Chapter 341 - Pilgrim's Shadow

They followed the person that called them. With a lot of people in their team, almost every space had already been covered. They went to the back of the building where there were more statues.

Surprisingly, there was another clear path leading to a hill. Even though they were still far, they could see that there was a statue on top of it. It was not a tall hill, just a small slope—almost looked like it was manmade.

"What do we have?" Qing Chen asked when they got close enough.

"This," Qing Lok was looking up at the statue.

Qing Chen frowned. "This looks like a foreigner."

Qing Lok shrugged. "I don't understand either."

Qing Chen took in the odd clothes the statue was wearing. It was black and white and there were belts on the waist and the hat. The collars were long. A finger pointing up to the sky. He could perfectly see its real version in his head.

"Pilgrims are travelers, right? Like, they go to holy places?" Feng Xuan asked, also surveying the statue.

"Yeah," Qing Chen breathe out, still puzzled. "I think they came from England."

"'He met a pilgrim shadow'," Qing Lok quoted from the poem of El Dorado. "This is really the place, isn't it?"

Qing Chen ran a hand through his hair and bend down to look at the statue closely, his eyes travelling its length up and down and around. "I don't see where someone could hide something here."

"Do you think we should push it over?" Wuming said from behind, entering the scene with Addison and Liu Meilien. 

"And see if there's something underneath?" Addison asked. "I don't think so."

Qing Chen also did not like the idea. Another thing was that, if they pushed it over, the statue would surely fall down the small hill. But what the hell? They came all the way here. "Screw it," he said as he saw that the sun was close to setting.

"Can we really push it though?" Qing Lok asked. "Aren't these things rooted from the ground or something?"

"It's not a tree," Wuming said, already rolling the sleeves. "Come on, let's try."

Everyone found a spot to put their hands on the statue. When everyone was in position, Qing Chen gave the order, "Alright, on three… one… two… three."

All of them gave their all but the statue did not budge.

"Put your back into it!" Wuming groaned, and they all pushed a little harder.

It made no difference.

They released and all huffed a tired breath. Wuming was cursing.

"It's not a tree, huh?" Qing Lok asked Wuming with sarcasm.

Wuming only glared at his youngest brother and turned to Qing Chen. "Just how long would it take before we could order something to bulldoze this thing or something? It looks like there is something underneath it."

Qing Chen waved to one of their people and ordered, "Get me something that would push this statue off, probably something that would excavate this small hill. Get permits and everything. I want them all here tonight. I don't care how much it costs. Get them in a helicopter or what. Make it possible."

"On it."

They all fell into silence for quite a while, thinking about their next move. "What are we supposed to do now?" Feng Xuan asked. "Should we just wait?"

"Let's look for other things." Qing Chen started ordering people around again. 

The sun was starting to set and he was thinking that they would be needing electricity or something that would give them light for their search. He was already considering the possibility of staying the night there.

He was going to stick to his words. He was not going to leave this place until they checked everything that could possibly lead to his mother's status.

But just then, the sun went down behind them and created a shadow from the statue. It was only Qing Chen who noticed that the point of the finger was suddenly pointing to another statue. Unlike the others at its side. This one was still whole.

Qing Chen was already running before he even realized what he was doing. All his mind was whispering was "pilgrim's shadow, pilgrim's shadow, pilgrim's shadow".

That has to be it, he thought in his head. THAT has to be it. It had to be.

Everyone else looked at each other before bolting right after Qing Chen, throwing him questions, "What is it?" "what did you see?"

But Qing Chen could not answer. His mind was flying with adrenaline. He just wanted this to be the answer. Just then, he realized just how tired and desparate he was for this to be the final thing—that this was really it. The endgame of all this running around. 

It was a statue of a woman, carrying a basket. On her other hand, was a rose It was like she was frozen in a moment that she was trying to give someone a flower.

When he reached the statue, he quickly rounded it, looking for something that was suspicious, but everything just looked like it was made out of marble. Nothing else. He tried knocking on it. It was solid.

Everyone was just watching him make his observation.

He placed his hands on his h.i.p.s, giving up. He was going to label it as a wrong thought when he saw the nameplate at the bottom of the statue. It already rusted.

He tried to toe it and at first it didn't move with all the tarnish. But when he hit it harder, there was something hollow that sounded.

It was as if all of them sighed in relief.

"Get me someone who can open this," he ordered aloud.

Feng Xuan looked as nervous as he was. Qing Chen's heart was on his stomach. He was pretty sure of that. He could not even feel his face.

Minutes later when the nameplate was opened, there was really something stored inside.