Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 567 Time is running out!
Beyond the tomb entrance lies a narrow tomb passage.

"This tomb passage, damn it, feels more familiar than the road in front of my own house!"

The fat man's face was filled with a mixture of happiness and excitement, completely absorbed in the unique atmosphere of the tomb, which carried a faint smell of decay.

For a seasoned tomb raider like Fatty, who has spent most of his life making a living underground, isn't the tomb more welcoming than his home?
"Pity"

The fat man glanced regretfully at the young man following behind Hu Ming, his face filled with undisguised sighs.

"Come on, shut up. The most important person in this underground burial complex was dug up more than thirty years ago!"

"Even if this guy doesn't mind you causing trouble, you're still out of luck!"

Seeing this, Hu Ming rolled his eyes helplessly.

"Huh...what does that mean?"

Upon hearing this, Fatty and Wu Xie were stunned and couldn't react for a long time.

"This is a long story. Since ancient times, the Zhang family has been researching a subject: perfect immortality!"

"However, in the years that followed, research into immortality did not yield any major breakthroughs, and in his later years, one of Zhang's ancestors conceived a terrible idea..."

Walking slowly through the dark tomb passage, Hu Ming glanced at the seemingly unconcerned young man and began to speak.

"To bring the dead back to life!"

"Through meticulous calculations, the deceased are buried in a special auspicious burial site, with exquisite arrangements that draw upon the essence of the world's feng shui veins. Over a long period of time, the deceased is nurtured and allowed to return to the world of the living!"

"In fact, for thousands of years, the Zhang family has migrated to different ancestral homes in order to achieve this goal."

"Unfortunately... not long after the Zhang family's decline, this secret was leaked decades ago by a member of a branch of the Zhang family to a very powerful figure..."

"You all know the rest of the story, just as Hu Ming told you. The calamity of the Nine Gates originated from this," the young man explained calmly, continuing Hu Ming's words.

Now, there's no longer any need to hide the secrets of the past.

"That's it! The one who leaked the information was none other than Master Zhang!"

"More than thirty years ago, after various investigations, led by Zhang Dafoye, a team of young people from the Nine Gates and that mysterious 'him' came here to bury the body."

"Everything is connected! Yes, yes! Is this the root cause of the Nine Gates' calamity back then?"

"Is it all due to humanity's fear of death and its yearning for infinite life? Is this the so-called truth?"

After a long silence, Wu Xie sighed with a bitter smile.

The most crucial cause of the whole incident has been clarified, the fragmented clues have been linked together, and most of the mystery has been solved.

"But... immortality, perfect immortality without any side effects, is such an exaggerated thing really possible?"

Little Flower, carrying Huo Xiangu on her back, murmured softly, "Of course it's possible. Theoretically, with countless coincidences or miracles, it's entirely possible!"

Hu Ming and the young man exchanged a glance, and Hu Ming smiled.

Now, isn't this one of the few immortals since the beginning of Chinese civilization five thousand years ago, and also the most perfect immortal in theory, standing right here?
There was nothing in the tomb passage, not even any mechanisms or hidden weapons to guard the tomb. The path was clear and unobstructed.

Apart from the occasional traces left decades ago on the stone walls on both sides, there was nothing else.

The group walked along the tomb passage for about ten minutes before the passage began to change.

The somewhat wide tomb passage begins to narrow.

Meanwhile, scattered stone caves began to appear on the stone walls on both sides, each containing an ancient coffin.

As they went deeper, these caves began to become more densely packed.

The fat man watched the coffins passing by with an irresistible itch, feeling as if cat claws were scratching at his heart, wishing he could immediately rise into the coffin and make a fortune.

After walking about thirty meters further, a row of huge coffins suddenly appeared in the middle of the passage ahead... Each coffin was as big as a double-door refrigerator, and they were arranged in a row along the edge of the stone path.

These are nothing unusual; with their keen eyesight, they could easily tell that these were coffins used in a joint burial.

What caught their attention was that at the end of the darkness beyond these coffins, another enormous stone gate stood silently.

There is a large black pillar on each side of the stone gate, which seems to be an extension of the upper part, possibly the part of the ancient building that extends underground.

Unlike the previous tightly closed stone door, this stone door was half open, indicating that someone had passed through here before.

Upon reaching this point, Hu Ming and the young man's bodies instantly tensed up.

Both distant memories and unseen ominous signs told the two that the biggest obstacle to escaping this burial complex lay behind this stone gate!
Upon closer inspection, the black stone pillar was densely covered with adhesive tape, and the tape looked very fresh! It was clearly left just a few days ago!
"What's this? Young man, when you and Grandma Huo came in from here before, you had the leisure to play around with sticking on tape?"

The fat man curiously stepped forward to take a closer look at the unusual footsteps.

The environment here seemed much better than outside. We didn't see any white dust along the way, which reassured the fat man a lot.

Wearing a gas mask at the same time was really stuffy.

As he spoke, the fat man was about to take off his gas mask and gloves.

"If you don't want to end up like Huo Xiangu, or even worse, don't take it off!"

Hu Ming grabbed the fat man's hand, narrowed his eyes, and said calmly.

Hu Ming's hearing was undoubtedly beyond the limits of human ability. To his ears, a faint sound, similar to rising steam, could be clearly heard coming from the black pillar!
"We really don't have much time left... These gas masks and suits can only protect us for a while. If we stay here any longer, we'll all die!"

"That monster blocking our path must be taken down quickly!"

As he got closer, the young man also heard the voice and said in a deep voice.