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

Zhang Haike threw down the dead snake in his hand, smiled at Wu Xie and the other man, and said, "I've been waiting for you for a long time."

This thing just seemed to appear out of thin air.

Wu Xie carefully observed his expression and confirmed that he was a person before he relaxed his guard slightly.

He looked around and asked Zhang Haike, "What's going on with these snakes? They were very lively when we came down, why are they all running away now?"

"Shouldn't this be your masterpiece?" Zhang Haike was initially surprised and puzzled, but then, as if realizing something, his expression changed drastically. He strode over and asked, "What did you bring here?"

He was certain that the sudden chill he had felt earlier was not an illusion. Although the feeling was gone, the real crisis was probably not over.

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie and Fatty tensed up and drew their swords, assuming defensive stances.

After brandishing his sword in front of him for a moment, Wu Xie's mind cooled down, and he suddenly remembered a problem that he had overlooked in his haste.

Why hasn't the wooden fish come down yet?

Damn it, has he sneaked off again?!
Wu Xie was seething with anger. He patted his chest to reassure himself that Mu Yu couldn't have gone far. He gave Fatty a look and said, "I'll go up and check. Mu Yu hasn't come down yet."

The fat man was stunned for a moment, then quickly connected the strange situation with Zhang Wuxun. He muttered under his breath, "Damn it, it's still not down. I guess it's used up all its domineering aura and is just sitting there dry."

The cave entrance was quite a distance from the ground, so Wu Xie and Fatty piled on top of each other to climb up.

Zhang Haike stood behind them, listening to the riddle, his eyes flickering thoughtfully, as if he had gained some insight.

It seems that the Zhang family member is hiding some unknown supernatural abilities.

"What kind of 'arrogant' aura is that? It's awful!"

Wu Xie's head had just poked out of the hole when he was slapped on the head, instantly turning his anger to ashes.

Zhang Wuxun squatted in front of him, his expression completely unchanged, holding a brownish-red, translucent egg in his hand, showing it to him, "Look, I found something good."

Wu Xie took it and held it in his hands. It felt smooth and cool like jade. When he looked through it, he could vaguely see a coiled white baby snake inside.

"A snake egg fossil?" he exclaimed. "It's so big! Where did you find it? How did the shell get like this?"

Zhang Wuxun revealed a smile of having found a bargain. "The stone that Fatty kicked out looked too round, so I picked it up and found that the weight was a bit off. I knocked off the outermost layer of the stone shell."

The fat man yelled angrily from below, "Can't you two troublesome bastards come down here to talk? Get down here right now, or I'll be trampled flat!"

Wu Xie pouted and whispered, "He's jealous of you."

"What are you saying? I heard you." The fat man said irritably, then asked Zhang Wuxun, "How much is this kind of egg-shaped jade worth on the market? Are there any others? Dig up a couple for me too. I've been so selfless and helpful all this way, I should at least get some souvenirs before I leave."

“Here you go. This is a very large snake egg, probably over a thousand years old,” Zhang Wuxun said. “These kinds of things fetch even higher prices at auctions. I remember a crystal python egg fossil was unearthed in the last century, and it’s now worth over nine million.”

"Really?" The fat man's mouth watered. He straightened his back like an old monk holding a nun's arm and waved his hand, "Good brother, no need to thank me. Next time Tianzhen acts up and tries to argue with you, I'll stop him in advance."

"Pah! My fighting skills have advanced to an advanced level. You think you can stop me?" Wu Xie jumped off the fat man's back and scoffed.

Ignoring the two who were used to bickering, Zhang Wuxun greeted Zhang Haike behind him and jumped down as well.

He first showed Zhang Haike the jade egg, thinking that Zhang Haike must know something about it.

Zhang Haike pulled out a small, fingernail-sized artifact mirror from under the watch face. It had a specially modified soft light for easy identification and observation.

Zhang Haike stared intently at the young snake inside the jade, his eyelids almost touching the artifact mirror, his expression unreadable.

He knew what Zhang Wuxun wanted to ask, but instead of answering directly, he asked him how he had done it.

Zhang Wuxun didn't go into much detail, only saying, "My body underwent a slight change, which I only noticed after entering the snake's nest."

Wu Xie ignored the still-muttering Fatty, leaned over, and asked nervously, "Is it good news?"

Zhang Haike flicked the jade egg with his finger. "I don't know about others, and I've never seen them before, but if this happens to him, it seems to be a good thing so far."

The fat man was completely bewildered. "Because of this egg?"

“Of course not.” Zhang Wuxun smiled reassuringly at the two of them. “It’s just that they look somewhat similar. This change should have appeared a long time ago, but I’ve been ignoring it. It’s only recently, due to the environmental factors of the snake’s nest, that the change has become more obvious.”

For example, night vision that does not require a system power supply.

"So... do you still need this egg?" The fat man rubbed his hands together expectantly. Zhang Wuxun glanced at him with a smile, picked it up, and tossed it to him. "Keep it safe."

The fat man, his eyes shining, hugged the egg and stroked it, making "cock-a-doodle-doo" sounds like a brooding hen, happily accepting this unexpected egg.

The space below, which held the fiery red stone, was much smaller than the cave above. The snake, which had been driven away by the "domineering aura," had already slipped into the crevices of the rocks and disappeared without a trace.

Wu Xie kept their destination in mind. He searched the surroundings but couldn't find a way to squeeze through. He then asked Zhang Haike, "How long have you been wandering around here? Haven't you found the way to the Snake Temple?"

Zhang Haike nodded seriously and pointed in one direction, "Found it, but it's all snake paths, not paths for people to walk on, so I decided to stay and wait for you."

Wu Xie jogged over there. There were seven holes in the fiery red stone wall, which got smaller from left to right. But even the largest hole was only the size of a child's head. Even if you shrank your bones, you couldn't squeeze through it.

He was about to ask what to do next, whether we should turn back and find a new route.

Suddenly, Zhang Wuxun untied the black cloth strip tied to his wrist, straightened it between two fingers, then raised his hand to cover his eyes and tied it behind his head.

The fat man quickly asked three questions in a row, "What's wrong? Does your eye hurt? Are you suffering from snow blindness?"

Zhang Wuxun shook his head, his thin lips slightly parted, "Instinct will tell me the right direction."

"Really?" The fat man asked suspiciously. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and felt the sensation. He then said, "My instinct tells me that breathing too much hot air will make me want to fart."

Zhang Wuxun turned and walked away, the uneven ground posing no obstacle to him.

Wu Xie was greeted with this sentence as soon as he returned, and said expressionlessly, "Get the hell away from me before you release it."

Zhang Haike waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away flies, his disdain evident in his words.

The fat man obediently ran away.

When he returned after taking a break, he saw Zhang Wuxun and the other two digging at the ground with shovels, the metal clanging against the stones.

In the southwest corner of the seven holes, there is a spot where the fiery red stone is so red it looks like arterial blood just flowing from a blood vessel.

The stones seemed to have a life of their own; the overflowing red light really looked like the trembling muscle fibers on a fresh, large bull's head, making one's heart pound with fear that they might come to life.

The fat man came over and took the shovel from Zhang Wuxun. "Is there a path down here?"

“This place contains the most energy.” Zhang Wuxun spoke out what he sensed. Instinctively, he knew why those crimson snakes chose this place as their molting ground.

“Those little snakes need to rub their skin against the hard, reddish stone here to shed it, and then absorb the energy from the shattered stone to build even harder scales.”

The human-headed, snake-bodied creatures depicted in the murals outside the snake's nest walk on these hard snake paths. Before heading to the ancestral land, they need to wear off their old scales and finally complete their evolution in the ancestral land.

After putting in a lot of effort, the group only managed to leave a few white marks, which made them somewhat discouraged.

"Wooden Fish, can't you suck up these red stones? Those gray stones are so brittle." The fat man had a wild idea, his thoughts wandering.

Zhang Wuxun hesitated. He didn't know how to absorb energy. He had only come into contact with it a little before with the help of the system. After "eating" the giant egg in Qinling, his physique had indeed improved a lot. If he "ate" the energy here, he might evolve into a strange and weird form in the future.

Just imagining it made him instinctively resist.

Zhang Wuxun lifted a small strip of blindfold, staring at the stone beneath his feet with a furrowed brow.

Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Haike recalled the information he had gathered from the ancient building and revealed a little bit to him, "No, although I don't know what triggered your change, judging from your performance just now, it is clear that your evolutionary source is very advanced and your evolutionary direction will be more primitive. This may mean that you don't have to be bound by your form and will become more powerful."

Zhang Wuxun glanced at him with one eye, "You suddenly speak so nicely, but I get the feeling you're expecting something and have ulterior motives."

"How could that be?" Zhang Haike gave a kind smile. "You are the most special member of the Zhang family I have ever met."

Zhang Wuxun still felt that his smile was inexplicably creepy. He suddenly realized a blind spot: "How did he get in there in the first place?"

"Yes!" Fatty Xie's four eyes widened as he spoke in unison.

But Zhang Wuxun immediately found the answer, his tone incredulous, "Did you notice? The shapes of these large pieces of fiery red stone look a lot like scales!"

Wu Xie's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly gestured to the ground and exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that these fiery red stones, this entire area, are the result of countless giant snakes coming here before they died, dissipating and disintegrating their energy, and accumulating a large amount of energy over hundreds of millions of years, which eventually formed the shape we see today?"

"So, their purpose is simply to raise their young, like a cycle of life," the fat man realized. (End of Chapter)