Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

"Yunfeng, buckle your belt, look more presentable, don't be so sloppy."

"Boss, is it really okay to go this way?"

He turned his head to the side in front of the mirror, meticulously shaving the stubble off his chin. Then he changed into leather shoes, put on a black coat, and looked in the mirror, saying, "Yunfeng, opportunities aren't waited for, they're earned step by step. Let's go."

The leader is always cautious, so his willingness to show himself means he's confident, but I still have a deep fear of that place.

I concealed the gun on my waist and carried two knives, in case of an emergency, I would protect the boss even if it cost me my life.

Two hours later, I drove with the driver to the vicinity of the Qingxi Old Brick and Tile Factory.

He glanced at the time, his expression grave, and instructed them to wait there for a while.

I waited until about 10:30 p.m. when I suddenly saw car lights in the rearview mirror. It looked like an older black Santana with a Zhejiang license plate (浙D).

The Santana stopped behind us and then turned off its lights.

After a while, two dark figures got out of the car.

We got out of the car and walked towards the "shadow".

"Boss Wang, we've known each other for a long time, and today we finally meet in person. You're much younger than I imagined."

"Not at all, I'm practically buried up to my neck, but Boss Xu has such a reserved demeanor, he doesn't seem like someone who's been in a high position for long."

After a brief handshake, the two said "please" to each other, and then the group began to walk up the mountain. Watermelon Head and I walked side by side in front.

"Xiang Yunfeng, are you fucking laughing at me?"

No, I didn't laugh.

"You XXX, isn't it all thanks to you?"

"What does this have to do with me! You were the one who wanted to climb over the wall; I even advised you not to!"

The man with the watermelon head now has a bandage on his right arm and walks with a limp. The most important thing is his head. Right on the top of his head, from the Baihui acupoint to his forehead, his hair has been shaved off. About two fingers' width of hair has been shaved off, and you can clearly see that his scalp has been stitched up and treated. The shape is like... anyway, with his hairstyle, it looks extremely ugly.

If it were me, I would definitely shave it all off, completely bald, instead of just shaving three inches long and two fingers wide like him. This shows that he still cares a lot about his hairstyle.

"Do you know anything about explosives?" I asked.

"I only found out today that my godfather said your master's analysis of human weaknesses is superior to his. I didn't expect the other party to be wary of such a thing."

I said, “You don’t understand the Jiang family enough. They can accept losing money and people, but there are some things they can’t accept. This is a family rule passed down for generations. On the other hand, we know too many of their secrets. If they can’t eliminate all of us at once, the consequences may be unacceptable to them.”

Judging from the expression on his face, he agreed with what I said.

If it were just the foreman and me coming tonight, I would be worried. But now that the two of them are here, I feel much more at ease. Xu Tongshan is even more cautious than the foreman. He's like someone who lives in the shadows; you can only barely see his shadow on the ground if you get close enough.

"The path up the mountain is difficult to walk on, do you need help?"

Watermelon Head thought for a moment, then put his right hand on my shoulder.

As they approached the woods, a light suddenly appeared ahead.

Upon closer inspection, a strange, one-eyed middle-aged man was waiting under the tree, carrying a lantern.

The man had a solemn expression, and his right eye looked like it had no eyeball; the flesh around his eye socket was sunken, making him look somewhat frightening.

Upon seeing us, the man said, "Good evening, everyone. I am here on the orders of my master. Please follow me."

We followed the terrifying one-eyed man forward, and as we walked deeper into the forest, we suddenly heard a strange woman's weeping coming from above.

The one-eyed man held the lantern to his eyes, looked up at the treetops, whistled, and then the crying stopped.

Seeing this scene proves that my previous speculation was correct.

Those strange birds that resemble eagles and owls were raised by the Jiang family. The one that Xiao Xuan killed on Fog Island must have been one of them. This one-eyed man can control the strange birds, which shows that he has a certain status within the Jiang family. Considering what Jiang Zhaoxue said before, that all the direct descendants of the Jiang family suffer from disabilities, I speculate that the one-eyed man leading the way may be a direct descendant of the Jiang Village chief from a hundred years ago.

After safely passing through the woods, they soon saw a tall wall. Looking at the Jiang family compound for the second time, it felt like a ghost castle in the mountains, appearing and disappearing at different times.

Instead of going through the main entrance, the one-eyed man led us around in circles. He carried a lantern, sometimes hugging the wall, sometimes turning in circles, as if he were following a fixed route. After walking for about ten minutes, a small wooden door appeared in front of us. The door was painted with a thick layer of paint, the same color as the blue bricks. If it weren't for the doorknob, we probably wouldn't have noticed it.

Xu Tongshan looked at the wall and said, "Just transporting these bricks and stones from elsewhere to here will cost a lot of money."

The one-eyed man turned around and said, "Back then, during the chaos of war, this was the family's refuge, so naturally it had to be built to be sturdy."

"Please come in, everyone."

After entering through this small lacquered gate, the surrounding environment was completely different from what I had seen that night. It wasn't exactly a pavilion or tower, but it was definitely rustic and elegant.

There were two large side rooms on either side of me, one dark and the other brightly lit. The doors and windows here were all made of top-quality boxwood. The price of just one boxwood window far exceeded that of rosewood and huanghuali, and was almost equivalent to that of gold. This precious wood grows only one centimeter every ten years and only one finger long every hundred years. I had never even heard of the kind of timber that could be used to make doors and windows. Judging from the degree of oxidation of the thick patina, it was probably dismantled and transported from elsewhere a long time ago.

Upon entering the room, one finds a smooth, high-quality fur carpet underfoot, a row of small potted plants on the windowsill, and a rosewood display shelf on the left, displaying dozens of rare and precious items from ancient times. Although there seems to be no electricity, the room is lit, clearly by many candles.

The one-eyed man stopped outside the curtain and respectfully said to the person inside, "The person has been brought."

"Thank you for your hard work, Fourth Uncle. They can come in now." A woman's voice came from behind the curtain.

This sound...

It is Jiang Zhaoxue.

He and Xu Tongshan exchanged a glance, then he lifted the curtain and went inside. I and Xiguatou quickly followed.

There were quite a few people inside the room. Besides Jiang Zhaoxue, there was a young man, two elderly men, and a middle-aged man around fifty years old.

The young man had been grinning, winking, and drooling ever since we came in. He looked like he had cerebral palsy. I wasn't swearing, just saying what he meant. He and Jiang Zhaoxue looked somewhat alike.

Both elderly men had canes beside them, suggesting they had difficulty walking. The middle-aged man appeared unable to speak, but he gestured to one of the elderly men, who understood and nodded in greeting.

Based on what I know, the person with cerebral palsy should be Jiang Zhaoxue's older brother, Jiang Wanglin. I don't know the identities of the others yet.

If they are a family, there is one very obvious thing in common: they are all disabled, either mute or blind, or cerebral palsy or lame.

Jiang Zhaoxue wasn't wearing her large sunglasses. In the candlelight, her skin looked as white as snow, and only the whites of her eyes could be seen in her half-open eyes. She calmly said, "Thank you all for taking the time to come and visit the Jiang family. Please allow me to formally introduce myself."

"This is my eldest brother, Jiang Wanglin; this is my uncle, Jiang Chengyu; this is my second grandfather, Jiang Mufeng; and this is my eldest grandfather, Jiang Huize, who is also the current head of the Jiang family."

I glanced at the group and thought to myself, "Hui Ze, Mu Feng, Cheng Yu, Zhao Xue... just by looking at their names, they seem to be a family that's good at saving money."

"Please have a seat, everyone. I'll have someone bring some tea."

He waved his head and said, "There's no need for a seat, and tea is unnecessary. Let's get straight to the point."

Jiang Zhaoxue calmly said, "After playing this game with the old gentleman for several months, I never expected him to be such an impatient person."

Xu Tongshan chimed in, "That's right, young lady. Chief Wang is an impatient person, while I, Xu, am a slow-paced one. May I ask if you are impatient or slow-paced?"

Jiang Zhaoxue raised her head and did not answer the slightly teasing question.

Watermelon Head and I didn't dare to interrupt; that was the rule. The atmosphere suddenly became tense.