Chapter 150: Cat or Mouse?

At 2:00 PM, Lin Jian and Shen Ke appeared in a small tavern in Sanli Town, Lantian County.

Wang Suo had already left. Firstly, he didn’t want to be a third wheel to the young couple. Secondly, he had to go home to deliver the good news to his daughter. Thus, he was picked up and taken back to the county town.

Tonight, Shen Ke and Lin Jian were going to stake out a village in Sanli Town. Originally, she and Wang Suo were supposed to do it together, but since Lin Jian was here, Wang Suo left early.

Naturally, according to their intel, tonight wasn’t the time for Old Cat to make his move, so there shouldn’t be any danger.

"Do you know where we are?" Shen Ke asked with a smile as they ate.

"Sanli Town," Lin Jian replied. "There was a road sign when we entered."

"Then do you know Liu Rong?"

"Liu Rong?" Lin Jian paused. "What does he do? Do I know him?"

Shen Ke was speechless. "What are you talking about? I’m asking if you know Liu Rong from the Han Dynasty."

"How would I know him? It’s been thousands of years. He died ages ago, and it’s not like we ever met!"

"I..." Shen Ke kicked him in annoyance. This little rascal was too much.

"Haha!" Seeing Shen Ke’s exasperated look, Lin Jian laughed. He thought for a moment and said, "The emperors of the Han Dynasty were surnamed Liu, but I really haven’t heard of this Liu Rong."

"He was never an emperor, but his father was Emperor Jing, and his younger brother was Emperor Wu of Han."

"Ah, then he..." Lin Jian raised his eyebrows. "You mean Liu Rong’s tomb is nearby?"

"Exactly!" Shen Ke said approvingly. "We’re heading to the village later. There’s a place there called Yanzi Tomb—that’s Liu Rong’s resting place. Legend has it that after Liu Rong died, tens of thousands of swallows carried mud in their beaks to help build his tomb. Because of this, his tomb is shrouded in mythology and has many legendary tales associated with it.

"What Old Cat and his gang want to rob is Liu Rong’s tomb."

"Hasn’t Liu Rong’s tomb been robbed before? Or has it never been excavated?" Lin Jian asked curiously.

"I’m not exactly sure of the details, but I heard from experts that even if it has been robbed, large tombs like this are divided into many chambers. There are even main tombs and secondary ones.

"Even though Liu Rong died an unjust death, he must have had a significant amount of burial objects.

"Furthermore, Han culture has been trending in recent years, making Han Dynasty artifacts particularly valuable."

"Then since you discovered Old Cat, why didn’t you arrest him?"

"Although Old Cat is the prime culprit, we want to catch them all in one fell swoop this time. The real grave robber among the Nightwalkers isn’t Old Cat, but a Tomb Raider Captain nicknamed ’Hu Er’.

"Our main goal is to wait for Hu Er to show up. As long as Hu Er is still out there, there will be no shortage of such cases in the future. Catching this Tomb Raider Captain will put a stop to many more tomb-robbing incidents."

"You arrested Old Cat’s accomplices, so you should have found out the information regarding Yanzi Tomb. Yet Old Cat dares to take the risk and return, knowing full well you know about this place? What is he after?"

"That’s what we’ve been wondering too. Logically speaking, it’s actually very dangerous here now. With Old Cat’s intelligence, he should have fled far away instead of returning to this trouble spot.

"But he still came back, which is something we can’t figure out either.

"However, he hasn’t discovered our presence. Maybe he wants to hide in plain sight."

"In short, you can never be too careful, Shen Ke," Lin Jian reminded her.

"I know."

The two of them had a simple meal, left their car at the restaurant, and walked toward the nearby village. If they drove over, firstly, there would be nowhere to park. Secondly, the car was too conspicuous a target and would be easily spotted. So it was better to walk.

Shen Ke had prepared a backpack stuffed full of everything they might need—dry rations, flashlights, ropes, bottled water, flint, and more.

"Are you preparing for a doomsday escape?" Lin Jian said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Yeah, they sell these kinds of survival kits online, so I bought one."

Lin Jian put the backpack on. Barely twenty minutes later, the two of them emerged in a small patch of woods. Within the woods were a few trenches. By lying prone in a trench, they could see Yanzi Tomb half a mile away.

"So tonight, with the sky as our blanket and the earth as our bed, we’re just going to sleep like this?" Lin Jian suddenly leaned closer to Shen Ke with a suggestive look.

Shen Ke rapped him on the head. "Sleep, my foot! We have to keep watch on the opposite side tonight, and... Hey, hey, where are you putting your hand..."

Before Shen Ke could finish her sentence, Lin Jian’s wandering hand had already reached somewhere it shouldn’t have!

Shen Ke’s face flushed a deep red. After squirming a few times, she realized that the utterly shameless Lin Jian remained completely unfazed.

"Don’t move, let me hold you for a while. There’s no one here anyway..." Lin Jian brazenly pulled her deeper into his embrace.

It was the middle of summer, so the grass was tall, birds soared above, and the trees formed a dense canopy. Their location was sheltered from the wind yet offered a wide field of vision. Taking advantage of this, Lin Jian boldly began to cop a few feels!

Shen Ke felt an unbearable tickle from his teasing, but not wanting to ruin his mood, she lay there motionless like a wronged little wife.

Meanwhile, in a restaurant in the county town, Old Cat and his girlfriend entered a private room.

The scouts, afraid of alerting Old Cat, could only stand guard outside. However, what they didn’t know was that Old Cat had actually slipped away to join the guests in another private room within the same restaurant.

"No cops tailing you, right?" a short, dark, and skinny man in his forties asked from inside the room.

"How could there not be?" The plump Old Cat chuckled. "Two squads. The other squad has probably headed out to the countryside ahead of time!"

"Phew."

Hearing Old Cat’s words, the other people in the room all let out a breath of relief. It seemed Old Cat knew everything!

In the eyes of Shen Ke and her team, Old Cat and his crew were nothing but mice. But in Old Cat’s eyes, Shen Ke and her people were the mice. He was playing a game of cat and mouse.

Counting Old Cat and his girlfriend, there were six people in the room. The other party also had a woman among them. As for the remaining three, aside from the short, dark, and skinny man, there was one wearing a long robe, and a man around forty who looked like a Tuberculosis Ghost!

This man was not only emaciated, but his eye sockets were so dark it looked as if he had been beaten. However, they weren’t bruises from a fight, but rather dark circles caused by chronic sleep deprivation. Moreover, he was unkempt, as though he hadn’t cleaned himself up for days, and his face was ashen without a trace of color.

Of the six people in the room, it seemed only Old Cat, his girlfriend, and the other woman could be considered normal. The other three were far from normal.

"When do you plan to make a move?"

The short, dark, and skinny man was none other than Hu Er, the Tomb Raider Captain. Furthermore, this was a trade passed down through his ancestors!

"Tonight." Old Cat smiled faintly. "No time like the present!"

"Then, has the tunnel over there been dug through?"

"It broke through this morning," Old Cat replied. "That’s why I said tonight."

Old Cat then glanced at the robed man. "You’ll take care of all the cops tonight. Any problems with that?"

The robed man took a sip of his liquor. "As long as the money is right, there will be no problems."

"I don’t want any survivors, and you can’t give them a chance to call for reinforcements. Everything must end tonight."

"No problem," the robed man said plainly. "With me making a move, you can rest assured."

Old Cat looked back at Hu Er. "Once we’re in the tomb, everything will depend on you."

"No problem." Hu Er nodded.

Old Cat then turned his gaze to the Tuberculosis Ghost and said flatly, "After it’s done, I’ll transfer one million into your wife’s account."

The Tuberculosis Ghost grinned. "I trust you, Cat."

Finally, Old Cat looked at the other woman. "If you insist on entering the tomb, you can, but you have to follow all my orders."

The woman smiled and nodded. "Agreed."