Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 75 Hu Ming Talks About the Ancient City of Jingjue

Hu Bayi was puzzled upon hearing this. What kind of dream was it? He and Fatty exchanged a glance, and then looked at Hu Ming.

Hu Ming poked at the embers in the campfire with a piece of wood, until he produced a glowing ember. He lit his cigarette on the ember, took a few puffs, and looked at Shirley Yang with a nonchalant expression, saying, "You must have dreamt of the ancient city of Jingjue?"
"What?!" Yang Xueli exclaimed in surprise, looking at Hu Ming with astonishment. "How did you know?"

Hu Bayi and Fatty also looked at Hu Ming with curiosity.

Hu Ming shook his head at the fat man, then glanced around at the group, "It's easy to figure out if you think about it for a moment. If she hadn't dreamed of the Jingjue Ancient City, why would Shirley Yang say that she wanted to find her father, and why would she keep having the same dream? She must have dreamed of the Jingjue Ancient City."

Uh……

Yang Xueli: "..."

Thinking about it, it's true. I made my words so clear, it's normal that Hu Ming understood them.

"Miss Yang, tell me, do you have any treasures in your dreams?"

Yang Xueli rolled her eyes at the fat man, annoyed. Nine out of ten sentences he said were about his treasure. How much did this fat man love money? If we find the Jingjue Ancient City, we should give him more money. It's not easy for him. He's almost thirty and he's so poor that he doesn't even have a girlfriend.

Yang Xueli gently shook her head, her beautiful eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at Hu Bayi and the other two, saying, "I often dream that I walk to the edge of a cliff, following a narrow path along the cliff face. Then I see a large stone slab extending up the cliff, with a coffin placed on it. It's pitch black all around, except for a faint light above the coffin. When I try to see what's inside the coffin, I wake up. It's like this every time..."

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi looked at Yang Xueli with a hint of heartache. Seeing this, Hu Ming and Fatty went back to their tents to rest, leaving the two of them alone...

The wind still hadn't stopped the next day, but it was the kind of weather that allowed them to set off during the day. Otherwise, the scorching sun would have been unbearable. The gentle breeze made things much more comfortable, though the feeling of being blown around wasn't exactly pleasant. The group began to miss setting off in the middle of the night, walking in the cool shade, which was both warm and invigorating.

Before setting off, Professor Chen found Hu Ming and Hu Bayi and said to them, "Comrade Xiaoming, Comrade Xiaohu, we inspected the stone tomb again yesterday. The time when the stone tomb was robbed was definitely no more than three to five days ago. Perhaps a group of tomb raiders has already entered the depths of the Black Desert before us. We can't delay any longer. It would be best if we could catch up with them and capture them."

Hearing this amusing remark, Hu Ming couldn't help but laugh and said, "Professor Chen, stop joking. They already have military explosives, so they certainly won't lack guns. What are we going to use to arrest people? Fatty's little rifle? Or Yang Xueli's pistol?"

"Comrade Hu Ming, how could you say such a thing? We can't just let those lawbreakers get away with it, can we?"

Seeing Professor Chen's deep sorrow and Hao Aiguo's anger, Hu Bayi felt helpless and nudged Hu Ming, signaling him to stop talking.

However, Hu Ming did not stop there. Instead, he smiled and said, "Professors, you should stop worrying. Since they have come to the depths of the Black Desert, they are probably aiming for the same place as us. Do you think the Jingjue Ancient City is so easy to get to? If it were really that, I wouldn't have joined you. Maybe by the time we get there, those people's corpses will be cold."

As soon as Hu Ming finished speaking, several pairs of eyes were fixed on him. Professor Chen couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Ming, what exactly is in this Jingjue Ancient City? Can you tell us now? You said you'd tell us once we entered the desert, but we've been in the Black Desert for several days now. Shouldn't you be able to tell us by now?"

Hu Ming paused for a moment after hearing this before saying, "Let's go. It's not a good time to talk. I'll tell you about it when we're resting tonight, if the weather is nice."

Although Hu Ming didn't agree to speak immediately, once he agreed, there was nothing to worry about. The archaeological team set off again, this time with anticipation, looking forward to resting that night.

Although the wind was still blowing that night, it wasn't strong. Sitting in Professor Chen's tent, Hu Ming felt somewhat helpless. These people were so eager to hear about the Jingjue Ancient City that they had practically dragged him into Professor Chen's tent. As a result, this small space of only six square meters was packed with nine people.

Anliman didn't compete with the others for a spot. He sat outside the tent, looking out at the vast desert, but he didn't miss what Hu Ming was going to say.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Hu Ming spoke up: "I don't know much about the Jingjue Kingdom, except that they worship eyes but revere snakes."

"Snakes are like executioners to punish criminals in their land, but this snake only obeys the Queen."

"What? Such a strange thing? Could it be that the Queen of Jingjue is actually a snake trainer?"
Hu Ming paused upon hearing this, and remained silent while looking at the shouting Sadi Peng.

Seeing Hu Ming staring at him silently, Sa Dipeng felt uneasy. At this moment, Professor Chen spoke up, "Little Sa, don't interrupt others' stories. Ask any questions after you're done." Sa Dipeng seemed to realize his mistake and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Brother Hu Ming, I was just too curious."

Hu Ming then looked away and continued, "Perhaps it's because of the worship in Jingjue Kingdom that snakes are everywhere there. But that's not what I want to say. What I want to say is that these snakes are incredibly powerful. They may be even more venomous than cobras, and their vital signs are also very strong."

"To give you an example, even if you break their heads, if you get within their attack range, they might attack you with the will they had before they died. So you can never be careless, otherwise they might die, but you will."

"Of course, this is only one part of Jingjue. As far as I know, it has at least two more parts, one of which is the mechanism and feng shui."

"The Queen of Jingjue was an expert in mechanisms and feng shui, so most of the mechanisms she worked on were related to feng shui."

"Third, and most importantly, this involves a bit of superstition. Legend has it that the Queen of Jingjue was a person with divine power, so she had all sorts of incredible supernatural abilities. Legend has it that the black sandstorm was actually caused after her death, in order to drown those countries that dared to resist her."

"Legend has it that she also placed two curses: one, that anyone who touches her treasure will never leave the Black Desert; and two, that anyone who enters the sacred land of Jingjue will be cursed, and that he and his offspring will be tormented for all eternity, with no one living past fifty."

"That's all I know. Now I hope you will reconsider whether or not you want to go to the Jingjue Ancient City. As far as I know, that curse may be real."

After Hu Ming finished telling her everything he knew, Yang Xueli's expression changed. But after looking at the other members of the archaeological team, Yang Xueli did not speak directly. However, someone else spoke up.

Sadi Peng then asked, "So what is the sacred land of Jingjue Kingdom? Is it really cursed?"

Before Hu Ming could answer, Professor Chen had already answered Sadi Peng's question: "The sacred site of Jingjue Kingdom should be the Ghost Cave. It is said that they are a people from underground, so it is perfectly normal for the Ghost Cave to be a sacred site."

"As for curses, that's a bit of nonsense. I've been doing archaeology for so many years and I've seen so many things. Most curses have been mythologized."

"For example, the curse of Shennongjia. Legend has it that people who enter the depths of Shennongjia will be cursed and turned into monsters that are neither human nor ghost. But when one of our research teams found a person who was cursed, they found that they were just poisoned. Everyone should be careful and they will be fine."

Before anyone could speak after Professor Chen finished speaking, Anliman, who was outside the tent, finally couldn't help but speak up.

"No, no, no, there is a curse, you know. What you said is true, young man. Over the years, all those who took Hu Da's treasure have stayed in this desert. So Hu Da was the Queen of Jingjue. If I had known you were going to find Hu Da's tomb, I would never have come in with you. I'm going back first thing tomorrow morning. You can keep me locked up for as long as you want."

For a moment, the group looked at each other in bewilderment, not expecting that a single piece of information could reveal the trouble.

Professor Chen quickly interjected, "Brother, this so-called curse is utter nonsense. Besides, we're already so close to the ancient city of Jingjue, how can we give up?"

However, Professor Chen's words did not sway An Liman. He said resolutely, "I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, I won't take you away anymore. I'll go back tomorrow!"
Fatty Wang panicked when he heard this. "Damn it, you're already this far and you're going to abandon us?"
"Hey, old man..." Hu Bayi knew what Wang Pangzi was up to when he heard this, but he didn't stop him. At this time, one of them had to play the good cop and the other the bad cop, otherwise how could they keep this old man?

But before Fatty Wang could finish speaking, Hu Ming said, "Uncle Anliman, as far as I know, as long as we don't enter the Jingjue Ancient City, we'll be fine. You can just take us to the outside of the Jingjue Ancient City and wait for us outside, okay?"

“This…” Anliman hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Yang Xueli talked to him about the price again, and Hu Bayi then took Fatty and Hu Ming and walked out together.

Although it's unknown how much Yang Xueli raised An Liman's price, his expression upon leaving showed that he was very satisfied with the price.

I just realized today that writing several books at the same time means you don't get any related benefits, and I'm a little upset...

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(End of this chapter)