Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 298 Tower Bell Stone Coffin
(Sorry, that's all I wrote today. This whole thing has paralyzed my immune system, and it'll probably take several days to recover. It's not that I don't want to write, but I have these post-positive symptoms: dizziness, a buzzing in my head, and difficulty concentrating. There aren't many days left in the month, so I'll stop here for now and resume updates on the 1st.)
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Zhang Wuxun used three small black-gold spheres from his spatial storage to attach them to the bronze cover outside the tower spire, thus activating the mechanism.

When the four returned to the tower, the iron wall, which had been as solid as a rock and remained unmoved, suddenly opened.

It was pitch black inside, and even the light shining in seemed to be swallowed up by a monster lurking in the darkness.

Large and small clumps of black and red, like cotton wool, kept floating out of the water, resembling strangely shaped blood-red jellyfish, and drifted around the four people.

The fat man reached out and grabbed one, examining it closely in his palm. He thought it resembled the lees of the aged monkey head wine they had seen in the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top.

However, both Zhang Wuxun and Xiao Ge looked rather pale, clearly indicating that this was not "wine lees" but rather congealed blood plasma.

Contrary to their initial assumption, the spire was not sealed by the Zhang family before the Yao village was submerged. Rather, it was sealed inside the spire by someone many years after the Yao village had already been submerged.

Otherwise, this blood-stained water wouldn't be floating out from behind the iron wall.

Hearing the two say this, Wu Xiaoxie also became a little nervous, "Look at the amount of bleeding, how many people must have died back then?"

Zhang Wuxun shook his head, his expression grave. "I don't know, but judging from the amount of blood, it's at least more than three people."

The fat man swam through the blood mist, peering into the dark cave entrance. "What do we do now? Maybe we should wait until this bloody storm passes and then go in to see what's going on. It doesn't make sense that he sealed this place off so tightly; it's probably just a blood bank in the end."

Zhang Wuxun and his three companions changed their oxygen tanks again. Once the water gushing from the cave entrance was no longer as murky as before, they filed in through the entrance, lights in hand.

The space inside was larger than they had imagined, about half the size of a bedroom of about ten square meters.

To everyone's astonishment, countless black chains stretched out along the walls, crisscrossing each other, with countless bronze bells hanging densely on them.

These bells were soaked in blood, and under the pale light of the flashlight, the silent bells exuded a sinister aura.

At the center of the intertwined chains is a small trapezoidal truncated cone, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, like an ice cream cone with the pointed end cut off.

There was a black object on the round platform, but it was too obscured by too many obstacles in between.

Like a tightrope walker performing acrobatics, Zhang Wuxun and his companions carefully avoided the bells by using the buoyancy of the water to reach the round platform, where they discovered that there was a stone coffin for a child.

Zhang Wuxun suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and countless guesses surged in his mind.

What could be inside this small stone coffin?
Could it be that the Zhang family placed the white stone dragon-patterned box here?

Or is it the remains of the Holy Infant that died?

Probably not. With Zhang Qiling already here, why would the Zhang family ancestor keep that thing? Wouldn't that just be leaving himself a handle for trouble?

Zhang Wuxun turned his head and looked around, his brow furrowed. Judging from the layout, the thing in the stone coffin did not seem to be a benevolent being.

The stone coffin is simple in appearance, with fine stone texture and a warm and cool touch. There are no carvings on it, and it seems to be just an ordinary stone box that is slightly larger than usual.

However, the stone platform beneath it was no ordinary one. Zhang Wuxun suddenly understood why so much blood gushed out when the stone wall was opened.

Those familiar grooves and engravings, along with the habit of bleeding at the drop of a hat—isn't this exactly the same as the altar beneath the sacred tree in the Qinling Mountains?

No wonder there was a Qilin carved on the outer stone wall, and a picture hidden beneath it. Those strange black-gold spheres in his own space, related to the system, suddenly became the keys to unlocking the mechanism. So, the person who came later placed the items here to ensure that the person who could open it years later would be someone with a mysterious connection to him.

With chains restricting the space, the four people were unable to make large movements or communicate.

While Zhang Wuxun was still pondering, the fat man and the young man had already gone over and finished their inspection, lifting the lid of the stone coffin.

Zhang Wuxun stood by, gripping his dagger, on high alert, his heart pounding with tension, fearing some powerful creature might emerge from within.

All that could be heard was Wu Xiaoxie exclaiming, "A bronze mask!"

At the bottom of the stone coffin lay a bronze fox mask emitting a faint green light.

Zhang Wuxun's eyelids twitched violently. He suddenly remembered the guy he had seen in the divine tree who had the exact same face as Wu Xiaoxie.

The young man, with a solemn expression, took the bronze mask out of the stone coffin, carefully felt it with his fingertips, and then handed the mask to Zhang Wuxun, saying, "It's real."

This mask is exactly the same as the one on the face of the blue-eyed fox corpse they had seen in the Lu Palace.

Wu Xiaoxie wondered, "Isn't this the mask from the Blue-Eyed Fox Corpse? Why did the Zhang family put this here? Is it a reminder that we have to go to the Lu Palace again?"

Zhang Wuxun shook his head. "No, although this mask is real, it's different from the one on the Blue-Eyed Fox Corpse's face. The patina on this mask isn't as heavy, so it's obvious that it wasn't made that long ago."

"Warning!" The young man suddenly thought of something and wrote it on the drawing board.

Zhang Wuxun also had a bronze mask in his space, which he had taken from that guy's face back then.

Perhaps the person who placed the mask here did so to warn future generations about the existence of the masked Black Flying Son.

Inside the stone coffin was a palm-sized oval purple jade box with gold gilding, which looked like a mutated ostrich egg.

Fearing that the contents couldn't get wet, the fat man picked it up, glanced at it, and then told Zhang Wuxun to put it away.

"It's about time. If we're late, the siphon tide will come," the fat man urged.

There was nothing else special about this place. The four of them crawled out of the cave one by one, came outside, took off the small black and gold ball embedded in the copper bell, and the stone wall inside was restored to its original state.

By this time, it was already dark outside. Jude Kao's team lit a campfire on the lakeshore. The locals they had hired hunted some game in the forest and put it on the fire, the aroma wafting far and wide.

Perhaps having given up hope of catching the four troublemakers, the people guarding the lakeside gathered in twos and threes, drinking beer, their attention no longer on the water.

This made things easier for Zhang Wuxun and his three companions.

They dived from the bottom of the water to the other side of the lake, and under the cover of darkness and rocks, they took off their equipment and silently slipped into the forest without alerting anyone.

Zhang Wuxun and his three companions built a makeshift nest in a tree not far from Qiu Dekao's camp to rest. Afraid of being discovered by the patrol, they did not light a fire, but dug a simple smokeless stove, made some hot food to fill their stomachs, and then slept in the tree.

Thank you to the generous donors: [Little Forbidden Woman in the Tomb], [Child 308], [Lost in Memory But Not in You], [Book Friend 20190903105206648], [The Most Innocent When Young], and [Decisive].

I haven't been feeling well these past few days. After having a fever, I've been feeling dizzy and unable to concentrate. I'm sorry.

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(End of this chapter)