Chapter 49 The Vault

"Boss Hu is dead?!"
Cai Kun exclaimed in shock.
Zhou Fan raised his eyes, sighed, and explained, "This afternoon, we received news from above." The "above" he referred to naturally meant the mysterious and powerful figure who had bailed them out of the police station last time.
"Hu Xiansheng, Boss Hu, is dead. The cause of death is the same as yours just now—found kneeling on the ground with a billiard cue driven into the back of his head."
Fan Biao took over the conversation, his voice deep. "That fellow reached out to us; we owed him a favor and couldn't brush him off, so we had to go check the scene."
There was little expression on his face, but Le Dong could sense a hint of impatience in his tone. "When we arrived at the Hu family villa, the scene was bizarre. We preliminarily ruled out the possibility of Steward Ma and the others breaking out of prison for revenge—the timeline doesn't match, and the method is completely different."
"According to fragmentary confessions from his bodyguards," Zhou Fan added, his expression somewhat strange, "before Boss Hu died, they seemed to hear him scream in terror about something like 'gold...'
And just as we were investigating, another report came in. The owner of a jewelry store in downtown has also died! His state of death was remarkably similar to Boss Hu's!"
"The jewelry store owner?"
Le Dong and Cai Kun felt their hearts skip a beat. They instinctively looked at each other, seeing both terror and sudden realization in each other's eyes.
Seeing their uneasy expressions, Fan Biao nodded and said, "Moreover, gold bars of the exact same specification as the ones found at Boss Hu's home were recovered from his jewelry store. In other words, anyone who accepts this kind of gold... will be haunted by malevolent spirits!"
Hearing this, Le Dong lowered his head with a complex expression. Flashing through his mind were the faces of the deceased Daoist Priest Zhao, Boss Hu, and the jewelry store owner, instantly shattering any remaining shred of wishful thinking he had harbored.
Seeing this, Fan Biao did not mince words and pressed further, "This situation immediately made us think of both of you!"
"Did you two take the 'token of gratitude' from the Hu family last time, and then sell it to that black-market jewelry store owner? Wenwen mentioned this to us as well."
Le Dong nodded with difficulty. "Yes... we sold it all..."
"Hmph! Your fateful escape should have severed the karmic ties, but you failed to guard against your own greed!"
Fan Biao couldn't help but rebuke them, and was about to say more when Zhou Fan stopped him.
"Regardless, the problem lies right here now! That gold probably carries the 'curse' of the Hu family. Whoever takes it, whoever spends it, is likely to be targeted by that old ghost. We immediately called you to warn you to be careful, but..."
"But your phones wouldn't go through no matter what!" Zhou Fan's tone carried a trace of lingering fear. "It was constantly busy or just rang without being answered! Sensing something was wrong, we immediately used our police connections to track the last known location of your phones, and found out you had moved here.
We drove all the way at top speed, and right as we reached the intersection, we saw the monstrous yin energy surging over your courtyard! If we had been even a second later..."
The rest remained unsaid, but Le Dong and Cai Kun understood clearly.
Le Dong pulled out his phone to check, and sure enough, the screen was densely packed with dozens of missed calls, all from Fan Biao and Zhou Fan!
Yet the phone had clearly been on with the ringer enabled, and yet it hadn't rung at all. Could it be that they were being interfered with by that old ghost? If so, hadn't that old ghost targeted them long ago?
Seeing Le Dong fall into deep thought, Fan Biao waved his hand, his tone heavy. "Alright, now is not the time to dwell on that. The top priority is to figure out what is going on with this gold's curse. We probably have to go back to the Hu family villa!"
"Go back?!" Hearing the mention of the Hu family villa, Cai Kun's face turned green, his voice verging on tears. "Go back to that ghost-infested place?"
Le Dong's scalp was also tingling with dread, but thinking of the foolish thing he had done, he gritted his teeth. "I'll go with you! Old Cai, you..."
"I... I'll go too!" As terrified as Cai Kun was, he was even more afraid of being left alone in this newly rented "home" that had just been visited by a malevolent spirit.
Le Dong nodded, immediately sent a reassuring message to his wife, and followed Fan Biao into the rain-drenched night.
When they arrived at the Hu family villa, the exterior was already surrounded by a tight cluster of vehicles with flashing police lights, and police tape stretched far and wide.
A tall woman wearing a slim-fitting black trench coat and a stern expression stepped forward to greet them first.
Seeing Fan Biao and Zhou Fan, she nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over Le Dong and Cai Kun with a hint of scrutiny.
"Master Fan, Master Zhou," the woman's voice was crisp, cold, and possessed the professional efficiency of someone strictly on duty. "I am Lin Xun. Mr. Chen sent me to assist you and follow up on this case." The Mr. Chen she referred to was undoubtedly that influential figure.
Fan Biao nodded, dispensing with pleasantries. "What's the situation?"
"The body has already been transported away for a detailed autopsy. Preliminary investigations show no obvious signs of forced entry or struggle inside the villa. Hu Xiansheng died in his own study, his facial expression extremely terrified and distorted."
Lin Xun stated concisely, "Furthermore, during a more thorough search, we discovered an extremely covert underground entrance leading to a... vault."
"A vault?" Zhou Fan and Fan Biao exchanged glances.
"Yes, please follow me." Lin Xun turned to lead the way, her steps brisk and decisive.
The group passed through the police-controlled villa lobby and arrived at an unassuming corner of the study adorned with a massive oil painting.
Lin Xun pressed several spots on the wall behind the painting, and accompanied by a low mechanical whirring sound, the wall silently slid inward, revealing a deep, downward-sloping, carpeted staircase.
Descending the staircase, the space suddenly opened up. Under the brilliant lighting, the scene before Le Dong and Cai Kun caused them to sharply gasp in breath!
This was a massive underground space constructed from heavy alloy.
There was nothing else inside—only gold, neat stacks of gold bars! Like bricks, they were piled into small, shocking mountains!
"Hiss..."
Cai Kun couldn't help but gasp in amazement, his eyes glued wide. Le Dong was equally shocked; was this the wealth of the Hu family? No wonder Steward Ma had plotted for so many years.
He had previously wondered how Steward Ma planned to inherit the wealth after killing Boss Hu, but now it seemed that Steward Ma must have known about this space as well.
"Preliminary estimates suggest the gold reserves here are staggering," Lin Xun's voice echoed somewhat hollowly inside the vault. "This also helps me understand why the Hu family made their fortune through precious metals."
"Mm..."
Fan Biao gave a soft hum. Neither he nor Zhou Fan were dazzled by this mountain of gold. Their gazes swept across every corner of the vault, their brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
"Officer Lin," Fan Biao spoke in a deep voice, echoing through the vault, "can the origin of these gold bars be traced?"
"We are already looking into it... but whether there will be any results, I cannot say, because these gold bars look... ancient..."
Lin Xun's reply made Fan Biao knit his brows even tighter. He thought for a moment and decided to voice his assessment:
"These gold bars... are likely the root of the disaster. The deaths of Hu Xiansheng and the jewelry store owner, as well as the attack on Le Dong and the others earlier, probably stem from right here. Whoever takes them will be haunted."
Hearing this, Lin Xun knitted her delicate brows, a hint of gravity crossing her stern face.
She glanced around the chilling mountain of gold, offering no rebuttal, implicitly accepting Fan Biao's judgment.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Zhou Fan, who had walked over to observe the stack of gold bars, let out a light sound of surprise.
His gaze was suddenly drawn to an inconspicuous gap at the bottom of the gold bar pile, where something seemed to be wedged.
"I found something here!"