The Northern Emperor’s tomb was, indeed, exactly where Zhen Jiu’er had said it would be.

After a thousand years of weathering, the place had long since been half-buried by dust and time.

The reason Jiu’er had said it was here wasn’t because she’d actually known.

She didn’t even know which emperor the Northern Emperor’s tomb belonged to.

But she did know that, generation after generation, the emperors of the Kingdom of Bei Mu had all been buried here after death.

The imperial mausoleum grounds.

“Someone’s been here.”

At the mausoleum entrance, Zhen Jiu’er found traces that had been cleared away but not entirely erased.

Yan Qiu happened to walk up behind her just then. Jiu’er shrugged, somewhat helpless. “This is a cluster of imperial tombs. Once you find this area, it isn’t hard to spot the entrance to this particular mausoleum. It’s not that anyone leaked anything.”

Yan Qiu looked a little uneasy, gave a light cough, and then smiled at her. “Sorry—no suspicion today.”

“So yesterday, you did suspect me?”

“That’s…”

But Jiu’er didn’t wait for his response. She turned and walked over to Lu Beicheng instead. “Ninth Master, can we go in and take a look?”

Professor Xiao, his two students, and his assistant were all already hard at work trying to find a way into the mausoleum, each of them looking about ready to burst into tears of excitement.

A small, unrecorded continent. A nation with no records left behind. A stretch of history lost to humankind.

If they could successfully bring this piece of history to light, it would be a landmark achievement for every one of them.

Still, Yan Qiu had said there might be someone from the tomb robbers embedded in the archaeological team—but who could it possibly be?

Zhen Jiu’er’s gaze drifted over each of them in turn.

Professor Xiao; the professor’s female assistant, Xia Zi; third-year graduate student Xiao Shengyuan; first-year graduate student He Muling; the female doctor, Ren Qiqi; wilderness survival expert Meng Xiao; and the photographer, Su Nan.

Finally, her gaze settled on Lu Beicheng. “May we?”

Jiu’er didn’t understand the permits and regulations of this era—for now, she could only defer entirely to Lu Beicheng.

“No damage, nothing taken for yourselves. You may.” Lu Beicheng could see the excitement and emotion in her eyes, and something flickered across his own gaze as well.

At last, he flicked his fingertips lightly. “Don’t do anything reckless.”

Jiu’er’s heart gave a sudden, sharp lurch.

That tone of his… so very much like an elder’s mix of doting affection and helpless exasperation toward a child—it resembled Ninth Imperial Uncle so closely, so very closely!

For a moment, an indescribable ache welled up in her chest, and she quickly turned her face away, not wanting him to see the small crack in her composure.

Lu Beicheng watched her back, something stirring in the depths of his eyes, unreadable.

In the end, he looked away, his expression returning to its usual cool detachment, not a trace of feeling left in his gaze.

“Miss Zhen, could you help me figure out how many people’s footprints these are?” Yan Qiu had by now realized this girl was something of a hidden treasure.

“One,” Jiu’er answered at once, without even thinking.

“How could that be? There are so many…”

“Just one.” Jiu’er shot him a look. “Believe it or not.”

Yan Qiu rubbed his nose, unsure what he’d done wrong this time—Miss Zhen really wasn’t being very friendly toward him. Could it be she was still holding a grudge over his suspicions from the night before?

Qin Fei walked over, clapping him on the shoulder with a laugh. “Don’t take it to heart. She’s still just a kid—sometimes she gets a little willful, throws a bit of a tantrum.”

“And how would you know?” Yan Qiu shot him a glare.

Qin Fei immediately thumped his own chest. “Of course I’d know. What kind of relationship do you think Jiu’er and I have? You think I don’t understand her?”

Yan Qiu was curious now. “What kind of relationship?”

A thought struck him, and his eyes went wide. “Don’t tell me you two are… hey, don’t get any ideas—Ninth Master’s got a special fondness for Miss Zhen. If you so much as think about her, Ninth Master will finish you off!”