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

Chapter 494 Nianaga
The slope in this area is slightly gentler. Further up the hillside from the small hot spring, there are several large craters that look like they were created by small meteorites that fell from the sky and burned and split apart in the atmosphere.

These sinkholes are very deep, shrouded in mist and their bottoms are not visible. Inside, pale yellow sulfurous boiling water is churning.

Looking around, it felt like being in a large sauna or public bathhouse in northern China that could accommodate a dozen or twenty people.

The air was extremely humid and hot, with hot fog swirling in the air like thick smoke. Before long, Wu Xie's clothes were completely soaked, and his exposed face and hands were covered in condensed water droplets.

The oxygen is already thin on the high mountain snowfield. After staying in the thick fog for a long time, Wu Xie felt a tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. He quickly turned around and took a few steps back to get away from this boiling cauldron.

After leaving the area around the hot spring, Wu Xie saw Zhang Haixing's figure flash by in the misty air; clearly, she had continued to go up to check on the situation behind the hot spring.

There should be more hot spring pits like this further up, but the view is obscured by the water mist.

Wu Xie, carrying the down jacket he had taken off earlier because of the heat, stood there for a while, looking at the sunset that resembled a crimson veil above the snow line in the distance. His legs were exhausted, and he didn't want to go any further. He sat down and slowly caught his breath before using the walkie-talkie to tell Fatty about his situation and urge them to come up quickly.

As dusk fell, Wu Xie found a relatively flat spot on the slope, put down his backpack, and waited for Fatty and the others to come up so they could set up camp.

Fatty and Feng also started climbing up shortly after Wu Xie and the other man left, but they were carrying most of the equipment, so they were a bit slower.

A short while later, Wu Xie saw two black figures climbing up the mountainside, and he quickly went over to help carry a bag of equipment.

The three of them slowly walked up the flat slope and found the spot that Wu Xie had marked with his backpack.

The fat man looked around and thought this place was nice; it was sheltered from the wind and warm, and he could feel the stone mountain beneath his feet getting hot even through the thick soles of his shoes.

"That's it."

Once the fat man spoke and the location was confirmed, Wu Xie and Feng began setting up the tent.

The fat man set up a pot to boil water and prepare dinner, then asked, "Where is Zhang Haixing?"

“She went higher up,” Wu Xie replied, while busily taking the roasted dried fish out of his backpack.

Feng rubbed his aching back from the climb up the mountain and looked up at the higher ground. Suddenly, he asked in surprise, "Wu, Fatty, have you noticed that the crack seems to have disappeared?"

"It must be blocked by the steam rising from the hot spring. It's so dark now, it's definitely not visible." Wu Xie looked up and found that the divine rift that had been like a sharp sword cleaving across the sky was indeed gone.

He said somewhat uncertainly, "Didn't Zhang Haixing go upstairs? She shouldn't have gone too far by herself. Let's ask her when she comes back."

Feng nodded and didn't say anything more; the three of them went about their own business.

After a long while, Zhang Haixing emerged from the thick fog, her face covered in moisture, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.

The moment Wu Xie saw her, he noticed something was off about her expression and asked, "What's wrong? Did you find something up there?"

Zhang Haixing sat by the fire, looking at the fish and meat bubbling in the pot of white soup. She was in a daze for a few seconds before she seemed to realize that Wu Xie was asking her a question. She replied, "There are a lot of bones, several times more than we saw in the distance in Kangba Luo. The crevices in the rocks are almost full of bones."

Wu Xie was stunned. "How can there be so many?"

Could it be that all the Khampa people who escaped the snow disaster eventually gathered here, only to ultimately succumb to their fate?
The fat man glanced at Wu Xie's expression and asked for him, "Are they all Khampa people who fled to the mountains?"

Zhang Haixing shook her head and denied it, "I don't think they are Khampa people. I observed carefully and found that all the bones were left behind after people were killed. Their clothes and weapons were taken away after they died, and there were no identification tags left behind. So we can't tell where they came from. We can only tell from the size and thickness of their bones that most of them are male and their bone age is very young."

"Moreover, judging from the degree of decomposition of the remains, their deaths occurred a long time ago, probably a year or more. The bones are messy and incomplete, and there are many knife wounds and bullet holes on the limbs and sternum. Most of them were killed with a single blow, and the killing was very swift. Based on the number of skulls that can be seen on the surface, it is estimated that there are probably one or two hundred dead."

In other words, a large-scale, chaotic armed conflict once took place on this mountain.

"One or two hundred people? Good heavens, how come there are so many?" The fat man raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "Are those people gathered here the six major sects that attacked Bright Peak on this snow mountain? Could the legendary Bronze God Cult have killed them?"

Zhang Haixing glared at him speechlessly, "What nonsense are you talking about? You're still being sarcastic at a time like this."

The fat man curled his lip, ignoring her, and said to Wu Xie, "Those skeletons might have entered the snow mountain a long time ago, just like us, with the purpose of searching for something. However, they were discovered and stopped. This place is so close to Kangbaluo, so the person who did it is very likely a Kangbaluo person. To be able to kill so many people at once, it seems that they were fighting an ambush."

Wu Xie looked thoughtfully at Zhang Haixing and said, "If it's a matter of killing with one blow, it seems that besides your Zhang family, the only ones with such a swift and decisive killing method are probably the Khampa people who have guarded this place for generations."

Therefore, it's not hard to deduce the identities of those skeletons. They were simply coveting something deep within the snow-capped mountains, whether it was the golden treasure in the mysterious canyon or the bronze gate, their ultimate goal. Those people certainly didn't die innocently.

Zhang Haixing seemed lost in thought, her mind unsettled since earlier, and she didn't seem to hear a word Wu Xie said.

Wu Xie raised his voice and asked again, "In your opinion, were the people who died up there from the Wang family or from Anjing Company?"

Zhang Haixing snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "It's hard to say. I can only say that anything is possible." Feng quickly waved his hand and firmly denied it, saying, "It's definitely not one of our people. The people that headquarters sent before have never set foot in this area. As you all saw, that frozen lake was the biggest obstacle for us to get here. Before the star map was deciphered, we didn't even know how to proceed. Headquarters wouldn't risk sending so many people here to sacrifice themselves in vain. Every one of our members is extremely valuable."

Zhang Haixing also said, "I have never been to the snow-capped mountains here before, but my brother has been there a few times. He knows the shortcut to Kangbaluo, but he always goes there to talk about cooperation. I have never heard him mention anything like this ever happened in Kangbaluo."

Fatty picked up the pot and asked Wu Xie to add some charcoal to the stove, saying, "According to my analysis, it's probably the Khampa people who did it. Those bastards secretly went up the mountain to do something, but they were discovered by the Khampa people. Since the two sides can't communicate, they started fighting without warning."

"Or perhaps the Khampa people laid an ambush here beforehand, killing all the trespassers, stripping them naked, confiscating their weapons, and leaving their corpses exposed in the wild to be eaten by vultures."

Zhang Haixing agreed, saying, "There were indeed pecking marks on those skeletons, or perhaps teeth marks."

She wasn't good at this; all she could tell was that the flesh on the bones had been eaten by something before it weathered away.

"You mean, sky burial?" Feng asked. "According to what I know about Tibetan Buddhist funeral customs, if the body is eaten by vultures, it means that the deceased has left the human world and ascended to heaven. This kind of funeral ceremony is similar to the soul liberation in Buddhism, which is a form of redemption. If the vultures do not eat the body, it means that the deceased committed heinous crimes in life."

"If the Khampa people killed these invaders, they would not simply dump the bodies here. Those who invade their homes are unforgivable enemies, and they would not choose to forgive their enemies through sky burial. Instead, they would treat these bodies with extremely cruel torture."

Wu Xie and Fatty exchanged a glance, their expressions both somewhat grave. He sensed that Feng had something else to say, so he took the opportunity to ask, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if you've ever heard of the Nianaga, a kind of yeti that is formed from the souls of the dead," Feng said in a deep voice.

Wu Xie instantly understood what he meant, but was still somewhat puzzled. "You mean to say that those corpses were killed by... Nianaga, the so-called spirits, from the snowfield?"

Feng Gang was about to nod when the fat man sneered, "Hey, Comrade Da Manure, do you want to listen to what you're saying? If you want to make up ghost stories, I can ramble on for three days and three nights without repeating myself. Comrade Zhang Haixing just said that the fatal wounds on those skeletons were knife wounds and gunshot wounds. Even if there are monsters here, do you think they can fire bullets without any instruction? That's so amazing."

Feng's face flushed red, whether from the heat or from anger at the fat man, it was hard to tell. He argued, "You misunderstood me. What I'm saying is that the Nianaga's attack method is not a physical attack, but a parasitic one. Because they are transformed from souls, they can burrow into the bodies of living people and devour their souls and flesh as nourishment."

“The biography of His Holiness Tsongkhapa contains a detailed account that the Nyaana appear in large numbers each time, not just one, but a group. Because they are spirits, they are afraid of sunlight and salt, so they only appear at night.”

Hearing him speak so vividly and convincingly, the fat man couldn't help but become suspicious. "Then tell me, what gnawed all the flesh off those corpses? Is it this thing you're talking about?"

Feng nodded. "Yes, the Neanaga prefer to eat fresh carcasses. The book also records that these spirits have no fixed shape and can imitate the appearance of their prey. They have a physical form, but they are as changeable as water."

Wu Xie pondered Feng's words carefully, then suddenly realized something, and a chill ran down his spine! We're doomed!
According to Feng, the Nianaga appear at night, and right now, they are very likely crouching on the monster's hunting den!
Zhang Haixing had obviously thought of this as well. She immediately stood up, looked around, and then came back to ask Feng, "Is there any other way to subdue this monster in the book, besides sunlight and salt?"

They didn't carry much salt to begin with, and they used it all up while grilling fish. If a large number of those monsters attacked them, the little salt they had left wouldn't be enough.

Feng pondered for a moment, then hesitated and said, "I'm not sure if firelight will work on them, but bright light will always make those demons and monsters a little more wary."

With the last glimmer of sunlight about to disappear behind the mountains, Wu Xie and his companions dared not waste any more time. They immediately took action, rummaging through their backpacks for all the charcoal and fuel, dismantling one tent, and then evenly placing a ring of charcoal around the other tent, lighting it before it got completely dark.

The fat man moved the stove and pot into the tent. The four of them quickly finished their dinner around the stove, wrapped themselves up tightly, prepared a pinch of salt beside them, and faced away from the hot stove, ready for battle.

The surrounding temperature was already as high as summer, and in this basically enclosed space, with no wind, the fat man was sweating profusely, and his eyes were so hot that he couldn't open them.

In that brief moment of distraction, he suddenly felt as if a warm person was sitting next to him. No, there had always been someone sitting next to him: Feng on his left and Wu Xie on his right.

But for some reason, his heart was pounding, as if something terrible was about to happen.

The fat man immediately glanced to his right and saw that the person on the right was indeed Wu Xie, who was holding a rifle in his arms. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to say something to him.

Unexpectedly, with that turn, his neck froze in place.

He saw Wu Xie's shadow, but this shadow was very strange; it was fixed on the ground, pointing towards the burning furnace behind him.

Wu Xie remained motionless, while the shadow slowly shortened, gradually moving closer to Wu Xie's back.

Damn it, that thing arrived without us even noticing, and the flames were completely useless against it.

With only one last move left, Fatty held his breath and slowly reached out to grab the salt bag on the ground when he saw Wu Xie winking at him.

Thanks to their long-standing tacit understanding, the two tore open the paper package the moment Wu Xie suddenly bent down and fell face down, scattering all the salt powder inside onto Wu Xie's neck.

All they heard was a series of sizzling sounds like water droplets falling into a pot of oil, and the dark figure shrunk into a tiny shape and disappeared into the gap at their feet.

Before the two could even catch their breath, a series of gunshots suddenly rang out in their ears.

The person who fired the shot was Zhang Haixing. The firelight outside the tent was completely covered by the shadows, and it was pitch black.

Thank you so much to [Lost Memories But Not You] for the generous donation! Sending you love!