Chapter 29: Predetermined Fate

  I thought the old professor was about to shoot, but what he said next almost made me vomit blood.

  "Then just sit on the sand first."

  When I heard this, I first wiped the sweat that had appeared on my forehead, and then let out a sigh of relief. Although I hate sitting on sand the most, especially when the sun is at its strongest at noon, my butt might get burned to a crisp. But thinking about standing up was just a thought, after all, he's the one holding the gun.

  "Professor, I didn't know you were carrying a gun." I smiled brightly, getting familiar with people is my specialty, and running an antique shop for two years wasn't in vain. I'm good at chatting with customers, especially making them smile, but most of the time I end up offending them, which is also why I can't keep customers.

  At this time, the old professor handed me a cigarette. I took the cigarette and looked at him with a shocked and puzzled expression.

  "Don't try to sweet-talk me, I know you're doing it for their sake, but now I don't have the luxury of being polite to you anymore." The old professor lit his cigarette and slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, then handed the lighter to me.

  "I knew you'd find out, I didn't think it would be this soon. Now, my heart is also very sad. Once someone finds out, I understand that the path I'm going to take will inevitably be different from yours. There are some things I want to tell you, let's consider these as a parting gift."

  I was so stunned that I couldn't even hold onto the cigarette in my hand, and that feeling, damn it, suddenly dropped from heaven to hell.

  The old professor opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat.

  His actions have already spoken very clearly, he wants to drive away, and we are blocked outside the car.

  Outside is a vast desert.

  "Professor, what are you talking about? Where do you want to go? Why do you have to do this?" I asked several questions in a hurry, and my heart was really worried that the old professor would drive the car away. I was worried, without water, without material support, we could hardly move at all.

  With a creak, all the car doors and windows were closed. The old professor pulled out a small notebook from his clothes, rolled down the window a bit, looked at me and said: "I know you and Lin Wu Xuan dug up that corpse and found this notebook. The contents of it have been on your mind because the diary records some events of the 1950 reconnaissance team. Our mission this time is to follow in their footsteps, based on Huang Da Xian's death. You've guessed a bit about what happened. I really admire you, you're a very smart young man, with great courage and responsibility, and also very adventurous. However, sometimes people die because of their own cleverness. Those who are too clever often make things go wrong, either ending in death or an irretrievable situation."

  The old professor's words at this time gave me a feeling of being greatly disappointed, I simply didn't understand what he meant, just like someone had covered my eyes and I couldn't see the road: "What do you mean by that?"

  However, the old professor was not in a hurry at all. He slowly took a puff of his cigarette, let out a deep sigh, and then looked at me with a serious expression, saying: "When I see you, I think back to my youth, just like you, fearless, brave, and always thinking about how to make a big impact and stand out. But since Dr. Tang found me, I've experienced things that can't be explained by science, the inexplicable, the mysterious veil that made me question my previous worldview, theoretical officials, and doubt what I saw. I've been through life and death separations, various pains, and joys. Those misunderstandings, being abandoned, and deceived are not something you can imagine or empathize with. When a person is under immense pressure, they watch things happen but are powerless to stop them. At that time, the faith they hold onto will slowly waver. I think that at your current age, there are many things you are powerless to do, and you can only watch them happen. Over time, you'll find that some things are not what they seem, just like you don't understand my behavior now, and you'll only think it's wrong from your own perspective. Right and wrong are just standards for measuring things. One day, you'll find that using the words right and wrong can't lead to conclusions about certain things, and you'll become like me. So, for you, the less you know, the better."

  I don't quite understand what the old professor said, perhaps it's more accurate to say that I haven't fully digested those so-called grand principles, which are fundamentally not suitable for me.

  I just want to know what the reason is for him doing this. What is it that makes him betray us, is it fear of death? No, you can tell from his eyes alone that he is very firm in his stand.

  I wonder how the notebook Lin Wuxuan was holding ended up in his hands. I don't know much about Lin Wuxuan, but when he warned me at that time, I knew he wouldn't let anyone know about the existence of this notebook, so it's impossible for him to hand it over to him easily.

  Isn't it that they colluded with each other?

  At this point, the old professor knew far more than I did.

  What he insisted on was that he was very clear about the path he wanted to take, so he would make such a move now.

  He has his reasons and I have mine, of course I won't betray myself.

  Thinking of all the people who have died, and having experienced so many strange and bizarre things, I am now unable to choose another path. At least for now, I will not betray everyone we have.

  "I don't understand what you're saying right now, but I'll stick to my own choices and beliefs." I got up from the sand, brushed off the car, and said firmly.

  "So you must persist in pursuing it to the end?" The old professor stared at me and asked.

  I nodded and said seriously: "I want to know the reason why you made such a choice, doing such a ruthless thing. You are an expert in desert research, clearly knowing that without water and supplies, we three people can't last two days in the desert."

  My gaze was locked tightly on him, afraid of missing a suspicious expression: "Were you the person who came into my room on the first night at the hostel? If it was that person, then why would you think the box would be in my hands? Do you dare say that person wasn't you?"

  I once suspected Lin Wuxuan, Tianyun Dashi, Tang Guangze, and Huang Daxian, but I never thought it would be this bespectacled, elegant old professor.

  The old professor listened and was shocked, exclaiming: "Someone entered your room?"

  I nodded.

  The next second, the old professor's face changed color, a flash of panic in his eyes, and then he smiled and said, "What I'm worried about will still happen."

  "If it wasn't you, then who would it be?"

  I thought I would know the answer, but unfortunately, things have been moving in a more obscure direction.

  The old professor said: "I can only tell you that things are not as simple as you imagine, what you see, what you hear, and what you think are just the tip of the iceberg."

  "So you insist on driving, huh?" My face turned very ugly.

  Everyone has their own persistence, and I think this kind of question will never have a consistent answer.

  "Have you still not understood at this point?" The old professor's cold smile revealed a completely different appearance before my eyes.

  I gritted my teeth and said, "I understand, but at least let me know what the reason is?"

  The old professor listened and smiled even more complacently, the wrinkles on his eyes becoming clearer as he nodded and laughed: "Since you insist so much, this will be a great gift for you."

  My heart skipped a beat, the big gift he mentioned seemed to have a bad premonition.

  Right after that, the old professor began his narrative. I didn't expect what he said to be different from what I had heard. Those things didn't help me see through the fog and understand the essence of the matter; instead, they led me into an even bigger and more treacherous whirlpool.

  Originally, after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the reconnaissance team's reconnaissance activities also came to an end. The route of their activities, the events that occurred every day, were all reported by someone in charge. Huang Daxian, a member of the reconnaissance team, was the person responsible for reporting. At that time, the members of the reconnaissance team did not know that they were going to the depths of the desert, Tieban River area. They dug up something there, a mysterious coffin with skeletal remains inside. After the superiors found out, they immediately ordered them to guard the coffin well and sent people to escort it, with the purpose of studying the skeletal remains inside the coffin.

  Everyone is guessing who the corpse in the coffin is and why it's so highly valued.

  After a good while, the higher-ups sent a whole company to escort that coffin back. It's said that the remains in the coffin were those of a historical figure, the son of an emperor.

  Huang Daxian was not a historian and did not know what special position the emperor's son held in history, but he discovered something difficult to understand. On those days, when some cultural relic appraisal experts were sent by the superior authorities to help him sort out the excavated items, he found that one thing had disappeared - a black box with dark patterns on it and covered with texts he could not read. This thing was clearly there when he counted it before, but now it was gone. At that time, he did not know what was going on, so he did not speak out to anyone. In those war years, speaking carelessly would bring unnecessary trouble, even putting the lives of all family members at risk. It's better to say less when something happens.

  Huang Daxian didn't know who took away the black box with a dark pattern, nor did he know why the person who took it attached so much importance to this box. So Huang Daxian never mentioned this matter to anyone, but after this incident, he knew that there was a traitor in the team.