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

Chapter 452 The Cicada Sheds Its Shell
Not long after lunch, the sky began to darken, and the thick evening clouds obscured all the moonlight, so it was estimated that it would snow tonight.

Four hours later.

The fat man, with his head inside a floral cloth bag and his body bound hand and foot, was carried back by Zhang Haixing.

Of course, Zhang Haixing herself didn't gain any advantage either. Her hair was all frizzy, her clothes were ripped loose, and the zipper pull of her windbreaker was nowhere to be seen. She was furious and viciously threw the fat man to the ground.

With a muffled thud, Wu Xie grinned, his teeth chattering.

The fat man lay motionless on the ground, it was unclear whether he had been knocked unconscious earlier or had been knocked unconscious by the blow.

Wu Xie quickly squatted down to retrieve the cloth bag, only to find that the bag's rope was still tied around Fatty's neck. He was speechless and said, "What are you doing? You're so ruthless. If you strangle him to death, who will come into the snow mountain with me?"

Zhang Haixing looked furious and said, "Put your mind at ease. I know what I'm doing."

Wu Xie ignored her and quickly untied the rope, discovering that Fatty's neck was swollen from being strangled, but thankfully he was alright and still breathing.

"How strong is this guy?" Zhang Haike asked.

"His skills are not bad," Zhang Haixing commented reluctantly. "It's just that he's a bit slow-witted, and his hands are so damn unruly when he fights. He's always using dirty tricks. If I could kill him, I would have poisoned him on the spot!"

Wu Xie curled his lips, "It's not normal for people who travel the world to use some underhanded tricks. You Zhang family members, on the other hand, are full of righteousness and cunning, but you use schemes and plots to scheme against people time and time again."

Zhang Haixing glared at him angrily, but couldn't refute him. She wished she could turn her eyes into whips and give him a good beating.

Ignoring their bickering, Zhang Haike continued, "Which do you think is more suitable, him coming along or our people coming along?"

“I think that such people have strength, but they may not be very flexible in that kind of environment. Once we go in, many things are not done by brute force, but by various strategies.”

While tidying her clothes, Zhang Haixing said, "I still think that using our own people has more advantages in various aspects."

"What do you think?" Zhang Haike asked Zhang Wuxun, who was sitting on a chair assembling a pistol.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wuxun glanced in that direction and said, "As long as Wu Xie goes, it doesn't matter to me whether there are many or few other people."

"It's always better to have someone else on the side during this cautious period," Zhang Haike said, looking at Wu Xie. "I believe Haixing's assessment is quite objective. Can you accept it?"

“I can’t accept that,” Wu Xie said bluntly. “I think you should listen to what my friend has to say. In some ways, he’s more suitable for me than you guys who are always so arrogant. You just said that you need a strategy to get into that place. Sometimes, cleverness is more useful in actual combat than great wisdom.”

Zhang Haixing was unconvinced and said angrily, "No matter what anyone says, it's useless. I don't want such a lecherous teammate who's dragging me down in the future. Unless he can break free and escape on his own now, if I could kill him, someone as shameless as him would have died eight hundred times over if he fell into my hands."

"Don't underestimate people." Wu Xie chuckled and reached out to remove the cloth bag from Fatty's head, saying, "Fatty, did you hear that? Show this woman what you're capable of."

No sooner had the cloth bag been opened than the fat man let out a long, thunderous snort.

"..."

The room was silent.

The expressions on the faces of all the Zhang family members were equally fascinating.

Zhang Haixing scoffed, "That's it? Anyone who can still sleep in this situation is a real talent."

Wu Xie looked at the fat man carefully, noticed something, his eyebrows lifted in delight, and he suppressed a laugh. He turned to Zhang Haixing and said, "You've arrested the wrong person."

The bag didn't contain a fat man at all, but a burly Tibetan man with a big beard who appeared out of nowhere.

This person's build is indeed somewhat similar to the fat man's, but he's much darker-skinned, though the fat man didn't get any fair skin from the tan in Banna.

Zhang Haixing asked in surprise, "Isn't this your friend?"

"No, my friend is much more sleazy than this." Wu Xie shook his head and reached out to pat the Tibetan strongman's face, trying to wake him up.

To no avail; the burly man slept as soundly as a pig.

"Then who is he?"

"How would I know? Ask him yourself," Wu Xie said, shrugging. "If you can wake him up."

Zhang Haixing was about to slap the burly man when, as if sensing something, he tilted his head, slowly woke up, looked at everyone with a bewildered expression, and uttered a string of strange words.

Zhang Haixing rattled off a string of Monpa words like a machine gun, and only then did the burly man slowly come to his senses and answer a few questions.

Zhang Haixing's face suddenly turned green.

Wu Xie deliberately teased her, urging, "What did this person say? You should translate it, don't keep it to yourself."

Zhang Haixing, feeling embarrassed, cursed in a foreign language, "He said that he was plied with alcohol by a fat Han Chinese man, who also gave him a lot of good cigarettes and wine. The two chatted until very late, and he fell asleep in the fat man's room. Suddenly, someone came to tie him up, which startled him awake. He was furious and fought with the man, but he lost and was even strangled unconscious. When he opened his eyes again, he was here."

Wu Xie immediately felt triumphant and laughed heartily, "Wow, Fatty, you did a great job!"

Zhang Haixing's face was as gloomy as a rag that hadn't been wrung out and was still dripping wet. She immediately asked Wu Xie, "Where is the real fat man now?"

Wu Xie shook his head. "How would I know?"

Even if he knew the fat guy was both far away and right in front of him, he wouldn't say anything. He's not stupid. Heh, I'll make you angry.

Based on his understanding of the fat man, he knew that the fat man wouldn't set up such a scheme just to avoid being kidnapped. If the fat man was going to scheme against someone, he would be aggressive and extremely ruthless.

When a fat man sets a trap, he doesn't think things through too much; he basically does it on a whim, which is rather crude. However, when combined with his own traps, they often have unexpected effects.

Such a single trap is unlikely to be fallen for by someone who isn't particularly arrogant.

“He’s definitely nearby right now.” Zhang Haike put away his surprised expression and said calmly, “If it were me, I would definitely follow him and be fully prepared. If the other side has enough manpower, we would already be surrounded.” Wu Xie raised his eyebrows, smugly, “Now you believe what I said, right?”

Zhang Haixing glared at him, "Was this something you two had planned beforehand?"

Wu Xie smiled without saying a word. Luckily, he had left a note for Fatty before going up the mountain, which clearly stated that he was going to find the wooden fish. However, if he had found the wooden fish, he wouldn't have taken so long. Therefore, Fatty must have thought that something had happened to him on the mountain.

Having already spoken with the fat man beforehand, the fat man must have realized that his standing spot was no longer safe. Unexpectedly, he had tricked the arrogant and domineering Zhang Haixing by sheer coincidence. He was delighted.

Zhang Haixing was furious. Since she couldn't lay a hand on Wu Xie, she decided to grab the dead fat man on the ground and force him to reveal the whereabouts of the real fat man.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the fat man touched his collar, a round jar suddenly fell out.

"what is this?"

Zhang Haixing reached out to pick it up, but before she could even get close, the can exploded with a loud bang, and a large amount of thick yellow smoke instantly filled the entire room.

"It's poison gas!" Zhang Haixing shouted.

"Haiyuan, Haituan, go open the window!"

"Everyone, get down on the ground!"

The burly Tibetan man had already cleverly rolled to the corner by the window, closing his eyes and burying his face in his clothes.

Wu Xie was too close to react in time. A very pungent smell rushed into his nose, almost making him faint. It felt as if the extract of ten onions had instantly flooded his eyes, and tears streamed down his face.

He hurriedly covered his eyes with his arms and curled up on the ground in discomfort. Suddenly, he felt a tightness in the back of his neck and was pulled up from the spot. Then he heard a loud bang as the person who was pulling him kicked open the window and pressed his upper body outside. The coarse, stagnant air immediately loosened, and fresh air rushed in like a tide.

The Zhang family reacted extremely quickly, without the slightest confusion. Almost the instant Zhang Haixing gave the order, all the windows were immediately opened.

A cool breeze blew in from outside, and in less than five minutes, the toxic fumes inside the room were almost completely dissipated.

Everyone had already taken out their weapons and quickly checked each other. "No one came in to ambush us, and no one is missing. Everyone is here."

When the toxic fumes billowed out, Zhang Haixing was the first to inhale the most. She was coughing and sneezing, her eyes were swollen as if she had been beaten, and the tears that flowed out washed away the powder on her face, leaving two winding yellow marks. She looked extremely disheveled.

"Damn it! Trying to trick me?" Zhang Haixing was almost insane with rage. She opened her eyes a crack and vaguely saw Wu Xie's location. She yelled at him, "Tell your friends to come out now! If you've got the guts, fight me one-on-one! These underhanded tricks are useless against us!"

Wu Xie's eyes were burning hot, and he didn't care about her at all. He was just about to climb out of the window to grab a handful of the still unmelted snow in the shady corner of the wall to put on his eyes when a cold, wet towel suddenly fell from the sky and covered his face.

"Damn, thank you, thank you!" Wu Xie hurriedly pressed the wet towel to his eyes, wiping away the remaining smoke and dust from the corners of his eyes and eyelids. His eyes finally felt less uncomfortable.

"You're welcome," Zhang Wuxun said casually, leaning against the window with his eyes closed.

On the other side, Zhang Haixing was in a much worse state than Wu Xie. Even after rinsing her eyes with saline solution, she still felt an unbearable burning pain. The whites of her eyes were bright red, making her look as if she were possessed. A red dot even appeared between her eyebrows.

Wait, a red dot?
Zhang Haike's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly raised his hand to signal Zhang Haixing not to move.

It turned out that the red dot was actually a laser beam emitted from a laser sight in the distance, which had shot in through the window that had just been opened and landed steadily on her forehead.

Zhang Haixing froze instantly, afraid to move, because no matter how she moved, the laser dot followed her precisely.

Zhang Haike's expression changed slightly. "Wu Xie, tell your friend who we are. We apologize to him and tell him not to act rashly, so as to avoid misunderstandings and potential casualties."

Wu Xie took off the towel and looked at Zhang Haixing. She had completely calmed down, her eyes were bloodshot, and she stared at him without saying a word.

There was only one laser point; the rest of the Zhang family members had already found cover and were ready to fight at any moment, but their faces were all ashen.

The Zhang family, as the behind-the-scenes manipulators, have held the advantage for too long, and probably haven't experienced such a prank-like misery in a long time.

However, reality slapped them hard in the face. They were outmaneuvered by a nobody they had always looked down on. You can imagine how furious they were at that moment.

Wu Xie didn't know if Fatty had made contact with Langka and the other two who stayed down the mountain, but where did they get such an awesome gun? Did Chen Xuehan give it to them? Oh, I didn't realize that.

Wu Xie clicked his tongue twice in admiration, walked over to the burly Tibetan man huddled in the corner, and lightly kicked his leg. "Alright, Fatty, stop pretending. That's enough. They already know how powerful our Fatty is."

The burly Tibetan man chuckled twice, then sat up from the ground. "Is that all? I haven't had enough fun yet."

The Zhang family stared in disbelief as the burly man wiped the black oil off his face with his clothes, revealing his true appearance.

Damn it, they were not only tricked, but they were tricked twice by the same person. This is an absolute disgrace!
Zhang Haixing's eyes reddened even more, and she shouted, "Didn't you say I arrested the wrong person? You two bastards teamed up to frame me!"

The fat man ripped off his long beard, stood up from the ground, put his arm around Wu Xie's shoulder and laughed heartily, "Do you know what tacit understanding is? My Tianzhen and I are in perfect harmony, that's the tacit understanding between comrades-in-arms."

Wu Xie rolled his eyes inwardly. What a joke! The drawing was so grotesque that he wouldn't have recognized it at all if it weren't for that snoring sound. Damn it, they didn't even bother to give him a heads-up before releasing the poison. He almost died young from the toxic yellow smoke.

Fortunately, Bai Ci intervened in time and pulled him out of the toxic smoke.

However, Wu Xie was still happy, thinking to himself: You have performed flawlessly in the previous tests, and now I have finally caught you red-handed. Besides you, who else here would care about my safety?

As expected of the fat guy, you can tell he's got skills just by looking at him.

Once he finds a chance to strip you naked and see your tattoos, let's see how you try to deny it then.

After the fat man finished laughing, he saw that there were three "Wu Xie" faces in the room. He was dumbfounded. He quickly looked at the one next to him. Hmm, you can tell from his eyes that it is his Tianzhen. So what about the other two?
"Did your father have two twins behind your back? You three brothers have finally reunited after crossing mountains and seas?" he whispered in Wu Xie's ear.

Wu Xie's face darkened. "What a load of bull. Both of them are fake faces. One of them is the one who tricked us outside the Zhang Family Ancient Building back then."

He pointed at Zhang Haike and then at Zhang Wuxun, "There's another one who used my name to deceive Jin Wantang and lured me to Motuo."

(End of this chapter)