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

Chapter 332 Unsealing the Stone

Why did this ghost seal end up in the Crescent Hotel?

Or rather, who handed this ghost seal over to the Crescent Moon Hotel?
Zhang Wuxun suddenly realized something, raised his head and stared straight at Huo Xiangu, "You are lying. After the Nine Gates declined, you definitely saw Zhang Menyu again."

Huo Xiangu looked slightly surprised and put down her teacup. "How do you know?"

Zhang Wuxun was now certain, "You really have seen him."

He said that just now only to bluff Huo Xiangu, but judging from her reaction, it was clear that his earlier guess was indeed correct.

"The Ghost Seal of the Crescent Moon Hotel is actually owned by you, right?" Zhang Wuxun placed his hands together on the table, relaxed his body, and leaned back in his chair with a composed demeanor.

Huo Xiangu's expression changed slightly, and she finally sighed slowly, "As expected, nothing can be hidden from you. That's right, Zhang Menyu gave me that Ghost Seal, but that was in the year Wu Xie was born."

“I don’t know where he came from, but I could sense that he was dying, an unnatural death, as if he had suffered some kind of irreversible damage.”

“At that time, he was already somewhat confused. After handing the Ghost Seal to me, he left. I don’t know where he went.”

"Out of curiosity, I had people follow him. My men followed him all the way to Changbai Mountain, and then he suddenly disappeared."

"Like a fragile soap bubble in the sunlight, when I stood atop the snow-capped mountain, my subordinate simply looked down and rubbed his eyes, and he vanished into the air ahead."

A sudden, inexplicable sadness welled up in Zhang Wuxun's heart. He asked softly, "Besides giving you the Ghost Seal, did he say anything else?"

Huo Xiangu was silent for a few seconds, then calmly said, "He said he failed and there's no time left."

After hearing this, Zhang Wuxun sat there blankly, remaining silent for a long time.

After a long pause, he finally reacted, reaching out to pick up the already cold tea on the table and drinking it all in one gulp. Then he held the jade ring in his hand, stood up, and bowed slightly. "Thank you for informing me. If I can get out of the Ancient Tower alive, I will do my best to do what you asked me to do."

After saying his farewell and turning to leave, just as he was about to reach the door, Huo Xiangu called out to him from behind, "I know you have a lot to do, just like Zhang Menyu. I don't force you to confine yourself to Xiuxiu's side. Just give her some guidance when it matters. Xiuxiu is a smart child. Given time, she will definitely grow to my position, or even surpass me."

Zhang Wuxun stopped in his tracks, but did not turn around.

"Although I don't know how you plan to deal with those people, with this ring, as long as the Huo family is in Xiuxiu's hands, she will definitely support whatever you want to do," Huo Xiangu said calmly.

"it is good."

Zhang Wuxun nodded and stepped out of the tent.

As the footsteps faded into the distance, Huo Xiangu's straight back bent slightly, revealing a hint of dejection that she tried so hard to hide in front of others.

Beside the tent, the fat man and the young man waited anxiously. Finally, they saw Zhang Wuxun's figure emerge from behind the tent not far away and immediately went to greet him.

"Why is that old lady looking for you at this time, and why has it taken so long? I'm starting to suspect she might be planning to back out of the partnership at the last minute," the fat man said, disgruntled.

Zhang Wuxun looked somewhat dejected and shook his head. "Nothing special, just told me to take care of Huo Xiuxiu when I have time in public."

The fat man's eyes widened, and he suddenly raised his voice, "What the hell? Is she treating you like a free bodyguard or what?"

Zhang Wuxun smiled slightly, "Of course not, I also benefited."

"That's more like it." The fat man chuckled and patted Zhang Wuxun on the shoulder. "Let's go, everything's ready, we're just waiting for you."

When they arrived at the cave entrance, Huo Zhizhi and the others were already waiting. Seeing the three of them approach, they waved to signal them to set off.

The journey to the first sealing stone was smooth, and the Huo family members in the group chatted and laughed, looking very relaxed.

The fat man would occasionally utter a witty remark. Normally, Zhang Wuxun would definitely join in the banter, but now Zhang Wuxun's mood was clearly off.

The fat man gave the younger man a wink, and the two walked side by side to Zhang Wuxun's side. Seeing that he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, they walked silently beside him without making a sound to disturb him.

Zhang Wuxun pondered in his heart, wondering just what kind of person Zhang Menyu really was.

Huo Xiangu's people said that she suddenly disappeared in Changbai Mountain and was on the verge of death. What did she do to cause such a fatal injury to herself?

Zhang Wuxun deduced from Huo Xiangu's words that Zhang Menyu seemed to have a special mission to complete, which was likely related to his purpose of stealing the Ghost Seal. So where did he go during the nearly ten years he disappeared from everyone's sight?

Most importantly, he had a vague feeling that the task assigned to him by the system was related to what Zhang Menyu had done back then.

Or perhaps, he was just one of the system's past hosts, and Zhang Menyu was the same. Before him, were there many other hosts who had failed countless times in their attempts to accomplish this task?

"Is that so, System?" Zhang Wuxun asked softly to himself.

After a long silence, the system finally replied, "[You also possess that bloodline; this is our mission.]"

Zhang Wuxun's heart sank slightly. [Am I your [number]th host?]

The system said, "[Since the destruction of the Zhang family's main clan, Zhang Qiling, who did not receive the complete inheritance, would have amnesia as a fatal weakness if he were to be granted the mandate of heaven. I can no longer place my hopes for completing the mission on Zhang Qiling, so I need to reselect a suitable person.]"

[What is the mission?] Zhang Wu asked. The mission of the Zhang family patriarch is to guard the Bronze Gate, so what is the mission of the system?

The system said, "Destroy it, not only the Wang family, but also the origin of all cause and effect and original sin."

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Soon, the group arrived at the first sealing stone.

The Huo family stood aside, waiting for the young man's instructions.

After a long silence, Huo Zhizhi had no choice but to step forward and ask Zhang Wuxun, "Master Yu, what do you think we should do next?"

"Have your men scrape off a layer of that stuff on the wall," Zhang Wuxun said. "Scrape off wherever you can."

Huo Zhizhi showed no doubt whatsoever. He turned around, waved to a few members of the Huo family, gave them a few instructions, and the rest of them waited in place.

Zhang Wuxun's gaze swept over the Huo family members in the group, and he found that Huo Xiaoli and Huo Xiaojiu, whom he knew well, were all there, as was Huo Jinqiu, who wore glasses. The only one missing was Huo Zhixing.

Frowning slightly, Zhang Wuxun, as usual, called over the naive and easily deceived Huo Xiaoli to ask, "Why isn't Huo Zhixing here?"

Huo Xiaoli shook her head. "I don't know. He probably has other missions." Zhang Wuxun frowned. For some reason, he had a bad feeling, but he hadn't noticed anything unusual about the Huo family members other than Huo Jinqiu. He hoped he was just overthinking it.

The wall was quickly cleared, and the sealing stone revealed its true form.

It was a fragmented relief sculpture, like a dozen or so chessboard-like puzzle pieces. The young man stood to the side and glanced at it for a few moments before reaching out to the fat man for a photo.

The fat man pulled out the stack of photos Wu Xiaoxie had sent him from his backpack, handed them to the young man, and said, "Here, they're all here."

The young man took the photos, flipped through them for a while, and then focused his gaze on one of the photos. After looking at it carefully for a few moments, he returned the photo to the fat man and walked to the sealing stone. He reached out and touched one of the reliefs, then suddenly pressed down hard, causing the relief to sink in.

After that, the young man walked to another relief and pressed down on it again, then moved on to the next one.

Zhang Wuxun watched the young man's actions and looked at the photos. Suddenly, he noticed a pattern. After the young man pressed the fourth relief, he stepped forward, placed his hand on the last one, and then looked at the young man.

The young man nodded slightly, and Zhang Wuxun then pressed down hard before stepping aside.

The two did not exchange a single word throughout the entire process. Four or five seconds passed after the relief was pressed, but the sealing stone remained unchanged.

Some members of the Huo family couldn't help but want to step forward and ask, but Huo Zhizhi stopped them with his hand.

The man pursed his lips, said nothing, and turned to walk away.

Zhang Wuxun observed the silent undercurrents unfolding before him, but he merely watched coldly and paid no further attention.

Just then, a muffled sound suddenly came from inside the sealed stone in front of everyone. Then, as if it were contagious, the sound spread to the surrounding rock walls at an extremely slow speed.

The sound of gears grinding and churning filled the entire space, as if they were inside a mechanical box.

The sound of the iron chain grinding and turning lasted for about five minutes before finally stopping. The echoes in the cave were still buzzing, and the sealing stone in front of them remained unchanged.

"What's going on? Why is it all thunder and no rain? Has it been sitting there for too long and the mechanisms inside have rusted and become stiff?" The fat man stepped forward and tried to touch the sealed stone.

Zhang Wuxun pressed him down, "Wait a little longer."

No sooner had he spoken than the sealing stone in front of him suddenly trembled, with a muffled boom that shook the ground. With the loud noise, the sealing stone slowly cracked open from the middle and continued to move to the left and right.

The fat man was startled. "Holy crap, this is a high-end sliding door."

Once the noise completely subsided, looking through the swirling dust, one could see a pitch-black opening about a meter wide in front of them.

The Huo family members were all overjoyed and couldn't wait to go in, but they were disappointed to find that there was no passage behind the sealed stone as they had imagined. It was still a rock cave just like the outside.

Zhang Wuxun walked up to the opened sealing stone and reached out to feel along the crack.

The fat man also came over and exclaimed, "This door of your Zhang family's tomb is really too solid! It's thicker than two of the tomb doors I've seen before combined. No wonder it took so long to open."

Zhang Wuxun nodded. "There should be a layer of smelted bronze inside this sealing stone. It would be very difficult to break it open even with explosives."

"That's quite a generous gesture." The fat man clicked his tongue twice, turned on his flashlight and shone it inside, then beckoned to Huo Xiaoli, "Come on, Comrade Huo, let me take a picture of you, Fatty."

Huo Xiaoli said "Oh," picked up the camera hanging around her neck, and was about to take a picture when the fat man immediately called for a pause.

"Wait a minute, let's take a group photo of the three of us, Fatty and Fatty." Fatty grabbed Zhang Wuxun's neck and pulled him towards him, calling to the younger brother, "Come on over, let's take a picture of the three of us to remember this moment, and then send it to Xiaotianzhen so he can be really envious."

The young man walked over and stood on the other side of the fat man, who put his arm around his shoulder and shouted, "The first team for exploring Zhang Family Ancient Tower, the brave and stoic Fatty Fish duo, GO GO GO!"

Zhang Wuxun curled the corners of his mouth and, a second before Huo Xiaoli pressed the shutter, suddenly made a gun gesture with his right hand at an angle.

The young man, who had been hanging his head, caught a glimpse of Zhang Wuxun's gesture out of the corner of his eye and quickly extended his left hand to make the same gesture.

There was a click and the picture was frozen.

Behind the camera, Huo Xiaoli's face was half-smiling, half-blushing.

Zhang Wuxun sensed something was wrong. He turned his head and saw the fat man lowering his arm. Suspicious, he asked Huo Xiaoli for the camera to take a look.

Upon seeing this, I was immediately speechless. In the photo, the fat guy had somehow raised both arms and put his fingers on top of Zhang Wuxun and the little brother's heads, making a "two" sign with a sly grin.

At first glance, it looks as if the young man and Zhang Wuxun have two chubby little ears growing out of nowhere on the top of their heads.

"You fatso!" Zhang Wuxun said speechlessly, "Look at the pathetic gestures you're making."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" The fat man grinned mischievously as he approached, bursting into laughter at the sight of the man.

Seeing Zhang Wuxun looking at him with unfriendly eyes, he immediately stopped laughing, cleared his throat, and said in a serious tone, "Isn't this great? It makes you two look so cute, right?"

Zhang Wuxun's lips twitched, and he disdainfully shoved the camera into the fat man's hand, saying, "Cute my foot!"

"Alright, alright, let's pat each other. A grown man shouldn't worry about this. We need to hurry on our way." The fat man was afraid that Zhang Wuxun would delete the photos, so he quickly returned the camera to Huo Xiaoli.

The Huo family members who had entered first had already gone deeper into the cave under Huo Zhizhi's guidance.

Zhang Wuxun and his two companions, along with Huo Xiaoli, passed through the sealed stone gate and hurried inside, flashlights in hand.

The rock walls on both sides were no different from those leading to the first sealing stone; they were all irregular natural rock passages. After walking more than a hundred meters in, they saw lights and figures ahead. Huo Zhizhi and the others were waiting in front of them.

"Why aren't you going any further? Are you afraid of the dark?" the fat man said smugly.

Huo Zhizhi ignored him, knowing that the young man was difficult to communicate with, so he went directly to Zhang Wuxun and said, "The passage here was carved out by man."

It was dug by human hands, meaning it was a tunnel made by someone using tools. Zhang Wuxun went closer to take a look. The tunnel wasn't very wide, only wide enough for one person and their equipment to pass through at a time.

The Huo family probably stopped here because they were afraid there might be some special mechanisms or something inside.

Thank you so much to the generous donors [Please Complete Your Profile], [Don't Read], and [Little Brother's Leg Accessory] for their generous donations! Sending you a huge heart!

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(End of this chapter)