They nodded in unison, quietly following Li Yang’s lead as they walked into the guesthouse.
It was a rural guesthouse, so they had to pass through the courtyard and then ascend to the second floor via the outdoor stairs. Li Yang led the way, constantly gesturing to guide their steps.
Before long, Li Yang brought them to a room door. The main door was shut tight, but there was a gap in the window.
Li Yang went ahead and peered through the gap. Indeed, he saw several strangely attired individuals sitting together inside, palms facing palms, as if practicing some divine art.
A moment later, Li Yang lowered his head, signaling the grave robbers to look into the room as well.
Once they clearly saw the faces of the people inside, they quickly led Li Yang to their own room, to avoid alerting the others.
The leader of the group looked at Li Yang with deep gratitude and said.
“They are grave robbers? How could we be in the same profession? You truly jest, brother.” Li Yang said with a smile.
“Ah? Haha, I said we were in the same profession? A slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue, young man, please don’t take it to heart.”
The leader quickly covered his mouth. He was so used to calling himself a grave robber that he couldn’t help himself.
His two subordinates were also startled by his outburst and looked at Li Yang simultaneously.
Li Yang waved his hand and shook his head, saying, “Don’t worry, brother, why would I take it seriously? You three are just looking for the treasure map, what does that have to do with grave robbers?”
“Grave robbers are damned souls who bully the ancestors of others for eighteen generations, and none of them end well. Let’s all four of us wish that grave robbers are struck by lightning, shall we?”
“Ah? Struck, struck by lightning?”
The leader forced a wry smile, but then gritted his teeth. To avoid arousing Li Yang’s suspicion, he nodded in agreement, “Yes, struck by lightning, all grave robbers struck by lightning.”
“Boss, do we have to swear too?” the other two subordinates asked timidly.
“Why shouldn’t you swear? Do you two want to be grave robbers?” the leader glared back at them, giving them a meaningful look.
They simultaneously shook their heads and said, “No, no, how could we want to be grave robbers? We, like boss, hate grave robbers to death. May grave robbers be struck by lightning!”
“Alright, brothers, let’s not discuss the sins of grave robbers anymore. Since you three now know that the grave robbers are in the room next door, what are your thoughts?”
“From what I know, they are also here for the treasure map. If we ignore them, I fear they will become our obstacles.” Li Yang said seriously.
He felt that if those foreigners were indeed grave robbers, then they were definitely not good people.
If he could use these three to eliminate those grave robbers, it would be perfect.
“Hmph, a bunch of foreigners dare to run rampant in China, their crimes are unforgivable.”
The leader snorted coldly, thinking to himself that these people were trying to steal his livelihood.
Last night, when they had gone into one of the tombs, they had found footprints. Now, he strongly suspected that the people in the next room were responsible.
Therefore, he wanted to kill them even more than Li Yang did.
“Boss, why don’t we first incapacitate them with smoke, then tie them up, and interrogate them thoroughly when they wake up. If they are truly our enemies, we can just kill them, no need to show mercy.” one subordinate suggested.
“I agree, but I don’t mind tying them up, rather, I’d prefer to kill them directly. It’s better to kill the wrong person than to let one go, lest they tie them up and then find an opportunity to escape. Wouldn’t that be a wasted effort?” another subordinate chimed in.
The leader stroked his chin and thought carefully. He felt that what they said made sense.
A moment later, a glint of killing intent flashed in his eyes. He looked at Li Yang and said, “Young man, the scene might be a bit bloody later. If you can’t stand to see such things, you should stay in the room for now. We will handle them.”
“That’s fine. If you three brothers need any help from this little brother, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Li Yang said with a smile.
He thought that although these three were grave robbers, they were quite righteous and considerate of others.
It seemed that their being grave robbers might have been due to circumstances, not because they were inherently evil. If they could be persuaded to mend their ways, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
After Li Yang finished talking with them, the three of them went out with their tools.
As professional grave robbers, they were equipped with all sorts of gear and drugs. This smoke had the effect of paralyzing the nerves. Anyone who inhaled this smoke, no matter how strong, would instantly collapse.
After the three of them exited, they surveyed the hallway. Two of them took positions at the front and back as lookouts. The leader cautiously approached the room window with a tube of smoke.
He looked back and saw that both lookouts had signaled that it was safe. He immediately inserted the smoke tube through the window gap and gently blew the smoke inside.
This smoke was colorless and odorless, undetectable by most people.
After blowing all the smoke inside, he patiently waited for the reaction of the people within.
After about four or five minutes, he saw the posture of the people sitting inside begin to sway. A smile spread across his lips. It seemed the medicine was taking effect.
In at most another minute, they would instantly collapse.
Indeed!
He glanced at his watch, patiently waiting for a minute. The people inside all slumped to one side, completely knocked out and unconscious.
“Success! Hurry and come in with me.”
The leader shouted back to the other two. They immediately converged, twisted open the door, and entered the room. Looking at the several burly men lying on the ground, their eyes gleamed with killing intent. They each pulled out a dagger from their bodies and cautiously approached them.
They reached the men. The leader gently nudged them a couple of times. They lay there, completely unconscious.
Following that, he slowly raised his dagger, preparing to stab it into the foreigners’ chests.
However, just as their plan was about to succeed, a scream suddenly came from outside: “Ah, this is bad, someone is killing people! Someone in this room is killing people.”
“What?”
The leader was startled and quickly turned to look outside. He then instructed his two subordinates to go and check the situation.
When they emerged, many people had already appeared in the hallway, all drawn out by the previous scream.
“Damn it, it’s over now, boss. Let’s stop immediately and escape from here.”
Seeing that the situation was not good, the two subordinates rushed back into the room and reported to the leader.
“We were careless. These people get lucky today. We’ll deal with them next time. Let’s retreat.”
The leader said with reluctance, and then directly leaped out of the window with his two subordinates!