Chapter 488 [(*^▽^*)]

The Kowloon Gang members moved slowly and finally arrived at the village entrance. Here, there was a relatively flat area. Some people guarded the area, while the rest began to assemble a strange object in the middle. The parts were scattered there, and as time went by, they were gradually assembled.

Lin Leyou blinked. "This thing looks a bit ugly. It's probably not made by a legitimate manufacturer. They must have made it themselves. What's it for?"

He muttered to himself as he stared at the thing.

Xue Rui, "Do you still remember why they came to Xiushan Village?"

Lin Leyou stroked his chin. "Is this something for exploring treasure?"

Xue Rui nodded, "It's highly likely."

Lin Leyou: "But the village chief told us before that there was no treasure at all. Can they really find the so-called treasure with this machine?"

After pondering for a moment, Xue Rui said, "Sometimes things that are very ordinary to the people in this village may be priceless treasures outside. For example, their bowls for eating... may be old objects from hundreds of years ago."

At this point, the two of them exchanged a glance, and then looked into the kitchen together. They remembered that there were some bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen. The chopsticks were ordinary bamboo chopsticks, while the bowls and plates seemed to be very exquisite.

They simply hadn't considered this possibility before, so...

The two got up and went to the kitchen, taking out all the dishes and examining them one by one. They looked like ordinary items, not the kind of exquisite ancient porcelain.

"It seems that porcelain was divided into official kilns and private kilns in ancient times. The villagers of Xiushan Village certainly couldn't buy porcelain from the official kilns, right? These should all be products from private kilns, so they shouldn't be of much value."

After careful observation, Xue Rui saw some blurry marks on the bottom of these bowls and plates, but they were no longer recognizable due to the passage of time.

"Maybe you're right. Forget it, let's just put it away. Even if it's real, we can't take it with us."

They cannot take the treasures away, nor can they let anyone else take them away. Moreover, these items cannot be taken with them when they leave the instance, so they are not really of much value to them and are meaningless.

The two tidied up the dishes again, left the kitchen, and went to the middle room. Lin Leyou's eyes lit up, and she saw the lamp on the table. "Hey? This lamp..."

He wasn't sure if he was overthinking it, but he felt that this lamp looked somewhat similar to the bronze lamps he had seen in a museum in his past life.

Forget it, that's probably impossible. Those kinds of bronze lamps are usually buried with important figures. How could they possibly appear in a village like this? Even if it was brought out by some important figure who fled from an enemy hundreds of years ago, it couldn't possibly have survived to this day. It should be rusted by now.

Lin Leyou put aside his thoughts and followed Xue Rui back to the bedroom. He closed his eyes on the bed and continued to observe the Kowloon Gang members from two perspectives. They were still assembling the prop, but the number of parts had decreased significantly, so it would probably be assembled in a little while.

Sure enough, it took them about half an hour to assemble the instrument.

The gang leader laughed and said, "Not bad, not bad, very fast. Quickly open it and see where the treasure is. Once we get the treasure, we'll leave this awful place immediately!"

Upon hearing that there was treasure and that they could leave, everyone became even more excited. After turning on the device, a radar-like image appeared on the screen in the deputy leader's hand, scanning and rotating in circles, and finally a red dot lit up on it.

"Boss, this is the spot! This is definitely where the treasure is hidden. Let's go here!"

The gang leader quickly came over to take a look, "This location..."

After making a quick comparison, Xue Qian pointed in a direction and said, "It's probably that place. To get there, you have to go through Xiushan Village. You might be able to go around it from either side, but it will take a lot of time."

The gang leader surveyed the surrounding terrain and realized that they indeed had to pass directly through the center of the ruins of Xiushan Village. He looked at the village shrouded in black mist, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

"It's in the mountains behind the village, so it's normal that the treasure wasn't buried in the village."

The deputy leader leaned over and said, "Boss, how about we send someone ahead to check out the situation?"

The gang leader stared intently at the location marked on the screen. In fact, he had already noticed it before Xue Qian pointed it out.

Behind Xiushan Village in the mountains... the black fog there is the thickest and the most violently churning; there is definitely something there that they cannot defeat.

He swallowed nervously, then let out a long breath. "There are so few of us now, we absolutely cannot split up. If we do, we'll likely be picked off one by one, and then we'll have no way out."

Xue Qian actually thought so too, but the deputy gang leader already disliked him, and if he spoke up now, even if he didn't mean it, the deputy gang leader would definitely think he was going against him.

Although the gang leader would try to mediate, Xue Qian clearly felt that the gang leader was only temporarily appeasing him and was not really trying to stop the deputy gang leader from hating him.

He thought to himself that he would still be useful before the treasure was found, but once the treasure was found, he would be the first person killed by them.

The deputy leader probably knew this too, which is why he obediently listened when the leader told him to be quiet and not argue with him. After all, in his eyes, Xue Qian was already a dead man.

Lin Leyou and his group watched from afar with their mechanical spiders, but then realized they couldn't hear what they were saying. After discussing it, they each controlled one of their mechanical spiders to move closer to their location.

It was nothing more than a mechanical spider the size of a fingernail. Under the gloomy sky and amidst the rolling black mist, it moved silently through the lush vegetation, completely undetected by them.

The premise is... that Xue Qian doesn't take out any props to probe.

Time passed slowly, and after much deliberation, the gang leader decided to take a walk around Xiushan Village first. "Let's see what's going on in this village and see if there's anything suspicious. Maybe there's something here, after all, it's where the villagers used to live."

The villagers of Xiushan Village all moved out decades ago. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be anything good in such a poor village. Even if there were, they would probably have all been taken away. This time, they came to find the treasure hidden by the ancestors of Xiushan Village in a secluded place unknown to later generations.

Because the village was shrouded in black fog, no one dared to separate from the others. They all stayed together and walked around the places where there were still roads, and even went inside to look at some abandoned and damaged houses.

They stood outside some houses that had collapsed halfway, peering inside, but all they found were overgrown weeds or rotten wood, nothing they wanted.

The deputy leader said, "Boss, there shouldn't be any in the village. If there were, they would have all been taken away."

The gang leader nodded. "In that case, let's head to the back mountain. Everyone be careful. The ghosts that left earlier haven't shown up yet, and there's no trace of them in the village. They're probably waiting for us at the very end."

Then everyone subconsciously looked towards the direction of the mountain behind the village. Perhaps because they were closer, the scene there became clearer, and the mist that was churning up and mixing into the dark clouds in the sky became even thicker.

Everyone stared blankly at the scene, their sense of foreboding growing stronger.

The deputy leader forcefully suppressed his anxiety and asked, "Boss, shall we head to the back now?"

The gang leader nodded. "Let's set off now. The sooner we find the item, the sooner we can get back."

Hearing the word "go back" cheered everyone up a little.

The deputy leader nodded with a smile, "Brothers, this is the last stretch of the road. Be careful on the way. The ghosts are definitely hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity to ambush us. Everyone must stay within the area surrounded by the five Soul-Suppressing Daggers. Once you leave... who knows what will happen."

The visible gloom and resentment emanating from outside filled them all with dread.

Lin Leyou whispered, "These people have circled the village several times, but they still haven't found us."

If you were to ask which house in the entire village is the most intact, it would be the one they live in. It's just surrounded by plants. If these people cut down the trees outside and came inside to take a look, they would find it.

However, they were now like frightened birds, and dared not leave the protection range of the Soul-Suppressing Dagger, so they did not check the village very carefully.

Xue Rui: "They're planning to go to the back mountain. Can we really let them go?"

Lin Leyou didn't have any thoughts on it. "The thief's pit in the back mountain has such a dense yin energy that it can even corrode and damage machinery like a monitoring ball, let alone people. Even if we have connections with the village, we probably can't go there casually, let alone them."

Xue Rui: "Hmm...the village chief and the others might have some plans."

Lin Leyou nodded, "There must be a plan. Let's stay here obediently, so that the village chief won't have to worry about our safety if we go out."

Xue Rui nodded in agreement, "I know..."

The village now is completely different from when they were out there. When they were out, the village looked like an ordinary village, and even the yin energy was very thin, so it didn't affect them. But now... as soon as they step out of this house, the yin energy outside will probably...

Xue Qian and his group carefully moved towards the back of the village. Perhaps it was because the resentment there was too strong, but the further they went, the sparser or withered the plants became.