Chapter 434: A Familiar Shovel
Under Su Qing’s questioning, the scar-faced man didn’t dare hide anything. He spilled everything he knew.
However, the man didn’t know much. When the man named Qiutian met with him, he always used a pseudonym and even wore a mask to hide his face. It was only because Scarface had been clever enough to find a chance to get one of Qiutian’s subordinates drunk that he managed to learn a few things. He couldn’t get any more information than that.
According to the subordinate, this Qiutian was a standout among the younger generation of Japan’s Qiutian Clan. He was very talented and highly regarded by the clan elders, so they let him participate in all the clan’s major affairs. This included the matter of stealing Hua Country’s traditional medicine treasures.
Scarface had only managed to find out that Qiutian had gathered over a dozen groups of people to help him find something.
As for anything more, Scarface didn’t know.
Having gotten all the information she could, Su Qing narrowed her eyes and stared at the grave robbers before her.
"Please, miss, I’ve told you everything I know. I really don’t know anything else." Seeing the look in Su Qing’s eyes, Scarface felt a chill creep into his heart. His intuition, honed over many years, screamed that something was wrong. He hurriedly begged in a low, submissive voice, "From now on, I’ll turn over a new leaf. I’ll become a new man. I’ll never get involved in grave robbing again."
"Me too, me too," the other grave robbers chimed in.
Su Qing smiled faintly. "You think you’ll get another chance?"
"You... you..." Hearing her words, Scarface looked up at Su Qing. Seeing the coldness deep in her eyes, he asked, trembling, "You never planned on letting us go from the very beginning, did you?"
"Not bad. You’re not completely stupid." Su Qing was still beaming, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Su Qing truly had no intention of letting these grave robbers go. First, it would be difficult to explain how a young woman like her had managed to subdue seven or eight grown men in the mountains. Second, they had all seen her control plants. If they were allowed to go and spread that story, she would be in serious trouble.
Therefore, the best solution was, of course, to solve the problem once and for all.
"Please, miss, we know we were wrong! Just let us go," one of the grave robbers cried, tears streaming down his face. "We’re begging you, miss, spare our lives."
"Please, spare us, miss!"
Su Qing had no intention of wasting any more words on them. "If you have anything else to say," she said, "you can say it to the King of Hell."
"You... you..." An idea suddenly struck Scarface. "Even if you’re some kind of mountain spirit, aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning for indiscriminately slaughtering humans?"
Scarface’s words made Su Qing chuckle. She raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, you’re mistaken. I am... a one-hundred-percent genuine human!"
"What? You’re human?" Scarface’s eyes widened. "But... but how can you control plants? Those vines, those branches..."
"Exactly. So, since you know my secret, what do you think I’m going to do? You should know who’s best at keeping secrets." Su Qing’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled, but to the grave robbers, she looked like a bloodthirsty demon.
"Miss, we... we didn’t see anything! We didn’t see anything at all!"
The grave robbers wailed and begged for their lives.
Only Scarface stared blankly at Su Qing. He knew that now that his group knew her secret, they were truly doomed. If their roles were reversed, he would never allow anyone the chance to leak his own secrets.
But at the same time, Scarface’s heart filled with resentment. They hadn’t provoked this woman. Why did she have to reveal herself, show off her ability to control plants, and then decide to kill them all just to silence them because they saw her secret?
’She’s the one who revealed her secret! Why should they have to pay for it with their lives?’
’It’s not fair!’
But no matter how unwilling they were, the grave robbers could not escape their fate.
Scarface couldn’t help but look up at the sky and let out a long sigh. "It’s karma—"
Perhaps there really was such a thing as instant karma. They had done so many despicable things; it was inevitable that they would face retribution.
Su Qing watched dispassionately as the vines dragged the grave robbers’ bodies underground. She then prepared to have the vines bury all of their belongings as well.
Just as the vines were dragging away the robbers’ backpacks and bags, a shovel fell out of one of them. Su Qing started, quickly halting the vines’ movements. She walked over, picked up the shovel, and examined it.
’This shovel... it looks so familiar.’
Su Qing frowned slightly. She felt like she had seen it somewhere before.
Staring at the shovel, she suddenly remembered. During her regression in the cave at Wenyun Valley, she had seen the backs of several figures, and they had been carrying shovels just like this one.
The shovels were almost identical.
’Does that mean those people were grave robbers, too?’
Then, Su Qing recalled that the case in Wenyun Valley was related to Du Xiangbao, and Du Xiangbao was also inextricably linked to her original body’s father’s death.
And all of these incidents had happened in the mountains!
At this thought, Su Qing sucked in a sharp breath. ’Could it be that her original body’s father’s death was also related to grave robbing?’
’Or... could Du Xiangbao be connected to that Qiutian fellow?’
Question after question swirled in Su Qing’s mind. All these things seemed connected, but she had no concrete evidence. She also had no idea where Du Xiangbao was now. If she could find him, perhaps she could make some progress.
Su Qing decided that once she returned to Beijing, she should find Zou Ming to learn more about Du Daguai’s case.
With that in mind, Su Qing directed the vines to bury all the grave robbers’ belongings. Then she turned and headed out of the mountains.
Since she was no longer searching for anything, Su Qing made much faster progress. 「Eight days later.」 she reached the outskirts of Xiqing Mountain.
The gray squirrel had been following her all this time. Now that she was about to leave the mountains, it was probably time to part ways with it, though Su Qing was reluctant to do so.
"Little guy, I have to go now. I’ll come back to visit you when I have time, okay?" Su Qing said, stroking the gray squirrel’s small head.
Hearing her words, the gray squirrel tilted its head and looked at Su Qing, seemingly not quite understanding what she meant. It nuzzled coquettishly against her shoulder.
Seeing this, Su Qing gently picked the squirrel off her shoulder and placed it on a nearby branch. "I’m going home. Goodbye."
When the gray squirrel saw Su Qing turn to leave, it grew anxious. It leaped down from the branch and, with a few quick hops, landed back on her shoulder.
Seeing that the squirrel was still clinging to her, Su Qing wasn’t sure what it wanted. They were still in the mountains, after all, and she didn’t know if the squirrel was truly willing to leave with her. After a moment of thought, she said, "Alright then. If you don’t want to leave with me, you can go back anytime you want."