Chapter 21: The Three-eyed Buddha's Head

  "Let me catch my breath first." Jin Tian Xing plopped his butt down on the curb by the side of the road, panting heavily.

  Lan Xilin sat down beside him, "You quickly think of something, Old Man Mo said those words must have a deep meaning. He wants to reveal some information to us, but doesn't want Lin Tianxue and Long San to know, so he used cryptic language. I've never mentioned my police work to him, what does it mean when he asked if I'm going to be promoted?"

  Jin Tianxing wiped the cold sweat on his palm onto his pants leg, "I know this."

  Lan Xin's eyes sparkled with joy, "You know, hurry up and say it."

  "This is actually very simple, Old Mo mentioned the term 'promotion' when he told us about the ghost tomb, referring to the thieves who are worthy of promotion. Because grave robbers need to open the coffin to get the burial objects, 'promotion' is a more elegant way of saying it. I think Old Mo's sentence was hinting at the grave robbers who dug up the ghost tomb. Those thieves stole the Three-Eyed Buddha head, and Dog Bear and others are now selling the Three-Eyed Buddha head, I think the Zongtian Group is after the Three-Eyed Buddha head this time."

  "That makes sense, so it's likely that the four murders in Chengnan were done by Long San, what a ruthless guy! Blue Heart Lin thought for a moment and then said, "No, that can't be right. The Tianyan Token is with us, and it's the key to entering the Ghost Tomb. Why would Long San give up the token and go after the Three-eyed Buddha instead?"

  "I've thought about this problem, and it's possible that Long San and the others don't even know that the Tianyan Token exists. Old Mo didn't tell them about the Tianyan Token."

  "That's even more unlikely. If the Zongtian Group didn't know about the Tianyan token, then who were the thieves we met in the old house at midnight, and what kind of person was rummaging through our stuff?"

  "It's another group of people!" Jin Tianxing whispered to Lan Xinlin, "Since I was bailed out from the police station, I suspected that there was another group outside of the Zongtian Group. Now my idea is almost confirmed. This group is more difficult to deal with than the Zongtian Group, they know more about Guiyuan than the Zongtian Group, and they want to hide in the dark corners where we can't see them, waiting for a chance to strike us at any moment."

  Lan Xinlin shivered with cold sweat, looking around in all directions without seeing a single person. "You're making them sound like ghosts, it's too scary. You're also making this group of people sound too mysterious."

  "Don't underestimate the skills of these people, let me analyze it for you. The Tianyan Token is the key to entering the Ghost Mansion, and even 50 or 60 years ago, not many people knew about this matter. Adding your grandmother and Old Man Mo, there were no more than five people who knew about the Tianyan Token. How many of these people are still alive today? Even if it's your grandmother's confidant, they might not know about the existence of the Tianyan Token. And before we found the Tianyan Token in the old house, thieves came and their target was very clear, which means that these thieves not only knew about the Tianyan Token but also knew that it was in your family's old house, they just didn't know the specific location. Isn't this incredible? Moreover, these people even knew our exact address, knew when our home was empty, and even ate all your snacks. Can ordinary thieves do this?"

  "Don't mention it, you're making me feel a bit dizzy."

  Jin Tianxing chuckled and said, "You don't have to be too afraid, this group of people doesn't have any ill intentions towards us. If they wanted to kill us, they would have done so already."

  Lan Xilin pouted and said, "That's a bit far-fetched. Let's continue analyzing Old Mo's hint instead. When he mentioned putting on a fake eye, could it be that he was hinting at something being fake?"

  "Fake eyes, fake eyes..." Suddenly, he thought of a possibility, and at the same time, Lan Xinlin also thought of it. The two exclaimed in unison, "The Three-eyed Buddha's head that Long San got is fake!" After shouting, the two were stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. Lan Xinlin laughed especially happily, earlier she had been scared out of her wits by Long San, thinking about how he was deceived and still didn't know, her anger vanished in an instant.

  "After Lan Xinlin finished laughing, Jin Tianxing asked, 'We're just guessing, how can we verify it?'"

  "Blue Heart Lin's eyes rolled, 'This is easy to handle, just watch me.' She took out her phone and dialed Li Gang's number, 'Hey, handsome, what are you busy with?'"

  Li Gang's whole body was thrilled when he was called "handsome" by a guy, "It's so unexpected of you to call me proactively. You rarely do that. Is there something I can help you with again?"

  "Hey, what's wrong with you? Can't I just call and chat with you for no reason?" Lan Xinlin said with a pout. Jin Tianxing looked at her with a surprised expression, he was used to her usual heroic and refreshing demeanor, but suddenly seeing her act cute, the contrast was too great and it took him some time to accept. Not to mention Li Gang on the other end of the phone, who had known her for an even longer time.

  "Okay, of course, I'd love it if you could call me every day."

  Lan Xilin's tone changed, becoming very melancholic, "It's no problem to call you every day, but isn't something big happening on the team? Do you still have time to answer my calls?"

  "Ah, of course!" Without Blue Heart Lin asking, Li Gang already started explaining the progress of the case. "Those four murder cases have made some headway. The dead guys were a group of thugs who opened an antique shop together. Some grave-robbing tools were found in the shop, and at first, it was suspected that they killed each other over disagreements about how to split the loot. However, after further investigation, it turned out to be all fake - the antiques in the shop were all counterfeit, and the grave-robbing tools were just for show, never actually used. Captain Han speculated that it's highly likely that someone who was cheated by them discovered that the antiques were fake and came back for revenge."

  "Oh, so that's it... hello? Hello? What did you say, I couldn't hear! The signal is bad!" Lan Xinlin got what she wanted to know, took her phone further and further away, then hung up the call.

  "Alas, poor Li Gang!"

  Lan Xinglin didn't care, "It's almost certain that Long San even if he got the Three-eyed Buddha head is fake. What should we do next, rescue Old Mo or take a step ahead to find the real Three-eyed Buddha head?"

  "I think Long San and the others won't make things difficult for Old Man Mo. They must want to get more information about Guī Zhǒng from him. Old Man Mo is a clever person, he definitely won't reveal the situation of Guī Zhǒng, so he's temporarily not in danger. What we need to do now is find the real Three-eyed Buddha head before Long San and the others."

  "What you said is simple, but we don't have any clues in our hands. How can we find the Three-eyed Buddha's head?"

  "It's up to you." Jin Tian Xing winked at Lan Xin Lin's phone.

  The two were tacitly in agreement, and Lan Xinlin naturally knew what he meant. "Next time something like this happens, you figure it out." Taking a deep breath, she redialed Li Gang's phone number. In a soft voice, she said, "Sorry about that, my phone didn't have a signal earlier. What you said was right, I do need to trouble you again. What? Not trouble? How could it not be trouble? This time I need to ask for your help in investigating something. No problem, that's great. Can you help me find out how many grave robbers there are in this city, especially those who were active three years ago? When can you get back to me with the information? Tomorrow is okay, right? A bit difficult, then tomorrow afternoon it is. Thank you so much, I'll treat you to dinner another day, you have to come. Goodbye, I'm hanging up." Lan Xinlin hung up the phone and saw Jin Tianxing laughing uncontrollably beside her. She got annoyed and kicked him in the butt twice, "Laughing, all you know is how to laugh, laugh yourself to death!"

  "I'm not laughing at you," Jin Tianxing said with a discerning tone, "I'm laughing at the little policeman who called you. He must have owed you money in his past life, that's why he's being toyed with by you like this."

  "No matter who you laugh at, I won't let you laugh." Lan Xinlin suddenly became fierce and kicked Jin Tianxing's butt again. Jin Tianxing held his butt and ran away, laughing with his mouth open, "I dare not, don't kick me anymore, or it will swell!"

  Lan Xinlin laughed and scolded, "The more swollen the better, just let you remember, see if you dare to laugh at me again."

  It was already the afternoon of the second day, and Lan Xilin was waiting for a phone call in Jin Tianxing's room. It had already passed three o'clock, and Lan Xilin couldn't help but pace back and forth in the room, repeatedly muttering to herself, "Why hasn't he called yet? Why hasn't he called yet?"

  Jin Tianxing closed his eyes and fell onto the bed, "Can you honestly sit still for a bit? Stop turning around in circles. You're making me dizzy. If you can't wait any longer, just make a phone call to ask."

  "Right, let's call and ask." Lan Xinlin had just taken out her phone when it rang, and it was Li Gang calling.

  Lan Xinlin's tone changed, "How come you're just calling now? Everyone has been waiting anxiously. It's not your fault, why would I blame you? Hurry up and tell me the result." Li Gang said something on the phone, Lan Xinlin's tone suddenly rose by three degrees, "What did you say? How could it be like this?" Jin Tianxing sat up from bed and saw that Lan Xinlin's face looked very bad.

  "Thank you, I'll treat you to dinner when you're free." Lan Xinlin hung up the phone.

  "What's going on?" Jin Tianxing asked hastily.

  Li Gang checked all the records of tomb raiders in this city according to my method. If he hadn't checked, nothing would have happened. But after checking, problems emerged. All the tomb raiders in this city had either died accidentally or fallen ill and passed away since the Ghost Tomb case three years ago. Those who were lucky enough to survive went into hiding and didn't dare show their faces. Li Gang reviewed all the files of accidental deaths and found many suspicious points, initially suspecting that these tomb raiders had been silenced by someone...

  "Zongtian Group!" Jin Tianxing guessed what Lan Xinlin wanted to say.

  "You guessed it, it's the scumbag from the Zongtian Group. Preliminary investigations have confirmed that there are over 20 similar murder cases. Li Gang has already reported this to Captain Han, who is taking it very seriously. After solving the Chengnan Murder Case, he started investigating these cases. Do you think we should report what happened with Long San at Old Mo's mansion to Captain Han?"

  "The timing is not yet ripe." Jin Tianxing said, "Our goal is not Long San and Lin Tianxue, we need to deal with the Zongtian Group. Even if we catch the two now, Zong Kuo can still cultivate a second or third Long San. Moreover, Old Man Mo is still in Long San's hands, and if the police get involved, Old Man Mo's life will be in danger."

  "These bastards!" Blue Heart Lin gritted her teeth in anger, "Why do they indiscriminately kill the innocent, more than twenty lives, don't they fear retribution?"

  "I know what they're after," Jintian Xing said word by word. "They're after the San, Yan, Fo, and Shou!"