Chapter 117: Familiar Scenes

Before I had even finished speaking, Anna told me firmly that she had to go. Even if I refused to take her, she would find a way to reach the place herself. She now knew two crucial clues—Yunnan and Dragonhead Mountain—and with those two leads, she could make her way there. Of that, I had no doubt. She really could reach the place.

I thought about it for a long time, but I could not find any particularly convincing reason to dissuade her. After all, in terms of identity and her reason for searching for Li Ling, she was far more qualified than I was. She was Li Ling’s assistant, whereas I could barely be considered a friend.

Besides, I could not simply abandon her and go alone. If she ran into danger, I would have no way to explain myself to Li Ling. After all, Li Ling had helped me more times than I could count.

So I had no choice but to agree. However, I told her that we could not leave immediately. Anna looked at me in confusion.

“Why not go now? Time is efficiency.”

I did not want to explain too much to her. Even if I did, communicating with her was rather difficult. All I could say was, “Please don’t rush, all right? I need to prepare a few things. This journey will be far from simple, so we have to make thorough preparations. Besides, I still have some matters to deal with. Give me two days, all right? Don’t worry. Li Ling should not be in any danger. So many days have already passed; another day or two won’t make much difference.”

In my view, whoever had taken Li Ling would never allow her to come to any real harm. Her identity was unusual, after all. And if she had truly been in danger, they would never have let her obtain a phone and contact the outside world in the first place. Besides, so many days had passed. To put it bluntly, if something were going to happen, it would have happened already.

The extra day or two would give me more time to prepare. Although I was anxious as well, I knew my own limits. This would be the first time I had truly acted on my own. During my previous operations, the journey to Dalong Mountain had been forced upon me by circumstances, while in the desert I had been accompanied by a large group. Even the last time, Black Sunglasses had been leading me.

This time was different. Not only would I be on my own, I would also have to bring along a burden, so the pressure was considerable. I explained some of my thoughts to Anna as tactfully as I could, and after a great deal of effort, I finally managed to persuade her.

However, she shortened the deadline to one day—not counting today. We had to leave the day after tomorrow. She also told me that if I did not set out then, she would leave for the destination on her own. I could only agree helplessly.

I first took Anna back to the hotel, then hailed a taxi. I wanted to go home. Even though my house might well be under surveillance, I still had to make the trip. I wanted to see whether Old Ghost’s people were still watching me. If they were, I would have to be especially careful during this operation. At the very least, I could prepare myself mentally in advance.

The taxi slowly approached the vicinity of my home. I put on the mask and hat I had bought beforehand, then got out and started walking toward my neighborhood. To be cautious, I had not asked the driver to stop too close to my house. I had gotten out nearly half a mile away.

I walked slowly forward. Passing a small grocery shop, I bought a pack of cigarettes and lit one. As I smoked, I kept watch on my surroundings. Almost nothing had changed. The familiar scenes still appeared before my eyes and lingered in my mind.

Deep down, I did not want to come back here. It was home, yes, but now I was the only one left in it. I wanted to return and take a look, yet I felt conflicted as well. Every time I came back, my heart grew unbearably heavy and oppressed.

I steadied the turmoil within me, took a deep breath, and continued scanning the surroundings. There did not seem to be anything suspicious. Could it be that Old Ghost’s people had not followed me to the capital?

I found that hard to believe. According to Black Sunglasses, Old Ghost regarded this matter as seriously as he regarded his own life. Moreover, their power was enormous—so vast that it surpassed anything I had previously imagined. Of course, all of that had come from Black Sunglasses.

In theory, Old Ghost and his people would never let me off easily. Yet as I examined everything around me, nothing suggested danger, nor did anything indicate that I was being watched. Was my ability simply inadequate, or was everything truly fine? For a moment, I hesitated.

In the end, I simply walked toward home. Even if someone really was following me, I could deal with it later. I did not possess Black Sunglasses’ extraordinary vigilance, the ability to identify a suspicious person at a single glance.

I walked all the way to the foot of the building in my residential compound and glanced inside. This might well be the last time I ever returned home. For the days ahead, I would be heading to Yunnan, and I had no idea when the matter there would finally be resolved. After that, with the little time I had left, I would have to make one more trip to the Tomb Guardians’ clan—assuming I lived long enough to reach that point. By then, things would probably be more or less over.

Thinking of this, I shook my head with a bitter smile and entered the compound. Familiar sights surrounded me everywhere. Everything looked exactly as it had yesterday.

I stepped into the entrance of the building. My apartment was on the third floor, but just as I set foot on the stairs leading to the second floor, one of the residents there suddenly opened their door a crack.

At that moment, my back was toward the door, and I had not removed my mask or hat. Sensing the door open behind me, I turned my head slightly and glanced back from the corner of my eye.

My heart jolted.

I knew this family. Two years earlier, they had all moved elsewhere to work. Since the place was not far away, they returned to the capital every New Year and major holiday. Normally, no one lived in the apartment, and they had neither rented it out nor sold it.

A thought flashed through my mind. It was not a holiday, yet someone was inside the apartment. That was highly suspicious. A certain possibility instantly occurred to me, and my vigilance rose sharply.

I pretended not to notice and continued up the stairs. At the landing, I stole another glance at the crack in the door. It was still open slightly, but I could not make out who was inside.

That only made the situation stranger. The opening was narrow, but I had noticed it nonetheless. Besides, ordinary people did not open their security doors a crack for no reason.