C13 Chapter 13

Two days later, in Shidian’s dorm, Chen Rui, Chen Xin, and Shidian were together talking through a few things.

“I’m going to take the artifact to the professor today,” Shidian said, holding a small gift box. Inside was that gold piece of jewelry.

“This thing looks pretty valuable. Why don’t we…” Chen Rui said with a grin.

“Bro, how can you even say that?” Chen Xin scolded him.

“Uh… I’m kidding!” Chen Rui hurried to explain when he saw his sister getting mad.

“By the way, how’s Tang Ji doing now?” Shidian suddenly remembered. Even though they’d barely managed to keep him alive, it probably still affected him a lot.

“Him? I heard from some girls in Class One that he never really talked to anyone to begin with. Now he’s even worse—besides studying, he barely says a word,” Chen Xin said, her face full of disgust.

“Tch. If you ask me, he’s lucky he’s still breathing. He had it coming,” Chen Rui cursed bitterly.

“Don’t put it like that. I don’t think he meant to steal it on purpose. That artifact had something… off about it. It tempted him,” Shidian explained. “Everyone’s got a dark side, more or less. Tang Ji’s probably just greedy, so the artifact amplified that and used him to escape the ruins.”

Hearing that, Chen Xin couldn’t help nodding. “Exactly. If it’d been my brother, it might’ve been even worse!”

“Hey—don’t drag me into this. Anyway, there’s something I still don’t get. Was Tang Ji actually some kind of monster?” Chen Rui waved a hand.

“Probably not. I don’t even know what that creature was, but don’t you think it had some kind of connection to Tang Ji?” Shidian thought for a moment, then said.

“What kind of connection?” Chen Xin asked curiously.

“Tang Ji’s greedy, so he likes to steal. And that creature’s ability was to move in and out like a shadow,” Shidian explained.

“Evil comes from the heart!” Chen Xin blurted out, hitting the nail on the head.

“Sure, but that’s just a guess,” Shi Dian said, nodding.

“Fine. I still don’t totally get it, but whatever. With Shi Dian here, we don’t have to be scared of any monsters,” Chen Rui said, stretching.

“Huh? Why?” Chen Xin looked at Shi Dian, puzzled.

Chen Rui immediately realized he’d let something slip. They’d kept this from Chen Xin up to now!

“Well… uh… ah! I mean, Shi Dian’s so smart—no monster stands a chance,” Chen Rui rushed to explain.

“Is that really it?” Chen Xin eyed Shi Dian skeptically.

“Heh… yeah. That’s it,” Shi Dian could only grin at her like an idiot.

“I swear, you two,” Chen Xin said, shaking her head. “Aren’t we going to see the professor? Let’s go—now.”

Only then did Shi Dian and Chen Rui finally breathe again, and the three of them headed for the door together.

Back then, Professor Feng had given Shi Dian his address and told them to bring the recovered item straight to his place as soon as they found it—without letting anyone know, including his own students.

So Shi Dian and the others took a cab to the professor’s address. It was on the museum’s fourth floor; the professor had chosen it specifically to make his research more convenient.

Returning to the museum again, Shi Dian felt something he couldn’t quite put into words. That chance encounter here had pulled him into something that now seemed completely insane.

Since there wasn’t an exhibit running, they had to go through the security office first before they could reach the professor’s room. But to their surprise, the answer they got there was that the professor had already left.

“No way—we had an appointment with him,” Chen Xin said, confused. If he’d moved out, he should’ve told them ahead of time.

“Sorry—may I have your names?” the guard asked, giving them a quick look.

“My name is Shi Dian.”

“I’m Chen Rui.”

“I’m Chen Xin.”

“Alright. Please wait a moment,” the guard said, then disappeared into the back room. After quite a while, he finally came back out.

He handed a letter to Ten Hall and said, “The professor left this behind when he took off. He said if three people showed up whose names matched, we were to give them this letter.”

“What the hell is this?” Chen Rui leaned in, curious, staring at the envelope in Ten Hall’s hand—but there wasn’t a single word on it.

Ten Hall and the others took the letter to a steakhouse. After ordering a few things, Ten Hall tore open the envelope. Inside were three plane tickets and a handwritten note.

“Plane tickets? What’s this supposed to mean?” Chen Rui picked one up and looked it over.

“I think we should read what the professor wrote first,” Ten Hall said, unfolding the paper.

Ten Hall read it through once, then handed it to Chen Rui. “Basically, the professor says they found a new site over in the States, so he had to rush there. If we find that artifact, we have to bring it to the U.S. He says there may be places where he’ll need help. And these three tickets let us board any flight to the U.S. without going through security.”