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

Chapter 174 Snake Swamp Ghost City
Zhang Wuxun left most of the things he brought back from the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top with Pan Zi, asking him to help him deal with them.

Pan Zi treated him to a meal, and Zhang Wuxun flew back to Hangzhou that very night.

Pan Zi had his men watch over the house in Hangzhou. The snow in the yard was swept clean and piled up in the garden using a small wheelbarrow. The leaves on several fruit trees had long been frozen off, leaving them bare. There was a round bird's nest on the tallest pear tree, and birds could be heard chirping inside. Zhang Wuxun didn't recognize it, so he stood under the tree and took a few more glances.

Seeing this, the subordinate explained, "This is a magpie's nest. These birds are cold-resistant and won't freeze to death in the winter. Master Pan said that these birds are auspicious and it is fate that they can settle in our yard. Their calls are also pleasing to the ear, so I feed them rice from time to time. Maybe they will build their nests in this tree in the future."

Zhang Wuxun nodded and praised, "That's thoughtful."

The subordinate smiled and said, "Of course, Master Yu. It just snowed, and it's cold outside. Let's go into the main room to warm up. Master Pan specially had a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) built. It's much more effective than air conditioning when it's heated."

“Okay.” Zhang Wuxun nodded, and when his subordinate offered to help drag the suitcase, Zhang Wuxun readily let go.

I treated someone to a meal in the afternoon and gave them a red envelope. The person who gave me the envelope was so intimidated by its thickness that they didn't dare to accept it.

Helpless, Zhang Wuxun could only ask him to call Pan Zi for instructions. Pan Zi on the other end of the phone said, "It was given by Master Yu, so it's fine to keep it."

The subordinate happily accepted the money. "Thank you, Master Yu. I'll be going now. Please give me a call if you need anything."

Zhang Wuxun smiled and watched him leave in a taxi before walking back to his house.

Back in the house, Zhang Wuxun drew the curtains and checked the room thoroughly to make sure there were no eavesdropping or surveillance devices. Then he went to the bookshelf, took down an old flowerpot from the wooden flower stand, and peeled off a layer of wood to reveal seven thin threads inside.

Zhang Wuxun extended his left hand, avoiding the silk thread, and pinched a small spiral button at the bottom of the thread between his index and middle fingers. With a gentle twist, a metallic clanging sound rang out, and the bookshelf sank down completely, revealing a passageway wide enough for one person.

Zhang Wuxun descended the steps and found himself facing a stone door with a mural carved on it. The mural depicted his strange crimson flame tattoo, but in reverse. To open the door, he needed to insert two fingers into the holes at the intersections of the lines in the correct order and turn the number dials to 9 and 12 respectively. Otherwise, the mechanism would be triggered, the passage would close, and a large amount of ether would spray out from above the stone door.

Therefore, only Zhang Wuxun himself can solve this mechanism. Otherwise, the only option would be to use a large amount of explosives to blast open the heavy stone door. Of course, this is impractical unless those people are out of their minds and would use explosives in a crowded and chaotic urban area.

Quickly unlocking the mechanism, Zhang Wuxun entered the secret chamber. The stone door closed behind him, the bookshelves rose up, and the passage was hidden.

Inside the secret room, Zhang Wuxun sat down at the table. There was a huge monitor on the wall, connected to the computer on the table.

I turned on my computer, pulled up all the surveillance footage from the time I was away from the house, and watched it all on fast forward.

When the video recording in the backyard played the scene from the night Zhang Wuxun entered the snow mountain, the video suddenly flickered like snowflakes for two seconds, then continued playing normally.

Zhang Wuxun manipulated the mouse to rewind the recording, slowing it down by two times. A second before the chaotic flickering appeared, a black shadow appeared on the wall. Then the screen flickered with static, returning to normal after a few seconds, as if the shadow had never appeared.

Silence returned.

Zhang Wuxun rewound the video and paused it, staring at the ghostly black figure, sitting quietly for a long time.

After a while, Zhang Wuxun slightly curled the corners of his mouth, got up, shut down the computer, walked out of the secret room, and made a slight modification to the first layer of the mechanism.

I opened the window, and a cold wind, carrying snowflakes, swept into the room, taking away the last bit of warmth. "Achoo!"

Zhang Wuxun sneezed loudly, rubbed his nose, and watched as a gray magpie, covered in snowflakes, flew out of its nest and landed on a stone table not far from the tree. The magpie tilted its head, seemingly sizing up Zhang Wuxun, this newcomer.

After a while, seemingly certain that Zhang Wuxun posed no threat, it picked up the corn from the small bowl on the stone table and happily flew back to its nest.

They went back and forth several times, completely ignoring Zhang Wuxun, the main character.

Another gust of wind blew in, making Zhang Wuxun shiver. He quickly pulled his head back, closed the window, adjusted the air conditioner to a comfortable temperature, took a shower in the bathroom, changed into his pajamas, crawled into bed, and fell asleep in no time.

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The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Wuxun put on his cotton coat and went to the school to discuss graduating early with his counselor. In any case, he had already earned enough credits in his freshman and sophomore years, and the system's arrangements in this regard were quite humane.

Using my physical abilities, I managed to get an internship certificate, which took three days of work—getting it stamped, signed, and stamped again—before finally getting it done.

Zhang Wu gave his counselor a set of high-end skincare products as a way of thanking her for her help over the past few days. When filling out the address for sending his academic records and graduation certificate, Zhang Wu thought for a moment and decided to fill in Wu Shan Ju, asking Wang Mengmeng to keep them for him.

There weren't many things in the dormitory that were actually useful, so Zhang Wuxun was too lazy to bother with them. He simply handed the key to the dormitory manager and that was it.

After staying home for a few days, Zhang Wuxun received a call from Wu Xiaoxie, asking him to come to Beicheng (JI LIN) because it was something very important.

Zhang Wuxun first flew to Shenyang, retrieved the knife he had deposited in a bank safe deposit box, put it into his spatial storage, and then took a train to Beicheng.

Inside the Third Hospital of Beicheng University.

Zhang Wuxun was carrying two servings of wontons when he heard Wu Xiaoxie cursing at the door of the ward. The person being cursed was none other than his old fox, Third Uncle.

This old man is really patient. He was afraid that Wu Xiaoxie would find out he was awake and ask him questions, so he pretended to be unconscious for half a month.

However, he was eventually exposed and Wu Xiaoxie saw through his deception.

Zhang Wuxun hesitated at the door for a few seconds. A nurse passed by and saw him loitering at the door, acting suspiciously. She asked, "Which bed's family member are you?"

Zhang Wuxun was a little embarrassed, "Uh, I came here to..."

The door suddenly opened from the inside, and Wu Xiaoxie stormed out carrying a thermos. Upon seeing Zhang Wuxun, his expression immediately brightened.

“You’ve come at the right time. Keep an eye on that old fox inside for me. I’m going to get some water.” After saying that, Wu Xiaoxie explained to the nurse, “He’s my friend. He’s here to visit my third uncle at the hospital.”

The nurse nodded. "Don't make loud noises in the ward."

(End of this chapter)