Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 563 The Mark and Zhang Ruitong
As he learned more and more, his confusion grew. Unable to contain his curiosity, Wu Xie opened his mouth and asked more questions.

However, seeing the complicated expression on Xiao Hua's face, Wu Xie ultimately kept quiet and remained silent.

First, now is not the time to go into detail about these things. Second, over this period of time, Wu Xie has gained a much deeper understanding of his childhood sweetheart.

Wu Xie knew in his heart that if he continued to press her for details, Xiao Hua would probably reveal something more.

However, Wu Xie finally understood that his childhood sweetheart, who was even more delicate and refined than ordinary women, also harbored many unspeakable sorrows in her heart.

Da da da
Just as the atmosphere among the group was becoming somewhat somber, suddenly, crisp footsteps sounded again.

this time
Was the sound coming from deeper down?
Wu Xie and his two companions exchanged bewildered glances. Was this same unknown source as the footsteps they had heard earlier?
The rhythm, sometimes up, sometimes down, is eerie and sends a chill down your spine.

"Tsk, it's already full, but it's still getting impatient at the smell of fresh flesh and blood?"

Hu Ming clicked his tongue in bewilderment, closed his eyes to listen carefully, a strange expression on his face, and his hands unconsciously gripped the twin swords at his waist.

Muttering to himself, Hu Ming waved his hand to sweep away the dust on the gold-threaded black wooden coffin in front of him, and called to the eagerly waiting fat man to open the coffin together.

Perhaps due to proper preservation, the skeleton in the coffin was still relatively intact, covered by a clump of cotton-like material.

The fat man was still the same fat man. Instinctively, he took a dagger and parted the tattered cotton wadding formed by the rotting clothes, trying to fish out the valuable burial items inside.

At first glance, there were no burial goods in the coffin, but the undulating surface beneath the decaying brocade quilt made it clear to anyone with eyes that there were burial goods underneath!
Parting the rotten brocade quilt, sure enough, a dozen or so funerary objects were neatly arranged there. Among these dozen or so funerary objects, which looked quite valuable, were six or seven jade pendants and four or five leather items that were so badly damaged that they could no longer be identified.

There were three other locations where Hu Ming and his group saw traces of things being placed, but the items had already been taken.

"Damn it, Uncle, if what you said is true, with Xiao Ge here, there's absolutely no way the Huo family could have taken anything from here. In other words, these most valuable treasures were taken away by those archaeological teams decades ago?"

"Damn it! What's the difference between these archaeological teams and us tomb raiders?"

Upon seeing this, the fat man's face darkened, and he began to curse.

"But why did they only touch a few items? Look at this amber bracelet, you can tell from the color that it's from the Western Regions, it's priceless!" Wu Xie picked up a string of old amber with gold threads. Because of its age, it had started to turn black. This thing could be exchanged for at least a state-of-the-art off-road vehicle now!
Upon hearing Wu Xie's words, Fatty's eyes immediately lit up, and without saying a word, he snatched the bag from Wu Xie's hand and put it on his wrist.

"What else could it be? They simply don't know its value!"

"Don't be sad, those people don't know what's good for you. I'll take care of you!"

As he spoke, the fat man smiled and kissed the old gold-threaded amber.

"Damn it, could you be any more disgusting? Did you learn this habit from your Uncle Jin?!" "But you're wrong about one thing: these things weren't actually taken away by the archaeological team back then."

Hu Ming looked at the fat man with a twitching mouth, while measuring the traces of the three missing items with his fingers, and said with certainty.

Two of them are circular rings, one large and one small, clearly a pair of bracelets or similar items.

The third one was a long, narrow strip of ink about one meter long.
"No, Hu Ming, putting aside these two bracelet-like things, why does this long strip look a bit familiar?"

As Hu Ming made his move, everyone's attention turned to him. Suddenly, the fat man said thoughtfully.

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie and Xiao Hua were startled and looked over carefully. Xiao Hua didn't notice anything, but Wu Xie felt that it looked more and more familiar the more he looked at it.

However, it always seems to be shrouded in mystery, making it difficult to see or understand, which is a headache.

"It's this black knife in the young man's hand."

Hu Ming smiled slightly, and without keeping him in suspense, he drew the black knife that belonged to the young man from his waist and slowly placed it on the blade. It fit perfectly, without the slightest difference!
"It really is! Wait a minute! I remember, this knife was sold to Zhang Qiling by Third Uncle, and you were there too, Uncle Ming!"

"Could it be... that Uncle San was also in that archaeological team back then?"

Wu Xie suddenly remembered the day he first met Hu Ming.

"Wu Sansheng wasn't involved back then. To be precise, this knife was returned to Xiao Ge by Xie Lianhuan through Wu Sansheng."

Hu Ming answered casually, his attention mostly focused on the two circular marks, one large and one small.

Instinct told Hu Ming that something seemed to be hidden below, drawing him in from the shadows.

"Come and see this!"

Just as Hu Ming was deep in thought, the fat man suddenly shouted.

Looking back, one could see a family tree engraved on the inside of the coffin lid on the ground, and in the very center of the family tree was the owner of the coffin—Zhang Ruitong!
This name is quite unfamiliar to everyone, but
In the third row below Zhang Ruitong, which is the list of grandchildren's names, there appeared a name that Wu Xie and the others were extremely familiar with—Zhang Qishan!
Zhang Dafoye, Zhang Qishan!
"Damn it, we've finally found the evidence! Uncle Ming, you were always vague before, unwilling to say many things clearly, but now..."

"As expected, Master Zhang Dafo came from this mysterious Zhang family; he is a member of Xiao Ge's clan."

Wu Xie scratched his head and chuckled with interest.