Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 573 Illusion!

If any one of the bells is accidentally touched, the resulting chain reaction could be enough to shake thousands upon thousands of bronze hexagonal wind chimes here!
The sound of a single hexagonal wind chime is enough to confuse several burly men, let alone thousands.

In the blink of an eye, this terrifying power is enough to drive someone insane, or even completely destroy their mind!
"The Zhang family in Hong Kong has a set of bronze wind chimes in their possession. After years of research, they have mastered one way to use them."

"By striking it at a special rhythm, it can completely erase all of a person's past memories."

Glancing at the bewildered group, the young man poured cold water on their hopes once again.

"You Zhang family are really amazing to be able to do something so incredible with just one team. You actually managed to create such a simple yet unsolvable anti-theft system."

"Speaking of which, Zhang Qiling, now that this thing has appeared in your Zhang family, you must have a way to resist its power, right?"

Wu Xie looked at the densely packed, intertwined silk threads and bells in front of him and felt dizzy. He groaned softly and looked at Xiao Ge for help.

"Forget about it. The only way to get through here is to avoid the threads and the bells. Otherwise, even if you're deaf, it won't help."

"This wind chime emits a strange frequency of fluctuation that can successfully damage your brain within a certain range, whether you can hear it or not."

"Also, there's no time for you to hesitate or agonize anymore. If you don't leave now, you'll really die here."

Hu Ming threw away his backpack, took off his slightly bulky layers of clothing and tossed them aside to minimize the space they took up. He then pointed behind him, signaling the others to look over.

The passage through which Hu Ming and his group came had countless tiny holes on both sides, from which white, highly alkaline mist was continuously gushing out.

Within just a few minutes, the white mist had filled the space in the passage and was now rushing toward where everyone was at a very rapid speed.

With their escape routes behind them completely cut off, the only way for them to survive was to move forward.

The methods that the Zhang family hailed as the ultimate defense system naturally have no blind spots.

"There's no time, I'm going first, you guys hurry up and follow!"

Upon seeing this, the fat man's expression suddenly changed.

Following Hu Ming's example, he threw away all his burdens, glanced reluctantly at the priceless paintings, stuffed a few exquisite trinkets into his pocket, and rushed towards the stone beam without saying a word.

There's a reason why the fat man calls himself the most agile fat man.

The bulky body can always make many incredible movements, constantly twisting its fat limbs and body to barely avoid contact with the silk wind chimes.

In a few dozen seconds, the fat man had successfully covered most of the distance. As the fat man moved, Wu Xie, who was the least skilled, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and at the same time felt a surge of confidence.

If the fat guy can get through it smoothly, then he can too!
Seeing this, Hu Ming secretly shook his head. This nephew probably forgot that he was physically useless.

Despite his size, Wu Xie, with his stiff bones, is no match for Fatty in terms of physical agility.

Suddenly, an accident happened!
Just as he was about to safely reach the end, the fat man suddenly froze in place, remaining motionless for several seconds.

"Fatty, what the hell are you dawdling for? Hurry up and get over there!"

Upon seeing this, Wu Xie subconsciously urged.

"This is bad..."

However, the fat man did not react at all, and an ominous premonition immediately arose in the hearts of the group.

as predicted!
The next moment, the fat man suddenly trembled all over and spat out a mouthful of blood!
Perhaps the fat man was lucky; at the end, the density of the silk threads and wind chimes decreased significantly, and most of his blood avoided the silk threads and wind chimes.

Only a few drops of blood splattered onto the silk thread, causing a slight tremor, and the nearest small bell even began to shake.

This scene sent a chill down their spines. Besides worrying about the fat man's condition, they were even more concerned about what might happen to the bell.

Just as the bell was about to ring out a clear sound, two slender fingers suddenly reached around the fat man's back and firmly and powerfully clamped the bell between his fingers.

The silk thread and bell stabilized instantly, and the group breathed a sigh of relief, finally having time to wipe the cold sweat from their foreheads.

"When did your gas mask break? Why didn't you say so sooner? It's so important!"

Hu Ming carefully released the bell, nimbly circled around to the front of the fat man, and frowned deeply as he looked at the fat man's pale face and the small crack under the gas mask.

If I'm not mistaken, this should be caused by the excessive explosion just now.

Just now, Hu Ming sensed something was wrong the moment the fat man's figure appeared, and dodged the silk wind chimes at top speed, arriving at the last second.

"Hey, it's not a life-or-death situation yet, is it? I think this concentration is still manageable."

"Uncle, I owe you my life!"

Seeing that the crisis was over, the fat man shakily took off his now-useless gas mask, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, smiled bitterly, and said seriously.

"You've probably forgotten what I'm best at."

Hu Ming's lips twitched. How should he put it? This fat guy was a little too blunt, wasn't he?
Fortunately, the fat man seemed to be in good condition. He had only inhaled a small concentration of alkaline gas, which caused some damage to his lungs, but it was completely unknown and not irreversible.

"What else could it be? Just like the guy, it can hit 'Holy crap'! I really forgot!" the fat guy replied, but then his eyes widened as he watched Hu Ming pull out a perfectly good gas mask out of thin air, and he almost slapped himself.

He really forgot that Hu Ming had this trick up his sleeve!

Hu Ming and the fat man were now only two meters away from the pool at the end of the pool.

After his breathing stabilized, the fat man followed Hu Ming and quickly traversed the last stretch of the distance. When he reached the end, he let out a strange cry, struck a pose like a white crane spreading its wings, and jumped into the pool with a splash.

"Tianzhen, you have to believe in yourself, you can do it! Hurry up, the fog is coming, there's not much time left!"

He stood up from the waist-deep water and shouted to Wu Xie on the other side.

Both the young man and the young woman are agile; if the fat man could manage, they would naturally have no problem.

Although Xiao Hua was carrying Huo Xiangu's corpse on her back, she still managed to cross over safely with the help of Xiao Ge.

Now, only Wu Xie remains on the other side.

The fog was slowly approaching Wu Xie's buttocks, and it seemed that in a minute or two at most, the fog would completely cover the area.

"Damn it, let's go for it!"

Taking a deep breath to bolster his courage, Wu Xie cursed under his breath with a slightly ferocious expression and strode forward.

Strangely enough, the moment he stepped onto the stone bridge, Wu Xie suddenly felt dizzy, seemingly due to the influence of the strange bronze substance.

In the dim light, one could almost see a figure on the cliff below the stone beam, while a familiar yet bold song echoed softly in one's ears.

"Go ahead, Third Master, go ahead boldly, go ahead, and don't look back."

"The road to heaven is nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times."

That's clearly Panzi's voice!
Wu Xie was extremely familiar with Panzi's voice!
"Panzi! Is that you? Are you here? How did you get here? Run! This place is about to become hell on earth!"

Without thinking, Wu Xie shouted anxiously at the top of his lungs.

"What's going on? Is Tianzhen possessed or something? Wasn't that bastard Panzi waiting for us outside? How could he be here?"

On the opposite bank, in the pool, the group stared blankly at Wu Xie, who was suddenly gesturing wildly and shouting. Fatty scratched his head and asked, puzzled.

"Is it because of the bronze hexagonal wind chime? But that doesn't make sense either, the wind chime wasn't touched, and we weren't affected at all."

The young man also frowned, completely baffled.

"...About half a year ago, Wu Xie and one of his childhood friends who had long since passed away went to the Qinling Mountains and had a long period of close contact with the Bronze Tree deep in the Qinling Mountains. Perhaps it was due to the lingering influence of that mysterious power?"

Just as Wu Xie's hand was about to touch the wind chime, Hu Ming swiftly drew a pistol from his waist, aimed, and fired in one smooth motion, even having the leisure to quietly explain Wu Xie's strange behavior.

boom!
The bullet pierced through the crisscrossing web of threads without touching a single thread or wind chime, precisely shattering the wind chime that Wu Xie was about to touch.

Ancient bronze possesses many mysterious powers, but nothing in this world is perfect, and its hardness is much lower than that of other metals.

"Qin Ling? My deceased childhood friend? Is that so...? Did the dying person's obsession trigger that strange power to recreate a childhood friend?"

"I never expected that Wu Xie had come into contact with the Bronze Divine Tree. His body must have been affected to some extent. No wonder he resonated with the hexagonal wind chime unexpectedly."

“I remember that in ancient times, that place was one of the habitats of the Queen Mother of the West’s clan.”

"The bronze sacred tree, crafted from massive amounts of ancient bronze and extending deep underground, was built to lure out and hunt the 'earth dragons' that live deep beneath the earth. The earth dragons' grease is a vital resource for that tribe."

Having regained his memories, the young man naturally knew about the bronze divine tree deep in the Qinling Mountains. Although he didn't know the details of that incident, he was able to roughly guess some of it after Hu Ming gave him a brief reminder.

"Nephew, don't panic, keep going boldly forward, I'll be here to support you!"

There was no time to tell Fatty and Xiaohua the story of the Qinling Bronze Tree, so Hu Ming shouted loudly at Wu Xie, who had been awakened by the gunshot.

Wu Xie blankly wiped away the tears that had unknowingly welled up in the corners of his eyes. Hu Ming's words and Pan Zi's words in the environment gradually merged into one sentence—"Go forward boldly!"
"it is good!"

Undoubtedly, whether it's Panzi in the illusion or Hu Ming in reality, these two are the people Wu Xie trusts the most.

Completely letting go of his insecurities and worries, Wu Xie glanced back at the increasingly approaching fog, breathing in the scorching air that even his gas mask couldn't completely filter out, feeling the burning pain in his lungs, and strode forward.

While maintaining his speed, Wu Xie twisted his stiff body as much as possible. Just when he was about to inevitably touch the wind chimes, a gunshot would always ring out from the other side, shattering the wind chimes.

This was the most dangerous yet safest path Wu Xie had ever taken. Only when he successfully crossed the stone bridge and arrived at Hu Ming's side did Wu Xie finally relax completely.

Looking back at the silk threads and wind chimes, perhaps due to the lingering influence of the bronze environment, Wu Xie felt that the path he had walked was bought with Panzi's life.

The rough, off-key voice in his eyes still faintly echoed in my mind—"Young Master, go forward boldly, go forward, don't look back!"
This wasn't the first time Wu Xie had broken free from the bronze illusion. Compared to the one in Qinling, Wu Xie felt that this illusion... should have been real!
"Uncle, thank you so much this time. I definitely wouldn't have made it without your support. Let's go, Uncle Ming. For some reason, I suddenly want to see Panzi."

Looking down at the bottomless cliff below, Wu Xie's voice carried a hint of melancholy that he himself was unaware of.