Chapter 170: Chapter 169: Thanks to Old Wang

Aside from the man in the baseball cap and the skinny one, the third man didn’t speak. He had a very calm and composed demeanor, like a seasoned hand.

The three of them lifted the cover and entered the hole one by one.

Xu Ying’s palms were sweating. She dialed the emergency number, but perhaps because of magnetic interference, the phone had no signal here.

She decided to photograph the crime scene of these tomb raiders first and send the evidence to the police once she reached an area with signal.

Xu Ying carefully moved to the other side of the hole entrance to capture the details of the off-road vehicle, but unexpectedly found several items scattered on the sand beside the car—

A broken pottery jar, several rusted copper coins, and… a piece of jade about half the size of a palm, exuding a gentle green light under the sun.

Xu Ying approached the jade on the ground, using her phone to zoom in on the details. The jade was exquisitely carved, in the shape of a reclining deer looking back, with small rubies set in the deer’s eyes.

This piece of jade didn’t seem like an ordinary object. Xu Ying put on gloves, carefully picked up the jade, and placed it into a transparent bag.

At that moment, Mountain Peak suddenly nudged her back with his head, urging her to leave.

As Xu Ying was withdrawing in the direction where she parked her car, she heard someone shouting from inside the hole: “Someone’s outside!”

Oh no!

Xu Ying hadn’t expected them to come back out of the tomb hole once they were inside. They must have discovered her footprints!

Xu Ying couldn’t bother to hide anymore and jumped onto her motorcycle to start the engine.

Mountain Peak appeared to understand the urgency of the situation and began running, far exceeding the usual speed of a camel.

Mountain Peak ran ahead of Xu Ying’s motorcycle, as if leading the way for her.

Behind, angry curses and engine noises could be heard; the thieves were catching up!

Xu Ying twisted the throttle all the way, as the motorcycle crawled on the soft sand.

In the rearview mirror, the off-road vehicle was kicking up a storm of sand as it closed in.

At the critical moment, Mountain Peak suddenly turned toward a seemingly featureless sand dune.

Xu Ying hesitated for a moment, then decided to trust the camel’s instincts and followed suit.

As she approached the sand dune, to her surprise, she discovered it was a hidden canyon entrance, just wide enough for a vehicle to pass through.

The terrain within the canyon was complex. Xu Ying closely followed Mountain Peak, twisting and turning, while the sound of chasing engines gradually faded away as the pursuers were clearly unfamiliar with the route.

Twenty minutes later, Xu Ying finally shook off her trackers and stopped in a shaded area beneath a cliff to rest.

Xu Ying was trembling all over, both from tension and from the weight of the jade in her pocket.

She took out the jade to examine it closely, the deer’s lifelike form and the ruby eyes seemed to gaze at her as if alive.

“This must be… an antique from centuries ago?”

Xu Ying recalled her previous life when she had participated in a desert wildlife rescue and visited an exhibit on artifacts from ancient desert civilizations.

A jade sculpture of such exquisite craftsmanship was probably a royal item, worth a fortune.

The tomb raiders couldn’t have deliberately dropped such a precious jade beside the off-road vehicle.

They must have noticed its absence after coming back out of the tomb hole, only to then discover her footprints.

Xu Ying looked around.

This place was likely an underground canyon carved by ancient rivers. As the climate became arid and surface rivers disappeared, these underground canyons became buried under the shifting sands.

“Mountain Peak, thank you for your help this time. Otherwise, we would be in a tight spot!”

The eyes of the Bactrian camel reflected concern: [This canyon only has one exit. I don’t know if they will wait at the canyon entrance for us.]

[If they find us here, we’ll be in danger!]

“Don’t worry, let me see if we can find any allies in the canyon.”

Xu Ying turned off the bike’s lights and switched on her flashlight, attempting to find any signs of life within this underground canyon.

She used points to redeem a one-hour Beast Language all-language experience card to help discover any small animals in the canyon she hadn’t encountered before.

“Ribbit—”

With her heightened sense from the Beast Language upgrade, Xu Ying heard a sound similar to a frog croaking.

She followed the source of the sound and saw an amphibian that resembled a mud frog, its cheeks bulging as it emitted warning sounds.

The frog had rough, dry skin covered with unsightly warty protrusions, with prominent poison glands behind its eyes. Its body was plump, and its short hind limbs made it appear particularly clumsy.

This was one of the Five Poisons, a toad!

[Alert! Alert! A two-legged beast has entered, notify everyone to drive this intruder out!]

The toad leapt between the canyon’s walls and the ground, avoiding the glow of Xu Ying’s flashlight.

Two-legged beast?

Xu Ying couldn’t help but feel a bit tense. Was it referring to her, the human?

Soon, there was a rustling in the canyon, as if many creatures were crawling and slithering on the ground, making the listener’s scalp tingle.

The Bactrian camel’s nose twitched nervously. It said to Xu Ying: [Little Xu Station Chief, quickly climb onto my back. These little desert creatures probably won’t dare to harm me.]

Upon hearing this, Xu Ying climbed onto the camel’s back. Within the range of her flashlight, a mass of dark shadows was already crawling toward her.

Xu Ying looked closely and saw that the black shadows were indeed scorpions, geckos, snakes, lizards, and toads creeping over the ground and rock walls like a tide, adopting threatening or intimidating battle postures in her direction.

[Intruder, take this big creature and get off our territory! You are not welcome here.]

[If you don’t leave, we’ll have to use our secret weapon!]

Xu Ying’s heart was pounding, and she zipped up her jacket tightly, afraid that a few of these creatures might “slip” and fall on her.

This scene, without exaggeration, truly was the presence of the Five Poisons!

“No need to panic, everyone. We are just evading some bad guys who were digging holes and stealing things. We’ve come here to temporarily hide.”

Facing the multitude of venomous creatures, Xu Ying felt a lump in her throat.

“I’m the Station Chief Xu Ying from the Desert Rescue Station 032. I’m friends with the King Cobra, Old Wang. Do any of you know it?”

Xu Ying searched for the presence of any snakes, quickly pulling up the video she had shot of Old Wang, the King Cobra.

The love-seeking King Cobra, Old Wang, had disappeared without a trace after finding a mate during a rat-catching mission, not even inviting her to celebrate the occasion.

However, before Old Wang left, Xu Ying knew it had connections. She had asked it to help film a video, which could prove to other members of the Snake Clan that she was a friend of Old Wang, like a pass.

In the video on Xu Ying’s phone, Old Wang flared its hood, arrogantly and majestically coiled around Xu Ying’s wrist, hissing defiantly at the camera.

[To all my snake family and friends, this is Little Xu Station Chief, a veterinarian who specializes in treating animals.]

[If you need any help, seek her; she will assist any small animals!]

[Thanks to her, I, an old bachelor of many years, am finally not single anymore!]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep