General of the Heavens

Chapter 76 The Thief Cries "Stop Thief!" [Seeking Recommendations]

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! Seventeen years after the abdication of the Qing emperor, the tomb of Imperial Noble Consort Shushen in the Eastern Mausoleum has been robbed—a shocking case that has gripped the nation!"

In the morning, the sun slowly rose.

The newsboys' clear cries brought the entire capital to a lively atmosphere, and the older generation was filled with emotion.

They were the last wave of people oppressed by imperial power, and they almost never dreamed that the once mighty Qing Dynasty would come to such an end!

On Xu Yicheng's office desk in Tsinghua University, there was also a newspaper. Upon hearing the news, Xu Yicheng sighed with regret.

"Teacher Xu, someone is looking for you."

A dignified, fair-skinned, and beautiful female student gently knocked on the open door of Xu Yicheng's office and then spoke in a crisp voice.

"Oh, why didn't you bring them with you when you came to see me?"

The female student said warily, "Teacher Xu, that person is from the police department. I'm afraid he might do something bad to you, so I'll make him wait."

Xu Yicheng laughed heartily, "You clever little devil, this is Tsinghua University. Even the police wouldn't dare to act recklessly here. Besides, I haven't broken the law, so why should I be afraid of him?"

The female student smiled sheepishly and said, "Okay, I'll bring him over right away." As soon as she finished speaking, the pretty female student ran off.

Xu Yicheng put the newspaper on the table aside, and when he saw who it was, he couldn't help but smile. It turned out to be Ning Chen.

"So it's Brother Ning. I was just wondering why the police were being so polite. It's been quite a while since we last met."

Xu Yicheng was very polite and brewed another pot of tea. Ning Chen didn't drink it, but instead took out a piece of white paper and handed it to Xu Yicheng.

"What is this?"

Xu Yicheng opened it and found a character written in blood: "陵" (Ling). There were also five finger marks on the left.

"This morning, near the entrance of Lujia Hutong, I met a seriously injured person who asked me to give you this piece of paper."

Ning Chen said in a serious tone, feeling utterly bewildered that he had been dragged into this and had almost been shot. He was in no good mood at all.

There were also newspapers reporting that the guards of the Eastern Tombs were thieves crying "Stop thief!" and that Yu Peng personally recounted the whole story of the tomb raiding, revealing that a group of thieves had come to rob the tomb under the cover of darkness.

He then personally led a team to resist to the death, but their weapons were too weak to defeat the bandits, and the imperial concubine's tomb was eventually robbed.

As for the tomb raider, Yu Peng said it was Wang Shaoyi, which didn't surprise Ning Chen. But the key point was that Yu Peng, that idiot, actually published it in the newspaper.

Wealthy people all understand the principle of keeping their wealth hidden. The same principle applies to imperial tombs. By publishing a notice in the newspaper, isn't this telling all the tomb raiders in the world that our tomb guards are too weak, that this place is full of countless treasures from the imperial tombs, and urging them to come and rob us...?

Isn't this inviting trouble? Stupid!

It seems that the actual looting of the imperial tombs will have to be postponed. As long as we act before Sun Dianying does it, there shouldn't be any problems.

Looking at Xu Yicheng again, after hearing everything Ning Chen said, he quickly took out a photo. It was a group photo of more than a dozen people. He pointed to one person and asked, "Is it him?"

Ning Chen picked it up and looked at it. It had an oval face, a high nose bridge, and wide-set eyes. Oh, right, its forehead was particularly wide and quite bright.

"It's him. You two know each other well?"

"His name is Chen Weili, and he is my best friend. We are both interested in archaeology, share the same interests, and can talk about anything with each other."

Xu Yicheng's face was filled with grief.

He added, "Later, Chen Weili went to study in Japan, and we hadn't seen each other for many years. I never imagined that our farewell at the dock that year would be our last."

Xu Yicheng closed his eyes, and his friend's voice and smile seemed to be right in front of him. Chen Weili was a young man full of ideals and vigor, who was determined to contribute to the development of Chinese archaeology...

"Hey, Old Xu, he's not dead yet..."

Xu Yicheng: "..." Why didn't you say you weren't dead sooner...

Perhaps emboldened by grief, Xu Yicheng grabbed Ning Chen's shoulder and asked impatiently, "Where is he? Take me to see him!"

Ning Chen shoved Xu Yicheng away with a forceful push of his shoulder. "Don't worry, he just suffered a severe head injury, possibly a concussion, several broken sternums, broken fingers, a ruptured spleen, and some kidney weakness. Other than that, he's basically fine."

Xu Yicheng: "..."

Is he even going to survive?! To be honest, the doctor's reaction was not much different from Xu Yicheng's, but Chen Weili was just hanging on by a thread and wouldn't die.

The doctors all say it's a medical miracle.

"What does he mean by giving me this piece of paper? Sigh, if he were still awake, this would be so much easier."

"That depends on whether the King of Hell will give you face. But I'd like to know, how did your friend get involved with the Japanese?"

"Japanese?" Xu Yicheng asked in surprise.

Ning Chen then recounted how the Japanese had impersonated soldiers from Fengtian and tried to kill him to silence him. Xu Yicheng felt a sense of danger just listening to it.

Finally, Xu Yicheng had to admit with admiration: "Brother Ning, you're truly extraordinary! But at least you left yourself some breathing room!"

Ning Chen: "..."

Isn't this just a desperate act of killing...?

Helpless, Xu Yicheng could only look at the piece of paper over and over again, but Chen Weili only left a nonsensical character "Ling" and five fingerprints. How was he supposed to guess?

Ning Chen was pressed for time and didn't have time to look closely, so he rushed to Tsinghua University to find Xu Yicheng. Now he can use his Golden Eyes to take a closer look.

As the spiritual energy circulated, every detail on the paper was exposed to Ning Chen's eyes, and sure enough, he saw some deep grooves and marks on it.

"Trace it with a pencil," Ning Chen said.

Upon hearing this, Xu Yicheng immediately realized that this was a thick letter paper, suitable for writing with a fountain pen, and should have the indentation left by writing on the previous page.

He took out a pencil and gently scratched the paper. Soon, a strange mark appeared before their eyes.

Local customs and traditions?

Xu Yicheng continued to blow, and next to the mark, another Chinese sword appeared. The sword had a peculiar shape, with one straight section and one slightly curved section, the two sections overlapping each other like a double image.

"Strange, how can such seemingly unrelated things as climate, sword, tomb, and five fingers be connected?"

Xu Yicheng fell into deep thought.

On the contrary, Ning Chen quickly figured everything out: the local customs were from the Japanese cultural survey team, and the sword was the Nine Dragon Sword from Qianling Mausoleum.

The overlapping of the sword blades is because the Nine Dragons Sword is a rare sword within a sword, with a small Tang sword embedded in the inner layer. This Tang sword has the location information of Wu Zetian's Qianling Mausoleum. Therefore, the five fingers and the mausoleum refer to the peerless imperial mausoleum, Wu Zetian's Qianling Mausoleum!

Ning Chen was deeply moved by the Japanese's strategy. It must have taken an incredible amount of intelligence gathering to accomplish this. Based on their efforts alone, Ning Chen had to eliminate them!

Having seen through everything, Ning Chen had to change his strategy. Tomb raiding was imperative; he couldn't wait any longer, even if it meant overcoming danger.

There was also a group of Japanese people, this local customs and culture inspection team, who were almost wiped out by Ning Chen. The remaining people probably became suspicious and dared not show their faces.

"How can we lure them out?"

As Ning Chen pondered, he noticed Xu Yicheng deep in thought beside him…

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(End of this chapter)