Did you find something?
I had Bingbing stay on the second floor, maintaining her Qi Sensing technique observation state. I went down to the first floor and came to the edge of the pit. By then, several people had already gone down and started digging through the rubble, wooden beams, and other debris with their hands.
"What's wrong?" I asked Shao Chen, who hadn't gone down. She was a snow leopard and not good at digging.
"Yaoyao said she just saw a mass of demonic energy shoot out from the pit."
"Demonic energy? Why didn't I see it?"
"It was fleeting!" Yaoyao didn't stop her actions and replied from the pit, "I feel like there's a tomb in here, and we haven't found it!"
"Let me do it!" I climbed onto a nearby excavator that hadn't been moved. The excavator operators had already left, leaving the machine here. I didn't know how to operate this before, but I had learned by watching. It only had three control levers, very simple.
I started the excavator and moved it to the edge of the pit. I began to dig deeper. After digging about half a meter, I encountered a huge obstruction, like a large stone. I switched to the large pole and attempted to break the stone. I succeeded. It wasn't a stone, but a thick stone slab.
After the dust settled, Yaoyao jumped down and moved the stone slab. A space appeared below. Yaoyao squeezed in, and Bai Qingcheng also turned on her flashlight and followed her.
There really was a tomb? I got out of the construction vehicle. The others had also gone inside. Lights flickered within, and the space didn't seem large. Shao Chen stood at the entrance and couldn't go in. I could only wait at the edge of the pit.
After a short while, everyone came out. Bai Qingcheng held a tablet in her hand, clearly a memorial tablet for the deceased. Yaoyao held something resembling an urn. The urn was open, and it was empty inside.
"What happened?" I asked.
Bai Qingcheng showed me the writing on the tablet. It was in traditional characters, but I could recognize it: Xiaoguo Army Zhonglang General Yuwen Chengdu.
"This is Yuwen Chengdu's tomb," I exclaimed. "What is that box?"
"Yuwen Chengdu's demonic core," Yaoyao said, "but it's already been stolen."
So, that fleeting demonic energy just now?
"How did the Miao King do it..." Bai Qingcheng mused.
"Could it be long-distance casting?" Yaoyao guessed.
"How far? Don't you have Qi Sensing?"
"Perhaps he wasn't in Yang Prefecture. He used a puppet locally to cast the spell. Do you remember two people passing by the large pit at ten o'clock and talking to us? Perhaps it was then, when we weren't paying attention, that they stole the demonic core!"
"But they didn't go down into the pit then," I said. I remembered the two women were very beautiful, and I thought they were teachers.
"...Perhaps it was through their movement patterns, recorded! I want to see the surveillance footage!" Yaoyao said.
Bai Qingcheng left three experts to wait at the site. I also left Shao Chen and Daji. The rest of us went to the school's surveillance room together.
Because the time was very clear, exactly at ten o'clock, it was easy to retrieve the footage. Yaoyao watched it twice and found the clue: "It's indeed their movement patterns. Look."
Yaoyao directly drew a Bagua-shaped circle on the screen with a pen: "Their movements, seemingly carelessly circling the pit, were actually walking an Eight Trigram formation. Pay attention to the posture of their hands and feet."
Indeed, in the video, the two women walked in an octagonal path, approximating a circle. As they moved to each side, their positions and hand gestures changed slightly. It was only visible when the video was magnified. One person was playing "Qian" and the other "Kun," simultaneously displaying different numbers with their hands, which corresponded to the binary numbers 001, 010, 100, 110, 101, 011, 111, and 000, corresponding to the eight trigrams.
"Impressive..." Bai Qingcheng sighed. "This is possible."
"Quickly check where they went!" I urged. No matter what kind of puppets they were, we needed to catch them first!
The staff continued to review the surveillance footage and quickly pieced together the two women's route.
After leaving Apartment 26, the two women didn't rush but leisurely strolled out of the school. At ten past ten, they got into a car. It was at this time that Yaoyao sensed demonic energy flying out of the tomb. It was highly likely that there was a key person inside the car.
The license plate was clear: a black BMW X5 from the local area. It probably hadn't gone too far yet. Bai Qingcheng immediately ordered a city-wide search for the car.
"No, don't apprehend them," I suggested. "It's better to follow them. They'll likely go directly to see the Miao King."