Chapter 350: Poisoned
Jin Mingzhu coughed a couple more times, then sank weakly to the ground.
"I... I don't feel well. I'm weak all over."
Xiao Ye turned to look at her. In the beam of his flashlight, her face looked deathly pale.
"Let me see." Xiao Ye stepped forward and took her by the wrist.
"You're... poisoned!"
Jin Mingzhu was stunned. "Poisoned? That's impossible. That poisonous bee didn't sting me."
Xiao Ye thought for a moment, then quickly returned to the entrance of the passage.
He pinched a bit of the soil and held it under his nose to smell it.
Just as he suspected, there was a faint scent of poison in it, but it was extremely weak, almost imperceptible. It must have been diluted over many years.
"You must have been poisoned by this ancient tomb. The tomb's owner must have added poison to the layer above to protect it from grave robbers."
"That way, no matter where anyone dug, they would expose the poison."
"Normally, just inhaling it wouldn't be a big deal, but you're injured. It's highly likely that the poison entered through your wound's contact with the soil."
Jin Mingzhu pulled out some antidotes from her bag. "Can you tell what kind of poison it is?"
"I can." Xiao Ye glanced at the medicine in her hand. "No, none of these will work. This is likely a poison unique to one of the ethnic minorities. I've seen it before."
Many ethnic minorities have their own unique traditions, and deep in the old mountain forests, there's no shortage of poisonous insects and toxic plants.
Therefore, the peoples living in the mountains are almost all familiar with poisons and the like.
Xiao Ye took out an Antitoxic Pill. "Take this first. I'll use acupuncture to detoxify you."
"I'll have to trouble you." Jin Mingzhu's eyes burned as she looked at Xiao Ye.
Though her body was weak, her heart was beating faster.
'I like powerful men, especially a responsible man like this.'
'If it weren't for Xiao Ye, if I'd come on this mission by myself, I probably would've just been waiting here to die, or else I'd have had to request a rescue.'
"This poison is rather difficult to expel. It will take a few more acupuncture sessions. I'll treat you again tomorrow."
After just one treatment, Jin Mingzhu already felt much better.
She smiled faintly. "I'll have to trouble you again, then."
'If before, I'd only wanted to be with Xiao Ye, now, I'm determined to have him!'
'A man this young, handsome, and capable—if I don't snatch him up quickly, some other woman is sure to steal him away.'
Jin Mingzhu stared intently at Xiao Ye. 'No matter who his fiancée is, I won't show any mercy!'
'They aren't married yet, anyway. As for who he ends up with, it'll all come down to skill!'
Jin Mingzhu got up and continued to follow behind Xiao Ye.
Upon entering a deeper tomb chamber, Xiao Ye's expression shifted.
Here, he also sensed a Yin-Sha aura. Not only that, but it was mixed with the stench of blood.
Xiao Ye quickened his pace and, sure enough, discovered something amiss on the chamber walls and floor.
There were traces of blood that had seeped into the surfaces, but it had been many years, and only faint stains remained.
"What's wrong?" Seeing his grave expression, Jin Mingzhu's heart sank as well.
'Romance can wait. The most important thing right now is to complete the mission!'
'As a special agent, I have to be responsible for the mission and for my country!'
"I initially thought grave robbers had broken in and destroyed the ancient tomb, but there's a formation here, and it was set up around the same time as the robbery."
"So I suspect the person who robbed the tomb back then is the same person who set all this up."
It dawned on Jin Mingzhu. "You're talking about Jin Que? General He is already investigating. His real name is Zhang Feng."
"He's probably already fled the country. He left several months ago, so tracking him down is a bit difficult. General He's team is still investigating."
Xiao Ye wasn't surprised. It would have been strange if he were that easy to catch.
"Follow me."
Xiao Ye followed the trail of blood all the way to a deeper tomb chamber.
This had to be the main burial chamber.
Aside from a coffin, there was almost nothing left.
The beam of Jin Mingzhu's flashlight flickered across something, and her expression changed drastically.
She quickly turned her wrist, shining the light back where it had just been. "Xiao Ye, look!"
Xiao Ye looked over and was startled to find a corpse!
The corpse was sitting on the ground, leaning forward. Two thick chains behind it were hooked into its shoulder blades.
Although the corpse had weathered over time, shriveled until only a layer of skin and skeleton remained, one could still make out its contorted features—a testament to the immense suffering it must have endured before death.
"What happened here?" Jin Mingzhu moved closer to the corpse and saw that it was bare.
No clothes, no accessories.
However, off to the side, there was leftover food and water, and even an empty mineral water bottle.
Xiao Ye took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then opened them again. His gaze was incomparably cold. "This person was a substitute."
"A substitute? A substitute for whom?"
"A substitute for Master Jinque! The formation here is extremely sinister. Once it's activated, it creates a backlash."
"To avoid suffering the backlash himself, this Jin Que found someone to take his place."
"This person died from that backlash!"
Jin Mingzhu was shocked. "I can't believe such a thing is possible!"
Although she had seen many things, this was the first time she had ever encountered something like this.
"So Jin Que can really escape the backlash? Doesn't that mean... as long as you're powerful enough, you can do things that defy heaven and not have to worry about being punished?"
Xiao Ye sneered. "A substitute might be useful, but only on the condition that it isn't broken."
"We can't touch this substitute yet. Once I catch Jin Que and get his true Bazi, I'll make him understand what true heavenly punishment is!"
"But Jin Que thinks he's hidden himself so well. Little does he know, this is also my chance to find him!"
A substitute isn't so easy to create. It needs to be nurtured with one's own flesh and blood. In short, you have to make the Heavenly Dao believe the substitute is you.
It's a lengthy process, which means Jin Que started cultivating his substitute a long, long time ago.
But the substitute must be hidden well. Otherwise, someone powerful enough can use it to track down the original person.
Nothing in this world is ever perfect. The substitute took on the backlash, but it also left behind a trail!
Jin Que knew this as well, which is why he placed the person in this ancient tomb.
Xiao Ye walked up to the corpse and cut off one of its finger bones.
Jin Mingzhu didn't know what he was about to do, but she didn't interrupt. "Do you need my help?"
"No. Just stay quiet and sit in the northeast corner."
Xiao Ye placed the finger bone in front of him, then took out some items from his bag and began the ritual!
He was going to track Jin Que!
If not for this substitute, finding him would have been much more troublesome.
It just goes to show that everything, down to the smallest action, is governed by fate!
Xiao Ye's discovery of the substitute meant one thing: Jin Que's day of reckoning had come!