God-Level Special Forces Soldier

Chapter 397: Chapter 394: Old Secrets from Years Past

Xiao Tian pressed the answer button and heard Yu Ningxue say directly, ”The Double Fish Jade Pendant is probably not as simple as we thought!”

”Oh? How so?” Hearing Yu Ningxue’s serious tone, Xiao Tian, who originally wanted to joke a bit, also got serious.

”The group of thieves we captured belong to different factions and countries, you know that, right?” Yu Ningxue said, ”We just finished interrogating them. They didn’t say much, but almost all of them mentioned one word...”

”Double Fish Jade Pendant?” Xiao Tian interrupted.

”Yes, how is it on your end?” Yu Ningxue asked worriedly, ”Is everything going smoothly? Are you okay? Are you injured?”

Xiao Tian said, ”I’m fine, but the Jade Pendant was already taken by the time I arrived!”

”What happened?”

”I was planning to retrieve the Jade Pendant, but halfway through, I encountered an energy stone,” Xiao Tian said helplessly. ”In the end, I forgot about it, and by the time I remembered, the enemy had escaped, but I know who has it now, so don’t worry.”

”What energy stone?” Yu Ningxue was somewhat puzzled.

Xiao Tian looked at the ambulance parked at the alley entrance and said, ”I’ll explain it to you later. It’s not clear at the moment. I have something to do now, so I’ll hang up first!” Saying that, he was about to hang up.

After thinking it over, Xiao Tian decided not to tell Yu Ningxue about going to the hospital. Otherwise, after his last disappearance, his beautiful master would certainly think he was injured, and he didn’t want to worry her by not telling her.

”Wait!” Yu Ningxue hurriedly said, ”There’s one more thing; those three robbers have somewhat unusual identities!”

Listening to Yu Ningxue and looking at the man lying motionless on the ground beside him, Xiao Tian helplessly asked, ”What’s so unusual? Is he some oil tycoon or a chieftain of an African tribe?”

”Don’t joke around,” Yu Ningxue said seriously. ”The Double Fish Jade Pendant is related to the Peng Jiamu disappearance case, and one of those three robbers is Peng Jiamu’s grandson, named Peng Qi...”

After hanging up, Xiao Tian got a bit serious. All factions were eyeing that piece of the Jade Pendant, or more precisely, half of the Jade Pendant, and even Peng Jiamu’s descendants targeted the pendant. What secret lies within?

Moreover, could the other half of the Jade Pendant be in the hands of those people or factions?

Soon, Yu Ningxue sent over Peng Qi’s information. Looking at the man in the photo and then at the unconscious person beside him, Xiao Tian’s lips curled into a slight smile. It seemed his luck wasn’t bad.

...

In the hospital, Peng Qi awoke, looking at Xiao Tian with a guarded expression, and asked, ”Who are you?”

Xiao Tian smiled and said, ”Have you lost your memory? I just saved your life, and besides, earlier in the venue...”

”You’re that cop?” Peng Qi looked at Xiao Tian, recalling earlier in the venue, Xiao Tian single-handedly fought off robbers from various countries, and was so stunned he couldn’t speak.

After a long time, he finally remembered that this person in front of him saved him and hurriedly expressed his thanks, ”Thank you for saving my life, but I have two brothers, and they were injured by that Black-clothed man earlier. Could I ask for your help to save them too?!”

Peng Qi grasped at this lifeline, looking at Xiao Tian with a hopeful expression.

Seeing Xiao Tian’s prolonged silence, Peng Qi realized that asking for help immediately after being saved might not be appropriate, given that Xiao Tian had already done him a great favor.

”I can help, but before that, how much do you know about the Double Fish Jade Pendant?” Xiao Tian’s eyes fixed intently on Peng Qi, capturing the momentary panic in Peng Qi’s eyes when he mentioned the Jade Pendant.

Peng Qi felt a chill within; he had just escaped a dragon’s pool only to fall into a tiger’s den. In recent years, the Jade Pendant hardly attracted attention, yet now it had become a coveted treasure, and he lacked the strength to protect it.

While thinking this over, Xiao Tian spoke again, ”You took the Jade Pendant from the venue, and after learning this, I went to the dock where you were preparing to escape, but someone got there first. You know what this means, right?”

Peng Qi shuddered, fully understanding Xiao Tian’s implication. After he leaked information about the Jade Pendant, both the police represented by Xiao Tian and the forces behind the Black-clothed man who attacked him almost simultaneously got the information, and even those forces acted faster than the police.

Now, here he was, in a hospital?...

”Alright!”

Peng Qi gritted his teeth; he knew that he might as well tell Xiao Tian about the Jade Pendant, as Xiao Tian had just saved him and was unlikely to harm him.

Conversely, even if he didn’t tell Xiao Tian, would those people spare him? So he decided to choose the lesser of two evils.

”My grandfather is the Peng Jiamu who disappeared in the desert all those years ago!”

Peng Qi began, ”As for the Double Fish Jade Pendant, nothing is more widely spread than my grandfather’s disappearance.”

”Back then, when my grandfather disappeared in the desert, the military deployed thousands to search repeatedly, to no avail. When everyone had given up, my grandfather suddenly returned, full of energy, without the usual signs of desert wanderers like dry lips and dehydration.”

Peng Qi pondered, as he spoke slowly, ”But from that day on, my grandfather seemed to become a different person, forgetting his lifestyle habits, professional knowledge—all forgotten.”

”In any case, finding him was good news, and everyone was pleased.” At this point, Peng Qi paused and, with a mysterious tone, asked, ”Guess what happened next?”

Xiao Tian, watching from the side, listened to Peng Qi’s narration, comparing it with versions circulated online, still remained silent. He knew he didn’t need to answer.

Sure enough, Peng Qi continued talking to himself, ”On the way back, one evening, it suddenly started raining heavily, and my grandfather, like desert sand under the watch of tens of thousands of eyes... melted!”

Upon hearing this, a word suddenly popped into Xiao Tian’s mind: ”Clone?”

Peng Qi, surprised, looked at Xiao Tian, ”You’ve heard of it?”

Xiao Tian nodded, indicating Peng Qi to continue.

Peng Qi took the cup of water beside him, sipped twice, and continued, ”At first, I didn’t believe it, but later found out that on the night my grandfather disappeared, two people with him witnessed it firsthand.”

”Through various inquiries, I learned that one of them had died, so I found the only surviving person,” Peng Qi said somewhat ruefully, ”An elderly man with no children, I found him in a nursing home.”

”I asked him what exactly happened on the night Peng Jiamu disappeared. Initially, he refused to say, just assuming I was one of those idle curiosity seekers and evaded, insisting those stories were false, telling me not to believe them.”

I had to reveal my identity as Peng Jiamu’s grandson, and the old man, after contemplating for a long time, told me a shocking hypothesis...