Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

Lao Yang clearly knew what the shattering of the stone meant, and stopped struggling.

Dragging his body, which had turned to stone up to his calves, he crawled to the protruding humanoid figure.

Then Lao Yang bit his wrist hard, and blood gushed from the wound, dripping onto the protrusion.

Wu Wei was afraid that he had really caused some kind of blood sacrifice, so he rushed over and dragged him away from the protrusion.

Lao Yang was pulled and fell to the ground, his petrified lower body hitting the gravel with a dull thud.

He felt no pain; he simply turned his head to the side, staring at the few drops of blood that had dripped onto the bulge, his eyes filled with an almost devout satisfaction.

Lao Yang turned back to look at the two Wu brothers, his lips moving slightly: "Take my mother... back with you."

Wu Wei scoffed:

"Do I have 'good person' written on my face?"

Lao Yang's gaze slowly turned to Wu Xie.

There was no longer any fear of death in his eyes, only a weak and feeble plea.

Wu Xie was already furious with Lao Yang's actions, and now that he saw Lao Yang daring to look at him like that, his pent-up anger finally exploded.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Wu Xie clenched his fists, his voice trembling.

"I don't have 'forgive and forget' written on my face! You tricked me into coming here, used me as a sacrifice, and now you expect me to help you? You deserve it!"

Lao Yang neither refuted nor defended himself.

His lips were still moving, but he could no longer make a complete sound.

A series of breathy sounds squeezed out of his throat, repeating the same few words over and over: "Help me... help me..."

The petrification continued to spread, climbing up his neck.

Wu Wei stopped looking at him and asked 999 in his mind, "How's the absorption progress?"

999's voice was filled with joy: "It's going better than I expected; one-third left."

Then, changing the subject, "However, there were abnormal energy fluctuations where that person's blood had just dripped."

Wu Wei cursed under his breath. Old Yang had really turned it into a sacrifice.

"It's currently absorbing the Bronze Tree's upgradeable energy; it can't collect it all at once. Keep it under control and don't let it fully form."

Wu Wei's eyes widened. Come to think of it, ever since he came to this world, he had always relied on the system to absorb any abnormal energy he encountered, at most just to stall for time while dealing with monsters.

It's a bit strange to suddenly have him deal with a monster on his own.

Wu Wei took a folding shovel from Lao Yang's backpack, walked to the protruding human-shaped figure, and began to dig.

Wu Xie caught up and asked from behind, "Brother, what are you doing?"

Wu Wei didn't even turn his head: "There's some noise here. Stand back a bit."

Wu Xie obediently took a few steps back, stood on the steps, and stared nervously at Wu Wei.

Wu Wei dug away the top layer of soil, revealing a corpse underneath.

It was a female corpse, her body riddled with countless holes from the roots of the bronze tree.

Roots pierced through her chest, abdomen, and limbs, pinning her firmly to the spot.

Most of its face had decayed, with only half of its face still barely recognizable as its original shape before birth.

As the soil was completely removed, the eyes on that half of the face suddenly opened.

Wu Wei gasped.

Those can no longer be considered human eyes!

There were no whites or pupils in his eyes, only two wriggling dark green clumps, as if something was parasitizing inside, viscously rolling and wriggling.

"I'm sorry," Wu Wei said in a low voice, then gripped the short sword with both hands and plunged it into her neck.

The corpse opened its mouth and let out a scream.

"ah--"

The sound burst forth from the equally wriggling, dark green flesh inside the mouth, so sharp it almost pierced the eardrums.

Wu Wei was so shocked that he covered his ears and had to turn his head to avoid the sound wave.

At that very moment, the corpse's right arm moved.

The arm, which wasn't pierced by roots, lightly grasped Wu Wei's shoulder with a strength far beyond that of a human.

"Brother! Watch out!" Wu Xie warned Wu Wei as he rushed over.

But it was too late.

Wu Wei was thrown off balance and his back slammed hard against the bronze tree.

The tree trunk was harder than the stone wall. The moment of impact, Wu Wei felt as if his internal organs had been displaced. He spat out a mouthful of blood and slid down the tree trunk to the ground.

"Brother!" Wu Xie rushed over and helped him up.

With Wu Xie's help, Wu Wei tried to stand up, but as soon as he straightened up, he vomited blood again.

My right shoulder is probably fractured; I can't lift it at all, and every breath brings excruciating pain to my chest.

999 had already absorbed most of the Bronze Tree's energy, and since he managed to drag Lao Yang away in time, the corpse's mutation had not fully developed.

At this moment, the corpse was firmly locked in place by the roots, and only its right arm could move.

"Xiao Xie, listen to me." Wu Wei endured the pain and pondered, then grabbed Wu Xie's arm.

"You need to hold her arm for two or three seconds."

Wu Xie glanced at the blood at the corner of Wu Wei's mouth and nodded vigorously: "Okay. Brother, you're injured, be careful."

The two rushed forward at the same time.

Wu Xie lunged at the side and grabbed the arm tightly with both hands.

The arm was incredibly strong, nearly throwing Wu Xie off balance several times, but Wu Xie gritted his teeth and held on.

Taking advantage of this brief opening, Wu Wei circled around to the top of the corpse's head, grabbed the short sword still stuck in her neck with both hands, and slammed it down from the side.

"ah--"

The corpse, its throat cut open and only half of its neck still attached to its body, let out a final, heart-wrenching scream.

The sound carried a tangible impact, like an invisible sound wave exploding in the air. Wu Wei and Wu Xie were both thrown back by the shockwave and crashed heavily to the ground.

Wu Wei coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood and collapsed to the ground, too weak to even turn over.

My eardrums were ringing, and the scene before my eyes was dizzying.

Wu Xie was also thrown so hard that blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and his forehead hit a rock, causing blood to flow out.

But he immediately got up, stood in front of Wu Wei, and stared warily at the corpse.

Fortunately, that scream was the last sound she made.

The dark green in the corpse's eye sockets gradually disappeared, and its struggling arms fell limply to its sides, never to move again.

Wu Xie made sure the corpse was no longer moving before turning around and running back to Wu Wei's side.

He knelt down and helped Wu Wei up, letting him lean against the stone wall.

Wu Xie remained silent, his hands trembling as he examined Wu Wei's wounds, his eyes bloodshot.

Wu Wei exhaled several breaths tinged with the metallic taste of blood and restrained his movements:

"I'm fine."

Wu Xie, who had been holding back his tears for half a day, finally couldn't hold them back and they flowed down his cheeks.

"It's all my fault."

Wu Wei shook his head with difficulty.

He raised his still-functioning hand and weakly patted Wu Xie's head:

"If you did something bad, I would definitely scold you. But you didn't do anything wrong; you just trusted your friend out of kindness."

Wu Wei turned to look at Lao Yang, who was completely petrified beside him, and said to Wu Xie:

"But kindness shouldn't be wasted on people with bad intentions. Have you learned your lesson?"

Wu Xie nodded with tears streaming down his face, nodding urgently and forcefully: "I've learned it, I've learned it."

Wu Wei endured the pain, grimacing as he leaned against the stone wall to stand up, and forced a smile: "Fine. As long as you learn it, your brother's injuries won't have been in vain."

Just then, 999's joyful voice rang in his mind: "Wu Wei, I've completed the absorption!"

Wu Wei was secretly pleased for it: "Congratulations."

999 immediately added, "I'm about to go into hibernation for an upgrade, and I won't be appearing for a while."

"Be careful, don't go into tombs recklessly and risk your life."

Wu Wei snorted: "You'd better uninstall the 'sharp-tongued' program after you upgrade."

999 ignored his complaints and asked again, "When I'm in hibernation, the system space can't be opened. Do you want me to release the Longevity Ginseng and Ghost Eye Lotus for you?"

"Yes, put it in your backpack. Little Xie is still here; don't let him cause any big commotion."

"OK!"

999 replied with just one word and then fell silent.

Wu Wei suddenly remembered, "Wait, where's my healing card? Did you put it in? It hurts so much!"

'99, 99?'

Wu Wei, supported by Wu Xie, walked over and tried to pick up the backpack.

Wu Xie picked it up and put it on his back first, saying, "I'll do it."

Wu Wei did not stop him; his injury was indeed quite serious, and even breathing was excruciatingly painful.

The backpack contained only two boxes; the healing card was not found.

I flipped through it again in disbelief, but still nothing.

Wu Wei had given up hope and forced himself to say to Wu Xie, "Let's go out first."