Tomb Raider: I Can Hear Antiques Talk

Liu Qiang found a job as a courier, going through wind and rain every day. Although it was hard work, the advantage was that he did not need an academic degree and no one cared about his past.

With his youth, energy, brains and sweet mouth, he soon had several regular customers who appointed him to deliver goods. These customers are all engaged in e-commerce business and have a large volume of shipments, so Xiao Ran's monthly income can be around yuan. After excluding some unmentionable expenses, he can still have to yuan left, which is considered Quite a few.

He has no parents to support, and he is only in his early twenties and has not considered saving for a wife for the time being. As for buying a house or a car... he basically doesn't consider it in Shenbu City.

Therefore, his income is basically used to improve his living standard. He has a complete set of basic necessities, food, housing, and transportation. He can still have a thousand pocket money left every month, and he lives a leisurely life.

The days pass by, exhausted and fulfilled. However, thunder often breaks out and showers often clear up. Liu Qiang encounters a strange thing, something that makes him unable to stay in Shenbu any longer.

That night, after delivering the express delivery and eating midnight snacks, he returned to the one-bedroom apartment where he was exhausted. Looking at his unshaven self in the mirror, he took a hasty shower and then started shaving with a razor.

"Only sissies use electric ones, but gentlemen should use knives to point at their faces!"

The climate in Shenbu is humid all year round, and the slightly damp and rusty razor will inevitably hurt when you shave your face. Not sure if he was too sleepy, his hand shook and he scratched his chin, and a few drops of blood flowed down his neck to his chest.

"Hiss...I X..."

Liu Qiang hurriedly wiped it with paper. Unexpectedly, he wiped it in the wrong direction and tore the wound, which made him grimace in pain. He immediately made a decision to buy an electric shaver after his salary was paid next month.

As for a pure man... he is reluctant to invest in himself, so what kind of man are he?

After finally cleaning up and stopping the bleeding, Liu Qiang yawned and rolled onto the bed. He read a few novels on his phone and felt sleepy.

I don't know how long I slept, but a familiar voice suddenly came to my mind.

"Old Xiao...Old Xiao..."

Liu Qiang stood up suddenly and found that he didn't know where he was. The surroundings were dark, and only a light falling from the sky in front of him illuminated the back of a person.

He moved forward carefully, gradually approaching until he was one meter away from his back. The man had long silver hair, hanging down his shoulders, and was wearing a gray and white robe.

A name flashed in Liu Qiang's mind, and he blurted it out with his eyes widened.

"Gandalf...Gandalf?!"

The man suddenly turned around, his face with a white beard and white eyebrows showing a mixture of sadness and joy. He trembled his lips and said, "Uncle Gan, it's me! Xiaojiu! Bei Jiuguo!"

"蓓......九霙?" Liu Qiang was confused.

"Tell me about you, why can't you make another blood sacrifice? I've been waiting for you to drip blood on me. Do you know how long I've been waiting?" Bai Jiukuo almost burst into tears.

Seeing that Liu Qiang still looked confused, Bai Jiuguo wiped his face and said to him hurriedly: "We don't have much time, I'll keep it short. You succeeded! The sky dial turned, the time wall was broken, and the world over there moved forward." Let’s go! We are all waiting for you, come back quickly!”

"Back? Back to where?" Liu Qiang's eyes suddenly widened, "Back to the novel?!"

"You are my ancestor! I have to leave. Remember, if you find the point where time and space meet, you can go back. Remember!"

After saying this, Bei Jiuguo pushed Liu Qiang hard. Liu Qiang felt like he was falling into an abyss, falling towards the darkness.

"Ahhh!"

Liu Qiang woke up with a cry and fell from the bed to the ground, his whole body soaked in sweat. He grabbed the pendant on his chest. The blood from scratching his chin last night still remained on it, and it had dried to dark brown.

"The intersection of time and space...the intersection of time and space..."

Liu Qiang muttered this word. He thought it was ridiculous. There couldn't really be time travel, right? Or has the sequelae of his brain twitching recurred after his car accident?

He looked at the pendant, which had no luster at all, and couldn't connect it with the old man with the white beard. But in the dream travel story when she was in a coma, Bai Jiukuo looked like this...

So what? No matter last time or this time, it was all in his own mind, so it’s no wonder they look the same...

His mind was in a mess, and the alarm clock had already gone off, so he had to go back to deliver the courier with dark circles under his eyes.

But today he couldn't stabilize his thoughts at all. When he saw the recipient named Hu, he would think of Hu Bayi. When he saw the chubby customer, he would think of Fatty. He accidentally changed the sender and recipient addresses of one of the orders. It was reversed, but fortunately it was discovered in time.

He reminded himself to cheer up and thought about the ancient city of Jingjue...

Liu Qiang had to stop what he was doing. He felt that he had to solve this matter, even if it was to satisfy his curiosity and end the last illusion.

He thought about it in his mind and finally decided to start from the Panjiayuan Antique Market in Zhaojing. After all, that was the starting point of all stories.

He hastily asked for leave, bought a high-speed rail ticket, arrived in Zhaojing after a night, and took a taxi non-stop to Panjiayuan Antique Market.

"Antique market? Where can I find one? It's all been renovated..."

The driver said so and took him to the former site of Panjiayuan. As soon as he got off the car, Liu Qiang was completely dumbfounded.

The once densely populated shops and street stalls have turned into crisscrossing roads and several tall buildings, with the "Glasses City" sign above them particularly eye-catching.

"As expected... it's not here... we can't really go to Western Xinjiang, Northeast China, or find some kind of Tibetan God Bureau..."

Liu Qiang was walking along the roadside blankly. He suddenly had a strange feeling that the roads and directions here were somewhat familiar. He seemed to be able to tell whose shop or street stall had been there, and a sense of time travel from the past to the present came to his face.

This also made him waver again. He had never been to Zhaojing before, so why was he so familiar with it? How could the illusion in the dream perfectly construct a scene that did not exist in his mind?

Xiao Ran was walking on the side of the road thoughtfully, watching the cars passing by on the road beside him. He passed a fast food restaurant, and a scent of oil wafted from it.

The deep memory was awakened again. This was the smell that I had smelled countless times in the long dream when I was in a coma.

That's the smell of fried dough sticks in Fang Sao's snack bar.

Looking up, he saw four "Fanglin Soy Milk" hanging in front of the door. He suddenly became curious and wanted to go in and take a look. But before she had time to step onto the steps, a little girl of seven or eight years old ran out of the store, crying and rushing towards the road.

"Stop! Just say a few words and run away!"

A woman wearing an apron ran out of the store immediately. The moment Liu Qiang saw the woman's face, he froze as if struck by lightning.

He would not admit his mistake, that was Lingling, Lingling in her thirties, the daughter of Sister Fang. She just grew taller, and the corners of her eyes were tattooed with two fishtails from time and hard work.

When Lingling saw him, she was stunned for a moment. His eyes seemed to see an old friend that she couldn't remember for a moment.

But Lingling was just stunned for a moment, then hurriedly turned her face forward. At this moment, the anger on her face was replaced by panic.

"Stop! Look at the car!"

A cry with a cry came out of her mouth. Liu Qiang turned around and saw the child running across the green belt to the road. It was impossible for the speeding car to pay attention to this figure, and it did not slow down.

Liu Qiang didn't care about anything and ran towards the little girl with all his strength. When a car was about to rush in front of him, he grabbed the child and threw him back to the roadside.

But the inertia made it too late for him to stop. He fell down on the road, and when he turned around, he saw the wheels crushing him.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. She saw Lingling slumped on the roadside, holding her safe and sound child in her arms, her face full of shock. Two lines of tears shed from her wide eyes, and her lips opened and closed as if she was shouting "Uncle Xiao"...

Today...what day is today? By the way, if we talk about the month and day, it was when he heard that his parents were missing, drove out alone, and encountered a car accident.

However, it seemed that the rolling wheels rolled him under the car without mercy. Before he could hear the sound of his bones breaking, his eyes fell into darkness. “The intersection of time and space…the intersection of time and space…”

……

"Liu Er, open the door..."

"Hey, Mr. Jin, is it done?"

"Hey, I came here just as Boss Xiao asked me to do. I showed him my watch and the things unearthed in Futou Village. That guy from the Wu family is really a dog-faced guy and he didn't give me any good looks. , I really thought I didn’t know he was filming secretly..."

"Then where should we go next?"

"Let me see... go to this place, his third uncle's house! After finishing this matter, Mr. Jin, I will return to the United States..."

In the haze, Liu Qiang seemed to hear two people chatting. They called each other "Liu Er" and "Jin Ye". He sat up suddenly, shook his head to focus his blurred vision, and found that he was sitting in the back seat of a car. There was some kind of maintenance machine used by plant people next to him. He was very familiar with this thing.

When the two people in the front row heard something moving behind them, they quickly turned their heads and looked at him in shock, then their faces blossomed with surprise and joy.

"Hey! Boss Xiao, no, I should call you Director Xiao now. You are very punctual. You really woke up today when you said you would wake up today!"

The one speaking in the passenger seat is Da Jinya, an elderly version of Da Jinya. Except for the gold tooth in his mouth, the rest of his mouth was stained black or yellow by tobacco and alcohol. His sparse gray hair was combed back, and except for the folds of his smile, there were age spots on his face.

"Chairman! You are really awake! I thought Lord Jin was teasing me. Can you still recognize me? You haven't seen me for almost twenty years this time! I, Liu Er, Liu Shengli!"

The person holding the steering wheel was a fat, middle-aged man with a red face, wearing a large casual suit. He had a gold watch, gold rings and rosewood bracelets on his hands. A gold chain as thick as a finger was exposed from the open collar.

Although he is fatter and older, there is no doubt that he is Liu Shengli.

He moved his eyes to the middle again, where the time showed 2003.

"Old Xiao! Well done, I knew you would come back!"

"Good man!"

"Bayan!"

"Stinky boy!"

"Brothers!"

There was a lot of noise in his ears, and some unknown voices came from the pocket beside him. They were familiar and full of unrepressed enthusiasm.

"I...I am..." Liu Qiang was a little confused.

Da Jinya and Liu Shengli looked at each other and smiled bitterly as if they were not surprised. Da Jinya said to Liu Shengli: "You drive first, and I will tell Master Xiao what happened before..."

According to Da Jinya's story, Liu Qiang - or Xiao Ran - learned that he had fallen into a coma since he went to Changbai Mountain last time and was rescued by Hu Bayi and others. Later, Hu Bayi, Fatty, Shirly Yang and others discovered an eye-shaped curse on their bodies, so they decided to look for the legendary Muchen Bead.

In those years, he would wake up suddenly like now, and after helping Hu Bayi and others at critical moments, he would continue to fall into a coma. And every time he wakes up, he will leave a lot of effective suggestions to help everyone make their business bigger and bigger.

Until 1984, when they returned from Wu Gorge and decided to wash their hands, Xiao Ran fell into the last and longest coma. Under Shirley Yang's arrangement, he was sent to the United States for treatment and care, and his parents also went to the United States to take care of themselves. The domestic business was left to Liu Shengli to take care of.

With some information he had left behind and the training and help from Da Jinya and others, Liu Shengli really did a great job in the store's business. Just a few years ago, Baorongzhai established a limited liability company, Xiao Ran became the chairman, and general manager Liu Shengli was responsible for the specific business.

According to his instructions when he woke up for the last time, they were to come to Hangzhou today to find a local family named Wu and hand over some things to them. Moreover, Xiao Ran said at that time that he must come with him, and that he would wake up again on this day.

Xiao Ran listened to Da Jinya's rough narration and once again felt the rush of memory. He thought of himself waking up time and time again, rushing into the Worm Valley with Hu Bayi, looking for the Xian King, breaking the curse, and returning to the ruins.

It turns out those were not dreams, they were all real!

At this time, Bai Jiuguo had already helped Xiao Ran adjust his energy and blood and regain his physical strength. Xiao Ran felt that there were still some missing memories that had not been retrieved, so he asked Da Jinya: "What about... Yingzi?"

"Hey, that girl... the first time you woke up and told her not to wait for you, the girl cried miserably, and then said she would never see you again in this life. She later won several domestic and international shooting championships. Now he is a national-level shooting coach, but I heard he is still single." Da Jinya said.

Xiao Ran was silent for a while and then asked: "What about Xu Er?"

Liu Shengli, who was driving the car, happily answered: "That boy is so impressive. The year you came back from Changbai Mountain, he suddenly woke up and somehow learned Kung Fu. When you were in a coma, he took you with him. Those things were sold to Dou'er, and a lot of good stuff was obtained. Even Mr. Jin and Mr. Hu benefited a lot. Didn't he go to Yunnan and the South China Sea with you later? These were the first few times. I told you.

"Who on the road to the north doesn't know the name of Mr. Xu, the 'Magic Bullet'? He is now the deputy general manager of our company, and he has also accepted a nephew of Fatty as his apprentice. I will go south to work with you this time. He I'm sitting in the north, and you asked me to bring all your old friends with me, you will definitely need them."

"Speaking of Fatty's cousin, he is exactly the same as Fatty. He can't do anything and is the first in trouble. He insisted on following him when he went south this time, but I didn't agree..." Big Jinya said with emotion.

Xiao Ran remembered what Liu Shengli said, and also remembered that the blood he had dripped into Xu Er's medicine pool had an effect, and he felt relieved.

"Then...my second uncle..." Xiao Ran asked carefully.

"Yes! Here we go again!" Da Jinya smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Every time I ask, everyone thinks you are bewitched by a ghost. Where did you get your second uncle? If you don't have that kind of person, your parents can do it. To testify, why don’t you make an overseas phone call later and ask..."

Xiao Ran felt a little sad. It seemed that there was no cycle this time. Instead, the cycle was broken and time and space were re-cleaned and grafted, completely erasing the second uncle.

While talking, Liu Shengli parked the car on the side of the road and looked at an antique shop across the road, while Da Jinya handed a wallet to Xiao Ran.

"Master Xiao, it's not a big deal that you haven't aged in the past twenty years. Miss Yang gave you a new identity over there. You are now Xiao Ran's son, your parents' grandson. Xiao Ran has died of illness, your The new name is Xiao Qiang, and here are the ID cards and passports..." Da Jinya said.

"Xiao...Qiang?!"

A feeling of emotion and relief came to my heart. If this was really Xiao Ran's world in front of me, then Liu Qiang from before was indeed the second uncle's true body. Unexpectedly, he could realize the inheritance and rebirth of his second uncle in such an identity.

Da Jinya smiled and said: "Yes, Fatty's idea is to say that you are blessed with good fortune and that you are an unbeatable Xiaoqiang. It's a joke in the movie. Xiaoqiang Xiaoqiang, isn't this Xiao Qiang~ I said Master Xiao, since you When you wake up, you can handle the rest by yourself?"

"Well! Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Jin. Leave the rest to me."

Xiao Ran got out of the car with the bag of artifacts and took a breath of Hangzhou's air. It felt much fresher than Zhaojing's. He also remembered that he came to Hangzhou on this day of the year to find an old friend and start a new journey.

He strode across the street and walked into the antique store. He saw a man in his fifties lying on a rocking chair and rocking, humming a Yue opera.

"...Sister Lin fell from the sky~like a light cloud just emerging from Xiu..."

Xiao Ran coughed slightly, put the bag in front of the rocking chair, and asked in a low voice: "Boss, can you accept the antiques?"

The man slowly opened his eyes and saw Xiao Ran's face, and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

Immediately, both of them grinned with evil smiles...

(Finish)

(End of this chapter)