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

Chapter 340 A Snake Hidden in the Belly
Seeing that the fire was about to spread to Zhang Wuxun's feet, the young man immediately ran over and pulled him out of the fire. Then he found that Zhang Wuxun's condition was not right, so he immediately decided to take him back to the camp.

On the way back, they bumped into the fat man who had come looking for them.

"How are you feeling now? The Huo family's team doctor said you inhaled a large amount of snake venom, but because of the special nature of your blood, the poisoning is not severe; at most, you'll only experience some hallucinations."

The fat man handed him a water bag filled with warm water, saying, "Drink more water to help your body detoxify. After that, take a couple of urinations, and the remaining toxins will be expelled."

Zhang Wuxun nodded, took the cup, and silently pondered the fat man's words. He recalled the scenes he had seen before he lost consciousness. Were they really hallucinations?

Or perhaps he could also detect pheromones from the black-haired snake's venom?

So, in the snake's memory, who was the person wearing the white cloak? Could it be Zhang Menyu?
If it was Zhang Menyu, then what message did he want to convey to himself through that snake?
"What happened to the things in the cellar? Were they all burned?" Zhang Wu asked.

"It's all burned, not a single ash left," the fat man said. "The two little cuties I gave you when you left were used up; that whole area was blown up."

Zhang Wuxun sighed regretfully and asked, "What about the corpses of the Huo family members along the way? Have you examined them carefully? There might be snake eggs inside."

The fat man's expression was somewhat subtle. Zhang Wu asked him what was wrong, whether something had happened.

The fat man had just said that after the corpses were brought back, because they died so horribly and their internal organs were dragging all over the ground, making them inconvenient to handle, they were all piled up together with the human and lynx corpses in the camp. They've probably been buried in a pit by now.

Zhang Wuxun immediately finished the water in his cup, then lifted the thin blanket covering him and put on his shoes, saying, "I'll go take a look."

He recovers well; the spot where the flame touched is now only slightly red, without even a blister.

The young man and the fat man didn't stop him and followed him out of the tent.

About fifty meters behind the camp, lights flickered. By this time, the sky was already turning slightly gray, but if you ducked into the bushes, you would find that it was still just as dark.

They soon arrived at the spot where they had dug the pit. The fat man went up to stop them, but when Huo Zhizhi saw that it was them, he ordered his men to stop.

"What did you discover?" That was the first thing Huo Zhizhi asked.

Zhang Wuxun didn't answer him. His gaze swept over the corpses lying in the grass for a few moments, but he couldn't find the ones he was looking for. So he asked him, "Where are the ones hanging in the tree buried?"

Huo Zhizhi pointed further back, "They're all there. Those corpses stinked terribly, so they were buried first."

“Dig it out,” Zhang Wuxun said, looking at him.

Huo Zhizhi's expression twisted for a moment, but considering that Zhang Wuxun's face was a little pale at the moment, he still directed the two people to dig a hole.

With one shovel stroke, only a layer of soil was lifted, and the stench immediately filled the air. The two young men who were digging the hole turned green with rage. Zhang Wuxun kindly provided them with two masks.

Everyone else stopped and kept their distance.

Zhang Wuxun was initially a little apprehensive, because the idea that there were snake eggs inside the abdomen was just his guess. However, as the pit was dug deeper and deeper, and even yellowish-green corpse fluid seeped through the soil and stuck to the shovel, he knew that he had guessed correctly.

The average temperature in Banna is between 27 and 36 degrees Celsius. Considering the normal rate of decomposition of a corpse, even if it had been left in a pile of mud for twelve hours, it wouldn't have turned into bodily fluids all at once.

Therefore, there must be something inside the corpse that exacerbated this change. Even if it wasn't snake eggs, there must be something else bad inside.

The two young men were eager to escape their misery, so they swung their shovels wildly. With one shovelful, something was pierced with a "plop," and the young men instinctively picked up the shovel.

It was a round object covered with grass roots and sticky black mud. Inside the mud, something was wriggling, long and thin, like a loach, crawling up the round object onto the shovel handle.

The young man let out a strange howl and threw the shovel out of his hand. The round object rolled to the feet of the Huo family members who were watching the show on the other side, startling them into taking a step back.

Almost everyone guessed what it was. After it fell to the ground, most of the mud on it was knocked off, revealing its true form.

The moment their eyes met those two dark, gaping holes, everyone gasped, then simultaneously raised their shovels and uniformly aimed them at the "earthworms" that had fallen out of the wet mud, chopping the long, thin things into dust.

Their execution ability was so high that Zhang Wuxun and his team were amazed.

However, they were a bit too focused on the beginning and forgot about the end. It was only after Huo Zhizhi reminded them from behind that they discovered there were even more of those long, thin creatures in the pit, emerging one by one from the wet, sticky soil, much like razor clams scrambling to pop up on a beach after salt has been sprinkled.

However, this thing is much more dangerous than razor clams. Razor clams are eaten, and humans are predators, but this thing can eat humans.

One by one, heads covered in mud and about the thickness of a little finger, sensed the fresh blood around them and scrambled to climb out of the pit towards the edge.

The corpses at the bottom of the pit had turned into a pile of rotten flesh, skin and bones, like candle wax dripping and accumulating at the bottom of a burning candle. The flesh inside the skin had been completely eaten away.

Moreover, these small snakes seem to secrete a special kind of mucus that flows out of their bodies and mixes with the corpse fluid, turning the originally pale yellow liquid into something greenish.

Huo Zhizhi hurriedly directed people to fill the pit with soil, and then ordered them to quickly return to the camp to get gasoline.

Fortunately, these small snakes weren't very dangerous yet, and ordinary people could handle them with a bit of effort. They chopped and shoveled them, poured gasoline on them, and threw down a few torches. The pungent stench of decay, along with black smoke, filled the entire camp.

The fat man lifted his shirt, covered his nose, and hid behind a tree. Looking at the raging fire in the pit, he couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "What kind of snake is this? It's even more powerful than the pheasant neck we saw in Tamutuo before."

At least a pheasant neck leaves a whole, giant-like corpse, but this snake's body, even when used as a nursery box, turns into wax, and it hatches much faster than a pheasant neck.

“This is a mutated subspecies of the pheasant neck snake, called the black-haired snake. We saw the adult form of this snake in the jade figurines in the Queen Mother of the West's Palace. There are also such creatures in Miluotuo,” Zhang Wuxun explained. “It’s really mutated,” the fat man retorted. “Even you fell for it.”

Zhang Wuxun nodded in agreement. "There was a lot of powder on the walls of the cellar I went into. I didn't have time to take samples for testing, but I guess that stuff helps the snake venom evaporate."

Perhaps the drooping shoulder knew that this snake could transmit memories, which is why it tried to capture a part of Miluotuo's body in order to obtain certain information.

After all, he was initially chosen by Zhang Dafoye to replace Zhang Qiling. Regardless of Zhang Qishan's purpose in searching for the Zhang Family Ancient Building, as the person in charge, Tuo Jianbei must have known something.

But unexpectedly, it turned out to be a favor done to Zhang Wuxun, who is probably furious right now.

It's a pity, though. That guy is too cunning. If we can't wipe him out this time, he'll probably make his move next time inside the Zhang Family Ancient Building.

After learning about the situation, Huo Xiangu immediately ordered all the corpses to be burned and destroyed. The Huo family seemed to be used to this and did not object.

After finishing their business, Zhang Wuxun and the other two returned to the camp, where they found Huo Xiuxiu waiting outside their tent, accompanied by Huo Chushi.

"Grandma invites you over," Huo Xiuxiu said.

Zhang Wuxun and the other two followed her to the tent in the very center of the camp.

Upon meeting, Huo Xiangu went straight to the point: "Do you know what happened with the lynx attack this time? And what about those snakes?"

Although the question was directed at "you," the eyes were on Zhang Wuxun.

“You must have heard that bamboo whistle. Someone is controlling those wild beasts. The snakes might be kept by that person to dispose of the corpses.” Zhang Wuxun chose to conceal the second point.

"You mean to say that this lynx was domesticated by humans?" Huo Xiangu looked at Zhang Wuxun with disbelief. "Have you seen that person?"

Zhang Wuxun nodded. "I've met him. He's also a member of the Zhang family. However, we speculate that he might be from Zhang Qishan's lineage. When we first came to Banna, he controlled a group of lynxes to attack us."

Lynxes are solitary animals and accustomed to cold weather. They prefer to live in alpine shrublands or mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests in subarctic and temperate zones. Guangxi belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone, so the sudden appearance of such a large lynx population is obviously very abnormal.

Not to mention that wild animals have an instinct to fear firelight, and most will choose to avoid suddenly appearing unknown creatures unless people invade their territory.

Upon hearing Zhang Wuxun's answer, Huo Xiangu fell into deep thought and did not ask any further questions.

A strong sense of urgency welled up in her heart. She wondered what the Zhang family member's purpose was in doing this. Was the use of such a large number of deadly weapons an attempt to prevent them from entering the Zhang Family Ancient Building? Or was that person also connected with some hidden force?
Since that person had been lingering near the ancient building for a long time, and had developed a strong hostility towards them, and also had a close relationship with the Buddha, and they all knew who was behind the Buddha back then, then was this person staying here also looking for a way to enter the Zhang family's ancient building?
Recalling what she had experienced, Huo Xiangu was almost certain that the person must have been sent by the forces behind the scenes.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If I could capture that guy, I could have him interrogated and perhaps get more information.

Immediately, Huo Xiangu ordered everyone to split into three groups and explore the valley floor from three directions overnight.

The original team, including Zhang Wuxun and the other two, totaled fifty-six people. Five of them were killed by Ta Jianjian during a night patrol, and thirteen more were killed or wounded in the battle with the lynx. Now they only have thirty-eight people left.

Huo Chushi left some of his men to protect Old Madam Huo, while he led a group of men northwards with the rest of his men. Huo Zhizhi and Huo Xiuxiu led their men westwards, leaving Zhang Wuxun and his group to the east, where they were most likely to encounter danger.

However, Zhang Wuxun and his group didn't care. After counting their numbers, they took their equipment and followed the route Zhang Wuxun had taken earlier, carefully exploring the area along the way.

The search was not fast, because this was a place that almost no one had set foot in. The terrain at the bottom of the valley was very complex. On the surface, it was covered with grass and vines, but underneath there were some bottomless pits.

Just in case, they also went into these pits with ropes tied to them to check them. They were either empty or were dens dug by wild animals, abandoned for a long time, with some animal carcasses and remains inside, of no useful value.

They waited until it was completely light before deciding to take a break and eat something to replenish their energy.

Someone couldn't help but complain, "Where exactly is this Zhang Family Ancient Building hidden? I feel like we're just wasting our time searching like this. There's not a single trace of human activity left here. Could it be that we're looking in the wrong direction?"

This statement also expressed the sentiments of many people, and everyone turned their attention to Zhang Wuxun and the other two, waiting for them to make their statement.

This valley area is too large; it would take forever to search it all by hand. But they dared not suggest giving up; only Zhang Wuxun, who was leading the team, could bring it up.

The communication range of walkie-talkies is within three kilometers. They have already walked more than three kilometers since last night. The other two groups are probably in a similar situation, otherwise someone would have notified them to withdraw long ago.

“Let’s go a little further,” Zhang Wuxun said. “If we still haven’t found anything after going another five kilometers, we should go back and discuss other options with your master.”

Everyone agreed, and after resting for half an hour, the group prepared to continue their journey.

Actually, the main reason Zhang Wuxun chose to lead the team here was to catch Ta Jianban or find some other clues. But they had been deep in for so long, and apart from the cellar, there was no trace of Ta Jianban. Or perhaps that guy had already led his lynx army to hide deeper into the valley.
Just then, the fat man suddenly mentioned that his stomach hurt a bit and he wanted to go out for a walk, probably because there was something wrong with the game he hunted last night.

Last night, when we were setting up camp near dusk, Fatty got itchy as soon as he got his gun. He went out for a stroll and came back with two wild pheasants. He put them on the fire to roast, but the pheasants were probably old and a bit tough, and even Fatty's cooking skills couldn't save the taste.

Zhang Wuxun only tried a little and then stopped eating. Compared to roast chicken, the young man preferred poached chicken, so in the end, Fatty ate one and a half chickens by himself and gave the rest to Huo Xiaoli and the others.

Fearing that he might encounter danger if he got separated from others, Zhang Wuxun arranged for anyone in the group who needed to use the restroom to go together.

As a result, when the fat man shouted, five or six people came running. Seeing this, the rest of the people had no choice but to wait where they were.

Thank you to the generous donors [年少时最是天真], [不念], [小哥的腿部挂件], [MLH], and others for their generous donations! Sending love...*
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(End of this chapter)