Short, Light, Free - Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Ghost Market (Part 5) II

“The all-seeing eye watch that you’re holding… it took us a lot of effort to steal it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember how it looks like before scraping it?”

“It was a gold watch.”

“In order to steal it surreptitiously, Leader Peng Jiamu had to come up with a solution. One of our teammates, Xiaohei, was in the golden weapon business before entering the army. He stepped out with four gold bracelets to wrap the watch.”

“What else?” Li Xia asked.

“There were over 10 treasures back then, and they all came from a big-scale grave. We were the ones to dug it up but when we got close to the coffin, the specialists came and we got back to man our post as guards. We had thought that those were simply relics because only antiques had been transported out from Lop Nor so far. After the 17th item, things went quiet for a bit and the specialists were called back. The seven of us, however, had to stay stationed there. We weren’t into our job but we couldn’t leave. One day, a treasure had been dug up but there was only one specialist left to assess it. We became his assistant and the thought of stealing and selling it came to mind.”

“That’s the origin of the jade and the watch?” Li Xia clarified.

“We first dug out the all-seeing eye watch. I remember the specialist rubbing the dust off agitatedly and urging us to open up the coffins for other treasures. We discovered two corpses, each with a jade on their bodies. We figured that they were a couple and hid our discovery from the specialist but took the jades for ourselves. The first attempt went successfully, but the moment we pulled the jade from the second corpse, the corpse immediately turned to ashes. We coughed in shock and the specialist mocked our inability to bear the sight of corpses. What he wasn’t aware of was that we had seen a corpse disintegrate before our eyes. We handed the jades to Leader Peng Jiamu and he wore them around his neck. That night, we witnessed him splitting into two different bodies.”

“The identities of the Pisces jades are real?”

“We discovered after that the two corpses were of the same person, one real and the other fake, and the key to distinguishing them lies in the jade. Yang for the real person and Yin for its split self.”

Li Xia did not respond so I turned to Dahai, “Yin and Yang?”

“Carve a fish shape out and the remaining background is Yin. Keep the fish and remove the background and that’s Yang.”

“The one on his neck… is it Yin or Yang?” I asked.

With a blank look, Dahai replied, “I did not get a good look at it.”

“Leader Peng Jiamu’s selves were extremely different. One wanted to bring us to seize the watch while the other wanted to help us escape. The Yin side of him took a gun out and was about to shoot the Yang side but the Yang side of him ran out of the house without even getting dressed. Yin then led our team to kill the specialist and seize the watch. Xiaohei then provided the bracelets for Li Bai to plate it before chasing after Yang.

“Why’s the jade with you then?” Li Xia inquired.

“We ran out of Lop Nor that night, but because we didn’t know what Leader Peng Jiamu wanted to do, I suggested for the team to abandon him and escape on our own. That was how I became the new leader. Unable to give up the jade, I cut it off when he was sound asleep, and the moment I did it, his body disintegrated.”

“That was how you got hold of Yin’s jade?”

“With both jades in our possession, we ran out shouting that Peng Jiamu had killed the specialist and stolen the relics, something that he had, in fact, done. No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t outrun a telegram and was caught before he left Xinjiang. He removed the jade but he did not disintegrate. He tried hard to explain the story behind the jade but no one believed him. Words spread but it was all rumors. We took over the jade and Peng Jiamu was secretly killed in Xinjiang by the superiors. They had mistakenly thought that we would return the jade to Lop Nor but we chose to escape with me as their leader this time.”

“So you had the complete jade and watch?” Li Xia asked.

“The seven of us returned to Beijing and stayed in the city defense for a few years. We tried selling the items off. The jade isn’t as valuable as the watch, and overall, it wasn’t enough to split among the seven of us. Someone would always disagree, regardless of which pawnshop we visited. We weren’t able to manage the treasures, so we decided to split them up and rotate ownership during each reunion.”

“You guys met last year,” Li Xia noted.

“People die. Your grandfather and I were the only ones left last year. He took the watch so I got both jades. Now that he’s dead, I’m the only one left. If you’re here for the jade, give up. According to our agreement, you should be handing the watch over since I’m the last man standing.”

“Why’s there only half of the jade on your neck?”

“What half? I have both. Wait, what? Why only half? Where did I put it? Why don’t I remember? Is this Yin or Yang?”

“Yin,” Li Xia informed him.

The old man grabbed his head with both hands and dropped to his knees.

Witnessing the scene unfold, Dahai spoke up. “Do we go over to them?”

“Duh!” I exclaimed before rushing over, Dahai following close behind.