Chapter 28: Go to Hell!

Zhou Cheng gasped, taking in a sharp breath of cold air. "Mother-and-child corpses?"
"I remember now!"
"There was a black line on the female corpse's belly!"
Zhang Xuan nodded. "That's right!"
"That black line was actually the wound where the infant was cut out!"
"When you asked me, I had already guessed it!"
"But the infant never appeared at the time, so I didn't tell you."
"Who would have thought that the infant had been hiding on your Third Uncle all along."
Zhou Cheng: "On my Third Uncle?"
Taili also said in shock, "Which of you saw a child?"
The tall, thin man: "If I had seen it, I would have run away long ago. Do you think I'd stick around with you until the very end?"
Taili: "Damn you!"
The tall, thin man's voice was also tinged with anger: "In our line of work, we should be prepared to die a violent death!"
"Third Master and I only had a business partnership; we aren't even friends!"
"Let me ask you this: if I were targeted by that ghost infant, would you run away, or would you risk your life to save me?"
Silence immediately fell on the other end.
Zhang Xuan took a sip of tea. Seeing that they had stopped arguing, he said, "Third Master was loyal enough, using his own life to trade for the three of you!"
"Whether he is dead or alive, he wouldn't want to see you arguing among yourselves."
"The path is one you chose yourselves."
"Keep moving forward."
"However, I can't accompany you anymore."
Zhou Cheng took a deep breath. "I understand. Thank you, Brother Xuan!"
Zhang Xuan nodded, waved at the camera, and hung up the livestream connection.
He took out a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead and muttered, "It's almost ten o'clock, and that connection lasted three hours."
"Every time it's this kind of heart-stopping gig—thank goodness I'm young, otherwise my heart couldn't take it!"
"I'm done! I'm not doing this anymore!"
He took a sip of water. "There's still an hour left before I go offline."
"Brothers, you must be feeling pretty tense from watching just now. Should we connect with a female streamer to relax a bit?"
"Or should we continue connecting with other treasure hunters for more appraisals?"
"You decide, brothers!"
The barrage in the chat increased instantly.
"Why did the streamer hang up?"
"Even though it was a bit scary, I still wanted to see how those grave robbers end up!"
"Try to understand the streamer. You definitely can't broadcast this kind of stuff forever, or the livestream room will get banned!"
"Relaxing is fine too; what I just watched made me too scared to go to the bathroom!"
Seeing many comments in the chat demanding a connection with a female streamer, Zhang Xuan finally cracked a smile. "Alright!"
"Let's connect with a female streamer to change the mood."
He rubbed his hands together. "In the past, whenever I tried to connect with female streamers, I'd get hung up on. But today there are hundreds of thousands of brothers in the chat, and you are the ones giving me courage!"
"Come on!"
"Start the connection!"
He straightened his collar and cleared his throat. Today, he had finally stood up for himself!
Soon, a female streamer wearing a sexy little dress with big eyes flashing an alluring charm appeared in the livestream room.
"Hello!"
Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up slightly. Looking at a beauty was definitely more pleasant than looking at a corpse.
The female streamer, nicknamed Sweet Chestnut, glanced at Zhang Xuan and suddenly showed a surprised expression. "Hello!"
"Huh?"
"You look so familiar."
Zhang Xuan smiled. "Really?"
"Have you seen me before?"
The female streamer scratched her head, seemingly racking her brains. "I really feel like I've seen you before, but I can't remember where."
Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. Let's just chat casually to help the brothers in the livestream room relax."
"By the way, what kind of streamer are you?"
Sweet Chestnut smiled demurely. "A talent streamer."
Zhang Xuan shook his head. "A talent streamer?"
"What a pity."
"I thought you were an edge-pushing streamer."
Upon hearing this, Sweet Chestnut's delicate brows furrowed. "Hmph!"
"I actually do have real talents!"
"Huh?"
"Why are there so many people in my livestream room?"
"Whoa, is there something wrong with my stream?"
"Do you know how many people are in my livestream room right now?"
Zhang Xuan chuckled. "How would I know?"
Sweet Chestnut covered her mouth and gasped, "Oh my god!"
"There are one hundred and fifty thousand people in my stream!"
"Ah!"
"It's twenty thousand now!"
"What is going on?"
"They're saying you're a major treasure appraisal streamer with hundreds of thousands of people in your room!"
Zhang Xuan laughed. "Don't listen to them fooling around, I'm just a small-time streamer."
"Stop making such a fuss, you're going to give me a heart attack."
Sweet Chestnut covered her mouth, her already large eyes widening even further. "I remember now!"
"You're that grave-robbing streamer!"
"Brother Xuan Appraises!"
"Yes, yes, yes, I saw you in the news!"
..."
"Oh my god!"
"The viewer count is still rising..."
"Brother Xuan, do you still need people?"
Zhang Xuan took a sip of water and smiled faintly. "I do."
"But this is a professional team, and our standards are very high!"
"Educational background, work experience, personal career drive—"
"Do you have any of these?"
Sweet Chestnut nodded excitedly. "Of course I do!"
Zhang Xuan took a sip of water. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Sweet Chestnut suddenly stood up from in front of the camera and directly unzipped her black short-sleeved shirt. "I have a career drive (cleavage) right here!"
This sudden move made Zhang Xuan spit out the water in his mouth. "Whoa!"
"You really do!"
Sweet Chestnut chuckled, revealing two small canine teeth. "Brother Xuan, I've followed you. Do you think I'm 'open' enough?"
Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up slightly. "I can't see very clearly, but by estimation, it looks pretty open!"
"After the broadcast ends later, send it to me via private message so I can take a look."
"Remember, make it clear!"
Sweet Chestnut: "You got it, Brother Xuan!"
The chat immediately began to scold him: "Hogging all the good stuff for yourself, huh?"
"Can a human do this?"
"How dare you eat alone? Such audacity!"
"Brother Xuan has really stood up for himself tonight. In the past when he made connections, nobody paid him any attention. Having a fanbase really makes a difference!"
Seeing the chat scolding him for hoarding the good stuff, Zhang Xuan curled his lips and said, "What are you guys talking about?"
"I was asking the young lady to take a picture of the jade pendant hanging around her neck and send it to me!"
"I don't know what's running through your dirty minds!"
"Right, miss?"
Sweet Chestnut: "That's right, Brother Xuan, my name is Sweet Chestnut."
Zhang Xuan: "Sweet Chestnut..."
"That doesn't quite roll off the tongue."
Sweet Chestnut: "Then Brother Xuan can call me Little Grandma."
Zhang Xuan's expression changed drastically. "You can't just say things like that, miss."
"The livestream room is going to get banned because of you."
"Hang up, hang up!"

Duty Room:
Fang Youcai watched as Zhang Xuan actively hung up on the grave robbers and instead passionately interacted with a female streamer. He was completely dumbfounded.
"Men really are all the same."
After a long while, Lin Yue rolled her eyes and turned her head away.
Little Lü said, "That Third Master probably died in there, and the remaining three won't amount to much."
Fang Youcai also chimed in, "The information collection is almost complete at this point, and Director Yang's side should be ready to close the net soon."
"What Zhang Xuan is doing doesn't really matter that much to us anymore."
"Let him be."
Lin Yue crossed her arms, feeling somewhat bored, and rested her head on the desk. "Then I'm going to sleep for a bit..."
"Sister Liang, call me if anything happens."

Inside the ancient tomb:
Zhou Cheng took a deep breath. "Brother Xuan is right, we still have to keep moving forward."
"Ahead is a turn; maybe past it is the Warring States main burial chamber that Third Master was dreaming of!"
He took a stride, but after walking only a few steps, he suddenly felt his foot step into empty space.
His body instantly fell out of control.
"A series of tumbling noises—"
After a bout of dizziness, Zhou Cheng climbed up laborantly and found that he had fallen into a five-to-six-meter-deep vertical shaft.
Luckily, the bottom was covered in soft soil, otherwise he probably would have kicked the bucket.
Even so, he felt pain all over his body.
A beam of light soon shone down into the vertical shaft, accompanied by two heads.
"Great-nephew, are you dead?"
After groaning for a long time, Zhou Cheng finally said, "It hurts like hell!"
Hearing his voice, Taili and the tall, thin man immediately slid down the five-to-six-meter-high vertical shaft.
Both of them possessed exceptional martial arts skills and landed steadily.
Taili helped Zhou Cheng up and, seeing that he was in no serious danger, turned his head to look behind them.
Illuminated by the flashlight beam, ahead of them was actually a cave overgrown with wild grass.
And the space was enormous!
Looking at the lush underground space before him, the tall, thin man was also baffled. "Did we somehow get out?"
Zhou Cheng limped over and followed them. "It looks like it..."
"But where is the main burial chamber?"
The tall, thin man shook his head. "Although I'm not as experienced as Third Master, I've descended into more than a dozen sizeable ancient tombs!"
"I've never seen any ancient tomb use a cave as a burial chamber."
"I guess this isn't it."
With that, he pointed toward the source of a bright light. "Look, the exit is right there!"
Taili also raised his head, and upon seeing the whitish patch of light ahead, he wore a surprised expression as well. "Damn it, it really is an exit!"
"If there's no main burial chamber, didn't Third Master die in vain?"
Zhou Cheng limped forward, stared for a moment, and then suddenly turned his head to look at the two men in confusion. "Isn't it nighttime right now?"
"Where is this sunlight coming from?"
The two men froze instantly.
"That's right!"
"Isn't it nighttime?"
Taili blinked. Without Third Master around, he had no scruples left. He stepped over the scattered rocks beneath his feet, pushed through the grass, and walked quickly toward the bright light.
The tall, thin man managed to keep up.
But Zhou Cheng, with his injured leg, had a hard time.
Despite hurrying and rushing, he was left far behind.
Walking through the vegetation, he actually had the feeling of getting lost.

In the livestream room:
Zhang Xuan walked in carrying several takeout bags and glanced at the time. "There are only about ten minutes left."
"With this little time, I won't make any more connections. Tonight's show was quite exciting; I think it will be enough to keep you sleepless all night!"
"Let's just chat, and I'll log off in a bit."
He glanced at the chat. "Connect with what grave robbers..."
"I can't connect anymore, something bad will happen if I do."
He opened the takeout boxes, taking out cola, burgers, roast meat, and fruit, and placed them on the desk.
"My follower count increased by nearly four million today!"
"To be honest, I thank you all."
"How about this!"
"Before I go offline, I'll drop a ten-thousand-yuan lucky bag!"
"That's acceptable, right?"
Seeing the chat reluctantly agree, his finger tapped on his phone screen, but it seemed to freeze, and the lucky bag simply wouldn't send out.
Chat: "Not sending it???"
"Actor (fake)???"
"I knew the streamer wasn't that generous!"
Zhang Xuan was speechless. Although the lucky bags he usually handed out were only worth a few yuan, that was when he was broke and couldn't even afford a meal—how could he afford more?
In the past two days, his bank account balance had skyrocketed, so dropping ten thousand was a mere trifle to him.
Growing somewhat anxious, he began frantically jabbing his finger randomly at the screen.
The frozen screen suddenly popped open with a dark window.
A familiar voice rang out from the opposite end: "Brother Xuan, is something wrong?"
Zhang Xuan was stunned. "Fair-skinned long legs?"
"What the heck! What is going on?"
"Brother, I made a mistake, my phone lagged!"
"I'm going offline now, goodbye!"
Zhou Cheng's voice came through: "Brother Xuan, wait!"
Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes, feeling a faint sense of impending doom. "Do you still have something?"
Zhou Cheng: "Uh, I'm trapped again!"
Chat: "666!"
"Don't hang up, Brother Xuan!"
"Randomly pressing buttons and still connecting—this is destiny! Get to overtime!"
Zhang Xuan opened his lunchbox speechlessly: "Slurp~"
"Speak!"

Inside the ancient tomb:
Zhou Cheng swallowed hard. "Uh..."
"I haven't eaten a decent meal in two days."
"And you're actually eating seafood noodles in front of the camera?"
"There's roast meat too?"
"And cola?"
"Slurp~"
On the screen, Zhang Xuan grinned. "Sorry, I just got my takeout. If I don't eat it now, it'll get cold."
"Don't worry, you'll have a meal as soon as you get out."
Zhou Cheng's voice sounded feeble. "What kind of meal?"
Zhang Xuan grinned. "Hard to say!"
"Could be a seafood feast paired with red wine."
"Could also be plain boiled cabbage in water."
Zhou Cheng: "..."
"Any food is fine, as long as I can get out alive, I'll be satisfied."
Stumbling as he parted the bushes and tree branches, he suddenly saw a huge white light shining at him!
He hurriedly used his hand to shield his eyes.
After a few seconds, his eyes slowly adjusted.
He saw a round, moon-like pearl suspended from the vault ceiling.
Taili and the tall, thin man were staring up at the pearl with astonished expressions!
"Brother, is this a night-luminescent pearl?"
Taili narrowed his eyes, white light flashing in his pupils.
The tall, thin man nodded. "I heard that the night-luminescent pearl held in the mouth of Empress Dowager Cixi after her death was the size of a chicken egg!"
"It could illuminate a room as bright as day!"
"But this one can illuminate a space the size of a gymnasium!"
"I suspect this thing is bigger than your head!"
Taili touched his own head. "Then it's really not small!"
"It must be worth a fortune!"
"If we can manage to steal it, Third Master didn't die in vain!"
Hearing the two men chat, Zhou Cheng's expression grew a bit more dejected.
Night-luminescent pearls were nice, but they weren't as important as life!
Third Master's life or death was currently unknown.
Uncle Taili was already thinking about making money.
The tall, thin man was hired by Third Master, so he certainly couldn't be counted on in a critical moment.
His own experience was lacking, and his leg still hurt badly; trying to get out would probably be even harder!
Resigned, he found a rock and sat down to rest for a bit.
However, when his gaze fell ahead, he noticed an ancient vine growing under the white light.
The old vine was about seven or eight meters tall, its roots and trunk thick enough for four or five people to embrace. Above, the vines were dotted with many emerald-green leaves, and occasionally beneath the leaves, a few crimson fruits could be seen.
"What a magnificent vine tree."
"I wonder if the fruits on it are edible..."
Zhou Cheng clutched his stomach, swallowed hard, and finally couldn't help himself. He called out to Taili, who was still staring at the night-luminescent pearl: "Uncle Taili!"
"Take a look at that tree..."
Before he could finish, he saw Taili turn his head in confusion, holding a fruit the size of a cherry tomato in his palm, rubbing it against his sleeve, and stuffing it into his mouth. "What is it?"
Zhou Cheng: "..."
He reached out a hand toward Taili. "Nothing, just asking if it tastes good."
"Give me one too!"
Taili froze for a moment, then smiled. "You want to eat some?"
Zhou Cheng nodded. "I'm thirsty, give me one to try."
Taili chuckled, pulled five or six of them directly from his pocket, and walked toward him. "A bit sour, but you can force it down."
"I'll give them all to you!"
Zhou Cheng reached out his hand, intending to take a few, when he suddenly saw a dark military dagger flash out from Taili's sleeve!
He was shocked!
Only to see that Taili's expression had twisted into a ferocious snarl!
With one hand grabbing his shoulder and the other raising the dagger, Taili stabbed viciously toward the back of his neck out of thin air!
"Go to hell!"