Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 296 Fishing in troubled waters
The fat man also felt that leaving Yun Cai alone in Banna would be dangerous, in case that the hunchbacked man attacked Yun Cai when they weren't paying attention.

"Then let's send Yun Cai to her sister's place." After much deliberation, the fat man still felt that this was the safest idea.

Last time they went up the mountain, they asked Wang Mengmeng to arrange for Yun Cai's family to stay in Hangzhou for a while.

Yun Cai's older sister is named Yun Xiu. Although she is introverted and shy, she is very skillful and speaks fluent Mandarin. She is already working as an apprentice at a bakery near Wushanju.

Although the fat man was very reluctant, for Yun Cai's safety, he still reluctantly went to discuss it with A Gui and Yun Cai.

The next morning, Wu Xiaoxie discussed with his second uncle's men and asked them to help send Yun Cai and the others out of Banna.

The fat man's eyes were brimming with tears; he was practically chasing after the car, crying and wiping away his tears while shouting, "Yun Cai~ Yun Cai, may you rest in peace."

Uncle's gang members were all suppressing their laughter. Wu Xiaoxie and his two companions quickly turned their eyes away, looking at the sky and the ground but not at Fatty.

Zhang Wuxun and the other three stayed at Agui's house for nearly a week. One reason was to investigate the history of the Yao villages in the surrounding areas and see if there were any breakthroughs. The other reason was that Wu Xiaoxie was too cowardly to go to the lakeside to face his second uncle.

After dawdling for a week, Uncle Wu and the others suddenly returned from the lakeside, told Wu Xiaoxie to be careful, and then left Banna like a gust of wind.

As soon as his second uncle left, Wu Xiaoxie was completely revitalized from his listless state.

"Let's go, let's go up the mountain today," Wu Xiaoxie said excitedly, carrying his backpack.

Having already climbed the mountain several times and marked the path, the four of them easily followed the route they had taken before to reach the lake.

But as they got closer, they realized something was wrong.

"What the hell happened? Tofu pudding is all over the place!" The fat man was full of questions. "Your second uncle didn't take down these tents when he left, so why did he leave you so many? Your second uncle really loves his nephew."

Wu Xiaoxie was initially confused, but after taking out his binoculars and looking closely, his expression changed immediately. "Something's not right. Someone beat us to it."

"What light?" The fat man was still in a daze from parting with Yun Cai and was a little confused. "That tent isn't your second uncle's, is it? Whose is it then?"

"How should I know?" Wu Xiaoxie said irritably.

Zhang Wuxun's eyesight was much better than theirs. He pointed to a few people chopping wood outside the tent and said, "Look, many of these people are from the village. They seem to have been hired. Moreover, those men in black are well-equipped, and their tents are made of military-grade materials. To spend so much money, it seems that the client behind them is someone important."

Wu Xiaoxie was startled. He saw several people already standing by the lake in professional diving suits. "Judging from their fully equipped appearance, they seem to have come prepared. What should we do?"

The fat man muttered, "Why don't we go up and say hello, find out where they're from? If their purpose is different from ours, we can avoid them."

Zhang Wuxun suddenly chuckled. Wu Xiaoxie and the others looked over in confusion. "No need to hide anymore. Their goal is the same as ours. Guess who I saw?"

The fat man thought he had seen someone he knew and hurriedly asked, "Who is it?"

“That bearded foreigner who used to be Aning’s subordinate,” Zhang Wuxun said.

Upon suddenly hearing the name "A Ning," Wu Xiaoxie was momentarily dazed.

The fat man suddenly realized, "You mean, these guys are that old man Jude Kao's men? Wow, that old man's information network is pretty good."

"It seems that even after coming from the Snake Swamp Ghost City, Jude Kao still hasn't given up investigating those things." Zhang Wuxun's voice carried a hint of coldness.

The fat man chuckled and said, "Since we know someone here, that makes things easier. Let's go up and meet them."

The four men emerged from the woods, immediately attracting the attention of those around the tent.

Some people were carrying guns and were about to walk over, seemingly to question him. However, the bearded foreigner had good eyesight and recognized Zhang Wuxun and his group. He waved to his men, nodded to them, picked up the walkie-talkie clipped to his chest, said a few words, and then looked towards the bushes on the side.

Zhang Wuxun and the other three turned their gazes in that direction. A group of people emerged from the bushes, with an elderly man with gray hair sitting on a mule in the middle of the group.

The young man who was walking beside Zhang Wuxun suddenly stopped and quickly retreated, crouching down and hiding behind the fat man. Seeing this, Zhang Wuxun also stepped to the side and blocked the gap on the right side of the young man.

The fat man grunted "Hmm?" and was about to turn around to ask what was going on when the young man pinched his shoulder and whispered, "Don't turn around."

"I can't let him see me." The young man's face looked rather grim.

Although the fat man didn't understand, he still straightened his back, and Wu Xiaoxie quickly moved back as well.

The three men formed a triangular encirclement, completely blocking the young man from behind.

The young man didn't straighten up until the old man was helped off the mule, put into a wheelchair, and pushed into the tent.

"Who's that old man? He looks like he's not in good health; he walks with a shaky gait," Wu Xiaoxie asked.

"Jude Kao." The young man's expression was still somewhat cold.

Wu Xiaoxie was stunned. Jude Kao, who had been magically transformed in his grandfather's stories, suddenly appeared right in front of him. He never expected him to be such a frail, old man who was nearing the end of his life.

The fat man stroked his chin and hissed, "You know, this old guy is already this age, almost at the end of his life, why would he travel all that way to this godforsaken place? What's the point?"

Zhang Wuxun chuckled, "If Yun Cai heard this, she'd definitely ignore you for half a month, believe it or not?"

The fat man quickly spat twice and slapped his own mouth, saying, "Children say the darndest things, children say the darndest things, haha."

“Do you guys remember what Yun Cai said back then? In 1998 or 1999, a group of foreigners came to Banna and stayed by the lake for a long time. At the time, we even speculated that they were Jude Kao’s people,” Wu Xiaoxie said.

Zhang Wuxun nodded, "It seems that Jude Kao already knows we're here. Your second uncle is making a big fuss about it. Jude Kao didn't get any useful clues before, but this time he probably thinks we might have found something since we're here too, so he's got his eye on it." Fatty frowned, "So, these guys really are after what's in the lake. That won't do. We can't let them succeed. We have to strike first."

"Here's what we'll do," the fat man suggested. "Tianzhen and I will go out and lure their men away. Muyu, you and Xiaoge will sneak over, set their tents on fire, and deflate their scuba tanks. It's a long and arduous journey, so unless they bring a helicopter, we can at least delay them for three to five days."

Wu Xiaoxie thought about it and realized it made sense. This was their own territory. No matter how powerful that foreigner was, could he really control the airspace? Not to mention that what he did was done in secret.

Zhang Wuxun suddenly grinned mischievously, "Why bother with the leaks? The equipment those foreigners bring in is usually world-leading. We might as well just take it and save ourselves the trouble."

The fat man chuckled, "You're even worse than me, buddy. What do you say? Let's go for something big."

The young man didn't speak, he just nodded.

"Alright." The fat man rubbed his hands together. "Tianzhen, let's go. Let's go first and use that mule as a cover. If we are discovered, we'll scare the mule away."

"Don't be fooled by how slow this beast is usually. When it really goes berserk, one kick can puncture someone's lungs. At that time, those people will only be concerned with escaping, and we can take the opportunity to dive into the water. Once we put on our scuba gear, even if their legs cramp up, they won't be able to catch up."

Without further ado, Wu Xiaoxie and Fatty quickly set their sights on the only familiar face inside, the bearded foreigner.

I went up to him, greeted him, and then we stood to the side and started chatting.

The bearded foreigner was supervising the hired locals as they unloaded the equipment from the mule train, and he seemed pleased to see Wu Xiaoxie and his companion.

The bearded foreigner was already a chatterbox, and with the fat guy being a socially terrifying individual, the two of them chatted and laughed, almost to the point of setting up a table with beer, melon seeds, and playing cards.

Wu Xiaoxie stood awkwardly to the side, listening to the two of them chatting in a completely nonsensical way, one speaking with a Beijing accent and the other with broken Chinese and a foreign accent, yet neither of them noticed anything amiss.

Wu Xiaoxie glanced furtively at the tent and saw two figures quickly slip inside, avoiding the crowd. He immediately knew that everything was in order.

Zhang Wuxun and Xiao Ge lay behind the haystack and observed for a while. They discovered that the underwater operation supplies and equipment were all stored in the middle tents, with two or three people guarding them with guns.

However, this did not stump the two of them. Taking advantage of the fact that the mule caravan had finished unloading their goods and left into the woods, the flow of people around the tents decreased. The two seized the opportunity and, using blind spots and the tents as cover, quickly approached and crept up behind the guards. They knocked them unconscious with a single tap, then caught their fallen bodies and carefully dragged them into the tent without making a sound.

Looking at the dazzling array of underwater equipment and tools in the tent, Zhang Wuxun's eyes lit up. He quickly whispered to the young man, "You pick the unimportant ones to wreak havoc, and I'll keep all the good stuff for ourselves."

The young man nodded, and the two quickly parted ways.

A few minutes later, a woman's voice suddenly came from outside the tent, sounding accusatory.

Zhang Wuxun thought to himself, "Oh no, I'm about to be exposed."

The tarpaulin beside him made two snapping noises as a dagger pierced through the fabric, cutting a gash. The young man poked his head in, looking at Zhang Wuxun. "Let's go?"

Hearing the sounds of guns being fired outside, Zhang Wuxun immediately nodded and crawled out through the hole that the young man had cut open.

The two quickly weaved through the gaps between the tents, avoiding those who had noticed something was wrong and were already searching around the tents.

Wu Xiaoxie and his companion also noticed the commotion. Seeing that the bearded foreigner's attention had been drawn away, and just as the next mule caravan emerged from the woods, they quickly exchanged a glance with Fatty. Fatty then swung his arm and punched a mule's round rear end.

The mule let out a pitiful howl, both frightened and in pain. Its four legs tripped each other, and it ran off on its own, crashing and scrambling, which frightened the other mules as well.

In an instant, the entire camp was in chaos, with mules howling and people running around everywhere.

Just as the fat man said, the mule was as big as a mule, and it was carrying goods. When it charged wildly, it was like a small tank. The group of people could only dodge in all directions. Because they were afraid of accidentally hurting their companions, their guns became useless sticks.

Once the experienced locals had cordoned off and calmed the frightened mules, the group, who had been thoroughly humiliated, finally came to their senses and angrily tried to grab the troublemakers.

Suddenly, they heard a buzzing sound, the sound of a small motorboat starting up. Looking closely, they saw that the four people had somehow sneaked onto the boat they had prepared on the shore, where there was a makeshift wooden dock that they had temporarily set up near the water.

The woman in the lead was furious. She cursed a couple of times in English, grabbed her gun, and chased after them to the lakeside.

The fat man yelled and immediately started the boat, whipping it around and leaving the group of people on the shore far behind.

When those people came to their senses and drove the remaining boats to the middle of the lake, they found only empty boats. Zhang Wuxun and his three companions had already put on their gear, jumped into the water, and dived into the depths.

In the chaos, Jude Kao was the first to be rescued from the tent by his men and hidden in the grove. He was only carried out after the commotion subsided.

Looking at the camp, which looked like it had been ravaged by a typhoon, Jude Kao's pale face turned green with rage. He kept banging his cane on the ground as he demanded, "Can someone explain to me what happened? Why did those damned guys still manage to sneak in even though I equipped you with such excellent weapons? You bunch of good-for-nothings, fuck! Useless!"

The woman in charge stood with her head bowed in front of Jude Kao, enduring his anger without uttering a word, but secretly grinding her teeth, thinking that when she caught those damned brats next time, she would definitely skin them alive.

After venting his anger, Jude Kao regained his composure. However, he had been a bit too harsh in his earlier outburst, and he coughed repeatedly, covering his mouth with a handkerchief, before finally calming down.

"Send people to guard the lake. There's always a limited amount of oxygen; they can't stay underwater forever," Jude Kao ordered with a grim expression.

"Yes." A-Tu replied in a deep voice. Just as he was about to turn around to give instructions to his subordinates, he suddenly saw a person running towards him in a hurry. He quickly stopped him and scolded, "What's with the rush? What's the matter?"

The subordinate quickly put his hand to his mouth and whispered a few words in A-Tu's ear. A-Tu's face immediately turned ugly, and he said coldly, "What about the other tents? Have they all been checked?"

The subordinate, with a pained expression, wiped the sweat from his brow. "We've checked everything. All the good equipment they could take from the tents is gone, and the remaining equipment was destroyed with knives. What are we going to do now?"

A-Tu was so angry that veins were bulging on his forehead, and he really wanted to curse loudly.

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Thank you all for your concern. I've been resting for two days and I'm feeling much better. My fever has gone down, but my throat is dry and sore, and I'm hoarse. My speech sounds like I've been squeezed by a door. It's so upsetting. I don't know when I'll be completely better.

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(End of this chapter)