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

Chapter 531 Brother's Mark
The fat man muttered dismissively, patting the dust off his trousers. "Just say it, why all the mystery? I've seen at least a dozen or twenty grand halls, who knows which one you're referring to?"

Wu Xie glanced at Zhang Haike with a meaningful look in his eyes.

If there is any underground palace in the world that everyone present has seen with their own eyes, it is probably only the Zhang Family Ancient Building.

The Zhang family built the Zhang Family Ancient Building, and the Zhang family also created this place. Wu Xie silently looked around and exchanged a glance with Zhang Wuxun. The two of them understood each other without saying a word.

Zhang Haike glanced at the time on his watch, then took out a miniature telegraph machine from his backpack, walked to the other side of the stone bridge, squatted down and fiddled with it for a while before carefully putting it away.

The fat man watched his actions, grinned, and said, "Damn, what kind of crap is this?"

“The Zhang family’s language is different from Morse code.” Zhang Wuxun guessed this from the frequency of Zhang Haike’s fingers. “He’s probably talking to the Zhang family members outside.”

Before the fat man could ask any more questions, Zhang Haike had already returned. He had obviously overheard their conversation and explained briefly, "I change the code every time to prevent any Wang family members who are hiding from eavesdropping."

“I have already sent a small group of people to secretly take Zhang Haixing down the mountain. The rest of us will continue to guard the area near the Bronze Gate to ensure that our environment is absolutely clean until we retrieve the Ancestral Bell.”

As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Wuxun and said, "She will go to Kangbaluo to contact that person as you wish, but your unofficial plan has a flaw: their blood is different."

Zhang Wuxun wasn't surprised that he would bring this up, and simply said, "I will make them the same."

"After we leave the snow mountain, I will take her to the Zhang family."

Zhang Haike gasped. "You can find it?"

Realizing something, his face instantly darkened, and he stared intently at Zhang Wuxun, "Where exactly did you come from?"

Zhang Wuxun's patience was about to run out. He looked back at him expressionlessly and asked, "What do you want to say?"

The two stared at each other, and the atmosphere became tense for a moment.

Seeing this, Wu Xie stepped forward to block the way, frowning as he said, "I know you guys are suspicious, but you don't have to be this suspicious of just one person. He has a Qilin tattoo on his body!"

The fat man snorted coldly, "What business is it of yours where my wooden fish came from? You're so old and you've still managed to live this long. Who says all the Zhang family members on the mainland have to die out? Can't some of them hide away?"

"Even the patriarch of your Zhang family hasn't said anything, so what right do you have to interfere?" The fat man rattled off a string of words, speaking without any politeness.

Zhang Haike's expression shifted rapidly, "Although tattoos can't be faked, the clan leader's memories..."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Zhang Wuxun and the other two turned cold in unison, as if they would pounce on him and teach him a lesson if he said another word.

Despite being stared at by the three men, Zhang Haike smiled, though it looked fake. "Don't get so worked up, it was just a joke."

Wu Xie scoffed, leaving behind a disdainful look, then grabbed Fatty and Muyu, turned around and strode away.

"Let's go take a look," the fat man said excitedly. "There might be treasures inside a palace."

Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow with a hint of smugness, then turned and followed Wu Xie's lead.

Zhang Haike chuckled softly, strolled along with his hands in his pockets, and lagged behind, watching them walk through the archway without offering any warning.

Sure enough, less than ten seconds later, Wu Xie's cry of pain came from the narrow passageway, "Ouch—"

Zhang Haike slowly approached and saw Wu Xie sitting on the ground, hugging his legs and gasping for breath, rubbing his knees with both hands. The culprit was a copper ring that had appeared out of nowhere from the surface of the stone path.

Zhang Wuxun was examining the patterns on the iron ring, while the fat man shone his flashlight towards the back of the passageway. The path behind wasn't straight, and the flashlight's light source was blocked at a bend.

"There should be another road ahead, have you checked it?" the fat man asked Zhang Haike. Zhang Haike replied irrelevantly, "I advise you not to go out of curiosity."

They had only walked about a hundred meters since they came in. The inner walls of the passageway were covered with traces of craftsmen's chiseling, and were very rough. It was clear that the people who came here did not intend to build a large project, so the road was very narrow. After turning the corner, only one person could pass at a time, and they had to squeeze through sideways.

The fat man glanced over, put on a mask of pain, and turned back without saying a word. "It gets narrower and narrower behind us; it's a dead end."

He was already starting to have doubts, thinking to himself, "Is this old guy trying to fool us again?"

Zhang Haike gave a serious "hmm" and said, "We can still get out, but it's uncertain whether the place we get out of will be the place we're looking for."

The fat man glared at him. "You just said there was a main hall. Where is this main hall? I haven't seen a single tile."

Zhang Haike gestured towards Zhang Wuxun, who was squatting on the ground, and said, "You'll have to ask him about that."

Wu Xie and Zhang Wuxun were taken aback and looked at each other.

“The Qiongqi Eight Evil Pearls,” Zhang Wuxun answered, whispering, “This is a mechanism left behind by Brother Qiongqi.”

"What?" Wu Xie and Fatty were both shocked and quickly came over to ask, "How did you figure that out?"

“His mark is here.”

Zhang Wuxun pressed the copper ring back in, then gently stroked the center of the ring with his finger to wipe away the loose dirt and make the patterns clearer.

The exposed surface of the mechanism clearly shows two symbols, each about the size of a bottle cap, stacked together. They look very much like a spider perched on a strange symbol, quite different from the marks that the guy had left in the tombs he had entered before.

"It looks like the script of the ancient Zhang family."

Zhang Wuxun turned to look at Zhang Haike, who was leaning against the stone wall, "Can you decipher it?"

Zhang Haike honestly shook his head, "I can't recognize him, or to be precise, I only recognize half of him."

As he spoke, he pulled a small notebook, about the length of a finger, from his pocket, took out a ballpoint pen refill clipped to the wire loop, and began to draw on it.

He broke down the lower half of the symbol into seven simple lines, and just by looking at those lines, ordinary people would have no idea what they represented.

“A warning: ‘Those who covet gold will be reborn in the Pure Land,’” Zhang Haike said.

Zhang Wuxun's lips curled up slightly, "What a coincidence, I happen to know the other half, 'If you want to go to Baiquan, then kill Mingliu.'"

After pondering for a while, the fat man said incredulously, "This 'slaughter'...who is being slaughtered? Us? That's too ruthless. We haven't even gone in yet and they're already starting a killing spree. It's not like Brother Xiao's style."

“No, it’s the Golden River that’s being attacked.” Zhang Wuxun shook his head. “Brother is reminding us that there’s something in the Golden River. The ‘Mingliu’ should be a whirlpool or something that makes a sound, and the things in the Golden River will appear with the whirlpool.”

Wu Xie asked, "Then what about 'Baiquan'? What does Baiquan refer to?"

Zhang Haike continued, "'Baiquan' is also known as 'Baiquan'. Although you have seen it, you do not know its specifics. On the sunny side of Zhang Family Ancient Building, there is a circular stone hall. Inside that stone hall are seven mechanical stone bridges, because there are two living springs under the bridges that are used to raise things."

According to historical records, Zhang Qiling would hold a small ceremony in front of the bridge after each time he escorted Tezuka back to his place, in order to awaken the creatures in the water.

"Therefore, those mechanical bridges are also called Baiquan Bridges, and the stone hall is also called Baiquan Hall."

If you feel pain because of my departure, please forgive me for turning you from a god into a mortal. — *Inevitable*