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

Chapter 582 Seven Bodies
The blood from the wooden fish had an almost immediate effect on his eyes. The fat man squeezed his eyes, producing two cat tears to moisten his eyeballs. He felt less dry and uncomfortable, and only then did he have time to carefully observe his surroundings.

The fat man turned on the tiny flashlight clipped to his collar and saw that he was in a dark cave.

He was sitting with his back against a thick, black, decaying tree, amidst a pile of bones and mummies. Some of the bones still had hooks and other objects left behind after being washed away by time, not completely decomposed by nature.

The fat man rummaged through the pile of bones and pulled out two pocket watches that were so badly rotten that they were almost unrecognizable, two Type 81 Mauser rifles that were rusted into clumps, a Hanyang rifle, and some bullets and magazines that were completely rusted and unrecognizable.

These people seem to be the same group Dan mentioned from sixty years ago, but it's unclear whether they were the first to disappear or went in to their deaths later.

Thinking of this, the fat man stood up, dragged several mummies that were clearly from a different year from the pile of bones to the side, and then roughly counted them, finding more than twenty.

The fat man hissed and asked in bewilderment, "Didn't they say everyone was missing? How come they're all gathered here dead? Could it be that these people were actually attracted here by something when they disappeared?"

Oh no! If that's the case, is this place still safe?

The fat man nervously looked around and saw the mummified corpses lying there like fallen gangsters.

He subconsciously counted: one, two, three... six... seven.

There were seven mummies in total.

The fat man's gaze seemed to be suddenly drawn to something, staring intently at the mummies. A few seconds later, he gasped and took two steps back in shock.

Headless! These mummies are all headless!

The fat man had an extremely rich imagination. He effortlessly connected the seven heads that the Zhang family from overseas had displayed for Wu Xie to appraise in the Jila Temple.

The Zhang family members overseas lured the fake Wu Xies here to kill them, only taking their heads to preserve them through embalming, and then using them to test Wu Xie.

Could it be that Zhang Haike, that scoundrel, had been here before?

The fat man felt a surge of anger at being fooled and cursed under his breath, "Damn Zhang Haike."

He searched around the cave but couldn't find any other "Wu Xie" bodies, which further confirmed his guess.

Zhang Haike tricked Wu Xie into coming to Motuo to enter the Bronze Gate, and then led them here to... obtain the clues that Xiao Ge left for Wu Xie.

"Huh?" The conspiracy theories churning in the fat man's mind paused for a moment, and he slapped his forehead. "Oh no, there's more to this than Fatty, Little Brother, and Wooden Fish."

……

Zhang Wuxun hid behind a large rock, holding Wu Xie tightly with one arm to prevent him from struggling, and using his other hand to press down on Wu Xie's stomach with a clever force.

Even through the protective suit and muscles, one could clearly feel a large lump the size of a quail egg rising up in Wu Xie's stomach, surging up his esophagus, and spraying out of his mouth along with undigested food residue from his dinner.

"Ugh~" Wu Xie hunched over and vomited uncontrollably.

"It's coming!"

Zhang Haike, who was lying on the rocky hill, issued a warning, with blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth from Zhang Wuxun's blow.

"Walk."

Zhang Wuxun scooped up Wu Xie and hoisted him onto his shoulder, then ran wildly in one direction. Zhang Haike jumped off the rocky mountain and also retreated in a direction at a 45-degree angle to him.

Behind me came the sound of something resembling tentacles rapidly moving and slapping against the rocks; the noise was very loud and the speed was very fast.

Almost as soon as they lifted their feet, a huge shadow charged straight at them from the white mist.

Zhang Wuxun led Wu Xie on one side, while Zhang Haike was on the other. The two of them led the thing in circles in a nearby direction, taking turns making noise to attract its attention.

A few minutes later, a sharp eagle whistle suddenly rang out from the mist. The moment they heard the whistle, Zhang Wuxun and Zhang Haike stopped as if they had been struck by a pressure point, and hid themselves silently like cats. Zhang Wuxun even pulled Wu Xie's arm to cover his mouth to prevent him from making a sound.

Then, Zhang Wuxun poked his head out and stared intently at the enormous shadow emitting a red and white halo in the mist.

The shadow resembled a giant deep-sea jellyfish, its bell resembling a human heart just ripped out. Transparent blood vessels, like tree branches, pulsated and flowed with digestive juices, clinging tightly to the flesh. Countless short tentacles along the edge of the mouthparts at the center of the bell opened and closed, from which white mist spewed forth.

The outer edge of the umbrella-shaped canopy is covered with many thick, vine-like, red tentacles, each covered with countless small red bumps, which can extend for more than ten meters.

According to their observations, this strange creature has a rather elaborate feeding process. It first uses the small red bumps that fall off its tentacles as seasoning to stuff into the prey's mouth before rolling up the prey and putting it into its mouth.

Fortunately, this thing had already eaten someone and was digesting them. When Zhang Wuxun and Zhang Haike arrived, the tentacle-like mouthparts were spitting out bones, and Wu Xie was hanging on the tentacle before he could be eaten.

"Boom—"

Several loud explosions followed, the mountain crumbled, and rubble rained down, making the whole world seem to tremble.

Zhang Wuxun quickly conjured a shield to protect himself and Wu Xie.

The large red and white jellyfish was the first to be swept, squeezed, and ravaged by a ball of blazing fire, which was even larger than itself. Finally, it was swallowed up by the thick black smoke that followed. The surrounding mist was twisted into many small tornadoes by the shockwave, and a mushroom cloud slowly rose from the thick fog.

Determined to kill the giant jellyfish, the explosion used half of the explosives that Zhang Wuxun and his team had brought in.

A few minutes later, the aftershocks and falling debris gradually subsided.

Zhang Wuxun cut open a gash, squeezed out blood, and smeared it into Wu Xie's eyes and ears. He removed the materialized shield, picked Wu Xie up again, and, gazing at the billowing smoke still churning in the distance, blew the eagle bone whistle hanging around his neck.

"Wow—"

The sharp cry of the eagle is extremely penetrating, and can travel hundreds of meters away even in the stone forest full of obstacles.

Soon, two whistles sounded in response from a great distance.

Having determined their approximate location by the whistle, Zhang Wuxun and Zhang Haike set off together, heading towards Dan's direction.

After setting up the trap, Dan had already hidden more than 100 meters away. With the dense stone forest acting as a buffer, he easily avoided the strongest shock wave.

After responding to the young clan leader's Eagle Bone Whistle, Dan didn't wait in place. He cautiously approached the center of the explosion to confirm whether the monster was truly dead.

As Dan approached, he saw a large crater about five meters in diameter that had been blasted out.

The body of the large red and white jellyfish was mostly in that pit, its tentacles curled up and drooping on the pit wall, surrounded by countless pieces of flesh and blood, sizzling and popping as it was being roasted by the fire, like water being poured onto a scalding hot griddle, the heat rising into wisps of steam that floated into the air.

Perhaps because it contained too much moisture, this thing didn't ignite immediately.

The cross-section of the giant jellyfish's flesh fragments continuously secreted a slightly reddish, translucent mucus, emitting a faint, sweet-smelling, fishy odor, like blood diluted with water.

Dan squatted down, dipped his fingertip in the substance, and sniffed it. He immediately felt dizzy and quickly moved his hand away, afraid that he would also grab a handful of those ugly red bumps and put them in his mouth.

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"

A slap, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, descended from the sky and landed on Dan's shoulder, causing him to fall flat on his backside.

Dan was completely bewildered.

Zhang Wuxun grabbed him and ran, his tone urgent and anxious, even unusually frantic, "Run! Run! The monsters have exploded!"

Dan subconsciously turned around and saw more than a dozen enormous, red-glowing creatures visibly emerging from the mist a thousand meters behind him, rushing toward Zhang Wuxun and his companions at an incredibly frantic speed!
　Let's leave the ending open for Zhen Haixing for now. Her brother-in-law suffered too much. And to give you a little spoiler, Haixing isn't in the Wang family's main base anymore.

(End of this chapter)