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

Chapter 337 Half-Life, Half-Death
The fat man's sneer broke the silence, "A bunch of half-baked bastards."

Everyone seemed to be jolted awake, quickly lowering their heads, eyes downcast, not daring to utter a single word in rebuttal.

The crack in the mountain wall felt like a sharp blade slashing into their hearts, making them realize that the three people in front of them were definitely not easy to deal with.

They'll keep their tails tucked in until they see real benefits.

Huo Xiangu was quite pleased with this, calmly sipping her tea. Even when Zhang Wuxun suddenly attacked and beheaded those people, she didn't even flinch.

After the warning and deterrence, Zhang Wuxun ignored them and ate a piece of compressed biscuit casually. He said softly to the young man and the fat man, "I haven't sensed any danger around here. Let's go further ahead and take a look later."

The young man nodded, his expression becoming more serious.

After resting for less than half an hour, Zhang Wuxun and his two companions picked up their equipment and got up to walk forward, showing no intention of paying attention to the people behind them.

After walking a few steps, the fat man heard the sound of wheels rolling on the ground behind him. He turned around and saw that the old lady Huo was sitting in a wheelchair that Huo Zhizhi had pulled out from somewhere, pushing her behind Zhang Wuxun and the other two.

Behind them were the Huo family members who were all talk and no action.

The fat man cursed dismissively, "If you're so capable, then don't follow me."

Not a single person uttered a sound, and even their eyes were obedient, as if they had suddenly turned into quails and shrank into their shells.

As before, the young man would walk a few steps and then reach out to touch the wall, but still found nothing. His heart sank slightly, and he turned to look at Zhang Wuxun, as if asking him if he had found anything.

Zhang Wuxun shook his head and told him that it was just an ordinary tunnel, so ordinary that it couldn't be more ordinary.

"But that's precisely why it's strange; it seems we haven't truly entered the Zhang Family Ancient Building," Zhang Wuxun casually reminded him.

The fat man wondered and made wild guesses: "Could it be that the gate of Zhang Family Ancient Building is on the other side of the Ten Thousand Mountains? If so, we'll have to walk there forever."

“No, we’re about to get out.” Zhang Wuxun shone his flashlight on the ceiling of the passage ahead. “Look there, there’s a tree root sticking out of a crevice in the rock.”

His eyes were somewhat like cat's eyes in the dark, and he could see just as clearly as in sunlight, even further than the fat guy and the others.

The fat man paused, wanting to take a few steps forward to take a closer look, when suddenly he tripped over something and stumbled forward. He cursed under his breath, turned around, and looked down, immediately stunned. "What's this?"

It was a small, dark stone, standing there rather abruptly, with some kind of pattern carved on it, very fine and intricate.

Zhang Wuxun squatted down in front of the small stone, stared at it for a few seconds, and suddenly pulled out a dagger from his waist and began to dig at the base of the stone.

Seeing this, the fat man quickly came over to dig together, and the two even started using entrenching tools.

The Huo family members behind them had no idea what was happening ahead. They stood on tiptoe and craned their necks to look ahead, only to find that Zhang Wuxun and his two companions had completely blocked their view, and they couldn't see anything.

They couldn't help but get anxious, pushing and shoving each other to get their companions to go ahead and see what was going on, but no one dared to step forward, all afraid that if that Master Yu went crazy, he would chop their heads off with a shovel.

As they dug, the fat man in front let out a slightly distorted "Holy crap~". Huo Xiangu felt a little strange, so she waved to Huo Zhizhi to go ahead and check the situation.

Huo Zhizhi accepted the order and walked to Zhang Wuxun and the other two who were squatting on the ground. He looked down through the gap above their heads and was immediately stunned. After regaining his senses, he immediately went back to report to Old Madam Huo, "Master, they dug up a stone-carved Qilin, but, but that Qilin looks very strange."

"Strange?" Huo Xiangu asked in confusion. "What's strange about it?"

But she knew Huo Zhizhi wasn't the type to overreact or make a fuss, so she stopped guessing and simply said, "Push me over there."

Hearing the sound of the wheelchair rolling towards him, Zhang Wuxun stepped aside to make room.

Zhang Wuxun and his group had dug a rather shallow pit in the ground. After seeing the appearance of the thing in the pit, Huo Xiangu finally understood what Huo Zhizhi had said was strange.

It was a completely black Qilin, the exposed part of which was the size of a basketball, and the carving was extremely detailed and lifelike.

What's incredibly eerie is that this qilin has blood-red eyes, and its entire body is jet black. Staring into its eyes for too long can inexplicably send a chill down your spine.

The thing that tripped the fat man was just one corner of this thing sticking out of the ground.

"This is not a Qilin," the young man said calmly.

Zhang Wuxun continued, "This is a nightmare, but it looks a bit like a Qilin. Grandma Huo, call two people over to continue digging. There's more down there."

Huo Xiangu tilted her head at Huo Zhizhi, who immediately turned around and called over two members of the Huo family.

After some digging, the mountain structure here had already incorporated some soil, so although it was still a bit difficult to dig, it wasn't impossible.

Soon, the soil around the black stone sculpture was dug down to a depth of nearly two meters. When one of the Huo family members struck it with a shovel, the sculpture suddenly shook as if it had come to life. The two Huo family members were so frightened that they shouted and hurriedly tried to climb out of the pit.

In the ensuing chaos, the statue was kicked by someone and toppled over, landing on top of the Huo family member. Instantly, the man let out a terrified and miserable scream, like a pig about to die.

Unable to bear the ear-piercing noise any longer, Zhang Wuxun reached out and pulled him out of the pit, then tossed him aside.

Several people gathered around the pit, shining brighter miner's lamps, and silently observed the "nightmare."

After a while, the fat man let out a grunt, then whispered to Zhang Wuxun, "Is this black Qilin giving birth? Look at its belly, one, two, three... eight, nine little devils in total."

“No, these little devils and the nightmares above are one entity.” Zhang Wuxun took out two pairs of rubber gloves and handed one pair to the young man.

Together, the two of them lifted the large creature, which was over 1.8 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, onto the ground and placed it to one side.

Upon seeing the creature in its entirety, a series of gasps filled the passage. Everyone's expression turned grim, especially after walking for so long and feeling disappointed and confused, only to have this thing suddenly appear. Anyone would feel a chill run down their spine. The Nightmare is a mythical beast, half-dead and half-alive, said to originate from the ancient battlefields of the War of the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. It is said that those who died in massacres or wars long ago, whose bodies were left unburied, and who possessed extraordinary power, were consumed by extreme anger, hatred, and fear before their deaths. Their lingering resentment after death has a chance to transform into a Fiend, a very ferocious spirit.

It is possible that more than one evil spirit can arise from a piece of land. Because of their obsession, they can never leave this land of death. In order to break free from their constraints, they begin to kill and devour each other, and in the end, only nine of the most powerful ones remain.

These nine evil spirits each possess unique abilities. Because of their existence, the people within a hundred miles of this area are affected by their resentment. People often die in their sleep for no apparent reason, and their souls are attracted to the places where the evil spirits reside, where they are devoured by them.

One day, an old Taoist priest, Lei Zu, the head of the Thunder Department in Taoism, came to that place. Hearing about what had happened there, he led his mount, the Jade Qilin, to the place to eliminate the evil.

The Jade Qilin fought the nine evil spirits for three hundred rounds. Although it eventually devoured the nine evil spirits, the evil spirits did not completely dissipate. The Jade Qilin was also affected by the evil spirits and turned into a black Qilin. In the end, the two sides reached a strange balance and became a terrifying nightmare that was half Qilin and half ghost.

The Nightmare is essentially a mythical beast, the Qilin, but it also has an evil side. The upper body of the Nightmare in front of us is shaped like a black Qilin, but its abdomen and four legs are entangled by nine evil spirits.

After Zhang Wuxun finished explaining, the fat man stroked the stubble on his chin and hissed, "So, what's the point of burying this thing here? We dug it all out, but we didn't see it trigger any mechanism."

"Or was this thing buried here just to scare people and make them give up?" The fat man chuckled as he watched the young man touch the hideous nightmare with his fingers. "I have to say, this thing is actually pretty scary."

Zhang Wuxun shook his head. "I don't know, but I always feel that there must be some special meaning behind this thing being placed here."

"It's a warning," the young man said, withdrawing his hand.

The nightmare is half evil and half good, half dead and half alive. Perhaps, as the young man said, this is a second warning to them.

If they stop and leave, they will live; if they continue, they will surely die.

After a long pause, Huo Xiangu spoke firmly, "Since it's just a warning and not a real killing move, it means we're on the right path. If we keep going, we'll definitely reach the real Zhang Family Ancient Building."

Upon hearing this, the Huo family, who had been somewhat apprehensive, suddenly became as energetic as if they had been injected with adrenaline and immediately prepared to set off.

However, what they didn't see was that Huo Xiangu, sitting in her wheelchair with her back to them, had an indifferent expression on her face.

The group bypassed the deep pit in the ground and continued forward. Soon they arrived at the place where Zhang Wuxun had shone his flashlight earlier, where there was a dried-up tree root about the thickness of a rolling pin.

The fat man jumped up and broke off the tree root, snapping it in two with a slight movement of his fingers. "There's already a root here, which means we're not too far from the ground, and this thing is dry. But it's autumn now, so the tree either died from insect infestation, or..."

"Either something happened to the upper layer, forcing the tree to die, and it looks like it's been there for a long time," Zhang Wuxun said.

The fat man took a few steps forward and shone his flashlight on the top of the passage, where more and more dead tree roots were visible.

"There's light ahead!" the fat man suddenly shouted.

The light was very faint, but it was definitely different from the cold light of a flashlight.

The crowd's spirits immediately rose; the presence of light meant that the exit was not far away.

They quickened their pace and covered the distance of over a hundred meters in no time.

Gazing at the few slivers of sunlight filtering through the dark green vines ahead, the fat man's face was a mixture of excitement and dazedness. "Damn it, we actually... made it out like this?"

Zhang Wuxun didn't sense any danger outside, but after thinking for a moment, he still took out his pistol and gave the young man and the fat man a wink.

Without a word, the young man and the fat man were already standing close to the stone wall. Before the Huo family behind them could react, Zhang Wuxun had already taken a step back and fired three shots outwards.

Bullets whistled through the green, felt-like plant wall, scattering delicate branches and leaves like a shower of flowers, splashing green water everywhere.

The Huo family was startled. The eight guardians moved like the wind in front of Huo Xiangu, and at the same time raised their guns and aimed them at Zhang Wuxun in front of them.

Enraged, the fat man pinched a V40 miniature phone, pretending to unplug it and smash it into the crowd, while shouting, "Anyone who dares to touch it, I'll send them a VIP crematorium service!"

The eight people, fearing to harm the innocent, immediately changed formation, surrounding Old Madam Huo and retreating quite a distance. When they looked forward again, the three people in front of them had all disappeared.

Startled, they hurriedly and cautiously stepped forward, parting the thick vines that blocked their view, and looked out to find that the mountains and fields outside were covered in green.

This exit actually leads to a hidden valley. Looking down from here, the vegetation below is extremely lush and layered. Although it can't be called a primeval forest, it is clear that it has not been set foot here by humans for a long time.

Suddenly, someone felt something dangling in the corner of their eye. Peeking out, they discovered that the three people were already clinging to the ropes and almost reached the top of the cliff.

They immediately went back to report the situation to Aunt Huo. Aunt Huo stood up from her wheelchair, and the others made way for her. She looked at the scene outside, her brows furrowed deeply. Clearly, she couldn't understand why this had happened.

He then issued the order, "On the tenth day, take some men to the top of the mountain to take a look."

"Yes!"

The subordinate, whose title was Huo Chu Shi, responded and casually pointed to two people in the guard team.

The three men fired crossbows with ropes attached upwards, the bolts carrying the ropes towards an ancient tree on the edge of the cliff above.

The fat man was shading his forehead with his hand and looking into the distance when a crossbow bolt shot straight at him. He heard the whooshing sound and instinctively looked up to dodge, but suddenly his footing gave way, and he sank into a mound of grass and began to fall.

Before he could even let out a yell, Zhang Wuxun and the young man grabbed his backpack and lifted him up into the air.

The two men pulled the fat man back a considerable distance until they reached a safe place. Then they watched as a large section of the mountaintop edge collapsed, scattering clods of earth, grass clippings, and gravel. The faces of the people below must have turned green with envy.

The fat man sat flat on the grass, looking terrified. Then, remembering something, he touched his pocket and exclaimed, "Oh no! My little cutie fell down!"

Thank you to the generous donors [Dessert Shop Manager], [Little Brother's Leg Accessory], [Dali Chen], [Book Friend 20210318194155272], and others for their generous donations! Sending love...*
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(End of this chapter)