Hearing the voice behind me, the hairs on my body stood on end.
Turning around, I saw Wang Qing's familiar face.
At that moment, Wang Qing was squatting on a rock, wearing a uniform exactly like the border guards', and looking at me with a smile: "Duan Tao, you didn't expect to make it here alive, did you?"
Hearing Wang Qing's question, I put on a joyful expression: "Wang Qing! It's so good that you're alive! When you were attacked, you ran into the woods. We searched for you for a long time but couldn't find you, so we had no choice but to give up on you. Thank God, you're alright!"
"Haha, whether what you said is true or false, I'll just assume it's true for now."
Wang Qing didn't say much, and jumped down from the rock: "Did you get the second token?"
I immediately prepared to explain: "Wang Qing, listen to me, actually I..."
"I hope you will think about it carefully before answering my question."
Wang Qing tapped the bone fragment in his hand, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "I trusted you all before, but I was betrayed. If you can't make me feel that you still have value to me, then... hehe!"
"Wang Qing, don't do anything reckless!"
Hearing the rustling sounds in the surrounding bushes, Jiang Man threatened Wang Qing, "Don't forget there's a military camp on this mountain! If things escalate, none of us will be able to escape!"
"I forgot to tell you, my senior brother is skilled at controlling poisonous insects, while I am a master of using poison."
Wang Hong then appeared from the other side, and a strange fragrance filled the air: "I've drugged the drinking water in this military camp. Now, only we are still awake in these mountains. Of course, whether you can remain sober depends on whether you can give us a satisfactory answer."
As Wang Hong was speaking, I suddenly felt a hairy hand appear on the back of my neck.
Without even looking, I knew a spider had crawled onto me.
I knew that these two fellow disciples were cold-blooded animals. Seeing that they even dared to attack border guards, I could only keep my emotions in check and took out the jade pendant from my pocket: "I have already obtained this second token!"
"Although you dumped us before, you didn't kick us when we were down, so I'm not too disgusted with you."
Wang Qing beckoned with his finger: "Throw the token over here."
"I can give you the item, but you have to give me back the token from before!"
I held up the jade pendant in my hand: "This thing is made of jade, and it's very fragile. I don't think you'd want to see it ruined in my hands, would you?"
Wang Qing didn't say anything. He took out the stone Jiang Man had given him from his pocket and tossed it to me from a distance. I caught the stone and tossed the jade pendant to Wang Qing in return.
I did this for no other reason than to let him know that we hadn't lied to him before. Otherwise, if he finds out that we've been keeping him in the dark all along, he might just kill us.
Wang Qing took the jade pendant and examined it: "Why is this so different from the previous one?"
"I can't answer that question. I'm just a participant. How would I know what kind of tokens Fengmen Village would prepare?"
Wang Qing weighed the jade pendant in his hand: "This thing looks more like a token than the previous one."
I felt the spider crawling on my neck and said in a deep voice, "I've said it before, from the very beginning I never intended to deceive you, otherwise I wouldn't have given you the tokens! When the bearded guy and his gang were chasing you, I did have some ulterior motives, trying to shake you off! Because I didn't know if you would try to take all the tokens!"
"Although I am not a good person, I still understand the basic code of conduct among gangsters."
Wang Qing tucked the jade pendant into his robes, stood up from the stone, and slowly backed away: "Now that I have what I need, let's go our separate ways. Good luck to you both."
With the sound of bone fragments striking each other, the spider on the back of my neck crawled out. After Wang Qing left, Wang Hong looked at us and said, "Oh, right, there's something else I forgot to tell you. The fragrance in this air is called Yama Charcoal, a slow-acting poison. If you inhale it, you'll experience a sore throat and difficulty breathing for the next few days! If you don't get the antidote within ten days, you'll become mute due to respiratory damage!"
How could you be so vicious, woman?
Xue Dong glared angrily at Wang Hong: "We've already given you what you wanted, so why are you still trying to harm us?"
Wang Hong smiled and said, "Who knows if what you gave us is real or fake? If the token is genuine, we will naturally give you the antidote when we meet again! Of course, that is, provided that you haven't been eaten by other teams!"
Jiang Man frowned and stared at the woman: "What if you're the ones who run into trouble?"
"Then there's nothing we can do to help! If we don't even have a chance to survive, how can we care about you!"
Wang Hong left with a remark and slowly backed away: "By the way, my sedative can only last for half an hour at most. If you don't want to be arrested, you'd better leave as soon as possible!"
Lin Que looked in the direction Wang Hong had left, and rubbed her neck: "Do you think that woman really poisoned me? Why does my throat feel sore right now?"
“The fact that Wang Qing didn’t attack us proves that he is a man of his word and that what we gave him was genuine. Even if they really poisoned us, as long as we can see them again, it shouldn’t be a big problem.”
I offered a word of comfort to everyone, and then climbed up the hillside: "Let's get out of here first!"
The monkey glanced at the three soldiers lying on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Young Master Duan, on our way back, we'll most likely encounter those groups lying in wait. Should we take their guns?"
Xue Dong said quickly, "No! If we leave now, the worst that will happen is that we're illegally crossing the border. But if we take their guns, things will escalate! It might even trigger a large-scale manhunt on both sides!"
I also felt that taking out a gun would escalate the situation, so I waved my hand and said, "Ignore them, let's just leave!"
With Wang Hong drugging us, we made it down the mountain without incident and began our return journey to the border under the cover of night.
When I returned to China, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although we were still in danger, at least we were free from the risk of being arrested.
Although I was somewhat bothered by the loss of the second keepsake, I quickly accepted the reality.
I entered the world of antiques not only because of Duan Jinyan, but also because I wanted to improve my life. However, I would never allow myself to become an executioner like Duan Jinyan.
I'm just a little curious. Wang Qing and his sister were clearly being held up by the bearded man and his gang, so how did they manage to catch up to this place?
Could it be related to Wang Hong's ability to control birds?
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