Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

In the dark passage, only Xie Linyuan's footsteps could be heard.

It's very light and very stable.

The flashlight beam sliced ​​through the limited light in front of him, while behind him lay an all-consuming darkness. He walked slowly, but each step was firm and solid. The black gold ancient sword was already sheathed on his back, the scabbard pressed against his spine, giving him a familiar, cool touch.

Inside the coat's inner pocket, the jade cicada emitted a faint coolness, like a piece of ice pressed against my chest.

The temperature of the Qilin tattoo on his shoulder blade was a bit higher than usual, but still bearable.

This grave has nothing to do with him.

Huo Yun, a general of the Han Dynasty, obtained the Jade Cicada of Immortality and faked his death to live in seclusion here.

These events were not even fragments in Zhang Qiling's long memory. Over the past thousand years, too many people have sought immortality, but how many have succeeded? And how many have failed? These withered bones in the tomb, these inscriptions on the walls, are nothing more than another wrong path taken.

But he still came.

The system notification indicates that the character compatibility is increasing.

The symptoms of amnesia are worsening.

During the battle just now, for a fleeting moment, he forgot that he was Xie Linyuan, and he also forgot that he was Zhang Qiling.

He was simply drawing his knife instinctively, killing and saving people.

Then leave.

He stopped in his tracks.

There are three forks in the road ahead.

Three identical passages, pitch black, with no end in sight.

He closed his eyes.

Listen with your ears.

There was a very faint sound of water coming from the passage on the left.

There was a sound of airflow coming from the middle passage.

The right-hand passage was the quietest, but deep inside there was a very faint, decaying smell.

He chose the right side.

keep going.

---

Inside the jade coffin space.

Lin Guoce squatted on the ground, checking the three special forces soldiers who had been knocked unconscious by Xie Linyuan. Fortunately, they were all alive, just temporarily unconscious. The two killed by the white-haired zombie were already lifeless.

He had the body simply tidied up and covered with a waterproof cloth.

"Ten-minute break," he said, his voice weary.

Kun slumped against the wall, tears still streaming down his face. He turned on the live stream, facing the camera, his voice hoarse: "Family members... just now... you all saw it, right?"

The comments section was scrolling wildly:

[I saw the ID! The guy is Uncle Wu!]

[ID Disguise Techniques! Amazing!]

[He saved everyone and then left]

[ID: I feel so sorry for the guy]

Why is the official ID team targeting him?

Kun wiped his face: "I don't know what to say... Mr. Xie... he's been protecting us under the identity of Uncle Wu, teaching us how to avoid traps, calculating feng shui locations, and just now he saved all of us... but above..."

He couldn't continue.

Chen Man leaned against Wang Yihan, her eyes red and swollen: "Sister Yihan, Mr. Xie... he left alone. It's so dangerous inside..."

Wang Yihan patted her shoulder: "He's much better than us. All we can do is not hold him back."

Jiang Shouyi was organizing his equipment when he looked at Lin Guoce: "Captain Lin, what's our next step?"

Lin Guoce stood up and looked at the dark passage where Xie Linyuan had disappeared: "Continue the mission. But... don't chase after Mr. Xie. Let him go his way, we'll go ours."

"But the orders from above..." a special forces soldier said.

"The orders from above are to capture or control Xie Linyuan," Lin Guoce interrupted him. "Do you think we can do it?"

The special forces soldier fell silent.

Everyone witnessed Xie Linyuan's strength just now. He took down five elite special forces soldiers in five seconds, and that was while holding back. If he had really gone all out, they would have been wiped out long ago.

"The mission has changed," Lin Guoce said. "The focus will be on archaeological exploration, data collection, and the protection of cultural relics. As for Mr. Xie... if he reappears, we will try to communicate with him, but we will not resort to force."

He looked at Sun Shuanzhu: "Teacher Sun, do you have a problem with this?"

Sun Shuanzhu's face was still pale, but the look Xie Linyuan gave him just now had completely silenced him. He shook his head and didn't say anything.

Professor Zhou Xu'an walked to the jade coffin and looked at the corpse inside: "He took the jade cicada... but the body is still here, the armor is still here, and these are also valuable materials."

He started taking photos and documenting.

Ten minutes later, the team finished their rest.

Lin Guoce looked toward the dark passage—the direction Xie Linyuan had gone.

Then he turned and pointed to the other side: "We'll go to the left."

"Why?" Kun asked.

"Mr. Xie should walk on the right; we shouldn't follow him," Lin Guoce said. "Give him space."

The group packed up their belongings and headed towards the left passage.

The passage was narrow, requiring one to bend over. After walking about thirty meters, a stone chamber appeared ahead.

The stone chamber was filled with many pottery jars of varying sizes, some of which were already broken. After examining them, Professor Zhou Xu'an discovered that they contained grain—which had long since been carbonized and would crumble at the slightest touch.

"This is the storage room," the professor said. "It seems General Huo Yun really intends to stay here for a long time."

"Immortality..." Jiang Shouyi murmured, "He obtained the Jade Cicada, extending his life by a hundred years, but he still died. Does immortality... truly exist?"

"It exists," the professor said, "but perhaps not in the way we imagine."

They found some bamboo slips in the storeroom, which recorded Huo Yun's life after he went into seclusion: cultivating fields, drawing water for irrigation, and even raising some livestock. But at the end of each entry, the "pain of the full moon" was mentioned.

"The pain brought by the jade cicada," the professor explained. "The bamboo slips say that every full moon night, the body feels as if it is being torn apart by a thousand knives, causing unbearable pain. Huo Yun tried many methods, but none could alleviate the pain. In the end, he wrote: 'To gain immortality is to lose one's humanity.'"

Listening to this, Kun suddenly said, "Then Mr. Xie... is he also...?"

He didn't finish speaking.

But everyone understood what he meant.

Xie Linyuan's inhuman strength, his superhuman regenerative abilities, his mysterious bloodline...

Did he also pay a price?

Live stream chat:

[The guy with the ID might also be suffering.]

[Identity Immortality is a Curse]

[My ID is so upsetting]

[He carried it all alone]

The procession continued forward.

Passing through the storage room, there is a staircase leading upwards.

The stairs were very steep; after climbing about fifty steps, a platform appeared ahead.

On the platform, there is a stone table with a bronze lamp on it, and there is oil in the lamp.

Lin Guoce lit the lamp wick.

The lights came on.

Illuminate the platform.

It also illuminates the wall at the other end of the platform.

On the wall, there is a huge mural.

The mural depicts a person standing on a high platform, holding a jade cicada in their hands. Below, countless people are kneeling. The sun and moon shine together in the sky, and a hundred flowers bloom on the ground.

However, one corner of the mural was deliberately chiseled away.

The chiseled-off portion was engraved with new content: the person fell to the ground, the jade cicada shattered, and everyone below the stage turned into skeletons.

"This was his final realization," Professor Zhou Xu'an said softly. "Immortality is not a blessing, but a disaster."

---

Deep inside the passage on the right.

Xie Linyuan stopped in front of a stone gate.

The door was made of bronze and was very small, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Engraved on the door was a picture of a cicada bound by chains.

He reached out and pushed the door open.

The door opened.

Behind the door was a very small stone chamber, about five square meters. It was completely empty, except for a line of text carved on the wall:

"Those who come after, if you obtain the jade cicada, do not rejoice. This thing is not a treasure, but a shackle. I have spent a hundred years to realize that freedom is the most precious thing. Now, by shattering the cicada here, I have gained liberation."

The handwriting was very messy, as if it was carved with the last bit of strength.

There was a small pile of powder in the corner.

The emerald green powder gleamed faintly in the darkness.

Powdered jade cicada.

Huo Yun finally smashed the jade cicada.

Xie Linyuan squatted down, his fingers dabbing at the powder.

It's cold.

But there are still extremely faint energy fluctuations inside.

The Qilin tattoo on his shoulder blade suddenly became intensely hot.

It burned him so much that he groaned.

Fragments of memories surged through my mind.

—He glanced back at the bronze gate, then went inside.

—A long period of protection. Ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years.

—Watching his people die one by one, watching the world change, and watching himself grow old and die.

—The final mission: Enter this world that has merged all the ancient tombs.

—Memories are sealed, waiting to be awakened.

He pressed his forehead and gritted his teeth.

The symptoms of amnesia are worsening.

who am I?

Xie Linyuan?

Zhang Qiling?

Or... something else?

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Then he stood up and looked at the other end of the stone chamber.

There is another exit there.

Leading to deeper levels.

He walked over.

In my mind, a system notification sounded:

[Touching Fragments of the Truth About Immortality]

[Character compatibility: 83%]

[Warning: Symptoms of amnesia are worsening. Please maintain self-awareness.]

He closed his eyes.

Then he stepped into the darkness.

---

Over by the left passage.

The team discovered a study.

It was a real study—with stone bookshelves and bamboo scrolls on them. Although most of them had rotted away, a few scrolls remained intact.

Professor Zhou Xu'an's hands trembled with excitement: "This...this is Huo Yun's diary! It records every day after he obtained the Jade Cicada!"

He carefully unrolled a scroll.

"On the fifth day of the seventh month of the third year of Yuan Shou, I obtained a jade cicada from the altar of the southern barbarian tribes. Upon first taking it, I felt as light as a swallow and full of energy, and I was very pleased."

"On the eighth day of the third month of the fourth year of the Yuan Shou era, the moon was full, and the attack began for the first time. The pain was like being cut by a knife, and I almost wanted to die. Only then did I realize that this thing had its drawbacks."

"On the 23rd day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of the Yuan Shou era, I faked my death and escaped, then went into hiding here with my confidants. Everyone outside thought I had died on the battlefield."

"Motosari six years..."

The diary is very long, recording Huo Yun's hundred years of seclusion. From the initial hope, to the later painful struggle, to the final enlightenment.

The last one only has one line:

"Today I shattered the cicada's shell and gained my freedom. I have no regrets even in death."

Everyone fell silent.

Jiang Shouyi said softly, "It took him a hundred years to understand this principle."

Kun suddenly asked, "What about Mr. Xie? How long has he lived? Has he understood?"

No one can answer that.

The chat in the live stream became much quieter.

Many people are thinking about this.

longevity.

free.

cost.

Lin Guoce put away the diary: "These materials are too valuable. We must take them out with us."

"But Mr. Xie..." Chen Man said, "He's still inside. He's all alone..."

"He'll get out," Lin Guoce said. "He's stronger than all of us."

The group left the study and continued their exploration.

But everyone felt a heavy weight in their hearts.

That figure dressed in black, walking alone into the darkness.

The figure that saved everyone and then turned and left.

That figure may have lived for hundreds of years, or even longer.

Who is he?

What is he looking for?

Just how lonely is he?

Nobody knows.

They could only keep moving forward.

In this ancient tomb about immortality.

Seeking the truth of history.

I'm also searching for even the slightest trace of that person.