117: The Strange Patterns

The Strange Patterns

The moment Xia Muqing saw the pearl, something in the small pouch in her arms suddenly moved. She looked at it again. This pearl was identical to the one that the strange young man had sold to her at the periphery of the Sunset Mountains.2

Xia Muqing asked, "Yifan, what is this?"

Seeing that the pearl was intact, Jiang Yifan sighed in relief and explained, "I don't know what it is, but ever since I was young, my parents have always cherished it."

Xia Muqing felt that there must be someone behind all these incidents.

She took out another pearl and showed it to him. "Look, I have one too."

Jiang Yifan was shocked and quickly compared the two pearls. They were truly identical. The moment the two pearls were placed together, there were some changes.

As they watched, some patterns appeared on these two pearls. These patterns looked like the shape of a flower, but no one had even seen such flowers.

Jin Chao, who had been silent all this time, looked at the patterns on the pearls and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Xia Muqing noticed him and suddenly asked, "Do you know what this is, Jin Chao?"

Jin Chao shook his head and replied, "I have no idea."

Xia Muqing arched her eyebrows slightly. She sensed that he should know something, but he was unwilling to say, so she didn't probe further.

Jiang Yifan handed both pearls to Xia Muqing and said, "Sister, this pearl is for you. Keep it well."

Xia Muqing yearned to find out what it was, so she didn't decline and stowed it away in her bag. There was something else in the bag. It was a rusty stone slab she had bought with the pearl previously.

The group of them searched around and could only conclude that the mastermind who had caused the Jiang family to go missing, was here for the library. They were clueless about everything else.

Xia Muqing and Jiang Yifan walked around and realized that the members of the Tiger Mercenary Group had no idea where the Jiang family had gone. No one had even heard any sounds. They only knew that on the third day after Jiang Yifan and the others set off, no one had seen the Jiang family again. Everyone assumed that they had left with them together.

After walking around and finding nothing, Jiang Yifan grabbed his hair, looking pained.

Xia Muqing comforted him. "From the current situation, they should have been taken away by someone. Their lives aren't in danger."

Jiang Yifan's eyes were completely red. "But I don't have any clues! I can't find them! If those people—"

He didn't dare to say the worst outcome.

Xia Muqing didn't know how to persuade him, and she could only search for other clues at the Jiang residence.

This time, she really found a clue. Xia Muqing found a blood-stained hairpin in the garden. The hairpin was Liu Yan's favorite and she put it in her hair every day.

She followed the blood on the hairpin to the innermost part of the garden. Because the ground was black, and because the blood had turned blackish red after so many days, it was impossible to discover this place without careful observation.

They had walked around the garden a few times previously but didn't find anything.

Xia Muqing went to the wall next to the garden alone. The traces of blood had stopped here. There was a huge pool of blood on the ground. The soil on the ground looked like it had been dug before. She had a bad feeling.

She reached out and lifted the soil on the upper level, revealing the corpses buried under the soil.

Xia Muqing's eyes widened. This was…

After she carefully dug up the soil, the three corpses buried were revealed. The corpses of the Jiang couple and Jiang Dayong were placed neatly inside.

Just now, she had comforted Jiang Yifan that his family weren't in danger, but now, their corpses were lying here silently.

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