Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

Late at night, most of the lights in the hotel corridor were off, with only the dim yellow wall lamp at the stairwell still on.

Wu Xie packed his backpack and gently zipped it up.

The moment the door closed, he held his breath and listened for a few seconds to make sure there was no movement from Lao Yang's room next door.

The corridor was covered with a cheap red carpet that made no sound when you stepped on it.

As I reached the top of the stairs and my fingers touched the handrail, Lao Yang's voice rang out behind me.

"Wu Xie, where are you going?"

The sudden sound was exceptionally clear in the empty stairwell late at night, even carrying a hint of eeriness.

Wu Xie turned his head and saw Lao Yang emerge from the shadows.

The wall lamp above his head shone directly on Lao Yang's face, making the fine lines around his eyes, which didn't seem to belong to his age, stand out clearly.

Wu Xie didn't answer, and turned to walk downstairs.

The stairwell made a dull thud, and he quickened his pace, almost running down the stairs.

"Wu Xie!" Lao Yang's voice suddenly rose a few decibels.

The sound of slippers slapping against the stairs followed closely behind.

When Wu Xie reached the corner of the stairs, Lao Yang leaped down from above.

He slammed into the wall at the corner of the stairs, his shoulder hitting the wall with a dull thud.

Ignoring the pain, he reached out and blocked Wu Xie's path.

"Where are you going?"

Seeing Lao Yang's desperate attempt to stop him from leaving, Wu Xie realized that something was wrong with Lao Yang.

He took a half step back and tightened his grip on the backpack strap: "My third uncle needs to see me urgently and wants me to go back immediately."

"We're already here." Lao Yang still had that pleading look on his face, exactly the same as he had in the backyard of Wu Shan Ju during the day.

"You can get there by changing buses tomorrow. Can you see my mom before you leave? Just one look, and I'll let you go back."

Wu Xie's expression turned completely cold.

Why would someone who truly wants to see their mother jump down the stairs to stop someone just because a companion has left?

"I have to go back now."

After Wu Xie finished speaking, he stepped aside to avoid Lao Yang's hand and continued walking down.

Lao Yang grabbed his arm.

The force was abnormally strong, unlike the strength that a slender person could unleash.

Wu Xie forcefully shook off Lao Yang, but Lao Yang pounced on him again.

The two men wrestled in the narrow, dark stairwell.

Wu Xie had been running around West Lake with Wu Wei since he was a child, so his physical fitness was already there. He had also been training in boxing with Pan Zi for more than a month.

After the initial panic, Wu Xie quickly gained the upper hand.

He sidestepped Lao Yang's punch and grabbed his wrist, pressing it down.

He pressed his knee against the back of his knee and pinned him to the ground.

"You stay put." Wu Xie released his hand and turned to walk downstairs again.

Lao Yang lay panting heavily on the stairs, watching Wu Xie's figure disappear around the corner, his expression changing from pleading to ferocity.

He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

It was a half-cut rock, only about half the size of a palm.

The edges are rough, but the cut surface is abnormally smooth, with a faint, warm luster like jade.

In the dim light of the stairwell, a person's shadow could be vaguely reflected on the cut surface, with distorted features, like a reflection crushed by water ripples.

Lao Yang, clutching the half-stone, chased after them.

He stopped Wu Xie at the corner on the first floor, grabbed his shoulder, and held the half-stone straight up in front of Wu Xie.

Wu Xie's movements slowed down immediately.

The outstretched hand hung suspended in mid-air, as if it had suddenly forgotten what it was supposed to do.

His gaze began to glaze over, revealing a blank, lost look.

A moment later, a struggle appeared on Wu Xie's face.

He vaguely remembered someone telling him to leave, but he couldn't remember who it was. However, he knew that person was important.

Another voice in my head was saying:

Trust the person in front of you; they are the person you trust most, and they won't hurt you.

A struggle appeared on Wu Xie's face.

He wanted to touch the watch on his wrist, but his hand never came up.

Lao Yang put the half stone back into his pocket, a confident smile appearing on his lips.

"Wu Xie, go back to sleep."

"Come with me to see my mother tomorrow."

Wu Xie's expression calmed down, a calm that didn't belong to him.

He turned around and walked upstairs step by step along the path he had come from.

Wu Wei, who was far away in Switzerland, booked the earliest flight back to China.

After getting off the plane, I immediately checked Wu Xie's location coordinates.

The coordinates show that Wu Xie not only did not return to Hangzhou, but was even slowly moving towards the mountains.

Wu Wei's heart sank.

Logically speaking, even if Wu Xie didn't have time to return to Hangzhou, he should at least have found a place to stay in the city.

It's impossible for him to keep walking into the mountains if he were conscious or out of control.

Wu Wei dialed Wu Xie's number, and it rang again and again, but no one answered.

I dialed again, but still no one answered.

The call kept ringing until it automatically disconnected, with no response from the other end.

Wu Wei took a deep breath and immediately bought a ticket to Shaanxi.

On the way, he picked up his phone and made a call: "Dad, it's me. Xiao Xie has been tricked by a man named Xie Ziyang and is currently in Shaanxi."

"I'm on my way. Could you please look up some biographical information about this Jie Ziyang for me?"

As soon as Wu Erbai answered the phone, he heard Wu Wei launch into a long, anxious question: "Are you in any danger?"

Wu Wei let out a breath, "Xiao Xie doesn't know yet. His coordinates are moving slowly, so he should be out of danger."

"You should ensure your own safety first. I'll send someone to rescue Xiao Xie."

"It's too late, Dad. We don't have enough manpower here, and it's too late for us to come from Hangzhou."

Wu Wei softened his tone and said:

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll get back safely with Xiao Xie. Now, please help me look up Xie Ziyang's information as soon as possible."

After saying that, he hung up the phone. Wu Wei didn't want to listen to Wu Erbai's instructions; he just wanted to bring Wu Xie back as soon as possible.

Upon arriving at his destination, Wu Wei rented a car near the station.

The driver was a man in his forties from Shaanxi. He had a loud voice, dark yellow skin, and a bright white smile.

Seeing Wu Wei emerge from the station looking travel-worn, I offered to help him carry his backpack and put it in the trunk, asking him in fluent Shaanxi dialect where he was going.

Wu Wei handed him his phone screen, showing him the still-moving location coordinates. "Drive in this direction."

The driver glanced at the screen, then at Wu Wei, somewhat puzzled: "Are you going to find someone? Why are you heading into the mountains?"

Wu Wei put his phone away, leaned back in the passenger seat, and casually made up a story: "My little sister at home is so immature, she ran off with someone."

The driver exclaimed "Ouch!" and pressed the accelerator harder than before.

The car suddenly lurched forward, and the engine emitted a deep hum.

"You'd better hurry. Don't worry, brother, I drive fast, I'll definitely catch up with you."

Following the coordinates of the red dot, the driver chose a relatively shorter route, making several turns on the mountain road.

I chatted with Wu Wei while driving:

"I also have a daughter who's still in elementary school. What I fear most is this kind of thing—raising a girl with so much care and effort, only to have her run off with some good-for-nothing. Who wouldn't be worried?"

Wu Wei stared at the slowly moving red dot on his phone screen and casually replied:

"Yeah, I'm so angry."

"When you find her, you'd better talk to her nicely."

The driver's eyes, roughened by the wind and sand, revealed a hint of concern from someone who had been through it all.

"Young girls are easily embarrassed. They already feel guilty for running away with someone. If you scold them, they'll be even more afraid to go back with you. Bringing them home is the important thing; everything else can wait."

"it is good."

The car drove for nearly two hours on the winding mountain road.

At the end of the road appeared a rocky slope that the wheels could not pass over.

The driver stopped the car, turned off the engine, and turned to look at Wu Wei with some concern:

"Bro, this is the farthest we can go. Are you sure you can go in by yourself? Or should I wait for you outside?"

"No need, you can go back. I'll handle the rest myself." Wu Wei took out a stack of banknotes, about twenty or thirty bills, from his wallet and placed them on the dashboard.

The money was far more than the fare he owed.

The driver looked down at the stack of money, then looked up at Wu Wei, and finally picked it up, folded it, and stuffed it into his breast pocket.

He sighed and added, "This place is too remote, be careful."

"Find your sister and talk to her nicely, don't be angry with her. Bringing the girl home is the most important thing."

"Okay, thank you."