264: Chapter 264 Can't Be Too Shameless

Lin Yuelan was feeling anxious, but upon hearing Li Laojiu's words, she felt ecstatic inside.

This old man was far too good at convincing himself.

He had even found an excuse for her.

Therefore, she put on an embarrassed expression and gave a heavy huff: "So what if I am? And what if I'm not? Are you trying to chase me away?"

Li Laojiu shook his head: "No, no, no. I don't have the right to chase you away. As long as you don't cause trouble, you can watch as much as you like. There are so many people watching from the sky, one more won't make a difference," he said, pointing toward the sky.

Lin Yuelan looked up and saw four or five drones hovering dozens of meters above.

The weather was good, and the drones were very conspicuous.

She didn't know which faction was keeping an eye on this place.

With these drones around, there really was no need to send people to monitor the scene in person.

Lin Yuelan sighed inwardly, wondering if any of those four or five drones in the sky belonged to Han Jingyang.

Furthermore, this industry was getting harder and harder to get by in. Modern technology was developing too rapidly, while metaphysics not only lacked new breakthroughs and development but was even regressing. At the very least, fewer and fewer young people were willing to learn metaphysics, and fewer and fewer people were willing to believe in it.

The decline of metaphysics was much faster than that of traditional martial arts.

At this moment, Li Laojiu continued: "The two of you sisters have decent strength. Why don't you join us?"

Lin Yuelan raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"Nothing else. When you're away from home, you rely on friends. Let's just be friends. Maybe when I go to Western Guangdong in the future, I might need the two of you to look after me."

"This..."

"However, don't think too much about it. There's almost no share of the treasure for you two. If there's any extra, maybe you'll get one item; if not, you'll just have to settle for being spectators," Li Laojiu said, glancing back at the roaring excavator. "You two don't have much time. Make a decision soon."

Lin Yuelan looked at her sister, Lin Yuegui, and then nodded heavily: "Fine, I'll join."

"Follow me," Li Laojiu beckoned, leading the two sisters back to the crowd. He said to the group of freelance practitioners he had gathered: "These are the Lin sisters, they just joined our loose little team. They have decent skills, and they only want one piece of treasure between them. If there isn't any extra, they don't even need that; they're just here to join in the fun."

The crowd nodded sparsely, neither enthusiastic nor rejecting. In any case, Li Laojiu had made it very clear that it was just a loose little team, the purpose of which was to contend with Li Mingjian's avenger team. Once the treasure was in hand, everyone would return to their own homes as quickly as possible; they wouldn't take these temporary partners seriously at all.

Of course, whether there were other small teams behind the scenes was a personal matter, and no one would expose that at this time.

People like this gathered together, all of them hunters in the dark.

This little society formed by so many people was what is known as the Jianghu.

It is easy to imagine that the Jianghu is truly not easy to navigate, and there is nothing romantic about it.

Amid the roaring of the excavator, Li Mingjian, who was standing in the very center, suddenly raised his hand.

The excavator stopped immediately and slowly moved away.

Li Mingjian grabbed a shovel and jumped straight in to start digging.

The people on the periphery immediately became restless.

They had found it.

Han Jingyang hadn't lied to them.

The crowd looked delighted and craned their necks in anticipation.

Only Li Laojiu frowned: Was Han Jingyang really willing to give up such a large treasure? Just like that? Was he truly generous, or was there another scheme behind this?

After pondering for a moment without finding an answer, he could only signal to a few people in his team, then pushed through the crowd to the edge of the pit: "Mr. Li, is it the treasure?"

"A large box. Whether it's the treasure remains to be confirmed," Li Mingjian said without looking up. "Get another person here, and get the ropes ready."

Another person took a shovel and jumped down to start digging.

Soon, a huge wooden box appeared before everyone.

It was square, made of some unknown wood, with brass-reinforced corners and coated with anti-corrosive paint. The lock was an ordinary Sanhuan padlock, just like the wooden chests commonly found in rural areas for storing clothes and odds and ends. It didn't look like it had any self-destruct mechanism at all.

Once the ropes were tied and secured, the excavator slowly lifted the box onto the bank.

Seeing the box, the scene became restless once again.

Li Laojiu took a deep breath and said loudly: "Open it."

Li Mingjian, however, shook his head: "First, we withdraw from Xipo Village."

The large group of people instantly became tense.

The two factions quickly pulled apart and confronted each other.

When team leaders have conflicting opinions, they either communicate harmoniously or turn to blades and swords.

However, in this scenario, was there any possibility of harmonious communication?

Li Mingjian and Li Laojiu were at loggerheads, staring at each other, neither willing to show weakness. After a full minute or so, Li Laojiu smiled and said: "Mr. Li, let's discuss an open and fair method. You won't be able to take all the treasure away today."

Li Mingjian gave a huff: "This is our property. If I'm willing to give it to you, that's my business. If I'm not willing to give it to you, no one can snatch it. Whoever dares to snatch our property, we will fight them to the death."

Li Laojiu smiled: "This property is yours? You really have the nerve to say that. Han Jingyang is generous and isn't fighting you for it, but that doesn't mean it's your property. Besides, can you guarantee that everything inside is your lost property? If you dare to guarantee it, let's inspect the goods right here. If the goods match your records, we'll leave immediately without a word. If they don't match, you put the items down and all of you withdraw. Do you dare?"

Li Mingjian's expression froze, and he said toughly: "Whether to inspect the goods or not is not for you to decide. We agreed to divide the items after leaving Xipo Village. Now that it's just been fished up, you're already in such a rush to divide them—don't you think that's going a bit too far?"

Li Laojiu remained smiling: "No, no, no. What we agreed with you was to divide the items after leaving Xipo Village, but my request now isn't to divide the items, but to open the box and inspect the goods. Open the box first, register and photograph each item for the record, and get a clear idea of what's there, then leave Xipo Village to divide the items. Otherwise, if you locals scatter after leaving Xipo Village, where would we go to seek justice?"

Li Mingjian's thoughts had been exposed; he indeed had no intention of splitting this treasure equally with Li Laojiu and his people.

Therefore, feeling shamed into anger and with his temper flaring, he said: "What if I don't agree?"

Li Laojiu remained calm and unruffled: "You don't agree? Then you'll have to ask these people."

"What? Do you dare to rob us in broad daylight?"

"Of course not. We aren't robbers, how could we rob you in broad daylight? But we won't give up what belongs to us. We said it would be split 50/50, so it must be split 50/50. In the Jianghu, one still has to be reasonable."

"You're just taking advantage of the situation. Reasonable? If you were reasonable, you shouldn't have appeared here in the first place."

"That's true. If we were talking about being reasonable, you shouldn't have used the name of the victims' families to force Han Jingyang away either."

"Our demands are reasonable and justified."

"Reasonable and justified? You don't even know what the treasure looks like, so how can you be sure that it contains the stolen items of your victims?"

"What does that have to do with you?"

"Heh heh, aren't we trying to be reasonable? If we're being reasonable, this treasure should belong to Han Jingyang. It's the spoils of war he obtained after painstakingly tracking down the murderer, defeating the murderer, and forcing the murderer to their death. He is the reasonable and legitimate owner of the treasure. You? You lot? You are just a group of robbers. Just because Han Jingyang isn't willing to tear up the relationship with you and isn't willing to do anything unseemly, doesn't mean you lot are righteous and honorable."

At this point, Li Laojiu showed a trace of a mocking smile on his face: "When it comes to being a person, you can't be too shameless."