Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 298 Convergence
The shipwreck tombs are very large, far exceeding the specifications of ordinary tombs.

There are countless side rooms, side halls, and even mezzanine spaces in the three-story structure.

There are at least dozens of burial pits.

Hu Ming was already well aware of these things, thanks to his "human radar" advantage.

It was fortunate that Hu Ming now knew the structure of the shipwreck tomb very well; otherwise, it would have been quite difficult for Hu Ming and Yin Nanfeng to get to the front hall.

After all, this shipwreck tomb is full of water-powered mechanisms, and many passages only appear at specific times.

However, Hu Ming had a three-dimensional structural diagram of the sunken tomb in his mind, so going to the front hall was not a difficult task.

Even when passing through the burial pits in the interlayer, Hu Ming had the leisure to select some burial items.

Of course, Hu Ming chose small and exquisite items as souvenirs.

Before long, the two of them arrived smoothly at the entrance of the front hall.

Points of light shone from the front hall's main gate; those were the lights of searchlights.

At this moment, Wu Xie and his companions were whispering amongst themselves in front of a coral tree in a passageway attached to the front hall.

"Naive young comrade, you're in the antique business, do you think this thing is valuable?"

Fatty and Wu Xie were still unaware that Hu Ming and Yin Nanfeng had quietly appeared, and were still discussing the matter with great interest.

"The valuable part isn't the coral. This quality of coral is quite common near the coast. The current market price, well, let me think, is around sixteen yuan per kilogram?"

With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Hu Ming quietly gestured to Yin Nanfeng, slowed his pace, lowered his voice, and crept up behind the group before suddenly speaking.

"Only sixteen yuan a pound? Damn, I thought I'd struck it rich this time. I was going to learn a lot from Uncle Jin when I got back, but all that work for nothing... Wait, who's that?!"

"Uncle Ming? What are you doing here? You walk so quietly, are you trying to scare us?"

Halfway through their sentence, Fatty and Wu Xie realized that it wasn't the other person speaking.

The two were immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. When they turned around and saw Hu Ming and Yin Nanfeng with wicked smiles on their faces, they breathed a sigh of relief and complained irritably.

Although Hu Ming and Yin Nanfeng tried to keep their footsteps down, they still made some noise.

However, the two of them were mostly focused on the coral tree and did not notice it.

"You've arrived just in time. We were discussing blowing up the dome to escape, and your timing is perfect."

The young man nodded calmly at Hu Mingyin and Nanfeng.

With his skill, the young man naturally noticed their movements.

"Don't be discouraged, Fatty. Coral may not be worth much, but the wind chimes on it are a real treasure!"

Similarly, Hu Ming nodded to the deliveryman as a greeting.

That's just his personality; overly verbose conversations are not suitable for communicating with him.

Concise and clear is enough.

Upon closer inspection, several brass hexagonal wind chimes were hanging on the coral tree.

The style is exactly the same as the one I encountered in the Corpse Cave in front of the Lu King's Palace.

However, the hexagonal wind chime I encountered this time was made of brass, and there were no centipedes inside.

"Uncle, you're giving me that sly grin. Don't make this up. I've sold plenty of these broken bells, and they're only worth a thousand or so. What makes them valuable?"

The fat man was somewhat skeptical, and as he spoke, he reached out to grab the thing.

"do not move!"

However, Wu Xie quickly grabbed the fat man's hand.

"Uncle Ming, I remember you said before that the sound of these hexagonal wind chimes has a hallucinogenic effect, right?" Wu Xie asked Hu Ming.

He remembered asking Hu Ming about it out of curiosity.

"Don't worry, the hallucinogenic effect is mainly due to the material of that hexagonal wind chime. Bronze Wu Xie, you should understand something about that."

"The hexagonal wind chimes here are just imitations made of brass; they don't have that capability."

Hu Ming shook his head and explained.

The bronze mentioned here is not ordinary bronze, but a type of bronze with mysterious powers that has been passed down from ancient times.

Take, for example, the bronze sacred tree buried deep in the Qinling Mountains.

For example, the bronze doors hidden deep underground around the world.

The bronze hexagonal wind chime inside the corpse cave is not a top-quality one.

As far as Hu Ming knows, a set of bronze wind chimes is now treasured in the Zhang family branch in Hong Kong Province.

Over the years, they have even discovered twelve different ways to induce hallucinations using bronze wind chimes.

"bronze.."

Sure enough, Wu Xie's face immediately darkened as he recalled his terrible experience during the Qinling Mountains trip.

Not to mention the many hardships he endured along the way, even his childhood friend Lao Yang turned out to be another "person" manifested by the power of the Bronze Divine Tree when he was dying many years ago.

For Wu Xie, the trip to the Qinling Mountains was truly unforgettable and deeply etched in his memory.

His values ​​were almost completely destroyed.

"Bronze...Ancient bronze..."

The young man, however, looked at Hu Ming thoughtfully.

Throughout his long life, this young man has visited many ancient tombs from various dynasties.

Although much has been forgotten, he has seen several records of ancient bronzes in recent years.

I just didn't expect that Hu Ming also knew about this.

"Wait, Uncle Ming, the Seven Star Lu Palace is an ancient tomb from the Warring States period, while this is Wang Zanghai's tomb, an ancient tomb from the early Ming Dynasty."

"More than two thousand years separated these two dynasties, how could they possibly have the same style of things?"

Yin Nanfeng, arm in arm with Hu Ming, raised her hand curiously to speak.

"That's another story. I'll tell you about it when we get back. Telling it in detail here would just be padding the word count."

"Now is not the time to talk about these things. If we look at the time, there's less than an hour until the tide goes out, right?"

Hu Ming looked at Wu Xie and the others.

"Damn! I almost forgot! We haven't finished our work yet. But Uncle, you've come at just the right time. If it weren't for Zhang Qiling saying you would definitely come in time, we would have gone to look for you."

"We missed this low tide, and the next one won't be for another week. We don't have enough supplies, and nobody knows what the air quality is like inside this ancient tomb. By then, we'll either starve or suffocate."

Wu Xie slapped his forehead and exclaimed in surprise.

His proposed method of blowing up the dome could only be implemented during low tide.

The seabed here is not deep, especially at low tide; the earthen mound of the shipwreck tomb is only about three to five meters below the sea surface.

If it were any deeper, the terrifying water pressure would have been enough to collapse the shipwreck tomb the instant the structure was destroyed.

If they're accused of sneaking out, they'll all be buried alive inside.

(End of this chapter)