Twin Fish Jade Pendant, Soul Body Illusory

I sat down on the sofa, fished a cigarette out of my pocket, and handed one to Gu Song. He hesitated for a moment before taking it and lighting up.

He gave me an awkward look. "I used to smoke too, but I quit after Xiaotang got pregnant."

I asked, "In the days around your wife's incident, did Xiao Tian go out like he did today?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. You understand, Xiao Tian is basically a ghost. If he wanted to go out, he could do it without us noticing."

I nodded and lit my own cigarette.

Just then, Eccentric Song suddenly appeared beside me. "I feel like he's hiding something from us. Ask him what else happened in Lop Nur."

"Mr. Gu, did you discover anything in Lop Nur?" I asked.

"Huh?" Gu Song looked up at me. Eccentric Song said softly, "He's flustered. Your question made him uneasy."

"No, nothing. Didn't I already tell you?" Gu Song replied.

I frowned. "Mr. Gu, if you don't tell the truth, we can't help you. Even Xie Yi wouldn't want you holding back. You need to understand that your concealment could lead us to wrong conclusions—at best, it wastes our time; at worst, it gets us killed for no reason."

I spoke bluntly, but in my view, that was the reality.

"So if you don't come clean, we'll stop handling your case. You'd better think it over carefully."

Gu Song froze. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He looked torn, as if weighing whether to tell me the truth.

I wondered how Xu Qiuyan was doing and whether she'd found that little brat.

"Mr. Jiang, I'm sorry. I did hide something from you earlier. The truth is, that time we went into Lop Nur, we were searching for something."

Gu Song finally cracked.

"What was it?" I asked.

"The Twin Fish Jade Pendant!" As he said it, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

The Twin Fish Jade Pendant? My eyes widened. That thing was a legend. How could it actually exist?

"You really believe in that thing?"

Gu Song nodded firmly. "Of course I do. Not just me—Xiaotang too. Everyone in our group believed it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone looking together."

"How did you find out about it?"

"Zhuanghe saw a post on a forum. It described an underground city about twenty kilometers southeast of Lop Nur's center. They called it an underground city, but it was really the size of a modern village—a relic of Ancient Loulan. The poster claimed he'd been there and made a major discovery. He was certain that underground city was a replica, including all the items inside and the people who once lived there. Because at another point, twenty kilometers northwest of Lop Nur's center, they found an identical underground city. Identical in the sense that if you put the two together, you couldn't tell them apart."

My eyes widened. What he was saying was beyond belief.

I wasn't an archaeologist, and I wasn't familiar with that field, but I had common sense. Two underground city ruins, even if they were only the size of an ordinary modern village, couldn't possibly be truly identical.

So I started to have my doubts.

"Did you find those two underground cities?"

"Yes. The poster wasn't lying. The two cities were exactly the same, like one was a backup of the other. You know, I'm a university professor, and Xiaotang specialized in archaeological research and artifact appraisal. It's not easy to fool us. Actually, Zhuanghe sought us out because of Xiaotang's expertise. Before we went, we were half-convinced, half-doubtful. But when we saw the two cities, Xiaotang was almost certain it was the work of the Twin Fish Jade Pendant. She firmly believed it existed and was probably hidden somewhere beneath Lop Nur."

I was completely speechless. I glanced at Eccentric Song, who shrugged, signaling he had no idea whether the thing was real or not.

I thought for a moment, then pulled out my phone and called Xie Yi. This should be a major discovery—he'd likely be interested.

"Do you know about the Twin Fish Jade Pendant?" I asked bluntly.

Xie Yi's reaction was odd. "Why are you asking about that?"

"Xie Xiaotang's death might be connected to the Twin Fish Jade Pendant. They went into Lop Nur before, looking for it. They found two identical underground cities..." I gave him a rundown of the situation.

After listening, Xie Yi was silent for a moment. "I've got it. Keep investigating, and stay safe."

Then he hung up.

For some reason, his behavior struck me as strange, but I couldn't put my finger on what was off.

"You haven't finished, have you?" I looked at Gu Song.

He nodded. "Earlier, I mentioned that missing team member? Later, Zhuanghe and the others found him. But Xiaotang noticed something wrong. She didn't say anything publicly, just told me about it."

I narrowed my eyes.

He continued, "Xiaotang said the one they brought back wasn't the original team member. On the surface, there was no difference, but she remembered the mole on his chin had shifted slightly. Originally, it was on the left side of his chin, aligned with the center of his nose. But the one who came back had the mole on the right side of the nose center—like a mirror image when someone looks in a mirror."

He swallowed. "So Xiaotang suspected he was a replica, not the original missing person. At least, not the original body."

His words shocked me.

It really did sound plausible.

"In the end, did you find the Twin Fish Jade Pendant?"

"No. Even though Xiaotang and I believed it was in that area, you know how vast that region is. And there were only seven or eight of us. Most importantly, someone had already gotten into trouble. Xiaotang and I discussed it and decided to suggest Zhuanghe leave the place first and come back to plan long-term. Xiaotang had her own ideas. She was an archaeologist and a public official—she had to report this to her superiors. We'd only gone to verify the post's authenticity. Once we made a discovery, we couldn't keep taking unofficial routes."

Gu Song was right. Xie Xiaotang was indeed conscientious. This wasn't just about artifacts anymore. The Twin Fish Jade Pendant involved more than just archaeology and cultural relics.

"But Zhuanghe had his own agenda. He was reluctant. We knew that if that team member hadn't gotten into trouble, he wouldn't have agreed to come back so easily. And he could tell that Xiaotang and I wouldn't keep following him to find the pendant. So in the end, we returned."

I frowned. "Would Zhuanghe organize another team to go to Lop Nur?"

"You guessed it. We heard he did find a few more people to go back to Lop Nur. But before they could set out, he got into trouble—just like that team member. It was like he was possessed. I heard that when it got bad, he didn't even recognize people. He'd babble nonsense, all about the Twin Fish Jade Pendant."

Just then, Xu Qiuyan returned.

"Did you find Xiao Tian?" Gu Song asked urgently.

Xu Qiuyan nodded. "I found him, but..."

Gu Song's expression instantly tensed. He glanced around her and asked timidly, "Where is Xiao Tian?" Though the little one was a ghost, in his heart he would always be his son, which was why he asked this way.

Xu Qiuyan raised her left hand. On it was a jade bangle—one I'd noticed on her when I first met her. "Come out!"

A phantom suddenly appeared before us, shaped like a child, but the shadow was ethereal, barely there.

"Xiao Tian! He... what happened to him?"

Gu Song stepped forward, trying to embrace the child, but his arms closed on nothing.

"He was already like this when I found him. His soul must have suffered severe damage. He's lucky to be alive—any later and he would have scattered completely. Mr. Gu, let him return to the Soul Urn for now. He can't come out again for a long time; he needs to rest and recover."

Though the words came from Xu Qiuyan, I knew Sister Hong must have told her to say them.

I hadn't expected her bangle could house ghosts. I suddenly grew curious—did Sister Hong live in there too?

If I married her someday, what would happen on our wedding night? Would her friends and mine be watching from the shadows the whole time?