Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 114 The Nine Yin Serpent
The water level was still rising, and Wu Xiaoxie and his companion were getting closer and closer to the one-eyed python. Wu Xiaoxie's whole body stiffened, and his calves seemed to be cramping from the excessive tension in his muscles.

Unfortunately, Lao Yang, whose mouth and nose were half-covered by him, couldn't hold his breath any longer. His eyelids trembled as he tried to open them, and at the same time, he struggled violently with his limbs. Wu Xiaoxie almost couldn't hold him back, so he quickly used his hands and feet to hold him tightly, and then carefully floated to the surface.

Fortunately, the one-eyed python didn't bother with these two tiny shrimps who weren't even good enough to fill a gap between their teeth. It glanced at them casually and then focused its attention on the two-eyed python struggling for its life at the bottom of the water.

Wu Xiaoxie breathed a slight sigh of relief, made a "shh" gesture to Lao Yang who had just woken up, and pointed to the enormous thing coiled around the bronze tree.

When Lao Yang saw this, his already pale face turned even paler. Due to blood loss and being soaked in ice water, his teeth chattered uncontrollably as soon as he opened his mouth, and he looked like he was about to faint again. However, he still stubbornly used gestures to tell Wu Xiaoxie that there was an exit at the top of the cave, and that they just needed to float up with the water level and eventually they could get out from there.

Wu Xiaoxie knew this couldn't go on. Both of them were seriously injured, and if they stayed in the icy water like this, they would freeze to death before the water level even rose to a suitable height.

The only way is to climb the bronze tree.

Wu Xiaoxie leaned close to Lao Yang's ear and whispered his thoughts. Lao Yang stared at the one-eyed giant python warily and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Just as the two were about to take action, several gray-white human face masks suddenly floated across the water in front of them.

Lao Yang asked in surprise, "What is that?"

Wu Xiaoxie suddenly realized something, reached out and picked one up, turned it over and saw that it was empty. His face changed drastically. "Damn it, get up the tree! That's the shell of a Chi Gu!"

Upon hearing this, Lao Yang immediately transformed into the one-armed Yang Guo, grabbing a tree branch and using the buoyancy of the water to leap up the bronze tree, his movements faster than a monkey.

Wu Xiaoxie watched in disbelief from below, cursed under his breath, and quickly followed suit, climbing up the tree.

More than a dozen dragon-like creatures, drawn by the scent of blood, have emerged from where the two had just been standing, and they are about to climb the bronze tree to catch up with them.

In desperation, Wu Xiaoxie bit his palm hard, and blood gushed out instantly. He clenched his fist to force out more blood, then waved his hand to scatter the blood in the air and on the water.

The blood spots seeped into the water and spread out. The venomous insects became wary and quickly moved away from the small area, then chased after Lao Yang from the other side.

More venomous insects had surrounded the python corpse at the bottom of the water, vying to parasitize this rare piece of flesh and blood like leeches.

After climbing only a few steps, Wu Xiaoxie felt the surrounding air suddenly become hot and dry, and the moisture on his clothes was evaporating rapidly.

Just as I was wondering what was going on, I suddenly heard Lao Yang scream from above. Then he convulsed, lost his balance, and fell straight down from the bronze tree into the water.

"Old Itch—"

Wu Xiaoxie exclaimed in surprise and instinctively reached out to pull him up, but instead he was pulled down with him.

With a snap, his wrist dislocated again. Before Wu Xiaoxie could even cry out in pain, the hot water that rushed into his mouth was choked off.

That's right, it's hot water, and it's getting hotter and hotter.

Wu Xiaoxie had barely struggled for a few seconds after sinking into the water when the water surrounding him became scalding hot on his skin, and the pain seemed to be getting worse.

Wu Xiaoxie hurriedly surfaced to search for Lao Yang's whereabouts, and suddenly came into view a huge white eyeball covered with blood vessels. The blood vessels were still rapidly wriggling and accumulating, and soon the entire eyeball turned crimson red.

The pupil in the center of the eyeball was still changing, gradually turning from crimson to a narrow, golden color.

When Wu Xiaoxie met those eyes, his expression froze for a moment, as if his soul had been sucked into a vortex. Then, a violent headache, dizziness, and nausea woke him up. Only then did he realize that the originally cold pool water had somehow become boiling, just like the previous hot spring, and the boiling bubbles were gradually spreading outward from where the two-eyed python's corpse had been.

As if by some strange twist of fate, Wu Xiaoxie turned his head to look at the strange crimson-golden eye, only to find that the original purple giant eye on the head of the one-eyed giant python had closed at some point, and in its place was a crimson-golden eye that was slightly smaller than the purple giant eye located at the very top of its head.

Wu Xiaoxie was almost scared out of his wits.

With a rumble, the entire space began to shake violently. Many wide cracks appeared on the stone wall opposite the bronze tree, and more water gushed out from them. The entire mountain surface kept cracking, as if the entire cave was about to collapse.

Wu Xiaoxie was swept into one of the gaps by a rushing current; the newly collapsed passage was pitch black.

Wu Xiaoxie's body was swept around by the rapid current, colliding and rubbing against the rocky cliffs. He completely lost his sense of direction and could only drift downstream with the current until he finally drifted into the underground river where the water temperature was still acceptable.

The current here was even faster. Before Wu Xiaoxie could react, he felt a sudden weightlessness, followed by a deafening roar of water. In a flash, he was plunged into the water. As he plummeted, his head hit a dark rock below the waterfall, and then everything went black. He knew nothing more.

-

Seven days had passed between when Wu Xiaoxie was rescued from the riverbank downstream of the waterfall and taken to the hospital, and when his memory was fully restored.

He had woken up three days ago, but the aftereffects of the severe concussion were too serious. He was constantly dizzy and nauseous. Let alone thinking, just thinking for a little while would immediately make his brain spin, his memories became chaotic and mixed, and he could hardly even remember his own name.

After two days of recovery, Wu Xiaoxie's dazed state improved slightly, but he temporarily lost his ability to speak again and could only barely communicate some basic information with the attending physician through gestures.

Another week passed, and Wu Xiaoxie's hazy memories began to come together in fragments. From the attending physician, he learned that he had been brought to the hospital by several armed police officers. At that time, his condition was quite dangerous, with more than thirty fractures, sprains, and abrasions all over his body, clearly caused by falling off a cliff from a height.

"However, there's something rather strange," the doctor said.

Wu Xiaoxie asked in his eyes.

The doctor said, "When you were brought here, your fatal wounds had already been treated. The stitching and bandaging were very professional. I asked the armed police officers at the time, and they said that you were in that condition when they found you. Their team doctor found that there was no room for emergency treatment, so they sent you directly to our hospital."

Before Wu Xiaoxie could ask any more questions, the doctor glanced at his watch and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, it's time for my next patient's rounds. You can ask the armed police officers who were there for details. They left their phone number before they left. I can write it down for you if you need it."

Wu Xiaoxie quickly replied, "This is absolutely necessary, thank you doctor."

The doctor casually said, "Don't mention it," then took out a small notebook and pen from his white coat pocket, opened it, and wrote as he did so, "Given your current condition, you won't be able to get out of bed for at least ten days to two weeks. It's best to contact your family or ask them to arrange a caregiver to look after you." He then tore off the page he had written and handed it to the doctor.

"Mmm." Wu Xiaoxie stared at the numbers on the paper and responded absentmindedly.

"Oh, right." Just before leaving, the doctor remembered something and turned to Wu Xiaoxie, saying, "Your medical expenses were paid in advance by those armed police officers. You can discuss how to pay them back yourselves."

Wu Xiaoxie looked grateful and repeatedly agreed. He watched the doctor leave, then quickly opened the bedside table drawer. The nurse had said that he had several of his belongings in the drawer.

Grabbing the phone, Wu Xiaoxie quickly pressed the power button, and a series of cheerful music played as the screen lit up.

Wow, this phone is really good quality; it still works even after being soaked in water for so long.

Muttering to himself, Wu Xiaoxie opened his phonebook, found Wang Mengmeng's number, and clicked to confirm. But after only two seconds of ringing, he heard a low battery warning tone, and then the phone shut down automatically without a second's delay.

Wu Xiaoxie stared blankly at the darkened screen for a long time, then realized what was happening and felt so angry he wanted to curse.

Taking two deep breaths to suppress his anger, Wu Xiaoxie stared at the paper and memorized the number on it, thinking that when the nurse came to change the IV later, he would say a few nice words to get her to help charge his phone.

-

Hangcheng.

In Wushanju, Wang Mengmeng, who was sitting at his computer desk, had just started a game of Minesweeper when his phone suddenly rang. Startled, he pressed down on the left mouse button, and by sheer bad luck, he clicked on a bomb. With a bang, the screen exploded.

"What the fuck?"

Wang Mengmeng cursed and angrily picked up her phone, answering without even looking at the screen, "Who is it?"

"It's me, your boss." Wu Xiaoxie's voice came through the receiver, startling Wang Mengmeng so much that she almost strained her back.

Wang Mengmeng said with a mix of surprise and slight resentment, "Damn it, boss, you're finally here! You have no idea what I've been up to these past few days..."

Wu Xiaoxie didn't pay attention to what he was saying at all, and said succinctly, "I'm at the Red Cross Hospital in Chang'an. Come over and bring some money and clothes."

"..." Wang Mengmeng replied dejectedly, "Okay, boss."

"Hmm, how's the shop lately? Has anything important happened?" Wu Xiaoxie asked him.

Wang Mengmeng said, "It's the same as before. Mr. Wu has come looking for me several times. Hey boss, what have you been up to this time? Why have you been out of contact for so many days?"

The Mr. Wu that Wang Mengmeng mentioned is Wu Xiaoxie's father, Wu Yiqiong.

Wu Xiaoxie sighed inwardly, "I can't explain it clearly in a short time. Come over here and we can talk about it. By the way, is there any news about my third uncle?"

Although Wu Xiaoxie was somewhat disappointed by the negative answer, he was already used to it. Now, his priority was to figure out what happened after he fell down the waterfall and the missing wooden fish. If all else failed, he would have to go into that ancient tomb again.

After hanging up the phone, Wu Xiaoxie called his family to let them know he was safe.

That evening, the armed police who had rescued him heard that he could speak again, so they sent someone to visit him with a fruit basket.

Through conversation, he learned that he had been found by several fishermen on the banks of a stream in Lantian. He was lying on a bamboo raft at the time, and what happened next was the same as what the doctor had said.

"If it weren't for the emergency treatment, you probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital," the armed police officer said with a smile.

Wu Xiaoxie felt increasingly strange and became more certain of his previous guess. He made up an excuse that he had accidentally fallen off a cliff while climbing a mountain to deceive the armed police's questions.

Just then, Wang Mengmeng arrived, travel-worn, and took the opportunity to repay the medical expenses the other party had paid in advance, thanking them profusely before seeing them off.

Wu Xiaoxie recounted the events that occurred in the Qinling Mountains to Wang Mengmeng, omitting the part about the Bronze Tree's abilities, because it was simply too unbelievable; even he himself doubted the authenticity of that memory.

As for who ultimately treated their injuries, after some analysis, the two agreed that only Muyu possessed that kind of professional skill.

Wu Xiaoxie had once seen Muyu stitching up Panzi's wound in the Seven Star Lu Palace, so he was very certain that the person was Muyu.

But what he couldn't understand was why, since the wooden fish had already come out of the ancient tomb, it didn't come looking for him. Or was the wooden fish also affected by that strange bronze tree?

Too many questions lingered in his mind. In order to find out, Wu Xiaoxie spent a long time searching online and even emailed several seniors he knew who were well-versed in antiques. Unfortunately, he did not get much useful information.

However, through researching ancient texts, he learned that the one-eyed giant python was actually the legendary Zhujiuyin, a type of snake that lived in the deepest parts of the earth. Due to its long-term exposure to darkness, its eyes mutated, causing its two eyes to grow horizontally. The purple one was Zhujiuyin's original eye, while the crimson eye on its head was the Yin Eye. Legend has it that the Yin Eye is connected to the eighteen levels of hell, and when a person looks into it, their soul will be sucked out. At the same time, evil spirits from hell will take the opportunity to possess that person, turning them into a half-human, half-ghost monster.

Wu Xiaoxie didn't know if the feeling of having his soul sucked away was what he experienced at the time, but he always felt that the following content was too mythical and should only be listened to casually, not taken seriously.

An older colleague was quite interested in the bronze tree he described. In his reply to Wu Xiaoxie, he said that this kind of bronze tree is called "Chizhu" and that it was discovered in a mine in Fanzhihua in 1984.

However, there is no document or ancient text recording what that thing was used for. But according to some textual descriptions in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, this thing may be related to a mysterious tribe in ancient times. Whether that mysterious tribe existed in the long river of time is not confirmed by any key evidence.

While recovering in the hospital, Wu Xiaoxie called Pan Zi almost every day to ask if Mu Yu had returned to the house in Hangzhou, but the answer was always no.

He had asked around at school and with Fatty, but no one had seen any trace of Muyu. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

(End of this chapter)