Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 53 Discovery of the Stone Statue
Anliman's voice changed, becoming sharp, clearly indicating he was serious about confronting the fat man. He could usually tolerate the fat man bullying him, since he couldn't beat him, but now, he was willing to risk his life to stop the fat man.

"I'm telling you, young comrades, you can't go hunting gazelles, and you absolutely can't fire your guns..." Has this old man gone mad?
Seeing that Anliman was still rambling on and on, seemingly without end, the fat man was a bit dumbfounded. It was the first time he had ever seen Anliman angry, and for a moment he was a little scared.

"Okay, I'm not fighting anymore, alright?" the fat man quickly said, but Anliman didn't seem to be going to stop.

He continued to talk incessantly: "Humans and animals alike are all living beings. You little comrade, killing innocent people indiscriminately, who's going to be angry with Hu Da...?" An Liman got more and more excited as he spoke.

Everyone looked at Anliman in bewilderment. They never expected this old man to have such a talkative side. He was a master of arguing, and everyone present had to admit defeat.

The fat man had a terrible headache. He couldn't very well give the old man a few moves, could he? He looked at Hu Bayi and saw that the guy seemed afraid of being scolded by An Liman and avoided his gaze.

Old Hu isn't loyal enough to his brothers.

He looked at Hu Ming, hoping this brother could help him shut Anliman up, but Hu Ming pretended not to know. Angered, he grimaced and yelled at Anliman, "Old man, my patience has its limits. I won't fight the yellow sheep, okay? You shut up."

"Really not going to fight anymore?" Anliman stared at the fat man questioningly, preparing a barrage of words to bombard him, but he nodded fiercely.

"I won't fight, okay? I'll just eat some jerky. You old man, you really talk too much. Hey, I say one sentence and you say so many."

Anliman, however, didn't care and continued, "That's more like it. That's why Hu Da likes you."

"Old man, stop it, stop it! Fine, I'll do whatever you say." The fat man pulled out a cigarette and started smoking dejectedly, getting angrier with each puff. He hadn't gotten to eat the sheep, and instead, he'd been ridiculed by An Liman. Didn't he see Ye Yixin and Yang Xueli laughing on the side?
"Uncle Anliman, don't worry, we won't hunt the gazelles." Hu Ming was worried that Anliman would continue to talk nonsense. The fat man wouldn't hunt the gazelles, but he might attack this old man.

He continued, "The water source here is inconvenient, and there are no spices to remove the fishy smell, so it's hard to eat. It's not as fragrant as dried meat or flatbread."

Hu Ming was telling the truth. Besides, this is a desert, and when you're butchering a gazelle, it's easy to get sand stuck in your mouth, so when you eat it, your mouth will be full of sand.

Moreover, the bloody smell during sheep processing could attract predators like wolves. Besides, Hu Ming also remembered that this place seemed to be an anthill, so he couldn't do anything reckless.

"That's more like it, Hu Da really likes you."

Anliman smiled at Hu Ming, nodded, and then said nothing more.

The fat man rolled his eyes at Hu Ming, his gaze full of resentment, "Why didn't you say so sooner? Why did you have to wait for this old man to nag for so long?"

Hu Ming ignored the fat man and instead turned to look at Ye Yixin beside him. Seeing that she was holding a bone, he smiled and asked, "Little Ye, what are you doing with that bone?"

"what?"

Ye Yixin looked down in confusion, not believing that she had taken a bone. She thought Hu Ming was playing a prank on her. But when she looked at the thing in her hand, it really was a bone. She was immediately terrified.

"Ah..." she then threw the bone away and hurriedly stood up.

Ye Yixin was horrified, her body trembling slightly as she hid behind Yang Xueli, as if she were terrified of something.

When everyone looked closely, they found a skeleton buried in the yellow sand—or rather, a skeleton without flesh and blood.

Hu Ming, standing next to her, covered his ears and said helplessly, "Xiao Ye! You're an archaeologist, why are you afraid of bones? Isn't that laughable? Or are you a newbie?"

Hu Ming was somewhat annoyed. How could an archaeologist be afraid of skeletons, especially with so many people sitting around him?

Moreover, her voice was truly amazing; Hu Ming felt as if her voice was deafening.

"I... I was just not mentally prepared. If I had been mentally prepared, I definitely wouldn't have been afraid."

Ye Yixin managed to argue her point.

"Don't panic, it's just a skeleton," Professor Chen waved his hand.

"Grandpa, do you think the corpses in the desert are all the kind that were roasted alive? After being exposed to the wind and sand, they should have become mummies, so how did they turn out like this?" Hu Bayi carefully examined the skeleton and asked with some doubt.

“What you said is true. Skeletons in the desert should indeed turn into mummies. But there are wolves or leopards in this area, so this dead person may not have been roasted to death. They may have been eaten by wild animals.” “This skeleton is a bit strange. Logically speaking, corpses in the desert do not decompose. They will only be dried into mummies. But this skeleton has no flesh or blood on it, and there are traces of it being gnawed on.”

Hu Bayi frowned, staring intently at the skeleton with a serious expression. In truth, even without him saying so, Professor Chen and the other archaeologists could immediately tell. Analyzing skeletal remains was their forte. However, these words sent chills down the spines of the timid, making their scalps tingle.

Hu Ming, smoking a cigarette, watched An Liman sit there motionless, and slowly uttered a bombshell statement.

"They were eaten by wolves," he said casually, but it terrified Ye Yixin and the other college students.

Hu Bayi looked around at everyone and said, "This person probably came here to escape the sandstorm and was attacked and eaten by wolves. It might not be safe here tonight. We need to keep a close eye on the camels outside and the holes in the roof." As he spoke, he glanced at the holes in the roof. The holes were not big, but sand was leaking out.

However, as long as they keep a close watch, there won't be any problems. Once the sand and soil start to fill the temple, they can retreat to the dilapidated city wall in time to avoid the sandstorm and remain safe.

Crackling and popping! The sand pine needles burned, the flames flickering.

Outside! The sky was already pitch black, and the wind and sand were raging, whipping against the rooftops, giving the impression that the end of the world was about to come.

The crowd sat around the fire, their faces glowing red from the flames.

Yang Xueli picked up a piece of solid fuel and threw it into the fire. Then she hugged her knees with both hands, rested her chin on her knees, and her beautiful eyes kept turning around, as if she was thinking about something.

Ye Yixin sat quietly beside her, staring blankly at the flames.

As for the old man Anliman, he went outside to check on his beloved camels. Finding them alright, he crawled back in and saw Hu Bayi and Fatty digging in the sand. He paused for a moment, slightly surprised. Could there be some treasure here? If there was any, it would belong to Hu Bayi.

"What are you doing!" Hu Bayi looked up at An Liman, the old man, whose eyes were filled with suspicion.

"Grandpa, Fatty and I were thinking of burying the remains; leaving them there to scare people," Hu Bayi explained.

He'd sleep here tonight; he didn't want to open his eyes to see a skeleton—that would be too disheartening!
"I see!" Anliman smiled, crawled into his sleeping bag, covered his head with a blanket, and went to sleep.

Crack. It seems I hit something hard.

The fat man paused, then asked himself in confusion, "What is that?"
He stepped back with the entrenching tool, lifted it up, and tossed the sand aside. His eyes widened as he looked at Hu Bayi. "Old Hu, it looks like there's something there. Do you think it's treasure?"

Hu Ming sat by the fire, about seven or eight meters away from the fat man.

But he could still hear the fat man's hushed voice. He smirked. This fat guy really hadn't changed; he thought everything he dug up was a treasure.
There aren't that many treasures!

"It's a stone." After clearing away the sand, Hu Bayan could see clearly that it was a stone buried in the sand. Hmm, it was somewhat similar to a round stone.

The fat man's eyes widened in disappointment. It wasn't a treasure; he immediately lost interest. Had he just been made excited for nothing?
"Old Hu, you handle this yourself. I'm going to warm myself by the fire."

Brushing the sand off his clothes, the fat man acted like a hands-off manager, walking over to the fire and sitting down next to Sadipeng. He raised his hand and patted Sadipeng's shoulder, saying, "Glasses, didn't you like studying aliens?"

Sadipeng looked at the fat man, completely bewildered. What did that mean?
“Then…”, the fat man pointed at Hu Bayi, “there’s a stone there, it should be an alien stone, maybe it was left by aliens.”

"Brother Hu, is there really an alien stone?" Sa Dipeng excitedly ran over and came to Hu Bayi's side. His eyes lit up when he saw it.

Hu Bayi cleared away a lot of sand, revealing half of the stone. It was a stone head.

It should be some kind of stone sculpture. Because it is buried deep in the sand, the head of the stone sculpture is dark and the two stone eyes are long and big.

"Professor, there's something here!" Sadipeng exclaimed excitedly.

He wasn't sure if the stone statue was related to aliens, so he needed to find an expert to help him.

(End of this chapter)