Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 148 Finding the Woody Tree
The sky outside was several times darker than before, almost to the point where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The dark clouds overhead made it difficult to even breathe.

In this environment, the roar of hundreds of waterfalls outside the pool and the howling of waterspouts can be heard.

All of this had already buried the voices of the four people.

Furthermore, if one were to remain in such an environment for an extended period of time amidst such deafening noise, wouldn't their eardrums likely suffer irreversible damage sooner or later?
After exchanging a few simple gestures, the four of them reached a consensus: they couldn't linger here and had to climb up the pool wall.

Fortunately, the pool walls were covered with vines that formed natural ladders, which was good news for the four of them.

Although these vines are extremely slippery and difficult to climb, one can easily fall and break bones if one is not careful.

However, compared to waiting at the bottom of the pool for a massive waterspout to fall from mid-air and smash them to pieces, this would be much more comfortable.

"Holy crap, Mingzi, what's that zongzi (rice dumpling) here?!"

Just as the group had struggled to climb more than halfway up the mountain, the fat man suddenly cried out in surprise.

Hu Ming didn't hear the fat man's voice clearly, but the panicked tone still startled him. He quickly turned his head to look, fearing that something unexpected had happened.

This place is definitely not a good place for fighting.

It was a crack in the pool wall, and through the gaps in the huge vines, you could barely make out some things inside.

Upon closer inspection, half of its body was visible inside the crack, and when the searchlight shone on it, its appearance was acceptable.

The woman simply kept her head down and eyes closed, not moving an inch. In such a terrifying celestial phenomenon, the sudden appearance of such a person was bound to cause some speculation.

In particular, the fat man was afraid of heights and was gritting his teeth as he climbed up. It's no wonder he screamed when he suddenly saw this scene.

A green figure, the fresh scent of plants—no way, that's a treasure!
Hu Ming looked at the green-clad woman's shadow, pondered for a moment, and then something came to mind.

With an excited expression, he gestured to the others, meaning, "Let's go in and take a look!" The four of them climbed into the crevice one by one.

The fat man stretched out his gun and poked the green figure with the muzzle. Before the other party could make any move, he was startled and stumbled backward.

"Mingzi, Mingzi, she... she was fucking smiling at me!"

This time, the fat man shouted at the top of his lungs. Hu Ming heard him clearly, his lips twitched, and he shook his head.

As it got closer, upon closer inspection, the figure, apart from being a healthy green color, had the same physical characteristics as a normal person; it had everything a human should have.

"It doesn't respond when asked, but it laughs when touched. Ah, this is a wood ear mushroom. How could I have forgotten about this treasure?"

Under the strange gazes of Hu Bayi and Yang Xueli, Hu Ming carefully examined and stroked the figure, muttering excitedly to himself.

This thing is truly a treasure!
This is a rare and precious plant that only exists in extremely shady places deep in ancient cliffs.

Plants that gather the essence of the earth tend to grow to resemble humans, but even ancient ginseng that is thousands of years old only has facial features. Yet this wood spirit is so lifelike that it is almost a spirit. It is impossible to estimate how many years this humanoid wood spirit has grown.

This thing is undoubtedly a great tonic! Hu Ming glanced back, but Hu Bayi and the others' backpacks were already full, so it seemed impossible to make room to take this treasure back. It looked like he would have to put it into his spatial storage himself in a little while.

In particular, because of the commotion, the roots of this tree have broken.

The fresh scent that Hu Ming smelled was the smell of the sap flowing from its broken part.

Crack! Hu Ming simply drew his knife and chopped the thing into several pieces, stuffing a piece into each person's hand.

Just then, the group was exhausted from their journey and had been eating dry rations. Their stomachs were empty, so this was a good way to fill them up.

To the astonishment of the three men, Hu Ming shoved an arm into his mouth with a satisfying crunch, the taste crisp and sweet.

Whether it was their imagination or not, they felt that when Hu Ming ate, his arm seemed to be alive, as if it was in unbearable pain and was even trembling slightly!
"Eat it! This stuff is even more precious than ginseng, incredibly nourishing. Once you miss this opportunity, it'll be hard to find another one!"

Seeing the three of them standing there dumbfounded, Hu Ming shouted at the top of his lungs. The three nodded blankly before taking a small bite.

Once they tasted the wood ear mushroom, their eyes lit up, and the group wolfed it down.

Perhaps driven by extreme hunger, the group devoured the enormous wooden basket completely.

Hu Ming ate most of it. After all, excellent physical fitness means high energy expenditure and a high demand for external nutrition, which is unavoidable. After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them felt as if they had been reborn.

This thing is just a precious tonic, not some mythical treasure that can cleanse your marrow and rejuvenate your meridians just by swallowing it. The specific benefits will gradually become apparent in the future. After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them moved a little faster.

Before long, they had climbed the remaining distance, used their grappling hooks to climb onto a plank road, and then hurriedly ran towards a cave.

In this kind of weather, nobody knows what will happen next.

After all, Hu Ming and his group disrupted the feng shui layout here, causing the earth's precious energy, which had been restrained by the King of Xian for over two thousand years, to backfire. No one knows what serious consequences this will cause.

Such a grand gesture in feng shui is probably a rare sight in the long history of China.

Just as the four reached the cave entrance, a deafening roar suddenly drowned out the sounds of wind and water, reaching their ears.

Looking back, it was the airplane that had been stuck in the pool wall that had crashed down!
Hu Ming and the others all swallowed hard. If they had been any slower, they would have been smashed into mincemeat by the plane!
Keep in mind, the plane was right above the entrance to the tomb passage; if it crashed, no one would escape!
Upon entering the cave, Hu Ming immediately noticed that the water level had dropped.

The water was covered with white corpses—the insect infants and the corpse of the woman who used the Gu technique!
Just as Hu Ming predicted, once the environment changed drastically, these things were unable to adapt to the new environment, and their own organisms went towards self-destruction.

“Mingzi, you were right after all. The air here really does seem to be no different from outside.”

"The strange bugs here are all gone. That's good, we don't have to run anymore..."

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(End of this chapter)