Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 29

After pretending to think for a moment, the fat man said, "Alright, I'll reluctantly go with you."

Hu Bayi rolled his eyes at him upon hearing this.

Hu Ming frowned and said, "In that case, I hope that when we go to the desert, we will remember to make sure that each of us wears a gas mask."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xueli asked in confusion, "Gas mask?"

"Well, if we're going to the ancient city of Jingjue, it would be best if everyone brought a gas mask. Also, does everyone know that the Queen of Jingjue is a snake charmer?"

Hu Ming nodded as he spoke, then drank a glass of water.

Professor Chen and the others were somewhat surprised to hear this, saying, "The Queen of Jingjue plays with snakes?"

Seeing everyone's surprise, Hu Ming frowned and said, "You didn't know that the Queen of Jingjue could control snakes?"

Professor Chen and the others shook their heads upon hearing this, and then said to Hu Ming, "Comrade Xiaoming, I know you are very knowledgeable about the history of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions. I wonder if you could tell us about the history of the Jingjue Kingdom?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Ming raised an eyebrow and said, "That's enough for today. I'll talk to you again when I have time. I remember I have a notebook; I'll show it to you then."

After Hu Ming finished speaking, he got up. It was getting late, so he left with Hu Bayi and Fatty.

Professor Chen wanted to ask more questions, but Yang Xueli stopped him.

"Uncle Chen, there's no rush. Since Mr. Hu Ming said he would tell us about the Jingjue Kingdom later."

Yang Xueli said this, then got up to see Hu Ming and the others off.

After seeing Hu Ming and his group off, Yang Xueli smiled slightly at Professor Chen. "Uncle Chen, with the assistance of these three, we will definitely find the Jingjue Ancient City. You can rest assured. Especially Hu Ming, he's unfathomable. I reckon he knows all the clues to the Jingjue Ancient City, he just doesn't say anything." Yang Xueli's guess was indeed correct.

Professor Chen nodded in agreement. "According to the notes left by your father, there are many dangers along the way. We are good at archaeology, but we may not be able to handle dangerous situations. We should try our best to get along with them, seek their opinions, and also be wary of them."

After all, we've only known each other for less than two days. We don't have much of a relationship, and our partnership is based on mutual benefit, which is essentially an employer-employee relationship.

As the saying goes, one should not have the heart to harm others, but one should not be without the heart to guard against others. Shirley Yang and Professor Chen had the same idea.

Hu Ming and his two companions arrived at a breakfast stall. Smelling the delicious aroma, Hu Ming sat down to eat something, as they were all hungry.

Hu Bayi had originally planned to have some tea and then go back to cook some noodles himself to save money.

However, due to the strong opposition from the nearly starving fat man and Hu Ming, they had no choice but to come here and spend some money to eat breakfast.

"Boss, two bowls of wontons, three fried dough sticks, and a bowl of soy milk."

"Alright, gentlemen, please have a seat. We'll prepare it for you right away." The fat man moved his chair next to Hu Ming and asked mysteriously, "Mingzi, how much do you think this piece of jade is worth? Give me a price. Also, will this jade lose its value once we find the Jingjue Ancient City?"

He pulled the jade pendant out of his collar and handed it to Hu Ming.

Hu Ming didn't even glance at the jade pendant. He picked up the soy milk, blew on it, took a small sip, and ate a bite of the pancake. "Hmm, not bad." He then turned to look at the fat man. "Don't always think about how much money your dad left you is worth. Take good care of it."

While your piece is somewhat related to the Jingjue Ancient City, its value doesn't depend on the city itself, but rather on whether the buyer likes it. Personally, I wouldn't take it even if you gave it to me for free.

The fat man smiled, put the jade away, and thought, "Well, it was a waste of time." He lowered his head and ate his wontons.

“Mingzi, in my opinion, those intellectuals will just take a stroll and then turn back because they can’t stand the hardship. Don’t even talk about finding the ancient city of Jingjue. The desert temperature there is as high as fifty or sixty degrees Celsius.”

At this point, Huba scooped up a spoonful of wontons and put it in his mouth, his expression slightly contorting. "It smells so good! I love eating wontons from the capital. This tastes so much better than the ones I ate at high altitudes."

"Old Hu, so you mean we're just going on a short trip, and it'll only cost a few tens of thousands of US dollars?"

The fat man chuckled a few times and looked at Hu Ming, saying, "If what Old Hu said is true, the three of us brothers have made tens of thousands of US dollars from that American girl for free, doing nothing and even going on vacation. Only a stupid American could get such a good deal."

"Fatty, think about it. Professor Chen and Professor Hao, who is severely nearsighted, are both so old. Can their bodies handle going to the desert? And that little girl named Ye Yixin, she's frail and lacks stamina. In my opinion, they'll be crying and wanting to come back in a few days."

Hu Bayi was beaming with delight, his face full of smiles, as if the $50,000 had been given to him for free.

"That's great! After we get the American girl's dollars, we can go to the Jingjue Ancient City, take out the treasures inside, and sell them. The three of us brothers will be rich!" the fat man said excitedly.

"You're dreaming. Those archaeologists are incredibly stubborn. Their perseverance in archaeology is even stronger than our perseverance in tomb raiding and treasure hunting."

As Hu Ming ate his second fried pancake, he glanced at Hu Bayi and Fatty. These two were thinking far too simply, far too naively.

A woman as shrewd as Yang Xueli, how could her money be so easy to earn?

"Eat quickly, I'll go get some gasoline, you two go back and pack what you need."

Hu Ming got a barrel of gasoline, and also bought fifty catties of aged glutinous rice, as well as black dog blood and so on from the rice warehouse.

He bought a lot of food and drinks, knowing that this journey would be very dangerous, and he needed to be prepared.

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that going to Jingjue Ancient City was too dangerous and required the help of local officials, as well as that living desert map, he would have taken Hu Bayi and Fatty there long ago.

This time, we might have to go to the Kunlun Glacier to end Hu Bayi's nightmare of more than ten years, and maybe even get a reward from the system.

(End of this chapter)