Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 525 Here it comes!

Mount Siguniang is located in a remote area. At that time, there were no mobile communication base stations here, so mobile phone communication was simply not feasible.

During this period, communication with Huo Xiangu and the others was maintained through their subordinates who traveled to nearby villages and contacted them via landline.

The three large bags placed in front of the three people had messy and illegible writing on them.
This is Fatty's handwriting, no doubt about it!
Upon opening it, I found it was full of packaged photos and papers.

On the top shelf was a photo of the fat guy happily posing with the clouds.
The background of the photo is that lake, and the young man is sitting silently by the lake, holding a knife.

"Little fatty, you should thank me..."

Looking at the fat man's genuinely joyful smile in the photo, Hu Ming chuckled softly.

On the back of the photo, three words were written in red pen: Envious, aren't you?
Wu Xie's face darkened, and he simply swept the photo away, out of sight, out of mind.

The rest of the photos were mostly taken when they went into the mountains.

Ah Gui was still the guide into the mountains. Huo Xiangu sat in a royal carriage, looking exactly like an empress dowager. Huo Xiuxiu, as always, served the old lady with her quirky and clever ways.

In one of the photos, Huo Xiuxiu seemed to notice the fat man taking the picture and even struck a pose for the camera.

But even through the photo, Hu Ming could still see the deep worry in the girl's eyes.

Ignoring these useless photos, Hu Ming and his two companions focused on the important points.

The background is the cave from which Hu Ming and his group emerged from the ground. All their equipment is piled up nearby, and the fat man gives a close-up shot of the young man wearing cave exploration clothing.

That cave connects to a network of passages deep underground. Clearly, the main entrance that Huo Xiangu knew of was located deep within one of the side passages.

The subsequent photos were all of the interior of the caves.

until
This is a very special photo.

The photo is very clear; it shows a stone slab blocking the road with a circular, star-like object carved on it.

The pattern on the relief is exactly the same as the iron plate that Hu Ming and his two companions found deep in the cave.

In the photo, many small patterns are carved around the relief, and all the subsequent photos are of the details of these small patterns.

"This is the 'door'!"

Upon seeing this, Hu Ming sighed.

This relief, this huge stone slab blocking the cave, is the real gate leading to the depths of the Zhang Family Ancient Building!
Of course, this is just one of them.

On the back of the photo, someone wrote a line of small words in red ink:
After entering from the entrance, walk 700 meters and you will encounter the first obstacle. The key to overcoming this obstacle is with you. I don't know your situation, so please try your best to analyze it.

Things are already clear.

With the help of the Yangshi Lei blueprints, Huo Xiangu led the group to avoid many dangers and easily arrived at the entrance.

Now, the key to opening the door is with Hu Ming and his group, who are thousands of miles away!
Upon closer inspection, the small patterns in the photo include a monkey, a group of people without right hands carved in the middle, a group of ethnic minority swordsmen dressed in ancient costumes on the far right, and three "holes" in the last image.

Judging from the composition, these patterns roughly tell a story.

Kong, locked to the iron plate, roared to the sky. The man without a right hand turned his back to Kong, fleeing. Meanwhile, the ethnic minority swordsman faced the fleeing man without a right hand head-on.

"Is this... referring to the ethnic minority swordsmen and Kong surrounding these people without right hands?" "Uncle Ming, the people without right hands remind me of the things inside the ancient building at the bottom of the lake."

Wu Xie frowned, biting his nails, and made a bold guess.

"The Hou? The monster trapped under the iron plate, is that Hou?"

"Besides, judging by this, that armadillo must have lived for at least several hundred years, right? This place is sparsely populated and devoid of life. Heavens! A beast that has been tormented by hunger for hundreds of years... We're in big trouble!"

Xiaohua rubbed her temples, her head aching.

He remembered the unidentified creature that Hu Ming had smashed down with the iron plate earlier.
A monster tormented by hunger for hundreds of years, or a monster already enraged by Hu Ming?
"hiss"

Xiao Hua gasped in shock. This is bad!

"In short, the connection between these two things is clearly an ancient form of secrecy: the 'thousand-mile lock'!"

"In any case, we must return to the deepest part of the cave to have any chance of solving the mystery."

Hu Ming shrugged dismissively. It was just a madman; he'd left that thing behind a week ago precisely for this moment.
After checking their equipment, the three of them went straight into the depths of the cave.

Again, with a heavy heart, Wu Xie poured out a drop of Xiao Ge's well-preserved blood from a special bottle and smeared it on his body.

Wu Xie had to go through a lot of persuasion and pleading to get this from Xiao Ge.

Given this guy's temperament, he's practically a non-renewable resource; every bit used is one less available!
"Give me some too, don't be so stingy. We grew up together, we're childhood sweethearts, right?"

Xiao Hua glanced at Hu Ming, who showed no reaction, and without saying a word, snatched the bottle from Wu Xie's hand and poured a drop into it for herself.

If there's an easier way, who would want to go through the trouble?
"Damn it! You better use it sparingly!"

Wu Xie rubbed his teeth in distress.

The three of them easily returned to the deepest part of the cave.

The searchlights illuminated the surroundings.

"Sure enough, the image in the photo is indeed this large iron plate; however, the four smaller images surrounding it are missing."

Hearing the sudden, rapid metallic clanging in her ears, Xiaohua frowned slightly.

"They're here. Be careful."

However, at that moment, Hu Ming suddenly chuckled softly and drew his precious sword.

"What's here?"

Wu Xie and Xiao Hua exchanged a glance, looking bewildered.

"The energy source used to power the iron plate? It's not a very clear picture, but that's roughly the idea."

Hu Ming thought for a moment and answered casually.

Just then, a loud roar came from under the iron plate.

The next moment, the iron plate was lifted up from below by the unknown creature with tremendous force, and a dark shadow dragged a bronze chain as thick as a wrist and roared with red eyes as it rushed out from the gap!
"Roar!!!"