King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 199

"Alright, please wait a moment, I'll go brew a pot of snake gall tea, we can talk while we drink." She walked towards the stove, her figure slender and her waist light, showing no signs of the usual fatigue of a woman in her thirties.

Watching her silhouette, a question I'd never considered before surfaced in my mind: "What kind of girls does my brother actually like? Besides Lan Yao and Lan Ji, whom he can't forget because of the scalpel, and He Jishang, the Holy Princess of the Five Poisons Sect, is his life filled with many other girls who are as beautiful as celestial beings and as graceful as startled swans?"

"Hey, I haven't asked your name yet?" He Jishang suddenly turned around and asked as they reached the door.

“You can call me ‘Feng,’ that’s what everyone calls me.” For some reason, my nose felt a little sore. Actually, I hope that one day my older brother will call me that too. When we meet, I won’t be the burden he holds in his arms anymore, but a new generation of “King of Tomb Raiders” who is on par with him, and is equally admired by thousands.

"Big brother, are you here?" I murmured to myself, something welling up in my eyes, but I forced a smile and pushed it back.

In this old wooden building, I felt that my elder brother was always watching me from the shadows, so I couldn't show any weakness in my affections.

The clinking of teacups and teapots came from the kitchen. I strolled up the stairs, and the empty second floor was bathed in the red glow of the sunset. To this day, I am certain that I did not see wrong. Whether it was a mirage or a reflection of light, I unmistakably saw someone appear at the window yesterday afternoon before sunset.

According to the physics explanation, under certain special geological conditions, images of human activities can be completely preserved, much like an optical lens combined with a videotape, except that other natural substances act as the lens and the videotape. When the exact same weather conditions occur as when the images were "preserved," they can be replayed.

If I were to explain what I saw, this explanation would be somewhat succinct. That is to say, many years ago, one evening, my older brother was reading by the window, and about three minutes of that image was captured. Yesterday, perhaps due to the same lighting conditions, the image replayed before my eyes.

The reason Liang Wei didn't see these things might simply be because his eye's imaging structure is completely different from mine.

The natural phenomena that modern applied physics can explain are truly very limited, sometimes even becoming a bottleneck that restricts human imagination, rejecting many projects that could have led to major breakthroughs.

"Feng, the tea is here." Hearing He Jishang call me that, I suddenly felt a warm glow in my heart, as if I had returned home.

We sat facing each other on the floor by the window, our tea set consisting of a rare mutton-fat jade pot and a jade cup of turquoise. He Jishang lifted the teapot, and the tea pouring from its spout was also turquoise, with a faint, refreshing fragrance.

"Snake gall tea is made from the gallbladders of three venomous snakes: the five-step snake, the grass-flying snake, and the green bamboo mouth snake, combined with tender spring tea buds. It can clear heart fire, brighten the eyes, and dispel miasma and poisonous fog. Please—" She personally held up a cup of tea and offered it to me with both hands.

At this moment, she was not the Holy Princess of the Five Poisons Sect who once struck fear into the hearts of heroes across the land, but rather a member of my family. I have traveled all over the world for so long, making every place my home, yet nowhere truly felt like home, but in this small village on the southwestern border, I found the feeling of "home".

"Thank you." I took the cup; its warm, smooth jade texture carried a gentle warmth that went straight to my heart. Without even lifting the cup to look, I could imagine that the four small Han dynasty characters "Qin Shi Ming Yue" (The Bright Moon of Qin) were engraved on the bottom. This was a genuine Tang dynasty court jade artifact. The two handleless jade cups were engraved with "Qin Shi Ming Yue," while the short-necked, flat-mouthed jade pot was engraved with the three characters "Han Shi Guan" (The Pass of Han).

"Drinking tea from such a jade cup is truly extravagant!" I exclaimed sincerely. Even a master like Scalpel, whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions, would at most use a cup worth a few thousand US dollars to drink tea, and would not go to the point of using a real antique worth more than five million US dollars to entertain guests.

He Jishang focused on pouring and tasting the tea, and did not bring up the topic again.

I could only take the initiative to ask, "Miss He, could you say anything more about the great hero Yang Tian? I'm all ears."

She held the jade cup in both hands and gently shook her head.

The sun was already hanging over the eastern jungle, and the sky was clear. If it weren't for the incident last night, we should have already advanced quite a bit, about five kilometers.

“Miss He, we were talking so well just now, why did you suddenly stop? Exquisite tea, fine cups, if we could also have the joyful stories of our martial arts predecessors to accompany us, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?” I understood that she used making tea as an excuse to weigh the pros and cons repeatedly in her mind before choosing to remain silent.

A deep, powerful roar suddenly rang out from behind the wooden building, seemingly coming from the deepest part of the underground. The sound was refracted several times before reaching the building, and it lasted for more than ten seconds.

"Don't be afraid, that's just the sound of the village guardian spirit being hungry." She picked up the jade pot to refill my cup.

I smiled calmly: "I'm not afraid. I've seen local natives hunt 'Legaugan pythons' with spears and poisoned arrows in the Amazon rainforest before. Although they are huge, their venom is only comparable to that of the king cobra, so they are really nothing to be afraid of." Each type of python makes a different sound, and I can clearly identify the species just by listening, without even seeing them.

The Legolan python is a type of ferocious animal on Earth. I just don't understand how the Five Poisons Sect could have a ferocious creature from another continent as their guardian deity. And how did they manage to transport the Legolan python over such a long distance to this place?

"I can tell you're very smart, and you must understand our Five Poisons Sect's principles: repay kindness and avenge wrongs, and we'll do it tenfold." Her gaze pierced through the rising steam from the jade cup, fixed on me.

I nodded. Her willingness to call herself a "dissident of the Five Poisons Sect" and mention the "principles of the Five Poisons Sect" proves that, although she was expelled from the sect, she still considers herself a member of the Five Poisons Sect.

"Before you, no fewer than a hundred people with ulterior motives came to the village to inquire about the 'King of Tomb Raiders.' He left behind so much wealth, ancient tomb excavation blueprints, and tomb raiding techniques; it was bound to attract the covetous eyes of江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world). In the end, they all ended up in the stomach of the village's guardian spirit, without exception. I hope you're not like that. If you come with the same intentions, the outcome will be exactly the same, without exception, even if I find you pleasing to the eye—"

The allure of treasure is undeniable. Since the eldest brother's mysterious disappearance, many people harboring dreams of getting rich through tomb raiding have been tirelessly searching for his whereabouts, or more precisely, for the tomb raiding maps he left behind, hoping to effortlessly enter those treasure troves buried deep underground.

The scalpel concealed my identity for my own safety, to prevent me from becoming a hostage in the hands of the searchers.

I understood He Jishang's feelings. After finishing the remaining tea in my cup, I took out my satellite phone and asked with a polite smile, "May I make a call?"

To gain her trust, I have to do something.

He Jishang nodded, his sharp, knife-like gaze never leaving my face.

I dialed Xiaoyan's number and waited a full ten seconds before he answered, muttering incoherently, "Who...who is looking for..."

"It's me, Feng. What's wrong? Are you sleeping again?" As a super hacker, he was used to being active at night and sleeping during the day. His long-term reversed day and night life had led him to develop the strange habit of sleeping for 48 hours straight every month without eating or drinking.

Xiao Yan suddenly became excited, all sleepiness vanished, and she spoke with unusual fervor: "Feng—I've been waiting for your call. Answer me one question. I know only you could answer such a super strange question. I've asked Sister Xiao a hundred times, and she always says she doesn't know..."

I could only raise my voice to interrupt him: "Xiao Yan, stop for a moment, help me find some information, about the Soviet lightning physicist Myanlov—"

He interrupted me again, saying, "No, no, answer me first, answer me first!" His tone was extremely harsh and violent, completely unlike his usual speaking style, and a huge wave of sound came straight out of the receiver, which He Jishang could hear clearly.

He's still just a child, so I had no choice but to give in for the time being: "Okay, go ahead."

"Here's the thing, all the computer hardware experts in the world say that so-called super hackers are nothing more than psychopaths, 'giants on the keyboard, dwarfs in action'—I want to completely change that, to vindicate hackers, to let those guys who only know how to solder components and circuit boards know that the power of hackers is everywhere and omnipotent. So, I'm analyzing the data on the Fang Demon. You see, Tanino Shinshu is dead. Where did the Fang Demon he controlled go? Don't tell me that with his death, the Fang Demon vanished into thin air. I think the Fang Demon still exists, but in another imperceptible form, like water freezing when it's cold and vaporizing when it's hot. You can boldly imagine that if I use the right methods to restore the 'vaporized' Fang Demon to a solid state, then invade its mind and manipulate it, I'll become the master of the Fang Demon, right?"

Xiao Yan said so much in one breath, her excitement growing higher and higher.

"Yes." I simply replied with one word; his statement was theoretically valid.

"Haha, I knew you'd say that. Wind, you're amazing! Your imagination surpasses everyone else on Earth. Hehe, just watch me. Maybe one day in the future, I'll bring the Fang Demon to you, control everything, and become the master of Earth..."

Hackers are a special group that roams the ocean of the internet. Many people compare them to the pirates who roamed Europe in the 18th century. They always have many ideas that are considered "abnormal" by ordinary people, and they are extremely whimsical.

"Alright, Xiaoyan, I've answered your question. Now it's my turn to speak, isn't it?" I felt his excitement was waning, like a heroin addict who had just had his fill.

A series of clattering keyboard clicks came through, and he lazily replied, "All of Myanlov's materials are ready, including those marked 'Russian Top Secret' and 'Pentagon Top Secret,' all in your mailbox. However, many of the large-sized images can't be deciphered using a satellite phone, and I can't help you with that. Who told you to inexplicably wander into some remote mountain village like Sister Su Lun? Of course, I can send you a plain text version, but only in forty-eight hours. I need to sleep; I'll be exhausted if I don't..."

Part Two: A Smile That Captivates a City

— Chapter 1 — Silver Needle Soul-Suppressing Technique —

I called out "hello" twice but received no response. After a while, all I could hear from the receiver was Xiaoyan's sweet snoring.

With a "whoosh," the back wall of the wooden building slowly slid open, revealing a secret room—a study fully equipped with modern office equipment. A HP laptop's power indicator light flickered, indicating it was in sleep mode. Next to it were a printer, fax machine, projector, satellite signal transmitter and receiver, and a low-noise generator.

"This is my study; you can use it temporarily."

The tea had gone cold. He Jishang, carrying the teapot, gracefully walked towards the stairs, leaving me alone in front of the open secret room.

Myanlov was the most famous lightning research expert in the former Soviet Union, but he truly became famous worldwide for his "lightning imaging storage system," one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, he secretly sold all the research data to the Americans at a high price through international brokers. Therefore, he became the "most unforgivable traitor" in the former Soviet regime and was imprisoned in the state prison at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, never to see the light of day again.

As its name suggests, this system can simulate the real environment when lightning occurs, and then use the power of this natural phenomenon to obtain a real image and save it successfully.

Lightning is everywhere, and if Americans can further develop this technology, they will be able to unstoppably invade every most private corner of the earth with the violent power of nature.

My idea might be to use Milyanlov's theory to allow Yang Tian's image to appear a second time on its own initiative, rather than passively waiting for it.

After turning on my computer, I accessed the internet via satellite phone. In my email inbox, there were indeed thousands of pages of text documents and over a hundred huge pictures, all of which depicted lightning bolts of various shapes. Besides the most common branched and ball lightning, there were even square, triangular, and rhomboid lightning bolts.

It will probably take some time to read through all this information.

After a moment's thought, I called Li Kang first, because I needed a detailed account of how the Jiang brothers, Jiang Guang and Jiang Liang, had mistakenly entered the underground palace. Although Li Zun'er claimed to have recorded their words truthfully, he was a pedantic scholar who knew nothing about exploration or tomb raiding, so how could he possibly understand what the Jiang brothers described?

Li Kang's voice was also groggy, as if he had just woken up: "Ah, Mr. Feng, are you alright?"

Without Su Lun's leadership, these people lingered in the concubine's palace like headless flies, not knowing whether to advance or retreat, just aimlessly waiting.

I gently instructed him, “Li Kang, we have now passed the stone wall and arrived at a relatively safe village. You bring your father, Jiang Guang, Jiang Liang, and the Bakun brothers here, and let the others stay with Mr. Schiller in the Concubine's Palace. Remember, especially the Jiang brothers, I need to have a detailed talk with them to determine the location to enter the Heavenly Ladder.”

In the midst of chaos, someone must step forward to take responsibility and stabilize morale, and that is the role I must play. Of course, He Jishang still doubts me, and the situation in the village is not entirely under control, but I always understand that my primary purpose in entering the jungle is to find Sulun and successfully bring her back to the city.

He Jishang's appearance was a pleasant surprise for me. Perhaps I should give her time to get to know me. I trust my intuition; I believe we will become good friends, just like Su Lun and Xiao Keleng.

“Mr. Feng, everyone is very scared. The stone house you visited has collapsed, and the stream next to it is stained red with blood. Blood keeps flowing down from upstream. I thought something had happened to you…” Li Kang’s trembling voice gradually calmed down.

I chuckled softly: "How could anything happen to us? A team of several dozen people is more than enough to hunt a tiger. Don't worry."

There was blood in the stream, and my first thought was of the six people Xiao Guan led. If there were no other people in the nearby jungle, then they were the only ones who had been in trouble.

“Alright, I’ll take them into the mountains right away. Where is the village? According to Bakun and the others, there aren’t any villages in the mountains, which is strange…”

Ignoring his mutterings, I immediately raised my voice: "Once you pass the stone wall, follow the path and you'll reach here. We'll keep in touch by phone. Also—compile a list of all the bank accounts that can receive money, and I'll have someone deposit 100,000 into each account."

Li Kang thanked him repeatedly with delight, and immediately mustered his courage: "Great, let's set off into the mountains right away."

After hanging up, I quickly flipped through the data, hoping to find examples of terrain similar to that of the wooden building.

Myanlov has personally experienced the re-enactment of images preserved by lightning more than thirty times, with more than twenty of these occurring in Iceland, Northern Europe. His understanding is that the closer one gets to the North Pole, the denser the Earth's magnetic field lines become, creating ideal conditions for image storage.

After nearly a decade of aurora research with another polar expert, Dozhkov, he has successfully discovered how to use the aurora's powerful energy as a key trigger for a "storage process." Once the imaging elements are analyzed, this can be generalized to utilize any form of light energy as the power source for storage. Simply put, if Myanlov's vision is successfully developed, our lives will be filled with images of various activities, creating a bizarre and wondrous world.

The only regret is that, to date, no such strange natural phenomenon has been discovered on the Asian continent.

Myanlov concluded that "Asia's topography, population density, dry air, and green coverage all prevent this phenomenon from occurring."

So, what was I seeing? Was it just a pure hallucination?

I got up and searched every corner of the second floor, then looked out the window into the jungle across the way, finally finding the spot where Liang Wei and I were lying in ambush. What kind of story had unfolded between my elder brother and He Jishang? Where did he go after leaving here? Could it be the Orchid Valley, the Heavenly Ladder, or the Epang Palace ahead?

"Feng, the new tea is here." He Jishang reappeared silently. Before she spoke, she had been standing behind me for a long time, staring at me without moving. As a martial arts master who could "see in all directions and hear in all directions," I could even feel the inexplicable heat in her gaze.

“You resemble someone.” She refilled the jade cup with tea, speaking seemingly casually.

I smiled silently, rapidly clicking the text files, skimming through them. The more I pressed He Jishang for answers, the more wary she would become, and the more tight-lipped she would be. It was better to step back and wait for her to speak first. Before things had settled down, relentless questioning would only fuel her suspicions.

"I will take good care of the people you brought and will not harm them. However, that little girl in the red jacket and red pants looks a bit strange," she said casually.

I released the mouse and turned to her: "Yes, you're a master of the Five Poisons Sect, and having lived in the jungle for so long, you should be able to tell that she's been under someone's spell, her mind completely controlled. Yesterday, when I first saw you, I thought you were one of the Five Poisons Sect's drugged humans—"

The Five Poisons Sect, as the most notorious evil sect in the martial arts world, has a reputation no less bad than that of the infamous Demonic Sect of the past. The drug-using humans they train have similar functions and powers to the "human bombs" prevalent in Iraq today, both sacrificing themselves to perish together with their targets.

He Jishang laughed: "Since I met Brother Tian, I have forgotten the brutal methods of the cult."

I stared intently into her eyes: "You still don't believe me? I really want to hear the story of the great hero Yang Tian, otherwise I wouldn't be lingering here. I have a best friend who mysteriously disappeared in the jungle, her fate unknown, and I have to go find her. If you don't want to tell me, we can talk about it later..." The eye part of the mask was also cleverly disguised, with a layer of transparent light brown film covering the light in her eyes.

In the world of martial arts, in order to protect oneself, one has to build up layers of disguise. This is the only way to avoid being hurt, regardless of gender.

Suddenly, the braying of a donkey came from the left side of the wooden building.

I jumped up abruptly, creating a commotion throughout the room: "Miss He, you... you also keep donkeys here? No, I mean, this donkey is the kind my friend rides!"

Without a doubt, this donkey's braying sound was exactly the same as the one I heard in Feizidian. According to Li Kang, they bought the donkey from a local villager in Feizidian; it was fast, had great stamina, and was the best breed of donkey from the Loess Plateau.

In an instant, hundreds of thoughts raced through my mind, and a restless voice kept calling out Suren's name.

“The donkey came on its own and is tied to the left side of the wooden building. You can go down and take a look, but I have never seen your friend, and don’t suspect me of trying to kill you for money, okay?” He Jishang said calmly.

I hurried downstairs and stood on the steps at the entrance, looking to my left. Sure enough, on a pillar of a wooden building, a sturdy gray donkey was tied up, swishing its tail and braying incessantly, its front hooves kicking the pillar repeatedly, making a "thud" sound.

He Jishang seemed to have no reason to lie. If she wanted to hide something, she would have disposed of the donkey long ago. Why would she wait for us to come looking for her?

With the donkey still there, and Suren disappearing alone, the situation became increasingly perplexing. Without the donkey, how would she get around?

I looked south, and the path was still hidden in the woods. The donkey carrying Schiller could automatically return to the stone wall, so why did this one end up here? It's clear that Suren's tracks had already passed the village, and when the donkey returned to the stone wall from the previous path, it passed through the village and was caught by the women.

If this deduction is correct, then Suren must be in the southern region, and I must catch up with him quickly.

"What are you looking at? We'll be at Lan Valley soon, a terrifying place filled with flying snakes." He Jishang poked her head out of the second-floor window.

"It's nothing. With my friend's skills, he wouldn't be scared off by just a few snakes. Miss He, please be merciful and release the person who came with me. We should get going." Once I determined the direction of Su Lun's location, I couldn't wait to drive forward.

He Jishang smiled regretfully, "Leaving so soon, I haven't even had a chance to show you some hospitality."