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

Zhang Jiuri stared blankly at Dan's retreating figure, dragging Zhang Nian away. His eyes were empty, and no one knew what he was thinking at that moment, or perhaps he wasn't thinking at all.

Zhang Nian's story ends here. So where will his ending be?
Zhang Jiuri lowered his eyelashes silently, whispering to himself, "Let's wait a little longer, until Zhang Qiling comes out of that door..."

He thought again, if he followed them, Zhang Qiling would remember his friends, and perhaps, at some point, Zhang Qiling would also remember him?

The fat man sighed, stroking his stubble and striking a scholarly pose. "As the saying goes, revenge only leads to more revenge, so it's better to nip it in the bud and avoid trouble."

"Our brother is too kind. He spared the life of such a scourge, allowing him to live on until today, harming both himself and others."

Wu Xie asked Zhang Haike curiously, "Speaking of which, what's the deal with this Zhang Nian? Why does he hate Xiao Ge so much? He even created such a powerful poison that almost wiped us all out. Weren't you teammates helping each other back when you were roaming the wilderness in Sizhou Ancient City?"

In Wu Xie and Fatty's memory, Xiao Ge's attitude towards the outside world has always been indifferent, without joy or sorrow, and he exudes a kind of detached indifference. There is no reason for him to have such a great enmity with someone, especially someone from the same clan.

Zhang Haike sighed, saying it was a long story.

"The story begins when the clan chief retrieved the ancestral bell, returned to the edge of the swamp to save us, and then we all returned to our clan home."

Zhang Haike glossed over what happened in the ancient city of Sizhou, only briefly mentioning that in the years after Xiao Ge became Zhang Qiling, the Zhang family was in disarray and order collapsed. After the internal strife, most of the remaining family members and relatives wanted to gain freedom and liberation, so they scattered and left the Zhang family territory.

Only a small number of Zhang family members, clinging to tradition and unwilling to engage with the outside world, stayed with Zhang Qiling in their clan's territory to help him find the secret that the Qiling lineage, which had been severed, was meant to protect.

Zhang Haike and his sister also went to the Zhang family in the port city with their father and some elders. The destruction of the main family had little impact on their overseas branch.

About a decade or so later, Zhang Haike and Zhang Haixing accidentally discovered some special scorpion markings during a mission. The patterns on the markings seemed familiar to them, so they followed the clues all the way to the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, where they found Zhang Jiuri.

After exchanging words, Zhang Haike and his companion learned that Zhang Jiuri had been wandering around his homeland for many years, his footprints covering many surrounding countries.

Wherever he went, he would help the locals resolve some strange and mysterious supernatural events, and then leave many scorpion marks in the area where the events occurred.

He had been using this method to search for Zhang Qiling.

He knew that Zhang Qiling, who had succeeded to the position of clan leader, would definitely inspect these places after reviewing the information sent from archives in various places to the clan's secret pavilion. Zhang Qiling might appear in any place where a supernatural event had occurred.

After learning what had happened, Zhang Haike and Zhang Haixing followed Zhang Jiuri's example and left their mark. They then invited Zhang Jiuri to return to the Zhang family in Hong Kong, but Zhang Jiuri refused.

The next time I saw Zhang Jiuri was ten years later. By then, Zhang Haike had taken over some of the power from his father and rarely did overseas assignments.

Zhang Haixing couldn't stand dealing with the tedious tasks and continued to travel around.

One day, she excitedly brought back news that a new mark belonging exclusively to the clan leader had been carved beneath the scorpion mark left by Zhang Jiuri!
Zhang Jiuri finally got to see Zhang Qiling again, but when they met again more than 20 years later, there was no joy in their reunion; Zhang Qiling had forgotten him.

Zhang Jiuri felt as if he had been struck by lightning in a clear sky. However, before he could recover, he received news from the seriously injured Zhang Nian that his parents had been murdered.

The sudden bad news left Zhang Jiuri completely stunned.

Zhang Nian told him that Zhang Qiling had killed his wife because the Zhang family did not allow intermarriage with outsiders. Zhang Jiuri's parents had been confidants of Zhang Ruishan's faction, and the acting clan leader, Zhang Ruishan, was the one who executed Zhang Qiling's father, Zhang Fulin. Zhang Jiuri's parents were also involved. Zhang Qiling knew the truth; he had come for revenge.

At first, Zhang Jiuri, who was in a daze, actually believed him. He destroyed the bronze scorpion that the group had brought out from the ancient city of Sizhou, and then searched for Zhang Qiling's whereabouts even more frantically than before, and even clashed with the Hong Kong faction of the Zhang family.

When Zhang Haike learned of the situation, his first reaction was disbelief. Zhang Jiuri was easy to fool, but Zhang Haike had held real power for many years and often dealt with all sorts of rabble and ghosts, so he was not so easily fooled.

An outsider's perspective is clear; Zhang Nian's tricks were crystal clear to him.

Zhang Haike ordered his men to keep an eye on Zhang Jiuri, a dangerous individual who could explode at any moment, and then personally led a team to Kathmandu, Nepal, to search for clues and evidence.

Zhang Nian has done quite well over the years. Relying on the skills and blood of the Zhang family, as well as his profit-driven nature and cunning, he became the director of the Daola Research Institute and married the daughter of a local powerful figure. He has achieved success in both love and career.

But Zhang Nian was not satisfied with this. He used all sorts of means to seize power and win over and deceive some scattered members of the Zhang family, intending to establish a new Zhang family with another form of immortality.

He wanted to become another Zhang family patriarch, but he didn't know what the real burden of becoming a patriarch would be, or what price he would have to pay.

His limited vision led him to see only the power of the clan leader, unaware that Zhang Qiling's identity would become a shackle that would confine him for life.

To achieve this goal, he is willing to sacrifice everything except himself, anyone, and any means necessary, and will not give up until he succeeds.

His research on immortality was inseparable from the blood of the Qilin, so several members of the Zhang family who were deceived by his sweet talk were killed.

And so, Zhang Qiling arrived.

Zhang Nian ignored Zhang Qiling's warnings, resorting to sophistry and even inviting Zhang Qiling to join his "great cause."

Taking advantage of a lull in the fight, Zhang Qiling destroyed Zhang Nian's experimental results, rescued the two surviving members of the Zhang family who were being used as blood bags in a cage, and then left with his men.

The chemicals mixed together caused a deflagration. Zhang Nian was in a hurry to salvage the documents in the fire, which resulted in him and his wife being trapped in the flames.

In the end, only Zhang Nian escaped.

The fire left him disfigured, and he later had to undergo extensive plastic surgery.

He placed all the blame on Zhang Qiling and vowed to kill him.

But he knew very well that he had no ability to fight Zhang Qiling. He needed a partner who shared the same hatred, or a puppet that he could control.

So he set his sights on Zhang Jiuri.

A human skin mask and two half-truths were all it took to completely deceive Zhang Jiuri. (End of Chapter)