Vanished Without a Trace, the Purpose

"My husband said that on the day she had her accident, she received a call from work saying there was an urgent job. Could you tell me what kind of urgent job it was?" I asked.

Director Fang pursed his lips. "This was partly my fault. I knew her mental state had been unstable during that period. When Gu Song came to ask me to approve leave for her, I even told him to spend more time with her and help her work through it. Logically speaking, I really shouldn't have made that call, but it truly was an urgent matter."

I didn't interrupt him and simply listened quietly.

"That day, we received an anonymously donated cultural relic from the public. It was an important relic that had ended up in the Island Nation: a Song Dynasty Yao Bian San Mu. As everyone knows, there are only three complete Song Dynasty Yao Bian San Mu in the world, and all three are in museums in the Island Nation. For those of us in the cultural relics field, that is a source of sorrow."

I knew nothing about cultural relics, but I could tell from his words that there were only three intact Yao Bian San Mu left in the world, all of them in museums in the Island Nation. That alone showed just how rare this relic was.

Then it made sense that he had called Xie Xiaotang.

Without question, if the relic was authentic, it would be a national treasure.

"I never expected that one phone call would cost her life."

As I listened to Director Fang, another question surfaced in my mind.

He had just said the relic had ended up in the Island Nation, meaning it was connected to the Island Nation. In the previous Dreamscape, the Black-Robed Man I had seen was also from the Island Nation, and he was an Onmyoji from the Island Nation. Could these two matters be connected somehow?

I vaguely felt that I had grasped something.

"Is that relic still there?" I asked.

Director Fang shook his head. "After something happened to Xiao Tang, we sent the relic to the province and wanted authoritative experts to appraise it. But later, the relic was stolen."

Director Fang looked heartbroken as he said this.

"Stolen?"

"Yes. To be precise, it vanished without a trace. The Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau told me so. Though I really don't want to believe it, that's what happened. The Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau wouldn't dare lie about something like this."

I narrowed my eyes. This relic was the key to Xie Xiaotang's accident. Without it, there would have been no car crash. In other words, it had been bait.

But then again, that Onmyoji had seemed very formidable. If he had simply wanted to kill Xie Xiaotang, he didn't need to make things so complicated. What unknown reason was behind all this?

This case was becoming more and more interesting.

"Ask him whether they can trace the donor. The relic was stolen. Didn't the donor want an explanation?" Duan Hongbin's voice reached my ears.

I asked as he suggested, but Director Fang said that from beginning to end, he had never met the donor. They had only communicated by phone, and the item had been left at a designated location beforehand for the bureau to collect.

As for the theft of the relic, they had not publicized it, so the donor still didn't know about it.

Of course, they were worried that the donor might suddenly appear and demand an explanation, but that was no longer Director Fang's concern. The item had not been lost while it was in his possession.

"I still don't understand. What exactly do you mean by vanished without a trace?"

Director Fang gave a bitter smile. "It was sitting there one moment, then suddenly it was gone. I watched the surveillance footage. The item was there one second, and gone the next. No one appeared in between. Besides, it was covered by reinforced glass. You might not even be able to break that cover with a crowbar. To remove it normally, you would first need a special key to lower the lift platform."

"It was displayed in an exhibition hall?"

"No, it was in a storage room, like a bank vault. Without a key, it was impossible to enter. That's why this is so unbelievable. I heard the theft case was later handed over to a mysterious department. I don't know which department, but that alone proves how strange this case is."

Could that mysterious department be Unit Nine again?

If it was, Xie Yi should have told me. Besides, Xie Yi had said they had no investigators in Qian Province. Now they did, but there were only Xu Qiuyan and me. Unless someone had come from headquarters. It wasn't impossible. I was a newcomer, after all. Maybe I didn't have the authority to know about that case.

I didn't ask anything further. I got up, said goodbye, and left.

On the way back, I kept thinking about whether the relic's mysterious appearance, its bizarre disappearance, and Xie Xiaotang's car accident had some inevitable connection. I believed they did. At the very least, they were all connected to the Island Nation.

"That's right. Neither of these matters can be separated from people from the Island Nation."

Duan Hongbin appeared in the seat beside me.

"If it were you, could you make the relic disappear like that?"

"I couldn't, but that woman could."

"Which woman?" I didn't react at first.

Duan Hongbin smiled. "The one beside your sweetheart. She has a Ghost Body. As long as she wants to, she can make sure no one sees her. She can also take things from afar and ignore all that so-called security."

"You don't seriously suspect her, do you?" I rolled my eyes at him.

Duan Hongbin rolled his eyes back at me. "What are you thinking? Don't tell me you think an Onmyoji can't control ghosts?"

His words jolted me awake. How had I not thought of that? Onmyoji really could control ghosts. Though I didn't know much about it, it was easy enough to figure out.

"But one thing doesn't add up."

"What?"

"That Onmyoji felt very powerful. If he only wanted to kill Xie Xiaotang, there was no need to make such a big fuss. He even dragged a national treasure into it."

My words also plunged Duan Hongbin into thought.

"It really does feel like overcomplicating things. But what if their ultimate target wasn't Xie Xiaotang? What if killing Xie Xiaotang was only for some other reason?"

If that was the case, then their ambitions were much greater.

When I returned home, Xu Qiuyan was already back.

Eccentric Song had guessed right. She had really brought Yin Wuyu back.

"Well? Surprised?" Xu Qiuyan's face was full of smiles. She truly wanted to give me a surprise.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking about what day I should go pick him up, but you got there first."

As I said that, I felt a little guilty and gave Yin Wuyu an apologetic look.

"Boss!" He looked at me, his eyes filled with gratitude.

That made me feel even worse. I patted his head. "From today on, you'll live with us. Your boss will look after you."

He smiled, and he smiled happily.

"By the way, what did the Cultural Relics Bureau say?" Xu Qiuyan poured me a cup of tea, sat down, and asked.

I roughly told her what had happened. After hearing it, she frowned. "There's no reason for it. Making such a huge commotion just to kill one person is completely meaningless."

Her mind was sharp as well. She immediately saw the crux of the problem.

Then she said, "There must be something behind this that we don't know. What do you think it could be?"

I shook my head.

"By the way, how exactly did that relic disappear?"

I knew she would definitely notice the relic's mysterious theft.

So I told her Duan Hongbin's speculation.

"I see! Sister Hong, can you really do that?"

At Xu Qiuyan's call of "Sister Hong," that cold woman—no, the Cold and Aloof Female Ghost—appeared before me. Yin Wuyu saw her too. "This big sister is so pretty!"

I chided him, "What would a little brat know?"

The woman glanced at Yin Wuyu and frowned slightly. "Forbidden Technique!"

Her voice wasn't loud, but I heard her clearly. "What Forbidden Technique?"

"Someone used a Forbidden Technique on him, so his intelligence cannot develop like that of a normal person. Part of his soul has been imprisoned."

Xu Qiuyan looked at the woman worriedly. "Sister Hong, can you help him?"

The woman shook her head. "I can't help him. But you don't need to worry too much. This imprisonment won't cause him much harm, and it has its advantages. If I'm not mistaken, he should possess some ability that differs from ordinary people."

I was a little bewildered. Xu Qiuyan had often gone to visit Yin Wuyu before. Did this woman truly know nothing about him? If she stayed by Xu Qiuyan's side, how could she not know Yin Wuyu?

Yet she genuinely didn't know him.

It seemed Xu Qiuyan really hadn't brought her along when she visited Yin Wuyu before.

After hearing the woman say that, Xu Qiuyan didn't press the matter further.

I asked curiously, "You just said he might have some ability different from ordinary people. Does he have one or not?"