As soon as I said that, Wang Qing looked quite puzzled: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by one world or two worlds? Although we are underground, we are not in the underworld. Are the people of Fengmen Village ghosts or something?"
You've misunderstood me.
I smiled and said, "When I first arrived at Fengmen Village, I suspected that it was converted from an underground ancient tomb. Since it is a tomb, there must be a tomb passage. However, since we arrived here, we have only moved in one plane space from beginning to end. The entire space is not three-dimensional. So I suspect that there should be other levels here. And when the people in Fengmen Village move, they are not in the same space as us, but through other passages."
Wang Qing licked his lips, his mood inevitably turning dejected: "If that's really the case, it's simply unrealistic for us to kidnap someone. The people here are too mixed. Even if we rush in and kidnap someone, we'll be discovered very quickly. If your guess is correct, we won't have any chance to dig out information about Qu Xuelin by kidnapping the shopkeeper!"
"On the contrary, this is good news for us, because as long as we can find the secret passage they opened when they left the pharmacy, we can find a way to open it up and capture them inside!"
I said to Wang Qing, "If we can find the location of their secret passage, we can find a way to open a passage and capture them inside. This way, we can avoid attracting the attention of others."
Wang Qing's face lit up with joy: "Do you have that ability?"
“The pharmacy is located in an open area with no obstructions around it, so it is not difficult to determine whether there is a tunnel there.”
I nodded confidently, then said to Wang Qing, "Let's split up. I'll make the necessary preparations, and you continue to keep an eye on the pharmacy. Find out as soon as possible when the shopkeepers change shifts and try to come up with a complete plan."
After the two of them agreed on a plan, I took Monkey and Manjing and left, wandering around the stalls in several caves in Fengmen Village.
The monkey followed me, looking at the things on the surrounding stalls with little interest. He said to me, "Young Master Duan, Fengmen Village is a very strange place, and the people there are ruthless. Are you really going to help Wang Qing kidnap the people of Fengmen Village? There's no turning back once you start something like this. What if we offend the people of Fengmen Village and they keep bothering you in the future?"
"To be precise, I'm not helping Wang Qing, but helping ourselves! After all, our goal is to find out their identities. You know the situation in Fengmen Village. If we stick to the rules here, we won't find anything at all."
While I was talking to the monkey, my gaze suddenly fell on the stall next to me. I then squatted down, pointed to the Luoyang shovel on the stall, and asked him, "Boss, in Fengmen Village, they sell rare and precious items from all over China. Why are you selling such an ordinary item as a Luoyang shovel at your stall?"
"Ordinary objects?"
The shopkeeper smiled and glanced at me: "Take a look at it first. If you can figure out what it is, then name your price. If you can't, just consider me a junk seller."
I was wandering around the street stalls, looking for something suitable to dig a tunnel, and when the owner said that, I suddenly became interested.
I crouched down to inspect it, and this Luoyang shovel set didn't seem to have anything special about it. Except for the steel pipe at the back being relatively light, the probe at the front was severely corroded, looking like it had been abandoned for many years and was covered in rust.
The monkey was very familiar with digging tunnels. He picked up the Luoyang shovel, examined it, and asked the stall owner, "Brother, the tube of your Luoyang shovel seems unusual."
The stall owner nodded: "Good eye. This tube is made of titanium alloy, which is lighter and thinner than ordinary ironware, but much stronger. It will save a lot of energy when you go down into the tomb."
"And this shovel is extraordinary too."
The monkey picked up the shovel and tapped it: "These shovel heads look rusty, but upon closer inspection, the pits and bumps aren't rust. Moreover, these shovel heads are exceptionally hard. May I ask what material they are made of?"
"The wonder of this Luoyang shovel lies in this: the shovel head is made of extraterrestrial black iron, which is what we commonly call meteorite. During its fall, it was tempered by high temperatures, making it far stronger than the refined steel on the market. It is precisely because of its special properties that I equipped it with a titanium alloy handle."
The shopkeeper replied arrogantly, "Looking at the world, my set of tools is already the pinnacle of tomb raiding equipment! Now, do you think it's suitable for Fengmen Village?"
"Great stuff, really great stuff!"
The monkey, whose specialty was digging tombs, listened to the shopkeeper's introduction, picked up a shovel and vigorously tapped the ground. Seeing the dent left on the bluestone slab and the shovel head that hadn't even left a mark, he looked at the shopkeeper excitedly: "How much do you want for this?"
The shopkeeper picked up the cigarette pack and held up three fingers.
"Three hundred thousand?"
Upon hearing the number, the monkey frowned deeply.
The Luoyang shovels we usually use are all custom-made from local blacksmith shops. Even with the best steel, a complete set of Luoyang shovels only costs around two thousand yuan.
Upon seeing the monkey's expression, the boss sneered, "Are you kidding me? This is Fengmen Village. Is 300,000 yuan even money? I want 3 million for this!"
"Pah! Why don't you just rob someone? No, this is even more profitable than robbery!"
The monkey looked at the shopkeeper speechlessly: "I admit that your Luoyang shovel is indeed a good thing, but its purpose is to help people open tombs and find better treasures, not to be some priceless treasure! No matter how durable it is, it's just a tool. Even if I make a set of shovels for every job I do, I won't spend three million in my lifetime, right? How about this, if you're sincere about selling it to me, I'll give you two hundred thousand, how about it?"
"Not very good."
The boss rolled his eyes: "Get lost, don't interrupt my business!"
I could tell that the monkey really liked the tools, and he also knew that no one sold cheap tools in a place like Fengmen Village. So he said, "Boss, how about this, let's compromise. I really want this. Like my friend said, although it's a good thing, its value is not worth the price you quoted. How about you give me a discount?"
The so-called "let me cut twice" means that after cutting it in half once, I will cut it in half again, which is 750,000.
The stall owner seemed to realize that the monkey really liked the item. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "If you really want to take this, then let's not haggle. Let's round it up to a whole number and you can take it!"
"Okay, I'll take this!"
After Wang Qing woke up, he returned the money I had advanced to him. I took out my wallet and pulled out one million yuan in ghost money.
When the stall owner saw me take out my money, he also rang the bell on his stall, calling over the patrolmen from Fengmen Village to witness the transaction.
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