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

Chapter 480 The Disappearance of the Qilin
The fat man fully woke up when it was getting dark outside.

Even in the same place and the same scene, the daytime always feels much more peaceful and tranquil than the invisible pressure and unknown fear released by the long night.

Humans are inherently afraid of the unknown. When you open your eyes, you can see everything within your field of vision, so you won't be too afraid because you will have a psychological expectation of what is about to happen.

In the dark, human vision is already limited. If there is no light, the senses are deprived, and you don't know what might appear around you. So you start to imagine, and this uncontrollable imagination will increase your fear. Therefore, fear of the dark is an instinct.

The fat man's bones ached all over, as if he had been run over by a millstone, and he cried out as he got up.

He looked around the tent he was in, stunned for a while before he came to his senses. He hurriedly asked Wu Xie, "Tianzhen, how are you? Are you hurt? What exactly was that thing? It looked like a snake and a fish, and it was incredibly fierce. I'm all fat, but I couldn't even last one round."

Mapenim's tail lashed him so hard he fainted, and he had no idea what happened afterward.

Wu Xie handed him the dried clothes and compressed biscuits, and briefly explained what happened next, "I'm fine, I just soaked in ice water for a while. You two are the ones who are seriously injured. Mu Yu still hasn't woken up."

The fat man looked at Zhang Wuxun lying in a sleeping bag to the side, stared at the lines on his right cheek for a while, and asked, "Are you sure it's him?"

Hearing Fatty's words, Wu Xie's expression showed an indescribable sadness. He sighed, sat down to the side, reached out and lifted a corner of the blanket off Zhang Wuxun, and said in a low voice, "See for yourself. I don't know how to tell you."

"how?"

The fat man found his reaction strange, so he turned on his flashlight and went closer. When he saw what he saw, his eyes widened in disbelief.

"This...this..." He pointed to the countless crisscrossing scars on Zhang Wuxun's chest, so shocked that he forgot to speak.

Wu Xie felt as if something was stuck in his throat. He took a difficult breath before speaking, "These scars are real. He didn't deliberately fake them to mislead people."

Upon hearing this, the fat man hurriedly tried to rub off the scars, only to find that they were impossible to remove, and his face immediately turned very ugly.

He pressed on urgently, "What about the tattoos? What's the deal with these tattoos? I can't see the Qilin on his body anymore!"

On Zhang Wuxun's left chest, where the Qilin tattoo would normally be, a more bizarre and complex crimson pattern had now appeared.

These lines all spread from the tattoo on his right chest, intertwining with those horrific scars, densely covering his entire chest, and even his arms.

Fatty knew Muyu well; given his obsessive-compulsive nature, there was no way he would want to have so many ugly, centipede-like scars crawling all over his body.

Moreover, they all knew that the wooden fish had an abnormal healing ability, so even if the wound was deep, it would not leave such an old scar that had been there for some time.

And what about the Zhang family's signature tattoos?

How come we can't see such a big Qilin anymore?
The wooden fish was still quite hot; if the Qilin tattoo were still there, it would have burned out.

"Could it be because of what happened at the Zhang Family Ancient Building that Muyu has undergone some kind of unimaginable change?" the fat man guessed.

“I can’t rule out that possibility.” Wu Xie nodded and said, “I’ve been thinking about it all night and I think either something under the ancient building caused the changes in the wooden fish, or it’s related to the bronze door here.”

"Do you remember when the bronze gate of Changbai Mountain opened, the blood on Muyu's body seemed to be attracted by something and kept gushing out of his pores, and you couldn't stop it no matter what you did?"

The fat man tucked the blanket back in. "You mean to say that the reason why Mu Yu's tattoos are abnormal is very likely because he entered the bronze door here a year ago?"

Wu Xie nodded. "I can't think of any other more reasonable explanation."

When Wu Xie saw these scars last night, he was just as shocked as Fatty. He simply couldn't imagine what Mu Yu had gone through during the year or so they were apart to have so many indelible scars on his body.

Most of these scars are knife wounds, and there are also many bullet grazes. They are of various sizes and look particularly gruesome against the backdrop of fair skin.

There was a gunshot wound the size of a bottle cap very close to his neck. Just by looking at the location of the scar, Wu Xie could imagine how dangerous the situation must have been. The bullet had pierced through his neck and almost hit an artery.

Such wounds are numerous on Zhang Wuxun's body, proof that he has brushed shoulders with death countless times.

“Since last night, only the red tattoo on his right side has been showing, and as his body temperature rose, it quickly spread to his left side, as if it were alive,” Wu Xie said.

"But I remember that before, the red tattoo on the wooden fish was only on the right side."

The fat man muttered something to himself, then suddenly had a whimsical idea, “Hey, Tianzhen, do you remember when we were in the underwater tomb, Muyu was controlled by something on his body? At that time, both of his tattoos appeared and fought each other. In the end, the Qilin tattoo won, and the other tattoo faded away. This time, the Qilin tattoo is gone. Could it be that it didn't win the fight and was eaten by the other tattoo?”

Wu Xie shook his head. "No, the Qilin tattoo on Mu Yu's body was tattooed on his skin with a special plant dye mixed with something special. It didn't grow on its own. It's not like white blood cells can just eat pathogens."

"Then tell me what happened. You can make up an explanation, but the reason about the Bronze Gate is too far-fetched. Besides, Brother Zhang has also been to the Bronze Gate. They're both from the Zhang family, so why didn't his tattoos disappear?" The fat man said while putting on his clothes. "Otherwise, there's only one other reason."

"Impossible!" Wu Xie denied without hesitation. "My intuition is never wrong. He is Muyu." The fat man paused in putting on his coat, and hesitated before speaking, "Tianzhen, I feel that your behavior has been a bit off since we entered the snow mountain. You've been deliberately avoiding reality regarding this issue. You actually know very well, right? Muyu isn't the only one in this world with this kind of fire tattoo. Others in Kangba Luo also have it, and Dan's left finger is also long. These characteristics are not unique."

Bai Ci was chosen to take over the mission, so it's not surprising that he has such a large tattoo on his body.

What truly made the fat man doubt his previous judgment was the disappearance of the Qilin tattoo. In this sudden crisis, Bai Ci had no chance to cover up the tattoo on his body.

So it's very likely that Bai Ci really... isn't a wooden fish.

Fatty raised his hand and patted Wu Xie's shoulder heavily, saying earnestly, "I know you really want to find Muyu, and so do I, but we can't let our emotions cloud our judgment in this matter. Haven't you noticed that from the moment you met Bai Ci, you've been looking at him through the lens of Muyu?"

"Subconsciously, you've already regarded him as a wooden fish. All his actions towards you and his reactions to your behavior will be spontaneously interpreted as the habitual behaviors of a wooden fish in the past, all under that filter."

"Even though you've clearly seen many things about him that contradict Muyu, you keep trying to find those tiny similarities. Even when the evidence is right in front of you, you'll subconsciously ignore those illogical details because deep down you hope he really is Muyu."

"From the last time the code was wrong at Mount Siguniang, to failing to rescue Muyu from the bottom of the water at the exit and not finding his body, you blamed all the mistakes on yourself. Did you always think that if you had been more careful when reading the code back then, if you had understood Muyu's unspoken meaning when passing through the bell array, Muyu's fate would not have been death, right?"

"You've trapped the death of the wooden fish in your heart; it's become a stubborn cocoon that firmly binds you to the same place. Whenever you encounter anything related to the wooden fish, you wrap yourself up in it, using a negative attitude to refuse to believe the fact that the wooden fish is dead."

"Have you ever fantasized countless times about what it would be like to do it all over again? Would you stop Muyu from returning to that bell array? Or would you follow him and help him rescue Panzi?"

Wu Xie looked at the fat man, opened his mouth as if to refute something, but found that he could not utter a single word in his defense.

Some of his deeply hidden emotions were not even noticed by himself, but the fat man still saw through them.

Fatty really understands Wu Xie. He always hopes that everyone around him is doing well and always tries his best to ensure that everything ends without regrets. But in this world, hope under the sun and despair in the dust coexist.

“Tianzhen, you hate yourself. You said that Muyu once told you in a dream, ‘Escape is the most foolish and worst solution. Pain can only be released.’ You have kept all of this in your heart, and in the end, it has become more and more full and painful. If you continue like this, you will become a demon.”

All the veils covering his self-deception were lifted, and Wu Xie's eyelashes trembled incessantly. The words that the fat man uttered were like the last straw that broke the camel's back. He finally couldn't hold on any longer and covered his eyes in a state of collapse.

The fat man sighed heavily, his eyes stinging with tears. He felt bad saying those words, but Wu Xie's obsession with "the wooden fish is still alive" was too deep, even more so than his own safety.

Wu Xie was completely unaware of how bad his complexion was. His face was deathly pale, as if he had been sucked of blood. The wound on his forehead had sunk into a deep pit and was even oozing blood. He didn't even care about how swollen he was from being soaked in water.

If it weren't for the low temperature, such a deep wound would have already become infected and suppurated.

The fat man picked up the first-aid kit from the side, took out the disinfectant and bandages, and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't just keep crying. First, bandage the cut on your forehead. If you don't treat the wounds on your face properly, you'll have a scar later and you'll regret it."

"I didn't cry." Wu Xie rubbed his eyes and forced a smile. "I just feel a little... sad and empty inside. Sigh, I can't describe this feeling to you."

Then, feigning annoyance, she said, "You have such a sharp eye, and your mouth is no better. Why do you blurt out everything? I feel like I have no secrets left in front of you. No, no, this is too unfair. You should reveal one or two secrets to make me feel better."

"Want to know Fatty's little secret?" Fatty raised his eyebrows. "I'm not telling you, you guess for yourself."

Wu Xie gritted his teeth and waved his fist at him. Fatty readily agreed and presented him with a pair of scissors, asking him to defeat him. Only then was Wu Xie satisfied, and he chuckled twice.

The fat man beckoned him to lower his head so he could treat his wound. "You've bumped it so deep, it'll probably leave a scar. Luckily, the stray hairs can cover it up a bit. You can grow bangs and it won't be too noticeable. Otherwise, you'd have to have surgery to remove it."

"I can't let my handsome face be ruined. I need to consult Xiao Hua about scar removal methods. He has a skin expert under him who is incredibly good at disguise." Wu Xie also took the opportunity to change the subject to something lighter. "After the fog completely clears up, I'll whistle and meet up with Zhang Haixing and the other two to take stock of the remaining supplies. Then we'll go to the Lama Temple to discuss the rest."

The two whispered about what would happen next, neither of them noticing that Zhang Wuxun, lying behind them, silently opened his eyes, a complex emotion flashing across them, before immediately closing them again the moment Wu Xie glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

Zhang Wuxun had actually woken up when the fat man started rubbing the scars, and he overheard their entire conversation.

He had actually noticed long ago that Wu Xie's condition was very strange. Ever since entering the snow mountain, his whole aura had been suppressed.

Zhang Wuxun hoped he could become strong, but she also didn't want to see him close his heart and gradually dismantle his past.

However, given his current status and position, he is not qualified to do anything. Fortunately, Fatty is there to keep an eye on things. When Wu Xie has emotional problems, Fatty can notice and comfort him in time.

Listening to the two whispering, Zhang Wuxun closed his eyes and pondered why such a dangerous crisis had occurred during this operation, and where exactly the oversight had gone wrong.

Why does Marponim almost exclusively target the fat man when launching attacks?

Although everyone else was thrown into the water, Marponim merely flipped ice slabs around the others, but when facing the fat man, he launched a direct and fatal attack.

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