Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 82 Temple
As Hu Ba began to gesture, Hu Ming suddenly spoke up, "Old Hu, you underestimate the Queen of Jingjue too much."

"Hmm? Akiko, what brilliant idea do you have?"

"I don't know if you've heard of striking a snake at its seven-inch mark? Dragons and snakes actually have many similarities. Ancient and modern myths often tell of snakes transforming into dragons, and dragons transforming into jiaos. Therefore, the seven-inch mark of a dragon must also be a fatal point. When people strike a snake at its seven-inch mark, they usually attack from the direction of its head, so the attack that lands on the seven-inch mark is at an angle."

"Moreover, dragons are creatures with extremely strong vitality, so how could they be killed? Therefore, this black tower is a nail, pinning it in place and preventing it from taking flight."

"Therefore, I believe that the Queen of Jingjue deliberately built this tower crooked!"

"I think everyone noticed this while inside the tower. There's no sense of tilting inside, and all the statues are upright. If it were an upright tower, even a slight tilt would be noticeable; at the very least, the statues would be slightly crooked."

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi suddenly realized that Hu Ming was right. Looking again, it seemed that the black tower had indeed struck the snake's vital spot.

"Wow, Queen Jingjue is amazing! I almost fell for her trap. Looking closely, Mingzi is right. The temple must be nearby. Let's all look for it."

Upon hearing this, Hu Ming looked behind him. He couldn't see anything behind the sand dunes and hills, but he had a feeling that the temple was there.

The fat man immediately understood when he saw Hu Ming looking behind him.

"I'll go up and take a look first, you guys follow me." The fat man ran very fast, and even the largest sand dune has its limits, so in just a few dozen seconds, he reached the top of the dune. The next second, he shouted, "Come quick, there's a black stone house here."

At that moment, Hu Ming, Hu Bayi, Yang Xueli, and Professor Chen exchanged glances and immediately knew the answer: there was no doubt about it. Most of the buildings in this ancient city were made of yellow earth, with black stone used only in special places.

When everyone went up, the fat man was digging in the yellow sand, and several people rushed up to help him.

The group took turns digging, and in no time they had dug a corner of the sand pile. Seeing this, Hu Bayi took out a match to test the air quality below.

Hu Bayi turned on his flashlight again and again. Seeing that there was no danger, he slid down, and Fatty followed closely behind.

The stone hall is very grand, supported by sixteen giant stone pillars. Only the entrance to the hall is blocked by yellow sand, but there is no sand inside.

Deep inside the hall was a stone platform upon which was enshrined a jade eyeball. Under the cold flames, the eyeball was not very clear, but it instantly attracted the attention of Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang.

When Hu Ming and the others came down, Hu Bayi and Wang Pangzi had already arrived at the jade eyeball. By the light of the flashlight, they could see that there were naturally formed red threads and blue pupils in the jade, with distinct layers, almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Fatty Wang had already started grabbing at the eyeballs, clearly intending to take them for himself. Seeing this, Professor Chen quickly shouted angrily, "Don't move!"

Wang Pangzi was stunned, but Hu Bayi immediately realized what was happening and quickly scolded, "Fatty, what are you doing? How can you use brute force like that? Let the old professor come and take a look."

Professor Chen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked over, scolding, "How can we archaeologists use brute force? Some of these things are ancient, corroded, and very fragile. Do you know how many national treasures you'll destroy by doing this?" Fatty Wang's lips twitched upon hearing this, but he ultimately didn't say anything more. Their profession was not respectable, and speaking out would cause trouble.

While Professor Chen was carefully observing the jade eyeball, Yang Xueli was also observing, and in doing so, she discovered the secret.

"How much is such a large piece of jade worth?"

As soon as Fatty Wang finished speaking, Professor Chen reprimanded him, "This is priceless; how can it be measured in money?"

"Old Hu, keep a close eye on Fatty. I'm doing this for our lives. You don't want anyone to become the next Professor Hao, do you?"

Hu Bayi paused upon hearing this, then nodded after seeing Hu Ming's serious expression. He then said earnestly to Fatty Wang, "Fatty, let go. Don't touch anything without my orders."

Seeing this, Hu Ming looked to other places. There were three rows of stone statues. The first row was carved with cattle and sheep, and the second row was carved with human figures with square heads. The carving was exquisite.

The third row features large-eyed human figures, indicating that the statues are arranged according to their status. The first row represents livestock, which naturally has the lowest status; the second row represents slaves; and the third row represents the Ghost Cave Clan, who have the highest status.

"Brother Hu Ming, this place is gloomy and a bit scary."

Ye Yixin's beautiful eyes shifted slightly. She felt unsafe here and a sense of fear arose in her heart. She felt safe with Hu Ming, so she moved closer to Hu Ming.

Hu Ming turned his head and looked at Ye Yixin's helpless appearance, saying with some helplessness, "Xiao Ye, you should study hard, find a man to marry after graduation, that's the right path in life. Why did you have to study archaeology and come to these places to suffer?"

Ye Yixin remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Yang Xueli smiled faintly, her beautiful eyes shifting from Hu Ming to Ye Yixin, and said, "Xiao Ye is a brave girl, not just a pretty face. No matter how big the difficulties, you can rise to the challenge."

Ye Yixin smiled after receiving Yang Xueli's praise.

"Thank you, Sister Yang. I'm not as good as you say. I just enjoy archaeology. Life is short. If you can do what you love, you won't have lived in vain!" Her voice was weak and listless.

"Look at this?" Hu Bayi shouted. In front of him was a platform that resembled an altar, with a stone pier on it, about 1.3 meters high, and a square stone slab on top of the pier, which was firmly attached.

A jade sphere, about half the size of a basketball, is stuck in the center of a square stone slab.

The smooth stone ball had a shallow, heptagonal hole at its top, less than three centimeters deep. Looking at this small heptagonal hole, Hu Bayi thought of the jade that Fatty had.

(End of this chapter)