The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 112: Causes

It was a sunny afternoon as Xie Yuchen sat in a coffee shop in Nanluogu Lane, looking at all the tourists outside. The other tables in the shop all had foreigners, and he could tell from their skin color and facial features that they came from different countries. They were all talking in English.

Even in China, they were reluctant to use Chinese.

The coffee shop was decorated with a combination of Nepalese and Mediterranean aesthetics, giving the impression that it was a Nepalese coffee shop in a Mediterranean country, with coffee that tasted like it was a Japanese brew.

In the past ten years, many beautiful girls had opened this kind of coffee shop to "just be happy", and over time, it had become an industry standard.

He was very familiar with the proprietress here, and often came to such places in his spare afternoons. They made him feel safe, because the layout of everything wasn't very strict, and he didn't have to worry about any rules. Compared to a traditional coffee shop, he would rather face the stupid and foolish girls here.

The proprietress didn't know what he did for a living, but Xie Yuchen's appearance had a natural affinity among women. In the afternoon coffee scene, he didn't need to get too close to any of these girls, as they could naturally gaze at him from a distance and give him preferential treatment all afternoon.

But his heart wasn't so calm today.

Wu Xie was sitting opposite him, leafing through the poems written by the proprietress here, and frowning as he attentively read them.

He looked much more refreshed than when he had first appeared, but his emaciated cheeks and bluish-black face caused by severe lack of sleep still gave off a morbid feeling. There was the illusion that the fire in his body would soon burn out.

"You should take a break. Even if you want to do this, your current state is the biggest unknown factor."

Wu Xie's reaction was somewhat slow, and he didn't raise his head until Xie Yuchen had finished speaking, but his eyes remained on the poetry collection: "I understand that I still have some details that haven't been laid out completely. I'll build up my strength once my heart's not so anxious."

He closed the poetry collection, took a deep breath, pushed it to one side of the table, and then lit a cigarette.

"Smoking isn't allowed here. You'll draw the proprietress over." Xie Yuchen snatched the cigarette from his mouth, pinched off the burning part, and threw it into his coffee cup. His movements were so quick that Wu Xie didn't even realize the cigarette was gone.

Wu Xie pinched his brow, pulled out another cigarette, and continued to light it: "I don't want to follow the rules anymore." He took a photo from his bag and handed it to Xiao Hua. "I have nothing else right now. I just want to ask you, is this person reliable?"

The photo showed a man wearing sunglasses, smiling foolishly with his arm around Wu Xie's shoulder, and a bottle of beer in one hand.

Xie Yuchen looked at the photo and smiled, but didn't take it. He looked at Wu Xie's expression in the photo, and knew it had obviously captured an instant when he couldn't smile at all.

"What kind of information do you want to know?"

"Everything you know." Wu Xie said.

Xie Yuchen looked at the picture, closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said: "This man's Chinese surname is Qi, and his family is very illustrious. He has no formal education, but he has a degree in music and anatomy in Germany. He became famous in the industry long ago, mainly as a broker for overseas inspections. He's kept a low profile, and was one of Chen Pi Ah Si's former agents."

"Does he have anything to do with the Mystic Nine? If the surname is Qi..."

Xie Yuchen sighed, "Yes and no. He's more reliable because there's nothing in the world that can threaten him anymore."

Wu Xie raised his head in surprise and asked, "Why?"

"It's a long story." Xie Yuchen said: "If you just want to know if he's reliable, then the story is too long for you."

Wu Xie was silent as he touched his face: "He told me he won't live much longer. It seems to be true."

Xie Yuchen saw that Wu Xie's cigarette butt had quickly burned until it reached his fingers. This was no longer smoking; people didn't need to absorb nicotine so quickly. Wu Xie was resisting his anxiety by stimulating his lungs. Xie Yuchen pushed his coffee cup in front of Wu Xie and asked him to use it as an ashtray. "This is my special coffee cup. I brought it from home. You're clearly too tired. Take a break now."

"It's not that I don't want to rest, I just can't." Wu Xie replied.

Xie Yuchen stood up, took two or three cushions from the table next to them, put them on Wu Xie's chair, and told him to lie down. He then sat cross-legged on the opposite side. "Close your eyes, and I'll tell you what happened to this blind man before."

Wu Xie stared at the ceiling, which was covered with hastily decorated pipes, curtains, and strange paint colors.

"Everyone learned about this person eleven years ago when something very strange happened in Beijing. Since the place where it happened was quite special, few people know about it. I lived in the military compound before with Granny Huo, who was a red family member [1], and the incident spread to the courtyard where we lived." Xie Yuchen said: "It's a slab type building near Chang'an Avenue on Second Ring Road. Its seven floors used to house a certain army unit, but now it's the Beijing office of some kind of business. When the accident happened, that building caught fire and burned beyond recognition. Moreover, the fire was very fierce, and instantly burned out of control. It was all very strange. After the fire was put out, a total of fourteen bodies were pulled from inside. But it was a holiday at that time, and there was no one in the building besides an old janitor, who also escaped in time. They checked the unit, and the nearby residential areas, but no one was missing."

"It was a thief." Wu Xie said, "The burglar accidentally set the building ablaze."

"I thought so too, at first, but then the police thought that something was strange. The rooms where the fourteen bodies were found were very scattered, and arranged a little weird. In addition, thirteen of the fourteen bodies weren't burned to death, but drowned."

Wu Xie rubbed his eyes and said, "How can I rest if you tell me such a thing?"

"All thirteen drowned corpses had serious eye diseases. They were placed in thirteen different rooms, which formed a strange figure once you looked at the floor plan. It was a fish." Xie Yuchen continued: "Everyone was in a state of panic, thinking that there was some hidden meaning behind this incident."

"Where was the fourteenth body?"

Xie Yuchen said: "The fourteenth body was even more exaggerated. It was found on the roof, and was different from the other thirteen bodies."

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Note:

[1] Think it has something to do with the Communist Party. Granny Huo married a military officer, which made her a red family member.