Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

Hei Xiazi and Wang Pangzi reached for the jade burial suit in the coffin almost simultaneously.

One of these two is greedy for money, and the other is someone who can't resist buying good things.

The moment they got together was like a bolt from the blue; they had already reached a tacit understanding without even exchanging glances.

"Hey Fatty, I had my eye on Blackie first," Blackie said, rolling up his sleeves.

Fatty Wang retorted, "First come, first served. The first one my hand touches is mine."

Before the two people could even touch the jade burial suit, a whooshing sound suddenly rang out.

A black and gold ancient sword flew straight from the direction of the tomb entrance, and with a sharp blade, it stuck into the stone platform next to the coffin, the blade trembling incessantly.

Zhang Qiling emerged from the darkness.

His clothes were dusty, and his breathing was a little faster than usual.

It was clear that they had walked a long distance in a short period of time, but their eyes remained as calm as ever.

"Don't move."

The fat man took a step back in fright at the knife.

"Who do you think you are? You think you can just tell me not to move?"

Black Bear also said, "Dude, you have to give me a reason, right?"

Zhang Qiling didn't explain, but simply took something from his pocket and placed it on the coffin.

It was a jade box, its entire body shimmering with a bluish light, and the lid was engraved with intricate inscriptions.

All eyes were on the box.

Wu Sansheng opened the jade box, looked through it a few times, and handed the silk scroll inside to Wu Wei.

"What does it say on it?"

Wu Wei took it, his brows gradually furrowing.

These texts are even more obscure than the sacrificial texts.

Some of the characters don't even belong to any of the ancient writing systems he's familiar with.

With the system's support and his classical Chinese proficiency honed over the years, he was able to piece together the gist of the story through a combination of guesswork and deduction.

"This tomb originally belonged to King Mu, but King Shang of Lu stole it and moved in... Later, a sorcerer named Tie Mian Sheng sneaked into the tomb on the day of King Shang's burial and used his magic to take it away."

Wu Wei raised his head, looking at the still slightly undulating corpse in the coffin with a complicated expression.

"King Lu Shang occupied King Mu's tomb, and as a result, he himself was occupied by Tie Miansheng. The one lying in there is probably Tie Miansheng himself."

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Black Bear was the first to react.

"You mean, this is someone who impersonated someone else?"

Wu Wei nodded.

Wu Sansheng looked at Zhang Qiling and asked, "Where did you get this box?"

Zhang Qiling did not answer.

Fatty Wang scratched his head, looking bewildered: "Then what about this jade burial suit?"

"The jade burial suit belonged to King Lu Shang, and the tomb belonged to King Mu. In the end, no one got anything."

After Hei Xiazi finished speaking, he chuckled to himself, "This Iron-Faced Man is quite ruthless."

While everyone was still engrossed in deciphering the jade box, Zhang Qiling had already walked to the coffin.

The tomb raider raised his fingers and pressed them against the corpse's neck.

The zombie's body began to convulse violently, and the rhythm of its chest heaving suddenly accelerated, as if it were making a final struggle.

Zhang Qiling didn't give it a chance, directly smashing its throat, and the corpse fell completely silent.

Withdrawing his hand, Zhang Qiling pulled out the black gold ancient sword stuck in the stone platform. The cold light on the blade blended into the surrounding darkness.

Black Bear reacted instantly and reached his hand towards the coffin again.

"Good riddance. Now no one will claim this jade burial suit—"

Fatty Wang also reached out, not to be outdone.

Wu Sansheng did not stop them, even though this trip to the tomb resulted in the loss of Da Kui and injuries.

If you go back empty-handed, you'll lose out no matter how you look at it.

But before their hands could even touch the jade garment, a voice abruptly interrupted them.

"Don't touch it!"

Everyone looked toward the source of the sound.

It's Wu Xie!

Wu Xie stood to the side of the coffin, his gaze fixed on the middle section of the jade burial suit, and pointed to one of the jade pieces.

There's something in there.

Everyone looked down and carefully followed his finger.

In the gaps between the jade pieces, something could be vaguely seen slowly wriggling, carefully hiding in the shadow of the gold thread.

It's a corpse beetle!

It was entirely crimson red and much smaller than the corpse beetles I had seen in the Corpse Cave.

It was the size of a fingernail, but the red was too intense, an unnatural red, as if it had been soaked in blood.

"The Corpse Beetle King." Wu Sansheng gasped, took a step back, and sweat immediately beaded on his forehead.

He had spent his entire life in tombs, so he knew all too well what the Corpse Beetle King meant.

Black Bear's expression also turned serious: "This thing is hiding inside the jade burial suit, waiting for an opportunity."

"If it weren't for Young Master San's sharp eyes and our first move, once this thing bites the skin and burrows into the blood vessels, even a god couldn't save it."

Fatty Wang reluctantly withdrew his hand: "Then this jade garment really shouldn't be touched."

Wu Sansheng sighed and waved his hand resignedly: "Don't move the coffin. Search the tomb and take what's valuable."

The group dispersed inside the tomb and selected some well-preserved burial objects from the surrounding stone platforms.

I took some porcelain, bronze, and jade items and put them in my backpack.

Fatty Wang retrieved a pair of bronze horses, while Black Bear kept several jade pendants of good quality.

The two looked at each other, sighed in unison as if they had known each other for a long time, and then burst out laughing at the same time.

Wu Wei stood beside the coffin, still holding the jade box in his hand.

He turned the box upside down and found something slightly protruding in the gap between the inside of the lid and the bottom of the box.

With a gentle pry of your finger, a black, sheet-like object fell out from the interlayer.

It was jet black and glossy, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

Qilin Jie.

Wu Wei gripped the Qilin Blood tightly and turned to look at Wu Xie standing beside him.

His tone was very casual, as if he were telling him to eat a piece of candy: "Xiao Xie, open your mouth."

Wu Xie opened his mouth instinctively.

Before he could even ask what it was, Wu Wei had already stuffed the Qilin Jie into his mouth.

Wu Xie frowned as he put the thing in his mouth: "What is this? It tastes so strange."

"Swallow it." Wu Wei patted him on the shoulder. "It's good stuff, you'll see later."

Black Bear recognized it at a glance and came over to ask, "Hey, is there any more? I'd like to try some too."

Wu Wei shrugged: "That's all, just one yuan."

Black Bear muttered regretfully, "What a pity."

They didn't pursue the matter further and instead went to search for other burial objects.

Wu Wei mentally called out to 999: '999, besides us, are there any other living people in this tomb?'

999 paused for a moment: "Yes, quite a lot."

Wu Wei thought for a moment, then walked over to Zhang Qiling and asked in a low voice, "Brother, were you chasing after a foreigner just now?"

Wu Wei was different from others in Zhang Qiling's mind, so he nodded and answered his question seriously.

"Yes."

Wu Wei had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

'999, I need another piece of Qilin Blood with a slightly weaker medicinal effect.'

999 immediately and firmly refused, stating, "The system cannot generate this directly..."

Wu interrupted it. "Forgive me for forgetting to tell you something."

999 changed its tune again, saying, "In recognition of the host's proactive completion of the task, this is a special reward."

"The effect of the medicine must be very weak, just a tiny bit is enough."

A moment later, Wu Wei's palm sank slightly, and a Qilin Blood, slightly smaller than before, appeared in his hand.

Its color was a bit lighter than normal Qilin blood, but the medicinal fragrance was still very authentic.

"Inject some abnormal energy into me, the kind that leans towards corpse poison."

When it comes to energy-related operations, 999 did it quite smoothly.

I didn't even ask him what he wanted to do before I made the registration.

Wu Wei found a tool and gently placed the Qilin Blood under the gold-threaded jade burial suit.

It's only partially visible; you can see it if you look closely.

He stepped down from the platform where the coffin was placed and curled the corners of his lips into a smile.

He couldn't help feeling happy just thinking about what would happen in the future.