King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 223

I don't care what kind of world it is, as long as Suren is there, I will relentlessly pursue him to the end.

There are many questions she doesn't want to answer, or perhaps she doesn't know the answers to. As for her background, the answer can be found by checking the information of the women closely related to her elder brother, Yang Tian.

Another question that puzzles me is: "How many square-eyed monsters are there?"

The Li family's ancient books only depict one, and there is only one golden egg. Could it be that in the deep underground labyrinth, there are countless accomplices hidden, which is why the Longge witch refers to them as the plural "they" rather than the singular "he".

"I won't leave, at least not until my friends are rescued—"

With a loud "bang," the car's left front tire suddenly burst, making my eardrums buzz. Only then did I realize that the mysterious liquid's suction force was far greater than I had expected, and it was endless.

It seems that wrapping the steel cable around Sun Gui was an unforeseen mistake. What kind of mutation has occurred in his body to give him such steel-like qualities, making him impervious to the steel cable?

"Not leaving? What's the point of staying here? Their abilities surpass any character in classic fantasy novels, even exceeding all human imagination. Earthlings are utterly powerless to resist. Of course, their enemy isn't Earthlings at all, but... but..." She hesitated, seemingly unable to find the right words to express herself.

"What is it?" I pressed.

The looting and killing of aliens after landing on Earth is a captivating theme that Hollywood screenwriters will always love, and it can firmly attract the audience's attention and seize the largest share of box office profits.

"It's a... plan, a massive explosion like fireworks, turning a star into countless dust particles, that's their goal."

"Bang, bang, bang!" The other three tires burst one after another. According to figures released by the U.S. military, these tubeless tires can withstand extreme pressures of eighteen to twenty tons and scored full marks in all destructive tests. The supplier even joked that as long as you use their tires, the U.S. military will not have to pay any fees for tire replacements; they are guaranteed for life.

The next step will be a contest between the steel cables and the winches. Those high-strength steel winches are fixed to the chassis of the vehicle with fourteen top-grade bolts as thick as a child's arm. The combined tightness of these bolts should be able to withstand the tension of a single steel cable.

To the best of my knowledge, no liquid has a strong enough adhesive force to cause a tire to explode. Perhaps this isn't a "liquid" in Earth's physics terminology, but something from outer space.

The Dragon Witch's thoughts are undoubtedly the same as "theirs," which is why she can decipher "their" ideas.

"The Big Bang? Blowing stars to dust? As long as it's not Earth, otherwise 'they' will be turned into the same dust as all Earthlings, won't they?" I tried to lighten my tone, but I didn't succeed. The increasingly heavy, invisible pressure, like an insurmountable mountain, gradually made it hard to breathe.

I couldn't see the witch's expression, but I could hear her hesitant sigh: "Isn't it Earth? Is there another blue planet in the solar system?"

Her words clearly indicate that "their" goal is to destroy the Earth. From an Earthling's perspective, it's unimaginable what kind of force could directly blast such a massive planet into dust; that's an effect beyond the reach of explosives and nuclear weapons.

"In the solar system, there is only one blue planet, and that is the one standing on our feet. If you see through their plan, would you just let them succeed?"

The Longewitch is an Earthling, so there's no reason for her to side with aliens. Even if her mind is controlled by them, at least her conscience hasn't been completely extinguished, right?

A master of war art at the Pentagon once said with great seriousness: "As long as life exists, aggression will not stop, in whatever form it takes. There is no difference between humans and humans, between planets."

The thought that some aliens intent on destroying Earth might be hiding in some supernatural world beneath the mountains sent chills down my spine. The US's "Skynet" defense program, researched for nearly thirty years, has made no major breakthroughs and has been criticized by military experts worldwide, who consider the Pentagon's military proposals for defending against alien attacks to be nothing more than unfounded anxiety.

Those who are oblivious should really be shown this: the threat of extraterrestrial life is right beside us, very close at hand; it just hasn't had the right moment to surface. Our Earth and our four billion inhabitants are no different from plants and fish in the vast universe; our ability to defend against extraterrestrial invasion is essentially zero.

The invasion had begun, but not on the worried American mainland, but on China, which was separated from them by the Pacific Ocean.

“I have no choice. Just like all the people of Earth throughout the past ten thousand years, no one can resist the power of the gods. Ignorance is bliss. Perhaps when you truly understand their power, you will willingly submit and beg for survival. My only hope now is that Yang Tian will not step into the cave again—given his tenacious nature, once he discovers this secret, there is no way he will escape alone…”

“A real man wouldn’t just think about saving his own life—” I interrupted her. In my mind, my brother is the greatest hero in the world. Saving the earth, eliminating all of humanity’s enemies, and doing great things that no one else can do are the only reasons for his existence. Otherwise, how could he deserve the great title of “King of Tomb Raiders” that was unanimously recommended to him by the world’s top tomb raiders?

"Is that so? Perhaps... People can't come back to life after they've died. Even living a life of compromise is happier than dying a glorious and joyful death, isn't it?" The ghostly Longe witch now sounded as pathetic as a weather vane swaying in the wind.

"You're wrong." I smiled faintly in the darkness.

Letting the earth be destroyed is death, and fighting back is also death, but the difference in meaning between the two is vast, like heaven and earth.

"Is there a fundamental boundary between right and wrong? My thoughts have continued from ancient legends to this day, encompassing almost the entirety of human history. Am I really inferior to your hasty judgment?" The words of the Longge witch carried an extremely bizarre meaning.

Judging from her figure and voice, she should have been a glamorous woman in her thirties. But just now she claimed to have witnessed the rise and fall of the earth over ten thousand years, which actually existed since the time of ancient legends, which seems unbelievable.

When a person is completely in darkness, their thinking ability becomes strangely distorted, and they lose even the most basic judgment in considering any problem. Just as I was about to ask her a question, a loud "bang" came from under the jeep; the steel cable must have finally snapped under the immense pulling force.

By the faint light from the surface of the blue liquid, I saw the car suddenly bounce more than two feet into the air before landing. All four doors were flung open, and two wooden ammunition boxes fell out, scattering their magazines and grenades all over the ground.

Suddenly, a bright beam of light flashed from my right and shone on the face of the Longo witch.

In a tenth of a second, I saw two oval holes drilled into the mask where the eyes should be, and the dark pupils of the Longe witch reflected a chilling light of terror and rage under the light. It was a pure gold mask, of the highest quality and craftsmanship, its surface as smooth as a classic Turkish handicraft forged through countless hammer blows.

"Wind—" Gu Qingcheng called out, the flashlight in her hand.

"You're asking for death!" A gust of wind rushed past me; it was the voice of the Longo witch.

In that instant, the only thought in my mind was: "Gu Qingcheng cannot die!" I immediately spun around, opened my arms and rushed towards Gu Qingcheng, wanting to protect her with my body.

No matter how fast I am, I can't outrun the Dragon Witch. If someone hadn't suddenly appeared behind Gu Qingcheng and pulled the trigger instantly, Gu Qingcheng might have died at the hands of the Dragon Witch in an instant.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat..." Uncle Wei's light machine gun roared, flashing a long tongue of fire that illuminated the surrounding environment.

I wrapped my arms around Gu Qingcheng's shoulders and spun around again, circling behind Uncle Wei. Only then did I realize that the strange stone pillars had reappeared sometime earlier. The reason I couldn't hear Gu Qingcheng's voice was because it was blocked by the crisscrossing stone pillars. Darkness had become the Dragon Witch's natural shield; she moved freely and easily without our noticing.

A machine gun bullet struck a stone pillar in front of them and bounced off with a sharp whistle.

The Longewitch paused mid-air, her outstretched hands scattering two handfuls of bullets. The echoes of the bullets striking the rocks resonated like a melodious tune. Before someone whose speed surpasses that of a bullet, firing more bullets is merely playing with them.

"Wind, never try to explore everything in the darkness, never. Remember to tell Yang Tian, never come back..."

Her body quickly retreated into the depths of the tunnel, skillfully maneuvering between the stone pillars like an incredibly slippery fish.

Gu Qingcheng's body was incredibly soft, and her clothes carried the natural fragrance of high-quality detergent, making her exceptionally clean and fresh. Holding her felt comfortable and pleasant, and a faint drowsiness surged up from the depths of my heart.

"Feng, thank you for saving me." She gently raised her arms and subtly broke free from my embrace.

Uncle Wei sighed with relief: "Luckily she left. There wasn't a single bullet left in the gun. If there had been another conflict, I don't know where I would have found a magazine..." To be able to escape unscathed from a light machine gun within five meters is a task that no human could accomplish.

"Are all these stone pillars controlled by that woman? What is her true identity?" Gu Qingcheng shone her flashlight around the area before slowly pointing it at the deep pool where Sun Gui had disappeared.

This time, all three of us stared wide-eyed. Uncle Wei even dropped the machine gun he was holding, staggered back five steps, and looked like he'd seen a ghost. He exclaimed in a low voice, "What's going on? It's rising... the rocks are rising..."

The bluish liquid was surging and churning, forming a cylinder seventy centimeters in diameter, rising at a rate of more than an inch per second. The jeep covered in the liquid was immediately lifted up. The liquid was not merely flexible like a liquid, but rather possessed the rigidity of a solid; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to lift the jeep like a pillar.

Gu Qingcheng's flashlight beam was stuck, as if she were trapped in a nightmare, following the liquid.

I couldn't help but reach out and put my arm around her slender waist, whispering, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."

The Dragon Witch meant me no harm; otherwise, she wouldn't have appeared again and again to speak with me calmly. If Gu Qingcheng hadn't exposed her mask, she wouldn't have been so thoroughly enraged.

The cyan liquid penetrated the jeep and rose faster and faster, reaching the top of the cave within ten minutes, shaping a nearly ten-meter-high cyan stone pillar and completing this strange transformation. Its appearance was no different from other pillars.

Part Four: Star Array, Chapter Five: Tang Clan Hidden Weapons, High-Speed Illusions

I took Gu Qingcheng's flashlight and shone it at the base of the stone pillar. There was only hard, cold blue stone there, and I could no longer see the distant roof of the ancient building or the sunken Sun Gui.

"Mr. Feng, Sun Gui just disappeared like that? It's like something out of a horror movie—" Uncle Wei's Adam's apple bobbed, and he nervously swallowed. He rubbed his eyes hard, squatted down, and stroked the base of the stone pillar.

All that's left are ordinary stones, just like any other stone in this mountain.

The bizarre transformation from solid to liquid, and then from liquid to solid, came at the cost of Sun Gui and a jeep, but we gained nothing but a huge fright.

Gu Qingcheng suddenly let out a long sigh: "Feng, what did that person say to you? What kind of face is covered under that golden mask?"

Women have an innate jealousy towards other women. I don't know if someone as intelligent as Gu Qingcheng would feel the same way.

I hesitated and shook my head: "It seems to be more than just a mask. Look at her eyes; they're almost integrated with the mask. It's a pity the time was too short; I only have a blurry image left in my mind. But what's certain is that although it's a mask made of gold, it must be very light. Wearing it on her face didn't feel cumbersome at all; it felt a bit like a thin layer of skin."

That moment of illumination, like a flash of a camera's flash, stung my eyes intensely; it was truly remarkable that I was even able to observe these things.

Uncle Wei blurted out, "Human skin mask? People in the martial arts world of Sichuan always carry such a thing with them, just like the tools actors use to perform 'face-changing'."

Gu Qingcheng nodded slightly, indicating that she agreed with Uncle Wei's point of view.

Human skin masks, as a major tool in the art of disguise, have always been the first choice for martial arts figures to conceal their identities. When this skill reaches its peak, it truly allows one to instantly change their facial features, much like the "face-changing" technique in Sichuan opera, becoming someone else entirely. In the late Qing Dynasty, notorious one-legged bandits such as "Thousand-Faced Fox" and "Ghost-Faced Bandit" were masters of using human skin masks.

I didn't want to argue with Uncle Wei, but in the instant the lights flashed, the mask of the Longe Witch gave me an extremely strange feeling, like a layer of skin growing on her face.

"Could it be that there are some people in this world with golden skin, like gold?" A clue caught my eye and started working quickly in my mind.

"There are already two things related to gold. The other is the giant egg in the Li family's picture book. Where does the Dragon Witch's superpower come from? Did 'they' give it to her? And at the same time, give her this mask? Gold is the most unique metal on Earth. Ancient people even used to swallow gold leaf to cure diseases and ward off evil spirits. Could it be that the square-eyed monster also has a golden face?"

Another piece of information popped into my mind—after unifying the six kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang melted down all the weapons in the world to cast bronze statues.

According to later archaeologists, the weapons at that time were made of bronze and iron. There were no weapons made of gold in history, and gold is too soft to be used as a weapon.

It now seems that archaeologists are merely using limited modern scientific theories to explain historical facts from two thousand years ago, inevitably leading to misattributions and far-fetched interpretations. Given that Qin Shi Huang could take such crazy actions as building the Great Wall, burning books and burying scholars alive, and seeking medicine overseas, who can guarantee that he wouldn't have gathered all the gold in Asia to cast a real "golden man"?

Archaeologists and historians, whenever they encounter the character "金" (gold) in ancient texts, often assume it means "copper," as if the ancients possessed gold in the same scarce form as people today. However, numerous sources have proven this assumption to be completely wrong; otherwise, so many enormous pure gold Buddha statues wouldn't exist in Tibet, Nepal, India, and Thailand.

I need a lot of information to confirm my conjecture, so Red Devil has become the most important character at the moment, even more so than Uncle Wei who is leading the search.

“Feng, let’s retreat and discuss this further.” Gu Qingcheng tugged at my sleeve, adding with a meaningful smile, “That little girl Feiyue is still outside keeping watch! She’s even more worried about you…”

I nodded silently and released my arms from hers, but her left hand deftly and silently flipped up and took my right hand in hers, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

In the darkness, Uncle Wei was completely unaware of this, but I sensed that Gu Qingcheng suddenly sighed deeply, as if a light pebble had secretly slipped into the heart of a deep well, creating ripples in the silent stillness.

After passing seven rows of stone pillars, I finally saw the familiar sunlight again and completely broke free from the darkness.

Feiyue held her two guns level, staring intently into the cave. When she saw me, her face lit up with the joy of surviving a disaster. She lowered her guns and burst into tears, two large, bright tears streaming down her face.

Gu Qingcheng had already let go of my hand. Feiyue ran a few steps forward, threw herself into my arms, and burst into tears.

The man and woman, in their predicament, embraced and wept bitterly—it was a natural, instinctive reaction. Even if Feiyue felt something special, I still treated her like a little sister and had no other thoughts. After she had vented her emotions and stepped back embarrassedly, the four of us walked out of the cave together.

Those who have been trapped in darkness for half the night, standing again under the rising sun, must feel a sense of "rebirth" and joy. The mercenaries who had retreated far away quickly surrounded them, and under Uncle Wei's sharp gaze, they quickly took their positions, starting the remaining three jeeps and preparing to retreat.

The team member closest to us bent down and picked up a dark, gooey object from in front of the vehicle, waving it up to Uncle Wei and reporting, "Uncle Wei, this is what broke the headlight earlier..."

A faint fishy smell wafted in the wind, emanating from the jujube pit dart in his hand.

Uncle Wei cried out in horror, "Throw it away! Throw it down quickly..."

The hidden weapon was coated with a potent poison, which is why it had such a strong, pungent odor. I moved faster than Uncle Wei could shout, already gliding in front of my teammate and swiftly stabbing him in the right arm, sealing off the blood vessels that were flowing back up.

Even the most potent toxins won't cause sudden death unless they reach the heart; at most, it's like "a snake biting an arm, a brave man cutting off his wrist." Losing an arm is always better than losing your life.

The man's thumb and forefinger, which were gripping the jujube-pit dart, suddenly swelled up. In less than two seconds, they swelled up to look like two large carrots. The poisoned dart fell to the ground with a "clink".

Uncle Wei suddenly appeared beside me, gasping, "What a potent poison!"

His movements were swift; he had already drawn a small, sharp knife. A master of the martial world would never show mercy; attempting to cut and bleed to preserve the opponent's finger would only cause the entire arm to become poisoned and fester. Uncle Wei, a seasoned veteran of the martial world, understood this clearly without me needing to remind him.

I stepped back two steps and left the problem to Uncle Wei to handle.

Feiyue put on a brown deerskin glove, picked up the date pit dart from the ground, and then took a black swallowtail dart embedded in the jeep's searchlight. There were fourteen of them in total, which she put into a black rubber box.

The mercenaries from Nepal, seasoned travelers, watched Fei Yue's movements with bated breath, all of them silent and trembling.

Martial arts figures in small Asian countries have historically harbored an innate fear of Chinese hidden weapons, a fear that has persisted for centuries without diminishing. I've had conversations with some students from West and South Asia about this, and whenever martial arts schools like the Tang Clan of Sichuan are mentioned, they rack their brains trying to understand why those toxins extracted from Earth's plants have such a miraculous effect of killing on contact with blood.

"Hmm... Feng, don't you think these hidden weapons look somewhat familiar?" Gu Qingcheng gently stroked her long hair, lost in thought. The rising sun bathed her face and hair in a crimson-gold hue, reminding me once again of the strange mask of the Dragon Witch.

Feiyue, carrying the box, approached me: "Mr. Feng, there's a small character engraved at the center of gravity of all the hidden weapons. Please look—"

I held my breath and looked at the two-inch-long swallowtail dart. Right in the middle of the dart, where the swallowtail separated, there was an extremely small but neatly written "heart" character.

"A single word, 'heart'?" My thoughts were suddenly stirred.

The two girls' eyes suddenly fell on my face: "Yes, that's the word. What does it remind you of?"