Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 78 Finally Seeing the Ancient City of Jingjue
Hao Aiguo groaned, his pupils dilated, and black lines appeared on his face, like a net, covering his entire face in just a few breaths. He then fell backward from the ground.

Dying from anger.

Hu Bayi was stunned. Wasn't the strange snake supposed to have been sliced ​​in half with a single stroke?
How could it possibly hurt someone?
Swish!
A dark shadow leaped up from Hao Aiguo's neck at lightning speed, heading straight for Hu Bayi's face. It was so fast that only wisps of red light could be seen mixed in with the shadow, making it dazzling.

Hu Bayi was still reeling from Hao Aiguo's death.

Snapped.

puff.

The explosion startled Hu Bayi back to his senses. He saw that it was Hu Ming who had made the move. Hu Ming had appeared beside him at some point, holding a damp towel for wiping sweat.

When Hu Ming arrived, he saw that the half of the snake's body was about to bite Hu Bayi. Hu Ming quickly used a wet towel to vigorously brush the upper half of the snake's body away.

"Old Hu, are you out of your mind? Are you stunned? Have you gone mad?"

Hu Ming scolded Hu Bayi in a bad mood. If he hadn't arrived in time, Hu Bayi would have already gone to collect his lunchbox.

"I...I'm shocked! This monstrous snake can still hurt people even after being cut in two. It's terrifying!" Hu Bayi gasped, his face filled with lingering fear. He quickly retreated, keeping his distance from the corpse.

Hu Ming quickly dragged Hao Aiguo away from the corpses.

"patriotic……"

When Professor Chen saw Hao Aiguo lying lifeless on the sand, he was so angry that he gasped for breath and cried out, "My God, what happened? Why...?"

Professor Chen couldn't catch his breath, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

"Professor Chen..."

The fat man quickly grabbed Professor Chen and shouted, "Professor Chen, the professor has fainted!"

"Teacher~"

Ye Yixin, drowsy and disoriented on the camel's back, cried out in despair. Tears welled in her eyes, and in her anger, she rolled her eyes back and fell off the camel, but luckily Sadipeng caught her...

"Xiao Ye, Professor, Teacher..."

Sadipeng didn't know who to call out to first or who to care about.

Professor Chen is in a coma, Ye Yixin is also in a coma, and now his teacher has died. These people are all his closest relatives and friends.

"Ahhh~", Sadipeng screamed and cried out in anguish...

Chu Jian, who was taking care of Professor Chen, also had tears in his eyes.

"Old Hu, are you alright?" Fatty rushed to Hu Bayi's side. He didn't care whether Hao Aiguo lived or died; he only cared about whether his good brother was alright.

"Fortunately, if Akiko hadn't arrived in time and made her move quickly, otherwise..."

Hu Bayi sighed. He wasn't afraid of death; he'd seen too much. After all, he was a veteran of battlefields, a man of extraordinary courage, but even he looked lingering fear. Who wants to die when they can live?
Hu Ming then walked over with realgar and other things. He looked at Hu Bayi, Fatty, and Yang Xueli. Then he said to the three of them, "These strange snakes are afraid of strong light. I just remembered that Yang Xueli should take a few more photos with the camera in a while, and Lao Hu and I will sprinkle some realgar and other things to scare them away so we can cross the valley."

Afraid of bright light? Yang Xueli's beautiful eyes lit up. She had been in a hurry and forgotten about it.

She had read in a local magazine that there was a type of snake in the desert that was afraid of strong light.

With the camera on her shoulder, she snapped away at the valley, the click-clack sound filling the air. The dim valley was instantly illuminated as if it were daytime. With each flash, strange snakes could be seen scurrying about in certain parts of the valley under the intense light.

"So many?" Even though they were prepared, the fat man and his companions were still taken aback.

Then Hu Ming and Hu Bayi, armed with flashlights, strolled over. The two scattered realgar and other substances around the corpse and discovered that many snakes had come out. Fortunately, Hu Bayi and Hu Ming saw the snakes coming and quickly shone the light on them, causing them all to retreat.

A few minutes later, Anliman shouted, "The camel is alright."

Hu Ming put Hao Aiguo on a camel and tied him up. Ye Yixin and Professor Chen were brought over by Hu Bayi. The group crossed the valley and set up camp to rest at dawn. Hu Ming slept until the afternoon.

When he got up, he saw Professor Chen, Ye Yixin, Sa Dipeng, and Chu Jian kneeling beside Hao Aiguo's body.

Hu Bayi tried to comfort them. Shirley Yang was also there, as if to mourn Hao Aiguo.

As for the fat man, he was still sleeping.

When Hao Aiguo was buried in the desert, Professor Chen and the others were heartbroken and wept bitterly.

Hu Ming was actually quite helpless. This incident could have been avoided. If he had sprinkled realgar or something similar before letting Hao Aiguo and the others go, this wouldn't have happened.

However, Hu Ming cannot be blamed for this. When he was at the Kunlun Glacier, he was thinking about how Hao Aiguo died in the original novel. He did not think about this snake attack until Hao Aiguo died of poisoning.

Anliman rubbed his fingers together, looking numb.

After everyone had eaten something, Hu Ming did not try to persuade Professor Chen and the others that they should be prepared for coming here.

However, he was also somewhat speechless. It would have been so much better if they had listened to him, like the fat man, then they wouldn't have died. But they just wouldn't listen to him. They had appeared countless times along the way, never learning their lesson. Did they only regret it when someone died?

After a brief adjustment, the group got up and continued on their way.

after one day……

A vast city unfolded before them. Though some walls and ruins lay in ruins, and others were buried by sand, various buildings and structures were still visible. Most striking was a leaning black stone tower, standing silently within the city. Two thousand years later, the ancient city of Jingjue reappeared before the eyes of the people.

Judging from the size of Jingjue City, it could house 50,000 to 60,000 people. It should be noted that even a famous city like Loulan only had 10,000 to 20,000 residents and 3000 soldiers. This shows the former glory of Jingjue City.

Hu Bayi then spoke up and asked, "Shall we set off?"

Hu Ming shook his head and said, "Let's eat first and replenish our fluids. Eat until you're about 80% full, because eating too much will reduce our fighting strength."

"it is good!"

(End of this chapter)