Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

After entering the side hall, the young man found a relatively flat stone platform to sit on and looked at Wu Wei, asking, "What's your name?"

"Wu Wei".

The man frowned. "Wait a minute, why is your surname Wu?"

He then asked, "Don't you feel that I'm a little different from other people?"

Wu Wei looked at him with suspicion, and then carefully examined the young man in front of him.

He tentatively asked, "You're quite good-looking?"

"Ahem, is there anything else?" the man asked without denying it.

Wu Wei honestly shook his head.

The young man was silent for a moment: "Who taught you your fingering technique?"

Wu Wei didn't answer, but instead asked, "Why are you asking these questions?"

The man didn't mince words; looking Wu Wei straight in the eye, he stated directly, "My surname is Zhang."

Wu Wei suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Is it really that much of a coincidence?

No wonder he kept looking at his bleeding hands.

The man stood up, walked up to Wu Wei, and drew a dagger from his waist.

Wu Wei instinctively took half a step back.

The man showed no intention of attacking; he simply pinched Wu Wei's index finger and gently sliced ​​it, causing a drop of blood to seep from the cut.

The young man lowered his head, brought the drop of blood close, and then his expression turned to disbelief.

"Qilin!" he murmured.

"Why is Qilin outside, and why is he surnamed Wu?!"

His gaze swept over Wu Wei several times, his brows furrowing into a knot.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked at Wu Wei with a look of realization.

Rumors within the family say that their elusive patriarch has recently been accompanied by a junior member of the Wu family.

The clan was abuzz with discussion, all wondering why the clan leader wasn't returning to his ancestral home but instead getting closer to the Wu family.

The person in front of me must be that young member of the Wu family!

My goodness! No wonder the clan leader was willing to bring someone with him; it turns out he'd found a little Qilin!

His expression changed from sudden realization to a look of pity for the younger generation.

He reached out, as if to pat Wu Wei's head.

Wu Wei dodged away expressionlessly.

The young man didn't mind, withdrew his hand, and sighed, "You've suffered these past years."

Wu Wei looked puzzled. What had he suffered?

He was adopted by Wu Erbai when he was a child, and he never lacked food or clothing. He went to school, pursued a doctorate, and traveled everywhere.

Aside from getting injured while tomb raiding, life here is infinitely better than being an orphan in my previous life.

He really couldn't understand what tragic scenario this person had imagined.

The young man offered no further explanation, but simply led Wu Wei out of the side hall and back into the main hall.

He pointed to the middle-aged man on the ground, who was already dead: "He was a member of the Wang family. Good riddance."

Wu Wei and Xie Yuchen exchanged a glance. Sure enough!

The young man glanced at his watch, checked the time, and said reluctantly to Wu Wei:

"I still have tasks to finish. We'll come to see you in a while; they'll be very happy."

Without waiting for Wu Wei's reply, he turned and walked briskly towards the gate.

Before disappearing, he turned back and waved to Wu Wei.

The hall fell silent. Four people stood amidst the shattered stone statues and fallen corpses, each with a different expression.

Wu Xie walked up to Wu Wei and whispered, "Brother."

Wu Wei shook his head and didn't say anything more.

He didn't want to discuss this in the grave.

"Let's go, let's look around some more and see if we've missed anything."

Wu Wei patted Wu Xie on the shoulder and walked towards the side hall.

The group searched the side hall again, but apart from a few piles of charred wooden remains and a pile of things that looked like mud, they found nothing of value.

Fatty Wang squatted in front of the pile of mud, turned it over with a shovel, but found nothing. He turned it over again, but still found nothing.

He stood up and dusted his hands off in annoyance:

"Why is it different from the original tomb? It's just a side hall, and there's nothing there, just a pile of mud."

Seeing the fat man's dejected look, Wu Wei said:

"Hey Fatty, this is a small country that died out early. There's not even a record of it in history books. The fact that they were able to build it up like this probably requires the full strength of the entire nation."

"Do you really expect it to be like the imperial tombs of those unified dynasties, with one side hall after another, piled high with gold and silver treasures?"

The fat man thought about it and felt it made sense, but he still couldn't help but mutter something under his breath:

"Indeed, our ancestors were the best; they were so generous."

Wu Xie put the shovel into his backpack and zipped it up:

"Alright, Fatty, you didn't come for nothing. Your pockets are pretty full."

Fatty Wang hefted his bulging backpack and grinned:

"That's true. Alright, let's go!"

The four people walked back along the way they came, passed through the main hall, and went up the stairs carved with the map of ascending to heaven.

Take down the jade piece that opened the stone door, and also peel off the two bronze plaques on the gate where the eyes of the divine bird were located.

These are all old things; we can't waste them.

When I returned to the outside of the stone gate through the passageway, it was already pitch black outside.

The mountain breeze carried the coolness of early autumn, and the starry sky above was exceptionally clear, with the Milky Way stretching across the horizon and stars dotting it.

Xie Yuchen looked up at the night sky: "It's very bright."

Wu Wei also looked up and saw that the Milky Way was rarely so clear in the Beijing night sky.

The four of them tacitly avoided mentioning the Wang family member or the young man who had suddenly appeared.

Wu Xie walked to Wu Wei's side and whispered, "Brother, let's go."

Wu Wei nodded and looked away.

With four backpacks crammed full and looking disheveled, I dared not walk through the exit gate of the scenic area.

Based on my memory of finding the way in the morning, I walked towards a fence that I could squeeze through.

It was too dark, and they were afraid of being discovered, so the four of them only dared to turn on one flashlight.

Wu Wei led the way, followed closely by Xie Yuchen, with Wu Xie and Fatty bringing up the rear.

Avoiding the scattered stones and mounds of earth underfoot, I carefully groped my way forward.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Wu Wei tied his jacket, which had gotten wet while crossing the river, to two fence posts and slowly tightened it.

Wu Xie was afraid that Wu Wei would hurt his arm if he used too much force, so he took the arm and continued.

Soon, the two fences deformed, revealing a space large enough for one person to pass through.

Wu Xie tried crawling through and happily told the three behind him to follow.

Just then, a flashlight beam shone from afar.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

It's the voice of that security guard from yesterday!

The group tensed up, and Xie Yuchen quickly grabbed her backpack and went through.

The fat man rushed forward, but got stuck between two fences.

"Oh dear, Fatty can't get out."

Several more flashlight beams shone over, and Wu Xie and Xie Yuchen pulled the fat man's arm and dragged him outside.

The fat man inhaled deeply, trying to shrink his size as much as possible.

As the flashlight beam drew closer, so did the security guard's shouts.

In his haste, Wu Wei kicked the fat man hard in the buttocks.

The fat man cried out "Ouch!" and was kicked to the ground.

Wu Wei threw the fat man's backpack over, then quickly grabbed his own and left.

Wu Wei looked in the direction of the security guards behind him and said to everyone:

"Run, brothers, it'll be so embarrassing if we get caught."

"Hurry up!"

All four were in good physical condition. They carried their bags and ran off into the distance without looking back, leaving the security guards far behind.

They only stopped to catch their breath after the flashlight beams stopped shining from behind.

They looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Oh my god, how embarrassing!"