Chapter 279 - The Duo Failed To Work...
Chapter 279: The Duo Failed To Work...
Qing Ming City.
In the suburbs.
The leader of the men in black was full of sorrow.
They had planned the ‘Xeno Plan’ for years. The hardest part was over. Right now, their task in Qing Ming City was in the final stage...
Logically...
It was the simplest stage.
That was true.
Theirs was a big plan. Shouldn’t it have been easy to wrap it up in a small city where the average energy level was two-star and three-star?!
However...
They did not know when it happened but there had been many hiccups in their plan.
Qing Ming City had become more and more mysterious.
...
An average of two-star and three-star?
Hehe.
If they took a look outside, there were four-star and five-star all over the place!
To hell with it!
Why did Qing Ming City turn out like that?
They had to be careful. Any mistake and they would be caught by the spirit body hunters and there might be hiccups in their plan.
“The person who went out to release the spirit bodies... is dead.”
“Oh.”
The leader of the men in black was expressionless.
Dead.
Another man died...
He looked at the screen. The success rate of the tasks in Qing Ming City for this period of time had dropped to 30%.
They hunted a five-star beast in the suburbs and an entire team was wiped out.
They hunted a python secretly in the city and they failed.
They searched for the pink female snake from the school and they failed.
They released spirit bodies to light up the star chart and they failed.
...
They spent a large sum of money to purchase twenty spirit bodies, but all of them disappeared without a trace. The members that he sent to investigate never returned...
That person had had a 100% success rate of completing his missions!
Although he looked mature for his age, he never failed his missions. However, his first failure was in Qing Ming City and he died there.
That place...
He thought hard about it. There was an inexplicable coldness down his back.
“That place is very spooky.”
One man looked troubled.
He felt that this must be their retribution from excavating too many tombs.
Of course, he did not dare to voice his opinions.
“To hell with your comment!”
The leader of the men in black sneered. “We have dug up all the tombs in the large group of ancient tombs. If there was indeed a spirit body or curse...
We would be dead by now! This is a purely man-made disaster!”
The leader of the men in black was insightful. “Since the man died in the ancient tombs, it meant that he encountered enemies. The location might be exposed.”
“Will they discover anything?”
One man was worried.
“It’s okay,” the leader of the men in black sneered, “We have removed all the valuables! They will only find an empty tomb! Besides...”
He suddenly said, “Although the plan to release spirit bodies failed, if we lure them there...”
Eh?
Everyone perked up.
Lure them to the tombs?
This seemed...
To be a good idea!
They needed thirty six fixed locations to activate the array. Every location must have sufficient sinister aura to activate it!
And now...
Thirty five fixed locations had been completed!
This was the only location left!
As long as they had a sufficiently sinister aura, the node could be lighted. As for the source of the sinister aura...
They had used active spirit bodies and made them resonate with the ancient tombs and thus activating the sinister aura in the tombs!
This was why they needed spirit bodies!
The spirit bodies had to be active to activate the sinister aura in the ancient tombs!
However...
It was not stated that this must be done through a spirit body!
If there was a sufficient number of weak spirit bodies and each of them was able to attract some amount of sinister aura, perhaps the resultant sinister auras would be sufficient to activate the array!
That was enough!
Although they failed to release the spirit bodies, they still had the spirit body hunters!
If he was not mistaken...
The devices that were used to search for spirit bodies were in fact spirit bodies!
For example: Treasure hunt mouse!
Or perhaps some used spirit bodies to fight against each other!
Hehe.
As long as the spirit bodies stayed in the tombs long enough or engaged in fierce battles, it was enough to induce the sinister aura and fulfill the requirements of the plan!
This plan was workable!
Shush!
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
“Very good.
“Send a message immediately.
“A group of ancient tombs had been unearthed and countless spirit bodies have surfaced!”
The leader of the men in black felt invigorated. “I want all of the spirit body hunters to go to the ancient tombs and become a part of our plan...”
“Yes.”
...
Qing Ming City.
Downtown.
The spirit body hunters felt upset. They had spent a long time searching for spirit bodies but they could not find any! Could it be that all the spirit bodies were killed by Lu Ming?!
They were still wondering when they heard about the ancient tomb.
Oh.
It turned out that there was a group of ancient tombs under Qing Ming City. The crack that had appeared downtown was due to the birth of a spirit body in the ancient tombs!
Spirit bodies...
It turned out that all of them were there!!!
“I didn’t know there was a group of ancient tombs...”
“According to legend, that place is a good breeding spot for spirit bodies.”
“Goodness. According to legend, there are many legacy sites there...”
“Is this true or not?”
“Let’s check and we will know.”
Hence...
Everyone went to explore the ancient tombs.
Finally.
Someone detected a group of ancient tombs underground. Therefore, the spirit body hunters rushed toward the group of ancient tombs excitedly, and downtown became very quiet.
“Hurry!”
“Bring the devices!”
“Let’s get as much as we can before the big-shots arrive!”
This was what the spirit body hunters had in mind.
After all...
The tombs were very huge!
Once a very powerful group or big-shots discovered them, they would have no way of benefiting from them. Therefore, they had to rush to the ancient tombs as fast as possible!
...
At this very moment...
In the group of ancient tombs.
Lu Ming and Li Ergou cautiously moved forward.
Although both of them had never been to a group of ancient tombs, they had seen on television as well as read in the books and biographies that a group of ancient tombs was very extraordinary!
There was danger and opportunity in such a place!
If one was careless...
One would die on the spot!
Therefore...
Both of them tread the tomb carefully.
Of course.
It would have been better if Li Ergou had put aside the stick-like item that he had in his hands... particularly since he was right behind Lu Ming.
“What is this?”
“This is a bursting pipe. If it explodes, those below six-star will be wiped out.”
“Is that necessary?”
“Of course. According to the legend, ancient tombs are very dangerous. Anything can just suddenly turn up. I feel more safe having this with me.”
“But I don’t.”
“I will protect you.”
“I’m mainly worried that you’re gonna blow me up...”
Lu Ming sighed.
“I won’t. I am very accurate.”
Li Ergou refused to let it go.
Lu Ming was speechless.
This guy was more cowardly than he imagined!
However...
Why would he come here?
Did he really come here because of the task that his master gave him?
Trial?
Assessment?
Lu Ming suddenly thought about the scene just now and the three joss sticks at the door... He suddenly had an urge to find out what Li Ergou was thinking about.
“Be careful. I have the feeling that someone is spying on us...” Li Ergou suddenly reminded him.
He was a Scout.
He had powerful innate perception abilities and he could already sense that something was amiss.
“Alright.”
Lu Ming understood.
With that...
He continued to walk in front, checking for danger.
The Original Card lay lazily in the card bag by his waist. It stared intently at Li Ergou, who was behind him...
...
“Be mindful of traps,” Lu Ming instructed.
“Alright.”
Li Ergou looked around seriously.
However...
To their surprise, they did not see any traps along the way.
Not only that.
What was even more surprising was that they had seen countless tombs along the way but could not find any burial items at all. There was nothing that contained energy!
This was literally an empty tomb!
No.
This was a group of empty ancient tombs!
“This place...”
Lu Ming felt somewhat disappointed. “It is unlike what I imagined.”
“Yes.”
Li Ergou felt sad as well. “Shouldn’t there be a jade coffin to preserve the bodies? Shouldn’t there be a beauty inside it?”
He felt depressed.
Where was the promised golden opportunity?
Master...
Why couldn’t he be accurate for once?
Lu Ming glanced around.
Damn the jade coffin!
Could it be that the ancient tomb story that he had read was legendary ancient tomb H fan fiction?!
“This place...”
Lu Ming thought of the man in black. “When I arrived here, I encountered someone from a certain organization. If they discovered this place a long time ago...
“It’s likely that they have emptied the tombs!”
“Oh.”
Li Ergou’s expression was as usual.
After all...
He was already used to it.
This was why he did not have high expectations and came with a light heart!
Although his master was accurate this time, and he was right about there being a group of ancient tombs, the timing was wrong and the activation method was wrong as well...
He was scammed by his master again!
Both of them looked around, feeling indignant.
However...
There was nothing.
The group of men in black had emptied the group of huge ancient tombs like locusts. They could not find anything there!
...
The group of ancient tombs was very clean.
It was so clean that it seemed as if it had just been renovated...
Ancient devices?
Burial items?
No way!
They could not even find any remains!
Li Ergou was unconvinced. He looked through a few tombs and there were indeed no remains. Everything seemed to have disappeared.
Or perhaps...
They had disappeared with time.
“Do bones disappear as well?” Lu Ming asked.
“Possibly. As time passed, they might have been absorbed by some spirit bodies... or they turned into spirit bodies and ran away,” Li Ergou explained.
Lu Ming was silent.
Run away...
Hehe.
Their vocation was indeed very bizarre...
“However...”
Li Ergou was puzzled. “I am curious. Why haven’t I heard of such a huge group of ancient tombs before? The person who built this group of huge ancient tombs must be very famous! However, no one knew that there was a huge group of ancient tombs underneath Qing Ming City...
“It is very strange!
“Also...
“The location of these ancient tombs...”
There was a sparkle in Li Ergou’s eyes.
Although there were hundreds of ancient tombs there, thirty-six of them were obviously unlike the rest.
They were the core tombs!
Those thirty-six ancient tombs seemed like thirty-six bright lamps, faint and shining.
Of course.
They were empty inside.
Rare encounter...
Perhaps there were traps inside?
Li Ergou mulled about it. He had the feeling that he had entered a very special place and there might be a rare encounter!
However...
What could it be?
He could not find an answer. This was the first time that he hated himself for not being hardworking in his studies...
Shush!
Shush!
Li Ergou’s eyes sparkled, he seemed to be deducing.
After a long time...
He opened his eyes.
...
“Did you see anything?”
Lu Ming was hopeful.
Li Ergou was silent for a moment before he said, “This place has been here for a very long time.”
Lu Ming was speechless.
Thank you. He could tell that as well.
“Uh.”
Li Ergou paused momentarily. “From the location of the ancient tombs, those people might have some schemes and conspiracies planned. But I can’t tell what they are now.”
Lu Ming was speechless.
Wasn’t that obvious?!
He knew that the men in black were up to no good. The problem was what were they up to?
“There’s nothing else.”
Li Ergou tried hard to think, but he had no idea.
Lu Ming had a sudden urge to hit someone. To hell with him being an expert, this was a pack of lies!
...
“Let’s look for some clues. I might be able to deduce it.”
Li Ergou smiled bitterly.
It was unrealistic for him to deduce based on the empty tombs!
Hence...
Both of them looked around the ancient tombs, feeling unconvinced.
After a long time...
The duo gave up.
That place... was damn clean!
And so...
Their first operation as a duo failed.
...
“Should I go back to do some research?”
Li Ergou suggested.
“Okay,” Lu Ming agreed.
There were thirty six tombs...
Perhaps...
There would be information about them on the Internet.
However...
Right then, they heard a loud booming sound.
“Someone is coming!”
Lu Ming’s heart skipped a beat.
He was about to remind Li Ergou when he turned around and saw that he had leaped into a pit near a tomb. He immediately lay on his stomach, pretending to be dead.
Shush!
The color of his body gradually changed to become the same as his surroundings. And so, he remained quietly hidden...
If Lu Ming did not look closely, he would not believe that there was someone there!
There was a look of shock on Lu Ming’s face.
Li Ergou noticed his odd gaze.
Shush!
His figure was gradually revealed.
“I am sorry, I have gotten used to it.”
Li Ergou scratched his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
He was used to drifting through life. He forgot that he had a teammate this time.
Lu Ming stared at him intently. “I feel that your master should name you as Li Ermang. This is because you are very good at drifting and staying alive. But you lack mang [1. In Chinese, this means being a fool.] in your five elements.”
“Hehe.”
Li Ergou smiled dryly.
“Wait a minute.”
Lu Ming had an idea. “Can you turn invisible with someone else?”
“Huh?”
Li Ergou was confused.
...
Qing Ming City.
At the police office.
Zhang Wei looked at the latest data and the information recorded previously.
The men in black...
Their identity...
A group of ancient tombs...
Shush!
Shush!
With the help of the internal data center, he looked something up at the highest speed and he got a shocking result...
T-this is...
Damn it!
Zhang Wei looked horrified.
He immediately contacted the higher authorities and submitted the data.
However...
The higher authorities were very calm. “We understand.”
“Huh?”
Zhang Wei was confused.
“All you have to do is to make sure the situation in Qing Ming City is under control. Protect the citizens. As for the men in black, from now on, you don’t have to meddle anymore...”
With that, the higher authorities hung up the phone.
Eh?
Zhang Wei had a dumbstruck expression.
Don’t... Have to meddle?!
He looked at the data in his hands. How could he wash his hands of this matter?!
The higher authorities...
What exactly were they up to?!