Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

[Just so you know, there's no conflict in the appearance of Zhang Qiling, trust me.]

The sky was terribly overcast.

The clouds hung low over the mountaintops, a hazy gray that looked like it was about to rain. The light in the forest was dim, the air was damp and stuffy, and the smell of earth filled my lungs.

The team moved forward in silence.

No one spoke. The attack by the Blackscale Serpent Cypress had killed five and wounded several more. The stench of blood and monster sap seemed to linger on their clothes, impossible to dispel. Fear weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.

Zhang Qiling walked at the very front.

His black clothes were soaked with sap, which dried into patches of dark and light stains. His fingerless gloves were also dirty, but he didn't change them. His steps were steady, barely making a sound as he walked on the thick layer of decaying leaves. He rewrapped the black and gold ancient sword in cloth and slung it on his back.

Wu Xie, Fatty, and Hei Xiazi followed a few steps behind him.

The fat man gripped his entrenching tool, his small eyes darting around warily, muttering under his breath, "Damn it, this godforsaken place, even things like that can crawl out from underground... I'm going to burn incense for three days straight when I get back."

Wu Xie's face was still a little pale. He pushed up his glasses, his gaze involuntarily falling on the black figure in front of him. This was Xiao Ge. He had watched it countless times in the live stream, but walking behind him in person felt completely different. That silent, powerful, and reassuring aura was like an invisible wall, separating him from the danger and fear behind him.

Hei Xiazi remained as lazy as ever, his sunglasses perched steadily on his nose, but his muscles were taut as he walked, as if ready to spring into action at any moment. He would occasionally glance at Zhang Qiling ahead, a subtle, enigmatic smile playing on his lips.

Lin Guoce led his team behind them. The wounded were being helped along, moving slowly. The ten "Vulture" members were scattered in the middle of the group, quiet but exchanging frequent glances. Sun Shuanzhu was being supported by a soldier, still groaning; his glasses were broken, making everything blurry.

The levitating live-streaming ball buzzed above the team, the camera panning across tired and frightened faces.

The comments are scrolling:

[ID Prophet: I have a feeling something bad is going to happen.]

[ID Specializes in Curing Dissenting Experts: Is Expert Sun still alive? He's incredibly lucky to be alive.]

[ID Guy Fan Club: His back view is killer!]

[Did Fatty Lose Weight Today?: Fatty's wary look is kind of cute]

[ID Innocent and Unfettered: Wu Xie doesn't seem so scared anymore]

[ID Blackie's Sunglasses: What exactly is Blackie looking at?]

It took about an hour to walk.

Zhang Qiling suddenly stopped.

He raised his right hand and made a fist.

The people behind immediately stopped. Lin Guoce made a hand gesture, and the team remained on guard.

Zhang Qiling tilted his head slightly, his ears twitching. His gaze fell on a steep slope to his left. The slope was covered with tangled trees and piled with rocks, making it a good place to set up an ambush.

He smelled it. Faint, but it didn't escape his nose. The smell of sweat, metal, and… the lingering scent of gunpowder. Ten men. Behind the rocks and bushes on that steep slope. Their location was roughly the same as what he had observed from the cliff top.

"There's an ambush ahead," Zhang Qiling said, his voice low but loud enough for the people behind him to hear. "Ten of them, armed. They're the same guys from the ditch entrance."

Lin Guoce's expression changed, and he immediately lowered his voice: "Everyone take cover! Find cover!"

A commotion erupted in the group, and they quickly took cover behind trees and rocks. Kun Ge pulled Chen Man and Wang Yihan to crouch behind a large tree. Jiang Shouyi protected Professor Zhou Xu'an. Wang Lei, Liu Min, and Zhou Ting huddled together, trembling.

The ten "Vulture" team members exchanged glances, slowly dispersed, and reached for their waists.

Hei Xiazi leaned close to Zhang Qiling and whispered, "Mute Zhang, what do we do? Go around them or take them out?"

Zhang Qiling didn't look at him; his gaze remained fixed on the steep slope. "There's no way around it. They're waiting for us to enter the firing range."

"That……"

"You stay here," Zhang Qiling said, untying the strip of cloth binding his sword from his back. A dark scabbard was revealed. He tossed the cloth on the ground and cracked his knuckles. "I'll handle this."

"Are you alone?" Wu Xie couldn't help but ask, his face full of worry.

Zhang Qiling glanced at him. His gaze was indifferent, but Wu Xie inexplicably felt that there was no contempt in it, only a sense of matter-of-fact calm.

"Okay," Zhang Qiling responded, then said to Hei Xiazi, "Keep an eye on those ten outsiders. Don't let them make a move."

Black Bear grinned: "Understood."

Zhang Qiling said no more. He took a deep breath, crouched slightly, and then, like a black arrow fully charged with power, shot out!

Instead of rushing straight down the steep slope, they approached rapidly at an extremely high speed, taking an irregular zigzag route, hidden among the trees and rocks in the forest!

"Fire!" A low growl came from the steep slope; it was in a foreign language.

"Puff puff puff puff—!"

Suppressed gunfire erupted in rapid succession, bullets raining down on Zhang Qiling's trajectory, sending leaves and dirt flying. But Zhang Qiling was too fast, his changes of direction too abrupt, making prediction nearly impossible. The bullets were always a step too slow, grazing his clothes and hitting empty air.

The live stream camera zoomed out to capture this thrilling moment.

The comments section went crazy:

[ID Prophet: I told you! An ambush!]

[ID Guy's Fan Club: Holy crap, that speed! That positioning!]

[This ID is the ultimate weapon against so-called experts: Even bullets can't catch up with it!]

[ID: Innocent and Unfettered: This is too dangerous!]

In just three seconds, Zhang Qiling had already covered half the distance and was approaching the bottom of the steep slope. The people on the slope were clearly panicked, and their firepower intensified, trying to block all his advance with a barrage of bullets.

As another volley of bullets swept in, Zhang Qiling suddenly lunged to the side and slid along the ground, taking cover behind a rock about half his height. Bullets clanged against the rock, sending stone chips flying.

He leaned against the rock, slightly out of breath. His gaze calmly swept over the positions of several firing points on the slope. Ten men, scattered across five points, providing crossfire.

He unsheathed the black and gold ancient sword from his back and held it in his left hand. With his right hand, he drew a dagger from his side—one he had taken from the group of poachers earlier.

The next second, he moved.

Instead of rushing out from behind the rock, he leaped up from the spot, pushed off with his left foot against the side of the rock, and used the momentum to rise into the air. The dagger in his right hand flew out of his hand, turning into a cold light and shooting towards the nearest firing point!

"Ah!" A short, sharp scream rang out. The gunfire from the ambush point ceased.

Zhang Qiling was in mid-air, his left hand holding the sheathed black gold ancient sword, which he swung up like a heavy iron rod, and slammed it down on another mercenary who had just popped his head out to the side and was about to fire!

"Bang!"

The scabbard slammed solidly into the side of the man's helmet. Even with the helmet cushioning the impact, the immense force caused the man's neck to crack with a sickening sound, and he collapsed without uttering a sound.

Zhang Qiling landed, rolled, and dodged the barrage coming from a third direction. As he rolled, his black-gold ancient sword was already drawn. With a flash of light, it severed a drooping vine. He grabbed the vine, pushed off the ground, and swung like a swing towards another firing point diagonally upwards!

The mercenary saw the dark figure approaching and turned his gun. But Zhang Qiling released his grip just before it arrived, his body falling, and the blade flashed upwards!

"Sizzle—"

The mercenary's gun-wielding arm was severed at the shoulder, blood spurting high into the air. Before he could even scream, he was kicked in the chest, his sternum caved in, and he flew backward.

Five breaths, three points resolved.

The remaining seven mercenaries were completely panicked. They hadn't expected someone to be so fast and ruthless. This wasn't a battle; it was a massacre.

"Concentrate fire! Kill him!" the leader roared into the communicator.

The remaining four firing positions relentlessly rained bullets down on the possible location of Zhang Qiling. But Zhang Qiling was no longer there. Like a ghost, he silently circled around to the side and rear of one of the firing positions, using the shadows of the trees and the terrain as cover.

The mercenary was nervously staring ahead, completely unaware that death was already behind him. Zhang Qiling swiftly brought his blade down, and the man's head flew off.

He grabbed the automatic rifle the mercenary had dropped, and without even looking at it, he aimed at the approximate locations of the other two firing positions he remembered, and pulled the trigger, firing a short burst.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

"Ugh!" A muffled groan came from a point.

Zhang Qiling threw away his rifle, which was now empty, and lunged towards the last stronghold, where the leader was located.

The leader was a burly white man with a face full of scars. As he watched his men being killed one by one, his eyes turned bloodshot. He roared and opened fire with his gun, the bullets sending sparks flying from the rocks in front of him.

Zhang Qiling crouched low and surged forward through the gaps between bullets. When he was three meters away, he suddenly threw out the black gold ancient sword in his hand!

The knife spun like a black lightning bolt, aiming straight for the leader's face.

The leader was shocked and instinctively raised his gun to block.

"Clang!" The knife was knocked away.

But in that split second of parrying, Zhang Qiling was already in front of him. The leader didn't even see his movement clearly; he only felt a chill in his throat, followed by excruciating pain. He looked down and saw the hilt of the dagger that had once belonged to his subordinate embedded in his neck.

Zhang Qiling caught the black gold ancient sword falling from the sky, didn't even look at the collapsed leader, turned around, walked to the last wounded man who was still groaning, and delivered the final blow.

The gunfire stopped.

On the steep slope, ten corpses lay in various contorted positions. Blood slowly seeped into the soil.

From the moment Zhang Qiling rushed out until the end, it took less than a minute.

The forest was deathly silent. The only sounds were the rustling of leaves in the wind and the overwhelming stench of blood.

On the team's side, everyone was stunned. Kun Ge's mouth was agape, wide enough to fit an egg. Chen Man covered her mouth. Wang Yihan's face was deathly pale. Lin Guoce and the soldiers' palms were sweaty as they gripped their guns.

The ten "Vulture" team members still had their hands on their weapons at their waists, but none of them dared to draw them. They watched the man in black, carrying a blood-dripping black knife, slowly walk down the slope, and for the first time felt a chill run down their spines.

The live broadcast camera was pointed at Zhang Qiling.

A few drops of blood splattered on his face, but his eyes remained calm and unwavering. He walked to the front of the group, wiped his knife on a clean stone, and sheathed it. Then he looked at Lin Guoce.

"It's resolved. You can go now."

His voice was calm, as if he had just gone for a walk.

The comments paused for a few seconds, then exploded completely:

[ID Prophet: ...I predicted the beginning, but not the end]

[ID to Cure Unconvinced Experts: Ten People, One Minute...]

[ID Guy Fan Club: My husband!!! (voice cracks)]

[ID: Did Fatty Lose Weight Today?: Fatty's legs are a little weak]

[ID Innocent: This... is the guy's skill]

[ID Blackie's Sunglasses: Blind in the South, Mute in the North, the reputation is well-deserved]

Lin Guoce's throat bobbed, forcing himself to calm down: "Take stock of casualties! Are any of our men injured?"

The report came back quickly: no one was injured. Apart from the ten mercenaries lying in ambush, the team was intact.

"Those ten outsiders," Black Bear walked over, his sunglasses pointing in the direction of the "Vulture" squad, a half-smile on his face, "are quite well-behaved."

The ten members of the "Vulture" squad silently loosened their grip on their weapons and lowered their heads. What they had just witnessed completely shattered any thoughts they shouldn't have had.

The group regrouped and prepared to depart. As each person passed Zhang Qiling, their eyes were filled with awe and fear.

Wu Xie and Fatty walked over. Fatty rubbed his hands, wanting to say something but not daring to. Wu Xie looked at Zhang Qiling and said softly, "Brother, are you... alright?"

Zhang Qiling glanced at him and shook his head.

The fat man mustered his courage: "Hey bro, that knife-catching move you just did was so cool! Could you teach me?"

Zhang Qiling ignored him and continued walking forward.

The fat man didn't mind and chuckled as he followed. Wu Xie breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed as well.

Black Bear lagged behind, glanced back at the corpse on the steep slope, then looked at the lonely, upright black figure in front of him, and chuckled softly.

"Zhang the mute is still so good at fighting."

The team set off again.

Old Wolf Gully is not far away.

at the same time.

In another direction in the southwestern mountains, deeper into the dense forest.

A young man wearing a black hoodie leaned against an old tree.

His skin was a pale, almost imperceptible white, his face was thin, and his jawline was sharp. His black hair partially covered his left eye, revealing a deep, indifferent right eye, as if he cared nothing for anything in the world.

His left sleeve was rolled up, revealing a clear, dark blue Qilin tattoo that was slightly warm to the touch.

He raised his head and looked in a certain direction.

There, a very subtle, pulsating feeling of shared blood emanated, along with... a faint smell of blood.

"You...came too?"

He muttered to himself, his voice cold and tinged with a barely perceptible hint of doubt.

Then, he slung the ancient black and gold sword over his shoulder and walked toward the direction from which the tremor came.

The figure quickly disappeared into the forest mist.