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

Chapter 409 Aning's Whereabouts
After repeated questioning, the young man finally revealed that the girl was chosen as a sacrifice to appease the demon.

If the Zhang family doesn't come here by the fourth decade, they will have to send the girl over, because the ten-year period is about to end, and the previous actions at the Lama Temple were to perform necessary rituals for the offering.

The young man felt that these people weren't telling the truth; he could sense that the girl was no longer human.

The whole thing is extremely illogical and full of loopholes.

﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

Zhang Wuxun stayed in his room for more than ten days. Every evening after dinner, he would take Yueya out for a walk on the path in the Lama Temple.

Occasionally, when they run into Chen Xuehan, who is picking people up the mountain, the two will sit at a table and chat for a few minutes.

“There seem to be a lot more people at the temple lately.” Zhang Wu stroked Crescent Moon’s head, holding a small jar that looked like a wine jar for her to sniff. Inside was a small piece of black scaled snake skin.

After spending the last few days with her, he also discovered that Crescent Moon was much smarter than the average wolfhound. Aning had previously trained her in some basic obedience behaviors, and what concerned him most was that Crescent Moon had a natural aversion to black-scaled snakes.

Once, before taking Yueya for a walk, he took out the venom of several black-scaled snakes he had collected in his space and tried to dilute it. He dripped a very thin drop into his nasal cavity and gradually increased the amount after getting used to it.

This is also a desensitization experiment to prepare for future pheromone reading. Because he had absorbed snake eggs before, his five senses were unusually sharp, and the effects of snake venom were greater than those of pheromones.

He didn't want to enter that half-dead, unconscious state every time he read pheromones in the future; such a state was too dangerous when the absolute safety of the environment couldn't be guaranteed.

Even after he disinfected and cleaned himself, when he went to see Yueya after dinner that evening, Yueya suddenly became very agitated and restless in the face of Zhang Wuxun's arrival. She growled in his direction, but because she was familiar with his scent, she hesitated and circled around him, resisting yet wanting to get closer.

Zhang Wuxun was initially confused and had to coax Yueya for a long time before she would come closer, but she kept staring at his hands and face and sniffing them.

Zhang Wuxun suddenly realized what was happening, and Yueya suddenly became alert. In fact, she had smelled the lingering scent of snake venom on him, and even disinfectant alcohol could not completely mask that dangerous aura.

This was truly an unexpected delight. Zhang Wuxun happily patted Crescent Moon's head. Dogs have a keen sense of smell, and Crescent Moon's sense of smell was an innate talent.

Therefore, Zhang Wuxun specially took out the specimens of the black-scaled snakes he had collected in his space to train Yueya, and Yueya performed exceptionally well.

Chen Xuehan shoveled rice into her mouth while watching Zhang Wuxun interact with the dog.

After Zhang Wuxun let Yueya sniff the jar for a while, he covered the jar and threw it to her. Yueya pounced on it fiercely like a hungry tiger, as valiant and agile as a little leopard.

"As the year draws to a close, high lamas from all over the country will come here to hold a grand Buddhist ceremony, and some guests will also come to listen to the Buddha's teachings, so the temple will inevitably be more crowded."

Chen Xuehan herself was also a little puzzled. Although this lama temple was not exactly isolated from the world, apart from a few fixed groups, very few people would come in large numbers every year, making it impossible for everyone to sit in the dining hall. Many lamas had to move to another room to eat.

Zhang Wuxun rarely went to the dining hall. There were too many people. Even though the lamas ate quietly, he was still not used to the mixed atmosphere around him. "Who are these people? Foreigners or Han Chinese?"

Those people seemed to have no idea what quiet was, making the usually quiet temple noisy. Zhang Wuxun didn't mind the natural and warm atmosphere when he was with Wu Xie, Fatty, and Xiao Ge, but he didn't like this kind of atmosphere. He felt out of place in this unfamiliar world.

"Most of them are foreigners, and they're all familiar faces who have been to the temple before." Chen Xuehan paused, then added, "They probably won't be gone for long."

Chen Xuehan knew very well that Zhang Wuxun was someone you could tell was not to be trifled with just by looking at his eyes, but after spending more time with him, she also knew that he was usually quite easygoing and wouldn't bother with anything.

Therefore, he wasn't too afraid of him anymore and specifically instructed him: "Those foreigners look big and burly, so don't get into any conflicts with them."

It wasn't that he was afraid Zhang Wuxun would suffer any loss; he didn't have a good impression of those foreigners, even though they were quite generous. He was worried that if those foreigners didn't know their own limitations and offended the person in front of him, something might go wrong, and the temple couldn't show favoritism, since they were all guests.

Zhang Wuxun naturally didn't have much free time to provoke those people; the records of Deren throughout the ages were enough for him to study for a long time.

To his surprise, those people came to him on their own initiative after he ignored them.

Those foreigners even believed in the principle of "courtesy first, then force."

After Zhang Wuxun finished talking to Chen Xuehan and led Yueya back, Yueya first smelled the scent of strangers. She leaned against the door to block Zhang Wuxun, her nose twitching as she approached the crack in the door.

Zhang Wuxun released his senses to investigate and found no one in the room, so he knew that the other party was just going through the motions. He reached out and patted Yueya's back to signal her to relax, then led the dog and pushed open the door. On the empty table in front of him was a letter.

The unfamiliar scent that Crescent Moon smelled came from this letter.

Zhang Wuxun pointed to the felt cushion on the chair, untied the rope, and let Yueya drag herself down to rest. Recently, there have been many people and eyes in the temple, so Yueya is not allowed to go to Chen Xuehan's room.

The envelope was not sealed; only five characters were neatly written in small Chinese regular script on the back: “To Mr. Bai.”

Zhang Wuxun already knew who was looking for him: people from Anjing Company. It seemed that the people who had recently come to the temple were also from them.

After taking precautions, I took out the thin sheet of paper inside. It began with a cheesy address commonly used by foreigners, "My dear Mr. Bai..."

The letter essentially stated that they knew Zhang Wuxun possessed what they wanted, and therefore intended to discuss cooperation with him. They also expressed their sincerity, making no mention of Aning or Lu De, who had previously attacked him.

Zhang Wuxun knew that the people from Anjing Company wouldn't give up easily, so he completely ignored the letter and tore it up and threw it on the eaves of the house next door.

The next morning, when the young lama brought the goat milk, he casually mentioned that someone had been waiting outside for a long time and asked the young lama to inform them.

Zhang Wuxun still ignored him, thanked the young lama, and said, "Tell him I'm in seclusion and won't see anyone."

The young lama nodded and did as he was told when he left.

The German nodded, his face solemn and cold, showing no displeasure. In his view, this was the arrogant behavior that a man with long fingers should have. There is an old Chinese saying, "Three visits to the thatched cottage," meaning that capable people naturally have tempers, and their purpose was not just cooperation.

On the third day, the German came again, waiting in the porch even earlier than the day before. This was the final deadline he had set for the long fingers inside the house.

If he didn't see the person by today, he wouldn't be polite; he thought his sincerity was enough. As the young lama finished delivering the goat milk and left, the German turned around and saw another person standing in the open doorway. It was the homeowner he was looking for, who seemed younger than in the photo, with sharper eyes—no wonder he had long fingers.

While the Germans were sizing up Zhang Wuxun, Zhang Wuxun was also analyzing them.

This man was very tall and as strong as a polar bear. He had silver-gray hair combed back, and his weathered face had deep lines that looked like scars when he smiled. He was extremely hateful.

He had a pair of amber-colored hunter's eyes, the kind of person who was used to being in control of everything. He was clearly very confident in his own abilities and was confident that he could persuade Zhang Wuxun to cooperate with him.

Zhang Wuxun's eyes lingered on his neck for a moment. It was a bit troublesome, but not insurmountable. Killing him silently was still an option.

Sensing Zhang Wuxun's hostility, the German took two steps closer, his smile widening as he clasped his hands in a traditional martial arts salute.

He already knew from the bug on Rude that Zhang Wuxun could speak German, so he said directly, "Hey, Mr. Bai, I've heard so much about you. I've always wanted to be friends with your Longfinger family. Today I finally have the opportunity, and I'm very honored."

Zhang Wuxun did not respond. It seemed that the Germans regarded him as a member of the Zhang family overseas. No wonder they took the initiative to come to discuss cooperation.

The German continued, "To be fair, let me introduce myself first. My name is Andrio Lane, or you can call me by my Chinese name, Li Ande."

Zhang Wuxun looked at him indifferently, still showing no intention of speaking.

Li Ande's smile faded slightly. "I'm sure someone as intelligent as Mr. Bai already knows why we've come."

Zhang Wuxun snorted, "So what?"

“We need those notebooks to get us into the mountains,” Li Ande said bluntly. “I know Mr. Bai and your family have been researching how to get into the mountains.”

Zhang Wuxun sneered and said without any politeness, "So what if you know? Whether you go into the mountain or not is none of my business."

Li Ande was somewhat annoyed. Even though he considered himself an expert on China, he was still angered by Zhang Wuxun's ruthless and hostile attitude. "Although it's none of your business, it is the business of its owner."

Li Ande pointed to Crescent Moon, a dog that was peeking out of the doorway with an unfriendly look in its eyes, waiting for Zhang Wuxun's command to pounce and bite.

“Its owner stole two very important pieces of information from us, so we arrested her, and now that information is in your hands.”

Seeing Zhang Wuxun's expression change slightly, Li Ande smiled confidently.

He was certain that Zhang Wuxun would not stand idly by while the woman was in distress. “Don’t worry, even though Miss Bai took our things, we didn’t do anything bad to her. She’s doing very well now. Our people are taking good care of her at the headquarters of Anjing Company.”

Zhang Wuxun narrowed his eyes slightly. "So, what do you want?"

He was certain that Aning was not in their hands.

Perhaps she had been captured before, but Aning escaped on her own and went into hiding; otherwise, the German wouldn't have specifically emphasized Aning's location.

“We can exchange information and share resources. I’ll tell you the meaning of those two strings of numbers, and you show us the painting and notes. We’ll return Miss Bai to you, and you can come with us into the mountains,” Li Ande said.

“You know very well what you want to do in the mountains. The road into the mountains is very dangerous. I suppose you have sent more than one group of people into the mountains, and they have all failed?” Zhang Wuxun pretended to soften his tone.

Li Ande sensed the hesitation in his words, which emboldened him. He subtly moved his hand behind his back and made a gesture, "As you said, we have failed many times."

“Without those notes and scrolls, we wouldn’t know the true route to the Holy Lake. I can only tell you that those two strings of numbers are information about the Holy Land’s Heavenly Stone that our leader deciphered. So if you want to know what those numbers represent, you must go there.”

Zhang Wu glanced around the corner of the corridor, where more than one heavily armed man was hiding.

"Why don't we sit down, have some tea, and chat slowly?" Li Ande didn't press too hard; he had plenty of time before the plan was fully implemented.

Zhang Wuxun also took a step back and went back into the house.

When Li Ande entered, he was accompanied by a German man who was a head shorter than him. The man had a full beard and a rough appearance, but his face was much kinder than Li Ande's.

The man introduced himself in perfect Mandarin, “Hello Mr. Bai, I am Mr. Lane’s deputy, my name is Otto von Ehrlich.”

Zhang Wuxun glanced at him and thought to himself that he was a descendant of German nobility.

Feng bluntly placed a stack of documents on the table and said, "This is the origin of all the events, and also the beginning of our Quiet Company's organization of this operation."

The base that Rude and his men had established in Motuo was actually there before Jude Kao took over the German company. After Jude Kao's death, the Quiet Company continued to use this base to monitor Motuo.

They didn't know much about the Long Fingers family, only that they were very mysterious. So when they discovered Zhang Wuxun, the lone Long Fingers, they immediately realized that this was a rare opportunity.

To summarize the information in the document, Jude Kao's company is a joint-stock company with many mixed forces, among which there are two prominent groups of people.

A group of people were there from the very beginning of Jude Kao's company. What's special is that they would voluntarily resign every ten years or so.

But in reality, these people did not leave. They were still there, and their appearances remained unchanged from beginning to end. They simply changed their names and inserted themselves into the grassroots of other departments. To them, Jude Kao's company seemed like a desolate wasteland riddled with holes.

There is another group of people who keep a low profile. This group is not large, and most of them are veterans of the company. Their decisions are almost unconditionally supported by Jude Kao.

But Jude Kao wasn't stupid after all. Over time, he also discovered that the two groups of people in his company were fighting each other.

Thus, as the saying goes, when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. He uses the conflict between the two sides to develop himself while also constantly uncovering the secrets behind them.

Goodnight, Makka Pakka

(End of this chapter)