Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 9

A pretty young woman rode up to the three men and said, "Brother Xiaoming, Brother Hu, Brother Pang, I'm Yingzi! The old Party Secretary was worried that you might encounter danger on Niuxin Mountain, so he specially asked me to be your guide and protect you." Yingzi was very straightforward and said with a smile.

"Protect us?!" Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately laughed and said to Yingzi, "You little brat, protecting us? What kind of idiot is the old Party Secretary out of his mind?"

Seeing that she was being looked down upon, Yingzi immediately pouted and retorted, "What's wrong with being a girl? Do you look down on us women? Without me as your guide, you wouldn't have been able to find Wild Man Valley at all!"

Fatty Wang turned to Hu Bayi and Hu Ming and said, "Old Hu, this girl's really getting into it. Didn't the old Party Secretary send her here to be our guide? Isn't she just causing trouble?"

Hu Bayi frowned and said, "Yingzi, I'm not looking down on you, but this mission is indeed very dangerous. We might encounter wild boars, bears or something on the way. I heard that a group of people went into the Savage Valley back then, but not a single one of them came out."

"Stop talking, you're going in the wrong direction!" Yingzi ignored the two of them completely, tugged at the reins, and gave them a beautiful profile.

Seeing this, Hu Ming said, "Alright, since it was arranged by the old Party Secretary, let's listen to him. Yingzi knows the way well. With our limited memory, let alone finding Yeren Gully, it will take us half a day to find this forest."

Seeing that Hu Ming had spoken, Fatty and Hu Bayi acquiesced. After all, they did need a guide.

The group then followed behind Yingzi. It must be said that Yingzi was indeed a living map of Niuxin Mountain, and with her help, they avoided many detours.

After three days of trekking through mountains and rivers and across grasslands, the four of them finally arrived safely near their destination.

As darkness fell, the group had no choice but to lead their horses to a suitable place to rest.

……

"Hey, you two, tie the horses over there properly!" Yingzi pointed to two big trees nearby, calmly instructing Fatty and Hu Bayi.

Yingzi did a good job as a guide; Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang had long since stopped looking down on this young girl.

However, along the way, the two of them were often bossed around by Yingzi, and they got to know the temper of this ethnic minority girl.

"I feel like I'm a company commander, but I've been acting like a soldier the whole way here!" Hu Bayi said helplessly after tying up the horse and flicking the reins.

Fatty Wang also looked annoyed and said, "You know, we're two grown men, and these past few days this little brat has made us look like grandsons."

Hu Ming laughed and said, "But let me tell you, I think this little girl is no ordinary person. We were able to reach Savage Valley smoothly thanks to her!"

"Pah!" The fat man spat and said with great emotion, "Maybe this Savage Gully isn't so scary after all."

It got completely dark...

Yingzi brought out the two wild rabbits she had caught during the day. "Everyone, come over and set up the fire. While you're at it, let's dispose of these rabbit carcasses."

Hu Ming vaguely remembered encountering a wild boar in the original story, but it seemed that it hadn't appeared now. Hu Ming didn't pay much attention to this; after all, this was the real world now, and some things might not necessarily happen the way they did in the original story.

Hearing Yingzi's words, the group nodded and began to get busy with their own tasks.

"You all go ahead and do your work, I'll go find some firewood." After finishing their meal, Yingzi noticed that there wasn't enough firewood in the fire, so she slung her gun over her shoulder and prepared to leave.

Seeing this, Fatty Wang patted his round belly and said, "Hey, little sister! I'll go with you, I'll protect you!"

Yingzi didn't give the fat man who had looked down on her a friendly look and said directly, "No, Ming-ge, is something wrong? Can you come out with me for a bit?" Hu Ming nodded and said, "It's okay, I'll go with you. It's dangerous for you to go alone."

After Hu Ming finished speaking, he went with Yingzi into the woods to find some firewood.

Wang Pangzi curled his lip upon seeing this, but then he noticed that Hu Bayi in front of him was completely ignoring their conversation and was instead holding a compass and wandering around.

Wang Pangzi perked up when he saw Hu Bayi's actions.

He couldn't help but ask, "Old Hu, what are you busy with here? Have you made some new discovery? Could there be a large tomb in here?!"

Hu Bayi glanced at him and said, "You were right, there really is a large tomb in here. Let me tell you about the wind here."

Just as Hu Bayi was about to launch into a lecture about the feng shui of the Wild Man's Gully, a scream suddenly came from afar.

"Ah..." It was Yingzi's scream!
Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Something's wrong, Yingzi is in trouble."

On the other side, Hu Ming, who was originally gathering firewood separately, immediately ran to Yingzi after hearing this. He saw Yingzi trembling and looking ahead, so Hu Ming immediately pulled her behind him. When they looked ahead, they found several skeletons.

Yingzi said from behind, "Ming-ge, you scared me to death! There are bones everywhere in this shack!"

Hu Ming comforted him, saying, "It's nothing, just a few skeletons."

At this moment, Fatty Wang and Hu Bayi also rushed over upon hearing the noise. Seeing their worried expressions, Yingzi let go of her initial prejudice against Fatty Wang and Hu Bayi.

Hu Bayi was relieved to see that Yingzi was alright. He took a flashlight and shone it into the shack, where he found several corpses lying there.

The fat man turned around and glanced at Yingzi, who looked terrified, and said to her, "Are you afraid of dead people?!"

Yingzi was so frightened, yet the fat man was still making fun of her, confirming he's a chauvinist.

Yingzi glanced at the fat man and said irritably, "I didn't."

Hu Ming said to Yingzi behind him, "You follow us, let's go in and take a look together!"

At this moment, Lao Hu pulled a notebook out of the pocket of the uniform of the corpse in the shack. "The people inside the shack were Japanese soldiers, and the people outside were tomb raiders. After the Japanese soldiers killed all the tomb raiders, they couldn't get out of this forest and eventually committed seppuku."

Hu Ming found a toolbox outside the shack, which contained a Luoyang shovel, an entrenching tool, and other tomb raiding tools.

Hu Ming laughed and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, this is a tomb!"

Upon seeing this, the fat man exclaimed excitedly, "Goodness, these tomb raiders have quite a complete set of tools!"
Hu Bayi also said, "Mingzi is right, this should be the entrance to the tomb, there must be a tomb raider's hole nearby!"

Hu Ming nodded and said, "Now that we know the tomb is here, we don't need to rush. Let's go back and rest first, and we'll find a tomb-raiding tunnel to go down into the tomb tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, the group nodded and went back to rest.

(End of this chapter)