The Lost Tomb : Restart (The Sound Of Providence)

Chapter 157: Part Of A Huge Game

My first thought was that it was dangerous. I didn't really care what the calling spring tended to spray out since it wasn't something I could handle anyways. But according to Liu Sang, the poisonous gas came out of the calling spring a few days after it thundered. If Boss Jiao didn't learn about it by listening to the thunder and just knew that it would happen a few days after it thundered, then Xiao Hua and his men entering the calling spring—whether the entrance was real or fake—would still be a great victory to him. As a result, Boss Jiao's tactics were very clear.

It had just thundered a few days ago, so Fatty and the others were in a very dangerous situation right now.

My second thought was: What happened to Poker-Face and Black Glasses? Did Uncle Two and Xiao Hua know anything about the calling spring spraying out poisonous gas? My hands were shaking a little. Uncle Two always had a very clear attitude and was very pessimistic, so I didn't think he needed to lie to me about such a major event. But after carefully thinking about it, I realized that he really would have a reason to lie to me if he was sure that those two couldn't survive.

And he would do it so that I could gradually accept the reality of the situation.

In other words, his statement that the water wouldn't recede was false. The truth was that the calling spring probably contained extremely poisonous gas and the two of them would die.

But the premise and implications revolving around this theory were terrible.

Uncle Two knew that those two people were dead. Not only did he not tell me, but he also didn't tell Xiao Hua, the one staging the rescue operation. He should've at least told Xiao Hua about the poisonous gas since Xiao Hua would bring a lot of people and resources with him.

If Uncle Two didn't say it... then he either didn't know about it or he wanted to kill Xiao Hua.

My hands were shaking very badly now. I was certain that Uncle Two didn't know about the poisonous gas, but for some reason, I felt a trace of uneasiness in my heart.

Something was wrong. The way Uncle Two and Xiao Hua had been acting during this whole thing gave rise to a vague feeling that made me very uncomfortable. I just couldn't seem to put my finger on it.

Liu Sang continued talking, but I motioned for him to stop for a second so that I could calm down. Although my mind seemed to balk at it, I still wanted to push in that terrifying direction. If there was even a one in ten thousand chance that Uncle Two wanted to kill Xiao Hua, then what was the motive?

But I only thought as far as one step in that direction before I suddenly remembered a previous question I had: Why would experts like Black Glasses and Poker-Face have an accident?

I stood up and began recalling the source of the whole thing: a text message that pointed to Uncle Three.

After that, my prestige was gone, I became useless, Wushanju was taken away, and Poker-Face and Black Glasses were said to be dead. Xiao Hua almost died, half of the best people in Beijing had died underground, and now Fatty was in the calling spring. If I didn't tell him about the poisonous gas, he'd fucking die.

Who took my prestige and Wushanju? Who made me useless? Who told me about what happened to Poker-Face and Black Glasses? And who concealed the information about the poisonous gas?

I suddenly understood what that wrong feeling was.

The driving force behind all of these events was Uncle Two. He was the only information outlet at all key information points.

I looked at Kan Jian and asked him softly, "Were you there when Little Brother and Black Glasses had their accident?"

Kan Jian nodded. "Think about it carefully," I said. "I'm asking if you saw them get trapped with your own eyes."

Liu Sang spoke up from the side, "Impossible. The place where they had their accident was far away from us. Er Jing was the only one who was closest to them. But they didn't come out, so we went in to save them. Unfortunately, the whole place was already flooded."

I touched my chin and took a deep breath as a string of "fucks" began appearing in my mind one by one.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

This was the big picture.

When did it start? Was it one layer of logic or two layers?

Did Uncle Two want to destroy all the people around me, or was he protecting them?

I took a deep breath and arranged all of the details in my mind until they were separated into two stories.

The first story:

Uncle Two's motive was unknown, but he took advantage of Uncle Three's information, my personality, and my friends' trust in me to convince them to listen to thunder and help me investigate. Then, he took advantage of my friends' concern for me and pulled me out of this incident bit by bit. After that, he killed Poker-Face and Black Glasses and was now ready to kill Xiao Hua. But Xiao Hua was regarded as the Xie family's number one genius, so Uncle Two didn't fully succeed.

From beginning to end, this whole thing was a lie.

The second story:

You could really get information by listening to thunder. Uncle Three was investigating the secret to listening to thunder, but was facing a huge threat. This threat was so huge that Uncle Two couldn't confront him head-on and had to hide Poker-Face and Black Glasses first. He then spread the news of their fake deaths and used the rescue efforts as a way to block the entrance to Thunder City. Xiao Hua was just a piece on the game board, while Black Glasses and Poker-Face may have already entered Thunder City.

Uncle Two gave me a chance to participate in the whole plan, but I didn't seize the opportunity. I was only paying attention to the first layer of information during the whole process and didn't see the second layer behind it. As a result, I was out.

Whatever the reason, I was more inclined to believe the latter possibility. This was because I started to recall a lot of incredible details—all of which were hints Uncle Two had given me—and realized that he had been waiting for me to understand.

My expression must have been very ugly, because Kan Jian gave me a look.

My eyes kept twitching and my mind couldn't stop at all as several faces began to appear in my mind. There had to be some problems somewhere among them:

Hong Ding Shuixian.

That message Black Glasses gave to the tulou waiter.

There was also that time when I bought the sea porcelain. They had said that the sunken ship off the coast was completely salvaged overnight.

Uncle Two was the only one who could do it on the island.

Moreover, the Bai family who worked in Warehouse Eleven were all excellent swimmers.

The South Sea King's tomb, the underground water system stretching all across China, the legendary Falling Cloud Country, listening to thunder, the offshore shipwreck, and the Bai family of Warehouse Eleven.

It was all part of a huge game, and I had been left far behind on the periphery.