448: Chapter 448 Handed Over to the State!

Another Middle-aged Man heard this and retorted, "Maybe it's just trash like those porcelain pieces? After all, they were put in the same box!"

Brother Hu waved his hand.

"Stop arguing for a moment!"

"Pack it up first, we'll study it when we get back."

As soon as he finished speaking...

The Young Man had just picked up the black box, his fingers unconsciously stroking the lid.

Suddenly...

*Click.*

A soft sound rang out.

The lid actually popped open a crack.

Everyone was stunned.

The Young Man was also dazed, staring blankly at the box in his hands.

"I... I just touched it, how did it open?"

Brother Hu suddenly leaned forward: "Open it! Hurry, open it and see!"

The Young Man swallowed hard and then lifted the lid.

Inside the box, a key lay quietly.

A bronze key.

The key had an ancient design, covered in verdigris, with complex cloud and thunder patterns carved into the handle.

Brother Hu stared at the key, his brow furrowed tightly.

"A key?"

The Young Man picked up the key and looked at it under the light for a few moments, looking bewildered.

"It looks quite special, but it wouldn't be the key to some other box, would it?"

"Should we dig some more? Maybe there are more boxes underneath!"

The other men nodded one after another upon hearing this.

"Right, right, right! Keep digging!"

"Maybe this is the most valuable thing!"

Brother Hu pondered for a moment, just about to speak...

Suddenly.

A faint voice came from the dilapidated entrance.

"No need to dig."

"That key, I'll take it."

As soon as the voice fell, everyone was startled and turned their heads to look.

They saw a man and a woman walking slowly through the temple entrance.

The man was dressed in casual clothes.

The woman wore a red dress and was breathtakingly beautiful.

The expressions of those men changed drastically as they instantly recognized the two people they had just seen eating in the same place.

Brother Hu's face darkened, a fierce light flashing in his eyes: "It's you? You actually followed us!"

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.

"That's right, with how suspiciously you were acting, we had no choice but to follow."

He paused, his gaze falling on the bronze key in the Young Man's hand.

"It's a good thing we followed, otherwise I almost would have missed what I wanted."

Brother Hu was taken aback: "What do you want?"

Ye Chen raised his hand and pointed at the bronze key.

"That."

"Give it to me, and I won't take a single one of the gold bars you dug up."

"I'll act as if I never saw you grave robbing."

As the words fell, the grave robbers looked at each other and then burst into a fit of laughter.

"Hahaha! What crazy talk is this kid spouting?"

"You want the key? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Brother Hu, don't waste words with him, just finish them off!"

Several men drew daggers and iron picks from their waists, surrounding them with murderous intent.

However, Brother Hu raised his hand and stopped them.

He stared at Ye Chen, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes.

These two people clearly saw the three boxes of gold bars they had dug up, yet they didn't want a single one and only wanted that broken key?

This wasn't right.

It was very wrong.

He narrowed his eyes and asked tentatively: "Little brother, do you know what this key is?"

Ye Chen smiled slightly.

"Of course I know."

"That is another key to the Kunlun Ruins bronze gate."

"You have quite the luck to actually be able to dig up something like this."

Brother Hu's pupils suddenly constricted.

Kunlun Ruins?

bronze gate key?

Although he didn't know what those were, seeing Ye Chen's determined stance, he knew that thing was definitely not simple!

It was even more valuable than those three boxes of gold bars!

Hearing this, the Young Man gripped the key tightly and took a step back.

"Brother Hu! We can't give this to him!"

"The more he wants it, the more it shows how valuable it is!"

Fierce light flickered in Brother Hu's eyes as he suddenly waved his hand.

"Go! Finish them!"

The grave robbers had long been unable to restrain themselves. Upon hearing the order, they roared in unison and pounced toward Ye Chen and the woman, brandishing their daggers and iron picks!

The Young Man in the lead rushed the fastest, his dagger stabbing directly at Ye Chen's chest.

However...

Before he could even get within half a step of Ye Chen—

Yan Qingwu took a step forward, and a majestic aura suddenly erupted from her body!

That aura was like a landslide or a tsunami, instantly sweeping through the entire temple!

*Boom!!!*

The grave robbers were all sent flying back together!

*Thud!*

*Thud!*

*Thud!*

After a series of dull impacts, the men lay scattered on the ground, their wails rising one after another.

"Ouch! My back!"

"It hurts so much! My bones are broken!"

"Help... my butt is split open..."

The men were rolling on the ground in pain, their daggers and iron picks having long since flown off to who knows where.

The Middle-aged Man called Brother Hu was knocked back more than thirty feet, landing headfirst in a pile of junk, unable to get up for a long time.

When he struggled to raise his head and look at Yan Qingwu, his eyes were filled with horror.

"You... you aren't ordinary people!"

How could an ordinary person erupt with such Qi?

Could an ordinary person make others unable to approach and even send them flying back?

Definitely not!

These two people were definitely not ordinary!

Yan Qingwu crossed her arms: "You guessed right, but there's no prize."

Brother Hu's expression changed completely.

He had been in the underworld for decades, what kind of scene had he not witnessed?

But today's scene, he truly had never seen before!

A beautiful woman who looked weak and fragile actually just stood there and sent seven or eight strong men flying?

Is she even fucking human???

He suddenly remembered those rumors in the underworld, those rumors about Cultivators...

"You... are Cultivators?!"

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow and walked forward slowly, looking down at him.

"Guessed right twice, still no prize."

"Now, let's talk about that key."

He reached out and curled his finger toward the Young Man groaning by the pit.

"The key, bring it here."

The Young Man trembled all over, subconsciously clutching the key in his hand as he looked toward Brother Hu.

Brother Hu gritted his teeth.

"Give it to him!"

The Young Man was stunned: "Brother Hu..."

"GIVE IT TO HIM!!!"

Brother Hu practically roared it out.

What kind of joke was this?

These people weren't ordinary...

They could knock people back just by standing there, could they be ordinary people?

The Young Man shuddered and dared not hesitate any longer, scrambling over to Ye Chen and holding the bronze key up high with both hands.

"Sir... sir, the key is yours!"

Ye Chen took the key and turned it over in his hands to examine it.

It was exactly what he was looking for.

It was identical to the one he had seized in the USA before.

Except this one was better preserved, with less verdigris.

He nodded with satisfaction and tucked the key into his robe.

Then.

He looked down at Brother Hu kneeling on the ground and smiled slightly.

"I've received the item."

"Now, you all can go turn yourselves in."

Brother Hu was stunned.

The grave robbers groaning on the ground were also all stunned.

Turn ourselves in?

What???

Brother Hu's eyes widened: "You... didn't you just say that as long as we gave you the key, you'd act as if you never saw us grave robbing?"

Ye Chen nodded with an innocent look.

"That's right, I said I didn't see you grave robbing."

"But the fact that you were grave robbing is true; whether I saw it or not doesn't change the fact that you broke the law."

Brother Hu: "???"

The grave robbers: "???"

Brother Hu was completely dumbfounded.

He had lived for over forty years and had never seen someone so shameless!

Just now everything was agreed upon—as long as they handed over the key, he'd act as if he saw nothing, and he wouldn't even take the two big boxes of gold bars...

Now that the key was in his hand, he turned his back on them immediately???

He couldn't hold it in anymore, pointing at Ye Chen, his voice trembling.

"You... you're going back on your word!"

"You..."

Ye Chen interrupted him.

"Did I go back on my word?"

"I'm not taking a single cent of your things."

"But we are people from the authorities."

"Do you think the authorities can just ignore it when they see someone grave robbing?"

Brother Hu: "???"

The grave robbers: "???"

Yan Qingwu suppressed a laugh, pulled out a small red booklet from her pocket, and waved it in front of Brother Hu's eyes.

"Special Consultant for the Beijing Public Security Bureau, Yan Qingwu."

"You have excavated an ancient tomb and stolen national cultural relics; the evidence is conclusive."

"Now, do you think you should turn yourselves in?"

Looking at the glittering police emblem, Brother Hu completely broke down.

He slumped on the ground, looking at Ye Chen and Yan Qingwu, wanting to cry but having no tears.

"You... isn't this just being a rogue?"

Ye Chen shrugged, looking as if it were only natural.

"How can you call it being a rogue?"

"We call this acting according to the law."

"I don't want the stuff, but the people must be caught."

He paused, looking down at Brother Hu, his smile becoming even more brilliant.

"What? You don't want to turn yourself in?"

"Then I can only call people to come and arrest you."

"By then, the charge won't just be grave robbing; we'll have to add assaulting a police officer."

Brother Hu trembled all over and shook his head frantically.

"No... not turn ourselves in! Ah, no! We'll turn ourselves in! We'll turn ourselves in!"

He scrambled up and roared at the men lying on the ground.

"Everyone fucking get up! We're going to turn ourselves in!"

The men wanted to cry but had no tears, struggling to get up and following Brother Hu with a limp.

Brother Hu reached the door, suddenly stopped, and looked back at Ye Chen.

"Then... what about those three boxes of gold bars?"

Ye Chen glanced at the boxes and spoke indifferently.

"The gold bars belong to the state, so naturally they must be turned over."

"But don't worry, actively disclosing the whereabouts of stolen goods after turning yourselves in counts as an act of merit; maybe you'll get a few years off your sentence."

Brother Hu's mouth twitched, unable to say a single word.

He turned around and led the dejected men, staggering out of the temple.

Yan Qingwu looked at their departing figures and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Ye Chen, aren't you being too wicked?"

"First you make them hand over the key, then you make them turn themselves in, and you even want them to hand over the gold bars..."

"You're practically selling them and having them count the money for you."

Ye Chen put his hands in his pockets with an innocent look.

"I'm doing this for their own good, okay?"

"Grave robbing is illegal to begin with, and turning themselves in is the only way out."

"Besides, with those three boxes of gold bars turned over to the state, won't Old Master Xuanyuan be so happy his dentures fall out?"