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

Chapter 441 The Real and Fake Haixing
After finishing his call with Fatty, Wu Xie asked Chen Xuehan to provide his family's cellar, where he met Langka, who had previously gone down the mountain to investigate people.

Because he needed to avoid being monitored, and he wasn't sure if there were any Zhang family members disguised around him, his eyesight wasn't good enough to distinguish the real from the fake at a glance.

The cellar was a very suitable and hidden safe house. Chen Xuehan led Yueya to guard the cellar entrance, so that they could detect enemy activity at any time.

Wu Xie knew very well that the other party had concerns, and they dared not make any moves that might alert them.

The three factions within the Lama Temple were mutually restraining, forming a strange balance. On the surface, everything seemed calm, but the key to breaking this balance lay with Wu Xie.

It's not time yet, so no one will easily break that mirror.

What Wu Xie needs to do is to use the clues he has analyzed to increase his leverage over his opponent, and to embed himself in the edge of the mirror so that a single move can have far-reaching consequences.

They are all waiting, waiting for a crucial moment to arrive.

"Boss, the information is all here." Langka, with dark circles under his eyes that almost reached the bridge of his nose, took out a leather notebook from his pocket and handed it to Wu Xie.

The leather notebook contained several copied documents, and a one-inch black and white photograph was attached to the upper right corner.

In recent days, Langka has been working against the clock, eliminating many interfering factors based on Wu Xie's hints, and has selected a total of fifteen files from across the country.

These women all shared the surname Zhang, were between 18 and 30 years old, and all looked similar to the Zhang family member I had met briefly at the Lama Temple.

Wu Xie carefully flipped through the pages one by one, and finally marked out four of the documents that were questionable. Two of them had no name record, no date of birth, and only the surname Zhang was known.

He pondered the other two names, which were quite ordinary and unremarkable, and temporarily ruled them out.

Only two copies remained. The photos were black and white and quite old, which made the people in them even more distorted. But no matter how Wu Xie looked at them, he felt that they were different photos of the same person.

Wu Xie knew that the person he was looking for was inside, so he had to find a way to determine which one it was.

Detailed information shows that both individuals worked for an outdoor sports training institution in Hong Kong, and both served three years in prison in 98 for intentionally causing injury and resulting in disability. Their records after their release in 01 are completely blank.

Two different people with identical experiences—to call this a coincidence would be an insult to his intelligence.

Langka cleverly looked up information about the training institution and copied it to his phone's SD card. He opened the slider phone and handed it to Wu Xie, saying, "Boss, there are still photos here."

Clicking on the photos in the trainer section, Wu Xie's gaze sharpened as he saw many familiar faces.

All the people he had met at the Lama Temple were listed here, and what horrified him was that 80% of them had the surname Zhang, a very neat three-character name.

One of them was named Zhang Longsheng, and the other, who was about the same age as him, was named Zhang Longban.

He remembered that the great-grandfather of the wooden fish in the bronze coffin he met in the snake kiln was named Zhang Longguan.

Zhang LongX, holy crap, these three are definitely brothers of the same generation!

Wu Xie was shocked. Damn it, this is the Zhang family's lair!

He quickly checked the remaining names, and without exception, they all belonged to someone named Zhang Hai.

Damn it, the Zhang family from overseas came here looking for wooden fish?

No, how did they know that Muyu was here? Did they have someone else's spies around them when they were in Changsha?

Wu Xie thought about it and realized that the Zhang family overseas might have received the news before the big cleaning.

But why are they monitoring me? Could it be that they couldn't find the wooden fish, so they're blaming me? I should just beat them up, why all the secrecy and complicated stuff?

To be honest, he felt a little relieved after learning that these people were Muyu's family members overseas.

Because of his affection for the Zhang family members overseas, he did not have any ill feelings towards them.

The list also includes a clearer color photo of that girl, Ms. Zhang.

She was a woman with a somewhat gloomy look in her eyes, a stern face that made her seem strong and mean, and she rarely smiled.

To be honest, her individual features aren't particularly delicate, but they come together to create a beautiful and unique kind of attractiveness that makes her stand out in a crowd.

His eyes, in particular, resembled a dry well emanating a chilling aura, giving off an eerie feeling; he was not someone to be trifled with.

This Miss Zhang is one of the three incredibly skilled people that Wu Xie discovered in that hiking group.

Wu Xie pondered silently, "Could one of the people in these two black and white photos be a stand-in for that girl? Someone specially trained to take the blame? But it's not impossible that they're twins."

Or perhaps, like him, someone deliberately impersonated Miss Zhang.

So what was her purpose? No matter how tortuous or winding the process of doing anything, it will eventually lead to a final goal.

The real Miss Zhang, the fake Miss Zhang... a one-to-one replica.

Could it be that the fake Miss Zhang's purpose is to replace the real one and infiltrate the Zhang family?

However, such undercover work is difficult to achieve. Over time, it will inevitably reveal its flaws in front of familiar people, let alone a cohesive family like the Zhang family, which trains in disguise as if it were food and water. They would be exposed at any moment.

Based on this, it can be inferred that something significant must have happened to this Miss Zhang, causing her to disappear from the Zhang family for a period of time. Even if there were slight changes after she returned, it would be understandable.

Wu Xie's gaze returned to the notebook, and he muttered to himself, "Three years in prison, this is very likely the point at which the real and fake Miss Zhang were deliberately switched."

He closed his notebook and decided to go out and ask Chen Xuehan if he could help him identify it. This guy used to be a special forces sniper, and his eyesight is really exceptional.

After leaving the cellar, Wu Xie sent Langka off to eat and rest, then stopped Chen Xuehan, who was heading to the boiler room after completing her mission, and said, "Do me a favor."

Chen Xuehan's speechless expression was almost palpable. He pointed at himself and said irritably, "Boss Wu, which eye of yours saw that I look like a sucker?"

"You're obsessed with money." Wu Xie laughed and scolded, then waved to him and turned to walk into the house. "Pay up, I won't take advantage of you, hurry up."

Chen Xuehan smiled smugly and muttered to herself, "That's more like it."

As he spoke, he casually patted Crescent Moon's head. Now he had to support his family, how could he compare to when he was all alone?

"Take a look at this." Wu Xie tore off the information on the two Zhang girls and placed them on either side in front of Chen Xuehan. "Which one is the woman who saw the oil painting with the first destined person?"

Chen Xuehan looked at it and found it both funny and absurd. "Isn't this the same person? The descriptions below are all the same."

“Take another look.” Wu Xie’s eyes widened. “One of these is fake.” Chen Xuehan’s expression changed as she recalled the human skin mask Wu Xie had made her wear when she was impersonating someone else. She looked at the two photos again more closely.

After a long pause, he shook his head helplessly and said, "Let me put it this way, these two people look even more alike than identical twins."

Wu Xie sighed in frustration. It seemed this approach wouldn't work. He would have to go to the Lama Temple again and try to get Zhang's fingerprints.

He was about to speak when he looked up and saw Chen Xuehan's hesitant expression.

"how?"

After stammering for a while, Chen Xuehan finally said, "Um, Mr. Wu, I just suddenly discovered a clue that I had overlooked before and haven't told you about it."

Wu Xie asked him, "What clue?"

Chen Xuehan chuckled and pointed to Crescent Moon, saying, "Actually, the original owner of this wolf-gray wolf wasn't Bai Ci, but someone else."

Wu Xie glanced at the photo instinctively. "You mean... Bai Ci and that woman had contact a year ago?"

“No, no, no, it’s not the same person,” Chen Xuehan hurriedly said. “That woman came to me earlier than Bai Ci and asked me to take her to the Lama Temple. She left her dog with me, but I never saw her again until that day when I suddenly saw her at the Lama Temple.”

He had always thought that the woman who appeared in the lama temple was the same woman who was with the first person he was destined to meet ten years ago, since her face showed no signs of aging.

But when he saw the photo just now, he suddenly realized that although they looked the same, they were not the same person.

After Chen Xuehan finished explaining, she looked at Wu Xie's face again, and her eyes twitched. Damn it, are these bastards out of their minds? Why do they all like to use cloned faces? It's so damn creepy.

Wu Xie completely ignored his inner thoughts; he finally figured out what was strange about it.

In other words, the fake Miss Zhang is now hiding in the Zhang family's ranks in Hong Kong, while the real Miss Zhang, who was switched out, has made contact with Muyu.

No wonder Muyu has been hiding and not showing himself; perhaps he is wary of that fake Miss Zhang.

That night, Wu Xie stayed in the empty room behind the boiler room that Chen Xuehan had occupied.

The weather forecast predicted heavy snow that night, so Chen Xuehan moved Lang Qing's den into this house as well.

Wu Xie and Yueya stared at each other silently for a moment. Yueya was very puzzled, not understanding why this guy looked exactly like her godfather.

Although dogs cannot accurately distinguish each person's face, they can recognize their owner by observing facial expressions.

"Goodnight, little dog." Wu Xie waved to Yueya, yawned, shook off the covers, lay down, and closed his eyes.

Sure enough, a snowstorm broke out in the middle of the night. The howling wind angrily pounded against the windowpanes, as if it were the horn of a snow demon launching a massive attack on the human world. Every now and then, something was swept up by the wind and crashed against the roof with tremendous force, as if it were about to lift the roof off.

In his sleep, Wu Xie always felt someone knocking on the door. He would open his eyes groggily to listen, but all he could hear was the sound of the wind.

The next morning, the snow was still falling, but the wind had subsided considerably.

Wu Xie didn't bring anyone with him this time. The first thing he needed to do was isolate himself to avoid giving those who were monitoring him an opportunity to exploit the situation.

The silent battle began. He set up a communication code for Jinhe and Langka, and the two had to reduce their communication until they received clear orders from him.

Wu Xie didn't know if any of those people were among those monitoring him, so he didn't bring Yueya, who had a keen sense of smell. Yueya had to stay behind to protect Chen Xuehan and the others.

He first wandered aimlessly around several intersections in Motuo Town, while Jinhe, who had received his instructions, went to a store and bought some things.

Jinhe tied the items to the crescent moon's belly, wrapped them in its clothes, and sent it to Wu Xie, who was staying at a newly found guesthouse not far from the boiler room.

Those items included rubber gloves, some clothes hangers, lots of rubber bands, four identical lighters, two packs of the best quality cigarettes available in Motuo, thin transparent tape, chewing gum, instant noodles, and several long iron nails.

That night, Wu Xie tied all the rubber bands together in bed and hid them on his belt for emergencies. Finally, he opened one of the packs of cigarettes, took out two-thirds of them and put them away, and stuffed the rest of them, along with the cigarette pack, into the crack in the bed against the wall.

The next day, Wu Xie wandered aimlessly around the town again with those things, occasionally going into a tavern and then greeting the locals on the street, offering them cigarettes regardless of whether he knew them or not, showing off his streetwise attitude, teasing cats and dogs, and looking completely idle.

The purpose of doing this is to buy time. Since the other party is monitoring him, everything he does that is unusual or illogical will be suspicious to the person monitoring him. Since it is suspicious, it must be clarified.

This was the first batch of bewitching beans Wu Xie had scattered. He arrived at the Lama Temple before dark that afternoon, pretended that nothing had happened, and returned to his room.

Once inside, close all the doors and windows, lower the curtains, and then stand quietly behind them. Peek through a tiny crack to observe the outside. From here, you can see the doorway leading to this corridor. No matter who comes in, they must pass through that doorway unless they use extraordinary means.

After a long while, he heard a cracking sound from the roof tiles not far from his house, which then disappeared.

Wu Xie curled the corners of his mouth. He knew that his actions had attracted the attention of those watching him from behind. They were puzzled by his behavior and wanted to figure out what he was trying to do, so they had no choice but to approach.

The roads are slippery in snowy weather, let alone the already smooth corrugated tiles washed by snowmelt. It's hard not to make noise when you walk on them.

If a mistake is made and noise is emitted, given their vigilance, they will definitely retreat immediately, thus ensuring that the area within a five-meter radius of where he is located remains clean.

However, this safety was only temporary. Wu Xie quickly plucked a few strands of his own hair, untied the transparent tape, rubbed the hair on the adhesive side to make it a little sticky, and then stuck one strand on each of the window seams on all sides. He then made two slingshots using a bent iron clothes hanger and rubber bands, hiding one under the bed board.

He didn't see any obvious surveillance cameras in the house, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that they were using some miniature, high-tech devices to monitor him. Therefore, he needed to do something more perplexing to test just how closely he was being monitored and controlled.

At the same time, he also needs to figure out which group of people are monitoring him and find an opportunity to take action.

They couldn't possibly monitor the entire Lama temple, and the Lamas weren't pushovers either, so Wu Xie began wandering around the temple, fully alert.

Once he was sure no one was nearby, he hid everything in a perfect corner he had observed while wandering around, including his slingshot. He then immediately returned to the house and checked the hair on the doors and windows.

The hair was still there, and the spot where it was stuck hadn't been moved. No one had come in through the window, and the slingshot under the bed was still there, but that didn't mean anything for the time being.

Wu Xie finished chewing a bag of instant noodles, then took off his clothes and wrapped himself in a thick quilt. He picked up a notebook and pen, pretending to organize clues, but in reality, he was reading De Ren's notes under the light.

Even in the evening, Wu Xie hid the notebook under the bed as usual before going out to greet the few familiar young monks at the temple and have dinner.

Halfway through the meal, several local porters hired by the Hong Kong people came in through the door, smoking as they went. They wolfed down their food and left in a flash.

Wu Xie ate slowly and carefully. After they left, he got up to get another spoonful of rice. As he passed the table where the porters had been sitting, he casually glanced at the mess of leftover food piled on the table. There was a cigarette box among the trash.

There is a crescent-shaped burn mark on the bottom of the cigarette box, which was a mark that Wu Xie had made intentionally.

He knew that his first trap had worked.

(End of this chapter)