Chapter Sixty-One So It Was Him!

President Zhang was completely sober.

His mouth hung wide open; he wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

Those eyes, that overwhelming presence—how could this possibly be some low-level punk?

This was clearly a desperate man ready to throw his life away!

"I... I..."

President Zhang stammered, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.

"What... what on earth do you want?"

The man lowered his voice. "I am asking you, where did you get those treasures?"

Trembling violently, President Zhang darted his eyes back and forth.

"What... what treasures? I don't know what you are talking about..."

"Cut the crap! I am talking about those bronze artifacts from the auction house, rare items with fewer than three pieces left in existence in this world. Did you really think I wouldn't know their origin?"

The man's tone grew even more chilling as he pressed the tip of the knife lightly against President Zhang's neck.

"Confess honestly where they came from, or I'll butcher you right here!"

President Zhang's chubby body shook like a sieve.

He had initially thought the other party was merely trying to scare him, but the icy touch against his skin made him realize this punk was dead serious!

He was a dignified company president worth hundreds of millions; how could he possibly die in a wretched place like this?

"I... I... I bought them at the antique market! Really, I don't know anything else!"

President Zhang wore a miserable expression, sweat pouring off him like rain.

The man sneered.

"The antique market? Do you take me for a fool? Would items like these ever appear in an antique market? Confess honestly, who gave them to you? If you don't speak, I'll let you taste what it's like to be sliced a thousand times!"

With that, the man flicked his wrist, lightly grazing a bloody gash across President Zhang's thigh.

"Ah!"

President Zhang let out a piercing shriek akin to a slaughtered pig.

A bloody line instantly appeared on his thigh; although not deep, it was more than enough to terrify him out of his wits.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! They were sold to me by a man named Chen Jianjun! Please, I'm begging you, don't kill me!"

Completely broken, President Zhang spilled everything in one go.

"Chen Jianjun?"

The man repeated the name in a low murmur, a fierce glint flashing deep within his eyes.

"Good, you know what's good for you."

President Zhang collapsed onto the ground in profound relief.

"Th-Thank you, sir, for sparing my life..."

The man crouched down and patted President Zhang's greasy cheek.

"Don't thank me just yet. I have more questions for you."

"Ask... ask away, sir! This humble one will tell you everything he knows, without holding a single thing back!"

President Zhang nodded and bowed repeatedly.

The man sneered.

"When Chen Jianjun handed the items over to you, didn't you ever wonder where they came from?"

President Zhang's expression shifted, and he stammered evasively:

"I... I certainly wondered... but... but Chen Jianjun said... these were all... all handed down by his ancestors..."

"Handed down by his ancestors?"

The man's tone was playful, dragging out the end of the sentence.

"Do you believe that?"

Not daring to meet Cheng Ziqiu's eyes, President Zhang shifted his gaze nervously.

"I... I..."

"Let me guess."

The man unhurriedly interrupted him.

"He must have given you quite a few perks as well, right? Otherwise, cowardly as you are, would you dare to accept items of such unknown origin?"

Covered in cold sweat, President Zhang stuttered:

"He... he did give... a little... a little hardship allowance..."

"Hardship allowance? Heh."

The man stood up, looking down at President Zhang from above.

"Do you have any idea that you are playing with fire? If the relevant authorities find out, you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars!"

Scared out of his wits, President Zhang lunged forward and hugged the man's leg.

"Sir! Spare my life, sir! I... I have elderly parents to support and young children at home; I cannot go to prison!"

With a look of disgust, the man kicked him away.

"Get lost! If I ever see you again..."

He paused, his voice chillingly ominous.

"You can just wait to be buried along with your 'treasures'!"

Scrambling and crawling, President Zhang fled in a panic, vanishing into the night.

The man removed his hood, revealing a sharp-featured face—it was none other than Cheng Ziqiu.

Under the dim, yellowish glow of the streetlamp, the chill in his eyes intensified.

As for President Zhang, Cheng Ziqiu didn't care about him at all.

Such a minor character was nothing more than an insignificant piece on a chessboard, incapable of stirring up any real waves.

What he was truly interested in was the person pulling the strings from behind the scenes—Chen Jianjun.

Cheng Ziqiu smiled disdainfully and let out a long breath of stale air.

He pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket, slid one out, and held it between his lips without lighting it.

"Damn it, what a waste of a cigarette."

Cheng Ziqiu muttered to himself, shoving the cigarette back into the pack.

In this day and age, making money wasn't easy; every penny that could be saved should be saved.

Chen Jianjun—the name echoed in Cheng Ziqiu's mind.

After the previous incident, he had assumed the lesson taught to the Chen brothers was profound enough, yet he hadn't expected these two fools to push their luck and climb onto his head.

"Do they really take me for someone molded out of clay? When a tiger doesn't bare its teeth, do they think I'm Hello Kitty?"

Cheng Ziqiu sneered.

He strolled leisurely, his mind racing as he rapidly calculated his next move.

Chen Jianjun's framing this time was clearly aimed directly at him, and there had to be a deeper motive hidden behind it.

Having spent decades crawling through tombs in his past life, what kind of sewer rats hadn't he seen?

Such petty tricks were transparent to Cheng Ziqiu at a single glance.

"Chen Jianjun, let's settle this score slowly!"

Cheng Ziqiu took out his phone and skillfully opened a ticketing app.

"Flights to City A recently..."

Narroing his eyes, Cheng Ziqiu swiped across the screen while muttering to himself.

"The earliest one... six o'clock tomorrow morning? Tch, way too early, I can't get up."

He scrolled further down and finally settled on a flight at two in the afternoon.

"Perfect!"

Cheng Ziqiu snapped his fingers and hit the booking button.

Once the payment went through, he stretched lazily, his joints cracking audibly.

"Time to head back and catch up with some old friends."

The corners of Cheng Ziqiu's mouth curled upward slightly, a flash of craftiness gleaming in his eyes.

...

The next day, with his hair in a messy mop and wearing a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans, Cheng Ziqiu sauntered into the airport.

He carried a worn-out canvas bag, making him look to any onlooker as if he were setting off to roam the streets as a vagrant.

While waiting for boarding, Cheng Ziqiu looked around lazily at the surrounding crowd.

A gaudily dressed woman caught his attention.

She wore heavy makeup, a low-cut miniskirt, and skyscraper heels.

"Tsk tsk tsk, how much powder did she slap on? You could probably scrape enough off to stir-fry a dish."

Cheng Ziqiu silently grumbled to himself.

Sensing his gaze, the woman turned her head and cast a flirtatious wink in his direction.

Cheng Ziqiu shuddered all over, nearly vomiting last night's dinner.

He quickly turned away, pretending to admire the scenery.

"That woman is scarier than the female ghosts in the tombs."

Cheng Ziqiu muttered inwardly.

After finally enduring until boarding time, Cheng Ziqiu found his seat and collapsed into it.

He pulled out his phone, habitually reaching to open a game, but remembering the exorbitant data charges, he withdrew his hand with a sigh of resentment.

"Ah, the fate of a poor wretch!"

With a lament, Cheng Ziqiu pulled a crumpled copy of *Archaeological Exploration: The Mystery of the First Emperor's Mausoleum* from his battered canvas bag.

He read with great relish, occasionally muttering along with the text.

"The First Emperor's Mausoleum... Tsk tsk, if I could go grave-robbing in there just once, this life would be worth it!"

Unfortunately, even after spending the greater part of his past life as a tomb raider, he had never even brushed against the outskirts of the First Emperor's Mausoleum.

Now that he had managed to live a second life against all odds, there was no way he was going to commit such wicked acts again.

"Hmm... I'll just be a law-abiding citizen in this life, occasionally offering pointers to archaeological teams as my contribution to the country."

Cheng Ziqiu thought smugly to himself, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

When he woke up again, the plane had already landed.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes and dragging his battered canvas bag, Cheng Ziqiu sauntered off the aircraft.