Chapter 429: New Hatred and Old Grudges
"Hey, how much longer are we going to be wandering around these remote mountains? When is this going to end?"
"I know, right? We’ve been at it for two or three years. I feel like I’m turning into a savage."
"Shh, keep your voices down. Don’t let the boss hear you. Otherwise, you’ll be in for it. Our lives are hard enough as it is. If the boss decides to punish us on top of everything, how are we supposed to survive?"
Three men approached from behind Su Qing to her right. They hadn’t spotted her and were chatting idly, every word laced with complaint.
Seeing the three men approaching, Su Qing quickly tidied the spot where she had been digging for the Purple Danshen. Then, holding the gray squirrel, she climbed a nearby tree trunk with a few light leaps and settled onto a thick branch. The dense leaves concealed her completely. The three men would never find her, but through the gaps in the foliage, Su Qing could see them with perfect clarity.
She watched as the three men ambled over, their clothes dusty and gray. One of them held two or three snow cocks, while the other two carried bags that seemed to be filled with fruit.
Su Qing couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. ’They’ve been in these mountains for two or three years?’
’And a boss?’
’Could these be the tomb raiders Jiamu told me about?’
After all, what kind of decent person would spend two or three years in the remote depths of Xiqing Mountain with nothing better to do?
The three men, oblivious to Su Qing, continued walking in her direction as they talked.
"So how long are we supposed to stay in these mountains? Don’t tell me we’re not leaving until we find that Divine Doctor Tomb?"
"Who knows? It’s up to the boss. *Sigh.* I have a feeling we’ll be stuck in these mountains for a lot longer."
"We don’t even know if that so-called Divine Doctor Tomb is really in these mountains. What if it doesn’t exist? Are we supposed to stay here for the rest of our lives?"
The speakers were clearly dissatisfied, their words dripping with resentment.
Perched in the tree, Su Qing watched the three men and sighed softly.
’So it really is them. These guys are the tomb raiders.’ Su Qing decided to follow them for a while to assess the situation. At the same time, she mulled over how to deal with them.
’Just kill them?’
’Or capture them, drag them out of the mountains, and hand them over to the police?’
Su Qing considered it. They were deep in the heart of Xiqing Mountain. If she captured this band of tomb raiders and brought them out, setting aside all other issues, she would have no way to explain how a single young woman managed to capture a group of grown men in the remote wilderness—not without revealing her abilities.
But if she did reveal her abilities, she wasn’t worried about much... except being targeted and dissected. She had finally escaped the apocalypse; she had no desire to go back to a life of hiding.
In this life, she just wanted to be a wealthy, carefree idler.
Su Qing rubbed her nose. ’Alright, so maybe I’m not that idle right now. Running around, plunging into mountain forests... I’m probably busier than anyone.’
’Maybe I should just kill them. It would solve the problem once and for all. Besides, these tomb raiders make a living digging up ancestral graves—it’s a completely immoral business. And judging by what happened with Jiamu, it’s clear these people have no moral compass. Killing people like them would be doing the world a favor, preventing them from causing more harm.’
Just as Su Qing was pondering this, the conversation of the men passing under her tree gave her pause.
"I’m so sick of this life. What’s gotten into our boss? Insisting on coming to Xiqing Mountain to find some Divine Doctor Tomb that might not even exist. Isn’t he just asking for misery?"
"Shh. Let me tell you something. I heard our boss is doing this for someone else, for money," one of the tomb raiders suddenly said, lowering his voice to a whisper for his two companions.
Hearing this, his companions’ eyes widened. "For real? I thought our boss always worked alone. Who’s he working for now? And who paid enough to convince him?"
It wasn’t just the two tomb raiders; even Su Qing pricked up her ears.
"You’ll never guess. They’re not from our Hua Country," the informant said mysteriously. "Take a guess who it is."
"Not from Hua Country? So some foreigners want to find the Divine Doctor Tomb? What do they want? Don’t tell me it’s that legendary *Xiqing Miscellaneous Treatises*?"
"Exactly. That’s what they want." The informant sounded a bit smug; this was his inside scoop. "I’ll just tell you straight. The ones who want this treatise are from Japan."
"What? The Japanese!"
"Yep."
"Are you serious? Our boss is working for the Japanese?" one of them said, his tone full of disbelief.
"It’s most likely true. Think about it. If it wasn’t for the money, would our boss really stay in these mountains for two or three years? It’s seriously getting in the way of him finding girls."
"Damn, now that you mention it, that’s true. Our boss has never been able to live without women, and he’s been ’celibate’ for two or three years on this mountain. Otherwise, he’d... Oof, let’s not talk about that. I wonder how much those Japanese paid to make our boss work this hard, dragging us along to suffer in these mountains with him."
"However much it is, it’s gotta be a lot."
"That’s true. Wow, our boss is really well-connected. He can even get in touch with the Japanese. Impressive, impressive."
"HAHAHAHAHA! That’s why if you stick with the boss, you’re guaranteed your cut. We might even get a bonus."
As the tomb raiders talked about money, they started laughing, their tone lightening considerably.
But hiding in the tree, Su Qing was so angry her fists clenched.
’What a bunch of shameless traitors!’
’Working for the Japanese, helping them steal their own country’s treasures... and these bastards are proud of it! Have they forgotten the blood feuds of the past?’
Then, another question suddenly occurred to Su Qing. Since those shameless Japanese had hired this group of tomb raiders to search for the Divine Doctor Tomb in Xiqing Mountain, could they have hired others as well?
Su Qing refused to believe that those Japanese would only hire a single team.
The thought of other people helping the Japanese plunder Hua Country’s treasures made her burn with rage.
It had been the same during the apocalypse. When the end times came, disasters struck all over the world, and humanity’s survival was pushed to the brink. During that world-shattering catastrophe, Japan sank, and many Japanese fled to Hua Country, plotting to seize the survival bases of the Hua people for their own use. The base she had belonged to was infiltrated by many Japanese. If the base leader hadn’t been vigilant, they would have all become victims of the Japanese’ blades. A powerful Superpower User she knew had been killed by those Japanese because of a moment of carelessness.
Old hatreds and new grievances surged through her. Su Qing’s eyes blazed as she watched the three men walk away. Knowing the gray squirrel wouldn’t want to leave her, but fearing it might suddenly make a noise and ruin things, she stuffed it into her space and silently fell in behind the three men.