Chapter 93

Since Qin Cheng was worried, he didn’t realize that he ended up contacting Jiang Ping at night. Thankfully, Jiang Ping just so happened to be on the night shift. On the phone, Jiang Ping mentioned that there was an armed robbery in Lintong District in the middle of the night, so he had to deal with it. Since it wouldn’t take long for Jiang Ping to return, he asked Qin Cheng to wait for him at the Police Station.

However, even though Jiang Ping said that it would only take a short while, he actually made Qin Cheng wait for the entire night. By the time Jiang Ping finally arrived at the Bureau, it was dawn outside.

“I’m really sorry, but there was an emergency over there. The robber fell unconscious all of a sudden and had to be sent to the hospital. I was so busy that I even forgot to call you.”

After closing the door of the office, Jiang Ping took off his jacket and threw it on the back of the chair.

“By the way, how have you been lately? Last time I saw you, you were in a coma for four days. You woke up not long ago and had to stay awake an entire night. I bet your body won’t be able to stand it, right?”

“I’m fine. Since you didn’t return during the night, your colleague on duty asked me to rest in the lounge. I woke up just now.” After such a busy night, Jiang Ping’s face looked more or less tired, and as Qin Cheng looked at Jiang Ping, who was sitting opposite him, he asked: “But you….you don’t look so good.”

“The night shift is like this, but I’m not really tired. After sleeping during the day, I’ll feel refreshed after smoking a cigarette.” Then, he took out a pack of cigarettes from the folder and handed one to Qin Cheng: “Would you like one?”

Qin Cheng looked at the cigarette in front of him and reached for it, “Thank you.” After taking the lighter from Jiang Ping’s hand, Qin Cheng lit the cigarette and took a puff.

“Oh! I think this is the first time I’m seeing you smoke. I thought scholars like you didn’t like this stuff.”

“I don’t smoke very often. Who would dare to light a cigarette when they are holding antiques in their hands?”

It surprised Jiang Ping that Qing Cheng would make such a witty remark, after all, he had always given him the impression of being dull. Even though Jiang Ping never expected that Qin Cheng would be the kind to joke, in the end, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Haha, that’s true. If you’re holding an old book or something and burn it by accident, you will have to take responsibility, right?”

“Mm….that’s not necessarily true. After all, as an archeologist, if you were the first one to see the item and hold it in your hands, you can hide that accident, since no one else has seen it yet.”

“So you’re familiar with that process, huh? Have you done such a thing before?”

Qin Cheng chuckled and shook his head “Who knows.”

However, after saying this, neither of them spoke again, and the office suddenly became really quiet. In this silence, it felt as if the lively atmosphere of a moment ago had never happened.

Qin Cheng then leaned back in his chair and quietly finished smoking his cigarette. When he was done, Jiang Ping handed him another one, and Qin Cheng took it without saying a word.

By the time they spoke again, both men had already smoked half a pack of cigarettes, filling the air with the smoke and smell of cigarettes. Since the weather had been cold recently, the windows in the office were all closed, and with no air circulating, the office felt even more suffocating.

Qin Cheng could guess that Jiang Ping had experienced many things recently, since he looked as worried as he was. With a light sigh, Qin Cheng finally said: “Let’s open the window and let the air flow. There are some things I want to talk to you about.”

As Qin Cheng walked to open the window, he stood in front of it and took a deep breath. “Although I know the Police aren’t allowed to disclose information about this case, there are some answers I can only get from you. Besides, something tells me that you also need my help, am I right?”

Jiang Ping put out the cigarette in his hand and leaned against the back of the chair for a while before saying: “Indeed, I need the evidence from those murder cases. The people who are behind this aren’t using the hands of living people, they are committing these crimes by using ghosts that have died a long time ago. It’s hard to get proof of something like that.”

“Qu Zhiwen can’t help? He’s a Heavenly Master, when it comes to ghosts and monsters, he should come in handy, right?”

Qin Cheng mentioned Qu Zhiwen deliberately, focusing his gaze on observing Jiang Ping’s reaction. As expected, Jiang Ping froze in surprise, but then he tried to cover it up by taking the empty cigarette pack on the table, shaking it to see if there was one left.

“He can only help me find out about the ghosts, so that an ordinary man like me doesn’t die under the hands of evil spirits. As for finding the culprit behind all this, he can’t help much.”

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“Qu Zhiwen is indeed a very powerful Heavenly Master. Where did you find him? Are you not afraid that he’s lying to you? Just like the old Taoist priest you brought that time to the tomb.”

“The Taoist priest? Ha! I would’ve forgotten about him if you hadn’t mentioned it. He really was a fake Taoist priest who deceived people, huh? However, it’s also because of him that I’m now sure ghosts exist in this world. When Lin Hongxing was sent to Beijing for better treatment, I had to rush over when he died, to see his body. When Lin Hongxing’s body was sent to the morgue, that’s where I met Qu Zhiwen for the first time. He mentioned that there were Livor Mortis spots on Lin Hongxing that weren’t new, so I asked him for help.”

“The morgue? What was a university student doing in a morgue? You let him come just like that?”

“Because I suspected him, I threatened him to get him to help me. I said: ‘You entered the morgue without the consent of the hospital, and that only makes me believe you may have inside information about the case. If you don’t want to go to the Police Station to sit for ten days or so….’.”

When Qin Cheng heard this, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Now I believe he should thank you for bringing him here.”

Jiang Ping looked at Qin Cheng and said: “There’s no need to beat around the bush, just ask me what you wanted to ask. Qin Cheng, don’t forget what my job is. I don’t need you to remind me that Qu Zhiwen’s motives aren’t to be trusted.”

Although he wanted to use Jiang Ping to get useful information about Qu Zhiwen, Qin Cheng was aware that his little tricks could be easily seen by Jiang Ping’s eyes. In terms of identifying other people’s motives, truthfulness and objectives, Jiang Ping was a professional.

From the beginning, Qin Cheng had never really intended to rely on Jiang Ping to get any useful information.

After being discovered, Qin Cheng smiled: “I didn’t intend to set you up, I’m aware of your capabilities. Since you already know that Qu Zhiwen’s motives aren’t pure, then there are some things I would like to ask you.”

When the fresh air coming in from the window finished washing away the smell of smoke in the room, Qin Cheng closed the window smoothly and went to sit in the chair opposite Jiang Ping.

“What did Qu Zhiwen tell you? Why did Li Guoxian let his students ‘take the lead’ into the tomb? Why did countless grave robbers risk their lives to enter the tomb? Did Qu Zhiwen ever tell you about this?”

The things Qin Cheng mentioned, Jiang Ping had also asked Qu Zhiwen once. However, at the time, Qu Zhiwen had only given him an answer: “He said to me that there were valuable treasures in that big tomb.” Nevertheless, Jiang Ping didn’t actually believe in this answer….

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“Valuable treasures? Hahaha! Any item inside that tomb is worth a lot of money. If it were about monetary gains, why don’t they go to the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum nearby? The things in that mausoleum are far more expensive. Although the possibility of running into the rivers of mercury is unknown, at least, they won’t lose their lives as soon as they go in.”

“You know what’s inside?”

How could Jiang Ping not understand what Qin Cheng meant to imply when hearing his words? Besides, Qu Zhiwen had also mentioned to him that Qin Cheng had free access to the tomb. A while ago, when Qin Cheng fell into a coma, Jiang Ping witnessed the moment Qin Cheng’s appearance changed in front of everyone, like a person coming back from the dead. Of course, Jiang Ping could guess that the things Qin Cheng experienced till now were something he had never heard of.

“Yes, I know. The thing hidden in that tomb is indeed a treasure. Qu Zhiwen’s goal should be to obtain that item, after all, it’s said that this treasure can make a normal person immortal.”

‘ Immortality…. ’ Jiang Ping frowned tightly. Feeling somewhat disturbed, he took out another pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one up and smoked hard.

Although Jiang Ping was able to guess that the item so many people wanted to obtain was indeed unusual, Jiang Ping didn’t think….that it could turn people immortal.

“….How many people know about this?”

“Well, you should ask Qu Zhiwen for that. I also learned this from him.”

“Immortality….something that can turn you into an immortal, does it really exist?”

“I guess,” Qin Cheng nodded. “Something like this will make anyone want to grasp it, but there’s not enough for everyone. Otherwise, it would definitely cause a big storm….”

Speaking of this, an idea flashed through Qin Cheng’s mind. This idea also made the mess inside Qin Cheng’s head clear a bit.

The word ‘immortality’ appeared the most during the Qin-Han period, in which the story about Qin Shihuang’s search for an immortality pill has been passed down to this day. However, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, this word began to appear less and less during the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties. By the Tang Dynasty, people were more concerned about the Mandate of Heaven ¹ and its regulations, so the talk about an immortality pill became rare.

Since Qin Cheng studied history and archeology, he was naturally very familiar with Chinese history. If the Taowu bones really appeared in history as a medicine that allows people to live forever, taking the current situation as an example, then the more people who know the more trouble it will bring. A storm like this is difficult to predict….

Since there’s no record of the Taowu bones in history, it could only mean that it never appeared, right? But now, as far as Qin Cheng knows, the only Dynasty in which the Taowu bones were mentioned, was in the Xu Dynasty….

Maybe because the existence of such an item was known that a big dispute took place, to the point of leading the Xu Dynasty to its demise.

However, even if it did provoke the collapse of a Dynasty, how could it make an entire period of time disappear from history, without even being recorded?

This, Qin Cheng couldn’t understand.

“The fewer people who know, the better. If this thing is exposed, I can’t imagine what society will be like.” Jiang Ping threw the butt of the cigarette into the ashtray and frowned. “When you told me there was an item that could turn people immortal, to be honest, I momentarily thought of what it would feel like to live forever. I thought I had good self-control, but I’m also feeling a bit excited just to hear it. Who doesn’t want to live longer, to see how time will develop? The higher a person’s status is, the stronger their desire for prosperity will be. They will always want more. There are many people in this world who are lower and higher in status than me; if I can’t help but feel excited about the notion of it, how could those people not feel the same?”

“You’re right,” Qin Cheng nodded. “In the end, I know very little about this matter, and I don’t have a single clue of who is involved in this. I’m not even sure what Qu Zhiwen is planning to do, or what Li Guoxian is trying to achieve. That’s why I came here to ask you, please get some information from Qu Zhiwen. Otherwise, Qu Zhiwen will really take out the thing that can turn people immortal. As you just said, that’s certainly not a good thing.”

Jiang Ping stared at Qin Cheng for a while before saying: “I didn’t think you would be an individualist hero ² .” On the contrary, Qin Cheng should be the kind of person who doesn’t concern himself, someone who certainly doesn’t care whether others live or die.

“Ha, of course,” Qin Cheng laughed lightly. “I’m only doing this for myself.”

“You want that thing that makes people immortal?”

Qin Cheng looked at Jiang Ping for a while before saying: “What I want is the man living inside the tomb.”

Qin Cheng: I’m not like other men🤢🤮 I want to fuck a ghost😍🥰😘👨❤️💋👨👻👻👻

Aasdfghjkl in all seriousness, I just love Jiang Ping and Qin Cheng’s interactions. To think Qin Cheng used to be scared that Jiang Ping would put him in jail lmao now they’re buddies, partners in crime~~ two mortals getting dragged in a dispute for immortality! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

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Footnotes

<ol><b>天命</b> <b>tiān mìng</b> ; Also known as the ‘Will of Heaven’, is one of the philosophical concepts of Confucianism and the School of Yin-Yang. In Chinese history, it was often used to explain the legitimacy of a new regime replacing an old one, claiming that the rise and fall of Dynasties and the change of Monarchs are not entirely within human control. If a ruler fails to abide by virtue and loses his way, he will lose the support of Heaven. Those whom Heaven supports will naturally be able to become the Emperor, while those whom Heaven doesn’t support will weaken and perish. Basically, Heaven dominates the fate of all beings. <b>个人英雄主义</b> <b>gè rén yīng xióng zhǔ yì</b> ; Heroic ideas and behaviors that don’t emphasize relying on the power of the people, but on the power of individuals to accomplish certain social tasks. It’s the opposite of “revolutionary heroism”. Based on the principle of individualism, it emphasizes the role of the individual in social life and historical activities, putting the “power and wisdom of the people” in a secondary position. It’s often used by revolutionary heroism as a synonym for “vainglory, self-righteousness, pride in merit, revolutionary discipline, libertarianism and anarchism”.</ol>