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墨書 Inktalez
I grew up with my junior brother, and I knew exactly what he was up to the moment he squatted down. He must be hiding something from me.
"What is it? Let me hear it. My temper isn’t great right now!" I said, pulling him close by the neck and locking my arm around the back of his head. This was my tried-and-true method for dealing with my junior brother; it never failed.
"The gentleman uses words, not fists! You... let go of me first!" He shrank his neck back, grimacing in pain.
But I wasn't applying much force; his acting skills had become increasingly refined. I knew I had to apply a bit more pressure. As I tightened my grip, he yelped in genuine pain and quickly surrendered, saying, "Okay, okay! It's this! It's this!" He reached around from behind me and opened his palm to reveal a red particle the size of a soybean, which looked somewhat familiar.
Everyone except Cold Bench gathered curiously around to see what was in my junior brother's hand, but after a moment of looking, no one could tell what it was.
Old Qiao stroked his beard with a smug expression, deliberately dragging it out to heighten everyone's curiosity before finally saying, "This is called—"
"Meteorite from the Moon!" Suddenly, someone interrupted him, and his face froze in surprise.
My junior brother grinned mischievously and mimicked Old Qiao's usual tone as he continued, "You all know about meteorites, right? They are formed when meteors or dust from outside Earth collide with our planet. They have special magnetic properties and can significantly affect the human brain. The Moon Meteorite, as the name suggests, comes from the Moon. It’s generally easier to identify than other meteorites because they have a glassy fusion crust on their surface. Look at this." He pointed at the meteorite and gently poked it; indeed, there was a translucent fusion crust visible. "The meteorite on that Meteor Monster you encountered before was this kind; it interferes with brainwaves and thus influences emotions."
Third Granduncle Master couldn't help but pick it up for a closer look. His expression was focused but not the typical curiosity one might expect when seeing something rare; it was rather strange—I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
However, I suddenly recalled something: this meteorite must be one of the two positioning devices my junior brother had taken off the copper umbrella. I exchanged glances with A Li, and she seemed to have the same thought.
But I remembered that the meteorite he removed had been attached to the eye of the Bronze Square Box Long-Tailed Chicken. How did it end up here now? Had the box been retrieved? Why had my junior brother stolen it again? Who could that person be?
It seemed my junior brother had touched something behind me before pulling out this meteorite. Could it be that the box was currently on me? With that thought in mind, I straightened up instinctively. The so-called guilty conscience must feel something like this.
Everyone had taken a careful look around and passed the object back to Third Granduncle Master. He asked his junior brother, “Where did you get this?”
The junior brother seemed to have anticipated the question and was not surprised. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Oh, it’s from your so-called Meteor Monster. I found it in its lair. Before they grew their Chuan Shan Claws, they looked like this.”
Third Granduncle Master chuckled and returned the item to his junior brother, jokingly saying, “You only picked one up for free?”
The junior brother grinned, “Of course not! But as gentlemen love wealth, we take it in the right way. Anything that risks life is not worth it; even if I gathered a basket full, I wouldn’t have a life to spend!”
Everyone likely recalled the bloodthirsty nature of the Meteor Monsters. It was indeed not something a person would do to risk their life for money, so they reluctantly accepted the junior brother's explanation.
However, knowing him as I did, I was sure things were not that simple. This red meteorite must be the one he had taken from the locator device, plus another from a different device—there were at least two.
What exactly happened between him and the man in black? Why was Cold Bench here? Did he follow us all the way or just happen to run into us? How did Old Qiao and the others end up together? What happened during his time alone in the armory? And that “reversal”—was it really as casual as Old Qiao said, or was there something more significant with Third Granduncle Master and the others present?
These questions weighed heavily on my mind, more burdensome than receiving a beating from someone. But given the current situation, I could only keep them bottled up.
After some discussion among everyone, A Li contributed a three-inch Aroma Pouch to store the meteorite inside. We took turns wearing it. If anyone sensed an emotional disturbance in the wearer, we would immediately switch to someone else.
Encountering so much trouble before even entering the main tomb was certainly not a good omen. Clearly, this was a contest of wisdom and courage between ancient people from over two thousand years ago and us today. I found myself increasingly eager to meet this tomb owner named Li You.
The first person responsible for guarding the meteorite was A Chen. Everyone organized their belongings, packing away any leftover food and sorting out flashlights that were either dead or nearly dead with spare batteries. Once everything was packed up, the junior brother weighed his bag and declared he wouldn’t carry it; it was still too heavy! He insisted on swapping with Third Granduncle Master ’s group.
Third Granduncle Master ’s team carried food, so their bags became lighter as they ate. Our group carried equipment that was both heavy and useless. After some debate from the junior brother, we finally settled on a plan where both sides would take turns carrying the load. Initially considering Old Qiao’s physical condition, we hadn’t let him carry anything, so now three against three was just right.
I suddenly remembered the issue with the box. If Third Granduncle Master and the others found out, I would have to explain myself, and refusing to exchange backpacks at this moment would raise even more suspicion. Therefore, I needed to find someone relatively reliable as an exchange partner.
I walked over to A Chen: "Let's swap. Mine isn't too heavy."
A Chen nodded but didn't say anything. He quickly took off his backpack and exchanged it with mine. When I lifted it, it was indeed not heavy at all. Once I put it back on, it felt as if I was carrying nothing, and I felt light and free. Compared to A Chen, my "not too heavy" seemed a bit exaggerated, and I smiled apologetically at him.
My junior brother didn't want to exchange with Liu Zi and chose Third Granduncle Master instead. I knew there was another key reason: when we distributed the luggage earlier, my junior brother had picked the lightest one while the heaviest was with Cold Bench. Now that he swapped with Liu Zi, the heaviest bag ended up with Liu Zi.
Sure enough, as soon as Liu Zi received Cold Bench's backpack, he cursed.
While we were busy with these chores, Old Qiao had already started examining the second Copper Door.
I followed him and discovered that this Copper Door also had two panels that opened, identical in appearance to the first one we encountered. However, the carvings on this door were different. I leaned in for a closer look and was taken aback; it depicted two spiraling Jiao Long rising from the sea?!
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