The Lost Tomb : Extras & Special Stories

(Extra Story: 2017 Chinese New Year Special) Chapter 4: Little Things Happened

The strange thing that Little Brother Zhang mentioned was that almost all the times were concentrated before the '90s, but there was only one date that was very far away from the others.

It was a time stamp for January 26th of next year.

"I don't know what happened during those other times, because I didn't find anything peculiar in the news. But I know that this last date must be different, because it was separated from all the others by almost thirty years."

"What's going to happen on January 26th? And where would it happen?" I asked.

"I didn't know at first, but I've been thinking over this problem for decades. I have a long-standing and very strong intuition. Whatever is going on with this time stamp wouldn't happen just anywhere. It should only happen in one place."

"Why do you say that?"

"If what happened at these times was distributed all over the world, then he should have at least put the coordinates down. But he didn't. He only put the time. And it was extremely precise too, which shows that it's very likely that all these things were happening in one place. This enabled me to find the only clue in the absence of other clues. I needed to find a place where special things happened at these times."

"Just say it. Did you find it?"

"I found it." Little Brother Zhang flicked his tongue, "It's in Nanjing."

I twisted the little ring on my thumb. Nanjing was my next destination. After the New Year, I was planning on going to Nanjing to stay for a bit while I looked for my Uncle Three. Was it a coincidence that this young guy—no, this old man—suddenly said this?

Little Brother Zhang continued, "I also found out what happened at those times. I was very surprised, since what happened was so insignificant that we wouldn't care even if it happened several times a day."

"What was it?" Fatty couldn't help asking.

Little Brother Zhang looked up with a puzzled expression on his face. "But this matter has become extremely bizarre, you know? That man had carved so many dates and predicted hundreds of little things that would happen in the future, but no matter how small it was, it was a very accurate prediction."

"What's the little thing?" Fatty asked again.

"You want to know? You have to take me to see him." Little Brother Zhang suddenly stopped his story and began negotiating the terms. "At that time, I had completed all the necessary preparations for the plan. As long as he nodded his head, the Zhangs would immediately return to their heyday. I waited for him to nod, but he disappeared in the end. As a result, I waited for decades."

I narrowed my eyes when I saw his persistent expression, "Is the Zhang family really that good? Your tattoo is a Qiong Qi [1], you're a foreigner, and you're just as afraid of mosquitoes as I am."

Little Brother Zhang' s eyes seemed to dim a little and he looked at the beer bottle in his hand, "If you know everything, then you should also know how the Zhang family treated him. I just want him to be the Zhang Qiling like he deserves."

I suddenly came up with an idea and said firmly, "Hey, why don't you be Zhang Qiling? You royalists might as well go back and play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever wins can be Zhang Qiling and fulfill the great cause of the Zhang family. How about changing his name to Zhang Goudan [2] now?"

He looked at me with a face that had turned the color of pork liver, "Zhang Goudan?"

I nodded and immediately made a defensive move when I saw that the blade under his tongue looked like it was going to fly directly at my forehead. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, "We'll set that aside. What we really need to discuss is what comes later. Can you remember this? On January 26th, something will happen in Nanjing. If my theory is correct, then it's a small matter. But this small matter was predicted a long time ago."