The Lost Tomb Vol. 7

Chapter 21: I Have the Fish

"I have the fish."

This was the text I had found on a missing person's website when I was searching for the names of the archaeological team on Yongxing Island.

Earlier, when I told the old woman about my experience, I didn't mention this sentence because it was a minor detail that didn't need to be disclosed. Huo Xiuxiu said each word very leisurely, and there was a hint of banter and pride in her voice. I was a little surprised when I heard her say this. I realized in my heart that she might really know something; otherwise, she wouldn't have said those key words.

It appeared she had also checked the names of those people on the internet and seen the website, so it was at least true that she had investigated these things.

With regards to this little sister, my heart was surprisingly calm. I found it very strange that I wasn't curious or doubtful towards her, but it may have been because she was younger. I even felt that my experience in this business was better than hers. Looking at her proud little eyes, I smiled and thought that there was nothing to be proud of.

"Well, I admit that you also investigated this matter, but that website is too easy to find. It doesn't mean you know something I don't know. I saw this photo several years ago."

Little Sister looked at me with the same expression and said, "You're wrong, I didn't say I found those words on the photo from the internet."

I paused and felt that there was something in her words. At first, I was a little stunned by the intensity of her eyes, but I soon responded and realized that her smile wasn't merely a child's pride.

I wondered why she looked at me with such confidence. I didn't act very passive, and I didn't feel like I gave off a weak aura, but her eyes didn't waver at all. It seemed that she was a hundred percent confident that she could persuade me, but what she was using to convince me wasn't as powerful as that.

I made a judgment and decided that it was unlikely that she was bluffing, because that would be very low-class. In other words, if she wasn't bluffing, then she thought her proposal was very powerful, and I just wasn't understanding what was so powerful about it. While thinking all of this, an intense thought suddenly popped into my head, and I told myself that that couldn't be right.

"Sister," I blurted out, "did you make that missing person post with the photo? Did you write this sentence?"

"Well, that's good," she said proudly. "You said just now that you searched for those names, and I knew you would find that photo."

"You—" I suddenly didn't know how to respond. Damn it, I always thought that the publisher of that thing should be someone at least a few years older like Uncle Three, but it unexpectedly turned out to be this little sister.

She took out a cartoon notebook from her pocket and handed me a black and white photo from inside. It was the photo with the words "I have the fish" written on it. It was exactly the same as what I had seen on the internet, and should be the one that was scanned and uploaded.

This was the first time I had seen the original photo of them, and I felt a sense of nostalgia.

"Look at this again." Xiuxiu took out another photo and handed it to me.

At first glance, I recognized that it was a photo of Huo Ling when she was young. It was a full-body image of a young girl who was just a little older, dressed in the clothes peculiar to that era, with a ponytail and the printed words "Celebrate Youth Day" beside her. I could feel a ripple in my heart. She looked like a charming fairy and gave off the same kind of feeling as the Xiuxiu in front of me.

"This was taken in Wangfujing during the May Fourth Youth Festival when my aunt was eighteen."

"What?" I was surprised.

"Look at this one again." Xiuxiu took out another picture, which was a newspaper photo, showing a liberation truck decked in a flower ball. I didn't know what Beijing festival it was, but I could recognize the background behind the truck. It was the intersection where the previous photo of Huo Ling was taken and I could see the same road sign.

"This was what I found in the Beijing Museum. It seems to be another photo taken at the same intersection in 1984. According to the height of the liberation truck and the shooting angle at that time, I deduced the height of the road sign, and then inferred my aunt's height through the road sign. At the same time, I found out what shoes my aunt was wearing and calculated her barefoot height at that time, which was about 1.68 meters. Look at this again." She handed me another color photo, and I immediately saw that it was the dock where the ten of them had taken the picture in Xisha, but there was no one on the dock, and the view was also empty. There was a sand dune in the background, and a phoenix bicycle off to one side that was leaning against the cable pier.

"I found the dock that year and photographed it from the same angle. Using the cable pier on the dock as the standard, I calculated the height of the pier by using the bicycle. I also found the shoes she was wearing at that time and tested my aunt's barefoot height in this photo, which was about 1.60 meters."

"Eight centimeters short." Fatty frowned.

"I included the shoes as factors, because there were very few kinds of shoes at that time. This calculation method has been proven and the result is very accurate. If you include shoes, the height of the people in the two photos is basically the same, but if you remove the shoes and calculate accurately, you will find that a young girl has actually shrank eight centimeters during puberty." Xiuxiu said, "They're actually two different people. Your theory is correct!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, and Xiuxiu said, "I haven't shown these to my grandmother yet, but it seems that my aunt is really dead."

"Little Sister is quite quick." Fatty looked at the photos and was amazed. "This is high-tech."

"I'm a cultured person, unlike you guys." Xiuxiu said smugly. "Now, am I qualified to make a deal with you?"