Uncle Diao claimed that TOUR was involved in some kind of conspiracy by acting this way. Liu Dashao initially thought he had remembered something important, but when he asked, Uncle Diao simply said it was his intuition.
A heavy sweat broke out…
Wang Feifei strongly disagreed with Uncle Diao’s theory. Based on her two years working with TOUR, she firmly believed it was a completely upright company. Even if TOUR had secretly sent people into this desert, it wasn’t necessarily a big deal.
Liu Dashao pondered this and agreed. What kind of conspiracy could TOUR possibly have? Money? That motive didn’t seem convincing. Wang Feifei had told him that TOUR’s boss was already swimming in so much money he didn’t know what to do with it, so it wasn’t worth the hassle of sending people here just for financial gain. In this day and age, besides money, there was practically nothing else that could drive people mad.
Looking at past events, it was clear these bastards had come specifically for whatever Uncle Diao and his team had discovered. It was their right after all—they could just really enjoy being here. Without any feeding or ulterior motives, Liu Dashao felt Uncle Diao’s words had been a bit too extreme.
However, considering how much TOUR valued this discovery, it must be something extraordinary. Perhaps it was even the same secret Liu Dashao himself was seeking.
Liu Dashao suggested to Uncle Diao that instead of studying the corpses, they should focus on finding the Golden Queen’s coffin. He urged Uncle Diao to recall carefully what exactly they had discovered back then.
Uncle Diao replied that the answer could only be found on these corpses, then crouched down to continue his examination.
These four corpses were nothing more than just that—corpses. There wasn’t even a single scrap of paper or notes left behind. Why had they been in such a rush? What had they encountered at that time? And was that danger still present now? The more Liu Dashao thought about it, the more chilling it became.
“There’s writing here,” Lin Simiao suddenly exclaimed excitedly from the side.
Hearing this, Uncle Diao rushed over immediately, followed closely by Liu Dashao. They saw Lin Simiao carefully brushing away dirt from a section of the ground, revealing French text engraved there—seemingly a single word.
After reading it, Uncle Diao frowned slightly, then touched the French inscription. Suddenly snatching the brush from Lin Simiao’s hand, he began furiously sweeping the ground. Soon, a large area was cleared.
Liu Dashao found it strange—what he saw was a large patch of identical French words. He asked, “What are these Frenchmen doing carving so many words here? What does this word mean?”
Looking at the word, Uncle Diao broke into a cold sweat, visibly tense about something. Suddenly, his expression turned serious. “It means ‘hole.’ These words were carved by me—I recognize my handwriting.”
Liu Dashao felt both shocked and excited upon hearing this. If Uncle Diao had carved these words, what did “hole” signify? Was this the discovery Uncle Diao and his team had made? Yet even Uncle Diao himself probably didn’t fully understand its meaning.
As Liu Dashao was pondering this, he suddenly noticed a figure darting past him. Turning around, he saw that Ni Ren Zhang had already run over a hundred meters away.
Ni Ren Zhang sprinted forward in giant strides, disappearing from sight within seconds. Before Liu Dashao could react, a gust of wind rushed past him, and he saw the massive black figure of Gumen darting out. Fan Debiao was just as fast as Ni Ren Zhang and vanished from view shortly after.
Everyone present exchanged confused glances, shrugging their shoulders in bewilderment. The sudden actions of Ni Ren Zhang and Fan Debiao surprised Liu Dashao. Wang Feifei asked what had happened, but Liu Dashao simply waved his hand and said he didn’t know, joking it might be a bathroom emergency. Wang Feifei retorted that Liu Dashao must have something wrong with his head.
After this brief exchange of banter, Liu Dashao felt less awkward around Wang Feifei, as if they had become more familiar with each other and could now joke around.
Back to the matter at hand—truthfully, Liu Dashao had initially assumed that the two men had rushed out because of urgent bodily needs, so he decided not to dwell on it and bent down to study the French words with Uncle Diao.
Uncle Diao stared intently at the words, perhaps trying to recall why he had left such a message here. Meanwhile, Liu Dashao’s mind swirled with questions—had these words been carved before or after he discovered the secret? And what exactly did “hole” signify?
Honestly speaking, relying solely on the word “hole” to describe his discovery was far too vague. Was it inside the hole? Outside? Or perhaps another hole adjacent to it? All of this seemed too abrupt.
Uncle Diao’s brows furrowed tightly, sweat pouring from his forehead like peas. It seemed he couldn’t remember. His amnesia appeared far worse than Liu Dashao had imagined.
Despite this, Liu Dashao naively asked Uncle Diao, “Do you have any memory of these words?”
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Uncle Diao shook his head and said he didn’t know. As soon as the words left his mouth, the surrounding crowd erupted in murmurs, clearly dissatisfied. Uncle Diao was right—these people hadn’t come here for him; they had come for the promise of profit he had described.
Seeing the rising tension, Lao Wu quickly stepped into the crowd to calm everyone down. Liu Dashao felt like his head was about to explode from all the noise, but Uncle Diao remained indifferent, his eyes fixed on the words carved into the ground. After a long while, Lao Wu finally managed to quiet the group using various reassurances.
Since Liu Dashao didn’t understand French, he stared at the words, letting his imagination run wild. However, both Wang Feifei and Jackson shook their heads in confusion when looking at the inscriptions.
Liu Dashao stared intently at the words, considering various possibilities. Maybe “hole” didn’t literally mean a cave—could it refer to a snake? Or tree roots?
“Damn it, I know what that ‘hole’ means!” Liu Dashao was still thinking when Fan Debiao’s loud voice echoed from outside the palace gate.
Looking up, Liu Dashao saw Fan Debiao running toward them in a flustered state. He thought to himself, “You figured out what the hole means? Did you get enlightened while taking a leak?”
Fan Debiao rushed in, speaking so quickly and excitedly that no one could understand what he was saying. Wang Feifei quickly told him to slow down, catch his breath, and organize his thoughts before speaking.
Still panting heavily, Fan Debiao drank some water—so much that he spat it out, clearly overwhelmed with excitement and nervousness. After about a minute, he finally calmed down and said, “I know what Uncle Diao meant by carving ‘hole’!”
Upon hearing this, everyone looked puzzled, especially Uncle Diao. Liu Dashao immediately asked, “Don’t beat around the bush—what did you find out?”
Wiping his face, Fan Debiao explained, “Earlier, I saw Ni Ren Zhang running off and thought he was sneaking away to find treasures, so I followed him immediately. But that guy led me to an open field. I thought it was nothing special at first, but when I got closer, I saw that the entire area was full of damn holes! Right away, I thought of the clue left by Uncle Diao. Without further investigation, and for the benefit of everyone, I ran straight back to inform you all.”
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