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

Chapter 468 The storm is coming
Zhang Haike did not recount in detail how he and the other Zhang family children were rescued by the young man.

He said, "That place is too eerie; it's better if you don't know too many details."

Wu Xie was somewhat interested in this, but not to the point of being extremely curious.

"And then what happened?" Wu Xie asked. "When did he become your clan leader?"

Zhang Haike shook his head, indicating that he did not know. "This is already a very confidential secret. Even if I knew, I would not tell you."

Wu Xie shrugged. "Then is there anything else you can tell me?"

"To put it simply, even if you want to know the details of Zhang Qiling's life, I can't tell you too much. He is very mysterious within our family because the Zhang family patriarch has access to too many secrets, making it difficult for us to keep track of his whereabouts."

The Zhang family is very open-minded in some ways, but some of their customs are very traditional and dark. If anyone violates the clan rules, they will be subjected to vigilante justice.

Wu Xie tapped the table lightly with his fingertips a few times. "I want to ask you something. You said at the beginning that Xiao Ge was brought back from Nepal by his father. So why was his so-called father his adoptive father when he was forced to bleed at the age of eight or nine? Where was his biological father?"

Zhang Haike was silent for a few seconds before saying, "As you know, the Zhang family does not allow its members to intermarry with outsiders. He was bound to be punished in some way, but I don't know the specifics of what happened afterward."

He then added, "Do you know why we excluded Zhang Dafoye from the Zhang family when we mentioned him before?"

Wu Xie's mind raced for a moment, then he blurted out, "Because he violated the same clan rules?"

He remembered his grandfather telling him in casual conversation when he was a child that Zhang Dafoye's wife was Yin Xinyue, the former owner of the Crescent Hotel.

Yin Xinyue was naturally not a member of the Zhang family.

Zhang Haike nodded. "To be precise, it was because his grandfather violated this clan rule that their entire lineage was completely expelled from the Zhang family in Northeast China."

The fat man, holding a cup of butter tea, grumbled, "Old feudal and outdated ideas, so many trivial matters. No wonder your family has all disappeared."

Zhang Haike did not refute this, as he himself also extremely disliked the rules and regulations of his own family.

Although this rule was intended to ensure the purity of bloodlines, ironically, the young man, who had foreign blood flowing through his veins, was the child with the most powerful genetic inheritance in the family.

Although this ability is not essential, only those who inherit it can access certain special and extremely dangerous ancient tombs.

After Dong Can took the little brother back to the Zhang family's main residence, Zhang Wuxun felt that the possibility of him returning to Motuo was extremely slim, as the Zhang family's higher-ups would not allow anyone with ties to the Holy Infant to live in the world.

At that time, two factions were secretly fighting in the city. It was an assassination attempt specifically targeting Zhang Qiling. Zhang Qiling was killed by traitors and members of the Wang family who had infiltrated the Zhang family. The conspirators controlled the government and completely sealed off the ancient city. Under the instruction of the clan elders, they breached the dikes and flooded the ancient city of Sizhou. The heinous crimes, along with the bell that belonged to the clan leader, were buried underground forever.

With Zhang Qiling's unexpected death, the Zhang family's legacy was broken, and the secrets of the lowest level of the ancient building remained unknown. In order to keep the Zhang family firmly united, the core elders of the Zhang family opened the dragon-patterned stone box that they had guarded for three thousand years. However, they never expected that the baby inside the stone box had already died. Their efforts and sacrifices over the past thousand years had become a complete joke.

The Zhang family's higher-ups found this fact hard to accept. In order to maintain this pipe dream and their power, they needed a living baby to replace the son of King Mu in the dragon-patterned stone box.

Just then, Dong Can brought back the young man who possessed pure bloodline inheritance. In order to give this huge family a mission and reason to continue to exist, the Zhang family elders told a huge lie and replaced the holy infant in the dragon-patterned stone box with the young man.

Later, the lies were exposed by the Wang family, who were hiding among them. The Zhang family's faith collapsed, and Xiao Ge was brought down from his pedestal. This corrupt and decadent family then pushed all the blame onto him.

Overnight, everything changed. He, still a young child, bore the brunt of the whole affair, becoming the only innocent victim in this scandal.

After obtaining the Ancestral Bell from the ancient city of Sizhou, he entered the house containing the ultimate secret and fully took over the Zhang family's mission.

Zhang Wuxun tapped the table and asked, "I have a question. Was the thing that Zhang Qiling took out from the ancient city of Sizhou the key to his later becoming the head of the Zhang family?"

Zhang Haike looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

Zhang Wuxun's lips curved slightly. "Then let me guess again. Is that the thing that Zhang Qiling later put in the bronze gate in the Himalayas? That ancestral bell?"

Zhang Haike stared blankly for a moment before sighing, "You guessed it long ago, didn't you? So your goal isn't just to completely get rid of Yama riding the corpse, but also that bell, right?"

"To be more precise, I also know where that bell might be placed inside the door." Zhang Wuxun calmly dropped a bombshell, nearly making Zhang Haike jump out of his chair.

Zhang Haike straightened up, his expression instantly turning cold. His gaze was fixed on Zhang Wuxun, his voice taut like a bowstring, "How did you know? Were you lying before? Did you already enter the Bronze Gate? Or is the bell already in your hands?"

Wu Xie and Fatty were also startled and looked at each other in surprise.

The fat man clicked his tongue, enjoying the spectacle even more. "Dude, that's really not very kind of you. It's the Zhang family's stuff, what's the point of you taking it?"

Then, she changed the subject again, "But didn't your bells not have the words 'Owned by the Zhang family' written on them? Looking at it this way, it doesn't seem wrong for someone to take them."

Zhang Wuxun glanced at the chair next to him, gesturing for Zhang Haike to sit down and speak. "I haven't finished speaking yet, why are you in such a hurry? I've never been inside the bronze gate, and that bell isn't in my possession. I only met your chieftain once. After learning that I was a Khampa, he revealed a little bit of information about the snow mountain to me."

"The Germans kept the star map so tightly under wraps, and they didn't mention anything about it when we worked together last time. I have very reasonable grounds to suspect that the Germans are lying to you."

Zhang Haike pondered for a few seconds, "So that's why you used the White Bell incident to test them?"

“That’s right.” Zhang Wuxun nodded. “No matter what, we must keep the initiative in our hands.”

Wu Xie raised his hand and made a pause gesture, asking in confusion, "Wait a minute, who is this 'White Bell' you're talking about? Also, Bai Ci, when did you meet Xiao Ge? Was it a year ago in Nepal?"

“You guessed right, it was indeed a year ago.” Zhang Wuxun admitted this. “As for who Bai Lingdang is, you’ll find out when you meet her later.”

Wu Xie felt strange. Why did he say that he would know after seeing it? Could it be that this white bell was an old acquaintance of his?
He glanced at Zhang Wuxun's expression and knew that he wouldn't get any more information, so he stopped pressing him and turned to look at Zhang Haike.

"You can tell me about some things that happened before you became Zhang Qiling."

Zhang Haike didn't mind throwing out more bait. He said, "Those things are meaningless to you. They're just training and bloodletting. I can tell you the outline of his actions over the years. After you hear it, you should still be able to get some inspiration. After all, you lived with him for a long time and know many details that we don't know."

Wu Xie thought to himself: I know nothing. That guy is just a silent type. Apart from deciphering secrets, he has never spoken more than a hundred words.

However, since Zhang Haike thought so, he couldn't very well back down on his own point, so he remained calm and listened quietly as Zhang Haike continued.

When the young man was eight or nine years old, he was taken to the ancient city of Sizhou and used as a blood collection bag and a laborer. Later, he learned the secret of the ancient city of Sizhou and took advantage of the opportunity to let Zhang Haike and others help him retrieve the bell.

The Zuling is different from other hexagonal bronze bells in two ways: first, it is very large, almost as big as a cowbell; second, the sound it makes is very faint, but as long as a person hears it, they will become clear-headed and their soul will be immobilized. In other words, it can counteract the hallucinogenic effects of other bronze bells.

There are also many hexagonal bronze bells beneath the ancient city of Sizhou. Whether the clan chief was tricked or trying to avoid disaster when he took the ancestral bell there, he ultimately failed.

This became the catalyst for everything that followed, and the Zhang family's crisis began to emerge from this moment.

Most importantly, in the Zhang family's old house, there is a very mysterious room that only the clan leader is allowed to enter. Every time a new clan leader takes over, the old clan leader leads the new clan leader into the room with a bell. After everything is explained, the new clan leader then takes the old clan leader's body out of the room for burial.

The room was filled with secrets from various dynasties, book prefaces, and cultural relics and artifacts. All of these items were discoveries that the Zhang family had brought from underground over the years.

Outside the room is a long corridor, and inside the room and along the corridor are hung hexagonal bells of all shapes and sizes, covering every nook and cranny. If you touch one of them, the whole corridor will ring, and any intruder will immediately go mad.

After the Zhang family cemetery in Banna was completed, this room was moved to the bottom of the Zhang family ancestral building and placed in their ancestral tomb. The secrets inside were also divided into different levels according to their severity, with the most important secret being called "the ultimate".

After obtaining the bell, the young man entered the room on the ground floor of the ancient building and became the last patriarch. He learned about the Zhang family's mission and purpose, as well as the existence of the "ultimate".

After the Zhang family fell apart, he fulfilled the Zhang family's mission alone. He originally wanted to use the power of the Nine Gates to complete this task, but unfortunately, they broke their promise under Zhang Qishan's leadership. Wu Xie rubbed his throbbing head, wanting to ask more questions, when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

He then realized with a start that a considerable amount of time had passed.

Zhang Haixing pushed open the door a crack and peeked in, saying, "Brother, the Germans are here."

Zhang Wuxun put down his teacup, stood up, straightened his clothes, and walked out the door.

Wu Xie hurriedly asked, "Where did he go to do?"

But then Zhang Haike stood up as well, a slight smile playing on his lips, and invited, "Want to go see a show? Come along."

Wu Xie wondered to himself what kind of show this was going to be. He exchanged a glance with Fatty, and although he was extremely sleepy, he decided to follow them to find out.

When the group arrived at the area where the Zhang family lived on the back hill, they saw a large group of fully armed Germans standing in the yard.

The leader was a mercenary named Nick, who had a menacing look on his face. He had one hand on his holster and was looking at Zhang Wuxun and his group with a forced smile, as if they were prey already being targeted by his gun.

Zhang Wuxun stared at him for a long time, a mocking smile playing on his lips. He uttered a single sentence silently, then turned and went into the room.

Nick paused for a second, pondered the words he had just read, and then, realizing what he had done, flew into a rage and immediately drew his gun, pointing it at the back of Nick's head.

Wu Xie's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to stop him, he saw the burly German man's chest heaving violently as he suppressed his anger, clearly minding something.

A sneer came from behind her. Zhang Haixing glanced at Nick with disdain, deliberately bumped into Wu Xie's shoulder as she passed him, and then followed Zhang Haike into the house.

Wu Xie pursed his lips. He's almost a hundred years old, how can he still be so childish?

When Wu Xie and Fatty went inside, Zhang Wuxun was already sitting down face-to-face with two Germans and starting a conversation.

"Where are they?" Zhang Wuxun asked succinctly, not wanting to waste any more words with them.

Feng smiled kindly, "Of course, I will never forget our agreement."

After saying that, he took out his walkie-talkie and called out, "Bring Miss Bai in."

Everyone looked towards the doorway at the same time.

A woman who looked exactly like Zhang Haixing was blindfolded and brought in by Nick, who pointed a gun at her.

Another German leader waved his hand, and Nick tore off the blindfold covering her eyes.

The moment their true faces were revealed, almost everyone's expressions became quite interesting, ranging from surprise and mockery to disgust and some remaining calm and collected.

Feng stared at Zhang Wuxun's face for a moment, but didn't notice anything unusual. He then smiled and said, "My dear Bai, look, your family is being taken very well by us. They are much healthier than they were before when they were so thin and frail."

'White Bell' glared hatefully at the Germans, then turned to Zhang Wuxun, her expression immediately turning to surprise and delight. "You've finally arrived! These guys are really despicable. I only took some of their stuff, and they locked me up for so long."

Wu Xie and Fatty stared wide-eyed, their expressions shifting from astonishment to terror, their gossipy gazes darting between Zhang Wuxun, Zhang Haixing, and the woman.

The fat man covered his mouth with one hand, leaned close to Wu Xie's ear, and said, word by word, "My God—!"

"The relationship between these three is quite complicated, naive. Guess which one is the main character? I don't think it's Grandma Zhang, she's too old."

The room was quiet, and the fat man's voice was just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Zhang Haixing took a deep breath in anger, her gaze towards the fat man as cold as if she were looking at a dead person. The fat man ignored her completely, and Zhang Haixing almost fainted from anger.

Just as Wu Xie was about to reply, he also felt a death stare. He turned his head and met Zhang Wuxun's dark and brooding gaze.

He immediately fell silent, thinking to himself: Fatty's eyesight is getting worse and worse. What is he looking at? If Muyu has anything to do with these two women, he'll swallow a goldfish whole.

Zhang Haike smiled faintly and remained silent, patting Zhang Haixing, who was furious and wanted to pounce on him, reassuringly.

Zhang Wuxun looked at the counterfeit goods with feigned surprise, "It hasn't been that long since I last saw you, how come you've become so pathetic? I thought you were taken away by the Zhang family, I didn't expect you to fall into the hands of such a group of guys."

Hearing Zhang Wuxun describe himself in such ambiguous terms, the German's expression also turned sour.

'White Bell' rolled her eyes. 'Try having a dozen guns pointed at your head.'

“No, no, no!” Feng immediately denied. “If it weren’t for Miss Bai’s constant attempts to escape, I believe that given our cooperative relationship with Mr. Bai Ci, we would have gotten along very well. I personally really like your Tibetan history and culture.”

Zhang Wuxun nodded seriously, then turned to look at 'White Bell', "It's been over a year since I last saw you, and I've noticed you've changed quite a bit. I almost didn't recognize you. I wonder if your daughter will still recognize you."

'White Bell' was taken aback, and looked extremely surprised. "You brought her with you? Where is she? Let me see her!"

Upon hearing this, the fat man whispered in Wu Xie's ear, "That woman and... it seems like they really do have some kind of shady relationship, they even brought their daughter into it."

Wu Xie rolled his eyes; of course he knew that this girl was not the same girl he knew.

However, from the woman's expression and tone, he could tell that she was obviously unaware of this, and it was clear that this person was an imposter and would be exposed soon.

Sure enough, the next moment, Zhang Wuxun smiled and called out to the outside, "Yueya, come in and meet your mother."

The fat man started muttering again, "This little girl's name is quite nice. I'll ask the lama master to give my daughter a nice and catchy name later."

"It's not even close to being confirmed yet, how do you know it's a girl?" Wu Xie was a little speechless.

The fat man grinned, "If I say it's a daughter, then it's a daughter!"

Wu Xie was too lazy to argue with him, so he quietly reminded him, "A fight might break out in a bit, so let's get out of there quickly. Bullets don't have eyes."

Crescent Moon skipped in from outside, with Dan following behind it with her hands behind her back. Dan nodded to Zhang Wuxun to indicate that everything was ready.

Crescent Moon circled Zhang Wuxun's legs once, then happily rubbed against his clothes, sniffed the air with its nose, and warily stared at everyone in the room.

The surprise on 'White Bell's' face froze instantly. She turned to look at the doorway, her eyes gradually calming down. She had realized something was wrong.

The fat man was greatly disappointed. "Oh, it's just a dog's daughter. I was so happy for nothing."

Feng and the others looked equally incredulous, exclaiming in surprise, "Mr. Bai, are you joking with us? This is not funny."

Zhang Wuxun stood up from his chair and smiled mockingly, “You foreigners have a very different understanding of culture than we do. For example, people with the same surname Bai might be siblings here, but in your country, it’s misinterpreted as having that kind of relationship.”

Feng's expression turned cold. He realized that he had been played by Zhang Wuxun from beginning to end. But it didn't matter. There was more than one way to achieve his goal.

If the approach of "courtesy first, then force" doesn't work, then don't blame him for resorting to tough measures.

Thank you so much to the generous donors [年少时最天真] and [梓云]! Sending you love!