Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 785 Murals...Totems?
In the latter half of the night, a light drizzle began to fall again.

Suddenly, Hu Ming and the blind man, who were fast asleep, opened their eyes in the night, their cold, electric gazes almost tearing through the darkness.

Just now, the two of them clearly heard a deep, suppressed groan.

On nights like this, the sounds of birds and beasts in the jungle, the rustling and harshness of the wind blowing through the leaves and bushes, and so on are endless, but the two still managed to accurately capture the muffled groans of pain that belong to humans in the darkness.

Hu Ming heard it clearly: that voice, uttered through gritted teeth and clenched throat, belonged to Okitajima!
Hu Ming, whose sense of smell far surpassed that of ordinary humans, faintly detected a hint of blood in the air.

Okitajima was attacked and injured while under the protection of an entire mercenary squad?
wrong!
The faint smell of blood in the air was clearly mixed with some other odors.
"Is it some kind of ominous stench?"

After carefully discerning for a moment, the blind man suddenly realized with certainty.

Okitajima's muffled groans of pain, the smell of blood, and an ominous stench mingled with the blood...

That makes sense.

To those in the know, the black spots on Okitajima's hands are crystal clear.

Clearly, in the dead of night, Okitajima, with the help of that researcher Tu, was performing some kind of emergency repairs on his damaged body.

If that's the case...

"What a waste of time! I thought something interesting had happened over there... Time for bed!"

Hu Ming yawned, feeling listless. He blocked out the sounds around him, turned over, and went back to sleep.

"Hey, the interesting thing you're talking about, you don't mean Okitajima's life is in danger, do you?"

"He's our employer, after all. You have to be loyal to what you do, and have basic professional ethics, right?"

The blind man adjusted his sunglasses and muttered a complaint under his breath.

"So, if Okitajima were in danger, would you go to save him?"

Hu Ming countered with a question.

"...Should we analyze each situation individually?"

The blind man remained silent for a long time before whispering.

"Tsk, professionalism, professional ethics!"

Hu Ming clicked his tongue lightly, his meaning unclear.

Early in the morning, driven by his biological clock, Hu Ming got up very early. While exercising in the morning sunlight, he glanced at Okitajima, who was walking out of the camp, raised an eyebrow, and revealed a knowing look.

Okitajima's left forearm was wrapped in layers of blood-soaked gauze. Seeing Hu Ming looking over, Okitajima forced a slight smile at Hu Ming and subconsciously pulled down his sleeve to cover the gauze on his arm.

Hu Ming narrowed his eyes, not paying much attention, and continued washing himself.

After a quick breakfast, the group set off at Okitajima's urging.

Having arrived here, we are not far from our destination. In addition, the heavy rain has suddenly stopped, and the road conditions have improved a lot. We expect to arrive around noon.

In fact, urged by Okitajima, the team arrived at their destination around 11:00 AM after a rapid march.

The ruins before them were enveloped by tendrils resembling banyan trees, surrounded by dense thickets. In this desolate area, only the area beneath their feet had a path cleared to allow passage towards the entrance of the ruins.

Judging from the marks, they were left by Gu Huaisheng's team about a month ago.

It was a bright, sunny midday, but looking at the entrance that resembled the gaping maw of a giant beast, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

This is a life instinct, an instinct to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.

There is great danger in this ruin.

This was a consensus among everyone. Okitajima had already released the video of Gu Huaisheng before his signal was lost, and the eerie danger lurking in the shadows made everyone subconsciously raise their vigilance to the highest level.

Click click click…

The sounds of guns being cocked echoed throughout the room.

"gone."

Okitajima took a deep breath; he had staked the rest of his life on this one trip.

Alternatively, one can retire gracefully after achieving success and find a pagoda to prolong one's life.

Either die here.

A person on the verge of death has nothing left to lose except their life.

Since that's the case, let's put all our hopes on the pagoda in this ruin.

As you enter the ruins, the sunlight disappears, and searchlights are turned on, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime.

The passage spirals downwards, its narrow path overgrown with weeds and shrubs, roots creeping down from the cracks in the rocks overhead.

The surrounding bluestone was already covered with a thick layer of slippery moss.

Follow the trail left by Gu Huaisheng and others more than a month ago!

To guard against potential dangers, the group moved very slowly.

After advancing for about half an hour, the group arrived at a relatively spacious area.

The surrounding stone walls are covered with murals.

The most eye-catching feature is the five snake-head sculpture protruding from the wall at the very center.

Around the sculpture, a lifelike mural is carved on the wall.

"Most of the carbon residue is traces left by Gu Huaisheng."

In this environment, the blind man's eyesight was excellent. He keenly noticed the black marks in the etched grooves of the mural, took off his tactical gloves, and ran his fingers over them to carefully observe the traces of carbon powder.

Hu Ming glanced at it and understood.

These toner particles were not haphazardly applied; though seemingly messy, they contain a certain message—a highly confidential cipher method.

This must have been a special way of communicating that the blind man and Gu Huaisheng agreed upon back then, right?
Seeing the relieved expression on the blind man's face, Hu Ming understood that the information left here was mostly good news.

"This toner is fresh; it must have been left behind by Old Gu's team."

Seeing Okitajima surrounding him, the blind man remained expressionless and continued to lie through his teeth while wearing sunglasses.

It's definitely very fresh. Judging from the marks and recent weather conditions, plus the toner, it's still quite dry. Clearly, the toner here is at most from last night, right?
Hu Ming clicked his tongue lightly, ignoring all that, and carefully observed the murals beside him.

"These murals depict scenes of human labor. The fact that people kneel before snakes and offer sacrifices suggests that the ancestors who once lived here regarded snakes as totems?"

"Why were the murals here destroyed, leaving only this half?"

Gu Ziqing was indeed capable; he carefully examined the contents of the murals and pointed to the mural on the right, which was clearly destroyed, and asked in confusion.

"Totem worship? I doubt it."

"In my opinion, this mural depicts the food chain of this land..."

"Humans were offered as sacrifices to snakes, but the food chain is not a simple link. So, what about the snakes? Do the murals destroyed by our ancestors depict some terrifying entity that treats snakes and humans as food?"

Hu Ming remained noncommittal, stroking the destroyed mural as the rustling sound gradually approached from afar, becoming clearer and clearer!