Chapter 467: Chapter 338: Flying Insects
"What happened next?" I was engrossed in the story when Gu suddenly stopped narrating, so I pressed on.
"On my tenth birthday, my grandfather passed away." Gu closed his eyes slightly.
He had lived with his grandfather since childhood, and they undoubtedly shared a deep bond. Now, mentioning his grandfather’s passing, his eyes slightly reddened.
A brief silence fell inside the cave. I waited until he composed himself a bit before speaking, "What did you see in the mirror?"
"I don’t know. After my grandfather passed away, I never shunned mirrors again, but I also never saw that thing again. So over the years, I’ve always told myself it was a mistake."
"Have you ever considered that your grandfather’s death might be related to that thing?" Qinghan suddenly spoke up from the side.
This question left Gu stunned. He murmured, "Grandfather... it was a brain hemorrhage. The doctor said it was an acute brain hemorrhage. It happened at midnight, and by morning when discovered, it was too late."
"I happen to have heard of something." Qinghan resumed speaking in his eerie ’broadcaster’ voice.
"What?" Gu stared intently at Qinghan.
"Just a rumor, not necessarily true." Qinghan first clarified, then said, "An elderly gentleman told me he’d seen a kind of Tomb Guardian Spirit, said to be refined from the shadow of the tomb owner, so it never leaves the ’original body.’ Anyone trying to harm the ’original body’ would be attacked by it."
Gu glanced at me, and I shrugged. Although quite a few Tomb Robbers have entered my tomb, they are limited, and even fewer are willing to chat with me. There are always strange tales I haven’t heard.
Qinghan said that such a shadow Tomb Guardian Spirit is more powerful than any Tomb Guardian Beast, with one exception: it cannot look in the mirror.
Once it looks in a mirror, it is no longer a guardian spirit but becomes the greatest enemy of the tomb owner.
In other words, when it sees its own appearance, it believes it is the rightful owner and tries to eliminate the ’impostor.’
Gu interrupted, "But I’m alive."
How could a Tomb Guardian Spirit follow a living person?
Qinghan looked at him with a meaningful gaze. Gu touched his neck, momentarily unsure, unsure if he was truly alive.
"Ah, there are plenty of strange things in tombs. Tomb Guardian Spirits might not only follow the tomb owner, and the tomb owner might not necessarily be dead." When I said this, Gu was even more confused, furrowing his brows in bewilderment.
Qinghan nodded in agreement with my words, which piqued Gu’s interest. He asked if we had encountered any such strange events.
I thought for a moment and decided to remain silent. I couldn’t very well admit I was the strange event itself, the living tomb owner.
Qinghan is much more experienced in this area than I am. He’s been to more tombs and encountered more strange events, and he knows both formal and informal tomb-digging team members.
He has heard many stories from them, and any random tale could leave Gu bewildered.
Gu quietly told us that although he has a hidden identity, his love for adventure is genuine, and his identity as an Explorer is real, too.
He just takes on some jobs privately, mainly gathering intelligence. For someone who loves adventure, he’s naturally fascinated by the stories Qinghan tells.
He’s formally joined an adventure group for several years and has participated in over a dozen exploration activities, but he has never encountered anything strange. The most peculiar thing was that someone lost a shoe during a camping trip at night, later found in a tree, which they discovered was stolen by monkeys.
Their adventure activities are more like leisure and vacations, with many challenges on their itinerary, but they’re mostly about car breakdowns or road damage leaving them stranded in the wild.
In comparison, the fun outweighs the difficulties, and he hopes to challenge some tough adventure tasks, which is why he approached Miss Tang, expressing his willingness to join her team.
He was approached after joining Miss Tang’s team. The other party must be familiar with Miss Tang and know something about Mr. Tang. Otherwise, why would they hire someone to infiltrate and gather intelligence for a worthless search party?
Upon hearing that Qinghan knew so much, Gu wanted him to introduce a high-level individual to check if there was something extra about him, ’that person’ in particular.
Qinghan did not refuse and promised to introduce someone to Gu. Qinghan is always willing to help others, and Gu is especially thankful, saying that if they ever need him on the front lines, just give him a call. While his skills might be lacking, he can provide manpower.
