Something happened to them

  "What's wrong with them?"

  Gaodali's eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched tightly, and his lips trembling: "They are trapped in the tomb, their lives hanging in the balance."

  It turned out that when Gao Dali took me to the Zhou family's compound, Zhou Baihe and Shou Bo spent a sleepless night studying and deciphering the map, finally confirming that the marked location was at the intersection of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, which is also known as the ancient land of Shu.

  Because Qiu Bo saw some strange clues on the map, which were similar to that place a few years ago. As long as it was similar to that year, the Zhou family would visit.

  This time, however, Qiu Ba personally came down.

  So, on the next day, Qiu Bo led a group of people to the ancient land of Shu.

  I didn't know any of this, I think Qiu Bo was hiding it from me to protect me. But doing so only makes me want to try even more, after all, it's related to Grandpa's cause of death.

  "Xiao Jiu Ye, they made me deceive you, actually didn't want you to take risks. Now, I have no choice." Gao Da Li said with a painful expression.

  I thought that Gao Dali was worried about Zhou Baihe, just like I was worried about Grandpa, and it's normal to do something against their will.

  "We're going to rescue them..." My gaze was firm, but I didn't continue speaking. It's been half a month already, if they were trapped inside, it's likely they wouldn't have made it.

  It's reasonable for Gao Dali to worry like that, if it were Grandpa, I would go rescue him too.

  "Little Jiu Ye, you can't go..." Gao Da Li shook his head and said coldly.

  "I must go, I have to bring them back." I said, but my eyes were looking at Gao Dali with some doubt, it's come to this point, and he still doesn't let me get in touch.

  Then, Gao Dali took me to the Zhou family's main hall. There were four or five people inside. When they saw me, they all called me "Little Ninth Master". I didn't recognize any of them, but they all knew me.

  I found a place to sit down and looked them up and down, but heard an old man say: "Xiao Jiu Ye, this time the action wasn't my idea, but things have come to this point, there's no choice but to do it that way."

  I was puzzled, and Gao Dali leaned against my ear, whispering: "That is the old master of the Zhou family."

  Mr. Zhou, Zhou Baihe's grandfather, doesn't look like him at all and appears to be over sixty.

  "This..." I stuttered and couldn't say a word, because I didn't know how to respond, as none of them wanted me to go.

  "They've taken away the elites of the Zhou family, and now there's almost no one left in the Zhou family. So, this time, it's not a matter of personal or family interests; as long as they can come back alive, that's all that matters." Old Master Zhou's eyes seemed a bit strange, and when he glanced at me, I felt a chill run down my spine.

  In fact, Old Master Zhou's appearance was not old at all, but rather had an air of stern majesty that commanded respect. As the head of the Zhou family, I naturally didn't dare to make a sound.

  "Heizi's message has been leaked, currently, Chen family's people have taken action."

  "The news leaked out so quickly! The Chen family's people already know our destination." Some surprised voices.

  I looked back and saw him with a smiling face, just like a Maitreya Buddha.

  The Chen family knows the news, this time, running to Changsha's purpose is very clear, it's for that grave, and probably also for what's inside, can think of a way to make the Zhou family think, as expected, that grave definitely isn't something easy to mess with. Hopefully nothing happens on Lao Bo's side.

  Old man Zhou nodded and didn't seem too surprised, as if he had expected it to be this way. He instructed: "It's not a big deal, I've already put in a lot of effort to persuade the Chen family. This business may not make a profit, but it's very dangerous."

  Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and now I'm standing in the front hall of the Zhou family. Old Master Zhou is seated at the top, and both Gao Dali and Maitreya Buddha have arrived. Next to me are three people who were temporarily brought over by Gao Dali from outside. They're said to be no worse than the elite of the Zhou family in terms of martial arts skills. The others seem to be from the Chen family, but I only recognize one person - it's Baishousheng, whom I met at the Ghost Market. At that time, there seemed to be some misunderstanding between Zhou Baihe, Shoubo, and Baishousheng.

  I counted them, and in the front hall, excluding Old Man Zhou, there were less than twenty people including us.

  Most of the things on the ground have been well prepared, and the rest can be purchased at the Yunnan-Guizhou border. However, our team is quite large this time, with nearly twenty people, so how to safely reach the Yunnan-Guizhou border is a concern. Not to mention the recent tense situation, even if there are people causing trouble in between, it's already a headache. There are many small and large gangs in Changsha, and the struggle for interests has never been unusual. Although our news of going down to the ground has been well blocked, we still need to make some preparations in advance just in case.

  If Chen's family can know this news, then other rival gangs may also know.

  What puzzles me is what motivated the Chen family to join this action?

  Just as everyone was thinking about the problem, someone suggested:

  "Old Master Zhou, there aren't many people this time, but neither are there too few. If we go together, it's likely to cause a commotion. It would be better if we split into two groups and meet up again in Yunnan."

  The person who spoke was someone brought in from outside by Gao Dali, and I'm not sure of his specific name. All I know is that Gao Dali said the man's skills were excellent, and he had a big reputation, known as Heishu. When I took a look at Heishu, I saw that he was in his forties, with a dark complexion, but his face looked somewhat ferocious, and there was a sharp glint in his eyes that I'd never seen before. The impression he gave me was that this person wasn't easy to get along with.

  But I'm not clear about the people and things on this road.

  Old Zhou agreed to divide it into two batches and he didn't have any objections.

  "I want Xiaojuzi and me to be in the same team, and bring a few Zhou guys along." Hei Shu proposed an opinion, his eyes had something settled in them, clearly gazing at me, this proposal was met with opposition.

  "Xiao Jiu must be on my team." Old Man Zhou said resolutely, leaving no room for negotiation.

  Hei Shu seemed to know the result, looked at Lao Ye and still insisted on his own opinion, saying: "Lao Ye doesn't trust us!"

  He said this without any doubt, and his tone was very calm, but it carried an unquestionable tone. He continued: "From the beginning, you didn't trust us, so you're worried that I'll do something to Little Master Ji, right?"

  Just as the two groups of people were about to turn against each other, I was thinking that the decision rested with me. Old Master Zhou looked at me and seemed not to want things to get out of hand, asking: "Little Nine, what's your opinion?"

  Old Man Zhou seems to have assumed that I would follow him, so he asked like this. He thought so, and it's correct. After all, here, I only know people from the Zhou family, and the rest are unfamiliar.

  I looked at Old Man Zhou, then at Hei Shu, who was staring at me with a somewhat eerie gaze. At this moment, I felt a sudden jolt in my heart, as if I sensed that Hei Shu had something to say to me. So, for some inexplicable reason, I opened my mouth and said: "Old Man Zhou, why don't you let me go with Hei Shu and the others?"

  Hei Shu is a loner who doesn't associate with any of the big families. He's always on his own, and no one knows what kind of conditions he'd accept to join forces with someone else.

  Then, I saw a hint of shock and disappointment on Old Man Zhou's face, and he opened his mouth to say:

  "Xiao Jiu, you go with Hei Shu in one team, and the rest of us will be in another team."

  As expected, Old Man Zhou wanted to go personally, which surprised me. I had a feeling that Shou Bo and the others were in big trouble there.

  After finishing, when Mr. Zhou arranged almost everything, I and Hei Shu, as well as Bai Shou Sheng's team, set off a few hours earlier, took the train, then transferred to a car to arrive at the designated location for assembly.

  Not many things were prepared on the train because the wind was relatively close on the train, such as guns and other items would only be purchased in Ji Ming San Sheng.

  Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, the intersection of three provinces is called the Chicken Crow Three Provinces Line. The place we went to was exactly there.

  Before leaving, Old Man Zhou reminded me: "You must be on your guard against Hei Shu, I've always thought there's something strange about him."

  I remembered Old Man Zhou's words and then, Gao Dalie again reminded me of some trivial matters. We set off on the road, with a total of eight people from the Zhou family, including myself, taking the train from Changsha to Yunnan.

  All the way, we also tried to split into two groups and pretended not to know each other. I sat with Hei Shu and Bai Shou Sheng, while the four of them sat together. It should be that Zhou Lao Taigong had instructed them. Although we were sitting apart, their line of sight never left us three people. This line of sight made me feel a bit uncomfortable, as if I was being monitored.

  They didn't seem to have any particular feeling, and instead looked rather nonchalant. On the other hand, I felt uneasy all over, but I was too embarrassed to ask them why they had come or why they had to be with me. They seemed like people who didn't have a care in the world, and apparently weren't planning on saying anything to me.

  I thought they wouldn't say anything, so I just leaned on the table and fell asleep.

  After arriving in Yunnan, it was already several hours later. After we finished eating, Hei Shu took us to some slums and said that the car to Zhongdian County had been arranged.

  After walking for over 10 minutes, on a relatively remote street, two vans were parked. Hei Shu went forward to greet the driver, seemingly an old acquaintance. Then, he said to the four people from Zhou's family: "We'll take the front van, you guys take the back one, both drivers are reliable, don't worry."

  The head of the four partners in the Zhou family was surnamed Zhang, as for his name, I didn't remember it. During my half-month stay at the Zhou family's mansion, I often saw him, tall and powerful, just like I mentioned about Old Zhang, saying he was a good fighter from Dian Dang Xuan, also an elite of the underground world. Originally, he was supposed to go with Shou Bo and others, but later for some reason, didn't make it.

  He didn't look old at all, only four or five years older than me, but everyone in the Zhou family called him that way, so I had to address him that way too.

  Zhang Lao saw Hei Shu say this, obviously wanting to transfer me out of their line of sight. I immediately disagreed: "I'll go with you guys too."

  Of course, Hei Shu wasn't someone to be trifled with either. He spoke up: "In the Zhou family's case, you're currently the head. If we were to work together and something unexpected happened, wouldn't you be afraid that we'd harm you?"

  Hei Shu seems like a cunning old fox, I reckon even the dead would get up and listen to him.

  Hei Shu's words were very reasonable, and Zhang Lao didn't know how to respond. Then, he looked at me and asked: "Xiao Jiu Ye, what do you think?"

  I knew that Old Zhang was following the orders of Old Lady Zhou, and I didn't want to make things difficult for him. However, in my heart, I wanted to know even more why Black Uncle insisted on me traveling with them when we were dividing into teams. So I said: "Old Zhang, don't worry, nothing will happen to me, just follow behind us."

  Zhang Lao saw that I had said so, he looked at Hei Shu and Bai Shou Sheng with some obvious vigilance in his eyes, clearly not believing them. He moved his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he didn't say anything, and took three partners to move things into the van.

  Hei Shu had his men put the things into the van, we got in and Hei Shu sat in the front passenger seat, Bai Shou Sheng and I both sat in the back.

  "Let's get going." Hei Shu said as he saw Zhang Lao and the others getting on the car.

  It wasn't until the car had been driving for a while that Bai Sheng looked at me and said, "Young Master Jiu, it's been a long time. I've wanted to have a private conversation with you, but there hasn't been an opportunity. It can only be done in this situation."

  The thoughts in my heart were confirmed, and I suppressed my curiosity to ask: "What is so mysterious that it can't be said in front of them?"

  "No way, they've got you watched too closely." Hei Shu let out a sigh of relief and turned his head to glance at me.

  I was shocked, no wonder I didn't have any other feeling when I was at the Zhou's big house, but every time I went out, it was always with Gao Dali accompanying me. In this vague and obscure way, it seemed like there was a kind of surveillance.

  "Xiao Jiu Ye, I know you went to Ghost Market."

  "Are you following me?" I exclaimed, looking at him in puzzlement. If he had seen me in the Ghost Market, he would have definitely had a chance to talk to me then, why wait until now?

  Could it be...

  "It's just as you thought, the Zhou family knows that someone has gone to the Ghost Market, otherwise, would I still be sitting here?"