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

Chapter 147 True and False
Pan Zi squatted down next to Wu Xiaoxie and checked him over. He found that Wu Xiaoxie was just dizzy from the shock. He had a small cut on his head that had stopped bleeding, but he was otherwise unharmed. Pan Zi breathed a sigh of relief.

Together with Fatty, they gently lifted Wu Xiaoxie and slid him down the edge of the inflatable mattress. Zhang Wuxun caught him from below and placed him in the thick sleeping bag prepared in front of them. They put a soft towel under Wu Xiaoxie's head so that he was lying on his side, and then began to treat the wound on the right side of his head.

Although the cut was not deep or large, less than a centimeter, in order to avoid further injury, Zhang Wuxun still cut off that small patch of his hair, rinsed it with hydrogen peroxide, stitched it up with two stitches, applied medicine, placed a breathable gauze pad there, and finally wrapped his head and jaw back up with a strong bandage.

"Where are Chen Pi Asi and the others?" Zhang Wuxun asked, zipping up his sleeping bag.

Pan Zi deflated the air cushion and put it away. Then he reached out to check the temperature on Wu Xiaoxie's forehead and recounted what had happened in the front hall in a low voice, "They probably ran to the other side of the bridge. Damn it, those people even want to cut off our escape route."

The bottom of the moat was full of messy pebbles. Fatty lit two more cold fireworks, and moved the lit lantern closer to Wu Xiaoxie so that he wouldn't get cold while sleeping. Then he went straight to Zhang Wuxun's backpack, shouting, "I'm starving!"

Zhang Wuxun said irritably, "Didn't I leave you guys a whole backpack full of food when I left? Are you a reincarnated glutton? You've already finished it all?"

The fat man argued, "Every step I take running consumes energy. Even if I share the food, I won't get more than a few bites. I thought you were waiting ahead, so I didn't plan to leave any food reserves. Who knew you would get lost while scouting the way?"

"Hey kid, where have you been?" the fat man asked.
Zhang Wuxun smiled mysteriously, "Let me keep you in suspense for now. You'll see for yourselves when you go and see for yourselves. You'll be pleasantly surprised."

The fat man immediately became interested. "What surprise? Did you strike it rich?"

Zhang Wuxun smiled but remained silent, neither denying nor responding.

The fat man's mind raced, and he immediately realized, "Holy crap, it really is true! I thought the guy who sold you the information was just trying to scam you."

Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow and smiled, "When have I ever been unreliable?"

The two talked mysteriously for a while, and then burst into laughter, leaving Shunzi completely confused. Panzi's eyes twitched, signaling them to keep their voices down so as not to attract the strange bird again.

Zhang Wuxun waved his hand to reassure him, "Don't worry, those human-faced birds won't dare to come down."

"Those strange birds are called human-faced birds?" Pan Zi glanced at the sky and saw that the strange birds had indeed only circled a few times before flying back to the front hall. He asked in confusion, "Why don't they dare to come down? Is there something more terrifying down there?"

Zhang Wuxun placed the prepared self-heating meal beside him, speaking in a relaxed tone, "When I arrived at the front hall, the corpses on the roof beams were already there. I was just about to go up and see what was going on when suddenly a bunch of birds fluttered out from under the tiles. What was the point of fighting them? I had to run away! I ran across the bridge, and there were many stone statues of those birds standing in the hall over there, with human faces and bird bodies. Some of them even had a monkey perched in their open mouth holes. I thought to myself, 'Could this be the nest of those strange birds? I'm just asking to be killed.' In the end, I had no choice but to climb down from the bridge and grab onto the iron chain hanging below, which saved me from this ordeal."

"After the flock of strange birds flew past, I noticed a light flashing not far below. Since the road up was a dead end anyway, I decided to go down and take a look," Zhang Wuxun said.

Panzi stuffed a large spoonful of rice into his mouth and asked, "What did you see?"

"Actually, there's nothing special about it. It's just some burial figurines arranged in formation, their faces blurred by the water from the moat. But one thing is a bit strange: they're all marching in one direction. I followed that direction and found some marks, I don't know who left them. I followed the marks a little further, and when I heard gunfire, I immediately turned back. I laid out the mats beforehand to prevent you from accidentally falling and getting hurt." He gestured with his chin toward Wu Xiaoxie, "And here they come in handy."

The fat man gave a thumbs up, "Wooden Fish, you're really thoughtful." Zhang Wuxun laughed, "Of course."

After a series of truths and lies, they finally managed to smooth things over regarding the part about his sudden departure and disappearance from the team.

After finishing their meal, Panzi wanted to go to the front to see the funerary figurines that Zhang Wuxun had mentioned. Fatty followed him. Shunzi lifted half of his buttocks up, but then sat back down for some reason. He smiled at Zhang Wuxun, then took out his sleeping bag from his backpack and lay down. Soon, he started snoring.

Zhang Wuxun was speechless. He found a spare pair of earplugs and put them on Wu Xiaoxie. As he stood up, his eyelids suddenly twitched. He caught Shunzi quickly closing his eyes and then turning over to continue snoring, trying to cover up his actions.

Zhang Wuxun narrowed his eyes, staring suspiciously at Shunzi's back. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and the part of the original plot that he had always felt didn't make sense instantly became clear. A playful glint appeared in his eyes, and Zhang Wuxun curled the corners of his mouth, turned around, sat down, and stopped looking at him.

A short while later, the fat man and his companion returned, and Zhang Wuxun told them to rest as well, while he kept watch.

Pan Zi nodded without refusing, "Alright, you take the first shift, and call me when it's time."

The fat man also said, "Then I, Fatty, will take the second shift."

"Alright, go to sleep now," Zhang Wuxun urged.

After a long and tiring journey, even the most physically fit people couldn't withstand such exhaustion. Before long, the two of them were snoring loudly, each sleeping soundly.

Just one minute into the first shift, Pan Zi was jolted awake as if from a dream. He sat up abruptly, grabbed the gun beside him, his whole body tense, his eyes blazing like an eagle's, and scanned his surroundings. He paused for a moment when he saw Zhang Wuxun before snapping back to reality.

Putting down his gun and wiping his face, Pan Zi crawled out of his sleeping bag, looked at the peacefully sleeping Wu Xiaoxie, turned around and sat down next to Zhang Wuxun, held out his hand to him, and whispered, "Got a cigarette?"

Zhang Wuxun: "..."

Actually, he doesn't smoke, so he naturally wouldn't keep cigarettes in his pocket. But seeing Pan Zi's worried face, he still took out a pack of Yuxi cigarettes that he had bought as a gift from his pocket and tossed the whole pack to him.

Panzi took it in his hand and looked at it. He laughed and said, "Hey, let me light this one. My lighter went out when snow got in during the avalanche. I've been using Fatty's lighter ever since."

Zhang Wuxun didn't say anything, but tossed him a Zippo windproof lighter.

With a "whoosh," a bright yellow flame shot up, illuminating Panzi's slightly weathered face.

(End of this chapter)