Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

Wu Wei got out of the car and walked along the rocky slope into the mountains.

There are no proper routes in this area.

The ground was covered with jagged pebbles and tangled low shrubs, and with each step, you could hear the crunching sound of your shoes grinding over the pebbles.

After walking for more than an hour into the mountains, the cell phone signal started to become intermittent.

The small red dot on the screen appeared and disappeared intermittently.

Wu Wei repeatedly compared the miniature map on the screen with the terrain in front of him, trying to remember Wu Xie's current location.

But after walking a little further in, a line of gray text appeared on the screen—the location signal has been lost.

Wu Wei continued walking forward based on his memory, but found that the more he walked, the more confused he became.

Those marks that I finally managed to memorize were like a jigsaw puzzle that had been deliberately scrambled.

Wu Wei sighed and mentally called out, "Little 9, can you locate Wu Xie?"

"No. My mission is to collect abnormal energy; the world map hasn't been loaded."

999's answer made Wu Weixin's heart sink.

Just as I was about to turn back to a place with a signal to recalibrate the markers, 999 spoke up again:

However, the Abnormal Energy Guide can be upgraded by consuming one lottery draw. After upgrading, it can be bound to a person, whose location will then be shared with you.

Wu Wei did not hesitate. Abnormal energy guides are certainly good, serving as alarms to warn of danger.

But Wu Xie is no longer the protagonist in the book whom he only had a slight liking for when he first transmigrated, but the younger brother he has protected since childhood.

"upgrade."

[Ding! 1 draw attempt consumed to upgrade the Abnormal Energy Guide. Current remaining draw attempts: 2.]

"The Guide to Abnormal Energy Collection has been successfully upgraded to single-line binding."

"Use immediately and bind to Wu Xie."

"Binding successful."

The moment the words left his mouth, Wu Wei seemed to sense something.

With his mind focused on Wu Xie's location, a thin white light indeed appeared beside him, pointing towards the depths of the dense forest.

You can also vaguely sense the distance!

Wu Wei calculated that, based on Wu Xie's current movement speed, it would take about two or three hours to catch up.

He put away his phone and quickened his pace, heading deeper into the valley.

Meanwhile, Lao Yang and Wu Xie had already reached the depths of the valley.

After crossing the highest point of the mountain, we climbed down for a while. The rocks under our feet were slippery, and the air was filled with the smell of rotting leaves and soil.

Wu Xie climbed in slow motion, expressionless, like a programmed puppet.

Lao Yang injured his arm while arguing with Wu Xie in the stairwell.

At this moment, any exertion caused him to grimace in pain, and his climbing movements were even slower than Wu Xie's.

When Lao Yang stopped to catch his breath, Wu Xie also stopped and stood there watching Lao Yang.

The two of them didn't bring much food when they came out; Lao Yang only had compressed biscuits left in his backpack.

He opened the kettle and took a few sips, but the water was almost gone, and his stomach felt empty.

I tore open a bag of compressed biscuits and took a few bites. They were dry and hard, and my throat hurt when I swallowed them.

Lao Yang glanced at Wu Xie and handed him the empty bottle: "Go get me some water."

Wu Xie obediently took the bottle, turned around and left.

After a while, he returned with the bottle.

Lao Yang took the bottle and saw that it was filled with murky muddy water, with a few pieces of grass floating in it.

"I want it clean! Clean!"

Lao Yang poured out the dirty water and shoved the bottle back into Wu Xie's hand.

Wu Xie's expression remained unchanged. He bent down to pick up the bottle that had been knocked over and found a clean mountain stream to fill a bottle with water.

Old Yang then gave up, took a few sips, filled his water bottle, and continued walking.

By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain, more than half the day had passed.

The valley was dimly lit, with the overhead rock walls cutting the sky into a narrow slit, and the light filtering through barely illuminating the path beneath our feet.

Lao Yang suddenly stopped.

Looking up at the cracked rock face in front of him, his expression changed.

It was a kind of obsessive anticipation, like a traveler who had walked for a long time in the desert finally seeing the shadow of an oasis.

He relaxed completely, and the exhaustion surged up the moment he let his guard down, forcing him to sit down against the rock wall and gasp for breath.

"Sit down," he said to Wu Xie.

Wu Xie sat down next to him, staring blankly ahead.

Lao Yang turned to look at him, his lips twitching slightly as if he were smiling.

He leaned against the rock wall, his eyes flickering with light, his lips moving as he whispered, "Wu Xie, you are one of my few friends."

"What a pity."

Lao Yang's voice became very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were saying his final goodbye to Wu Xie, "But I can't help it, I'm sorry."

Lost in his own thoughts, Lao Yang didn't notice that the wind in the valley had stopped.

Without the sound of the wind rustling through the plants, the valley was silent, and even the chirping of insects gradually disappeared.

Just as Lao Yang was about to continue forward, he tripped over something.

Lao Yang bent down to look and saw a wriggling green vine crawling on the ground.

It made no sound at all when it brushed against the grass.

Lao Yang thought it was some kind of snake that resembled vines, so he took a few steps back.

He called to Wu Xie, who was still sitting on the ground, "Keep going."

*Whoosh!*

Just as Lao Yang turned around, a whooshing sound rang out behind him.

Lao Yang tried to dodge, but his reaction was clearly too late.

His limbs were bound by several vines, and he was hanging in the air.

Lao Yang was terrified and struggled to break free. He had never encountered anything like this before!

But the vines were strong enough to keep him firmly suspended in mid-air.

Lao Yang gave the unresponsive Wu Xie a command: "Wu Xie, save me."

With a blank expression, Wu Xie truly went to pull the vines with his bare hands.

Although it wasn't torn apart, the aggressive stance angered the vines.

It flung Lao Yang away, sending him crashing hard onto the ground covered in pebbles.

It wrapped itself around Wu Xie's limbs again and tightened its grip.

It wasn't until Lao Yang was thrown off that he saw what this thing actually was.

From a dark shadow the size of a rock on the ground, five thick, long vines emerged, resembling eerie plants from a post-apocalyptic novel.

Some small vines with roots were sliding along the ground, heading in his direction.

Ignoring the pain, Lao Yang quickly got up and ran back in fear.

"What is this? It wasn't here last time..."

Wu Xie's face was flushed as he was suspended in the air, and one of the vines wrapped around his neck tightened.

Wu Xie's brain was in a state of oxygen deprivation, but his eyes seemed to have regained some emotion.

Unable to make a sound with his neck being strangled, Wu Xie unconsciously mouthed a shape.

"elder brother……"

"laugh--"

A short, sharp blade sliced ​​through the roots of the vines, and all the vines in the air fell to the ground.

As Wu Xie fell along the vines, he was caught and landed in a warm embrace.

"I'm here, everything's alright!"