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

Chapter 329 The Silk Manuscript Code
"Fortunately, it's just a small broken tooth, and there's not much venom left inside, otherwise you would really be in the underworld by now." Xie Yuchen glanced at it and then threw the tweezers and the broken tooth into the empty water bottle.

Upon hearing this, Wu Xiaoxie suddenly felt a swelling in his nose. He touched it and found that it was stuffed with two wads of cotton.

The bandage on his right hand was quite thick, so he used his left hand to remove the cotton ball. He subconsciously took a deep breath, and a piercing pain extended from his nostrils up to his eyes.

Xie Yuchen hurriedly took some cotton soaked in anti-inflammatory medicine and violet juice and had him re-insert it. "The surface of your nasal cavity has been corroded by the venom. You should breathe through your mouth for the time being."

After being sealed off, Wu Xiaoxie covered his nose and it took him a while to recover.

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked.

Xie Yuchen glanced at his watch. "It's been four hours since I heard the explosion."

Wu Xiaoxie was a little surprised. He felt like he had been dizzy for at least several days, but it had only been four hours.

Looking around, his gaze was immediately drawn to a dark, shadowy object near the well. "What's that?"

There were many dead snakes piled up by the wall, at least seven or eight. Upon closer inspection, the large clump of rotten felt-like stuff was none other than the ghostly thing that had emerged from the water before he threw the octagonal silver dart.

“When I came out, you were already lying there, delirious. The thing that fell was very close to you. It was the shriveled corpse of an ancient ape that had been there for at least several decades. Its inside had been hollowed out by something, leaving only the skin,” Xie Yuchen said.

"However, there is something strange. The joints of that ancient corpse were filled with a kind of red snake, which you blew to pieces."

Wu Xiaoxie was somewhat bewildered. "You mean, those pheasant necks are controlling this corpse?"

Xie Yuchen shrugged. "It is indeed unbelievable, but it seems to be true at the moment."

He laughed again, "I didn't realize you were so good at fighting. When I heard the explosion, I thought you were dead."

Wu Xiaoxie felt a tightness in his chest and coughed a few times. "If I die, our two families will be even."

Xie Yuchen's smile faded slightly. "The cable car is already built. Once you've recovered a bit, we'll head in immediately. People in Banna must be getting impatient."

Wu Xiaoxie turned his head and saw that there was a rope hanging out from the first gap, tied to the rotating bearing, which kept the rope very straight.

This is a simple single-rope walkway that has already been set up. It seems that when Xiaohua knew he was in danger and his life was in danger, she did not immediately come out to check the situation. Instead, she continued to complete her assigned work and came out to check whether he was hanging or not.

Although he knew this was Xiaohua's code of conduct, Wu Xiaoxie still felt very uncomfortable, as it was completely different from his usual way of doing things.

He didn't know how to evaluate this strong and ruthless mental fortitude, but it was obvious that his life or death was of no psychological burden to Xiaohua.

Wu Xiaoxie finally discovered the fatal difference between himself and Xiaohua.

Before he entered this line of work, his third uncle had told him that once he entered the tomb, whether he could survive depended entirely on his own abilities, and no one would risk their life to save a companion they had only met once.

It seems to be a tacit agreement that if either party is in danger and might implicate the other, everyone can abandon the other without any resentment. This would seem fair, and no one would harbor resentment.

He couldn't help but think of Zhang Wuxun and the other two. From the very beginning of their tomb raiding expedition, they had always considered each other as partners in a coordinated operation.

Wooden Fish can single-handedly draw away danger to save people, and even if his fate is unknown, the young man will choose to search for him at the last moment, even if the chances of survival are slim.

Although the fat man is unreliable, he is fundamentally loyal and affectionate.

If they were there, the wooden fish would have already swung its darts and sliced ​​open the snake's head the moment the pheasant's neck appeared.

The young man didn't give the ancient corpse covered in black fur a chance to launch a sneak attack. Without even drawing his black gold ancient sword, he had already leaped up and snapped its neck with his knee.

Or he might see the fat man rushing out chaotically on the pottery jars, messing everything up, but he would definitely be saved.

Even in extremely dangerous situations, they will do their best to minimize the danger and harm while ensuring the safety of everyone.

In that instant, an extreme sense of insecurity welled up inside him.

Although there are three breathing, living people here, in reality, only he himself is responsible for himself.

At the same time, Wu Xiaoxie suddenly realized why Xiaohua was upset and impatient with him for not following instructions and rashly going into the cave to rescue people.

After seeing the notepad, she became suspicious of Muyu and inevitably wary of him. Moreover, she remained silent after he expressed his firm belief in Muyu.

Xiaohua was used to solving problems on her own, and before doing these things, she had already assumed that there would be no support or help.

He would not blame others for his own death, nor would he blame himself for the death of others.

Extremely rational, and cold enough.

Wu Xiaoxie felt a slight chill in his heart. Is this the Old Nine Gates?

"What are you holding in your hand?" He suddenly caught a glimpse of the butcher wiping something, and his eyelid twitched involuntarily.

"Huh?" Nie Xiaoba saw him staring at what he was holding in his hand, so he didn't hold back and handed it over directly. "Third Master, here you go. I've already cleaned it."

With a towel under his arm, Wu Xiaoxie examined the bronze bell in his hand from top to bottom. He found that both the pattern and the material were exactly the same as the one he had seen in the Corpse Cave when he first went down into the tomb. However, the bronze bell that was tied to the tail of the corpse beetle was only the size of a ping-pong ball, while this one was the size of an adult's fist.

"Where did you get this from?" Wu Xiaoxie asked, frowning.

Seeing his serious expression, Nie Xiaoba quickly explained that he found it on the neck of the ancient corpse when he was examining it. It was embedded directly in the bone of the chest and looked like a bell, but it wouldn't ring no matter how he shook it.

"So that's how it is." Wu Xiaoxie suddenly realized. No wonder he thought the rustling sound was familiar before, and then the ancient corpse jumped out of the water.

Fortunately, there was only one bell, otherwise he would have definitely been hit. Looking at the bell in his hand, Wu Xiaoxie's expression was a little strange. He shook it, but it didn't ring. Could it be that his explosion had damaged the internal structure?

Why would such a bell appear here? Could this place be related to Wang Zanghai? After thinking about it, I felt it was a bit impossible. Or perhaps, Wang Zanghai got his copper bell from somewhere?

However, that wasn't the primary focus right now, and Wu Xiaoxie quickly put the thought out of his mind.

He returned the bell to Nie Xiaoba, lifted the blanket and tried to stand up and stretch, but something fell out of his arms as soon as he moved.

Looking down, I saw a blood-stained shard of pottery, the bloodstains on it already dried.

He suddenly remembered that before he lost consciousness, he had thought about leaving a message for Xiaohua. He was in a daze at the time and didn't know if he had written it down in the end.

Turning my head, I saw something crookedly written on the ground not far away. I got up and walked closer to take a look, and I was immediately stunned.

It was a very long string of numbers: 189652802200059.

"What is this?" he asked Xie Yuchen.

"Isn't this your last words?" Xie Yuchen raised an eyebrow and asked. "I thought it was your card number and password."

Wu Xiaoxie was baffled. A suicide note? He had no idea what he had written at the time.

But looking at the handwriting on the ground, it was indeed handwriting he recognized, with very coherent strokes. Only then did he realize that he had written this string of words before losing consciousness.

But after thinking it over, he realized that none of the numbers he commonly encountered in his daily life were the same as this one, except for the password to the box containing the snake-browed bronze fish that he found in the Lu Palace.

02200059 is said to have been translated by Jude Kao from a Warring States period silk manuscript.

But at the moment he lost consciousness, he did not recall any memories related to numbers. How could this be?

Could it be that the toxin in the pheasant's neck caused him to hallucinate?
However, for some reason, whenever he thought about it carefully, he would feel particularly uncomfortable. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, and he subconsciously rejected this strange feeling.

Xie Yuchen noticed that something was wrong with him and asked him what was wrong.

Wu Xiaoxie shook his head and said, "I've rested enough, let's go in."

He lowered his eyelids to look at the gauze wrapped around his right palm, remembering that Xiao Hua had said there was water inside, so he took out a rubber glove from his backpack and put it on, saying calmly, "There aren't many snakes here, but I can't guarantee that they were all killed in that explosion."

“The two of us have enough snake-repellent properties from our safety amulets. Have your men scatter the snake repellent they brought in around the area. Pheasants with necks love to hunt lone prey.”

Xie Yuchen glanced at Nie Xiaoba, who shrank back and quickly did as he was told.

Xie Yuchen taught Wu Xiaoxie how to climb over the cableway, and then climbed up first to demonstrate. Ten minutes later, he had already landed on the other side and flashed his flashlight twice to signal Wu Xiaoxie.

Wu Xiaoxie climbed onto the bearing, and Nie Xiaoba helped him fasten the climbing clip to the rope. Then, he began to climb down the rope into the gap.

Because the buckles help bear most of the body weight, climbing is not very strenuous, and the pain in the palms is negligible.

However, because the rope kept swaying during the climb, and Wu Xiaoxie had little experience with this kind of thing, he was not skilled and could only climb forward intermittently, taking much longer than Xiaohua, but fortunately he made it across safely.

Xie Yuchen was waiting on the other side, and when he saw him coming, he reminded him to watch his step.

Wu Xiaoxie carefully unfastened the buckle, looked down, and found that the position of the rope was quite high, hanging down more than two meters from the ground. So he simply swung forward as he let go and jumped into the water, where his whole body was immediately enveloped by the icy pool water.

Xie Yuchen went over and helped him up, shining a light on him to show him what was fixed in the center of the pool.

"My God!" Wu Xiaoxie exclaimed, hardly believing his eyes. "This is an ancient cipher module."

He leaned forward and counted them. There were five chains extending from that side. He said, "These chains extending from the bearings are controlling the communication mechanisms here. Only one chain is triggering the correct decoding; the rest are incorrect."

"It's very possible that there's a similar modular structure hidden in the mountains around Fengshi in Guangxi," Wu Xiaoxie remarked with some emotion.

Such modular technology can be used multiple times beyond geographical limitations. No wonder the Zhang family ancestors would set the password and lock in a place hundreds of thousands of miles away. Given the transportation conditions of the past, it would have been almost impossible for the Zhang family's ancient building to be found. Even if it were found, the hope of opening it would be extremely slim.

"So what?" Xie Yuchen asked, somewhat puzzled.

“The ancients had a habit of considering practicality.” Wu Xiaoxie used movable type printing modules as an example: “The designers of Zhang Family Ancient Building had already designed everything in advance and made these modules before selecting the construction site. After selecting the location, they only needed to dig a few holes in the mountain and install these things in.”

Xie Yuchen, quick-witted, immediately understood his thinking. After thinking about it carefully, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "Damn, that's pretty impressive! This Zhang Family Building can actually be moved."

The biggest advantage of modularity is that it can be disassembled and taken away at any time. Moreover, the current object is made of bronze, while the outer chain is made of iron, which is enough to show that this honeycomb-like thing has been in the hands of the Zhang family for many years, and may have existed since their ancestors' time.

“The coffins of those Zhang family ancestors must have been moved more than once. The Zhang family ancestral building that Granny Huo and the others are looking for may be the place where they last chose to relocate.” Wu Xiaoxie frowned. He suddenly remembered the mysterious, hunchbacked gray figure who had attacked them repeatedly in the Yao village.

He lingered on Mount Banna and showed great malice towards their appearance. Could he be the guardian of the Zhang Family Ancient Building?
Judging from Muyu's contemptuous attitude, the gray-clad figure didn't even seem to be on the fringes of the Zhang family's main branch. In Muyu's words, if he were truly a legitimate member of the Zhang family, how could he not even recognize the Black Gold Ancient Blade?

After listening to Wu Xiaoxie's analysis, Xie Yuchen smiled meaningfully, "I've discovered another reason why Granny Huo insisted on bringing you along. In a way, you're quite something too."

Wu Xiaoxie grinned, his words sounding as if he had never wanted to team up with him in the first place.

"According to your rules, what should you do when faced with something like this?" he asked Xiaohua.

Xie Yuchen said, "Our rule is that we must see how the intelligence agency operates. I've never seen an agency like this before."

"However, in my opinion, we need to knock on this hornet's nest first and understand its internal structure."

Thank you so much to [卿溟], [大理陈], [影子君y], and [小哥的腿部挂件] for your generous donations! Sending you a huge heart...*
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(End of this chapter)