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

Chapter 365 Qilin Engraving
King Mu of Zhou had seen the ultimate reality and calculated its patterns, so he desired immortality in order to witness the world where the "end" would arrive. He calculated the timing and created the box. The Zhang family foresaw his plot, destroyed the box in advance, and also learned of the existence of the end.

Everything the Zhang family did from beginning to end was to prevent this "end point" from arriving.

[Wang Zanghai deciphered the string of numbers that Tie Miansheng had hidden in the Warring States period silk scroll, and used it as the password for the box containing the snake-browed bronze fish that Tie Miansheng had left clues about.]

What the Wang family has glimpsed today is but a tiny fraction, as fine as a grain of sand among billions.

The host's true adversaries have never been the Wang family.

After saying its last sentence, the system fell silent, giving Zhang Wuxun enough time to think.

After an unknown amount of time, a crackling sound came from the dark green jade vein, waking Zhang Wuxun from his daze.

He glanced at his watch; a day and a night had passed since he left the secret compartment, and the timing was perhaps just right.

The gray shadows in the surrounding jade veins were already close at hand. Zhang Wuxun stood up and stared coldly at the shadow closest to the lantern.

The gunpowder and incendiary bombs that had been prepared in the space could finally be put to use. He and the fat guy had made them while they were stuck on Mount Banna for a long time and had nothing to do. Anyway, the Huo family provided the raw materials.

Zhang Wuxun ignored the approaching Miluotuo. He first took out five or six small boxes from his spatial storage, opened them, and carefully placed them on the ground. Inside were solid black gunpowder shaped like fists. This stuff was very easy to make; the raw materials were charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. With a certain ratio, it was quick to make once you were skilled.

Then, a detonator with a timer installed was inserted into the middle of that box of solid gunpowder—the fat man's masterpiece—setting the time to five minutes later.

Then he took out the skull knife and began to chop at the jade vein in the opposite direction. In a few strokes, he cut open a gap, and Miluotuo's green claws stretched out.

Without blinking, Zhang Wuxun swung his hand and chopped off the claw of the Miluo Tuo along with its side half. The black-haired snake hidden inside took the opportunity to leap out and try to bite Zhang Wuxun's neck. Zhang Wuxun raised his hand and twisted its neck, then casually tossed it aside.

The second Miluotu arrived as expected. Before it could even roar, Zhang Wuxun plunged a knife into its heart, piercing it through.

The roars around him grew closer and closer. Zhang Wuxun entered the Jade Vein Tunnel and followed the cavity left by the Miluotuo. He then dealt with three more Miluotuo of the lowest level in succession. He silently counted down the countdown in his mind, then lunged forward and fell to the ground.

With a deafening boom, a series of massive explosions followed, and scorching heat instantly swept across the entire space.

The Miluotu within the jade vein went berserk. Zhang Wuxun could feel the jade vein walls around him trembling incessantly. With the amount of gunpowder he had just placed, all the Miluotu within a two- or three-hundred-meter radius would be attracted by the heat generated by the explosion.

Zhang Wuxun did not stop and continued forward along the broken jade vein.

He had just estimated his location and it should be in the southwest direction of Zhangjia Ancient Building, which means it was located on the back of the Qilin's neck near its shoulder.

The Zhang Family Ancient Building is located on the Qilin's eye, and the sealed entrance of the ancient building is on the Qilin's neck. According to the information given by Wu Xiaoxie and Fatty through the collapsed shoulders, the shortcut is to go directly down from the Qilin's horn.

If Xie Yuchen and Pan Ziruo lead the team in ahead of time as in the original story, they should walk along the back of the Qilin, near the left lower back.

So in order to lure Miluot away from their vicinity, he had to follow the tattoo route toward the Qilin's right front paw.

The route map he left for the fat man only had intaglio markings. In other words, the map was actually a combination of the Qilin tattoo on his body and the Hou pattern obtained from the Qimen Bagua. The blank areas were the truly safe routes. Due to the influence of volcanic rocks, the distribution of Miluotuo on this route was the least.

The more complex the tattoo design, the more Miluotuo (a type of mitochondrial) is distributed.

Moreover, this road has more than one exit, but all of them lead to Zhangjia Ancient Building, which is the location of the Qilin's Eye.

With Xie Yuchen's intelligence, entering smoothly would not be difficult. The only danger lies in the unknown number of high-level Miluotuo that lie within the jade vein.

Wu Xiaoxie and his group arrived about a day later than Xie Yuchen and his group. At the same time, the route that Xie Yuchen led his men along was more than twice the length of Wu Xiaoxie's group. Zhang Wuxun could perfectly take advantage of this time difference, as long as he could lure the danger away before they did.

Having already memorized the correct map, Zhang Wuxun quickened his pace and swiftly found the second location to place the heat source.

The number of Miluotuo here has obviously increased. This is the kind of place Zhang Wu is looking for. With his sense of danger, he can sense the place where Miluotuo gathers the most within two hundred meters.

Zhang Wuxun swung his knife and chopped off the neck of a Miluo Tuo. The roars behind him immediately came from behind. He stabbed behind him with his knife in the backhand, and as he pulled out the knife, he kicked the stone wall on the side and jumped up. In the instant his body was horizontal in mid-air, he spun around and kicked the chest of the third Miluo Tuo that pounced on him, sending it flying several meters away, knocking down a bunch of others along with it.

The moment he landed, he stepped back and pressed himself against the stone wall. A pale green and sharp claw lashed out, tearing the fabric at his waist. Zhang Wuxun twisted the claw of the Miluo Tuo with one hand and pushed it forward. He then raised his knife and slashed down hard, splitting the Miluo Tuo in two.

Zhang Wuxun kicked the upper half of Miluo Tuo, which he had just cut open, and sent it flying, crashing into the persistent big guy in front of him. At the same time, he threw a small grenade with the plug removed.

The heat from the explosion instantly caused the ugly, burly creatures to turn their attention to the burning fire on the ground. As the fire was extinguished, the Miluotuo quickly softened and collapsed into a pile of sticky, green liquid.

Zhang Wuxun had smeared Zhujiuyin's egg white on his body beforehand. After Miluotuo's outer shell died, the black-haired snake that crawled out of it dared not openly pounce on him to ambush him. It could only shrink in the corner and watch him menacingly, its dark yellow vertical pupils flashing with resentment.

Zhang Wuxun wasn't going to tolerate them. After dealing with the last two Miluotuo snakes, he flew his silver dart over. Before the black-haired snakes could even spit out their venom, their heads were already sliced ​​open, and foul-smelling blood splattered everywhere.

Zhang Wuxun had deliberately chosen this jade vein passage, which was far from the correct route. He quickly placed the gunpowder and time bomb, and then lit two bonfires two meters away to attract Miluotuo to surround it.

The sound of grinding and rubbing came from the nearby jade veins again. Zhang Wuxun smiled coldly and his figure quickly disappeared into the stone wall tunnel.

Inside the Jade Vein Tunnel, Xie Yuchen and Pan Zi, along with their men, had just dealt with a wave of Miluotuo attackers.

They had been trapped here for half an hour. Although the blueprints that Fatty had taken out were not changed overall, they found that part of the passage was blocked after they came in. When they tried to retreat, they found that the way they came had also disappeared. No matter which direction they went, they were always trapped in the jade vein.

The most troublesome thing was that a very large black shadow, Miluotuo, appeared around them, and the entire cave wall was surrounded by this spreading black shadow.

At the same time, they discovered that when this dark shadow appeared silently, the number of other Miluo Tuo trees, each as tall as a person, in the jade vein also decreased significantly.

Although the dark shadow was deep within the jade vein, it moved very quickly. At this speed, it would probably be able to emerge from the jade wall in less than half an hour.

Xie Yuchen realized that what was to come was a life-or-death battle, so he hurriedly ordered his men to treat the wounds as soon as possible. Then he discussed with Pan Zi and decided to strike first and fight to the death to see if they could kill the mutated Miluo Tuo.

Just then, a fellow thief who had been dozing off against the wall with his eyes half-closed jumped up from his spot.

Everyone was startled by him, thinking that Miluotuo was about to come out so soon. They hurriedly looked left and right with their guns, but found that the dark figure on the wall was still the same. They couldn't help but wonder, "Jie Sanduo, you've been getting more and more timid lately. You're so easily startled, you're scaring people to death."

The guy called Jie Sanduo ignored him completely, still staring intently at the wall he had been leaning against. He leaned closer to listen, then his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Damn it, an explosion! Someone is detonating a bomb, and it's very close to us!"

Having been trapped here for so long, they have come to realize that a heat source is the only way Miluotuo can find them.

Jie Sanduo was once a listening slave trained by the New Moon Hotel. Although his hearing was not as sharp as Sheng Sheng Man's, he could still distinguish the sounds within a few hundred meters.

Knowing Xie Sanduo's abilities, everyone's expressions immediately became tense. During this period, in addition to the map in Xie Yuchen's hands, Xie Sanduo's ears also helped them a lot in dealing with Miluotuo, allowing them to foresee dangers in advance.

Xie Yuchen stared intently at the dark figure, his brow furrowed slightly. "Explosion? Who would detonate a bomb here? Doesn't he know that heat attracts more..."

Wait a minute, he suddenly thought of a possibility, immediately got up, pressed the fog lamp against the jade vein wall and shone it inside, and found that the huge black shadow that was just deep in the rock wall was indeed gone. He immediately said to Xie Sanduo, "Listen carefully again, are the things around us gradually moving away?"

Jie Sanduo tilted his head and pressed his ear against the stone wall, listening quietly for more than ten seconds. He immediately nodded and said, "Boss, you're right. Miluo Tuo has indeed run far away, and its movement speed is extraordinary."

"Just as I thought." Xie Yuchen breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Pan Zi and the others were looking at him with suspicion, he explained his guess.

“Someone arrived at the jade vein not far from us in advance and lured that big guy away by detonating bombs.”

"What?" Pan Zi's eyes widened, and after a moment's thought, he understood. "Master Jie, you mean that not only are Brother Muyu and the others alright, but they're actually helping us deal with these ghostly things?"

“That’s right.” Xie Yuchen nodded. “Only the Zhang family knows the Zhang Family Ancient Building best. They will definitely be able to detect any changes in the mountain.”

"Since Zhang Wuxun left a map for Fatty Wang, it means they had guessed that Wu Xie would definitely send someone to rescue them, but because there were too many disloyal people in the team, they had to be on guard."

"Moreover, Fatty Wang also said that Zhang Wuxun and the other two only took Granny Huo and the others into the ancient building, which means that they deliberately left Fatty outside."

Xie Yuchen frowned. "This also indirectly shows that they foresaw in advance that the danger level in the ancient building was such that even the two most skilled members of the Zhang family were not confident they could handle it. Fatty was a backup plan they had arranged."

Jie San was still puzzled. "Boss, since they can move around freely inside the mountain, why don't they find their own way out? Did they forget the map?"

Pan Zi glanced at Xie Yuchen and then explained, "According to Third Master, there is a very powerful alkaline gas trap in the ancient building. Once this alkaline gas is released, nothing can grow. They thought they might not be able to come out this time, so they released Fatty out in advance to warn them. But something else may have happened later, and they found a place to hide from the alkaline gas in the ancient building."

"But while this place gave them temporary safety, it also trapped them inside. That's when the fat man they had sent out beforehand came in handy. They needed the fat man to notify the people outside to rescue them."

Everyone immediately understood; so that's what happened.

Xie Yuchen then asked Pan Zi, "Who do you think is the one who lured Miluotuo away from the jade vein?"

He didn't know the people around Wu Xie, so he couldn't make a complete analysis.

Pan Zi pondered for a few seconds and then said with certainty, "I think it must be Mu Yu, and he is all alone."

"They were trapped there. Although the Huo family members who stayed at the camp said they were carrying protective gear against strong alkali, it would only last for a short while. Therefore, they probably gave all the protective gear to one person. This person can draw maps and naturally knows the distribution pattern of Miluotuo in the mountains. He was clearing obstacles for us so that we wouldn't be killed by Miluotuo before we even got there. The people trapped in the ancient building are waiting to be rescued."

Although Xie Yuchen felt something was strange and thought that Pan Zi might be hiding something, he didn't ask any further questions. He had no interest in knowing anything that wasn't about himself.

"Where is the explosion now?" he asked Jie Sanduo.

Jie San listened carefully for a while, then shook his head and said, "It's getting farther and farther away, more than two kilometers away. I can't hear the exact location anymore."

Xie Yuchen took out his simplified map, spread it on the ground, and asked him to point out the approximate area.

Their current location is in the lower middle section of the map, which is near the chest of the Qilin's back, while the location where Jie Sanduo heard the sound is on the Qilin's left lower back.

In other words, Zhang Wuxun was gradually approaching the road they had come from.

Thank you so much to [啊沐沐吖] for the generous donation! Sending you a huge heart! *
(End of this chapter)