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

Chapter 313 is in full swing
From a great distance, we could hear a series of shouts coming from that direction.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the Huo family's men were struggling with the lead donkey pulling the cart.

The dark brown donkey brayed and neighed, its four hooves firmly planted in the ground, refusing to move forward an inch.

Enraged, Huo Zhizhi cursed loudly and called to two of his men to pull hard on the reins, shouting, "Why won't this stubborn donkey move?"

The fat man took a closer look and immediately burst into laughter, saying to Huo Xiuxiu, "How come you Huo family members are more stubborn than donkeys? You don't know how to be flexible."

Seeing Huo Zhizhi's disheveled appearance, Huo Xiuxiu couldn't help but chuckle. "Is there a reason why this donkey isn't moving forward?"

The fat man picked up a small rope whip and shooed Huo Zhizhi and the others away like flies. "Move aside, move aside, let me teach you how to tame this stubborn donkey."

Huo Zhizhi and the others initially looked unconvinced and stood aside waiting for the fat man to make a fool of himself.

To their surprise, the fat man pulled the donkey by the reins, tilting its head slightly to the right. He then lightly flicked the whip and uttered a soft shout, "Little hill, move along."

As soon as he finished speaking, the donkey actually lifted its leg and slowly walked to the side.

Huo Zhizhi and the others were dumbfounded, unable to understand the underlying principle.

Huo Xiuxiu was also a little surprised and looked at Zhang Wuxun, "Why does this donkey listen to Fatty?"

Zhang Wuxun smiled and pointed in the direction the donkey had gone, "See that gray donkey over there with a pink nose?"

Huo Xiuxiu looked in that direction and nodded. "I saw it. And then?"

Zhang Wuxun explained, "That pink-nosed donkey is female, and the black and gray donkey next to it is male, but the dark blue donkey that Fatty is leading, called Xiaoshantou, is also male, and he and the pink-nosed donkey are a pair. With his rivals standing next to his wife, how could Xiaoshantou not be anxious?"

Huo Xiuxiu suddenly realized, "Oh, I see."

The fat man led the black donkey over, raised his small whip, and shouted, pulling his rival donkey to the other side.

The black donkey brayed happily twice, swished its tail, and patted its wife.

The pink-nosed donkey bumped heads with it, snorted, and continued to nibble on the tender grass sprouts growing from the cracks in the bluestone path.

Huo Zhizhi and the others turned green with shock. Who the hell could have imagined this?

Most of the goods were loaded onto the donkey caravan, and Huo Xiuxiu returned to the wooden building to invite Old Madam Huo.

A simple sedan chair assembled from mahogany was carried out of the courtyard. Old Mrs. Huo sat comfortably in it, just like the Empress Dowager riding in the imperial carriage in a Qing Dynasty drama. With a wave of her hand, she gave the order, "Let's go!"

The fat man looked at the donkey cart he was driving, then at Huo Xiangu in the sedan chair carried by four men, and stared wide-eyed. "Damn, this old woman really knows how to enjoy herself."

They had traveled the road to Yangjiaoshan Lake many times and were quite familiar with it, but they didn't show it and just followed the donkey cart.

Speechless all the way.

After a day's trek, the group rested by an ancient tomb at the mountain pass.

With so many people, it was lively, and the atmosphere in the team was quite good.

Huo Xiuxiu, carrying a deck of cards, strolled over to find Zhang Wuxun and the others to play cards.

The young man, holding a knife, leaned against a tree and quietly watched them.

Zhang Wuxun got bored after playing a couple of rounds and beckoned Huo Zhizhi, who had been craning his neck to watch from a distance, to come and take his place.

He got two cups of good Longjing tea from Huo Xiangu, turned around and sat down next to the young man, handing him the teacup.

The two remained silent, not saying a word.

This made Huo Zhizhi, who was casually playing cards while trying to gather information, very anxious. He thought Zhang Wuxun and the other person were communicating in sign language and tried to look out of the corner of his eye, but accidentally dropped a card from his hand.

Huo Xiuxiu was furious and shouted, "You idiot, we're farmers together, why did you have to send out a little Wang out of nowhere?"

Huo Zhizhi then realized what was happening, but it was too late.

The fat man laughed triumphantly, threw out the King of Spades, and then pointed at the two men's hands with the last four cards in his hand, "You don't want them anymore, huh? If you don't, I'll explode."

He then deftly tossed out the last four 6s in his hand, shouting, "Bomb them, hahaha!"

Huo Xiuxiu threw down her cards speechlessly, "You terrible teammate, I'm not playing with you anymore."

Huo Zhizhi scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and unintentionally turned his head to see Zhang Wuxun staring at him with his eyes slightly narrowed. His heart tightened immediately.

He quickly laughed it off and made an excuse to leave.

Soon after, Huo Xiuxiu also said she wanted to go back to her grandmother's place.

After everyone left, the fat man put away his cards and chuckled, "Did that old lady have that silly boy keep an eye on us?"

“It’s normal to be on guard,” Zhang Wuxun chuckled. “After all, we’re not exactly family.”

The fat man sighed, "I wonder how things are going with Tianzhen. None of the three of us are here this time. That kid only has Xie Xiaohua by his side. Her thigh isn't even as thick as my arm. She doesn't seem very reliable."

Zhang Wuxun added a few more pieces of firewood to the fire. "Grandma Huo's arrangement is certainly reasonable. I've prepared many life-saving weapons for Tianzhen in critical moments, and I've also put in a small bottle of treated blood. With his intelligence, getting out unscathed shouldn't be a problem."

"Xie Yuchen's master is the Second Master of the Nine Gates. That Second Master Hong has the ability to fly and dive into the ground. Don't be fooled by how easily Xiao Ge and I fought him. In reality, when Xie Yuchen made a move, it was more of a test. That person is not simple at all."

The fat man chuckled and patted Zhang Wuxun on the shoulder. "You're so thoughtful. With the precious blood of your Zhang family, whether it's a zombie or a corpse beetle, they'll all give way to Tianzhen."

The young man listened quietly to the two chatting for a while, then suddenly spoke up, "Get some rest."

Zhang Wuxun nodded and used some thick firewood to press the fire down.

The three then returned to their respective tents to rest.

The next morning, the group continued their ascent up the mountain, led by the guide.

The donkey cart carries a lot of large surveying and transmission equipment. If it can't pass through some sections of the road, people have to be arranged to clear the road ahead, or to detour through areas with more bushes and fewer trees.

After much trouble, we finally arrived at the lake on the third day after setting off.

Jude Kao's team is still stationed on the lake shore. So much time has passed, it seems that the old man has not given up looking for clues in the lake.

Upon learning that it was the Huo family, Jude Kao even sent A Tu to greet them. However, Huo Xiangu had no intention of paying any attention to these foreigners. A Tu didn't even get to see the old lady before Huo Xiuxiu politely asked her to leave.

Because she had enough manpower, Huo Xiangu directly ordered some people to set up camp, while others, including technicians, began scanning the lakeside forests.

The exploration was very difficult because it required taking into account various factors such as climate, soil, and rocks. Each exploration could only cover a maximum of 200 meters, and repeated confirmation, analysis, and elimination were necessary.

The terrain in the mountains and forests is very complicated. On the first day, a technician got lost and fell into the bushes and couldn't be found.

A large number of people were mobilized to search for them, and they discovered a burrow dug by some large animal under the bushes. The person who fell in was knocked unconscious.

Huo Xiangu appeared calm and unhurried, but her daily habit of sitting under the sunshade and constantly looking up at the mountain betrayed her inner anxiety.

After three days of exploration, the results were not significant.

Huo Xiangu finally lost her patience and asked Huo Zhizhi to invite people over during dinner that evening.

Zhang Wuxun and his two companions had been idle these past few days, and they had just returned from fishing in the river.

The fat man, carrying the fish and soaking wet, stroked his chin and asked in a cheeky tone, "Does your old lady provide meals?"

Huo Zhizhi was somewhat displeased with his frivolous attitude, but she didn't express it. She simply repeated, "The old lady invites you all over."

"Alright, let's take this fish over and give it to the old lady to help her recover." The fat man grinned and called to the young man and Zhang Wuxun, who had just changed their clothes in the tent. "Let's go, the old lady invited us over for a better meal."

They soon arrived at Huo Xiangu's tent.

The fat man handed the fish he was carrying to Huo Zhizhi, asking him to take them down to make fresh fish soup.

Huo Xiuxiu stayed by the lake for a day before being sent back to the Yao village of Bannai by Huo Xiangu to be in charge of the subsequent equipment transportation.

Huo Zhizhi was mainly responsible for Huo Xiangu's daily life. Huo Zhizhi had been by the old lady's side for quite some time and was very skilled at handling these matters.

The tent was spacious, and the curtain at the entrance was tied with a rope and left open, wafting out a rich aroma of mutton soup.

The fat man sniffed. "This old lady knows how to maintain her health. She knows that eating mutton is the most nourishing food in autumn."

Upon entering, they found that Huo Xiangu was already sitting in the main seat directly opposite the door, slowly and methodically using a spoon to stir the coriander leaves in her bowl.

Zhang Wuxun paused for a moment, then stepped aside and said to Huo Zhizhi, who was cooking in the next tent, "I don't want cilantro in my bowl, thank you."

Huo Zhizhi, who had already been carrying a large plate and was about to leave, put it down again and filled another bowl upon hearing this.

Then he looked up and pointed to a large plate of fragrant, juicy roasted lamb on the other side, "Could you lend me a hand?"

Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow, said nothing, put on his gloves, went over to serve the food, and walked out of the tent with Huo Zhizhi.

After eating and drinking to our hearts' content.

Huo Xiangu gracefully wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. "Have you all finished eating? If you have, let's get down to business."

The fat man, who was picking his teeth with his fingers while holding a fishbone, suddenly realized something when he heard this. "So, ma'am, you didn't just come here to invite us to dinner, huh? Tsk tsk, you're bound to be obligated to those who feed you. Tell me, what do you need? If the price is reasonable, we can consider it."

Their faces, so obsessed with money, are an eyesore.

Huo Xiangu ignored him and looked at the young man, saying, "The exploration is proving more difficult than I expected, and we don't have much time left."

The young man raised his eyelids and looked at her without saying a word.

Huo Xiangu was not discouraged and continued, "I remember Wu Xie once said that you were trapped in the outer two-story waterway of Zhangjialou by a gray shadow man, but eventually found a way out on the mountain."

“But my men searched the area based on the clues Wu Xie described, and they didn’t find a cave entrance that matched the description. However, it’s not like we’re completely without any clues.” As she spoke, Huo Xiangu waved to the outside, and Huo Zhizhi, who had been both a cook and an assistant, came in carrying a roll of blueprints.

While Zhang Wuxun and his two companions were busy catching fish these past two days, the Huo family also sent out a group of men to continuously dive underwater to explore. This map is a more detailed distribution map of the underwater ancient building.

Huo Xiangu gestured for Zhang Wuxun and the other two to look at the map, and then continued, "I've already discussed this with the technicians. Since the mountain road is impassable, we might as well start from underwater."

“The underwater passages are interconnected; there must be one that eventually leads to the main building.” She looked at the young man and asked, “What do you think?”

The young man stared at the blueprints for a while, then nodded. "It's worth a try."

Huo Xiangu was overjoyed. "Alright, then let's proceed from two directions and continue the exploration of the mountain. At the same time, we'll trouble you and this young friend to go into the water a few times."

Zhang Wuxun, who was standing next to him, tapped the table with his finger. "There's really no need for that much trouble."

"Oh?" Huo Xiangu raised an eyebrow. "What are your thoughts?"

Zhang Wuxun leaned back, leaving only one leg of the chair on the ground. He then spun around a large circle, took a pencil from Huo Zhizhi's pocket, turned back, sat down, and used the pencil to draw a door on the perspective view of the tower in the blueprint.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Huo Zhizhi hurriedly tried to stop him from scribbling, but Huo Xiangu waved her hand, and Huo Zhizhi obediently shut up and stood aside.

Huo Xiangu looked at the picture, somewhat puzzled, "What does this mean?"

Zhang Wuxun smiled faintly and said, "I suddenly remembered that last time I followed that gray-haired man around the ancient building and found that this place leads directly into the mountains."

Huo Zhizhi stared at him angrily and couldn't help but say, "Then why didn't you say so earlier?"

Zhang Wuxun gave him a strange look. "I only said that this place leads directly into the mountains, but I didn't say that it leads directly to the Zhang Family Ancient Building."

Huo Zhizhi choked for a moment, then retreated dejectedly.

The fat man clicked his tongue. "Young people just can't keep their composure. They need to practice more in the future."

Huo Zhizhi couldn't refute this. Although he was talented, he was actually not even eighteen years old yet.

However, the old lady felt sorry for him because his parents had died in the tomb raiding, so she took him from a distant relative and raised him to be Xiuxiu's right-hand man.

Huo Xiangu knew that she and Zhang Wuxun were wary of each other, but she didn't care. She simply said, "I would like to hear the details."

Zhang Wuxun gave a brief explanation of the underground stone chamber mechanism on the third floor beneath the underwater ancient building.

After saying that, he warned, "However, going in from there will be direct danger, and the gray shadowy man hiding in the shadows is a super dangerous factor. He knows the underwater passages very well. If he launches a sneak attack, no matter how many of us there are, we will be surrounded by the Miluot he has attracted. Moreover, the more people there are, the higher the temperature will be when they gather together, and the more Miluot he will attract."

After pondering for a while, Huo Xiangu said, "In any case, now that we have a direction, we must give it a try. The three of you are very experienced, so please bear with us."

Thank you so much to the generous donors 【聂莫忘情长】【@童xt】! Sending you a huge heart! (*^ω^*)
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(End of this chapter)