Arc 3.25 Xiao Yao

"Where am I?" 

Xiao Yao woke up with a throbbing headache in an unknown part of the cave. He looked left and right but found no one but himself there.

"Xin? Old Bai? Old Man? Xin!!"

Supporting himself up, he looked around his surroundings more closely.

He looked up the ceiling to look for the hole where he fell before he fainted, but, he found that there was no such hole or slit on the ceiling where he could fit.

So, where did he fall from?

"Xiao Xiao, where am I? Where is everyone? Xin?"

[I don't know, Host. What I do know is that all of you scattered when you fell from the hole after the earthquake. By the looks of it, you are alone here, Host.]

"I can see that very well." Xiao Yao retorted.

[......]

Looking around more, Xiao Yao found two coffins lying not far from him. The spot where it was put was so eye-catching that it was a little baffling why he didn't notice it until now.

"The coffin sure looks familiar." Xiao Yao thought.

He walked towards the coffin, he looked at it closely, it was sure luxurious.

"I remember! This coffin is the same as what Xin had told me. Two coffins, one made of green jade and gold, the other was made of white jade and gold."

Xiao Yao could not help but gasp in surprise and a bit of excitement when he found the coffin.

This was a clue!

A clue that could help Xu Xin find what he was looking for!

"What is it doing here?! More importantly, why do two exact coffins exist?!"

Xiao Yao fell into a deep thought.

It was such a mystery why such coincidences exist or maybe not.

Maybe, it was made that way.

But, what for?

Only the ancients would know the answer.

Maybe, they were hiding something or they didn't want others to find out something.

"Maybe, it's a fake tomb. They made fake tombs so that the tomb robbers would not be able to find the real tomb. Make sense. Tomb raiders are a bull! Not like I'm not one of them. But, it would really be a different story when it's your own tomb that is getting robbed."

Xiao Yao rubbed the surface of the white jaded coffin, his smile was a bit of a mystery, his eyes shining with depth.

"I do hope you rest in peace. You deserve it."

Xiao Yao then looked at the murals that suddenly appeared in front of him when the green jaded coffin disappeared, the murals were filled with the dead person's heroic life journey of love and war.

His journey was fraught with many bumps, his life was not easy. He almost lost his life and all but still, he did not give up.

Xiao Yao felt happy for him when he finally found love and happiness, his eyes filled with gentleness.

BOOM!!!

"Run!"

"Brother Fei, they are catching up to us!"

"Fei Chen, let's find a safe place first!" Chen Qiao said with a dark face.

Chen Qiao didn't feel it at first but now he understood why they call this duo a jinx. 

Why people wanted or never wanted to be a part of their team, like a love-hate relationship.

Teaming up with them really does bring great benefits that could make them rich overnight, that is if you are still alive to enjoy it.

Almost all of their teammates when exiting the tomb are either dead, injured, or gone crazy.

Anyway, the point is, that Chen Qiao is experiencing that certain jinx moment where you need to run like hell because your life was on the line.

Not even a moment, no, right when he woke up they were already in danger!

When he found himself separated from the others only with the two of them with him, they were already in "great" danger!

Let me say it again, GREAT DANGER!!

Waking up with a lot of poisonous scorpions is already unlucky enough, but not after they outrun them for a second, they were not even able to rest when they encountered zombie soldiers guarding the tomb.

After fighting and being badly beaten Chen Qiao could still even feel the pain in his face, after only a few seconds of escaping from the zombie soldiers, they were then chased by underground honey bees with a big big stinger!!

"Brother Fei!!!"

"MianMian!!!!"

"Fuck! Just run!!!!" Chen Qiao angrily yelled at them.

"They're here!"

"It's them!"

"That jinx is here again! Run!!"

Not far away from them, Chen Qiao saw a familiar group who was running as fast as they could away from them.

That group is none other than the Old Bandit's group, upon seeing the other group, they ran as quick as they could knowing that their life was on the line.

Faces pale, they could not wait to get far away from the group that caused nothing but trouble.

Chen Qiao's face was as dark as a pot hearing the other group. But who can he blame? The duo behind him was really a bunch of bad luck!

"Eh? They are running again?" Xiao Yao said in mirth.

After hearing the loud screaming of a crowd, Xiao Yao followed the sound and found himself outside the two coffin chamber.

He was on a level higher than the people running below him, from there, he could see them running around in circles.

Seems like, the Lost City they saw before was not the final form of this place. There was still another level, a level lower than the Lost City, this place that they fell from.

In short, the Lost City from before was the first layer which is only a cover for the tomb.

The second layer is where all the treasures are kept.

"These people, why are they always in trouble every time I see them?" Xiao Yao shook his head crossing his arms in helplessness.

A light shuffle sounded behind Xiao Yao, he smiled in know, and a dark figure in black clothes stood beside him.

"Yao." 

Xu Xin looked at Xiao Yao in acknowledgment.

"Did you find what you are looking for?"

Xiao Yao looked at Xu Xin in the corner of his eyes. A mysterious light danced within his abyss-like deep eyes.

Xu Xin was quiet for a while, he bit the corner of his mouth like he remembered a bad memory.

"...no." Xu Xin gloomily said.

"Are you sure it's not here?" Xiao Yao sighed.

"I'm sure." Xu Xin looked at Xiao Yao in assurance.

"I thought so."

Xiao Yao sighed. He then looked at Xu Xin and recounted his experience in hopes of helping him.

"Xin, when I was separated from you, I actually entered a chamber with two coffins. Those two coffins look just like the two coffins you told me before."

"Really?" Xu Xin's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes. It was a green and white jaded coffin. And just like what you said, the green jaded coffin disappeared leaving only the white jaded coffin behind and a mural appeared on the walls. Somehow, I came to the conclusion that the tombs that you and Leng MianMian had entered before are....fake tombs."

"Fake tombs?"

"Yes. All of you were wrong in the first place. Actually, it is not a General's tomb but a fake tomb of the no-named Emperor. The corpse of the General within the tomb was actually guarding the fake tomb of the no-named Emperor, they were not the owner of the tomb. You all mistaken it for the General's tomb because you all had never thought that it was a fake tomb built to avert the tomb robbers' attention from the real tomb."

"Then...does that mean that this time, I'm also wrong?" Xu Xin's expression darkened.

He looked like a person on his wits end. A person who is about to fall off a cliff not seeing any more hope in his life.

"Xin...."

Xiao Yao felt sorry for Xu Xin, he might not know what he went through during his journey but he knew the feeling of searching for something but was never able to find it.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yao took out a round object out of his pocket and handed it to Xu Xin.

Xu Xin looked at the round object on his hand, it was a bracelet made of jade.

"Well, you are not wrong this time, just a little off."

"Yao?"

"I found this inside the white jaded coffin, there was actually a corpse there. From my own conclusion, that corpse, even on his deathbed never once forgotten his duty."

Xiao Yao smiled.

"He, even on his deathbed, was still protecting his beloved."