Chapter Forty: Conflict

Hu Ming and Hu Bayi also made their way over to Professor Chen and the others, searching through the piles of bones for anything valuable.

But these were only burial pits, and there were too many bodies. The two searched carefully.

At last, Hu Ming found a ruby pendant among the bones. Looking at it, he murmured, "Looks like there were more than just slaves buried here. Maybe some of the builders, or other criminals?"

He put it away in his storage space and continued searching.

When Hu Ming found his fourth treasure, Sa Dipeng, camera in hand, was taking pictures all around. "Brother Hu Ming, do you think aliens built this place?"

He was planning to climb the steps of the Nine-story Demon Tower to take a few shots. He happened to see Hu Ming beneath the tower and smiled. "I was just asking. Don't yell at me."

"That's hard to say, Xiao Sa." Hu Ming had been so focused on looking for things that he hadn't paid much attention to Xiao Sa. Feeling a little flustered, he spoke unusually gently.

Seeing Hu Ming say that, Sa Dipeng thought they were kindred spirits, and his eyes lit up. The truth was, he had gone into archaeology because he wanted to study aliens.

He wanted to find ancient tombs on Earth where aliens had been buried.

Seeing him suddenly get excited, Hu Ming couldn't help marveling at his imagination.

Crack!

Chu Jian suddenly stumbled and fell, landing right on top of a skeleton and smashing it into several pieces.

The Fire Ladybugs on the Nine-story Demon Tower stirred. One by one, they opened their wings slightly, and eerie blue flames flickered around them. A scorching force struck everyone to the heart.

No one dared even breathe loudly. Thankfully, the Fire Ladybugs folded their wings again, and everything returned to stillness.

"Xiao Chu, be careful."

"Are you all right?" Seeing how clumsy Chu Jian was, both professors looked helpless.

You can't even walk steadily, and you're supposed to be a mountaineer?

Just then, Fatty appeared from who knew where, holding a yellowed leather bag.

"Mingzi, look at this." Fatty waved the bag at him. Hu Ming recognized it at once as the notebook supposedly belonging to Yang Xueli's "father." Sure enough, their Fatty brother always had good luck. Hu Ming, though, wasn't interested in the notebook. He already knew most of what he needed to know, so it was no use to him.

Hu Ming was about to ask Hu Bayi how many treasures he had found when he realized that bastard had gone off to find Yang Xueli at some point.

Searching for the notebook, Yang Xueli had risked her life to climb the steps beneath the tower. The Fire Ladybugs were less than half a meter away, and she could feel the heat of their blazing blue flames. She wondered anxiously, Where could the notebook have gone?

Yang Xueli was getting desperate. There was nothing on the steps. She turned around and looked down into the burial pit, where she spotted the leather bag in Fatty's hands. Her face lit up, and she hurried down.

When Yang Xueli finally came down, Hu Bayi, who had been following beside her, breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid she would disturb the Fire Ladybugs. That woman was unbelievably reckless.

Hu Bayi had just come down the steps with Yang Xueli when they passed Sa Dipeng.

"Xiao Sa, hurry up and move." When Sa Dipeng didn't listen, Hu Bayi frowned. Were all these people trying to get themselves killed?

Looking down, he saw Fatty pull open his pocket and show off to Hu Ming. He sighed. These two brothers really valued money over their lives. Still, they each had a share coming.

By then, Shirley Yang had come down and reached Fatty. Seeing the leather bag in his hands, she thought, This must be something my father and the others left behind.

"Mr. Wang, give me the bag." Fatty already disliked Shirley Yang. Why would he hand it over to her?

"You'll have to pay extra. Fifty thousand US Dollars." Damn, Fatty went straight to money. Hu Ming could barely keep from laughing.

"Forget the extra money. Give me the bag." Shirley Yang's face darkened. She knew Fatty was unreasonable, always asking her for money.

"No extra money, no bag." Fatty tucked the leather bag under his arm and glared at Shirley Yang in displeasure.

The others came over when they heard the argument. Hu Ming was about to persuade Fatty to hand over the bag when—

"Fatty, we don't need that bag. Just give it to her..."

Hu Ming hadn't finished speaking when Shirley Yang suddenly pulled out a gun and aimed it at Fatty.

Hu Ming was furious and was about to step in, but Hu Bayi came forward and said, "Miss Yang Xueli, put the gun away. Fatty, give her the bag."

"I..." Fatty was about to say something when Hu Ming suddenly cut in. "Fatty, give her the bag!"

Fatty looked at Hu Ming and saw that his expression was blank, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Fatty immediately got scared. As his brother, he knew Hu Ming was furious.

Fatty promptly tossed the bag to Shirley Yang. Just as she caught it—

Hu Ming said coolly, "You should be grateful. Grateful that Old Hu came over. Otherwise, just for pointing a gun at my brother, I'd twist your head off. Do you believe I could?"

Hu Ming was only about two meters from Shirley Yang. He was confident he could knock her aim aside before she fired, then use his twenty years of Eight-level Fist training to kill her.

Professor Hao was about to interject. "Hu Ming, you—"

But then he saw Hu Ming look at him, a trace of bloodlust in his eyes.

Professor Chen immediately pulled Professor Hao behind him. Hu Bayi said expressionlessly, "Whatever it is, we'll talk outside. Let's leave it at that for now."

Hu Ming gave a faint nod. He knew Hu Bayi meant they would settle the score once they were outside.

Hu Bayi truly regretted taking this job. He had already decided that once they got out, he would leave with Hu Ming and Fatty. They hadn't signed any contract, after all.

Hu Bayi did like Shirley Yang, but it was only a fondness. Fatty and Hu Ming were brothers who had faced life and death with him, and Shirley Yang had pointed a gun at one of them.

Professor Chen didn't know what to say. No matter how wrong Fatty had been, she shouldn't have pointed a gun at him. Besides, he had heard Hu Ming trying to persuade Fatty to give her the bag.

The two tall soldiers felt even worse about Shirley Yang. Pointing a gun at a comrade was forbidden in the military.