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

Chapter 498 Lightning Imprint
Upon hearing the fat man's words, everyone's expressions varied, and they looked at each other for a long time.

Feng looked completely bewildered, taking the fat man's words as a joke. "The phoenix is ​​something from your ancient myths and legends, how could it possibly appear in reality?"

Wu Xie smiled enigmatically, his gaze lowered, sweeping over Feng's clenched hand, which seemed to be clenched in an attempt to control his emotions.

He suddenly remembered that he had seen a phoenix-like totem in a certain place before, and Hei Xiazi had specifically pointed this out to him.

However, the timing was not right, so he did not bring it up directly.

Zhang Haixing's expression was rather complicated. She glanced at the fat man, then turned around and pointed her flashlight at a crevice in the rubble in front of her. The white beam of light illuminated a small cluster of yellow and white flowers that were blooming unexpectedly there.

The surroundings were cold and dark, and the cluster of delicate little flowers suddenly sprouted, making the scene seem particularly eerie.

When the fat man saw the little flowers, he paused for a moment, subconsciously looked up, and wondered, "This crack goes down so deep underground, and not a ray of sunlight can reach it. How did these poor little flowers grow?"

"Because this isn't an ordinary flower." Wu Xie stepped closer to the crevice and shone his lamp further inside.

More of these small yellow and white flowers grow crowded in the cracks of the rocks, spreading out in clusters, like moss in a cool, damp place, filling all the gaps between the pebbles.

“I remember my third uncle once told a story about a kind of moss that grows on the bones of people and animals. It has only white and yellow stems, leaves and roots, no flowers, and reproduces by roe deer. Each clump grows from the head of the corpse, then decomposes and absorbs nutrients from the decaying corpse, and quickly spreads to the whole body of the corpse. So the older generation who went tomb raiding called this plant ‘corpse head grass’.”

"This kind of moss only appears in burial pits that have been flooded. The more corpses there are, the more it grows. So don't be fooled by the fact that this corpse grass looks harmless. It is actually quite poisonous. The juice that is squeezed out can corrode the skin. If you encounter it in a tomb, even the most skilled and daring tomb raiders will have to go around it."

As he spoke, he turned the flashlight beam to its maximum and shone it towards the pile of rubble further back. "Look," he said, "there are even more of these small mosses in the crevices further back. In other words, these piles of stones behind us are very likely full of skeletons."

The fat man's expression changed several times. Looking at the large patch of moss blooming luxuriantly among the pile of stones behind him, he lowered his voice and said, "In other words, a large number of people died up ahead, just like what we saw up there."

Wu Xie put on rubber gloves, picked up a rather thin and long stone, circled the pile of stones, and chose a spot where the corpse grass was growing relatively lushly. He used the stone to scrape away the moss, revealing the pitted and uneven bones underneath.

He then moved around a few times, dug out the bone, and said immediately, "It's definitely a human skull, but it's so badly damaged that it's impossible to tell how long the person has been dead here."

The fat man chuckled, "I'm even more curious now. What kind of treasure is up ahead that's worth these people risking their lives to get here?"

Without further hesitation, the group continued forward.

Ahead lay a stretch of gravel beach covered with wormwood that resembled an anthill, so abundant that there was almost no place for them to step.

Wu Xie and the others tiptoed through the area as if dancing ballet, trying their best to avoid touching the poisonous plants.

Zhang Haixing, who was walking at the front, suddenly exclaimed. Everyone looked up and held their breath.

At the bottom of the crevice, behind the rubble, stood an enormous bronze door, identical in both pattern and material to the one Wu Xie and Fatty had seen in Changbai Mountain.

However, what is chilling is that, for some reason, a huge, irregular hole has been broken open in the massive bronze gate in front of us.

"What the hell happened?" the fat man yelled. "Who the hell blew such a huge hole in the bronze door?!"

No one responded. The flashlight beam couldn't illuminate the entire massive door, and they were all somewhat bewildered by the large hole in it.

Feng couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that someone broke down this door and got in before us? Could it be Bai Ci?"

Wu Xie stared at the huge gap, his mind blank. The enormous opening was like a black hole, drawing all his attention into it.

In a daze, a large, majestic, and long black shadow appeared before his eyes, its limbs flailing wildly, like a giant centipede that had transformed from a monster into its original form, slowly crawling out of the hole.

As if noticing Wu Xie staring at it, the dark shadow suddenly raised its head, its eyes were as red as lanterns, and its arched jaws were like sickles, baring its fangs and revealing its purplish-black mouthparts. Its mouth opened wider and wider, eventually even exceeding the size of the hole.

Wu Xie's eyes widened in horror: The King of Ten Thousand Slaves!
That was a gigantic King of Ten Thousand Slaves!
He hurriedly warned everyone to be careful of the monster, grabbed the fat man and turned to run, but suddenly a series of sharp noises rang in his ears.

"Eat it—eat it—"

The high-decibel sound was like two sharp hooks, piercing in without warning or hindrance, almost penetrating his eardrums and piercing out from the other side of his head.

Wu Xie screamed in pain, squatting on the ground and covering his ears, but it was no use. The piercing noise was everywhere, and he was tormented to the point of wishing he were dead.

Damn it, this King of Ten Thousand Slaves can use sonic attacks.

Just as Wu Xie was about to faint from the pain, a familiar voice broke through the barrier of noise and entered his mind, waking him up.

"Naive! Naive!"

"Tianzhen, Tianzhen, what's wrong with you? Wake up!"

In an instant, all the noise receded like the tide. Wu Xie slowly raised his dazed head and saw Fatty's rough head wearing a gas mask.

"Naive?" The fat man waved his hand in front of his face, making a "two" gesture, his voice muffled behind his mask, "Hey, finally awake. Your antics gave me quite a fright. Do you even recognize this?"

Wu Xie blinked his tired eyes, rubbed his head and sat up, looking around. He realized that they had somehow arrived in front of the bronze door.

Zhang Haixing and Feng Zheng stood in front of the bronze door, observing the various intricate patterns on it.

"Where is the King of Ten Thousand Slaves?" Wu Xie asked, rubbing his temples.

The fat man looked completely bewildered. "What King of Ten Thousand Slaves? Tianzhen, were you having a nightmare?"

"You didn't see anything?" Wu Xie asked in surprise, then frowned and asked, "Then what happened to me?"

The fat man chuckled, "I should be asking you that. You were walking perfectly fine, how did you suddenly faint? If I hadn't reacted quickly and caught you, you would have been kissing those guys under the corpses on the grass face to face."

Wu Xie tried to recall what had just happened, but his head throbbed with pain as soon as he tried to think. He quickly asked Fatty for a cigarette, lit it, ripped off his gas mask, stuffed it into his mouth, and took a few deep drags. He watched silently as the red-hot embers in his hand slowly consumed the tobacco and paper, the hazy blue smoke swirling upwards, obscuring the dim light in his eyes.

Since Muyu left, he had been controlling the amount of cigarettes he smoked. His colleagues rarely saw him light one in the shop. But now he needed nicotine to relax his tense nerves, sort out everything that had happened on this journey, and find the clues he had overlooked.

Ever since they entered this crevice, everything here has become strange.

A bird sculpture with a snake's head, deliberately hollowed-out eyes, grayish-white pupils... that sudden sense of familiarity...

Most importantly, why is there a hole in the bronze door here, and how was this hole formed?

There's also something directly related to himself: why did he see Wan Nu Wang crawl out of the cave, and where did Wan Nu Wang go after he crawled out?

He couldn't help but wonder if the scenes he had seen before had actually happened here, like the lightning flashes seen on some ancient battlefields.

However, judging from the behavior of Fatty and his companions, they clearly did not see the King of Ten Thousand Slaves, nor were there any traces of his presence in the surrounding area.

In other words, what he saw was very likely fake, and those images were actually just hallucinations caused by his tinnitus.

When exactly did I get infected?

Wu Xie thought about it carefully, then turned to look at the fat man who was munching on a compressed biscuit. When he saw him looking over, the fat man broke off half of the biscuit and handed it to him, asking if he wanted some.

"I'm not hungry yet." Wu Xie shook his head and closed his eyes again.

If it's an illusion, then are the fat man and the others sitting next to him also part of this new illusion?

Wu Xie knew he had to find a way to verify the truth, but he didn't know the mechanism by which this illusion was formed.

He knew that some powerful illusions could bind the consciousness of everyone in that space together, using the things in their consciousness to weave an unbreakable net, so he had to use someone who couldn't possibly be here.

If that person could appear, then everything here must be fake.

"Wooden fish!"

Wu Xie looked behind the fat man and suddenly shouted.

His attention had been focused on the three fat men, but after hearing his own shout, the three of them turned their heads at the same time and looked behind the fat men.

Wu Xie waited quietly, and then saw a person slowly emerge from the shadows behind a clump of half-person-high rocks covered with lush corpse grass.

Neither Zhang Haixing nor Feng had ever seen Muyu's original face, but the person who appeared had Muyu's original face.

Wu Xie watched as the fat man naturally stepped forward to strike up a conversation, and Zhang Haixing and Feng did not show any wariness towards the suddenly appearing unfamiliar face; all their actions were natural and uninhibited.

Wu Xie looked down at the nearly burnt-out cigarette butt in his hand, his eyes darkening. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he shoved the cigarette butt into the palm of his left hand.

Sizzle—the smell of burning flesh quickly spread, but the palm remained intact.

"It all exists only in my imagination," Wu Xie thought to himself. This time, he pulled out the big white dog leg tucked behind his waist, closed his eyes, and swung it at the wrist without hesitation.

With a crisp "clang," he struck something in front of him. Judging from the force of the blade rebounding, he knew that he had most likely hit something like a rock.

Wu Xie suddenly opened his eyes and found that his face was pressed tightly against the crow statue from before, and the big white dog leg in his hand was chopping at the snake's head. His left hand was holding the snake's head, but it also inadvertently blocked the blow for him.

His gaze shifted to the right, and when he saw the extra snake head, his pupils contracted sharply. A small hole appeared between the two gray-white eyes, staring straight at him like a paper doll with eyes dotted on it.

Like a sudden awakening, he instantly remembered what it was.

Corpse Beetle Pill, this thing is a Corpse Beetle Pill!
Wu Xie broke out in a cold sweat. Now that the Corpse Beetle Pill had been broken, where was the Corpse Beetle King inside?

He stood still, afraid to move, and could only scan his surroundings with his peripheral vision. But he had no night vision, and it was pitch black, so he couldn't see anything clearly. He didn't know why the Corpse Beetle King hadn't attacked him after it came out; perhaps it had flown away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a faint white light emanating from a corner of the cave—it was the flashlight that was about to run out of power.

Wu Xie mustered his courage and moved his body slowly like a puppet on strings, squatting down little by little. When he looked down, his body froze instantly. He wished he could disappear from the spot immediately.

Damn it! The two corpse beetle kings that had vanished were now crouching in the white light of the flashlight.

How to do?How to do?
Wu Xie was burning with anxiety. The insects were right at his feet, but he couldn't guarantee that he, whose limbs were already sore from hanging there for so long, could stomp on both of the Corpse Beetle Kings to death.

If he makes a mistake, the consequences could be disastrous.

He racked his brains trying to think of anything else he had on him that could kill the Corpse Beetle King in one fell swoop.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He had an idea! A safety buckle! There was blood from a wooden fish inside the safety buckle.

As expected, there's always a way out. Wu Xie was secretly delighted. He quietly took the chain out from his collar, removed the jade clasp, and then aimed at the two red insects in the lamplight. He tossed it over with a "whoosh."

With his uncanny accuracy, like shooting sparrows with a clod of earth, the safety amulet landed precisely between the two corpse beetle kings, shattering into two pieces. The liquid inside flowed out, attracting the attention of the corpse beetle kings.

Wu Xie watched as two insects crawled onto the red liquid flowing from the jade buckle and then remained motionless.

After waiting for half a minute to confirm that the two insects had indeed stopped moving, Wu Xie breathed a sigh of relief, carefully climbed down from the cave, and immediately went to touch the backpack he had placed under the stone wall before climbing up.

He remembered the approximate location where he had put it down, found it quickly, took out a spare flashlight, turned it on, and immediately turned around to look for the fat man.

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(End of this chapter)