Chapter 61: A Difference of a Single Hair (1)

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was digging in the ground, feeling both tired and thirsty. He endured the pain all over his body and continued to wield his hoe with great effort. Unlike other young thieves of similar age, who would retreat as soon as they encountered difficulties, Huǒ Xiǎo Xié had never been one to give up easily since he was a child. When others said he couldn't do something, he would stubbornly insist on doing it. Who dared to steal from the Zhang family in Fengtian City? It was a risk that could cost him his life, but Huǒ Xiǎo Xié had promised his brother that he would get some pastries from the Zhang family, so he went ahead and stole them anyway. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible to make Huǒ Xiǎo Xié give up digging tunnels.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yā's small evil teeth clenched tightly, shovel after shovel dug up, the hole had already been dug four feet deep and shallow, without any sign of ending. Huǒ Xiǎo Yā was not tired at all, nor did he doubt the direction indicated by Shuǐ Yāo ér, and again shoveled up, only to hear a dull "thud" sound, as if he had dug into something hard. Huǒ Xiǎo Yā was overjoyed, bent down and poked his head into the hole, stretched out his hand and touched it, indeed touching an extremely hard wall.

  The little thief, Huo Xiao, used his hands to dig and scrape away the mud, and as he looked up at the wall in the lamplight, it was a solid black surface that seemed to be made of one piece, not like bricks or tiles. When he leaned in closer and sniffed, there was a strong smell of asphalt. Huo Xiao hummed, "How does it look like the newly repaired asphalt road in Fengtian City?" These little thieves from Fengtian City were always sneaking around on the streets, so they remembered every change in the street scenery. Last year, in front of General Zhang's mansion, a new asphalt road was paved, and Huo Xiao and his friends were amazed by this large, flat, black, seamless "stone road", and they even played on it for a while.

  The little thief poked his head out of the hole, still overjoyed in his heart. He spat on his hands and swung his hoe again, but with a "thud", he couldn't budge it at all.

  Yan Jing Tian and the other three sat at the bottom of the pit, this time everyone heard a "thud" sound coming from within the wall. Yan Shou's body moved slightly as he leaned in close to Yan Jing Tian's ear and whispered: "Shh! Someone is digging!"

  Yan Jing Tian furrowed his brow and said in a low voice, "This won't do! If we keep digging like this, the noise will only get louder! If it reaches the surface and people hear it, it'll be disastrous!" As he spoke, another "thud" echoed through.

  Yan Jing Tian stood up, intending to walk towards the back window, but just then someone at the top of the pit shouted loudly: "What are you getting up for? Sit down! Sit down!" It turned out that it was one of Zheng Da Chuan's men who were constantly patrolling above the pit, named Wan Gou Zi, also known as the person who had been knocked unconscious by Shui Yao Er.

  Yan Jing Tian rushed up and shouted: "Can't even untie your hands?"

  "Come on! It's not like it's an aunt or something! Do you still want to hide?"

  Yan Jingtian also cursed: "Then it's inexplicable!" He sat down, and Yan Shouzhen came over to whisper: "Master Yan, if they're here to rescue us, we should hurry up and notify them not to dig like that!"

  Yan Jing Tian pressed down on his hand and said: "If it's Shui Yao Er and Huo Xiao Xie, with their intelligence, they will definitely understand that they can't force it!"

  Huo Xiao Ye heard the thud and still didn't move a single bit, furrowed his brow, stopped digging, and thought to himself: "No good, can't dig it out, and it's making noise too. If the sound gets outside the pit... that would be terrible!"

  Huo Xiao Xi put down the hoe and returned to Qian Zhanggui's side, pinching his nose and slapping him twice, shouting: "Wake up! You old scoundrel!"

  Qian Zhanggui's face had ten finger marks, his body swayed, and he slowly came to. He opened his eyes to see Huo Xiaoxie staring at him face to face. Qian Zhanggui let out a cry and tried to dodge, but he couldn't move at all. He knew he was tightly bound. Qian Zhanggui put on a bitter melon face and bitterly said: "Mùjiā brothers! You really have good skills! Since I've fallen into your hands, spare my life for not harming you!"

  "Huo Xiao cursed: 'You old mixed hair! You still dare say you don't want to harm me?'"

  Qian Zhanggui lowered his head, assuming a dead pig's fearless attitude towards boiling water, and remained silent.

  Huoxiaoze grabbed Qian Zhanggui's sparse hair on the top of his head, lifted him up and scolded: "Old mixed hair, don't pretend to be confused. I'm asking you, how did you dig through the hard wall inside this wall?"

  Qian Zhanggui hummed: "Don't all the people of the Mu family know? How would I know?"

  Hu Xiao slapped the big-eared kid, hitting him so hard that he stumbled and cursed: "You old mixed hair, dare to be presumptuous? Let me tell you, if you don't speak up, I have 49 kinds of punishment for you!"

  Qian Zhanggui continued to hum: "You can beat me to death, I still don't know! Love whatever!"

  "Fine, you old mixed hair! Let's see who's tougher, you or me!" Huo Xiao Xie pressed Qian Zhang down to the ground and was about to get rough when he heard Shui Yao Er say: "Monkey, what are you doing?!"

  Huoxiao Ye turned his head and saw that Qian Zhanggui had dressed up as a water demon and returned. Huoxiao Ye glared at Qian Zhanggui and said, "Water Demon, you're back? How was it upstairs?"

  Qian Zhanggui stared at the person who looked exactly like himself walking in, and was immediately stunned. Shui Yao'er imitated Qian Zhanggui's appearance, glaring fiercely at him with a vicious gaze, but ignored him.

  The situation was roughly told to Huo Xiaoxie, who also felt puzzled. Then, Qian Zhanggui burst out laughing: "Little girl, your disguise skills are indeed impressive, and you even scared me! It's no wonder that those rascals like Zheng Dakuan would mistake you for me! Do you know why I'm underground? It's because Zheng Dakuan suddenly turned against me and chased me down with a gun! You're dressed up as me so convincingly, and you ask them some inexplicable questions - they wouldn't think you're a mountain ghost if they didn't have brains! Haha! Zheng Dakuan, you son of a bitch! I'll definitely kill that beast!"

  Shuiyao'er had long wanted to ask Qian Zhanggui what was going on, seeing him gritting his teeth and talking nonstop, she reminded him from the side: "Qian Zhanggui, what exactly happened between you and Zheng Dakuan?"

  Qian Zhanggui scolded and scolded, explaining what had roughly happened. Huo Xiaoxie and Shui Yao'er listened and also sighed that the world was indeed cold and warm, with a harmonious surface but actually hiding knives in their smiles.

  Huo Xiaozi pointed at Qian Zhanggui and suddenly laughed: "Oh! Qian Zhanggui, why don't you help us break down this wall?"

  Qian Zhanggui hummed: "I killed Zheng Dakuan, that's my business, but helping you open the wall is absolutely impossible! Even if I let Zheng Dakuan send someone to Zhang Siye, the giant pit array was launched by me. No matter what, Zhang Siye will remember my kindness! If I help you release the person, wouldn't I be nothing? Hehe!"

  Shui Yao'er listened and asked Huo Xiao Xie what was going on. Huo Xiao Xie told her about the situation with digging a hole into a hard wall. Shui Yao'er also got slightly excited for a moment, then went into the hole to take a look, but came out frowning. The two of them discussed it and thought that digging forcefully wouldn't work, as the noise would be too loud and might be heard by people above the deep pit. If they looked for another method, they still didn't have any leads. Both of them felt that currently, the only way was to ask Qian Zhanggui how to quietly dig through the hard wall.

  Shuiyao'er presided, Huoxiao'e served as deputy, and Qian Zhanggui was both coerced and tempted with sweet words, but this Qian Zhanggui had already become a stubborn mule, hardened his heart like an underground thousand-year-old toad spirit, neither soft nor hard could move him, and he refused to speak no matter what.

  The water demon's face turned ghastly pale, and she snarled: "You old ghost! I was going to spare your life, but now you're not getting off that easy! I don't believe you won't talk." As she spoke, she reached into her bosom and pulled out a white pill, pinched open Qian's mouth, and was about to force it down his throat.

  "Huo Xiao Yao was shocked and asked: 'Shui You Er, are you going to kill him?'"

  "This is the Dizzying Pill. Once ingested, nothing can remain unspoken, but after the medicine takes effect, one will go mad and die! The suffering in between is something no person in this world can describe, because there's never been anyone who ate it and didn't die!"

  Qian Zhanggui snorted: "Little girl, don't pretend to be scared of me, you underestimate the people of the Pudi Dragon clan! We tomb robbers are not afraid of death, nor are we afraid of pain. What tricks do you have? Bring it on! The grave is full of dangers, if you're not careful, you'll fall into a trap and suffer unimaginable pain that will make your head spin! Come on, come on, I'm tired of living anyway, I want to try this mysterious thing, is it sweet or salty?"

  "Good! Then I'll fulfill you!" With a grasp, she pinched the money clerk's mouth shut and was about to stuff it in.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé pulled Wùyōuér's wrist and said: "Wait a minute! Let me interrogate him alone!"