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

Chapter 335 Insufficient people
Huo Xiangu was startled by the young man's words, but she had been preparing for so long, how could she give up so easily because of this warning?

The young man ignored her question and turned to walk out of the tent.

Huo Xiangu sighed softly, her expression revealing her exhaustion, but now was the most crucial moment, and she could not rest.

Three days later, the people who stayed behind at the foot of the mountain brought the photos from Mount Siguniang up the mountain.

Accompanying them were even more supplies, and to Zhang Wuxun's surprise, he saw Huo Zhixing, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, in the supply convoy.

Huo Zhixing noticed someone was watching him, turned his head and saw Zhang Wuxun, then nodded slightly as a greeting.

After lunch, Huo Zhizhi came to find Zhang Wuxun and the other two, saying that the old lady wanted them to go and select supplies.

When Zhang Wuxun and the other two arrived, the team had already assembled outside the tent used as a warehouse. Huo Xiuxiu, wearing a beige windbreaker and carrying a backpack, greeted the three of them naturally, without revealing a single flaw on her face.

Zhang Wuxun smiled without any surprise. Old Madam Huo's methods of training people were indeed first-rate. In just a few days, she could completely change a person's habits, at least on the surface, without any obvious flaws.

Once inside the tent, I saw that Huo Xiangu herself was also there.

Unlike her usual elegant and luxurious appearance, this time she changed into more practical adventure clothing.

Seeing Zhang Wuxun and the other two enter, Huo Xiangu pointed to the three sets of equipment that had already been prepared on the other side and said, "Check them over. If there are no problems, put them on. We'll be setting off soon."

The fat man was somewhat surprised to see her so capable and ready to jump up and fight at any moment. "I'm not saying this to be mean, but old lady, you're already so old. Don't mess around with us young people. What if you bump into something and break a bone? That would be a huge loss. We're stuck in this mountain valley, and even if we wanted to get you to the hospital, we wouldn't have time."

Huo Xiangu remained expressionless, not wanting to pay him any attention. She turned to Zhang Wuxun and said, "These biochemical protective suits are made with the most advanced materials and technology in the world today. They are completely sealed and resistant to alkali powder corrosion. However, there is a lot of alkali gas in the ancient building, so I had someone prepare five sets for each person as a backup."

Zhang Wuxun randomly picked one, checked its seal, and said, "It's alright, this will do."

Huo Xiangu clapped her hands lightly, and Huo Zhizhi lifted the curtain and came in, respectfully saying, "Master, everything is ready."

"Alright then." Huo Xiangu nodded, stood up with her phoenix-head cane, and was about to speak when the fat man interrupted her.

"Wait a minute." The fat man raised his hand and said seriously, "Grandma, don't think I'm being mean. If you want to go tomb raiding, fine, but if something happens to you in there, won't the commission we agreed on be gone?"

"Although what I said may be a bit unpleasant to hear, it is the truth, wouldn't you say?"

"Either you stay up there and be your Empress Dowager, and let Huo Xiuxiu come down with us, or you have to settle your commission with us in advance. Fatty has a whole family to feed, don't you think?" Fatty's words were reasonable and well-founded.

He's not the same as before. When he was all alone, he was fine as long as he had enough to eat. But now he has a younger sister and father-in-law to support, and a whole family to take care of in the future. They can't all be following him around, going hungry and starving.

Huo Xiangu didn't feel offended and nodded, "What you said makes sense. Zhizhi, go and calculate it, and pay out my share first."

Huo Zhizhi nodded in agreement, and glared fiercely at the fat man before walking out the door.

The fat man chuckled, "That little brat, was he glaring at me just now?" He then rolled up his sleeves and was about to chase him away.

Zhang Wuxun grabbed him and patted his arm reassuringly, "Why are you arguing with a little kid? As long as you get the money, that's all that matters. I heard you talking to Yun Cai the other day about developing tourism in Banna. I guess it will cost a lot of money if it really takes off. If you don't have enough, you can use my share."

"You're so loyal!" The fat man put his arm around Zhang Wuxun's shoulder and squeezed him hard, laughing and saying, "After I marry Amei, our child will definitely have to recognize you as their godfather."

Watching them chatting and laughing happily, Huo Xiangu remembered what the young man had said earlier, and changed the subject, saying, "You can take the money, but you must also get the goods out for me. Only when the money and goods are settled can it be fair."

Zhang Wuxun's smile faded slightly, and he said calmly, "What if it doesn't actually contain what you're looking for?"

“If they believe it exists, then it must exist,” Huo Xiangu said calmly.

That's completely illogical. Who knows what those lunatics are trying to get from the ancient building?

Zhang Wuxun was a little unhappy. "Grandma, we agreed on this beforehand. It's really unethical of you to change your mind at the last minute."

Huo Xiangu narrowed her eyes slightly. "What, you want to back out?"

The old fox finally revealed her cunning nature: "Don't forget, now that Wu Xie is without Wu Sansheng's support, if he wants to take over those businesses, none of Wu Sansheng's old subordinates are easy to deal with."

“Zhong Ling is certainly no match for you, but he can still buy you some time. With Wu Xie’s limited skills, how many rounds do you think he can last against those guys?”

Zhang Wuxun's face immediately turned cold. "What do you want to say?"

Huo Xiangu took a sip of tea and said casually, "Making an example of someone only temporarily can have a temporary effect. No matter how effective a smokescreen is, it will eventually be exposed."

Zhang Wuxun and Xiao Ge's trick of going to Wu Xiaoxie's place to cause trouble and smash his signboard can only buy them time. As long as Wu Sansheng doesn't show up, people's hearts will eventually waver. Once they realize it's a scam, they will immediately retaliate, and Wu Xiaoxie will be devoured without a trace.

A cold smile appeared on Zhang Wuxun's lips. "Grandma, there's something you might not understand. While I'm very grateful that you told me about Zhang Menyu, it doesn't mean you can use that to control me, let alone threaten me with Wu Xie. If I wanted to deal with Huo Xiuxiu, I have plenty of ways to do it."

"As long as she is still in this world, I will definitely find her. Where can I hide?"

Huo Xiangu slammed her hand heavily on the table, glaring angrily, "How dare you!"

Zhang Wuxun raised his hand and pressed it on the corner of the table, using his height advantage to look down at her condescendingly, "You can try."

"A greedy person is never satisfied; like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, or a mantis trying to catch a cicada, it's all in vain." Being too greedy is never a good thing. Huo Xiangu was so angry that her face turned pale, and her hand holding the cane trembled slightly. But she could tell from Zhang Wuxun's eyes that if he was really pushed to the limit, he was capable of doing this. It was all because she hadn't kept her cards hidden beforehand.

He glanced at the expressionless young man standing behind Zhang Wuxun, then at the fat man who looked completely bewildered but still had a fierce expression.

Left with no other choice, she could only soften her tone and say, "That thing is also beneficial to you. Cooperation will only bring you good and no bad. Why make things difficult for an old woman like me who has one foot in the grave?"

Zhang Wuxun wasn't buying it. He took out the jade ring from his pocket and placed it on the table. "No one can force me to do things I don't like. You'd better find someone else."

After saying that, he turned around and beckoned the young man and the fat man to leave.

"Wait a minute." Seeing that he had already taken out the ring, Huo Xiangu was really anxious now.

"I have something else in my possession." Huo Xiangu lowered her voice, speaking rapidly, "Didn't you want to know what Zhang Menyu did with the Ghost Seal back then?"

Zhang Wuxun paused, turned around, and had an expression that said, "I knew it."

Huo Xiangu sighed, picked up her cane with one hand, removed the dark wood phoenix head from it, took out a black ping-pong ball-sized sphere from it, and handed it to Zhang Wuxun.

“I’ve asked several of the best mechanics I know to decipher it, but none of them could open it completely,” said Huo Xiangu. “But it wasn’t entirely fruitless. Under a unique light, this black and gold ball projects some very special ancient characters. However, no one can translate those characters. They have never been recorded in history. I think this must be the message Zhang Menyu left for you.”

Zhang Wuxun looked down at the small black and gold ball in his hand; this was the sixth one he had received so far.

"For the sake of this thing," Zhang Wuxun put away the black and gold ball. "If there is indeed something you want in the ancient building, I will take it out. If not, then I'm sorry."

"Hey buddy, let's go. Come back soon, Tianzhen is still waiting for us."

Just before leaving, the young man at the back suddenly turned around and gave Huo Xiangu a cold look before slipping out from under the curtain that Zhang Wuxun had lifted.

That one glance sent chills down Huo Xiangu's spine, her body stiffening. It took her a long time to recover, and she murmured, "How many years..."

She knew that the young man had no good feelings towards those who coveted the Zhang family's ancient building, not to mention what had happened back then. His previous reminder was already more than enough.

Even back then, he had never expressed such direct emotions so obviously.

This time, I really stepped on that person's sore spot.

Outside the tent, Fatty, after holding back for a while, finally couldn't help but curse, "What does that old woman mean? Is she trying to use the wooden fish to get something from inside, and is she threatening you with Tianzhen? Bah! Does she really think we brothers are easy to bully? I've been in Beijing for so many years, and I've never seen many who dare to piss on my head. If she dares to touch you or Tianzhen, I'll flip her coffin lid and smash her tombstone!"

The neatly lined-up Huo family members at the entrance were all completely bewildered by the fat man's cursing.

Huo Zhizhi and Zhang Wuxun, who had rushed over with the remittance slip, met face to face. They paused subconsciously, and just as they were about to speak, the fat man snorted heavily and snatched the slip from their hands.

Watching the three of them walk away, Huo Zhizhi frowned. Suddenly, he heard a cracking sound of wood breaking from the tent behind him, accompanied by the sound of a teacup shattering. He immediately ran over and, together with Huo Xiuxiu, lifted the curtain and went inside.

Huo Xiangu stared blankly at the cracked corner of the table leg, then gave a bitter smile, "No wonder she's a descendant of that person, even her way of throwing a tantrum is exactly the same."

Recalling more than thirty years ago, when they, the team leaders, unanimously decided to risk human lives to uncover a deeper secret, Zhang Qiling objected, saying that enough people had already died. But they didn't care about his opinion; they seemed to be possessed, all having a premonition that the ultimate secret was right before their eyes, so what did sacrificing a few people matter?

So Zhang Qiling said nothing more and simply waved his sleeve and left. After he left, the corner of the table made a cracking sound. Only then did they realize that the crack on the rosewood tabletop where Zhang Qiling had sat had spread from top to bottom.

Later, due to their obstinacy, Zhang Qiling personally led the team into the cave. In the end, very few people came out alive. At the same time, due to some unknown influence, those few people were turned into idiots, and Zhang Qiling himself lost his memory.

After Huo Zhizhi and his companion cleaned up the mess inside the tent, Huo Zhizhi bowed slightly and asked, "Patriarch, the team is ready and we can set off."

Huo Xiangu snapped out of her daze, put the ring back on her hand, straightened her sleeves, stepped out of the tent, and waved her hand at the team that had been waiting for a long time, giving a powerful command, "Let's go!"

Meanwhile, Zhang Wuxun and his two companions returned to their tent, picked up their backpacks that they had prepared beforehand, and went directly to the cave entrance.

As if remembering something, the fat man raised his hand and poked Zhang Wuxun, asking cautiously, "Muyu, um, who is that Zhang Menyu that the old woman mentioned before? Ah, of course, if you can't tell me, just pretend I didn't ask."

“There’s nothing I can’t say.” Zhang Wuxun smiled. “Based on my deduction, there’s a 90% chance that person is my father.”

"No, how can it be 90%?" the fat man asked, somewhat confused. "Don't you know who your father is?"

Zhang Wuxun shrugged nonchalantly, "I've never seen him since I can remember, how would I know?"

"What about your mom? Your grandpa and grandma? Surely one of them needs to know something," the fat man said.

"I don't know." Zhang Wuxun lowered his eyelids and kicked a pebble on the ground. "I was raised by several grandfathers and great-aunts. Most of the kids I trained with were similar to me. We had so much homework to do every day that we didn't have time to think about this."

After a while of not hearing the fat man speak, Zhang Wuxun kicked the small stone he had just kicked away back with his foot and smiled casually, "Don't think I'm pitiful or anything. I don't have parents nagging me all the time. As long as I do well in my studies, I can do whatever I want. I'm very free."

The fat man was quiet for a while, then patted Zhang Wuxun on the shoulder and said, "No, I just think you're pretty amazing."

"You have good taste. I was the best among our group of kids." Zhang Wuxun smiled, his eyes narrowing, his gaze unconsciously drifting to the silent young man beside him.

For the first time ever, the young man reached out and gently touched Zhang Wuxun's head, letting out a soft "hmm".

Thank you to [Dali Chen], [Little Brother's Leg Accessory], and other generous donors for their generous donations! Sending love...*
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(End of this chapter)