Chapter 58: Retrieving Treasure from Afar

Qian Li’s words carried a deeper meaning. Xu Lin understood, as did Han Hong and Zhang Qiang. As for the reason that compelled them to stay, they would likely discover it soon enough.

“Our Youth Courtyard may not have much else, but there’s one thing that’s truly remarkable—no one here makes petty reports,” Qian Li said with a proud smile. Since the courtyard was established, the Committee had never conducted a search here. That alone was enough for the residents to walk with heads held high. Next door, the brigade had been searched several times, all because of internal denunciations by their own youths. The brigade leader over there nearly hated the youth members, assigning them the toughest tasks in hopes of subduing them.

Xu Lin asked curiously, “Are you talking about the Han Camp Brigade?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Let me tell you, their brigade leader is ruthless and never holds back when dealing with the youth. It’s strange—the youth at Han Camp Brigade seem rebellious, not only fighting among themselves but also quarreling with the villagers. Every so often, there’s some incident making it lively over there,” Qian Li continued, mostly complaining.

Yet Xu Lin couldn’t quite understand: if Han Camp Brigade was so troublesome, why was Su Liang assigned there? Given the Su family’s connections, Su Liang should have been placed in a better brigade.

With her confusion, Xu Lin asked, “Is Han Camp Brigade richer than the others?”

“Relatively, yes, but it’s not as wealthy as Wang Village Brigade. Our brigade leader is capable; the village has built a pig farm and a chicken farm, generating income every year. Our brigade’s work points are the most valuable. Han Camp Brigade is just a bit behind us, but they have a lumber mill. If a youth has connections, they can work there,” Qian Li explained.

Xu Lin understood now: if Su Liang hadn’t come to Wang Village Brigade, he would likely have been maneuvered into the lumber mill. Unfortunately, the Su family couldn’t have anticipated their young master would switch brigades on his own and offend the Han Camp Brigade leader. Tsk, Su Liang certainly knows how to stir up trouble.

While they exchanged gossip, Xu Lin ate her fill. The pot of goose was thoroughly divided among the four of them. Qian Li urged Xu Lin to rest and took on the task of cleaning up the dishes herself.

After tidying up, the four returned to their rooms for rest. Xu Lin lay on her bed, remembering she still had two treasures left to collect, her heart blazing with excitement. Zhou Xuemei would soon discover the treasures in the small courtyard had been cleared out and would surely quicken her actions. Now, it was a matter of who moved faster.

No, she had to act tonight—those treasures could fall into anyone’s hands, but not Zhou Xuemei’s.

Xu Lin lay in bed for about an hour, listening carefully for any sounds in the Youth Courtyard. From next door came steady breathing; clearly, they were asleep. Xu Lin waited a little longer before quietly slipping out the window, surveying the surroundings to ensure nothing was amiss, then quickly scaled the wall and left.

Cautiously, she exited Wang Village Brigade, reached the main road, and darted into a nearby stand of saplings. From her space, she retrieved her bicycle and rode off. Though the night was dark, unmelted snow brightened the landscape, and Xu Lin’s sharp eyes kept her from veering into any ditches.

With the talisman of swift movement and no fear of encountering anyone at night, Xu Lin sped ahead at full tilt, reaching the outskirts of the county in half an hour. Checking the time, she saw it was only midnight.

After some thought, she turned her handlebars toward the village where Wu Chengguang lived. The village wasn’t far from the county town; cycling there took only fifteen minutes. With her talisman, Xu Lin’s bicycle moved even faster—she arrived at Wu Village in just a few minutes.

Wu Chengguang’s ancestral graves were on the wild hills at the west end of the village, a place known as Grave Hill. It was where villagers buried their dead; even in daylight it felt eerie, let alone at night.

Xu Lin’s journey was smooth—she didn’t meet a soul, though she glimpsed a few ghostly shadows. Those drifting spirits, seeing Xu Lin from afar, immediately fled. Clever as they were, they sensed her formidable aura and knew she was not someone to provoke.

At the base of the hill, Xu Lin put away her bicycle and looked up, employing the fortune-seeking technique of metaphysics. This method revealed not only wealth, misfortune, and luck, but also the aura of treasures.

To her surprise, Grave Hill radiated several pockets of treasure aura, one particularly dense. Xu Lin identified its location and hurried there. The aura emanated beside a grave mound, and from the name on the stone, she confirmed it belonged to Wu Chengguang’s ancestors.

Without hesitation, she took out her tools and began digging. The frozen ground was hard, and the terrain only made it tougher. After a while, she managed to excavate a space two feet square, though she found the pace unsatisfactory.

Suddenly she slapped her forehead and cursed her own stupidity—she possessed spatial powers, so why was she laboring to dig? She could simply create a spatial black hole. As long as the other end was at the treasure, she could retrieve it from afar.

Ah, her mind must have frozen—she nearly acted like a fool.

Putting away her tools, Xu Lin swiftly used her spatial black hole to search for the treasure, opening it three times before locating the spot. Then she could relax, sitting on the ground and collecting the loot.

Once the underground treasures were all retrieved, Xu Lin was sweating profusely. The technique worked well but was exhausting and drained her powers. Her level-one spatial ability was nearly depleted.

Quickly, she took out a cup of spiritual spring water, gulped it down to replenish herself, and rested for a while before tidying up the dug-up ground. All that effort digging the hole, and now she had to fill it back in.

Really, there was nowhere to complain.

After finishing, an hour and a half had gone by. Xu Lin glanced at the other pockets of treasure aura, considered for a moment, then left. Those people might not be bad; they hadn’t wronged her, and Xu Lin didn’t want to strip others of their heritage and hope.

Her descent from the hill and journey toward Qingshan County went smoothly. But near Wu Chengguang’s lover’s home, something unexpected happened.

Hearing disordered footsteps, Xu Lin quickly put away her bike and hid in the shadows. Soon, a group appeared in her sight. At the front was Zhou Xuemei, her face battered and hands wrapped in gauze. Behind her came three carts, each piled high with boxes.

Their faces shone with excitement, pushing and pulling the carts forward energetically. With such commotion, the residents should have heard something, but not a single light was on, nor did anyone call out. The atmosphere was uncanny, tinged with an unsettling sense of abnormality.