Young Master Liu glanced at his watch; it was just past two in the afternoon. Seeing he still had time, he told Fan Debiao and Jackson to find an eatery to catch up.

At the restaurant, Young Master Liu ordered a massive spread of dishes along with two bottles of Lao Bai Gan'er.

Fan Debiao, holding a chicken leg in one hand and raising his wine cup with the other, ate with truly ungraceful gusto, taking bites first from one side, then the other.

Young Master Liu chided him, asking how, after spending so much time in a first-rate city like Hong Kong, he could have picked up such habits. Fan Debiao merely retorted that this was true manliness—meat in big bites, wine in big gulps—the essence of a true hero from the Northeast.

Fan Debiao dispatched a chicken leg in two or three bites, wiped his mouth, and declared, "I say, we have a real shot at tomb raiding this time. Look at that woman, Wang Feifei; she’s set on finding that sarcophagus. My guess is that whole expedition team is nothing but a crew of grave robbers."

Young Master Liu shot back, "Those foreigners don't go in for this tomb-raiding business. Why the hell can't you think of something better, you idiot?"

Seeing Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao bickering about his company, Jackson interjected, "What? Our company is for archaeology, not tomb raiding. Does daodou mean archaeology here in China?"

Jackson’s question momentarily stunned both Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao. They had been arguing so fiercely they forgot they had a senior member of the expedition team right there. Fortunately, he didn't understand the true implication of daodou. Still, mistaking it for archaeology showed a shred of cultural awareness. Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao exchanged a glance, nodding vigorously at Jackson.

Jackson, standing to the side, beamed, unable to contain his delight. "Haha… I finally guessed right."

Hearing Jackson’s triumphant declaration, a wave of cold sweat broke out simultaneously on Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao. They thought to themselves, Is the explanation for ‘daodou’ going to confuse him for a lifetime?

Just then, Young Master Liu suddenly recalled Fan Debiao’s role as a Feng Shui consultant and asked, "Fan Debiao, are you really that profound in Feng Shui? Even someone as sharp as Wang Feifei would hire you."

Fan Debiao set his wine cup down on the table and stated proudly, "Of course. These past few years in Xi’an, I learned a great deal from Big Grasshopper—how to seek dragon veins and locate auspicious spots, divine fortunes by observing the stars, mastering the art of finding earth’s energy lines and so on."

Upon hearing this, Young Master Liu was surprised that this scoundrel Fan Debiao actually had some real skills and quickly urged him to recite a couple of passages.

Seeing everyone was eager to listen, Fan Debiao became quite enthusiastic. "Well, the Two Principles generate the Four Images, the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams, and the Eight Trigrams evolve into the Sixteen-Character Secret Art of Feng Shui. This Sixteen-Character Secret Art is extraordinary, that… that…"

Having started, he suddenly trailed off, stammering and fumbling for words for a long time without managing to utter another coherent phrase.

Young Master Liu looked at Fan Debiao with disdain. "Is that all you know? Damn it, I learned more than that by the time I was ten. Was Wang Feifei blind or deaf back then?"

Fan Debiao admitted helplessly, "Wang Feifei grew up abroad and doesn't understand Chinese Feng Shui. Jackson introduced me. I spouted a few random phrases, and she was completely captivated."

Young Master Liu gave Jackson a wry smile. "You’ve been fooled by Fan Debiao. Maybe we shouldn't let him come; he'll just be a hindrance."

Fan Debiao bristled at this, stewing in frustration, unable to speak up for a moment.

Jackson commented, "It’s fine. His marksmanship is excellent; that will be useful later."

Upon hearing Jackson praise his shooting, Fan Debiao was elated, proclaiming as if giving thanks to a deity, "Only Jackson truly knows me."

Young Master Liu glanced sideways at Fan Debiao. When did this fatty start spouting archaic phrases? It seemed that was his greatest asset. The desert was full of strange things; bringing him along might be useful for fending off a couple of scorpions, so he decided not to press the matter further.

Jackson declared, "Let’s drink."

Fan Debiao raised his glass. "Exactly, be a man! Brothers, let's toast!" With that, he brought the cup to his lips and downed the entire contents in one go, followed by several more glasses.

Since Young Master Liu and Jackson had a flight that evening, they didn't drink nearly as much as Fan Debiao.

Dinner was over past seven. Young Master Liu and Jackson helped sober Fan Debiao up slightly before they headed to the assembly point to meet the main group.

When they arrived, everyone else was ready. The three collected their gear, and Wang Feifei took the lead out.

Young Master Liu looked up at the stars, murmuring to himself, The road ahead will be rough. He shook his head and followed.

They boarded the flight to Xinjiang right on schedule. That rogue Fan Debiao was too excited and drank too much; he was snoring loudly as soon as he got on the plane, muttering about chicken legs and duck wings, which made Young Master Liu almost embarrassed for him.

Lin Miaoke, Wu Bai, Sun Li, and Tiao Zai were exceptionally lively in their seats, making a ruckus, as if they were either first-time flyers or simply overjoyed about the upcoming desert adventure.

Wang Zhicai and Wang Feifei were seated together, each holding a large stack of documents, exchanging comments as they mapped out the expedition itinerary.

Noticing Jackson staring blankly in his seat, Young Master Liu went over to ask how their team’s specific arrangements for the expedition were shaping up.

Jackson said that, as far as he understood, the sarcophagus belonged to the last Golden Queen, and the true objective was to excavate the tomb of the Golden Queen.

Hearing this, Young Master Liu thought to himself, Damn, Fan Debiao was right after all. The expedition team’s real goal is tomb raiding.

Young Master Liu considered that the Nice Expedition Company was a private archaeology firm, and all excavated artifacts were housed in their own museum. He suspected the board members might even be involved in smuggling relics on the side. This thought gave Young Master Liu the distinct feeling of having stumbled into a nest of thieves.

Jackson, seeing Young Master Liu’s worried expression, assumed he was anxious about the dangers of the desert. He reassured him, "Don’t worry about the dangers in the desert. Our company has considerable influence; we have arranged for medical support on the outskirts of the Taklamakan Desert. If everyone doesn't return within ten days, they will conduct a comprehensive search."

Young Master Liu looked at Jackson, thinking, Who's worried about that? Does this kid think I’ve never seen the world before!

As he chatted with Jackson, Young Master Liu started to feel drowsy. He used the excuse that they needed to enter the desert the next day and must rest well tonight, pulling his head down to sleep.

Young Master Liu was just drifting off when a push woke him—Jackson informed him they had arrived in Xinjiang.

The group disembarked with their respective belongings.

As soon as they left the airport, a man dressed as a driver was waving vigorously at them. At first, Young Master Liu assumed he was a local tout, but he learned from Wang Feifei that this driver was there to take them to the Aksu region.

The driver was a Xinjiang local named Anshik. Anshik spoke fluent Mandarin, suggesting the spirit of ethnic unity in Xinjiang was growing stronger.

Anshik told them the drive to Aksu would take at least half a day, advising them to rest in the vehicle.

The transport was a luxurious tourist bus, quite comfortable. Young Master Liu and Fan Debiao had slept on the plane and weren't very sleepy now. The others, perhaps having been too excited the night before, were sound asleep the moment they got on board.

Seeing everyone else asleep, Fan Debiao sidled over to Young Master Liu to resume their discussion about tomb raiding. He argued that the Golden Queen possessed countless treasures, and it was a shame for them to remain buried in the sand; better to bring a few out to ease their temporary financial struggles, since they hadn't yet reached a comfortably well-off standard.

Young Master Liu conceded the point. There were certainly many ancient kingdoms in this desert—gold everywhere. If they Chinese didn't claim it, foreign explorers would certainly claim it with great enthusiasm. Raiding tombs in this desert shouldn't really be equated with common grave robbery; perhaps the Golden Kingdom wasn't even established by the Chinese. With that thought, he decided to let Fan Debiao have his way. Things belonging to one’s own country were certainly more comfortable kept at home.

Young Master Liu cautioned Fan Debiao, "Anything you dig up, you absolutely cannot sell to foreigners. Damn it, we must have some sense of national pride."

Fan Debiao thumped his chest. "Look at my face! I’m an absolute patriotic citizen. Even if I sold it at half-price to our own Chinese people, I would never let our own possessions go to those foreign devils. You can be certain of that."

Young Master Liu was so stirred by Fan Debiao’s words that he was nearly moved to tears. "Fan Debiao, you really are a man."

Hearing this praise, Fan Debiao nodded proudly.

Young Master Liu suddenly remembered that Fan Debiao hadn't mentioned Big Grasshopper much during their recent communications. He asked about Big Grasshopper’s recent condition, recalling the life-and-death situations they had faced together in the Yinshan Mountains.

When Young Master Liu mentioned Big Grasshopper, Fan Debiao became deeply reflective. "Not long ago, I went with Big Grasshopper and a group to Xi’an for a tomb raid. The inexperienced ones were taken out by a volley of arrows in the passage. Before Big Grasshopper and I even reached the main chamber, we encountered a zongzi [dried corpse]—even the black donkey hooves couldn't handle it. In the end, Big Grasshopper…"

Before Fan Debiao could finish, Young Master Liu interjected, "What, did Big Grasshopper die a glorious death?"

Fan Debiao replied, "He didn't die gloriously, but he was severely wounded. He’s still bedridden, recovering. I came along this time specifically to earn some money for Big Grasshopper’s surgery."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu sighed. This man valued brotherhood above all else, which was the only quality Young Master Liu truly admired in him.

Fan Debiao’s confession solidified Young Master Liu’s resolve to take out a few valuable antiques. In his view, Fan Debiao’s hiring fee for this job might need to be covered, and it was only right and proper that he couldn't let Big Grasshopper lie crippled in bed.

Thus, Young Master Liu's primary objective for this trip shifted from assessing Feng Shui to tomb raiding.

They arrived in the Aksu region a little after one in the afternoon. It seemed they hadn't arrived exactly on time. As soon as they stepped off the bus, a large group of people was waiting ahead.

These people were neatly dressed in bright yellow emergency medical uniforms emblazoned with the word 'tour'—clearly the rescue team Jackson had mentioned. Looking around, people of many nationalities were present, but the majority appeared to be French.

A team leader in the front spotted them getting off the vehicle and quickly stepped forward, exchanging a few words in French with Wang Feifei before stepping away to direct the others to continue their work.

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