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

Chapter 414 His name is Wu Xie
The visitor was none other than Jin Wantang.

He came looking for it after seeing the picture in the newspaper. He had seen the scorpion in the bead a year ago, and Xie Yuchen had offered a high price for it. When he saw the missing item notice, he immediately came to the door with his grandfather's diary.

However, when he learned that the person asking him this question was Wu Xie, he was dumbfounded. "What's going on? Didn't you already come looking for me once, Third Master?"

Wu Xie narrowed his eyes. His first thought was that this old guy was after Xiao Hua's bounty and had come here to fabricate something out of thin air.

Fatty had a grudge against Big Gold Tooth; that bastard had tricked him countless times. He immediately stepped forward, grabbed the man, and shouted, "Hey! You old bastard, of all people to fool, you dare to try and fool our Third Master today? Quickly tell me honestly, who the hell sent you here?"

Jin Wantang was so startled by the fat man's loud shout that his liver trembled. He cried and sobbed, "Oh dear, I really didn't lie to you. Even if you gave me ten times the courage of a bear, I wouldn't dare to come here and fool Master Hua and Master Xiao San."

Seeing that his expression didn't seem fake, Xie Yuchen waved his hand, signaling the fat man to release the man first. "You said Wu Xie has already come looking for you once, what's going on?"

Jin Wantang quickly said, "Young Master Jiu, I really didn't lie to you. What I said is true. Young Master San did come to Liulichang to look for me a year ago. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to ask my shop assistant. He can testify."

"Get out of here!" The fat man grabbed him by the back of the neck and said angrily, "Who the hell are you trying to fool? He's your shop assistant, so of course he'll believe whatever you say. Confess now, or we'll torture you."

Jin Wantang's forehead was covered in sweat as he desperately tried to explain, "Fatty, I really didn't lie to you this time..."

Wu Xie stared intently at Jin Wantang. "You said I came to see you a year ago? When exactly? What was the reason I came to see you? Was it also because of this scorpion painting?"

"That's right, that's right, that's why. I remember it very clearly. You were carrying a backpack and wearing a hat at the time."

Jin Wantang said with a bitter face, "Young Master, with your handsome and dashing appearance, you are so captivating that even if I, Da Jin Ya, am old and have failing eyesight, I could not possibly mistake you."

Wu Xie sneered, "But at the end of October last year, I was learning how to handle betting operations from my third uncle, and I didn't go to see you at all."

To be precise, he was wearing his third uncle's mask at that time.

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Jin Wantang's face turned pale with fright. "Oh my god, Third Master, please stop teasing me. You can't joke like this. This... this is too scary. It really was you who came to our door back then. Your voice and tone are exactly the same as yours now, no difference at all."

The room was silent. Seeing that Wu Xie and the other two were not speaking, Jin Wantang became increasingly panicked. Although the sun was shining brightly outside, cold sweat kept pouring down his back. He stammered, "Could it be, could it be that the Third Master is a fake?"

The fat man grabbed his collar and yanked him. "Nonsense, it's not fake. You wouldn't have seen a ghost in broad daylight, would you?"

Jin Wantang almost couldn't catch his breath and wished he could faint on the spot.

"Then...who could that person be? Why would he pretend to be Young Master San to deceive people?" Jin Wantang felt like his heart had been damaged by ten thousand points.

"You're asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask?" the fat man shouted. "Hurry up and tell me honestly, what did that imposter say to you back then?"

"He only asked about the scorpion; he only asked about the scorpion and nothing else," Jin Wantang hurriedly said.

Wu Xie narrowed his eyes. So, it really was someone impersonating him who had found Jin Wantang first to inquire about the whereabouts of the scorpion pattern.

With such excellent disguise skills, who could that person be?

He thought of the person who had used his face to blend into Jude Kao's group and enter Zhangjia Ancient Building on Mount Banna. It could now be proven that the person had not died in Zhangjia Ancient Building.

Most importantly, what was his purpose in impersonating him?
Xie Yuchen frowned slightly, "Tell me in detail, when exactly, and what he said to you."

Jin Wantang hurriedly agreed and slapped the back of the collar that the fat man was holding, saying, "Fatty, please let go first and let me explain slowly. You're choking me so much that I can't breathe."

Fatty and Wu Xie exchanged a glance. Wu Xie nodded slightly to him, and Fatty snorted coldly and let go of his hand. "I don't think you'd dare to play any tricks."

Jin Wantang was inwardly groaning; having encountered such a troublesome person, he could only force a smile.

He thought it would be an easy way to make money, but instead of seeing any money, he got himself into trouble. He could only comfort himself that at least he hadn't suffered any losses for the time being.

“Let me think,” Jin Wantang recalled. “It must have been October last year, in the latter half of October, when the Third Master, oh no, that dummy, came to my Suren Hall to ask about some items. Those items were all high-quality Tibetan jewelry, and on three of the beaded strings, there was a very strange red bead.”

"Those beads are quite rare, they're called moonstone, and they're blood-red moonstone. Oh my, that's really very rare, worth a fortune," Jin Wantang exclaimed.

The fat man impatiently urged him, "Stop dawdling and get to the point."

"Don't rush, don't rush, let me tell you slowly. This matter is actually a long story."

Jin Wantang carefully moved to a chair, picked up the teacup on the table, took a small sip to moisten his throat, and continued, "The key point is here: inside those three red moonstones, on the inner wall of the hole, there is a scorpion coiled on a nine-turn lotus flower. Each of the three scorpions is in a different posture."

Jin Wantang recounted the events of that time in detail, as well as the things that happened to Ma Pingchuan's family in Maba Town, Huai'an, including the analysis of the Ma family's downfall by the fake Wu Xie.

“He analyzed that someone behind the scenes had forced the Ma family to relocate. He wanted to find out who did it, so I told him that if that Ma family member was still alive, he should still be in Nepal. So he went there to look for him.”

"Oh, by the way, he also asked me to help check if the descendants of the Ma family who used Ma Pingchuan's ancient book for authentication are still in Jiangsu. I checked, and they're not. There's no trace of that family living in Jiangsu, so they must have returned to Nepal," Jin Wantang added.

Wu Xie frowned. "So, the person who impersonated me later went to Nepal?"

“Yes, yes, if nothing unexpected happens, they should have gone there. I couldn’t find any trace of the Ma family in Jiangsu, so I called them to let them know,” Jin Wantang quickly replied.

The fat man hissed, "So you mean you have that imposter's contact information?"

Jin Wantang hurriedly reached for his phone. "Yes, yes, he left me his number, but I only called him once." "Then what the hell are you talking about? Hurry up and find it!" the fat man cursed.

Jin Wantang responded and hurriedly went to look for it. In his haste, the sweat on his palms made it almost slippery, and he almost dropped his phone.

The fat man, annoyed by his dawdling, snatched the phone and started searching himself. After looking for ages, scrolling all the way to the last call log, he still couldn't find the caller ID. "Where is it? You're not messing with me, are you?"

Jin Wantang slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh dear, I forgot about that in my haste! Last time my phone fell into the toilet and stopped working, I replaced it with a new one. No wonder I didn't have one."

The fat man nearly fainted from anger; he really wanted to smash that damn phone in his face.

Jin Wantang shrank his neck and, under the fat man's angry glare, said weakly, "Well, Fatty, I know you're anxious, but don't worry, I have another idea. I should have his phone number written in the notebook in my shop. I'll call the shop assistant right now and ask him to look for it quickly."

After much trouble, Wu Xie finally managed to get the phone number. Hesitantly dialed it, only to be met with a female, robotic voice that nearly made him explode with anger: "Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service. Please check and try again..."

Jin Wantang's head drooped lower and lower under the strain of the English voice recording; he could already feel the murderous aura emanating from hell.

"It's all my fault. Oh, my brain! Why didn't I think to check it out at the time?"

Jin Wantang realized he had gotten himself into trouble, and hurriedly tried to salvage the situation by lightly slapping his own face. He chuckled awkwardly, "But then again, it's true. Young Master, your reputation is so widespread. Who would have thought that someone would have the audacity to impersonate you? It's normal that I didn't think of that for a moment, right?"

The matter was now clear. After Xie Yuchen found out the exact city in Nepal where the Ma family originally lived, he didn't want to listen to any more of his rambling and waved for someone to see the guest out.

After Jin Wantang left, only the three of them remained in the room.

“It’s now quite certain that someone went to find the scorpion tomb that the Ma family discovered before us, and that tomb buried under the ground is also related to Zhang Qiling, whom we know,” Xie Yuchen said.

Wu Xie flipped through the ancient book in his hand and nodded, "The Zhang family has always been a family of longevity, so it's not surprising that Xiao Ge appeared in that period."

The fat man closed the door and moved closer to the two of them. "So, if that's the case, then this young man must be over a hundred years old by now. My goodness, he really is a living god!"

"The key now is to find out the origin of the Scorpion Tomb and its connection with the Tibetan Sherab bead left by the wooden fish," Wu Xie said decisively. "Fatty, you stay here and continue to investigate. I have to go to Nepal."

The fat man hesitated for a moment, "If we go now, it'll be too late. That person went there a year ago. What can we find there?"

“No matter how many clues are left, we have to go.” Wu Xie said firmly. “The person who impersonated me has been operating in the shadows while we are in the open. We must figure out his purpose, otherwise our situation will be too passive. There must be a reason why Mu Yu gave Xuebazhu to you and Yun Cai. It’s a pity we found out too late.”

The fat man immediately nodded in agreement, "Okay, let's split up and do it."

Xie Yuchen listened quietly to their arrangements and said, "Wu Xie, it's too dangerous for you to go alone. Why don't I go with you?"

"No need," Wu Xie said, looking at him. "Xiao Hua, you have more important things to do here."

“Fatty’s phone calls and messages in Banna are being monitored. Do you have people in this area? Could you help investigate?” Wu Xie said.

"Also, Fatty and I need to hide in the shadows for now. You need to find someone to wear a mask and help us buy time. We need to confuse the eyes of that force in the shadows. The one playing Fatty still needs to go back to Banna. With Yun Cai and the others providing cover, there shouldn't be any major problems. The situation at my branch has basically stabilized now. With Pan Zi guarding it, nothing will happen for the time being."

Xie Yuchen nodded slightly, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away. You two be careful in everything you do."

﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

Three days later, Wu Xie, with an ordinary mixed-race face and a curly brown-black wig, arrived in Nepal under the arrangement of Xie Yuchen, having infiltrated a team that was going to the local area to study Hinduism.

The first stop of the inspection team was the ancient city of Bhaktapur. The team leader was a very shrewd person with a somewhat secretive and special status. They were directly arranged to stay in residential buildings around the pagodas and temples.

Every day, they would go to the pagoda to listen to the high monks chanting and preaching. Wu Xie followed the people arranged by Xiao Hua in the expedition team to slack off, and took the opportunity to sneak out during the rest period. He successfully found the address of the Ma family's residence in Nepal back then.

However, a tower is being built there, and the original collapsed ruins have been leveled.

Wu Xie sensed something was wrong and hurriedly spent money to inquire with the surrounding residents. He learned that a year ago, a violent explosion had occurred here, and the Ma family's original house and courtyard had been completely razed to the ground.

Wu Xie was greatly disappointed. After returning, he called Xie Yuchen to tell him that the clues had gone cold. The guy who was impersonating him had been very efficient at erasing the clues, and things were getting more and more complicated.

Coincidentally, the day before he was about to find an excuse to leave Nepal, the head of the delegation took them to visit the charity hall of the stupa. Before leaving, in order to express their gratitude for the influence of Buddhism and to pray for blessings for many years to come, everyone donated some money.

Wu Xie was positioned in the middle to the back of the line, with people arranged by Xiao Hua providing cover, and he hadn't given himself away these past few days.

As he walked to the stone altar where the offering table was placed, he put all the money he had on him into the donation box. As he turned to leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately stopped, his eyes fixed on the notebook in the monk's hand.

The monk paused slightly as he turned the page, wondering why the gentleman hadn't left after donating the money. He then bowed again and offered his blessing, "May the kind gentleman be safe, happy, and have all his wishes fulfilled."

Wu Xie didn't listen to what he was saying at all. He directly flipped the page back over and his gaze froze instantly.

Among a large number of tadpole-like characters, one name composed of Chinese characters stands out.

That name is—Wu Xie!
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(End of this chapter)