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

Chapter 490 Not a Living Thing
The moment Wu Xie lifted the rod, he felt an immense force pulling the float and fishing line underwater. The force was so strong that he stumbled and his buttocks left his backpack.

The fat man, who had been watching this area, shouted upon seeing it, "Damn, it's a big one! It's definitely a big one! Tianzhen, don't rush it, take your time walking it around."

Wu Xie bent over and stuck out his buttocks, struggling to pull the fishing line. The fishing line grew longer and longer, and the underwater pulling force became increasingly greater.

Once the string loosened, Wu Xie was pulled forward involuntarily, and he could only keep pushing backward to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground.

In this situation, he didn't even dare to relax, let alone play with the fish.

Seeing that the fat man was still making a fuss on the side, Wu Xie gritted his teeth and cursed, "You fatso, what are you doing standing there watching? Come and help me out!"

"Here it comes." Seeing how difficult it was for him to reel in the fish, the fat man clicked his tongue, tucked the rod under his backpack to secure it, took off his leather gloves, grabbed the rod himself, and muttered, "I gave you a chance, but it was no use. Watch how I, Fatty, teach you how to reel in this fat fish—"

"Hey hey hey——"

Before Wu Xie could even catch his breath, another tremendous pulling force nearly yanked him and Fatty flying away together.

The fat man shouted in terror, "Something's wrong, Tianzhen, something's wrong with this thing, it doesn't seem to be a fish, let go, let go! If you pull it any further, we'll both be dragged into the water."

What kind of fish could have such strength? Wu Xie immediately thought of the elusive Maponimus in the lake and dared not delay any longer, so he immediately let go.

The fat man also let go, and the fishing rod flew out of his hand and towards the lake.

Just then, a whooshing sound whistled through the air between the two of them, followed by a clanging sound.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered a long whip, about two centimeters thick like a PVC pipe, lying between them. One end was tightly tied to the joint of the flying fishing rod, and the other end...

Wu Xie turned around and saw that the other end of the whip was being held by Zhang Haixing. The reddish-brown whip was taut and crackling under the force of both sides.

He couldn't tell what material the whip was made of, but it probably wasn't cowhide; if it were, it would have snapped long ago.

"What the hell?" The fat man turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Grandma, let go of it! This thing isn't a fish at all. We've caught enough fish to eat already."

Zhang Haixing didn't say a word, her delicate face flushed red, and the muscles in her cheeks were all straining together.

The fat man cursed, "This bitch is so stubborn and naive. Let's just leave her alone and let her soak in the ice hole to clear her head."

Looking at Zhang Haixing's persistent expression, Wu Xie had a feeling that something was wrong. "If she thought that what was being pulled on the other end of the fishing line was just a fish, she wouldn't keep holding on so tightly."

It's just a fish; their current situation hasn't reached the point where they're starving and can't survive.

The fat man frowned. "Why is that?"

"I don't know." Wu Xie shook his head, his brows furrowed. "But there's definitely something strange about it."

At this moment, Feng rushed downstairs in a hurry, grabbing the whip while shouting to Wu Xie and the other man, "Wu, Fatty, come and help! Zhang said this thing is very important."

Wu Xie and the other person exchanged a glance, then looked at the water. There were no splashes like fish thrashing on a hook; instead, it was eerily calm, as if someone else was holding onto a rope in the water.

The fat man said, "Come on, let's lend a hand. I want to see what kind of monster you've hooked."

It took four people working together to barely match that immense force.

Waves surged up on the water's surface, making it seem as if something in the water was about to pop its head out.

The four men gritted their teeth and worked together to finally snap the fishing line, and the object on the other end fell back into the water.

The force in his hand suddenly loosened, and the four of them fell backward one on top of the other, due to the inertia. Poor Feng was at the bottom, and the whip tip that was lashed back hit the fat man, making him scream in pain.

The group scrambled to their feet. Ignoring his aching body, Feng anxiously shouted, "Did you see it clearly? Did anyone see what that thing was?"

"It looks like something gray," Wu Xie said uncertainly. "The fishing line broke the moment it surfaced, so I didn't see it clearly. Zhang Haixing, did you see it clearly?" Zhang Haixing had the best eyesight of everyone present, but she didn't answer Wu Xie's question. Instead, she put away her whip and hung it at her waist, taking off her thick coat as she walked towards the platform.

The others were completely bewildered, not understanding what she was trying to do.

"This is bad," the fat man said. "Could that thing down there be some kind of evil spirit? Is this tiger woman possessed by a nightmare and trying to kill herself?"

Hearing his words, Zhang Haixing turned around and glared at him with disdain. She then turned to Wu Xie and Feng and said, "That thing isn't alive. I have to go into the water and take a look. It might be the key to our next step."

After saying that, he placed the folded clothes on the platform, moved his hands and feet a few times, and then jumped into the water.

The three remaining, including Wu Xie, looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

After hesitating for two seconds, the fat man put the matter out of his mind, sniffed, and called Wu Xie to go and collect the frozen fish from the platform.

Wu Xie asked him if he had one more fishing rod left and if he wanted to fish some more.

“Fish.” The fat man said decisively. “We don’t have much food left, and we don’t know how much further we have to go. We’ve finally come across some wild food, so we should prepare more dry rations. You and Feng go up and clean these fish, then put them on the stove to roast into dried fish, and cut them into two-inch pieces for easy preservation.”

"That's fine."

Wu Xie agreed, and together with Feng, they carried the fish to the entrance at the bottom of the Lama Temple. One of them climbed up first, while the other caught them from below. After getting all the fish up, they drew water from the icy lake to clean the fish's scales and internal organs.

The scraped-out entrails were given to the fat man, who used them to dig a new nest in a new place, making the most of them and not wasting a single bit.

This time, Zhang Haixing spent even longer in the water than the last time she jumped in to chase Bai Ci. It took so long that Fatty even wondered if she had just drowned down there.

The fat man caught two more fish in a row, both of them quite large.

Wu Xie came down to get the fish, looked into the water, and said, "Why hasn't Zhang Haixing come up yet? Could something have really happened to her down there?"

"This is what it means to be disorganized and undisciplined..." The fat man was forced to swallow his words before he could finish.

Zhang Haixing's wet head emerged from the water, splashing around as she swam to the edge of the platform. Wu Xie and Fatty quickly helped pull her up.

Seeing that Zhang Haixing's face had turned purple from the cold, and that she was unsteady on her feet, with her eyes open, she was about to fall to the ground.

"Oh, getting old is great, you can fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow even in freezing weather," the fat man said smugly.

"It's probably from lack of oxygen and being frozen. Come on, let's get her back first, or she'll really freeze to death outside," Wu Xie said.

The two of them carried her back to the foot of the Lama Temple. Feng heard the commotion and quickly came out to help. He lifted Zhang Haixing up like a fish and carried her to the stove.

The fat man lost interest in fishing, tidied up his things on the platform, and returned to the temple.

Zhang Haixing was really freezing this time. She felt dizzy and instinctively moved towards the heat source, almost pressing her head against the scorching stove.

Luckily, the fat man was quick enough to pull her back, and he said sarcastically, "See if she dares to raise her voice at me now that she's awake. I'm the one who saved her face."

After thinking it over, he said, "Why don't I take this opportunity to have her write an IOU? I won't ask for much, just 20 or 30,000 will do."

"I reckon if she wakes up and finds out, she'll knock your head off," Wu Xie said.

Feng chimed in, "Mr. Fatty, you can't take advantage of an injured lady."

"Go away! Go peel your fish." The fat man waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly, and said disdainfully, "What do you foreigners know? What I call 'reasonably commercializing gratitude' is something else."

Feng shook his head and went back to processing the fish scales.

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