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

Chapter 440 Summoning the Fat Man
Wu Xie could hardly believe it. He took a few more steps away and looked again, feeling even more horrified.

He discovered that the entire statue presented a scene that shocked him immensely—the young man was sitting on a rock, his head bowed, and he was crying.

The guy he knew never showed any obvious expression, not even the slightest pain when he was injured.

Why is the guy crying?
Did he see or feel something here?

Wu Xie grew increasingly uneasy as he thought about it. He hurriedly looked around at the murals on the stone walls, trying to find some clues, but to no avail. He had no choice but to return to the stone statue and sit down.

He stared silently at the stone statue, and only calmed down after finishing his last cigarette of the day.

The sunset had already fallen below the clouds and been obscured by the Cangshan Mountains. Night gradually enveloped the entire temple, and the courtyard was filled with shadows. Only the lamp in his hand shone faintly, and he felt extremely cold all over.

He spun around in place, stomped his feet to move his numb limbs, and wondered in his heart if the wooden fish had brought him here just so that he could see the stone statue of the young man.
Did Muyu know that Xiao Ge eventually went to Changbai Mountain? Wu Xie thought it was very likely that he did.

He remembered that Muyu had said something at the end of the video: "Waiting for you to come back."

The carving of this stone statue was likely done during the time of the previous Great Lama Deren, but most of the lamas from that time have passed away by now, so the original reason for the carving of the stone statue is impossible to verify.

He didn't see any clues about the weeping statue in those documents, and he felt that the wooden fish probably wanted him to discover something left on the statue.

Wu Xie grabbed the sleeve of the Tibetan robe and touched it, his fingertips touching something flat and hard.

Inside the sleeve was a hidden pocket sewn into the lining, from which he took out a bronze metal badge.

The design on the badge is so worn that it's almost impossible to make out what it is. It looks like someone deliberately destroyed some clues, which is why the item has been damaged like this.

Wu Xie examined it closely with a lamp and found that the marks were relatively new, and there were faint traces of oxidized and blackened bloodstains in the recessed gaps of the pattern.

He recognized the badge; he had found one like it in his backpack at the bottom of Lake Banna. Later, he and Fatty checked and found it was the insignia of a special unit.

Why is this thing here?
If you get close, you can smell a faint scent of blood, which means that the blood was not spilled a very long time ago.

Did Muyu put this here? What message is he trying to convey through this badge? Did he encounter members of that special forces unit here?

Wu Xie rubbed his legs, which were stiff from the cold, and then reached into his sleeve to feel around. There was something inside. He took it out and saw that it was a note wrapped in a waterproof bag.

The paper strip was folded and sealed very well, so not a bit of moisture got in.

The top is written with a series of tadpole-like characters in German, and you can immediately see a string of numbers sandwiched between the rows of text: 02200059.

Wu Xie gasped, a chill instantly creeping up his spine.

It's that string of numbers again. He's seen it many times before. What does it mean?
The flashlight flickered a few times, the light gradually weakened, and the surrounding darkness pressed in closer, as if a monster was about to devour him.

Wu Xie shuddered, quickly searched the rest of the Tibetan robe, and finding nothing else, he immediately turned and left the courtyard, returning to his residence the same way he came.

It wasn't until he turned around and closed the door that he realized he was covered in a cold sweat.

Chen Xuehan was sitting cross-legged on the bed, reading a very old book of poetry. Hearing the noise, she turned to look at Wu Xie and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so flustered?"

Wu Xie waved his hand, "You don't need to pretend to be me tomorrow. Let's go down the mountain together."

Some things were urgent, and he didn't have time to wait.

Chen Xuehan had no objection, and the two quickly descended the mountain the next day.

Wu Xie made two important phone calls in a small tavern in the town of Motuo.

The first call was to Hei Xiazi, who borrowed the tavern owner's computer to send the contents of the note via email, and received a reply quickly.

Dear Mr. Zhang, I have opened the old box you gave me. I understand your meaning and have deduced the process of world change you described. I understand that the situation you feared is unfolding.

I apologize for what I said before. I hope that the methods your people have set up will continue to be effective for some time. This is not a problem that our generation can solve. I will try my best to persuade my friends to place their real hope in ten years, and that someone in the next generation will be able to face all of this.

The next sequence after opening the box is 02200059. This should be the last sequence. Our time is running out. We hope that in the future, when everything is over, you will still remember us.

The smaller print reads, "Whoever sees this note, please keep it where it is. We want to get this message to someone very important."

The signature section was blank, but a strange emblem made up of German letters was drawn in the signature area, which at first glance looked like a coiled snake.

Wu Xie originally wanted to ask Hei Xiazi if he had seen what the badge looked like, but Hei Xiazi seemed to have taken on another job and disappeared after replying to the email.

Wu Xie lit a cigarette and smoked it slowly, looking at the photos of fellow travelers plastered on the walls of the tavern, feeling unrestrained and flamboyant, until the scarlet sparks ignited the cotton at the filter tip, eventually turning it to ashes.

He knew that many things were inevitable, and it was time to make a choice.

Behind the tavern were several small suites, through which you could see many charcoal fires burning. People gathered in twos and threes around the fires, chatting about various stories in different accents.

The firelight flickered, and the orbs of light on the metal and glassware moved erratically, yet this was Wu Xie's favorite atmosphere, the one that brought him the most peace.

It took much longer than expected before the call finally went through. On the other end of the line was Fatty, who was thousands of kilometers away.

The temperature on the fat guy's end must be quite high; you can feel the intense heat emanating from his voice as he speaks.

Since parting ways in western Sichuan, Fatty has been staying in Banna to take care of Yun Cai, who is pregnant. Counting the days, the baby should be born in March or April next year.

Having been single for half his life, the fat man cherished this child he had late in life immensely, after all, he was already quite old.

The two talked for a while. Wu Xie told Fatty about everything that had happened since he arrived in Motuo, analyzing it point by point. He needed Fatty's unconventional thinking to give him some inspiration.

When Fatty heard Wu Xie say that he might have seen Muyu here, he was very excited and said that the kid hiding his head and tail was definitely Muyu.

In Fatty's words, "That little bastard Muyu has inherited your third uncle's true skills, plus the Zhang family's ability to hide. If he really wants to hide, he will never let you find a hair on his head. I think your analysis makes a lot of sense."

Wu Xie was somewhat amused and exasperated. He knew Fatty was telling the truth; if the Zhang family truly wanted to hide somewhere, they would never let anyone discover their tracks. Later, when they mentioned discovering traces left by Xiao Ge in Motuo, Fatty's excitement suddenly became somewhat off.

Given how familiar Wu Xie was with Fatty, he knew exactly what Fatty was going to do the moment Fatty bent over.

He sensed that the fat man had deduced something from the clues he had given him, and while excited, he was also deep in thought and filled with doubt.

Wu Xie immediately sensed something was wrong and asked him, "What are you thinking about? Tsk tsk, are you slurping noodles while you're talking?"

"I haven't had snail rice noodles for months, my sister can't stand the smell." The fat man's tone was full of smugness.

Wu Xie rolled his eyes. "Stop showing off. What did you find out?"

The fat man became serious. "It's not that I've discovered anything, but I just feel like something's not quite right. But maybe I'm just overthinking it."

"What do you mean something's not quite right?" Wu Xie frowned. "Has something happened in Banna that's related to me?"

The fat man mumbled something and slowly said, "Based on our previous analysis, you were led to Motuo by the wooden fish, right? And then, sure enough, we found more traces of the wooden fish there."

Wu Xie nodded, then realized that Fatty couldn't see him, so he just grunted in response.

“But brother, do you think it’s just a coincidence?” the fat man said. “I have reasonable grounds to suspect that before Muyu’s scheme drew your attention to Motuo, someone was already waiting for you there.”

"There are no such coincidences in the world. Even if the young man really stayed in Motuo for a long time, how could it be such a coincidence that someone drew his portrait and hung it in a place that you and Muyu can see at a glance?"

Wu Xie's heart skipped a beat. "You mean—this is a trap set by someone else to lure me and Mu Yu here. It's a conspiracy that was planned long ago!"

The fat man on the other end of the receiver was silent for a while. "Tianzhen, do you remember when we came back from the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West, the wooden fish suddenly disappeared for more than half a month?"

“Could it be that he had already been to Motuo once before and learned something there?” the fat man said. “Back then, I felt that Muyu was carrying something on his mind and seemed even more unfathomable. He already knew that we had to go to Zhangjia Ancient Building before he even went to Banna.”

Upon further reflection, Fatty realized that when Muyu asked him if he truly loved Yun Cai, it was because he had already foreseen the ending for both of them.

Because he liked it, the wooden fish also included clouds in its wing protection.

Perhaps at that time, Muyu had already foreseen his fate, so he prepared everything. Even if he hadn't been able to leave Zhangjia Ancient Building, the clues he left behind would still have guided Wu Xie to Motuo to investigate Xiao Ge's whereabouts.

Rather than saying Wu Xie was the third person destined to be painted, it would be more accurate to say that the person who painted the oil painting gave him a third chance to uncover the secrets deep within the Himalayas.

Using Xiao Ge as bait, a vast net was laid across Motuo. From the moment Wu Xie stepped into this place, he had already entered the net.

Who will be the one casting the net?

The previous Grand Lama Deren

He has a close relationship with Zhang Qiling and can be considered a member of the Zhang family. He could not have completed such a huge undertaking by himself, so he must have had accomplices.

who can that be?

Wu Xie thought of the three groups of people who were still entrenched in the Lama Temple and analyzed them one by one.

The Germans had been eyeing the snow-capped mountains of Motuo for a long time; they had already appeared before the young man arrived at the Lama Temple.

Who exactly is behind the Germans is currently unknown, so we'll leave that aside for now.

Those Hong Kong hikers were clearly no ordinary people. Most importantly, Chen Xuehan saw the person who had appeared next to the first person she was destined to meet inside.

What Chen Xuehan found strange was that, although ten years had passed and he had become wrinkled, dark-skinned, and weathered, the woman's appearance remained unchanged.

Wu Xie had reason to suspect that the woman had some connection with the Zhang family, and that she might very well be a member of the Zhang family.

Therefore, the other members of her hiking group are very likely also members of the Zhang family.

Their collaboration with the late Lama Deren would be very likely.

The last group consisted of young people who were also well-trained and skilled. There was a certain hostility between them and the hiking group, and both sides were clearly aware of each other's true intentions.

What if these were the people who collaborated with the Great Lama Deren?

Although I couldn't understand their conversation that day, I could tell from their tone that they were very respectful to the Tibetan in blue robes, and it was very likely that the Tibetan in blue robes was their leader. In other words, they were likely a mysterious force from Medog.

This made their cooperation with Deren more convenient and efficient.

Wu Xie asked the shopkeeper for a piece of white paper and a pen, and began to scribble and draw haphazardly. At the same time, he kept a close eye on anyone who might sneak into the tavern to spy on him, while also talking to Fatty on the phone.

The fat man grinned like a hen about to lay an egg. "Congratulations on your naivety. You've fallen into their trap. Now you've been upgraded to naivety squared, both naive and foolish."

“Shut the fuck up,” Wu Xie cursed. “Even if I know it’s a conspiracy, it’s hard for me to get away directly now. I need to think of a roundabout way.”

If he could find the wooden fish directly, he would take it and leave this place. As for the snow mountain, let whoever wants to go can go.

But it's obvious that this approach is completely useless. The person behind the scenes just wants him to go into the snow mountain. Muyu also wants him to go into the snow mountain, otherwise he wouldn't be deliberately avoiding him in such a mysterious way.

Their plan is underway, and if I suddenly realize that I have seen through their plan, they will definitely activate a second plan, which could lead to even more serious consequences.

Wu Xie sighed heavily. Oh well, what's done is done.

"You stay put for now, give me the address, and I'll get there as fast as I can," the fat man said.

Wu Xie felt a warmth in his heart and replied, "Thanks, Fatty."

The fat man chuckled, "I reckon this matter is also related to me. You've been fired, and I might be next."