Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Here, the Yao village at the bottom of the lake is very close to the Zhang Family Ancient Building, which was rebuilt by the Zhang family in the late Qing Dynasty.

To be precise, in the very center of the Yao village, there is a Zhang Family Ancient Building located on the ground.

Of course, this is only a tiny part of the ancient building designed by the "Yangshi Lei" firm for the Zhang family during the late Qing Dynasty.

All the secrets of Zhangjia Ancient Building are hidden in the underground part, deep within the mountains before us.

When the young man approached the Zhang Family Ancient Building again, he might have been affected by some kind of strange force, which is not surprising.

Hu Ming was well aware of this.

Back then, the person who coveted the secrets of the Zhang Family Ancient Building was not only the longevity method researched by the Zhang family, but also the mysterious power deep within the Zhang Family Ancient Building.

That power, which draws upon the essence of the dragon vein, is rumored to be able to bring people back from the dead!
"As for the Yao village at the bottom of the lake, I seem to remember something, but I also seem to remember nothing at all."

"In my memory, there seems to be something there that is closely related to me."

The young man looked at the lake with a slightly bewildered expression, as if trying to see through the dark blue surface to uncover the secrets hidden in the Yao village at the bottom of the lake.

It took the young man a long time to come to his senses.

After a brief silence, everyone turned their attention to what the deliveryman had brought up.

As for the skeletons that Hu Ming brought up.

What's so interesting about that thing?
Are we supposed to identify a person by examining their bones? Determine the identity of the deceased from fragmented, withered remains?
That's bullshit!
The skeletons merely prove that the remains of the archaeological team from back then were indeed sucked away somewhere by a siphon effect.

The things the guy brought up were a little creepy.

It was a black object, about the size of a hiking backpack, covered with a clump of rotting black tentacles.
I keep saying it, it's really disgusting.

This thing has swelled up from being soaked in the lake water, and it looks like a ball.

In terms of specific appearance, it is roughly similar to the rotting corpses of dead pigs and dogs floating in the water.

Looking at this thing, Fatty and Wu Xie felt nauseous and quickly moved away from it.

"Holy crap, buddy, you really have the guts to do that! You just grab whatever's disgusting, right?"

The thing kept oozing a thick, foul-smelling liquid, which looked exactly like corpse fluid.
The fat man was not bad; he got sprayed in the face and his face immediately turned green.

It's disgusting.

The young man didn't care. He flipped over and jumped onto the rubber boat, then with a wave of his hand, he pressed down directly on the "corpse," and saw the "corpse fluid" squeeze out.

Then, with a swift motion, he ripped off the disgusting tentacles, and the black-gold sword flashed by, slicing a large gash into the "corpse."

Upon closer inspection, the tentacles that Zhang Qiling threw into the water were actually just a strange type of aquatic plant.

And that "rotten corpse"

"This is an old-fashioned leather bag, an old-fashioned trunk for carrying luggage. It's not some rotting corpse."

The young man casually rummaged through his things and explained in a nonchalant manner.

The outer layer of the leather bag was completely rotten from being soaked in water, leaving only a thin lining.

There was a wire frame inside that supported the leather bag, preventing it from falling apart.

The first thing that catches the eye in the leather bag is a piece of rotten, cotton-like material. Judging from its shape, it is probably the remnant of a waterlogged mess.

The fat man grew impatient watching the young man's slow and methodical movements, so he simply pulled out his paratrooper knife from his waist and started stirring inside.

Soon, the contents were pulled out.

Inside were three combs, a badge, a wooden picture frame, a box of Baiqueling face cream, and a tea canister.

"There were only two female members in that archaeological team back then, Wenjin and Huoling. Can you guess whose this is?" Hu Ming tossed the photo frame, now a tattered mess of colored stripes, up and down, and laid out the three combs one by one, asking with great interest.

Aside from women, I've never seen a man carry three combs of different sizes when he goes out.

Of course, effeminate men are an exception.

After all, effeminate men are a bunch of weird creatures who are neither male nor female, so it's not surprising that they do anything.

But back then, as an archaeologist, I doubt such a bizarre species existed.
Who cares who she is, it doesn't matter!

The fat man casually tossed away the photo frame that Hu Ming had thrown at him. It was useless now; the photo was just a blurry blob of color, and you couldn't make out any information from it.

The group went through the rest of the items one by one.

Ding ding ding...

When they turned over the tea canister, they suddenly heard a metallic clanging sound coming from inside.

The group exchanged glances; something was up!
The tea canister was made of iron and had been submerged in the lake for many years. It was so rusted that it could not be opened. Hu Ming simply twisted the lid open with brute force and poured out a black object.

Upon seeing this, Hu Ming raised an eyebrow and whistled.

Wu Xie and Fatty immediately exclaimed in surprise.

Even the young man's expression changed slightly.

What was poured out of the tea canister was strikingly similar to the iron block hidden under the young man's bed!
Place it under your nose, and through the smell of rotting rust, you can faintly detect a strange fragrance.

"It's this kind of thing again. What the hell were those archaeological teams doing back then? Why were they all collecting body parts?"

The fat man washed his hands in the lake, smelling foul, and muttered something in disgust.

Previously, Hu Ming had already explained the nature of this thing to the group.

This is part of the remains of a failed experiment in achieving immortality.

However, the iron block in front of him was somewhat different from the one under the young man's bed.

There were no signs of corrosion from strong acid or alkali on this piece of iron.

Judging from the patterns above, these two items do indeed originate from the same source.

Here, all the clues seemed to connect.

"Is everything I want to know buried in this lake?"

Wu Xie was determined to press on and explore the underwater situation in one go.

Unfortunately, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight; long-term planning is essential.

Moreover, his body couldn't support him going back into the water anytime soon.

The group marked a spot on the water with nylon ropes and buoys, then went ashore in their rubber dinghy to rest.

It's worth mentioning that Wu Xie looks rather miserable right now.

Many capillaries ruptured all over his body, and there was bruising everywhere under his skin. Even the corners of his eyes, ears, and nostrils were slowly bleeding.

This is roughly what it looks like when blood flows from all seven orifices.

This sight terrified A-Gui and Yun-Cai.

They quickly used makeshift methods to treat Wu Xie.

While waiting for his meal, Hu Ming had already sketched a rough map of the village he saw at the bottom of the lake on a piece of paper…