King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 58

Her actions were understandable, and to be fair, she wasn't a particularly annoying girl. If she had just toned down her arrogant and domineering attitude a little, we could have been very close friends.

"Feng, I'm sorry about what happened just now..." While Natura was looking at the screen, Tina apologized to me in a low voice.

I smiled in response, and that awkward chapter was over.

"Mr. Feng, do you have any good ideas now?" Natu stretched out his short, thick fingers and tapped them a few times on the monitor, his face full of frustration. He didn't seem to care much about Gu Ye's life or death. It seemed that the military was only really interested in the peerless gem "Eye of the Moon Goddess" and the power struggle within the country, and didn't care about anything else.

In this situation, using the "needle in a haystack" method would be too dangerous. The stone platform had been occupied by venomous snakes, and the treasure hunters, hanging upside down on the ropes, could only wait for an opportunity, practically snatching the treasure from the snakes' mouths.

From the images, the heads of those jet-black venomous snakes are perfectly sharp triangles, with two prominent, razor-sharp fangs in the center of their upper jaws. Their movements are agile and unpredictable. One wrong move, and the treasure hunter could become the snake's meal.

I shook my head: "I can't think of a solution right now, but if we go back down the well and check the site, maybe we can find a way..."

Tina sneered, "Isn't that inappropriate? The venomous gas exhaled by the snakes is mixed with the air in the tomb, and it could kill people at any moment. We've already sacrificed many lives, and I don't want to lose any more here."

She didn't look at me, but her words clearly showed she was worried about me going down the well.

"I want to try—" If I could obtain the "Eye of the Moon" myself, it would surely be a momentous event that would make me famous throughout the tomb raiding world. I no longer want to rely on the halo of others to illuminate myself; I believe I have enough ability to stand confidently and gracefully in the spotlight of the world.

Tina shook her head again, decisively refusing me: "'The Eye of the Moon' is a treasure that will forever belong to our Egyptian government, and outsiders should not interfere in the matter of retrieving it."

When I went into the ancient well to rescue Tengjia last time, Tina expressed concern for me, but not as strongly as this time.

Natura waved his hands irritably: "Enough, enough, you don't need to argue anymore! Tomorrow morning, select the most elite Rainbow Warriors to go down and make sure we succeed in one fell swoop and bring up the 'Eye of the Moon'!"

A flurry of static flashed across the monitor screen, and then the video signal completely cut off.

“Mr. Feng, do you agree with my idea?” Natura was still a little guilty.

Who knows what earth-shattering changes might occur in the tomb overnight? I hope to act quickly tonight, lest things get complicated.

Before I could even speak, Tina glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, gave me two mysterious winks, and then blurted out, "Tomorrow morning, I will select the most elite troops to go down and retrieve the treasure. Please rest assured, High Priest!"

Gu Ye groaned and slowly sat up, propping himself up on his elbows. His ability to withstand blows was better than I had imagined; on the contrary, it was I who had taken a "hand chop" from him on the shoulder, and it had been throbbing with pain ever since.

"I...I want to go down the well...High Priest...give me, give me a troop of men..." He grimaced and gripped his wrist tightly, then suddenly pulled and paused, displaying his skillful joint repositioning technique.

In fact, this unique skill of disassembling and reassembling bones, regardless of its name or method, originated from the Shaolin Temple's Sutra Repository in China.

The saying "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin" is a universally applicable truth.

Since the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese have continuously sent envoys to mainland China, learning a great deal of Chinese skills, including martial arts.

Gu Ye's martial arts skills are not far inferior to mine. He was in a fit of rage and became agitated, which is why I was able to easily defeat him twice.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his expression gradually calming down. He blocked Natura's path as he tried to leave and pleaded again, "High Priest, please give me a troop of men..."

I picked up where he left off: "There's no need for anyone else to go down; I can be your assistant."

Most of the Rainbow Warriors were terrified by the strange occurrences at the bottom of the pyramid. If something went wrong while helping Gu Ye retrieve the treasure, not only would they fail to retrieve the treasure, but they might also lose Gu Ye's life.

"I object, I object—" Tina raised her hand, but under my gentle gaze, she slowly lowered it again. Someone had to do this; everyone had been busy at the camp for over a month, their goal being this "Eye of the Moon."

From a public perspective, we have a responsibility to make the great civilizations left behind by history public, to extract the gems for archaeologists to study in detail, to further reveal the past of the earth, and to deepen mankind's exploration of the unknown world.

From a personal perspective, I aspire to be the future "King of Tomb Raiders." If I always cower and timidly follow others, I'll never amount to anything. Furthermore, I still haven't figured out who this mysterious being has been calling me—

Therefore, I must go back into the pyramids, or it will be a regret forever.

Natura was eager for someone to willingly become his spearhead, and immediately agreed, instructing Tina and Robert to prepare the necessary tools.

Gu Ye was quite surprised by my self-recommendation, so much so that for the first ten minutes or so, he just stared at me, panting heavily, blinking repeatedly, as if trying to see through my true purpose.

This was my first time collaborating with the Japanese, yet my goal was to retrieve gems for the Egyptians. Looking back, the situation seems rather ridiculous. Perhaps, when we finally manage to obtain the gems and return to camp, we won't be greeted with flowers and a red carpet. There's a crucial saying in the tomb-raiding wisdom of our predecessors: "A gentleman is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

For the "Eye of the Moon," I suspect Natura would do anything crazy.

"What...what exactly is your purpose?" Gu Ye asked me hoarsely, twisting his wrist, which had just recovered, clearly showing his fear of my agile movements.

"I don't have any particular purpose, I just want to retrieve the gems so that those who died exploring and robbing tombs won't have sacrificed themselves in vain. Are you satisfied with this reason?" I lazily twisted my left shoulder. Fortunately, the bones weren't injured, only the skin and flesh were slightly swollen.

"Chinese? Hmph, the Chinese are the ones I trust the least. You're all sly foxes, only good at following others and picking up the scraps. In Chinese terms, you're 'picking up scraps from others'..."

He smiled contemptuously, clearly still resentful about the outcome of their earlier exchange.

I ignored him. Whether I went down the well or not was my own business, and my purpose in going down was not to protect him, but simply to unravel the mystery in my own heart.

"Chinese people are physically weak and powerless; all they know is to bow and smile obsequiously, and all they know is how to flatter and fawn—"

"Enough!" I jumped up, no longer wanting to listen to his rabid barking and snarling. The image and status of Chinese people around the world are rising daily, while the Japanese only view their close neighbor through tinted glasses. In their eyes, apart from Americans and their own Yamato people, all other races are inferior, lowly, and second-class.

“If you want to retrieve the ‘Eye of the Moon’ safely, you’d better shut up, or else—” I placed my palm across my throat and made a “kill” gesture.

He was the main force behind seizing the gems, and I was watching from the sidelines, ready to kill him at any moment.

Gu Ye reluctantly shut his mouth and began to close his eyes to rest.

Japanese martial arts emphasize "tranquility and non-action, using stillness to control movement," which is entirely inherited from the Chinese martial arts principle of "overcoming strength with softness." Therefore, the more tranquil and peaceful one's mind is, the more effectively one can utilize the exquisite techniques of "instantaneous defeat" in Judo.

He was resentful of being defeated by me twice just now, and I believe that if he has the chance in the future, he will definitely get his revenge.

The tools that Natura prepared for us included two high-strength radiation protection suits, which looked almost identical to the spacesuits worn by astronauts on Earth. They also had huge, fully enclosed helmets with highly compressed oxygen at the back, connected to the oxygen masks inside the helmets via a flexible and tough breathing tube.

I carry a powerful nail gun, two 50-meter-long steel cables, and a full set of professional mountaineering harnesses. In my black zero-degree preservation backpack, I keep twelve vials of high-energy antidote serum for emergencies.

Tani and I were dressed exactly the same. After a short period of rest and recuperation, his emotions became extremely stable, and his physical condition had improved to the point where he could accept any challenge.

James stood by the derrick, completely detached, and smiled as he extended his hand to me: "Mr. Feng, I wish you great success!" His interest remained with me, and he paid no attention to the ambitious Gu Ye.

No one is willing to follow us down the well anymore. As long as those venomous snakes exist, this pyramid will always be the soldiers' endless nightmare.

Suren did not reappear. Strangely, she would mysteriously disappear whenever there was a major operation, instead of always being in the spotlight.

After entering the makeshift elevator, Tanino reached out his hand to me, asking for reconciliation. In a cooperative group of only two people, if they couldn't work together sincerely, they would truly face annihilation.

The elevator descended silently, and from the distant depths of the earth, many inexplicable sounds occasionally rose up.

“It’s the sound of those snakes—” We hadn’t put on our helmets yet. Gu Ye’s expression was calm. His previous impetuousness and rudeness had disappeared. He looked like a martial arts master who was fully focused on facing the enemy.

The tunnel is so long that any tiny noise coming from inside the pyramid would be amplified and transformed into strange sounds after being delayed by the tunnel.

"I'm confident I can get the gem. What about you?" Gu Ye kept trying to make conversation, deliberately trying to get closer to me and build a friendly relationship.

“I don’t, because I’m not like you—how many secrets about the Turkic pyramids are there in the ‘Blue Heaven and Yellow Springs Scripture’? Can you reveal a little bit?” Questions about the scripture have always been a huge mystery that has been looming over my mind.

Fujika disappeared because of the scriptures, and the tiger fled because of them, its current whereabouts unknown. So far, it seems that Tanino is the only one who has a deep understanding of the scriptures. He possesses all the secrets—about the pyramids themselves, about the god Turkhan, and the "Eye of the Moon"...

"That set of scriptures... actually two volumes are missing. Before I came across them, only ten volumes remained. And these ten volumes all describe secret places, mysteries, and tombs from all over the world, covering topics from the five continents and four oceans, but they are conspicuously missing the section on the Egyptian pyramids..."

Tani appeared very sincere, looking directly into my eyes, but what revelation did this incomplete scripture bring to Fujika that allowed her to miraculously enter the tomb alone?

The elevator began to sway, almost reaching the bottom of the shaft. A terrifying hissing sound could be faintly heard from inside the tunnel—the eerie roar of a hungry and agitated swarm of snakes. In this state, let alone me and Gu Ye being enough to satisfy their hunger, even if everyone in the camp were thrown down, they would instantly turn into piles of bones, leaving no trace of flesh.

"What use would a tiger have for the missing scriptures?" I frowned, utterly baffled by the idea of the Tang Clan from Sichuan coming to Egypt to steal the scriptures. For centuries, the most important task instilled in the Tang Clan by their ancestral teachings was to unify the martial arts world, not to secretly rob tombs and steal treasures. What reason would they have to covet this ancient book, which was considered a treasure by tomb raiders?

Tang Xin is the most perplexing character to me. At such a young age, to have reached the position of a potential sect leader is truly a genius among geniuses. What was her purpose in instigating the tiger to steal the scriptures? Could the scriptures contain some secret for conquering the world? Especially after she disappeared in the desert with Lu Jiacan and Song Jiu, how exactly did she escape?

In my heart, Tang Xin will always be an unsolved mystery. A beautiful young woman in the prime of her life sacrificed everything, spending her days among poisonous insects, willingly becoming the cornerstone of her sect's rise—

"Mr. Feng, shall we go?" The elevator had reached the tunnel entrance, and Gu Ye jumped out first.

Of all the times I've entered the tunnel, this time I felt the most uneasy, almost with the tragic grandeur of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin: "The wind howls, the Yi River is cold, the hero departs, never to return." For the past two weeks, the strange events I've encountered at the camp have been one after another, leaving me no time to calmly reflect. Looking back, I realize how exhausted I've been. If I can successfully obtain the "Eye of the Moon" and deliver it to the scalpel and Natura, this matter will be over, and I can return to Cairo and relax for a few weeks…

For some reason, as I moved through the tunnel, I couldn't concentrate and my thoughts kept wandering off into random, unrelated ideas.

Gu Ye strode ahead, walking faster and faster, as if he wanted to step into the pyramid in one stride.

"Hey, Mr. Tanino, can you explain what happened to Ms. Fujika? She disappeared in the tunnel and then reappeared from the ancient well under the pyramid. What do you think of this strange thing?"

Gu Ye stopped to wait for me and casually replied, "It's impossible for everything to have an answer, right?"

I smiled wryly: "I know, but such a strange thing is happening right under our noses. Is there really no clue or reasonable explanation?"

He laughed heartily as we walked side by side: "Mr. Feng, if you ever have the chance to read the *Biluo Huangquan Jing* (Scripture of the Netherworld), you'll discover that the wonders of the earth are simply countless. The Egyptian pyramids, the Mayan civilization in the South American jungle, the Bermuda Triangle, the Arctic subworld environment, and even the astronomical charts on Mount Everest… there are just too many questions. Even if we dedicate our entire lives to this, we couldn't possibly explore even a single one of them, let alone so many. Often, this scripture can only be read as anecdotal tales, much like another book by you Chinese, called… called…"

He patted his forehead, and I guessed he was about to talk about the "Classic of Mountains and Seas," which was highly praised by Mr. Lu Xun.

"Or, like those inexplicable fragments in 'The Centuries'—can you explain them? You can't, right? So, we can only focus on one thing at a time, and never try to grasp everything at once... Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

The "one thing" he mentioned should be the matter of the "Eye of the Moon".

We had reached the entrance to the pyramid. The white light remained, but the hissing of venomous snakes, like the croaking of frogs after rain, came suddenly and terrifyingly.

Without a word, we all raised our hands to fasten our helmets, gripped the stone wall warily, and gazed towards the pool. Actually, we should have been completely at ease; these protective suits were extremely effective. In addition to blocking high-intensity radiation, they could withstand the piercing of a tactical knife from a distance of fifty centimeters. A mere venomous snake could not possibly cause any harm to the person hiding inside the suit.

The tomb was empty, and the venomous snake did not take advantage of the situation to leap out.

Hiding inside the protective suit, breathing in the sweet and pure compressed oxygen, I felt completely safe, and my mood was not affected at all.

When we reached the edge of the pool and looked down, the entire pool had become a world of venomous snakes. The stone platform was completely submerged, and if it weren't for the persistent white light filtering through the snakes, the tomb would have been pitch black.

Countless black venomous snakes writhe and tangle, like surging black waves on a lake, rising to a level fifteen meters above the pool's edge—meaning they have submerged the stone platform by nearly a meter. To obtain the gem, one must reach into this meter-deep mass of snakes and push aside hundreds of writhing bodies…

"Baka—" Tanino cursed indignantly.

If James hadn't secretly ordered the elimination of all of Gu Ye's mercenaries, nearly 24 hours wouldn't have been wasted, and Gu Ye might have already obtained the "Eye of the Moon Goddess".

"Shall we...begin?" Since I was already here, I might as well make the best of it. I unloaded the tools from my back, loaded the nail gun bullets, and attached the steel cable to the tail of the nail bullets. I knelt by the pool and aimed at the roof directly above the stone platform.

With a "snap," as the smoke cleared, the steel nail struck the intended spot precisely, penetrating deep into the stone wall without leaving a trace. I grabbed one end of the steel cable and tugged hard several times to make sure the other end was firmly secured to the roof.

Next, Tanino will use the steel cable to swing to the top of the platform, then hang upside down to seize the gem.

My gaze fell on the stone platform, and I suddenly realized why the snakes couldn't block the light of the "Eye of the Moon." It turned out that although they were jostling each other, they had an innate fear of gemstones and were desperately pushing and shoving each other, trying to avoid them.

More and more snakes covering the gemstones were pierced through, their bodies reduced to white, withered bones, before being knocked off by their companions and disappearing without a trace.

If there weren't so many venomous snakes, the gemstone would likely have been able to form a circular protective ring on top of the platform thanks to its invisible destructive power.

"Mr. Tanino, what's your opinion on the radioactivity of gemstones? Will this protective suit provide sufficient protection?"

Actually, I'm very clear about the manufacturing process and materials used in these two protective suits; they both come from NASA's new product lab. If you have enough money, buying even Air Force One, the US president's aircraft, wouldn't be a problem, let alone just two protective suits.

Gu Ye silently removed his backpack and inspected the small knife, crowbar, and small battery-powered welding gun he carried with him.

After doing all that, he took the steel cable from my hand and smiled casually, saying, "Everything is fine. I hope our neighboring countries, China and Japan, will cooperate happily!"

Finally, the most exciting moment arrived. Gu Ye took four or five steps to run up, then suddenly sprinted forward and swung away with a whoosh.

The snakes sensed someone swaying through the air and raised their heads, neatly aligned, their bright red tongues flicking out. It made me feel as if I were looking down on a luxurious, three-dimensional carpet laid out in a wealthy man's home.

This "needle in a haystack" method has brought tomb raiders around the world over five billion US dollars in revenue. It's important to understand that the more precious the treasure, the more likely it is to be hidden among poisonous insects. Only by using this method of sniping, retrieving, and escaping can one possibly retrieve those priceless treasures that have already claimed hundreds of lives and achieve unparalleled fame.

I hope Tanino succeeds; it seems this matter should come to an end...

Part 5: The Cave of Ten Thousand Snakes

— Chapter 10 — "All soldiers are arrayed before the battle" —