Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The passage extends downwards.

The stone steps were slippery, and water droplets seeped from the walls, dripping onto the steps with a clear, distinct sound in the silence. The beam of a flashlight flickered in the darkness, illuminating Xie Linyuan's silhouette ahead.

He walked slowly, but each step was steady. His feet landed on the middle of the stone steps, avoiding the moss at the edges. The black gold ancient sword was already in his hand, the scabbard slanted behind his back, the hilt facing backward, ready to be drawn at any moment.

Behind them, the ranks were lifeless.

Zhou Hao's death felt like a block of ice, pressing on everyone's chest. Liu Desheng walked at the back of the group, his eyes red and swollen, his breathing heavy. Chen Man, supported by Wang Yihan, walked unsteadily. Kun Ge's face was deathly pale; the screen of his phone was shattered, but he still held it tightly. Xu Jiashu's lips trembled, using his peach wood sword as a cane. Jiang Shouyi followed closely behind Professor Zhou Xu'an, the compass needle spinning wildly in his hand.

Lin Guoce walked three steps behind Xie Linyuan, drew his short blade, and scanned his surroundings.

There were fewer comments in the live stream chat than before.

[The majority of IDs remain silent: ...]

[ID Feeling Uncomfortable: Someone really died, I can't take it anymore]

[ID insists on watching: No unsubscribing, you must watch to the end]

[ID Question: Why didn't the guy in black help?]

[ID Realist: It's hopeless, don't resort to moral blackmail]

[ID's premonition: This is just the beginning...]

The passageway turns a corner.

A stone gate appeared ahead.

The stone door was half-open, and an even stronger stench of decay wafted from the crack. The lintel was carved with animal masks, and black stones were inlaid in the eyes of the beasts, reflecting a ghostly light under the flashlight beam.

Xie Linyuan stopped in front of the door.

He raised his hand, signaling to stop.

Lin Guoce immediately stopped, turned around, and gestured. Everyone stopped.

Xie Linyuan picked up a piece of gravel from the ground and threw it through the crack in the door.

The stone rolled in, making a gurgling sound, and then stopped.

No mechanism was triggered.

He turned sideways and squeezed through the crack in the door.

Behind the door was a larger stone chamber.

The chamber is rectangular, approximately twenty meters long and ten meters wide. The ground is paved with bluestone slabs, and white fungi grow in the cracks between the slabs. Five stone pillars stand on each side of the chamber, their shafts covered with inscriptions. At the far end of the chamber is a stone platform, upon which sits a bronze tripod about half a person's height.

The body of the tripod is severely rusted, but the cloud and thunder patterns on the surface can still be discerned.

Professor Zhou Xu'an followed in, and the moment he saw the bronze ding, his breathing quickened: "Zhou Dynasty...it's definitely a Zhou Dynasty vessel!"

He tried to step forward, but Xie Linyuan stopped him.

"Don't move."

Xie Linyuan stared at the ground.

There were fine powdery traces on the bluestone slab—not dust, but phosphorus powder left behind by something crawling over it.

He squatted down, dipped his finger in the powder, and brought it to his nose.

Fishy smell.

It smelled of decay.

"Step back." He stood up.

As soon as he finished speaking, a dense rustling sound came from the shadows around the stone chamber.

Like countless claws scraping across a stone slab.

The flashlight beam shone over.

A dark mass emerged from the base of the stone pillars, from the cracks in the stone slabs, and from the corners of the walls.

insect.

The size of a palm, with a glossy black carapace, a pair of enormous mouthparts on its head, and six long, slender legs that allowed it to crawl at an extremely fast speed. Their numbers were countless, like a black tide surging towards the center of the stone chamber.

"What...what is this?!" Chen Man screamed.

"Corpse beetles," Xie Linyuan said. "They eat rotten flesh."

The phrase "eating rotten flesh" sends chills down everyone's spine.

The swarm was getting closer. The first few had already crawled to within three meters of the group, their mouthparts opening and closing with a clicking sound.

Lin Guoce pulled out a pistol—something only to be used in an emergency.

But there were too many bugs, and the bullets couldn't all be used up.

Brother Kun was so frightened that he stepped back and bumped into a stone pillar. The pillar shook, and more insects fell from above.

Xu Jiashu brandished his peach wood sword: "You beast! Begone!"

A carrion beetle leaped up, bit the tip of the peach wood sword, and with a snap, the tip broke off.

Xu Jiashu threw down his sword and ran.

The swarm speeds up.

Xie Linyuan drew his black gold ancient sword.

The moment the blade was drawn, it flashed with a dark light. He didn't rush towards the swarm of insects, but instead reversed the blade, slicing the edge with his left hand.

Blood gushed out.

Dark red blood flowed along the blade.

He held the knife horizontally in front of him, his left hand clenched into a fist, blood dripping from between his fingers.

Then, he shook his head.

Blood droplets sprinkled onto the swarm of insects ahead.

The first drop of blood fell on the shell of a carrion beetle.

Nourishes—

White smoke rose. The corpse beetle let out a piercing shriek, its body curled up, its shell rapidly turned black and carbonized, and it froze motionless a few seconds later.

As other blood droplets fell, the surrounding corpse beetles retreated. Where the blood droplets landed, small, empty circles were formed.

The swarm of insects stopped.

They gathered around the edge of the blood circle, their mouthparts clicking, but dared not approach.

Xie Linyuan shook his hand again.

More drops of blood spilled out, landing in more distant locations.

The swarm of insects began to retreat.

They fear his blood.

Everyone was stunned.

The live stream chat paused briefly, then exploded:

[ID audience: Blood???]

[ID Biology: What kind of blood can corrode carapace?!]

[ID Medical Party: Is that human blood???]

[ID Metaphysics Group: Exorcising Blood! It exists in folk legends!]

[ID's Values ​​Reshaping: What's Wrong with This World?!]

Lin Guoce stared at Xie Linyuan's bleeding palm: "Your blood..."

"Special," Xie Linyuan said, using only two words.

He continued walking forward, his left hand hanging at his side, blood dripping onto the bluestone slabs. With each drop of blood, the surrounding corpse beetles would retreat a circle. Where he walked, a blood-red line formed a safe passage.

"Keep up," he said.

The team followed him cautiously, stepping carefully through the gaps between the blood lines, not daring to touch the blood droplets.

Xie Linyuan paused when he reached the center of the stone chamber.

He felt the wound on his left hand was burning.

It wasn't a painful heat, but a strange warm current that spread from the wound to the entire palm. Blood flow accelerated, and the muscles around the wound twitched slightly.

A system notification appeared in my mind:

[Combat behavior and blood-related abilities perfectly match the character 'Zhang Qiling']

[Current role-playing level: 13%]

[Reward Distribution: Elementary Level Tomb Raider]

The warm current intensified instantly.

Xie Linyuan felt changes in the bones, muscles, and skin of his left index and middle fingers. His knuckles became more flexible, the skin at his fingertips thickened, and his sense of touch became exceptionally acute. He could even feel subtle changes in the airflow.

The term "发丘指" refers to a type of tomb raiding.

The Zhang family's unique skill is probing holes with two fingers, which can break mechanisms and cut thin threads.

He clenched his left hand, feeling the power of new life.

The swarm of insects continued to retreat, but stopped at the edge of the stone chamber. They gathered in the shadows, a dark mass, their eyes glowing red, staring intently at the group.

Xie Linyuan walked to the bronze cauldron.

The cauldron was filled with a thick, black liquid that emitted a foul stench. The cauldron's walls were engraved with images of a group of people kneeling in worship, with a towering figure in the center, behind whom was a massive door.

The shape of the door is very similar to the pattern on the black stone slab.

"This cauldron... is used for sacrificial rites." Professor Zhou Xu'an leaned closer to examine it, but dared not touch it. "What's inside... might be sacrificial oil, or..."

"Corpse oil," Xie Linyuan said.

The professor's hand trembled.

Xie Linyuan didn't explain further. He went around to the back of the cauldron and found a hidden compartment at the bottom of the stone platform.

The surface of the dark compartment is smooth and without any gaps.

He extended his left hand, joined his index and middle fingers together, and pressed them against the center of the hidden compartment.

The instant tactile feedback of the finger reveals that the hidden compartment has a faint mechanical structure inside, with a groove the size of a soybean in the center.

He applied force with two fingers.

The fingertip penetrates the surface of the stone slab—not by force, but by finding the weak point in the stone's texture, like a key being inserted into a lock.

咔。

The hidden compartment popped open.

Inside was a scroll of bamboo slips.

The bamboo slips were bound with black silk thread and were well preserved.

Xie Linyuan took out the bamboo slips and untied the silk threads. The bamboo slips were yellowed, and the writing on them was done with cinnabar, yet remained clear even after a thousand years.

Professor Zhou Xu'an's eyes widened: "This is...this is..."

Xie Linyuan quickly scanned the contents of the bamboo slips.

The cinnabar characters record the sacrificial process, but key parts have been altered. The last line reads: "On the day the gate opens, all things return to nothingness. The gatekeeper clan continues the seal with their blood."

The gatekeepers.

The Zhang family.

Xie Linyuan rolled up the bamboo slips and stuffed them into his backpack.

He turned around and looked at the other end of the stone chamber.

There is also a small door there.

"Let's go," he said.

The group followed him through the stone chamber, avoiding the bloodstains on the ground and the menacing swarm of corpse beetles in the distance. Xie Linyuan stopped before a small door.

There was no handle on the door, only a small dent about the size of a palm.

The shape of the pit is like a palm.

He reached out his left hand and pressed it into the dent.

Blood from the palm stained the edge of the dent.

The sound of gears turning came from inside the door.

The stone gate rose up, revealing the passage behind it.

The passage was even narrower, requiring one to bend over to pass.

Xie Linyuan was the first to crawl in.

Others followed suit.

After the last person—Liu Desheng—entered the passage, the stone door slammed shut, completely isolating the stone chamber.

It also isolated those corpse beetles.

The passageway was pitch black.

The flashlight beam swayed.

Everyone collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Aftermath.

Chen Man cried, her suppressed sobs echoing in the corridor. Wang Yihan patted her back. Kun Ge slid down against the wall, burying his face in his hands. Xu Jiashu slumped into a ball, muttering "Amitabha." Jiang Shouyi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Professor Zhou Xu'an stared at Xie Linyuan's backpack—it contained bamboo slips.

Lin Guoce walked up to Xie Linyuan.

He looked at Xie Linyuan's left palm—the wound had stopped bleeding, but the bloodstains were still there. At the edge of the wound, faint golden lines could be seen, flashing by in an instant.

"What exactly is your blood?" Lin Guoce asked.

"It's an heirloom," Xie Linyuan said.

"Can ancestral blood repel insects?"

"It can ward off evil spirits."

"Strange?" Lin Guoce frowned. "You believe in this?"

Xie Linyuan didn't answer. He tore off a piece of bandage and simply wrapped it around his left hand. His movements were practiced, as if he did this often.

Liu Desheng suddenly stood up and walked up to Xie Linyuan.

His eyes were bloodshot: "You knew there was danger, didn't you? You knew Haozi would die, didn't you?"

Xie Linyuan looked at him.

"Why didn't you warn him?!" Liu Desheng roared, "You're so capable! You know everything! Why didn't you say so beforehand?!"

"I said," Xie Linyuan said calmly, "'Don't touch it.'"

"Just two words?! Couldn't you have been clearer?!"

"If I told him, would he listen?" Xie Linyuan asked in return.

Liu Desheng choked.

He wanted to argue, but then he remembered how Zhou Hao had rushed over to touch the mural—excited, curious, and completely ignoring the warning.

Xie Linyuan continued, "If you want to live, you must first learn to listen."

He turned around and looked ahead into the passageway.

"Ten-minute break. There's still a road ahead."

He walked to the end of the passage, sat down against the wall, and closed his eyes.

My left palm is burning hot.

The power of the "Faqiu Finger" is adapting.

The warmth of the Qilin's blood still lingers.

Role-playing rate: 13%.

He has taken another step closer to becoming the real Zhang Qiling.

In the passageway, only the sounds of panting and crying remained.

The live stream chat remained silent for a long time.

Then, a comment slowly floated by:

[ID Bystander: He's starting to act like a monster]

[ID rebuttal: But he saved everyone]

[The Contradictory ID: The Indifferent Savior...Who is this really?]

No one knows the answer.

Even Xie Linyuan himself is slowly forgetting the answer.