"Moreover, your subordinates are here. As a boss, can you make a decision?"
"Who cares about that? Are you coming or not? If not, I'm leaving." Lu Chuanbai had Xu Qingqing firmly in his grasp.
Xu Qingqing bit her lip, too exasperated to say anything.
This guy was really despicably shameless!
For a moment, they were at an impasse. Seeing Xu Qingqing looking conflicted, Lu Chuanbai pretended to leave.
Xu Qingqing quickly grabbed him, looking resolute.
Fine! For the great cause of archaeology, what's a little sacrifice!
Xu Qingqing quickly stood on tiptoe and gently kissed Lu Chuanbai on the cheek. Then she pretended to be nonchalant, but her pink cheeks gave her away.
"Is that okay now?"
Lu Chuanbai hooked his lips in satisfaction, stroking his cheek with a look of reminiscence.
"If you keep being this shameless, I'll find another way!" Xu Qingqing frowned, her face so red it was steaming.
Was this really the cold and heartless Lu Chuanbai? Had he been possessed by someone?
"What do you want me to do?" Lu Chuanbai couldn't hide his smile as he dropped his hand.
"You need to strengthen the security of the resort. It'd be best to install more surveillance cameras, ones with 360 - degree coverage! No strangers should be allowed on the island!"
"Okay." Lu Chuanbai nodded in agreement.
"I'll arrange it."
"And... if the tomb is really beneath the island, your construction team may have to stop work for a while..."
Xu Qingqing clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture, her eyes shining. "Can we start the archaeological work?"
Lu Chuanbai finally knew where Xu An'an had learned her cute way of pleading. It was from her mom.
"Sure."
Hearing Lu Chuanbai's agreement, Xu Qingqing jumped up excitedly, cheering and raising her hands. Then she realized she'd overreacted and quickly composed herself.
"Thank you. I'll go home first."
With that, Xu Qingqing skipped home.
After getting home, Xu Qingqing quickly turned on her phone and sent a message to Tang Li, explaining why she had hung up the phone just now.
Xu Qingqing: Sorry, Tang Li. My phone suddenly ran out of battery just now. Thanks for the information you provided. I'll be careful.
Tang Li, who had been waiting, finally received Xu Qingqing's message. Reading her explanation, he unconsciously tightened his grip on the phone, his eyes filled with an indecipherable emotion.
He had heard Lu Chuanbai's voice just now. It was very likely that Lu Chuanbai had hung up his call. Was Xu Qingqing covering for Lu Chuanbai with this explanation?
But Tang Li convinced himself that Xu Qingqing wasn't such a person. Xu Qingqing hated the biological father of the two children so much. How could she be so close to Lu Chuanbai?
She must have heard wrong.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, a full moon hung in the sky. There were almost no stars on the black curtain. The cold wind howled through the trees that were almost bare of leaves, making a rustling sound.
Gu Anrou knocked on the door of the staff dormitory and whispered, "Open the door. It's me."
Li Zhengyi, who hadn't slept and had been waiting for Gu Anrou's news, immediately got out of bed and opened the door when he heard the sound.
Gu Anrou looked back to make sure no one was there, then entered the room and closed the door. "Are you ready? I'll take you to Weishan Island now."
"We're ready. We've been waiting for this day for a long time."
Both the bald - headed man and Fang Qing were carrying their backpacks, eager to go.
"Let me say it one more time. If anything goes wrong, you mustn't expose me." Gu Anrou was still a bit worried.
"If you're so scared, then don't participate!" The bald - headed man was burning with anger at Gu Anrou's attempt to shift the blame and gave her an impatient look.
Li Zhengyi was also a bit unhappy. "Miss Gu, if you use someone, you should trust them. If you ensure we can get in without alerting anyone or leaking any information, I can guarantee this operation will never be exposed!"
"I'm just talking about what if?" Gu Anrou nervously avoided Li Zhengyi's gaze. "Don't worry. I've arranged everything. There'll definitely be no information leakage."
She said this not only to reassure Li Zhengyi and the others but also to calm herself.
Once an arrow leaves the bow, there's no turning back.
Gu Anrou led the three of them into her car and drove away on the moon - lit road.
Officer Xiao had already received the message from Xu Qingqing. Xu Qingqing had reminded her that these tomb - robbers were likely to act at night and head for Weishan Island.
So Officer Xiao personally kept a 24 - hour watch. Sure enough, she saw these four people sneaking out of the auction venue.
"Follow them!" Officer Xiao immediately told the people around her to drive after them.
After following for more than ten kilometers, Li Zhengyi, being an experienced hand, quickly noticed that they were being followed.
"They're tracking us. We have to shake them off!" Li Zhengyi directed Gu Anrou. "Drive the car onto the small road. We'll take a shortcut."
Officer Xiao saw the car in front suddenly turn onto the small road. She slammed on the brakes and turned onto the small road.
The small road wasn't paved with cement but was a dirt road full of stones and mud pits. It was bumpy, and the car jolted violently.
Gu Anrou drove hard while complaining, "Isn't there a better road? This road is so hard to drive on. What if it scratches the undercarriage of my car!"
Li Zhengyi kept his eyes on the rear windshield. Seeing the car catching up, he urged anxiously, "Do you want to be caught or protect your car!"
"Hurry up! The people behind are catching up!"
Gu Anrou was speechless and had to obediently follow the route Li Zhengyi had told her. They turned five times in total.
Each road was narrower than the last, and the road surface was even more rough. Dense woods grew on both sides of the road. The leafless branches were like sharp nails, scraping against the car body and making a harsh sound.
Gu Anrou felt heart - broken about her car but didn't dare to say much. She stepped on the accelerator hard.
After driving for a long time, Gu Anrou felt so nauseous from the bumps that she said, "When will we get out of here!"
Seeing that there were no cars chasing them, Li Zhengyi knew they had shaken off the pursuers. He said to Gu Anrou, "You can drive out now!"
Because Officer Xiao wasn't familiar with the local roads and Li Zhengyi had taken so many detours, she quickly lost track of them.
"Damn it! They got away!"
Officer Xiao angrily stopped the car and got out. Looking at the vast woods around, she kicked a tree trunk in anger.
Damn it! She was so unwilling to have lost them like this!
"What should we do now?" the others asked.
Officer Xiao gritted her teeth. "What else can we do? Since they're going to Weishan Island, we'll wait for them there!"
When the car drove onto the main road, Li Zhengyi wasn't at ease. He asked Gu Anrou to drive around the main road once more before heading for Weishan Island.
Meanwhile, Lu Fenglin was waiting at the entrance of Weishan Island.
A middle - aged man in a blue uniform and a safety helmet, holding a remote control in his hand, looked at Lu Fenglin cheerfully and rubbed his hands.
"Mr. Lu, now that I've helped you, what about the benefits you promised before..."