his master.

Ah Ning twirled the gold medal in her hand, then suddenly asked, "After all this talk, you still haven't said what your connection is with this gold medal and this old ape?"

After thinking for a moment, Xiang Batou said, "I heard my master say that the Feng family kept an old ape in their ancestral home in Wushan, and it had a gold plaque with the title of Guanshan Taibao hanging around its neck. This must be the one in front of us."

"As for the gold medal, Guanshan Taibao was originally the imperial geomancer of the Ming Dynasty, who was in charge of selecting sites for the construction of imperial mausoleums. Therefore, he was bestowed the gold medal by Zhu Yuanzhang."

Upon hearing this, A Ning looked at the old ape in front of her with considerable surprise.

According to what Xiang Batou said, this old ape must have lived for at least fifty years.

It's important to know that apes don't live as long as humans; at most, they can only live for twenty or thirty years.

Thinking of this, Ah Ning put away the gold medal, nodded, and said, "It's just a long-lived ape... Mike, let it go."