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

Chapter 495 The Method to Break Free
Zhang Haixing unleashed a burst of bullets from the muzzle of her gun, riddling the tent with bullet holes.

By the faint light of the fire inside the tent, wisps of black smoke, resembling smoke, could be seen swirling and hovering around the tent.

Fatty cautiously approached the small hole to look outside. Just as he got close, before he could even see clearly, he heard Wu Xie exclaim, "Fatty, watch out!"

The fat man instinctively dodged, only to feel a surge of hot air rushing towards his face. He reflexively raised his hand to block it, and there was another sizzling sound as the heat dissipated instantly. He also felt the scalding heat of steam rising into his palm.

Only then did the fat man realize that fog had risen outside, and countless dark shadows were vaguely visible in the fog, looming over the tent, just like the ones that had been clinging to Wu Xie's back earlier.

He gasped in shock, quickly stepped back, and whispered, "What the hell? The black fog outside is full of those dark, shadowy figures. Where did all these ghostly things come from?"

Things in the fog have an instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm. After coming into contact with the salt powder left on the fat man's hands, they instinctively scattered and fled in all directions.

Wu Xie realized what was happening and immediately called out to everyone, "Quickly put salt on your hands, put it on all the exposed skin, and sprinkle salt water on your bodies too!"

The fat man and his companions quickly did as instructed, dissolving the packets of salt they had taken into hot water, stirring rapidly, and then scooping the salt into their hands and sprinkling it all over each other from head to toe.

The mist seeped in through the gaps, and the dark figure was indeed wary, clinging tightly to the tattered tent. The tent fabric kept sinking inward, and the steel frame supporting the tent creaked under the pressure.

The things outside kept climbing on top of it, and the numerous single holes in the tarpaulin only made things worse. Clearly, the tent wouldn't last much longer.

Zhang Haixing quickly replaced the magazine, staring warily at the hole, and asked Wu Xie, "Did you see clearly what that was before?"

Wu Xie shook his head. "I didn't see it clearly. It ran away too fast. But that thing reminded me a bit of the Forbidden Woman from the underwater tomb, but when it was attached to my body, it was a whole patch, not just strands of hair."

As he spoke, he reached out and touched his damp back. Sure enough, his hand was covered in water stains, still warm to the touch. The damp heat was very uncomfortable.

His face was grim, and he frowned. "The firelight is useless against them. The thing that was sticking to my back was wet, soaking wet. They probably extinguished the charcoal fire outside."

Zhang Haixing frowned. "It's all water. Could it have crawled out of a hot spring?"

The dark shadow disappeared into the gap at his feet, as thin as paper. Wu Xie touched the gap with his finger and found that it was filled with a semi-thick, transparent liquid.

He wondered if this was the slime left behind after the dark figure was killed by the salt corrosion.
It looked like the dark figure had crawled out of the gap and then stuck to the person's back.

However, the current situation is far too passive. The salt they have with them probably won't last long, and the shadowy figures outside the tent keep coming. They can't just sit and wait to die; they must come up with a way to break free as soon as possible.

"Does this thing even have a body? How come it can't be killed by so many bullets?" The fat man glared at Feng. "Didn't you say this thing was afraid of fire? Or are you trying to fool me, you son of a bitch?"

Feng shuddered at the menacing tone in the fat man's voice and stammered, "The scriptures say that the Naa Naga fear sunlight and salt, and firelight might... make them hesitate..."

The fat man was furious and cursed, "What's there to worry about? Didn't you see that this damn thing put out the fire we were playing with?"

"Wait a minute." Wu Xie suddenly thought of something. "Have you guys considered why this thing is afraid of sunlight and salt?" Zhang Haixing stared intently at the tent, mixed some hot water into the remaining salt water in the bowl, and then poured it out through the holes.

A series of rustling sounds followed, and the weight on the tarpaulin, which had just been splashed with salt water, noticeably lessened.

Upon hearing Wu Xie's words, Fatty knew he had an idea. "What good idea have you come up with?"

Wu Xie pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, I think the shadows outside are not afraid of sunlight and salt, but of evaporation and water loss due to heat."

The fat man was a little confused. "What do you mean?"

Wu Xie explained, "This thing is definitely not like what Feng said, that it is transformed from a soul. It is a soft, water-soluble creature that lives in hot springs. Its main component is water, and the sunlight during the day will evaporate the water on its body. Dehydration means death, so this creature appears at night after the sun sets."

"Then what about salt?" the fat man asked again.

“It’s easier to explain why they’re afraid of salt,” Wu Xie said. “No freshwater creature is immune to salt, just like freshwater fish can’t survive in seawater.”

Based on the principle of osmotic pressure, when the skin of this mollusc comes into contact with salt, the salt will react with the warm water on its body surface to dissolve it.

When the salt content of the organism's skin is too high, a concentration difference will occur between its internal and external body fluids, causing the aquatic organism's cells to lose water.

If there is enough salt, the water inside the cells will continuously leak out, eventually causing the aquatic organism to die from dehydration.

"It's not that these things aren't afraid of fire, but rather that the fire is too small. There are so many of them, and the moisture they carry can quickly extinguish any embers we create."

The sun is like a giant, never-extinguishing ball of fire. The Naagar mistake the light of the flames for sunlight, which is why they hide in the shadows and attack people.

Although the fat man didn't understand what osmotic pressure was, he could understand the evaporation of water when exposed to the sun, just like drying eggplants or raisins.

“Fatty thinks what you said makes a lot of sense, so what’s next? We’ll see.” Fatty pointed to the top of the tent. “This thing is about to give out.”

Wu Xie glanced at his watch and said, "There are still four hours until dawn. All we can do is stall for time. Once the sun comes out, they will naturally retreat."

He then directed the fat man and the others to rebuild the fire, but this time the fire was piled up right at their feet.

The four people formed a circle, placed the brightest fog lamp in the middle, and then lit a fire in front of each person to ensure there was no shadow around them, so that Nianaga had nowhere to hide.

Then take out the dried fish from the backpack, quickly scrape off the surface salt with a knife, and then make salt water and pour it on the tarpaulin. Use this method to drive away some of the Nahana.

Thank you so much to the generous donor [Lost Memories, But Not You]! Sending you love and goodnight.



(End of this chapter)