C19 Chapter 19

“Still, they can openly challenge you like nothing ever happened.”

“Chen Rui’s right. A treasure like this should’ve been reported to the government the moment it was discovered. And I’m sure the government already sent people to check it out. That’s why I was confident from the start they’d be able to recover the Moon Wheel tablet. I just didn’t expect it to end up in the hands of a gang.” Professor Feng nodded, fully agreeing, then went on to give the three of them a detailed rundown of the organization.

“This gang that got the Moon Wheel tablet—nationwide, they’re easily top three, if not number one. Drug trafficking, arms dealing, human smuggling—if it’s evil, they’ve done it. And they’ve got close ties to the biggest cartel in Mexico. Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare sell something like this so openly.”

“Yeah.” Shi Dian thought for a moment and nodded. “After hearing your analysis, you’re right—this won’t be easy. Going up against a force that big, we need to be a lot more careful, or there’s no telling how this ends.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Chen Xinxin was getting anxious. “We can’t just give up! We’re already here, and I don’t want to go back and sit in class with you guys. At least if we pull this off, we can hang around and have some fun afterward. Come on—let’s figure something out!”

“Don’t panic. Let’s think of another way.” Shi Dian tried to calm her down. “Isn’t there a saying? You remember it, right?”

“Which one?” Chen Xinxin stared at Shi Dian, confused. “If you don’t say it, how are we supposed to know?”

“When the road seems to end, a new path appears. I refuse to believe we can’t come up with something if we just slow down and think.” Shi Dian did his best to steady everyone—because the situation was starting to feel bigger than any of them had expected.

“By the way, Professor Feng,” Shi Dian said, still puzzled, “how are you so sure the gang is going to auction it off in this district? I’m genuinely curious.”

Professor Feng smiled. “Isn’t that easy?” His face was practically glowing with pride.

“Uh…” Shi Dian sounded helpless. “Can you stop being so cryptic and just say it already? Look at the time… I swear, you’re unbelievable.”

“Ahem! Ahem!” Professor Feng cleared his throat, a little embarrassed by the jab.

“Fine, fine, fine! I’ll tell you.”

“If it comes down to it, we can pool our money and buy it, Professor Feng,” Chen Rui asked cautiously.

Professor Feng shook his head like a bobblehead. “Chen Rui, you just laid out a solid analysis—how do you come up with something this unrealistic the moment we talk solutions? Do you have any idea how much stuff goes for at a mob auction?”

“Uh…” Chen Rui looked awkward. “No. How much? I mean, it’s obviously valuable. You treated the Sun Wheel tablet like it was priceless and studied it nonstop.”

“Exactly. The Moon Wheel tablet is worth the same as the Sun Wheel tablet—otherwise I wouldn’t be taking it this seriously. And like I said, anything the mob puts up for auction is something they expect to make a killing on. The opening bid alone would be at least a few million dollars. Then they’ll have people push the price up, and it’ll hit ten million without breaking a sweat. And this time it’s the Moon Wheel tablet. You know how rare it is and how much power it holds. If it really goes to auction, I wouldn’t be surprised if it hits a hundred million.”

“But didn’t you say there are a lot of those?” Chen Rui still wasn’t convinced. “Like seven or eight of them?”

“My goodness,” Professor Feng said. “Seven or eight sounds like a lot, but most of them are buried deep and haven’t been uncovered. This Moon Wheel tablet—and the Sun Wheel tablet from before—are two of the very few that have actually surfaced.”

“So that’s how it is.” Shi Dian nodded. Chen Rui had asked what he’d been wondering too. “They’re relics from ancient times. Regular people might not know, but anyone who’s done real research in this field understands exactly what the Moon Wheel tablet can do. And it’s possible there are people out there with summoner-type power who now control major business empires—people with more than enough money to buy the Moon Wheel tablet and boost their strength. The mob doesn’t need it, but they know someone else does. Where there’s demand, there’s a market—and the price could end up being completely out of reach.”

“Yeah,” Shidian agreed. Ever since he’d gained the power of a summoner, he’d been through more than one run-in with the supernatural, and he’d learned a lot from Professor Feng. “There are seven stones in this world that have been passed down since ancient times. Each one has a destined bearer tied to it: the Wheel of the Sun, the Wheel of the Moon, the Wheel of Stone, the Wheel of Wood, the Wheel of Water, the Wheel of Fire, and the Wheel of Sand. I’m the destined bearer of the Wheel of the Sun. As for the others, none of the other bearers have shown up yet—though they might already be out there. For all we know, one of them could be among the people headed to the auction. They might even be running some massive business empire. If you’ve got power, you might as well use it.”

“Then what do we do?” Chen Xinxin felt worse the more she listened. “Are these really our only two options? We can’t steal it, and we can’t buy it. This is a mess.”

The more they broke it down, the more it felt like their chances of getting it were shrinking fast. A gang wasn’t something you picked a fight with—especially not a major one. If it were some small-time crew, maybe. But pooling money wasn’t going to get them anywhere, either. There was no way they could come up with enough to buy the Moon Wheel tablet; if they could, they wouldn’t even be considering a plan that could get them killed.

The situation had turned into a deadlock: go left and there was no road, go right and it was a life-or-death gamble, go back and in a few days who knew where they’d end up buried.

Professor Feng wanted the Moon Wheel tablet, but his attitude—wanting it without crossing the gang and without paying for it—only made everything harder.

Shidian hesitated, but he didn’t see another way. “I’m a summoner now. I can’t take on a really powerful summoner, but I can handle regular people. The gang has numbers, sure, but most of them are just ordinary guys. They’re not summoners, and they don’t have comic-book superpowers. If I’m careful, I think our odds of getting the Moon Wheel tablet are still pretty good. What do you think?”

A lot of people knew how Chen Xinxin felt about Shidian. She’d rather take the risk herself than let him do it. And even if those gang guys didn’t have powers and weren’t summoners, sure—Shidian could take two, three, maybe even four on his own. But a dozen? Twenty? If they rushed him together, there was no way he could win. A swarm tactic might be crude, but it works—and it’s worked forever. Aside from the kind of legend you only hear about in old stories, who really pulls off a one-man ride through a thousand miles and walks away clean? Even the hero in those tales ends up battered and running on fumes.

Deep down, she truly didn’t want Shidian taking this risk.

Chen Rui could tell his sister wasn’t on board. She was his little sister—he knew exactly what she was thinking. And even though he was her brother, he was also Shidian’s closest friend. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t let Shidian walk into this. On one side was family. On the other was brotherhood. He didn’t want to—and couldn’t—give up either.

The more you’re forced to choose, the more powerless you can feel. Sometimes that’s just how fate is: you reach a fork in the road. One way is flat-out impossible. Another is the line between life and death. And turning back is a bottomless cliff—certain death.

If this were a video game, Shidian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin would all pick the path where the outcome was unknown, because it was the only path that still moved forward. They didn’t have a real choice.

Sometimes, there just isn’t an easy answer.

Professor Feng suddenly felt a flicker of regret about bringing three young hotheads into this operation. But Shidian had already mastered the ability to travel from Tokyo to London and had become a summoner, and right now the professor didn’t have anyone else he could use. Letting the three of them take part was the best option.

What he never expected was that something he thought would be handled easily would blow up on the way there. A massive twist: the Moon Wheel stone tablet they’d only just unearthed had been snatched by the mob and put up for auction—something no one saw coming.

The original plan was for Professor Feng, as a visiting scholar, to step in and negotiate with the U.S. government to bring the Moonwheel tablet back home. But no one could’ve imagined that everything would be turned upside down in just twelve hours.

He was an internationally renowned academic. The government might respect you and recognize you—that’s the government’s business. The mob doesn’t care about any of that. They won’t care what kind of scholar you are or who vouches for you. If you threaten their interests, they’ll find a way to take you out. That’s why things spiraled into such a massive upheaval.

What now? What now! Professor Feng didn’t want Shidian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin to risk their lives. But he also wanted to get the Moonwheel tablet. The situation had become more complicated by the minute—more tangled, more unbearable—leaving him unable to choose, unable to respond.