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

Chapter 533 A Sky-High Trap
Caught off guard, Zhang Haike was nearly knocked unconscious by the solid impact. He stumbled back several steps, but the momentum carried him to the ground, where he tumbled down the slope along with Zhang Wuxun, who had lunged at him.

Upon seeing this, Wu Xie and his companion, who were guarding the platform at the bottom of the slope, quickly dodged aside and anxiously reminded each other, "Be careful, we're almost at the steps!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Haike felt a heavy thud on his back. With the weight of another person pressing down on him, the pain was doubled.

Fortunately, the step stopped them in their tracks, which greatly reduced their tumbling momentum. Zhang Wuxun quickly braced himself with his hands, tilting half of his body to the side, which finally brought the two of them to a stop.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Zhang Wuxun rolled over and stepped onto the stairs, rubbing his wrist as he complained, "Why did you have to stand in the middle of the stairs? You almost made me fall to my death."

"Hey, let's be reasonable. I'm the one who fell down and became the cushion. Could you please be more considerate of this old man, young people?" Zhang Haike lay on his back on the steps, clutching his chest, feeling pain all over his body.

He muttered in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Who knew you would fly in so quickly? I was originally thinking of giving you a hand."

Zhang Wuxun sneered, "An old man? An old man who's strong and muscular enough to kill a cow with one punch?"

"Oh, that's an exaggeration, that's an exaggeration." Zhang Haike chuckled, his bones throbbing with a dull ache, and he quickly rubbed them with his hand.

Suddenly, my fingers touched something hard on the padlock near my collar, like a stone. When I picked it up, I found it was a light blue pendant.

"What is this?" Zhang Haike looked at the pendant, which was finely crafted and contained a white stone with a rather peculiar shape. He then dangled it on the silver chain and shook it at Zhang Wuxun. "Is it yours?"

Zhang Wuxun glanced at it, then subconsciously reached into his collar, only to find it empty. His expression changed instantly. "Give it back to me."

Seeing that his expression was off, Zhang Haike realized that the pendant must be quite important to him, so he didn't hesitate and casually tossed it to him, "Catch it. It must have broken when it rolled down just now and got caught on my zipper."

Zhang Wuxun was preoccupied with inspecting the pendant and casually gave a reply.

"What is this thing that you treasure so much?" Fatty and Wu Xie walked up.

The fat man, with his sharp eyes, caught a glimpse of blue and white through the gaps between his fingers. He paused, stunned. He felt that he had seen that shape somewhere before.

Seeing their curiosity, Zhang Wuxun didn't hide it and opened his palm for them to see.

The fat man glanced at it and immediately realized, "Isn't this the stone that the young man gave you? You turned it into a necklace. Hey, I have to say, it's quite pretty."

"What kind of stone is this?" Wu Xie walked closer and took a look. It was a deep blue color, like jade, and even had a core. "Did Brother give it to me? When did he give it to me? How come I didn't know?"

"Back in Banna, the young man found it somewhere and gave it to him," the fat man said with a nostalgic smile.

"You have one too?" Wu Xie felt a little jealous for some reason. Was he the only one who didn't have one? Little Brother had never given him anything before.

The fat man curled his lip, "What do I have to say? This is something my brother used to entertain kids."

"Huh... um?" Wu Xie was a little surprised, but then he thought that compared to Xiao Ge's age, Mu Yu, who was two generations younger than him, was just a child.

At that time, Muyu had a lot on his mind and couldn't confide in anyone. The young man probably sensed this and comforted him in his own way.

Zhang Haike, who was standing to the side, listened to their conversation and examined the pendant again with a sense of novelty.

Because his gaze was too obvious, Zhang Wuxun noticed and immediately glanced at him warily. He then put the pendant into a hidden pocket close to his body, thinking that he would never take out the things his brother had given him in front of those Zhang family members again; it was too risky.

The crowd's attention returned to their surroundings. Ahead was a corridor about two meters wide, with walls made of stone bricks on both sides.

Zhang Haike lit a cold firework and threw it over. Half a second later, a slightly hollow impact echoed from the other end, which didn't sound like a stone slab.

Although the firelight flashed by in an instant, Zhang Wuxun and the others could still see clearly that there was a square, shallow pit between the bottom of the steps and the passageway. There were many pottery jars in the pit, each with a lid on. Although they were dusty and gray, they were still intact.

Wu Xie recalled the three pottery jars containing the Corpse Beetle King he had encountered before, and a chill ran down his spine. "No way, there are some here too?"

Zhang Wuxun shook his head. "It doesn't look like it. It shouldn't be. You guys step back, I'll go take a look."

Wu Xie knew that his blood was a deadly weapon against the Corpse Beetle King, so he nodded and, along with Fatty, stepped back as instructed.

Zhang Wuxun took a few steps forward and noticed that Zhang Haike had followed. Without saying anything, he squatted down in front of him and carefully lifted the lid of one of the containers. It seemed to be empty inside, and there was a strong spicy smell mixed with the smell of spoiled bitter wine and a fishy stench, which made Zhang Wuxun frown on the spot.

“The wine jar is still broken.” Zhang Haike picked up a wine jar and commented, “It wasn’t sealed properly. After so many years, it’s all dried up.”

Zhang Wuxun gave him a disdainful look, then turned the pottery jar over and tapped it on the ground. Some black, scab-like substances came out sparsely from the rim of the jar, while the larger pieces dried out and remained at the bottom.

Zhang Wuxun then used his dagger to reach inside and swipe around a few times, then poked it out and held it out in front of Zhang Haike.

Zhang Haike stared silently at the large, wrinkled lump of what looked like burnt rice crust or internal organs. Zhang Wuxun chuckled, using one hand to hold a dagger and press the lump to the ground. With the other hand, he pulled out another dagger and sliced ​​it in half like cutting a steak. After examining it closely, he said, "It's a lung, isn't it? It's been marinated in alcohol and lime. It looks like it's shrunk by at least half. I wonder if it's even human."

The fat man walked up from behind and said with certainty, "Then it's not human, it's not cannibalism, why would they pickle its internal organs like a dish of vegetables?"

Wu Xie also said, "This is already within the tomb passage. It might contain the internal organs of some animal, or other burial goods."

Zhang Wuxun remained noncommittal, saying that whether someone was human or not was unimportant, as long as they weren't dangerous.

He picked the pieces back into the jar and put them back in their original positions.

“Walk forward a bit, I see there’s a side chamber up ahead,” he said.

The shallow pit where the jars were placed didn't take up much space; a quick run and a jump were all it took to get over it.

After leaping over, the group continued forward and stopped about fifty or sixty meters away. They saw a large side chamber on each side, but the stone door to the right side chamber was closed. They tried to push it but couldn't move it, so they went to check the left side first.

Upon entering, one is greeted by a large number of pottery jars, just like the ones from before, neatly arranged and occupying one corner of the ground. At the other end, near the door, a messy corner is filled with various household utensils, as well as hammers and other tools used for digging rocks.

Further inside, there is a long row of earthen beds, which can probably accommodate more than twenty people lying side by side. The bedding is still there, but it has been weathered and is very fragile. If you lift it, it will fall into cotton wool.

This place is full of traces of the lives of the artisans of the past, and because of its secluded location, these traces have been well preserved to this day.

As Zhang Haike walked, he wrote something in his notebook. After circling around, he said, "There's nothing to see here anymore. Let's go to the other side."

No one objected; the stone gate opposite was completely sealed off and tightly closed.

Zhang Wuxun and Zhang Haike went to feel both sides separately, but surprisingly, they did not find the mechanism to open the stone door.

Wu Xie held up a lamp and examined the stone door carefully, comparing it with the surrounding stone walls. "This door was added later, so it's very likely that the mechanism to open it is inside."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone was stunned. "If that's the case, then there must be someone else inside."

It felt as if a cold wind was blowing from behind, and everyone perked up simultaneously. If that were the case, things would be in serious trouble.

Zhang Haike frowned. "The craftsman locked himself inside? Why? Could there be something terrifying inside?"

"What could be so terrible that even the Zhang family can't handle it?" the fat man asked in surprise.

“It’s related to the Yama riding a corpse that the Zhang family created back then,” Zhang Wuxun said calmly. “The Zhang family created a disaster that also implicated the Khampa people.”

Zhang Haike frowned slightly, somewhat disagreeing with his words.

Zhang Wuxun seemed not to hear him and continued, "Now that things have come to this, I will no longer hide it from you. You will know the truth after opening this door."

“Rengora told me that the bronze door we blew open was made by the Zhang family themselves.”

"What?" Wu Xie and Fatty were shocked at first, then suddenly realized that the bronze door was fake. No wonder it shattered so easily when it exploded.

If this is the truth behind it, then everything that happened before seems to make sense.

"So the bronze door we saw before was actually hollow, with a very complex mechanical structure inside for support."

Wu Xie recalled all the details he had seen before and compared them with the giant bronze gate he saw at the bottom of Changbai Mountain. Given the ancient nature and enormous size of that gate, a hollow structure would not have been able to support its own weight.

According to the logic of physics, that bronze door could not possibly be opened in reality, and its intricate details far surpassed those of the one he saw here.

Zhang Haike was not surprised. "When I saw that door when I came over, I already suspected that it was a trap set by the Zhang family ancestors to lure all the enemies here."

“That’s not all,” Zhang Wuxun sighed. “They’ve created more than one door like this in the world.”

"That German had also seen a bronze door before. Although he didn't know its exact location, I heard him call it the Gate of Praise to God."

Feng must not have gone inside, otherwise he wouldn't have been so obsessed as to lose his life.

The Silent One looked at the snow. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and snowflakes kept drifting in. His hair quickly turned white.

I wonder what he'll look like with white hair. —From *Rain Village Notes*