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

Chapter 450 The Cataclysmic Disaster
(The origins of the fish are explained)
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For the Zhang family overseas, their feelings towards their mainland family are very complex.

On the one hand, they felt that the inland families were really powerful, with many experts, and they also controlled a huge closed system.

On the other hand, inland families also have an inseparable blood connection with them, a bond that has been very deep over thousands of years.

Although they maintain contact with each system, the contact is not frequent; they have simply broken down into smaller units.

Separated by mountains and seas for a thousand years, our sorrow remains unseen.

Only when summoned by the main family will the outer factions send people back with the collected files, and this time interval can sometimes be more than ten years.

It wasn't until Zhang Haike's branch of the family also migrated overseas that they realized their ethnic group was experiencing a catastrophe.

They lived abroad and were powerless to stop the collapse of their family.

It seems that an invisible force is constantly interfering, not only trying to dismantle the entire Zhang family, but also trying to erase them from history.

This is an extremely difficult task; even the entire country cannot deal with the Zhang family's vast and invisible network.

However, someone did it. This person not only shattered the net, but also wanted to erase all the fragments that had broken apart from it.

"Who is this person?" Wu Xie asked Zhang Haike.

Zhang Haike did not answer, but simply gestured for him to continue listening.

Zhang Wuxun suddenly spoke up from the side: "Your Wu family has been fighting against the same force for three generations. Even though that person has been dead for almost a thousand years, the inescapable net he set up when he was alive is still in operation today, and its power has expanded to a terrifying extent."

"The Nine Gates of today have long been corrupted and riddled with holes by its power, and the death of that young Zhang family member you care about the most was also due to its interference."

"To fight against such a massive force, his strength alone was like a drop in the ocean, but through his efforts he did manage to influence a small part of its plans."

"He made many preparations before he sensed his own death, which allowed me to take over smoothly and continue his plans."

Wu Xie's eyelids twitched heavily, and his throat felt extremely sore. He asked, "Is the appearance of the wooden fish beside me also part of the Zhang family's plan overseas?"

Zhang Haike shook his head. "No, the time he was with you was completely outside of our plans. In fact, if it weren't for the Zhang Family Ancient Building incident, we wouldn't have realized his purpose at all before that."

Zhang Haike also looked somewhat confused. "Moreover, that person's identity is a bit complicated, because there is no name Zhang Wuxun in the Zhang family's genealogy and current personnel list overseas, but he is indeed a member of the Zhang family."

They noticed Zhang Wuxun the moment he appeared next to Wu Xie.

Therefore, when Zhang Wuxun was hospitalized after leaving the Lu Palace, they had already sent people to secretly approach him and conducted rigorous examinations of his blood samples and other data, simply because he had been close to Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Wuxun's unique Qilin tattoo and unusual left hand prove that he is indeed a member of the Zhang family.

So they initially thought this young Zhang family member was a descendant of a branch of the Zhang family that had been separated from the clan. His purpose in approaching the clan leader was also quite simple: royalists like them had a natural, deep-rooted respect for the clan leader.

However, when Zhang Wuxun's information was later sent to overseas archives, the people compiling the records were astonished to discover that a hundred years ago, there was an overseas member of the Zhang family whose identity information almost completely overlapped with Zhang Wuxun's.

The overseas Zhang family member's name was Zhang Haisi. He was born in 1903 and was less than a year old when he was brought to the Nanyangguan.

Zhang Haisi's father was named Zhang Longguan, who was of the same generation and branch as Zhang Longban and Zhang Longsheng. However, according to incomplete records, he died in a mission before he was fifty years old.

Zhang Haisi's mother was named Zhang Fuyin. According to blood relations, she should belong to the Qipan Zhang branch, but she did not grow up in the main Zhang family. Her parents are unknown.

She was discovered and brought back to the Miao village by the Zhang family after she came of age because she was born with a Qilin. However, because she started training too late and her innate qualities were already fixed, she was not given important responsibilities by her master.

This is why the fingers of the "Grandma Fish" that Wu Xie and Fatty met in western Sichuan were not special.

Zhang Haisi was trained and grew up in the Nanyangguan from a young age. After completing his training at the age of fifteen, he followed his elders to the main clan in the inland. Because of his decent abilities and talents, he was exceptionally allowed to stay in the outer residence of the main clan.

According to a later oral account, Zhang Haisi appeared in Xiamen Port once when the Nanyang Pavilion incident occurred.

After the destruction of the Zhang family's main branch, the Nanyang Guesthouse existed in name only, and Zhang Haisi seemed to have vanished into thin air. Archives in various places were unable to track down his whereabouts.

It wasn't until February 03 that files about his whereabouts reappeared in the Eastern Archives' secret box, under a completely new identity, and seemingly having completely lost his memories of the "Zhang Haisi" identity period.

Therefore, Zhang Haike and the others were also puzzled. They suspected that there was a strong possibility that Zhang Haisi had suffered from amnesia, which made him forget himself, but he was still instinctively close to Zhang Qiling due to the bond of blood.

"What do you mean?" Wu Xie frowned. "Are you saying that Zhang Wuxun's identity is fake?"

When Zhang Haike said those words, Zhang Wuxun himself was startled. Could it be that his previous speculation was wrong? Was there originally no "Zhang Wuxun" in this timeline?

Who is Zhang Haisi? Zhang Wuxun was certain that his bone age, according to the Zhang family's standards, was twenty years old.

If Zhang Haike and the others' speculation is correct, and he really is Zhang Haisi, then his bone age must be at least a hundred years old.

Then he wouldn't be the young man's grandson, but his younger brother!

Ah, why am I a little happy? Zhang Wuxun couldn't help but secretly smile to himself.

Sure enough, Wu Xie soon raised a question as well: "If what you said is true, Zhang Haisi grew up overseas and is not particularly talented, then the tattoo on his body should be something like Qiongqi from his maternal family, but the tattoo on Muyu is a Qilin. It is obvious that they are not the same person."

Zhang Haike nodded, confirming his question, "That's exactly what we're wondering about. Zhang Wuxun's bloodline talent is extremely rare among the Zhang family members who are still alive. If the main clan were still around, he would undoubtedly be a candidate to succeed Zhang Qiling."

Zhang Wuxun: (￢_￢) Ugly rejection. "Then he's not Zhang Haisi." Wu Xie put down his bowl and said calmly, "Moreover, Muyu isn't completely clueless about his biological father. His father should be named Zhang Menyu. Based on my previous speculation, Zhang Haisi is very likely Zhang Menyu's father, which means there's an 80% chance that Zhang Haisi and Muyu are grandfather and grandson."

Wu Xie briefly described his previous experience in the artificial immortal country: "I saw Zhang Longguan's coffin there, as well as his wife Zhang Fuyin."

Zhang Haike was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "I didn't expect her to still be alive. But that's a good thing."

Most of the Zhang family members still alive today are scattered thousands of miles away. No one knows how many were left after that catastrophe. Hearing news of the Zhang family members who are still alive, whether useful or not, is a good thing for them.

“We will verify the clues you mentioned later. Let’s continue with our previous topic,” Zhang Haike said.

"The reason we've come to our attention is because the turbulent vortex of the Nine Gates has involved the organization and Zhang Qiling. The Zhang family is at the center of that network, and that network covers more than one force. In places we can't see, there are many similar forces that have also been corrupted and wiped out without a trace."

“There is only one person who wove this vast net.” Zhang Haike looked at Wu Xie and said slowly, “The one who set up this game that encompasses everything at the very beginning. This person’s surname is Wang and his name is Wang Zanghai.”

"Wang Zanghai?" Wu Xie suddenly recalled a lot of information about Wang Zanghai's life. "How did you know that?"

“We can only gradually see the horror of Wang Zanghai’s entire design by working backward from some very subtle events,” Zhang Haike continued.

To summarize briefly: suppose there were three forces in the world at that time. One was the Dongxia people who used the bronze giant gate, another was the Zhang family who used their family to isolate the Dongxia people and protect their secrets, and the third was Wang Zanghai who accidentally discovered the existence of the Zhang family.

Wang Zanghai went to the Changbai Mountain region in Northeast China to search for clues about the Zhang family, but he was kidnapped and forced to repair the imperial tombs of the Dongxia people.

However, during this process, Wang Zanghai discovered the secret of the bronze door hidden by the Dongxia people, and also discovered that the Zhang family, whom he had always wanted to explore, had an inseparable relationship with the bronze door.

Wang Zanghai must have been incredibly curious about the complex relationship between the bronze giant gate, the Eastern Xia civilization, and the Zhang family.

He hoped the secret could be revealed, but the Zhang family, who had guarded the secret of the Bronze Gate for generations, naturally did not want it to be spread.

Wang Zanghai believed that the secret the Zhang family kept must be related to the world behind the bronze door, and he did a lot of things for this reason.

But he soon realized that his actions were in vain. He could not get past the huge net of the Zhang family. Any message he spread would disappear quickly and not make a ripple.

"So, the Wang family must destroy the Zhang family to achieve their goal?" Wu Xie asked.

Zhang Haike nodded. "Yes, but this cannot be done by trickery alone."

Knowing that the Zhang family was long-lived, Wang Zanghai obtained the Warring States period silk scroll in order to counter them. He deciphered the secret left on the scroll by Tie Miansheng and then began searching for clues about the secret to immortality in various ancient tombs under the pretext of finding the elixir of immortality for the emperor.

The bronze fish with snake-browed eyebrows records all of Wang Zanghai's life experiences in the ancient tomb. He followed in the footsteps of King Mu of Zhou to find the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West and learned about the connection between the Dragon Pattern Box, the meteorite jade, and the elixir of immortality.

He also wanted to see the end come, but the Zhang family guarded the bronze gate to prevent the end from coming.

Thus, there is no solution. The core of the struggle between the Zhang and Wang families is whether or not to reveal the secrets hidden by the Zhang family, and the prerequisite for the end is that the Zhang family must be destroyed.

"In other words, your struggle has definitely reached its final stage," Wu Xie pondered.

Zhang Haike nodded, "You're right, the secret is about to be revealed, and our family exists to protect this secret."

"You can't imagine how serious the consequences would be if a secret that requires you to be powerful enough to control the entire society to keep would be revealed."

"Do you know what this secret is?" Wu Xie asked.

“We don’t know,” Zhang Haike said. “We don’t need to know. We just need to prevent this secret from being known to the world. After all, we are all members of the Zhang family and we have to be responsible for our family.”

Wu Xie suddenly turned to look at Zhang Wuxun, who was standing to the side, and asked, "Do you know what the secret is?"

"Since you haven't spoken yet, may I ask what your and your family's position is in the centuries-old rivalry between the Wang and Zhang families?"

Zhang Wuxun paused for a moment, then shook his head. "No one knows the ultimate secret except Zhang Qiling. You can think of the Kangba people as a fourth party forced into this situation. The Kangba people have had a cooperative relationship with the Zhang family for a long time."

“Our ancestors were forced to migrate constantly to escape a catastrophe that would wipe out their entire clan, and eventually settled in this region that is covered by ice and snow all year round.”

"A genocide?" Wu Xie asked. "What kind of disaster? A natural disaster like an earthquake or a volcanic eruption?"

“If it were a natural disaster, we wouldn’t have needed to hide from the world for so long,” Zhang Wuxun said with a wry smile. “A very, very long time ago, our ancestors actually lived in what is now the Karakoram Mountains.”

“Originally, our family tribe was very large and lived in peace and prosperity. But more than three thousand years ago, members of the tribe began to disappear frequently as if cursed. This disappearance was not death in the traditional sense, nor was it disappearance, but rather a direct evaporation from the world. The broad meaning of this disappearance includes human consciousness.”

Wu Xie asked in shock, "You mean, this kind of disappearance is like directly removing a person from this world?"

“Yes.” Zhang Wuxun nodded. “People who disappear from the world also disappear from everyone’s memory, as if they never existed at all.”

At first, the disappearances were slow, and they started in the peripheral tribes, without the people in the tribes noticing at all.

But as more and more people disappeared, people finally realized that something was wrong. An invisible force of ghosts and gods had taken control of their minds, making them forget their lost kin.

Ancient tribes at that time would worship a symbolic god, and this tribe worshipped the Great Sun Golden Crow God. Their skin was decorated with patterns and totems related to fire and the divine crow. In order to find a solution, the chieftain led the entire tribe in a grand sacrificial ceremony.

After the sacrificial ceremony, the disappearance of the clansmen suddenly stopped, and at the same time, a picture suddenly appeared in the minds of a very small number of people.

Good evening, it's corrected now.