Chapter 1345 — Cooperating with You

"Oh? You're that certain? Then we're all taking the right path—you could perfectly well go back and take the left one yourself. Why didn't you?"

"Well... I figured we were all in this together, so I just followed along with you."

"Old Mr. Hao, you really are an admirable man—so selfless you've stopped fearing death altogether. If you think walking this way is dangerous and that turning back to the left is the only way out, and even so you can follow me on to the right, what am I supposed to say to you? You must have come out of a suicide squad." Wei Zhao sneered. "You really do dare to die, don't you?"

"I... I have put life and death beyond my concern!" Old Mr. Hao stubbornly kept up his defense.

"Heh—very well. In that case, go die now. Since you have put it beyond concern, dying is no great matter." Wei Zhao said indifferently. "Old Hei, shoot. Your Mr. Qiu was killed by someone he hired. I began to suspect him yesterday, and after the few questions he just put to me, I am certain: he is the one pulling the strings behind all this."

"Was it? Was it you who had Mr. Qiu killed?" Old Hei glared at Old Mr. Hao with bloodshot eyes. He had trusted the man so much, had brought him in to hold down the fort, never imagining he was letting a wolf through the door!

"Old Hei, calm down. Are you listening to his nonsense? I might just as well say he is the one behind it! None of you know, do you? This kid is in fact a Mystic-rank expert. Think about it—for a Mystic-rank expert to kill a Yellow-rank expert takes only a minute..." Old Mr. Hao was growing anxious. Old Hei was not a man who listened to reason; he was all impulse, or he would never have drawn his gun yesterday and shot Old Keng dead on the spot.

"You're a Mystic-rank expert?" Old Hei was startled, and turned a doubtful gaze on Wei Zhao.

"Old Mr. Hao, you really are something. The fact that I am a Mystic-rank expert has always been kept hidden—I have never told a soul. Only the Earth-rank expert who crossed hands with me just now knows my true strength. How did you learn it so quickly? Are you Clairaudience, or some sort of seer?" Wei Zhao asked, eyeing Old Mr. Hao with mockery.

"Gah?" Old Mr. Hao's eyes bulged and his face turned the color of clay as he realized he had said the wrong thing. Yes—Male Thief had never once claimed to be a Mystic-rank expert. Nobody knew of it, not even their colleagues in the Thief Sect. So how did Old Mr. Hao know?

"Motherf—!" Old Hei had no further doubts. He pulled the trigger.

With a bang, a bloody hole was blown through Old Mr. Hao's head. To these tomb raiders, killing a man was as ordinary as eating a meal—dead was simply dead.

Qiu Lingshan's mouth twitched twice. She wanted very much to stop Old Hei from shooting, but she had no grounds to do so. If she revealed her identity now, everything they had worked for would come to nothing; not only would they fail to bring these men to justice, but she, Wei Zhao, and Chen Yutian would all be in danger.

Earlier, after coughing up blood, Wei Zhao had rested briefly in the tent and then risen to his feet, saying only one thing: "My injuries are severe. Do not act rashly."

Then, to keep Old Hei from growing suspicious, Wei Zhao had endured the pain and brought Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian to Old Hei's tent. Though he had quickly entered the jade pendant space and just as quickly repaired the worst of his injuries, recovering his strength was not the work of a moment, and that was why Wei Zhao had given Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian that one instruction.

And at this moment, Wei Zhao was merely bluffing Old Mr. Hao and the rest—as for his true strength, he could not even match a Yellow-rank expert.

James shrugged, but the smile on his face was uglier than weeping: "The traitor has been dealt with, and the rest are innocent. Shall we discuss tomorrow's tomb raid?"

"Thank you, Male Thief!" Old Hei holstered his pistol and gave Wei Zhao a solemn cupped-fist salute. "Mr. Qiu was the close guard I hired, but he was kind to me as well. Now that his great vengeance has been taken, I have you to thank for it, Male Thief!"

But a tomb raider was a tomb raider. Though the words of thanks came readily enough from his lips, he was unwilling to part with any further profit. These men were all greedy, so Wei Zhao never took his gratitude to heart at all. He merely waved a hand, and with a rather stern expression sat down.

"Hahahaha, that worthless thing—better off dead. Now this old man needn't lurk in the shadows pretending to be ghost or god. Since little Hao is dead, this old man may as well cooperate with you!" Just then, bursts of laughter came from the tent entrance, and a moment later an old man walked in uninvited.

"You are..." Old Hei's expression changed at the sound of that laughter. This was most likely the Earth-rank expert behind Old Mr. Hao—his mind had been too rash before, and he had overlooked it. Now, seeing him appear, he could not help but feel a surge of fear.

This was an Earth-rank expert—to ordinary men like them, a presence like a towering mountain!

"You do not deserve to know this old man's name. You may call me Old Mr. Yu." The old man turned his head grandly toward Wei Zhao and could not help but show some surprise. "Young one, you are beyond my expectations. You are not injured?"

"Hmph!" Wei Zhao gave a cold snort. "Aren't you also still alive?"

"Indeed. That little scheme of yours was nothing but a drifting cloud before this old man! Trying to blow me up with explosives? Next time, try a missile." Old Mr. Yu said mildly. "But little Hao is dead, and this old man sees you have some skill in tomb raiding, so I will leave you be for now. Let us first discuss the matter of cooperation!"

"Mr. Qiu—you killed him?" Old Hei came back to his senses and asked.

"So what if I did? Do you mean to avenge him?" Old Mr. Yu smiled grimly at Old Hei and demanded.

"I wouldn't dare..." Old Hei was no fool. When it came to Old Mr. Hao, he could simply put a bullet in him, but against an Earth-rank expert—Male Thief had not managed to kill the man with explosives, so what good would his gun be? Besides, this old man and Old Mr. Hao did not seem to be of the same lot. From his words, the two had only been partners, and now that Old Mr. Hao was dead, he wished to work with those present instead?

"I should think you wouldn't dare!" Old Mr. Yu said smugly. "But this old man does not know anyone surnamed Qiu. If you must place blame, place it on little Hao—it was he who had me finish the man off."

"Yes, I have already taken care of Old Mr. Hao." Old Hei was a man who knew how to read the times, and he said respectfully, "Might I ask how the senior wishes to cooperate?"

"You go and raid the tomb, open the traps within. If necessary, this old man can lend a hand—but the business of dying, this old man does not do!" Old Mr. Yu said. "As for me, I want only one thing from the tomb. The rest, do as you please. This old man will ask for nothing more."

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