Chapter 10: Encountering Grave Robbers While Treasure Hunting

The word "treasure" completely jolted Jiang Cha awake. She looked up in confusion at the few people gathered around her desk.

Zhong Jialin gave her a dissatisfied glare. "Song Yang, why did you call her over? She’ll just slow us down!"

"Exactly, let’s go, let’s go! If we don’t leave soon, it’ll be dark before we know it!"

Before Jiang Cha could react, Song Yang grabbed her backpack and pulled her out of the classroom.

It was only after hearing Jiang Yun explain the whole story along the way that Jiang Cha understood: her classmates had heard rumors about treasure hidden in the forest near their village.

Zhong Jialin even described it vividly, saying they had seen a group sneak into the forest at night and come out carrying several bags.

All of them were born and raised in this village, intimately familiar with the local terrain. They chatted and laughed as they walked to the entrance of the forest.

Jiang Cha stopped, frowning. Wasn’t this the place that the pangolin had mentioned, where it saw people sneaking in to poach?

"Big sister, just ahead there’s a cave. That’s my home," a muffled voice suddenly whispered in her ear, startling Jiang Cha.

She felt something wriggling inside her bulging backpack.

Jiang Cha and Jiang Yun were at the back of the group. Jiang Cha quickly unzipped her bag.

When her eyes met the pangolin’s tiny beady gaze inside the bag, she was speechless. "When did you crawl in there?"

The pangolin blinked innocently.

"When you were asleep, I asked if I could get in your bag, and you said yes, didn’t you?"

Jiang Cha covered her face. She had a habit of sleeping in class — probably from a past life. She looked awake but her spirit was already far away. She could even answer questions with her eyes open while dozing.

"Well, you just stay put quietly for now. I’ll figure out how to save your family soon."

Luckily, the pangolin was light and easy to carry. As she zipped the bag closed, she added, "Don’t eat my wafer cookies!"

The terrain here was complicated and easy to get lost in.

When Jiang Cha had brought the tiger cub home, it was through this very spot. At that time, she was fully focused on her mission and hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings.

This forest was a protected area. The village secretary had repeatedly warned during meetings not to come here unnecessarily, as it was full of large wild animals, and encountering one could cause serious trouble.

Only Song Yang and his reckless friends, unaware of the dangers, had dared to come looking for some so-called treasure. They’d probably get scolded by their parents when they returned.

Towering ancient trees surrounded them, rising into the clouds. The path was difficult, covered in thorns, and only Song Yang at the front, wielding a sickle, was clearing the way.

Suddenly, Song Yang stopped the group. "Someone’s here, crouch down!"

Before Jiang Cha could react, Jiang Yun dragged her into the bushes to hide. What was going on?

The six of them huddled together. As Jiang Cha crouched, she brushed off Zhong Jialin’s sleeve, who looked disdainful and flicked away some imaginary dust.

Jiang Cha thought: I’m the one who’s disgusted with you!

Not far away, several shadowy figures were busily moving things from a cave. There were six men, all dressed in matching black clothes. It was clearly a well-organized and premeditated operation.

"Who are those people?" Zhong Jialin asked with a trembling voice, all of them seeing such a scene for the first time. Nothing like this had ever happened in their little village before.

"They’re grave robbers," Jiang Cha said calmly, opposite to the girls’ nervousness. "They dare come here in broad daylight. They must be quite brazen. Let’s stay quiet and wait for them to go in before we check it out."

"Grave robbers? We have graves in this village? How come I never heard of that?" Song Yang gaped in shock. This was intense!

Zhong Jialin shot back, "Jiang Cha, how do you know they’re grave robbers? Don’t tell me you’re working with them?"

Jiang Yun, unable to see her sister bullied, puffed up her cheeks in indignation. "You’re talking nonsense! My sister can talk to animals. It was the little creatures that told her."

Zhong Jialin and the girl holding her hand exchanged glances and laughed in unison.

"Jiang Yun, you’re not a kid anymore. How can you believe such nonsense? Don’t you have a brain? How could anyone understand animal speech? You must be hysterical."

The two girls grew more and more heated, on the verge of arguing, when Song Yang, feeling headache, covered Zhong Jialin’s chattering mouth.

"Enough! Do you want to shout louder and attract those guys over here? Then we’d be killed and dumped in the wilderness?"

"Uuugh," Zhong Jialin whimpered.

Seeing her scared, Song Yang released her and looked carefully at the men’s movements.

Zhong Jialin huffed and swapped seats with the girl beside her, disdain written all over her face.

Jiang Yun’s lips trembled with anger. Jiang Cha smiled and patted her braids. After all, she was still a child, easily provoked by a few words.

"What are they moving? That looks really heavy."

The boy beside Song Yang stretched his neck, eager to get a closer look.

Jiang Cha remembered his name was Fan Minghui, sitting to her left. His mother was Qi Yu, the director of the Women’s Federation and a class sports star, but as for intelligence…

Typical brawn, little brain.

The men in black worked in teams of three, struggling to carry huge square objects. Jiang Cha’s pupils dilated several times over and cold sweat trickled down her back.

"Oh my god, those are coffins! What’s wrong with these people? They’re even taking coffins out."

Song Yang was shocked. "Let’s go back and find my dad. These guys are way too reckless."

The group turned to leave quietly. In this situation, there was no treasure to be found, and their lives weren’t worth risking.

But then—"Creak—"

In her panic, Zhong Jialin stepped on a branch, making a sharp cracking sound.

"Zhong Jialin! Useless!" Jiang Yun hissed fiercely at her.

"Who’s there?! Who’s over there?" A voice called out. They had been discovered.

The group froze, hearts pounding. Jiang Cha’s cold sweat soaked her clothes. Those men had guns, and the few of them were no match.

"Boss, there’s a sound over there!"

"Number Three, don’t get nervous. We have guns. Just shoot and we’ll know what it is."

"But boss, what if it’s a person…"

"…"

A brief silence stretched, making time feel endless.

"Then kill them. This forest is so big—just dump the bodies anywhere. The wild animals will tear them apart, leaving no trace, no one will know."

What the hell?! Could a human really say something like that?

As the footsteps of the men slowly approached, Zhong Jialin and the girl by her side burst into tears, but dared not make a sound, tightly covering their mouths.

"What do we do?"

Song Yang mouthed the question to Jiang Cha. Even he didn’t know why he was asking her—he just had a strange feeling she might know what to do.