Chapter 1166: Actor, and Actor

“Why did you hide it so deep?” Chen Ling looked up and couldn’t even see the light from the entrance; it was at least several hundred meters underground.

“Nonsense, if I don’t dig it deep, what if someone finds it?”

Sun Bumian landed beside the chests, his gaze fixed on them as if drawn by a magnet. After opening one of them with force, the heavy gold was exposed to the air.

Seeing this scene, Sun Bumian finally relaxed a little.

But he wasn’t completely reassured; he opened all the other chests to check them, and after confirming that not even a single piece was missing, he finally let out a long sigh of relief…

“I didn’t lie to you.” Chen Ling spoke at the right moment. “I haven’t touched a single piece of your gold.”

Sun Bumian looked at the gold in front of him, then looked at Chen Ling…

“You go up first.”

“……What?”

“Now that you know this place, I have to find somewhere else to hide it.”

Chen Ling: …

Chen Ling was speechless for a moment, but seeing Sun Bumian’s persistent expression, he nodded and flew directly out of the hole.

Immediately after, Chen Ling heard a series of loud, rumbling sounds coming from underground, which lasted for a long time before disappearing. He didn’t know where Sun Bumian had moved the gold to.

Just then, a hurried ringtone sounded from his phone.

“Hello?”

“Director Chen, how are things on your end?” Yang Xiao’s voice came through the phone.

“……It went reasonably well, what about you guys?”

“We’ve all regrouped, none of us are hurt, and Dr. Su even captured a hostage.”

Chen Ling was stunned.

“A hostage??”

……

“Yes, a hostage.”

Yang Xiao looked at the university student who was tied up like a dumpling, his expression somewhat subtle. “The others all ran away, leaving only the youngest one behind. We’re still interrogating him.”

Chen Ling on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment.

“Are you guys… able to get anything out of him?”

“……”

At the same time,

Lu Xun walked slowly to Zhou Liang’s side, pulled him up from the ground, and said in an ice-cold tone:

“Speak! What was your purpose in abducting Chu Changqing? Where are you taking him?”

“I don’t know.” The young university student stiffened his neck, looking as if he were ready to face death. “I don’t know anything!”

Su Zhiwei’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you really think we have no way to deal with you?”

“Whatever methods you have, feel free to use them. I won’t say a single word.”

“……”

Lu Xun and Su Zhiwei looked at each other, and the air fell into silence.

Yang Xiao sighed and answered truthfully:

“……We can’t get anything out of him.”

Chen Ling wasn’t surprised by this answer.

In the end, all three of them were researchers who had buried their heads in books from childhood to adulthood. Let alone bullying someone, they hadn’t even killed a chicken… Asking them to use torture on a young university student? That was asking a bit too much.

Chen Ling wanted to say he’d do the interrogation himself, but he suddenly remembered that he had been brought to Badong by Sun Bumian, which was thousands of miles away from Shanghai; even a high-speed train would take several hours…

If he went back now, the save time limit would probably expire on the way.

“However, we did find something on him.” Yang Xiao suddenly said.

“What?”

“It’s a badge, and an invitation… it seems to be for something called the Wushan Conference, and the date is the day after tomorrow.”

“Wushan Conference?” Chen Ling’s brows furrowed. “What is that…”

“Are you going to the Wushan Conference?”

Sun Bumian’s voice came from behind him.

Chen Ling turned to look, and saw Sun Bumian covered in dirt, as if he had just grown out of the ground. Chen Ling would believe it if he said he had buried the gold in the center of the earth.

“You know about it?”

“Of course I know. If it weren’t for that damn call you made to me, I would have already landed in Wushan by now, sitting in my shuttle car and resting at the hotel.” Sun Bumian’s tone was incredibly resentful.

“What is this conference for?”

“Nothing much, just gathering a bunch of Divine Path possessors for a meeting to get to know the newcomers… I remember this meeting used to be called something like the Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference, it seems they changed the name this time.”

In Chen Ling’s mind, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference that Xiao Chunping had mentioned to him at the Suzhou Embroidery Museum immediately surfaced. She and most of the people in the phone book had met at this conference… including Sun Bumian.

What was Ying Fu going to this Wushan Conference for?

Chen Ling seemed to realize something, and his brows furrowed tighter and tighter…

“Can I go to this conference?”

“You? Did you receive an invitation?”

“……No.”

Chen Ling was currently a target wanted by the entire 749 Bureau; it was good enough that he wasn’t being chased all over the world, let alone getting an invitation letter sent to him?

“Then you can’t go.” Sun Bumian shrugged.

“The restrictions for this conference are very strict. They check the identity of every attendee in detail; you can’t get in without an invitation.”

Chen Ling could easily forge an invitation and a badge, but it would be troublesome if the 749 Bureau verified the identity list… unless he killed someone who was already qualified and mixed in disguised as them.

The first person Chen Ling thought of was the university student who had just been captured, but he quickly rejected this idea. He was one of Ying Fu’s people; if he entered the conference with his identity, he would be seen through by Ying Fu immediately, and he would end up in a passive position instead.

“Is there really no other way?” Chen Ling looked at Sun Bumian.

“There is, but why should I help you?”

“I’m your companion from the future.” Chen Ling said seriously. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t know the location where you hid your gold, would I?”

Sun Bumian was silent for a long time.

“That’s just your side of the story… what if you’re my enemy?”

“……”

Chen Ling slowly extended a finger.

“What do you mean? Shh? Telling me to shut up?”

“One thousand kilograms of gold, take me into the Wushan Conference.”

“I suddenly find you quite agreeable; you shouldn’t be an enemy.” Sun Bumian grabbed that finger, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. “Deal!”

“How do we do it?”

“Simple, just say you’re my assistant.”

“……It’s that simple? Don’t we need an invitation and a badge?”

“Oh, let’s go, let’s go, I guarantee you can get in!”

Under Sun Bumian’s pushing, Chen Ling walked into the distance with a strange expression.

As the figure in the bright red theatrical robe gradually moved away in the wilderness, the smile on Sun Bumian’s face gradually disappeared, and a faint light flashed in those eyes nested with circular rings.

If Chen Ling could step into Sun Bumian’s perspective at this moment, he would be able to see the golden and black Qi of fortune and misfortune, which had occupied his pupils at some unknown time…

[Divination of Fortune and Misfortune].

Sun Bumian looked at the theatrical figure walking slowly between fortune and misfortune, as if he had guessed something, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

He brushed the dust off his sleeves, followed Chen Ling unhurriedly, and muttered to himself:

“I was wondering why he looked so familiar…”

“The Play Path is destined to flourish…”