Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Even at Hu Ming's speed, it had been about four hours since he climbed to the top of the cliff.

After waiting up there for about an hour, Xiaohua finally caught up from behind.

After sitting down on the edge of the cliff and resting for a while, Hu Ming and Xiao Hua stood up, secured the specially made, extra-long climbing rope they had brought up, and let it hang down.

The people below had been waiting for a long time.

Using the hanging ropes, the workers below hoisted all the equipment up via a pulley.

It's worth mentioning that Hu Ming and Xiao Hua knew about Wu Xie's crow-like constitution, and from the very beginning, they never expected Wu Xie to be able to climb up on his own.
At this moment, Wu Xie was still dangling in mid-air at about a third of the way through, and it was unclear how many times he had taken a break!
"Holy crap... these two must have done this on purpose, right?"
Wu Xie's eye twitched as he looked at the metal basket parked beside him, a million "mmp"s twitching in his mind that he absolutely had to utter today!
Then Wu Xie pinched his nose, obediently crawled into the empty space specially reserved for him inside the basket, and lay down like a salted fish.

To be honest, his limbs were already aching terribly.

Without this life-saving basket, he probably would have collapsed from exhaustion and ended up hanging there all night.
Half an hour later, Hu Ming and Xiao Hua had brought Wu Xie and all his equipment up.

It's worth mentioning that this metal basket was actually a special piece of equipment that Xiaohua prepared.

The whole thing is roughly the shape of a human rib, a metal cavity that can accommodate three people lying side by side.

This thing, which Xiaohua calls a "bag," is where the group will stay for the next few days.

This thing was actually invented by the Fenlan people; it's a professional piece of equipment used by bird photographers to photograph eagles on cliffs.

With this, a person could live on a cliff without touching the ground for months using a sleeping bag.

There are so many holes in this cliff face!
None of the three of them knew which hole it was, so they had to use a brute-force method to search for it one by one.

This is destined to be an extremely time-consuming task; if you're unlucky, it could take a week or two, which is to be expected.

The cliff was too high, and it was impractical to travel back and forth between the top and the bottom of the mountain every time, as it would be too time-consuming and physically demanding. Therefore, this thing came in very handy.

"Uncle Ming, Xiao Hua, you must be deliberately trying to make a fool of me, right?"

Wu Xie lay motionless on the bag, his eyes closed, his hands clasped in front of his chest, looking extremely peaceful.

He didn't want to open his eyes to see these two bastards who were deliberately trying to tease him.

Hu Ming and Xiao Hua exchanged a smile.

Isn't this just common sense?
Finding some fun in a monotonous job—isn't that normal?
By this time, it was getting late, and the sun was setting. Watching the sunset from the towering mountain peaks had a unique charm.

This is the real decision point; the summit is almost impossible to find a foothold, with low bushes and loose rocks everywhere.

The three sat side by side on the edge of the cliff, their feet dangling in the air, with a bottomless abyss below and the snow-capped mountains right in front of them.

For safety, the three lowered seven auxiliary ropes to secure the bag.

Tonight, I'll start living on the naan.

The next day, as the sun rose, the three of them woke up leisurely, had a simple breakfast, and began their initial search and investigation.

Huo Xiangu drove to the lakeside in Banna Village, and because of her advanced age, she had to stop and rest many times along the way.

Judging by the time, it will be about two days before they arrive at their destination.

It's worth mentioning that, originally, according to Xiao Hua's plan, Fatty was supposed to be part of their action team for Wu Xie's sake. However, Fatty missed Yun Cai so much that he insisted on working with Xiao Ge and the others…

For the next two days, the three of them lived like geckos, or like the Qiang herbalists who used to live here.

The harsh living conditions forced Wu Xie to grow from a rock climbing novice into a rock climbing expert.

All I can say is that practice is the only truth; no matter how rich the theory, it doesn't qualify one as an experienced driver.

The three climbed up the cliff using safety ropes, exploring each cave on the cliff face from top to bottom.

Most of these caves are not deep and are generally natural mountain fissures.

In particular, most of the caves were only about an arm's length deep, which was far from what the three were looking for.

In some caves large enough to accommodate humans, the three also discovered numerous skeletal remains, some with ancient hair buns still faintly visible.
However, most of them were pecked to pieces by birds that were foraging high in the air.

These are all ancient practitioners who came here seeking immortality, risking everything to find the way to become immortals.

Fortunately, perhaps because all three of them were quite lucky, they found their destination the following afternoon.

That cave that produced the complete Warring States period silk manuscript.

There are obvious signs of artificial reinforcement in the cave.

The cave was very deep, an incredibly dark cavern that could not be seen at a glance. At the entrance, a skeleton sat cross-legged.

Judging from the remaining clothing and other traces in the surrounding area, they were among the people involved in what was then known as the "largest tomb raiding operation in history."

A little deeper inside, in a cave about half a person's height and a meter wide, sit two mummified corpses like door gods.

The mummified body was dressed in iron armor, making it impossible to determine its specific era from its appearance.

This iron armor is actually a form of blessing used by folk Taoist practitioners; this custom existed in the ancient Sichuan region.

It symbolizes the restraint of one's various desires, thereby elevating the spirit to an indescribable and mysterious realm, which the ancients called being close to immortality.

"Unfortunately, immortals do not exist at all. These people overcome all kinds of difficulties, pain, and desires to come here, just to get closer to the sky and closer to the fairyland they imagine in their hearts."

"But in the end, it all came to nothing."

The searchlight shone on the two mummified corpses, and Hu Ming sighed softly.

"We've been working in the air all day, and we're exhausted. Now is probably not a good time to explore."

"According to Grandma Huo's intelligence, there is a great terror deep in this cave. Back then, the people of the Nine Gates encountered something strange here, suffering heavy casualties. In the end, they even reinforced and sealed the passage with cement."

Xiaohua looked at the pitch-black cave, which was so dark that even the light couldn't penetrate it, and her eyes were filled with deep fear.

Back then, it was the first time that the Nine Gates had worked together as a whole. Many of the best members of the Nine Gates, and even the leaders who had made a name for themselves, participated.

Even so, that incident caused the Nine Gates to suffer heavy losses, leaving many of their best fighters behind and indirectly contributing to the Nine Gates' current decline.