Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Upon seeing this, Xiaohua frowned deeply, as if she had remembered something. She put on gloves, picked up a hammer, and forcefully struck the skull embedded in the cement.

The skull shattered with a crack, and when a flashlight was shone inside, sure enough, the cranial cavity was already filled with these black, hair-like things!
"Tsk, this is bad!"

Xiao Hua's lips twitched, and she subconsciously clicked her tongue.

The hair covering the corpse indicated that he must have died a gruesome death.

The struggling movements of his body, embedded in cement, and the fact that his skull and nasal cavity were perfectly aligned with the cement block inside his nostrils and mouth, all suggest that he was abandoned by his companions and impaled alive in cement!
It's important to know that many people must have witnessed the construction of this project.

Unless there is a huge accident, no one would be so heartless as to sink a living person into cement!
"However, there is good news: these hair-like strange things are already dead and pose no danger whatsoever."

Hu Ming stroked the black fur and said softly.

These things are clearly alive; they are rooted in the bodies of living organisms and grow, nourished by blood and flesh.

Over the years, this skeleton has been completely drained. Encased in cement, it receives no new nutrients and is as dead as can be.

Of course, using the metaphor of life and death to describe clumps of hair is quite bizarre.

Hu Ming, however, knew the true nature of this thing.

This is something the Zhang family developed based on the Corpse Beetle King they obtained from the Queen Mother of the West. It is also one of the byproducts of their failed research into immortality.

The black hairs of the Mitala surrounding the Zhang Family Ancient Building are all byproducts of longevity, used by the Zhang family to protect important places.

As they continued digging deeper, sure enough, more and more gruesome corpses were found in the cement behind them.

Almost one after another, in an endless line, this cement wall was clearly built with human corpses mixed with cement!
It's a real, flesh-and-blood wall!
The corpses had all sorts of different appearances, but they all had something in common: they died tragically, and their bones were covered with lifeless black hair.

In the end, piles of bones appeared.

Strangely, the last skeletons to appear were all huddled together, as if they had been fighting in the concrete.
"It wasn't a fight; it was people in the back desperately trying to push those in front out of the concrete and mud, clinging to a one in ten thousand chance that those in front could escape alive!"

Hu Ming shook his head, lit a cigarette, and rejected Xiao Hua's guess.

This viewpoint can be derived from the posture of the skeletons unearthed along the way.

The person in front stretched their arms outward with all their might, while the person behind curled up with their arms bent, clearly pushing something forward with all their might.

Unfortunately, the empty concrete wall at the front revealed that no one could escape; they all perished in the solidified concrete.

Hu Ming could almost picture the scene that had happened here back then.

People outside poured cement in with horrified expressions, while those inside were trapped under rubble and desperately cried out, "No!"

At the same time, he pushed the person in front of him with all his might, trying to give them a chance to live.

Sadly, his former comrades, their faces filled with grief, poured in large amounts of cement, burying them in the thick layer of cement, from which black hair grew out from the depths of their bones.

The machinery forced cement in, and the immense pressure crushed their bodies, the blood and flesh mingling with the cement to form a dark red cement wall. This death process was undoubtedly extremely agonizing.

"No wonder the elders of the Nine Gates fear them like tigers when they recall what happened here back then..."

Xiaohua sighed deeply, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and sighed with mixed feelings.

The sheer pain and terror of burying a former friend with one's own hands is enough to drive a mentally fragile person mad.

"This is a sheer cliff with no regular roads leading up the mountain. Judging from the conditions back then, transporting tens of thousands of tons of cement up here was no easy task."

"Not to mention the difficulty of installing a cement mixing system on a cliff. You know, for this size of cement in such a narrow space, it's absolutely impossible to mix it by hand."

"If they had discovered an unstoppable crisis, it would have been too late to prepare cement at that point."

Wu Xie got a cigarette from Hu Ming, lit it, and the smoke obscured his hazy eyes.

"you mean"

Xiao Hua frowned; he understood what Wu Xie meant.

"The cement was prepared well in advance; to put it bluntly, it's very likely that it was delivered long before the project even started!"

"According to your thinking, it was Zhang Dafoye who knew there was a deadly crisis here, a crisis that could bury the entire Nine Gates, yet he still ordered the integration of the Nine Gates' forces to explore this place."

"All for the sake of finding the key that he and that important figure are looking for—the key to unlock the Zhang Family Ancient Building!"

"but.…."

Hu Ming grinned and told Wu Xie what he had guessed.

To achieve their goals, they spare no expense and do not mind using their former friends and subordinates; in fact, they even personally bury all their former friends and subordinates here.

Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles!
Without a doubt, Zhang Dafoye has guts!

"But? I remember, your favorite line was, 'But everything before that is bullshit!'"

"So, do you have any other thoughts about the identities of these people?"

Despite Hu Ming's quick wit and speculation, Wu Xie showed no joy. Instead, he asked in confusion.

"These people might not only be from the Nine Gates, but could also be 'his' people!"

"It's worth mentioning that although Master Zhang is a member of the Zhang family, he only has a superficial understanding of the Zhang family's secrets. Before coming here, he was unaware of the dangers here!"

Hu Ming smiled faintly, and with a wave of his hand, he drew his treasured sword, the entire blade piercing into the flesh and cement on the side of the road.