Chapter 112: Dark Gray Aperture (Revised)

She hadn’t seen a halo in a long time!

This was a dark gray halo.

The first time she saw Wu Xiaomin, his halo was about the same color.

Wu Xiaomin wasn’t a good person, so this man probably wasn’t either.

Yu Xiangnian naturally kept a closer eye on him.

This man was in his fifties, wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit, with graying hair and a square face. His eyebrows were also graying, thick, and long.

Beside him was a man in his thirties, dressed commonly, who treated him with great respect.

They seemed to be there to deposit money too, quite a substantial amount—over two thousand yuan. The teller even asked a few more questions.

After they finished depositing the money, they stood up and turned to leave. The older man’s gaze met Yu Xiangnian’s.

Yu Xiangnian suddenly felt a chill down her spine and quickly looked away.

This man was sinister!

Once the two men left the bank, Yu Xiangnian tugged on Cheng Jingmo’s sleeve and whispered, “Cheng Jingmo, I don’t think they’re good people.”

Cheng Jingmo’s eyes followed the two men as he asked, “What makes you think that?”

Naturally, Yu Xiangnian couldn’t say it was because of the halo she saw. She just said, “His gaze was really creepy.”

Cheng Jingmo: “…”

Judging them as bad people based on that seemed too arbitrary and far-fetched.

Yu Xiangnian suggested, “Why don’t we follow them and see?”

Cheng Jingmo agreed, “Okay.”

Although his wife’s reasoning seemed dubious, a good husband supports his wife’s intuition!

They decided not to deposit their money and followed the men instead.

The two men were very cautious, frequently stopping to pretend to buy things and check prices, looking out for any tails.

Fortunately, Cheng Jingmo was a professional and managed to avoid detection.

They followed them to an old house on the outskirts of the city. The men looked around to ensure no one was watching before entering.

Cheng Jingmo, who initially thought Yu Xiangnian’s suspicion was baseless, now saw the men’s guarded behavior and realized her concern wasn’t unfounded.

“What now?” Yu Xiangnian whispered.

“Wait here. I’ll climb up and take a look.”

Yu Xiangnian worriedly said, “What about your injury?”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t take much strength.”

Crouching low, Cheng Jingmo sneaked around to the back of the house. He climbed onto the roof and carefully lifted a tile.

Inside, there were antique swords, porcelain, jade, and other valuables. Four men were discussing something.

The older man in the Zhongshan suit sat in the center, with the other three men flanking him.

One man said, “Boss Jiu, this batch of goods is top-notch. We sold them for too cheap.”

The man who had accompanied Boss Jiu from the bank replied, “It’s not easy to move so much at once! If the price was any higher, who’d dare take it?”

Another man suggested, “We don’t need to rush to sell. We can do it piece by piece and get the best price.”

The man countered, “Boss Jiu wants this batch moved quickly…”

Boss Jiu interrupted him sternly, “Enough! I told you all before, this is the last time. We’ve made plenty over the years. From now on, earn some work points with the production team. Save this money; it’ll last you a lifetime! Besides, always dealing with that kind of place shortens your life! I’m over fifty and just want to live peacefully for a few more years.”

Jiu Ye looked at the man who had returned with him, “San Liang, what time is it now?”

San Liang checked his watch and said, “Ten more minutes.”

Jiu Ye said, “Master Long will be here soon. Once we hand over this batch of goods to him, let’s act like we don’t know each other and never meet again! If anyone gets caught, don’t drag others down with you!”

Cheng Jingmo didn’t listen further and quietly climbed down from the roof to find Yu Xiangnian.

“I suspect they are tomb raiders. I saw a lot of antiques,” Cheng Jingmo said, frowning. “They’ll be transferring the goods in ten minutes. If we go back to the barracks for reinforcements, we won’t make it in time!”

Yu Xiangnian quickly thought of Brother Ping, “Brother Ping’s place isn’t far from here. If you ride a bike, it should take about twenty minutes round trip. I’ll stay here and keep watch. You go find Brother Ping and have him bring some people to help us.”

“You go! It’s dangerous here. I’ll stay and watch!” Cheng Jingmo insisted.

Yu Xiangnian was worried about leaving Cheng Jingmo alone. With his strong sense of duty, he might risk his injury to confront these men. Besides, Cheng Jingmo was a faster cyclist, which would save time.

“Stop talking and go quickly!” Yu Xiangnian urged. “Don’t worry, I’ll hide and stay out of sight. I won’t get into trouble!”

Cheng Jingmo quickly rode away on his bike.

Yu Xiangnian hid in a pile of grass, keeping an eye on her watch and observing the surroundings.

Five minutes passed, and three men suspiciously approached the house and knocked on the door.

The three men went inside.

Yu Xiangnian emerged from her hiding place and found a piece of wire. Using it as a makeshift lock, she secured the door from the outside and hid back in the grass.

Seven minutes later, estimating that Cheng Jingmo and Brother Ping should be arriving soon, she heard loud banging on the door and angry shouting from the men inside.

She covered her mouth, quietly laughing.

Feeling triumphant, she thought to herself, “Lock you all inside, and soon you’ll be caught like fish in a barrel!”

Her happiness was short-lived as she saw a pair of dark gray Zhongshan suit pants before her.

Looking up, she met those sinister eyes again.

She shivered and tried to burrow deeper into the grass, but a man grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out.

Yu Xiangnian struggled, kicking and shouting, “Fire! Help…”

Her mouth was covered by the man, who then asked, “Jiu Ye, what should we do?”

Jiu Ye, with an emotionless expression, said, “Drag her inside first, don’t let anyone see.”

The man covered Yu Xiangnian’s mouth tightly and dragged her into the house.

Once inside, Yu Xiangnian realized there was another door on the opposite side of the house.

She had only seen the front door earlier, but these men had used the back door to get in.

The three men who had arrived later were busy packing antiques into wooden crates.

“Master Long, hurry up! We don’t know if this woman has accomplices!”

Yu Xiangnian’s eyes landed on an ancient sword on the table.