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

Chapter 456 Don't Search
Zhang Wu thought for a moment, then carried the food box to the place where the footprints disappeared. He squatted down and, sure enough, saw a narrow door under the tattered strips of cloth under the offering table.

Well, it's like a narrow, elongated chimney, but big enough for a child to go in and out.

He reached out and touched the wall, and could tell that it was made of mud bricks.

First, mix the mud and dry grass together, then use a mold to shape them into relatively regular mud bricks. Finally, plaster a layer of mud on the outside of the stacked mud bricks. The resulting mud wall is quite sturdy and can last for more than ten years even if exposed to wind and rain.

He no longer possessed the ability to pass through walls that a soul should have, so he began to dismantle the wall with his bare hands, because even if he shrank his bones, he still couldn't squeeze through this tiny gap.

This Lama temple was built directly on a relatively gentle slope using timber, so there should be a cave or something similar behind the small door.

In a few quick movements, a passage was cleared. It wasn't as dark as I had imagined; a faint, warm light from an oil lamp could be seen.

Zhang Wuxun saw a small figure sitting on the steps in front of the Buddha statue carved on the mountain wall, facing away from the oil lamp. It was really small, so small that when it curled up, it was no bigger than a ten-pound rice bag.

He sat there quietly, not even glancing back at the noise at the door, holding a small plaque in his hand, slowly carving something on it.

Zhang Wuxun suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, like being pricked by needles, followed by a dense, spreading pain throughout his chest.

He suddenly bent over and squatted down, clutching the most painful spot in his chest, his face blank.

Unbeknownst to me, a corner of the iceberg deep within my mind was melting at an extremely slow pace, and my long-stagnant consciousness finally glimpsed a tiny fraction of it.

A small, blurry shadow with an indistinct face seemed to overlap with the scene before them.

Time seemed to stand still, with only the whistling wind and snow outside and the flickering candlelight inside.

He didn't know how much time had passed when Zhang Wuxunfang came back to his senses from the chaos. He didn't remember everything, but the memories from the previous five cycles were enough for him to understand why he had come here.

Deren once advised him that being too attached to something will only lead to suffering.

Having once possessed it, having experienced the process, and having received the result, whether good or bad, I eventually came to understand and let go, which in Buddhist terms means returning to dust.

The body is a Bodhi tree, and the mind is a mirror stand.

But if a person has never picked it up, how can he put it down?

Zhang Wuxun carried the food box and walked behind the child, where he saw a longevity plaque in the child's hand that had been soaked in blood.

“Stop carving,” Zhang Wuxun said in the Han language, knowing the child wouldn’t understand anything else. “It’s no use. That old woman’s grandson won’t live long anyway.”

The child ignored him and continued the mechanical movements of his hands, perhaps because he didn't hear him at all, or perhaps because he heard him but didn't care.

Zhang Wuxun was used to this. He sighed, put down the food box, took out disposable cotton swabs and gauze from his pocket, and took the wooden sign from the child's hand with his other hand.

The child's fingers clenched unconsciously, causing the wound at the fingertip to reopen and bleed out.

Zhang Wuxun pried it open with a little force, removed the bloodstained wooden plaque, and tossed it aside.

The child immediately tried to pick it up, but Zhang Wuxun held him back, saying, "Don't bother with that one. I'll carve an even better one for you later."

The child stopped struggling, as if he had confirmed something from his words. He stood there motionless and silent, letting Zhang Wuxun slowly pull out the splinter from his hand and treat his wound.

The hand Zhang Wuxun held in his palm was thin and small, with a wrist so fragile that it seemed it could be broken with a gentle squeeze. Beneath the old white robe sleeves, one could vaguely see many old knife marks that had scabbed over, the deepest and most obvious one cutting directly into a blood vessel.

Zhang Wuxun rolled up his sleeve and, sure enough, saw a new bloodstain on the upper part of his forearm.

"Don't hurt yourself like that again." Zhang Wuxun's tone was not reproachful, but as calm as if he were telling a patient to eat and drink on time.

After applying the medicine, he carefully blew on it to dry it, and then wrapped it with gauze.

Still receiving no response, Zhang Wuxun raised his eyelids and met the child's dark eyes.

Those emotionless eyes stared straight at him, their gaze dull and empty, devoid of any childlike innocence or liveliness that a three-year-old should possess.

Her malnourished face was almost devoid of flesh, and because of Zhang Wuxun's words, her slender body tensed up, her dark eyes still revealing no emotion.

Zhang Wuxun sighed, took off his Tibetan robe, wrapped him up like a dough roll, stroked the soft white hair on his head, and tucked his two little feet, which were frozen and pale, into the hem of his robe.

"Let's eat." Zhang Wuxun sat down on the felt with the child in his arms, opened the food box, picked up some beef with chopsticks, and brought it to the child's mouth.

The child didn't open his mouth, staring blankly into space, seemingly lost in thought.

"Eat a little bit," Zhang Wuxun sighed. "You're already so thin, even lighter than the five times I saw you before."

This environment completely severed his connection with the system, and since he couldn't find any better food in the space, he had to make do with what he had.

The child remained unmoved by the meat in his mouth, sitting softly in Zhang Wuxun's arms, his head tilted against his neck, silent, his eyes simply staring quietly at a corner of the Buddha statue.

"You won't be able to wait for him," Zhang Wuxun said softly.

The child did not respond.

With a buzzing sound in his chest, Zhang Wuxun uttered an even crueler truth: "He will never come back."

Zhang Wuxun knew very well who this child was waiting for. Just like his younger self, he was waiting for the same person who would never return.

The child felt a slight breeze on the side of his neck and buried his head completely in Zhang Wuxun's neck.

"Where's you?"

He heard the child ask this question in a very soft, breathy voice.

He heard his own voice telling the child.

"I won't be coming either."

The air remained silent for a long time.

"Let's do it together."

The child's tears rolled silently down into Zhang Wuxun's collar, burning into his heart.

Zhang Wuxun suppressed the tears welling up in his eyes and patted the child's head. "I can't take you away."

"I will be very good."

The child opened his eyes wide, his clear black and white pupils fixed intently on Zhang Wuxun.

Even after a very long time, when he grew up, the child still couldn't understand why his father had abandoned him there.

His memory has always been very good, but he doesn't remember many things from his childhood, nor can he learn anything about his father from his uncles and elders.

He suppressed his anger and gradually made himself stronger, thinking, "Since you won't come looking for me, then I'll come looking for you."

Later he went to search, searching mountains and rivers, searching day and night, until he was covered in wounds and mud. Is this what "Don't search, don't seek" means?

His so-called blood father is truly heartless.

"He's the one who doesn't want you."

Zhang Wuxun stared into the child's eyes and said, word by word.

"Don't go looking for him anymore."

If you hadn't gone to him, you wouldn't be living such a miserable life like I am.

Without expectations, there will be no disappointment.

The child's eyes didn't blink; the few tears made them clear and bright, as if he were asking, "Why?"

"Forget about him."

Soon, very soon someone will come here and take you away.

You will also grow strong there very quickly, little by little.

How wonderful it would be if they could always let you be a simple child.

Zhang Wuxun raised his hand to cover the child's eyes, hugged him tightly in his arms, his heart aching so much it felt like it was about to shrink into a ball. "Forget me too."

As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding space suddenly began to tremble.

The already weathered face of the Buddha statue on the stone wall above began to crack and twist into winding, terrifying black cracks. These cracks grew larger and larger, their gaping maws devouring everything around them.

The cracks gradually spread towards Zhang Wuxun's feet, large chunks of rocks fell, stone slabs shattered, and the beams and pillars outside the door collapsed into the bottomless abyss below. A huge hole was torn open above his head, along with the sky.

The wind howled, the whole world was falling, the master of the realm gradually awoke, and the realm began to collapse.

Zhang Wuxun stood up, holding the child, and quietly watched everything that was happening around him, his eyes showing no emotion.

The child turned his head and saw all of this, his innocent face bearing the same indifference as Zhang Wuxun's.

Finally, everything around them turned into weightless fragments, floating in the darkness.

Zhang Wuxun lowered his eyes to look at the child in his arms, hugged him tightly one last time, closed his eyes to hide the unspeakable sorrow in them, and said in a barely audible voice, "Goodbye."

He felt the child in his arms gradually dissipate, like grains of sand in time; no matter how tightly he held on, the child would eventually disappear from his fingertips.

All the surrounding fragments began to recede rapidly, as if a gaping maw of darkness were sucking them all away.

Enough time had passed; Zhang Wuxun knew from the very beginning of the collapse that he had to wake up this time.

He closed his eyes, his mind blank.

They fell into darkness along with the fragments.

-

Inside the room, Zhang Haixing crouched down and stared intently at Zhang Wuxun, noticing that his face was gradually turning pale, and the more she looked, the more something seemed wrong.

Suddenly, I reached out and touched his forehead. It was ice-cold to the touch, as if I had placed it on a stone that had been watered and left outside to freeze for a day and a night.

Her expression immediately changed drastically, and she turned around urgently, saying, "Brother, we're doomed! This kid's in trouble!"

"What's wrong?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Haike hurriedly walked over.

"He's about to freeze to death in the desert!"

Zhang Haixing was panicked and at a loss. She didn't intend to kill Bai Ci; at least he couldn't die now.

Zhang Haike detected that Zhang Wuxun's pulse was extremely weak. Seeing Zhang Haixing's evasive expression, he immediately realized what was going on and asked sternly, "You let him hear both of the secondary bells at the same time? Did you!"

Zhang Haixing's expression froze. Knowing she couldn't keep it a secret any longer, she could only nod in admission and whispered her protest, "Brother, I really didn't know he couldn't get out. He never reacted to those illusion bells when I tested him several times before."

This time, she was just retaliating by increasing the intensity of entry. Even if he was trapped inside and couldn't get out for a while, with Bai Ci's mentality of putting himself in a life-or-death situation, he would eventually get out.

Moreover, Bai Ci had maintained the same posture since entering the country, without moving an inch. He didn't even furrow his brow, let alone talk in his sleep. Even if she wanted to guide him, she wouldn't know where to start.

“You…” Zhang Haike never expected his sister to act so recklessly in such an emergency. He barely managed to suppress the curses on his lips. “Hurry up and get the blankets and move the brazier over.”

Zhang Haixing hurriedly called on the other members of the Zhang family who had run out from the next room after hearing the commotion to move the heat source into the house.

Zhang Haike knew that the Qingxin Bell they had was useless against the Chaofeng Bell, but he was desperate and decided to try anything. He held the small bell and kept jingling it near Zhang Wuxun's ear.

Damn it, what exactly did this kid go through in his own illusion? With his temperament, how could he have gotten himself into this state?

Zhang Wuxun emerged from the illusion, utterly exhausted. He had just been about to take a nap when he heard a constant, incessant noise around him. Already in a bad mood, he felt incredibly irritated.

"Damn it," he thought, "It's so damn noisy, I really want to gag these guys with a rag."

"Noisy!"

He finally swore, wearily opened his eyes, and met Zhang Haike's gaze as Zhang half-squatted in front of him.

After catching an indescribable look of astonishment in the other person's eyes, Zhang Wuxun looked around and found that everyone was staring at him blankly, as if they were all experiencing some terrifying hallucination.

what's the situation?
Zhang Wuxun looked at the dozen or so blazing braziers surrounding him and frowned. "What are you doing? Why have you made such a mess of the house?"

Zhang Haike slapped his forehead, wiped the silly look off his face, and chuckled awkwardly, "It's okay, hahaha, it's okay. It's just too cold out there. We're shivering from the heat, or rather, shivering from the cold."

"Ah yes, that's right."

The other members of the Zhang family echoed his sentiments and quickly fled with tools carrying the brazier.

Zhang Wuxun knew there was something fishy going on, but he didn't point it out. He only asked, "Where are Wu Xie and that fat guy?"

“They’ve finished their tests. You had a little trouble earlier, so to avoid affecting them, we moved them to another room,” Zhang Haike said. “They should wake up soon.”

Zhang Haike gave Zhang Haixing, who was standing anxiously to the side, a wink. Zhang Haixing glanced at Zhang Wuxun, hesitated, and finally left the room without saying anything.

Now that there was no one else in the room, Zhang Wuxun closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and asked, "Did she tamper with the bell?"

Zhang Haike nodded, feeling extremely apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect her to be so blatant and direct in attacking you right in front of me."

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(End of this chapter)