King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 193

"Haha, what are you doing here?" The voice rose eight octaves, accompanied by a strange laugh.

"No time to explain. Just send it to my satellite phone using the 'Troy cipher.' Also, Xiaoyan asked me to say hello and said that she can assign you any data task. As the third-best hacker in the world, I hope this task won't stump you."

Normally, these jokes would be said in a very cheerful tone, but I just can't do that now.

"Third in the world? He always says that about me, then humbly calls himself second in the world—one day, I'll surpass him… Alright, I'll take care of your business. Oh, I see, you're here for the expedition? For Miss Suren? Haha, am I clever enough?"

I sighed: "Yes, besides the weather forecast, if you have any updates related to Lan Valley or the Heavenly Ladder, please send them to me as well. I need them urgently."

"Hehe, south of the Consort's Palace is the territory of the Dragon Witch. Be very careful of that woman; she's not someone to be trifled with—"

Suddenly, a burst of radio noise came through the receiver, and the call was able to continue after about five seconds.

I pulled myself together and raised my voice: "I understand. Remember me, and don't oversleep and forget everything!"

"No problem, no problem, I, 'Red Little Devil,' keep my word and do what I say. When it comes to helping in an emergency, I'll do my best..." The other party was a hacker who was even more incoherent than Xiao Yan. Sometimes I really don't understand how someone who can't even speak Chinese properly can be invincible on the Internet.

After reeling in the line, Flying Eagle tentatively asked, "Wind, do you mean we should keep going deeper in, instead of focusing on the place where Suren disappeared?" He was clever; he knew that the weather forecast for a 200-kilometer radius that I wanted already included the location of the Heavenly Ladder.

“Yes, you’ve already searched the area where she disappeared. We have no better option than to keep pushing forward.” Intuitively, I think Suren’s disappearance is related to the Heavenly Ladder. In this mysterious southwestern jungle, anything can happen.

Flying Eagle raised his right hand and waved it, a strange, bitter smile on his face: "That person was right. This is all Dragon Witch's territory. That mysterious woman never shows her true face, and she's incredibly changeable. Sometimes she's an old woman, sometimes a young girl, and sometimes... she even appears as a white-haired old man. Her temperament is extremely strange; she kills and injures people without ever needing a reason. She also keeps a large number of Gu worms and bacteria, which can infect people at any time, making it impossible to defend against..."

Disguise is a popular art form in the martial arts world, and true masters can indeed transform into men, women, old people, or young people at will without leaving a trace. Recalling the old woman's appearance, I didn't find anything amiss; perhaps it was just one of the many forms the Dragon Witch possessed? At least I didn't provoke her, nor did I fall for her tricks, so it's best if we all remain at peace.

Eagle has become extremely timid. Back in the day, he was Scalpel's best friend, his courage and boldness on par with Scalpel's. I don't understand why; perhaps it's related to his lost left little finger?

The column advanced in silence until dawn broke.

The trees and withered vines on all sides intertwined, forming natural barriers that heavily obstructed the view. I began to understand why the Flying Eagle team was entirely equipped with short-range weapons; in this environment, long-range sniper rifles were practically useless, and visibility was almost nonexistent at distances of two hundred meters.

The second short break was in a small grove of trees, with a clear stream flowing gently westward to the side.

The team members carried compressed biscuits and water bottles in their backpacks. No one wanted to touch the stream water. Even though their palms were covered in mud, they would just wipe them on their knees and then put the biscuits directly into their mouths.

Feiyue picked up a twig, stirred it in the stream a couple of times, and said with a sneer, "The stream is clear, but it has a fishy smell. I can guarantee that a snake's den once flowed upstream, and the snake's saliva dripped into the stream, turning it into an extremely insidious slow poison. If people or animals drink it, they will slowly die, and if they are unlucky, they will become a delicious meal for wild beasts."

Downstream, the stream flows through a large expanse of decaying leaves and protruding tree roots before disappearing without a trace. Those who frequently venture into the jungle know that stream water is the perfect carrier of poisonous gases, and even if they are parched to the point of thirst, they dare not touch a single drop of water of unknown origin.

Suren should have enough equipment with her—so, is she someone's prisoner now? Even so, shouldn't she be able to contact them and promise them money and supplies to regain her freedom?

I know that when the answer to a mysterious incident is revealed, it always makes people realize, "Why didn't I think of that before?" I hope that this disappearance will bring me surprise rather than horror.

The eagle climbed a tall tree and looked around with binoculars.

I checked my watch; it was seven in the morning. In another five hours, I should reach the stone wall. If the stream originated from a branch of the Orchid Valley, I believed it would carry venom from the "flying snakes."

"Mr. Feng, would you like... a fish?" Fei Yue thrust her wrist, and a small blue fish struggled on the tip of a tree branch, shaking its head and tail.

I waved my hand, took out my pistol, and checked the ammunition. For dealing with dangers like venomous snakes, a submachine gun with a high rate of fire and dense bullets seemed more effective; the firearms hanging around the necks of the team members were precisely this type of weapon, and they were also American products.

"Hey, why are you so lifeless? Are you scared of my brother?" Feiyue walked over relentlessly.

I put the pistol back in my pocket, looked at the fish struggling painfully on the branch, and smiled gently: "No, we've been marching for half the night, I'm a little tired."

"Hahahaha..." Fei Yue laughed loudly, causing the team members sitting on the ground to turn their heads and look at her.

"You feel tired after such a short distance? Shouldn't you take better care of your health? Everyone in our team could be a triathlete. How about we all have a friendly competition?" Her overly aggressive attitude surprised me, but I had no intention of getting angry. I just treated her like a little kid who didn't know any better.

The team members, sitting together, remained in low spirits, which was not a good sign. During a long expedition, each person's mood would affect the team's efficiency and directly impact the final success or failure.

"Wind, come up and take a look?" Flying Eagle beckoned to me.

The tree branch he was riding on was about six meters off the ground. Fei Yue made a face and laughed, "Mr. Feng, would you like to show off your lightness skill in front of everyone? Or can I ask someone else to demonstrate the move first?"

I shook my head, walked to the tree, leaped up, grabbed a branch hanging in the air, swung my body, and was thrown straight up, headfirst and feet first, rushing towards the top of the tree. As I passed the eagle, I gently patted him on the shoulder, used the momentum to flip over, and landed on another branch.

If I don't properly demonstrate my skills, I'm afraid it will cause confusion among the team members, who might think I'm a frail urban white-collar worker who is useless for exploration.

The team members looked up in complete silence, then suddenly burst into enthusiastic applause.

"Impressive lightness skill!" Flying Eagle laughed and handed over the binoculars.

I let out a long breath and tried to make my tone light: "Did you find anything?"

Beneath the tree, Feiyue had already walked away dejectedly. Having forced me to reveal my true martial arts skills, I wondered if she had achieved her goal. I raised my binoculars and looked south, the focus already at its limit, but all I could see were barren hillsides, strange trees, and dead vines. Occasionally, I'd spot a few bluish-gray vultures, their wings fluttering, perched atop treetops, their necks hunched as they peered around. These birds of prey were not only interested in carrion, but would also launch a deadly swoop at any moment against lone people or animals.

"How far are we from the stone wall?" I couldn't see the stone wall they were talking about.

“A three-hour journey.” Flying Eagle pointed south, his expression growing increasingly grim.

Volume Four: The Divine Trapped in the Epang Palace

Part 1: The Mysterious Borderlands - The Disappearance of Sulun

— Chapter 5 — The Little Girl's Cry —

Under the sunlight, the mist that had enveloped the jungle finally began to dissipate slowly. In the far distance, patches of white appeared in the gray mountain valleys—the perpetual snow in the shaded areas, places rarely visited by humans.

"Flying Eagle, are you hiding something from me?" I handed the binoculars back to him. Compared to the mindless rabble of the expedition team, Flying Eagle's group brought me only endless heavy oppression.

With a wry smile, Flying Eagle put the binoculars into the canvas bag on his chest, took out a small piece of compressed biscuit, and slowly chewed it.

"The two people who went missing last night weren't the first, were they?" From his attitude toward the missing persons report, I could see not only the composure of a master, but also a touch of helpless indifference.

“Yes.” Crumbs of compressed biscuits fell from his lips. Unbeknownst to him, stubble had grown on his cheeks and jaw, making him look old and disheveled.

"Tell me the truth, including Feiyue's unusual reaction, okay?" My gaze followed Feiyue, who was pacing back and forth, softly singing along to the music in her headphones.

"Wind, can you hear that? A little girl is crying—" Flying Eagle suddenly straightened his back, looked to the left front, and looked extremely nervous.

I listened intently, but there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the occasional cry of a strange bird.

“Really, there’s a little girl, about eight or nine years old, crying and calling for her mother. It’s very clear, just twenty or thirty meters ahead. Can’t you hear her?” He turned to look at me, cookie crumbs ridiculously stuck to his beard.

I looked ahead carefully, and based on the distance he indicated, I could see everything clearly without binoculars.

“No.” I shook my head, pushed aside the dead branches lying across my face, and focused my attention again. An eight- or nine-year-old girl is at least over a meter tall; even with branches obscuring her view, I would still be able to see part of her body, so I wouldn’t have missed it entirely. Besides, I was certain that my hearing was sharp enough that I wouldn’t have missed such a sudden cry.

Flying Eagle's left hand landed on the gun handle once again, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, and his four fingers trembling nervously.

“Flying Eagle, are you hallucinating? Tell me about the missing team members—” I reached out and patted his shoulder, but he reacted very strongly. He flipped his right arm and grabbed my wrist with his famous “Mighty Eagle Claw Hand”, with a whooshing sound.

With his finger skills, he could easily split even a sturdy bamboo pole. Of course, I wouldn't let him catch me. With a flick of my wrist, I casually flicked a branch about an inch thick into his hand. With a "crack," the branch snapped in two, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

As a unique sect in the martial arts world, the "Eagle Claw Sect of Huai River" has stood for a thousand years and has many branches. Flying Eagle can be regarded as a first-class master in the southwest region. Even in extreme fear, the direction and force of his voice are still amazing.

I shrank back, wary of him making another impulsive move.

"There was a little girl crying, believe me... Feng, I can't be mistaken." He murmured, withdrawing his hand and continuing to put the cookie in his mouth.

"I bet you know that little girl doesn't exist, even if you can hear her crying, you can't find her, right?" This is the essence of auditory hallucinations—hearing but not being able to find her, essentially the same as a mirage. In the depths of these desolate mountains and jungles, due to the combined effects of geomagnetism, light and shadow, and poisonous miasma, it's common for explorers to experience auditory and visual hallucinations, and there's nothing to be alarmed about.

Flying Eagle paused for several seconds, then raised his left hand and gently patted his forehead a few times, saying thoughtfully, "The crying is gone."

Within a 50-meter radius to his left, there were strange trees and withered branches. If a search party were dispatched, the situation could be determined within a few minutes. He had probably done this before, but it was all in vain and must have caused panic among the people.

"There's no sound of a little girl crying. Eagle, tell me about the missing team members. How many times has this happened?" I hope to find out if there is any necessary connection between the team members' disappearances and Suren's disappearance.

"The fourth time, the first three times it was just one person each time, suddenly disappearing when alone, leaving no trace within fifty meters, as if snatched away by an invisible monster. Sometimes we could find the last footprints left by the missing person, sometimes there was nothing at all. I always felt that someone was watching us from the shadows, ready to attack at any moment, but—"

He straightened his chest again, as if to lift the burden on his shoulders: "I have no choice but to find Suren."

The series of disappearances naturally caused panic among everyone. I now understand that Feiyue deliberately acted aggressively towards me just to distract the team members from their fear of the road ahead. She really went to great lengths.

“Thank you, Eagle.” I sincerely extended my hand to him.

“I am the scalpel’s good brother. Suren is his sister, and also my sister, just like Feiyue. So, even if I die, I must find her.”

I laughed and squeezed his rough, large hand: "The word 'death' is the most taboo word for explorers. Didn't the scalpel tell you that?"

Everyone dies. To the average person, the process of exploration is full of opportunities to come close to death. But I understand that we are simply trying to uncover the truth behind the mystery, not deliberately seeking death. In fact, every successful explorer is more afraid of death than the average person. Only by being afraid of death can one "never die."

"Flying Eagle, did Suren tell you what she's looking for?" That's the real question about the expedition.

"A mysterious ancient tomb lies beneath the 'Heavenly Ladder' at the end of Lan Valley." He wasn't a tomb raider in the traditional sense; his life was different from that of the scalpel, so he wasn't particularly interested in ancient tombs specifically for the dead.

“Yes, an ancient tomb…” I frowned, raising my hands to rub my wind-dried face repeatedly. What lies beneath the Heavenly Ladder remains unknown. I hope Suren can successfully excavate the Epang Palace, but I hope even more that she will be safe and sound. Let's imagine, if an Epang Palace truly exists there, what would be inside? An empty, desolate underground palace? Filled with mummified corpses that have existed for thousands of years? Just like the underground tomb of Qin Shi Huang…

From the moment Su Lun mentioned the topic of the "second Epang Palace," I had a question that I had been holding back: Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum, which he built for himself, has been identified and is gradually being excavated, but the Epang Palace in history was a place for his enjoyment. How could it have been moved to such a remote mountain area? With the means of transportation in the Qin Dynasty, reaching the end of the Langu Valley would have been extremely difficult. Surely he wouldn't have gone through thousands of miles just to enter the palace for a single enjoyment?

Ancient emperors, when building palaces for pleasure, always preferred to place them high above the ground, enjoying the pleasure of "drinking wine in the breeze." This is why King Zhou built the "Star-Picking Tower," and why Emperor Tang left behind the romantic tale of "the Lishan Palace soaring into the clouds." To this day, no emperor's palace has ever been built underground, not even in a slightly concave area. Emperors called themselves dragons, emphasizing "flying dragons in the sky"—how could they possibly burrow into the dark underground for pleasure?

"Shall we go?" Eagle tossed the last piece of biscuit into his mouth.

We leaped down from the tree, and Feiyue walked over, lowering her voice: "Big brother, I heard it again—"

Flying Eagle nodded, and the brother and sister exchanged a very complicated look. Then they gave the order to continue forward.

The marching speed during the day was at least twice that at night, and the morale of the team members had improved significantly. Feiyue was still by my side, but this time she didn't speak casually. Every half hour or so, she would reach into her pocket for her gun. In this environment, the only thing that could give one a sense of security was the cold, hard weapon.

I gestured to her, tucked a few steps behind the group, and whispered, "You heard the crying too?"

Hearing crying suddenly in a deserted jungle is indeed a very strange thing.

“Yes, this is the fourth time I’ve heard it, and so has my older brother. Every time a disappearance occurs, we can hear crying within a few hours, lasting for about three minutes, very close, never more than thirty meters in radius. It’s like something out of a horror movie, isn’t it ridiculous?” She took off her hat, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, bit her lip with her white teeth, and stared straight at me.

Feiyue's eyebrows were thick, with sharp, boyish arches, exuding an indescribable wildness.

"Could it be a hallucination?"

Feiyue shook her head vigorously: "No, it's because my brother and I heard that sound at the same time. If it were just a hallucination, it wouldn't happen to both of us at the same time. Also, my brother has been traveling in the southwest and has enough practical experience in jungle warfare. He couldn't possibly be fooled by a hallucination."

I smiled. Every girl spoke of her older brother with such adoration and trust. Feiyue's tone reminded me of Su Lun's manner when she mentioned the scalpel—it was exactly the same.

"What are you laughing at? Is it that funny?" She irritably swung her hat, breaking several dry branches beside her.

Flying Eagle turned around, glared at her a few more times, but said nothing more.

"What do you think? Is it a mountain spirit or a tree monster? Or perhaps a demon or ghost?" I quickened my pace, glancing around at the jungle on both sides.

The team has now formed a single line and is moving faster and faster. We are confident that we will arrive ahead of schedule.

"No, I think it's the witch Longge who's behind it. You know, this whole mountain range is her territory, and she won't allow anyone to invade it. The disappearance of Suren and the team members is probably all her doing. I've discussed it with my brother, and we've ordered all the team members that if they spot any suspicious individuals, anyone has the right to shoot them and kill them without hesitation."

In the vast jungle, even the sound of a grenade explosion is absorbed by the trees and grass, not carrying more than five kilometers away, creating a space seemingly detached from reality. Here, force can solve everything, and the law has become a distant, unattainable framework confined to the pages of books.

"Kill without mercy?" I touched my chin, and my stubble popped out, hard and pricking my fingers.

“Yes.” Feiyue buttoned her hat back up.

Legends about the Longge witch can be heard everywhere in the southwestern border region, and she has almost become synonymous with the god of the mountains and forests. However, the old woman I met was just an ordinary person. Even though the poisonous insects she kept looked somewhat frightening, they were far from being the "goddess of the mountains and forests."

Flying Eagle and Flying Moon's words did nothing to help with the "little girl's crying" issue. Even if I admit they weren't in a state of "auditory hallucination," what does that prove? A little girl whose voice they could only hear but not see was alone in this mountain forest, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, always with them?

I need detailed information about all the Dragon Witches, and the only one who can help me is "Red Imp," the super hacker from that continent.

After dialing the number again, Red Ghost seemed very excited: "Hmm, it's you again? How can I help you?" Hackers' lifestyles and principles are very different from ordinary people. They are often very interested in legendary figures, but indifferent to things around them. For example, this was only the first time I had spoken to him on the phone, but the enthusiasm he showed was more cordial than that of an old friend of decades.