Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 74 Encountering an Ancient Tomb Again
Seeing that she was too embarrassed to talk about it, the considerate Professor Chen waved his hand and comforted her, "It's alright."

Then, he walked to the edge of the sandpit, looked at Hu Ming with a puzzled expression, and asked, "Comrade Xiao Ming, how do you know this isn't quicksand?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Hu Ming, who had just jumped in without any hesitation.

Hu Ming looked at everyone helplessly and said irritably, "Don't you know that the speed at which quicksand moves downwards creates a huge pulling force?"

Xiao Ye was just submerged up to her waist by quicksand. If it were quicksand, Yang Xueli would probably have been pulled down as well, and she wouldn't have been able to catch Xiao Ye at all.

Secondly, if I'm not mistaken, there's a hollow space underneath, which is why you can see the sand moving around under the leaflets.

"Comrade Xiaoming, you said it's empty down there, so what's inside?" Professor Chen asked, looking puzzled.

Could it be an ancient tomb?
"I don't know what it is. If you want to know, just dig through the sand yourselves!" Hu Ming shrugged.

At this moment, Hu Bayi suddenly walked up to Yang Xueli and asked, "What exactly happened just now?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Xueli said, "Xiao Ye and I came here to relieve ourselves, but Xiao Ye suddenly fell in. I thought it was quicksand."

Hu Bayi was taken aback upon hearing this, then frowned and said, "It's good that you're alright. Be more careful next time..."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xueli smiled and nodded.

Meanwhile, everyone else started using tools to sweep away the sand, especially the fat guy who worked the hardest.

Soon, a large pit was cleared out and revealed.

This is a stone tomb beneath the desert, but it has been blasted open, clearly indicating that it has been visited by tomb robbers. However, for the archaeological team, it is like discovering a new continent.

They went inside. It was a single burial chamber with no side chambers, and it was quite large.

However, the coffin lids were all opened and scattered on the ground, and even the corpses had disappeared.

There was also a large backpack full of explosives inside. "This is..."

Hu Bayi knew a lot about explosives. At a glance, he knew that this was a famous new type of explosive from abroad. He picked out some explosives to take with him, while Hu Ming put away the rest. The fat man, on the other hand, carefully searched the inside.

The fat man was disappointed to find nothing.

"Xiao Sa, Xiao Chu, you two carefully prepare the documents and take photos," Professor Chen said to Sa Dipeng and Xiao Chu, his face grim as he looked at the hollowed-out coffin.

"These heartless tomb raiders deserve to die a horrible death!" Hao Aiguo cursed, still feeling unsatisfied, and continued to curse.

"Hey, Professor Hao, your swearing skills are terrible. How about I swear for you?" the fat man volunteered, but he was speechless inside. If he were a tomb raider, he would be the one getting sweared at too.

Professor Chen looked at the three Hu brothers, and then turned his gaze to Shirley Yang.

He slowly said, "I deeply despise these tomb raiders. They destroy ancient tombs and sell cultural relics just to make a little money. They are utterly despicable. We are conducting a protective excavation to find ancient secrets through the ancient tombs."

After saying this, he sighed repeatedly, his face filled with sorrow.

Yang Xueli didn't speak, but a strange expression appeared on her pretty face. "My maternal grandfather was also a tomb raider."

"That's right, tomb raiders are truly despicable, they deserve to die, they deserve to die," Hu Bayi cursed along with Professor Chen, seemingly expressing his hatred for tomb raiders, but Hu Ming, Fatty, and Yang Xueli looked at him strangely.

He coughed awkwardly a few times and asked, "These tomb raiders stole all the corpses, could it be...?"

"Comrade Xiao Hu, in our country, not only funerary objects are valuable, but even mummies are priceless treasures. For example, the mummies in the pyramids have their internal organs removed and their bellies stuffed with preservative herbs to keep their bodies from decaying."

"Another method is to mix charcoal and salt to cure the corpse, but these methods are not effective. The mummies in our country's deserts are naturally dried under sterile conditions and are very valuable."

As soon as Professor Chen finished speaking, the fat man pressed on, "What's it worth? How much?"

The fat man had never heard of a corpse being worth money before; it seemed to have opened a window of opportunity for him to make a fortune.

"At a Western auction, a mummified corpse from our desert was auctioned off for a staggering million dollars, eventually selling for eight million," Professor Chen lamented, noting that many of his country's treasures had ended up overseas.

Fatty and Hu Bayi were both dumbfounded. Good heavens, what a price!
They looked at each other, utterly shocked.

"Mingzi, do you know?"

Fatty and Hu Ming arrived first, and Fatty mysteriously pulled Hu Ming aside. He glanced back at An Liman, and seeing that An Liman hadn't followed, he said in shock, "Professor Chen said that desert mummies are very valuable in the West, they can sell for millions?"

"Of course I know, but don't even think about something as despicable as selling corpses, Fatty."

Hu Ming has his own bottom line; he can take the burial objects from the ancient tomb.

Taking everything would be ideal, but selling corpses? He wouldn't do that.

"Immoral?" The fat man thought about it and seemed to agree.

Not long after, Professor Chen and the others returned. Hao Aiguo was still cursing and swearing, still hating the tomb raiders.

"Judging from the marks left by the blasted stones, these tomb raiders must have started their raid a few days ago. They haven't gone far. We'll set off early tomorrow morning, catch up with them, and retrieve the bodies," Sadipeng said through gritted teeth.

This guy seems incredibly bold, daring to snatch things from those tomb raiders?
The three Hu brothers looked at the bookworm speechlessly. The idea was good, but were he sure he could pull it off?
When Hu Bayi saw Yang Xueli looking at him, as if she had something on her mind, Yang Xueli looked away the next moment.

After thinking for a moment, Hu Bayi led Hu Ming and Fatty to Shirley Yang's side, and everyone started to busy themselves with their own things.

Set up the tents and start a fire.

"Shirley, just say what you have to say, don't beat around the bush," Hu Bayi said, lifting up and gently tugging at Yang Shirley's clothes.

Yang Xueli turned to look at Hu Bayi and the other two, and after thinking for a moment, she slowly said, "I'm worried that these tomb raiders are armed. If we encounter them, it will definitely be a life-or-death battle in this vast desert."

What she really wanted to say was that these tomb raiders had been in the desert for so many days, and they would probably do something crazy when they saw her and Ye Yixin, two girls. After all, what is the best entertainment in the desert? Of course, it's them.

Hu Bayi frowned. He understood Yang Xueli's concerns from her words, but what good was it? They were already here, and if they encountered the tomb raiders, they would have to fight them.

“It’s alright, I brought a gun…” Hu Ming suddenly said just as everyone was silent.

"Where...did you get a gun...?" the fat man asked, somewhat bewildered.

"Don't worry about it. Old Hu will come to my tent in a bit, and I'll give you some things," Hu Ming said casually.

Seeing that Hu Ming didn't want to say more, Hu Bayi didn't follow up with the fat man's words and asked any further questions.

In the evening, after dinner, everyone sat together and chatted.

Sadi Peng, Professor Chen, Ye Yixin, An Liman, and Chu Jian all went back to their tents to sleep. Only four people were by the campfire. The firelight shone on their faces, making them look red. Each of them (except Hu Ming) had a black backpack with talismans drawn on it.

These are backpacks that Hu Ming prepared for them. There were originally three backpacks, one of which was his own. However, given the current situation, Yang Xueli will probably be his sister-in-law soon, so he had no choice but to give his to her. After all, it didn't matter whether he wanted it or not, since he had the system space.

The backpack contained firearms, glutinous rice, and other items. The talismans on the backpack were drawn by Hu Ming himself. He obtained the "Maoshan Talisman" when he was robbing the tomb of Prince Gu Mo.

However, to draw talismans using the Maoshan Talisman, one must have spiritual power. Fortunately, Hu Minglian's Marrow Cleansing Technique has improved somewhat, and he has cultivated a few strands of spiritual power within his body.

Hu Ming then used this spiritual power, along with black dog blood, to draw a successful talisman on the bag with his finger.

Of course, Hu Ming also made many mistakes in his drawings. His backpack and tent now have graffiti made of black dog blood.

Only after mastering the Celestial Master's amulet did I draw on these three bags.

However, drawing talismans always exhausted Hu Ming.

At this time...

"Fatty, Lao Hu, Mingzi, I am truly grateful to you all for this journey."

Yang Xueli suddenly said.

The words caught the fat man and his companions off guard. They all looked at Yang Xueli with confusion, wondering why she had suddenly said that.

There seems to be a hidden meaning in his words.

"Actually, the reason I'm looking for the Jingjue Ancient City is twofold: first, to find clues about my father, and second, because I often have the same dream," Yang Xueli said, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead, a hint of melancholy on her pretty face.

(End of this chapter)