King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 241

Xiao Yan is the world's number one hacker; nothing involving decoding can escape his grasp. The submarine is the only means of transportation from the Well of Spirits into the underwater tunnel. What might be hidden inside? Could it be all of Tanino Shinshu's secrets?

"Wind, in my heart, you are the most supremely wise person in the world. It's a pity you're not here to share this with me. And the person who cracked the secret many years before me is nowhere to be found. No wonder the old masters of the martial arts world say 'Invincibility is the loneliest thing.' When I explored this wonderful world alone, I truly felt utterly lonely—"

Xiao Yan let out a long, melancholy sigh that seemed completely out of place for his age. The ancient music started again, and an old, desolate geisha was singing in a strange and secluded way, creating a bizarre and eerie atmosphere.

Besides Xiao Yan, those remaining at Xunfu Garden included Xiao Keleng, Xiao Lai, and a small team from the Divine Gun Society. I had deliberately requested Sun Long to have them temporarily stationed at Xunfu Garden to deal with the Watanabe City Group, which was attempting to acquire it. With Xiao Keleng's wisdom, he could at least guide Xiao Yan, preventing the young man from inadvertently falling into the demonic path.

People who are too intelligent are prone to going ahead of their own ideas and exploring beyond their limits. When this "ahead of their time" reaches a point of madness, their thinking begins to deviate from the behavioral norms of human society, and they do all sorts of incomprehensible things.

I solemnly reminded him, "Xiao Yan, consult with Xiao Xiao about everything. That underwater world is very strange, so don't act on your own."

Xiao Yan sneered: "Her? Do you know? When I figured out the secrets of the submarine, even the 'Three Heroes of Flying Flowers,' including my sister and Su Lun, couldn't reach my level of understanding. I don't want to share these things with anyone except you. Of course, Yang Tian, the great hero who previously entered the underwater world, might count, but he's not here, although the tunnels outside are covered with inscriptions like 'Yang Tian, the King of Tomb Raiders, has arrived—'"

I cried out, interrupting him rudely: "What? Where is this 'here' you're talking about? Are you in that underwater tunnel?"

Any human being capable of expressing themselves fluently would clearly distinguish between "here" and "there" and "inside" and "outside." If Xiao Yan refers to the tunnel where her elder brother wrote as "outside," then he must be deep inside the tunnel.

"I am—inside, in the vast space we once peered into through that crystal window, the 'Undersea Tomb of the Gods' in Japanese legend, a world that doesn't belong to Earthlings. You know? According to the 'Law of Cosmic Kinetic Energy,' my body will soon grow intelligent tentacles, allowing me to directly contact their home planet and become one of these superhumans, just like in 'Journey to the West,' with three heads and six arms, fiery eyes, riding on wind and fire wheels, flying through clouds and lightning, and traveling thousands of miles in an instant..."

I suddenly felt like I was suffocating. Everything Xiaoyan said was too strange, like the ramblings of a madman in a mental hospital.

"Who...who are they?" After a dozen seconds, I tried to calm myself down and grasp the core of Xiaoyan's entire narrative.

"They are the rulers of the universe, known in ancient times as the 'Sons of the Heavenly Emperor,' nine of the ten suns shot down by Hou Yi. Their target was Earth; who would believe those outdated ancient legends? There are some questions I can't answer yet, but with the help of the 'Cosmic Kinetic Law,' everything will be resolved. Wind, it feels amazing to be a superhero. When Earthlings stumble and crawl beneath my feet like ants, I can stomp on them at any time—"

I couldn't help but yell angrily, "Enough! Xiao Yan, what are you doing? Have you been brainwashed by aliens?"

Only certain warmongers with insatiable lust for power would view humanity as mere ants, to be trampled upon at will—such as the leaders of the three Axis powers during World War II. Human beings are always equal; there is no hierarchy, no distinction of rank or status.

In my extreme shock, I raised my voice to its highest point, and the echo suddenly reverberated throughout the surrounding mountains and fields, which must have reached He Jishang's ears downstairs as well.

"I don't have it, Wind. Only when you enter this realm will you feel the ignorance, backwardness, chaos, and inferiority of Earthlings. Their indiscriminate mining, construction, destruction, and excavation on Earth are causing its trajectory to deviate drastically, thus affecting the survival and stability of the entire universe. According to the reasonable calculations of the 'Cosmic Kinetic Energy Law,' since American scientists first invented the atomic bomb, the destructive power of nuclear weapons will expand nearly a thousandfold within the next hundred years, rapidly threatening the safety of other planets."

"Actually, increasingly powerful weapons are completely unnecessary. Like them, tens of thousands of years before Earth, they invented a superweapon capable of instantly destroying the sun, but what use is it? No inhabitant of any planet in the Milky Way is foolish enough to try and destroy the sun, because the cosmic waves from a solar explosion would trigger a catastrophic chain reaction, causing planets to collide and destroy each other, forming one or countless black holes capable of swallowing everything. Feng, you should understand that destroying the sun is extremely foolish, but Earthlings will do it in the near future, around 2099. Therefore, they have come to stop Earthlings from doing something so stupid—"

I tried my best to keep up with Xiaoyan's pace. It had only been a few weeks since we left Hokkaido, yet he had become so absurd, his mind and mouth filled with bizarre theories. Xiao Keleng hadn't called to explain these things, so I knew absolutely nothing about it.

If he were brainwashed by aliens, he would probably be completely controlled by the shadow of the illusion demon, like a scalpel, and become a common enemy of humanity. He seemed unusually excited when we withdrew from the underwater world, but Xiao Keleng and I overlooked this at the time.

"Xiao Yan, you still haven't told me which planet is their home planet?" I recalled the scene of observing the underwater structures through the glass box. The omnipresent red light reminded me of the legendary "Wrath of the Sun God," which contained infinite power.

"Mars, a planet brimming with 'cosmic kinetic energy,' containing hundreds of millions of times more energy than Earth—I'm tired and need to hibernate for a while to replenish my energy. Perhaps the next time I call, I will no longer be Xiaoyan, the hacker from Earth, but a completely new life. Goodbye."

Xiao Yan yawned several times in a row, and the fatigue in her voice became even more obvious.

"Xiaoyan, wait, I have one last question—" My fingers gripping the phone stiffened with tension. Xiaoyan wasn't one to speak carelessly; every word he said was based on evidence. I was afraid his words would become reality, and that I would wake up one day transformed into a completely different person, like a surgeon's scalpel.

"What?" Xiao Yan yawned again. The ancient music grew louder and louder, and the geisha's singing sounded like witches performing a ritual.

I took a deep breath and silently told myself to stay calm: "Xiao Yan, come out of the tunnel first. Now that Su Lun is missing, you can't just stand by and watch her die. Come out first, meet up with Xiao Xiao and Xiao Lai, and come to my side. After we rescue Su Lun, you can do whatever you want without anyone interfering."

However, where did those mysterious creatures come from? Since they have been hiding in the seabed for so many years and have not been able to appear on land, it is clear that they must have some defects and cannot adapt to life on land. As long as Xiao Yan leaves that place, these evil thoughts will surely be eliminated, and she will return to normal.

"Heh heh, Wind, in my eyes, Earthlings are just mediocre ants. What difference does one more or one less make? Take, for example, Guan Nan Wu Lang, the master of the 'Three Flying Heroes.' Although he's always been a respected senior in the martial arts world, revered as a god by millions, what does he know? In his mind, the so-called 'Asian Gear' must be a set of interlocking gears, fixed in solid form at a certain point on Earth. How utterly laughable and pedantic! Think about it, if even the 'wise men' among Earthlings are at this level, what about ordinary people? Birth, aging, sickness, death, eating, drinking, defecating—what progressive meaning does their existence hold? Do you think I'd be that stupid as to delay my time to fly to godhood for an ant? Goodbye, Wind, see you again in about a Martian day (361 Earth hours)—"

He hung up the phone lazily, leaving me leaning against the shadows, covered in cold sweat.

Were the Martians the ones who built the underwater tomb and left behind the "Wrath of the Sun"? Then, are they also the owners of the glass box? What are these six-armed monsters planning, dwelling beneath the Maple Temple? Will they wipe out all humanity or destroy the Earth altogether? Could they be the "King of Terror" from *The Centuries* who attempted to destroy the Earth, or the instigators of the "Great Seventh" catastrophe?

I can't understand these questions. Although Xiao Yan mentioned my elder brother Yang Tian's name several times, I was so shocked that I ignored those two words. Compared to the survival of all humanity and Earth itself, my elder brother's life or death seems insignificant.

The Sixth Part: The Mystery of the Heavenly Ladder

— Chapter 3 — Heaven and Earth are ruthless, using all things as puppets —

The dew in the mountain forest crept in quietly, mixing with the cold sweat on my body, making me feel chilled all over.

The moonlight grew increasingly cold, and as I looked up into the distance, the twinkling stars filled the vast sky, including, of course, the shadows of Mars and Saturn.

Was everything Xiaoyan just described a dream? Or was it real?

I put the phone in my right hand, wiped the sweat from my left palm on my sleeve, and after calming down for ten minutes, I dialed Xiao Keleng's number.

Xiao Keleng answered the phone still half asleep, but after I said "hello," she quickly became alert: "Mr. Feng? How are you? Actually, I've been calling you all week because I have a very tricky matter to ask you about."

I understand that what she's talking about is related to Xiao Yan.

There seemed to be some movement in the small building below the stone steps. I heard the doors and windows opening and closing, and wooden clogs and bamboo canes tapping on the bluestone pavement. The chaotic noise lasted for five seconds, with the tapping sound repeating a total of nineteen times, before everything returned to silence.

"Xiao Xiao, if it's about Xiao Yan, please get straight to the point. Xiao Yan called earlier and said a lot of strange things. I want to know what he did?"

There was no time for pleasantries or pleasantries; Xiao Yan had already ruined my mood to the extreme. Ever since Su Lun disappeared, I had been living in constant anxiety, facing only killing, strange events, death, and poisonous snakes. A string in my mind was always taut, and I couldn't relax for a moment.

"Okay, I'll just get to the point. After Xunfuyuan was rebuilt, I took Xinzi to be in charge of restoring everything to its original state, neglecting to take care of Xiaoyan. He's been hiding in Fengge Temple researching that submarine. According to the monks, he often sits in front of the computer for days and nights without eating or sleeping, and the pile of scratch paper on his desk accumulates to more than a foot thick every day. Just three days ago, he disappeared, not completely, but trapped himself in that underwater tunnel. I called him, and he said he had already crossed that crystal window, and no matter how much I tried to persuade him, he wouldn't come out. You must have heard those strange stories before, so I won't repeat them."

Xiao Keleng didn't realize the seriousness of the matter and thought Xiao Yan was just daydreaming, so she kept a faint smile on her face throughout her narration.

"What if those words are true? The 'Underwater Tomb' has existed for so many years, no one knows how many secrets it holds. Xiao Xiao, contact Yan Xun immediately and ask her to continue persuading Xiao Yan to leave that place and return to the surface. Also, tell Xiao Lai to be prepared. Once Xiao Yan returns, immediately use the strongest shackles to lock him up and isolate him for observation. We'll deal with him when I get back. If necessary, we can use a moderate tranquilizer gun to render him incapable of resistance."

My decision is by no means an overreaction. The loss of control of the scalpel is the most obvious example. If we have to repeat the tragedy of the scalpel being destroyed in the end, it will definitely be a heavy blow to the "Three Heroes of Flying Flowers".

Xiao Keleng tensed up: "Mr. Feng, is it necessary to be so alarmed? He's still just a child—"

I interrupted her without any politeness: "Do as I say, Xiao Xiao. Things are not as simple as you think. We have to take precautions. Alright, now we can contact Yan Xun."

Xiao Keleng didn't press the matter further, gave an agreement, and immediately hung up.

Ever since I successfully rescued Wang Jiangnan from the overwhelming force of tycoon Ye Hongsheng, Xiao Keleng has placed her complete trust in me. She executes every word I say without question, which is what gives me the most peace of mind. Now, I hope to "mend the fence after the sheep are lost" and bring Xiao Yan under control to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

As Xiao Yan's older sister, Yan Xun would definitely do her best to persuade him, and things might take a turn for the better.

From Guan Baoling's sudden disappearance at Xunfuyuan Villa, to the glass box where I fell into the deep sea with her, to the resurrection of the thousand-year-old female monk Tengjia and the revelation of the truth about Jianzhen's eastward journey a thousand years ago—the journey to Fugeji Temple in Hokkaido is full of breathtaking mysteries.

I have never forgotten my mission. From those mysterious photos I obtained from Area 51, I am 70% certain that my brother is alive and doing something very difficult in some extremely secluded place.

Su Lun's unexpected disappearance dealt me a heavy blow. Looking back now, I realize I rarely smiled after going into the mountains, and my inner world was constantly filled with increasing anxiety. My psychology professor in college once said that some people only realize the value of something when they lose it. I now understand that Su Lun was the most important girl in my life, incomparable to anyone else.

I kept the phone in my hand the whole time, hoping Xiaoyan would wake up in time and not fall into the dark side. A hacker of his caliber, with his exceptional intelligence, is a rare resource on Earth, absolutely impossible to replicate.

"Would I wake up as a completely different person? Could I also become a monster with six arms?" I shook my head with a wry smile. "What exactly happened in the underwater space? Did my older brother Yang Tian and the American spy Reese's go in? Why didn't Xiao Yan mention their whereabouts? Could they have mutated too—"

Subconsciously, I fear that my older brother's body will change and that he will appear in a "non-human" state. This fear is ever-present and will only grow stronger.

He Jishang suddenly appeared on the main road, with a silver belt around her waist. She walked forward with her hands behind her back, until she reached the giant python.

I thought she had already fallen asleep, but this strange behavior immediately caught my attention. Just fifteen paces to her left, in the shadow of a wooden building, a dark red ember flickered, as if someone, too, was tossing and turning, getting up to smoke. I gazed into the darkness, and the hunched figure gradually became clearer, facing me sideways, a half-foot-long pipe tightly gripped in the left hand, the right hand supporting the forehead, looking worried.

"You're here, why haven't you shown yourself yet? Are you here to avenge Rouge? Or do you only want to obtain the Toad to gain merit and ignore everything else?"

He Jishang suddenly shouted, and every word was clearly heard upstairs.

My gaze returned to the bushes opposite, hoping to spot the sniper who had fired at Rouge. This environment was a sniper's dream; after a shot, one only needed to move thirty paces to the left or right to safely evade the attacker's search and find the right opportunity to snipe the second target.

No one answered. The smoker sat motionless. I guessed she was an ordinary woman from the village, and that smoking quietly alone in the long night had become a regular habit.

"I know puppeteers don't die so easily. Whatever you want, you'll have to come out and get it yourself, right? The Five Poisons Sect members only die in battle, never from fear. The Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad and the Overreaching Blade are both here. I'll only count to ten, please show yourself immediately—"

Like me, He Jishang's attention was also focused on the smoker and the bushes opposite. When she calmed down again, the majesty of the Five Poisons Sect's Holy Maiden returned, and her courage in the face of enemies was no less than that of any man.

I admire her judgment. The puppeteer is an important figure in the caravan and would never fall silently to someone else's gun.

"One, two, three..." she began counting, her voice calm and steady. My hand gripped the Desert Eagle firmly, confident that in a close-to-medium range duel, I would fire first and gain the upper hand.

Behind me, the door to the secret chamber remained wide open, and a gentle breeze blew in, brushing against the back of my neck. Then I heard a beautiful, deep male voice: "Please don't move, Mr. Wind."

There were no knife tips or gun barrels pointed at me, but I could feel the imminent danger.

“I am a puppeteer, a dead man you shot once, so from the perspective of a fair duel, I have the right to shoot you at any time. Of course, we are all reasonable people, and we won’t fight like street thugs, with knives and guns flying everywhere, right?”

He let out a pleasant laugh, his warm, strong fingers brushing against the edge of my trouser pocket, the pistol already between his fingers.

He Jishang's count had reached "ten," and the puppeteer indeed appeared, but in the small building behind her. Since ancient times, all's fair in war, but unfortunately, we both miscalculated.

"You'd better not draw your knife either. I'm not some foolish woman. Eighteen years ago, all the flying knife masters on the Chinese mainland posed no threat to me. Think about it, a puppet is just a worthless substitute, merely a tool at my fingertips. Even if I'm shot or slashed a thousand times, what does it matter to me? I can just start over somewhere else. Mr. Feng, you're a smart man. You can completely stay out of the entanglement between the Ma Gang and the Five Poisons Sect. Heh, the Ma Gang is reasonable too. After taking their cut in any business, they always keep their word and maintain peaceful relations with their partners."

He turned to face me, his dark face bearing a blank and bewildered expression, exactly like the man I had shot.

"Are you a puppet? Or a puppeteer?" I stared into his empty eyes, raised my left wrist and flicked it, the knife clattering to the ground.

"Is there a difference? Heaven and earth are ruthless, using all things as puppets. In my eyes, I am heaven and earth, I am the puppeteer, I am the puppet. Everything that enters my sight is my puppet, including you, without exception."

He had large, black eyes with tiny pupils, the whites of which occupied three-quarters of their sockets, making them look abrupt and comical. Another gust of wind blew by, and the knife that had been taken from the round hole in the floor was now in his hand, and with a "snap," it was drawn from its sheath, its cold light flashing suddenly.

"It's said that this knife was once used by Yang Tian, the 'King of Tomb Raiders'? It's a pity he didn't meet me. Otherwise, no matter who he was—king, god, immortal, or Buddha—he would have been reduced to dust and vanished into nothingness under my puppetry. Mr. Feng, as long as you cooperate with your expedition team, I will spare no effort to provide all the necessary assistance to ensure your safety in the mountains. Moreover, I will also give you this precious knife. If you need it, our caravan will use our connections in the underworld to elevate you to the same level as Yang Tian. How about that?"

His tone certainly suggested he was in charge of everything, but one thing was certain: if he truly possessed the boundless power he claimed to have, he wouldn't have been hiding obediently in the southwestern border region.

"Thank you. My exploration will continue no matter what," I replied with a double entendre, taking the knife back.

“Look—” He stiffly raised his left hand and pointed to the main road downstairs. Suddenly, the small buildings in the village began to move like ghosts. A few seconds later, the main road where He Jishang was standing had turned north and south, exactly ninety degrees off.

The puppeteer and I were standing in front of the window. The wooden building beneath our feet was still in the same position. He Jishang, who had previously turned her back to us, could now see us with just a half-turn. She looked down at her feet, but instead of showing any shock, she slowly loosened her belt. With a flick of her wrist, the silver ribbons fluttered down, revealing a straight, finely forged Burmese sword pointing upwards.

"Can we go down now?" The puppeteer adjusted his glasses, then suddenly leaped up like a zombie, gliding through the air before landing slowly, standing ten steps away from He Jishang.

I hesitated for a moment, then slowly descended the stairs and walked step by step along the stone steps.

"It's all an illusion, Puppet Master. The legends in the martial arts world are absolutely true. All you do is hide behind the scenes, fiddling with mechanisms and hidden weapons, relying entirely on those puppets controlled by 'Soul Control Technique' to fight for you. As for yourself, you have no martial arts skills whatsoever, not a single real fighting ability. Even a novice martial artist could easily defeat you. Don't you find that laughable?"

He Jishang wore a charming smile, which was completely at odds with the fierce words she spoke, making her look even stranger.

The puppeteer adjusted his glasses again, then nodded in deep agreement: "Yes, it's an illusion, but when everyone is deluded by and firmly believes in illusions, they will inevitably mistake them for the real world. For example, right now, I want to kill someone—"

He suddenly flew out, leaving a sharp white streak in the air, shooting towards the bushes on the side cliff. This kind of lightness skill did not reach the supreme level, but both He Jishang and I had our sense of direction destroyed. The bushes that were originally due east were now due north.

In that instant, a great confusion arose in my mind: "Is the puppeteer's body still flying due east? When he completely moved the positions of the thirty-five small buildings under the stone steps, was the angle of deflection between the buildings and the real world really ninety degrees, as we see it?"

He Jishang was equally puzzled, holding the knife above his head with both hands, but hesitated to give chase.

"Don't move, wait until I make my move—" I only whispered nine words when a figure suddenly emerged from the bushes, holding a light machine gun, its dark drum magazine gleaming with a chilling light. His movements were clearly a step slower than the puppeteer's; just as he stepped forward, the puppeteer's feet had already touched the green leaves of the bushes.

"Gah gah gah gah," the machine gun roared, its muzzle flash aimed directly at the puppeteer's chest. Scrap cartridges rained down from the chamber, clattering and tinkling against the bare rock face. This latest rapid-fire machine gun, manufactured by the European Phoenix weapons factory, has a 400-round drum magazine, dual-feed, and a jamming probability of 5 in 100,000. It was chosen as the U.S. Marine Corps' primary weapon for its 2009 modernization program.

The puppeteer's clothes on the back were instantly torn into a honeycomb. As he quickly rolled backward, bullets whistled through the air, forming a dazzling net of bullets in the moonlight, constantly following his body.

He Jishang couldn't help but exclaim, "Great!"

Puppet masters are undoubtedly experts in strategy, formation, ambush, and surprise attacks, but they don't have much of an advantage in face-to-face combat. It seems that rumors in the martial arts world are sometimes quite accurate.

His body flew backward, landing gracefully on the rooftop of a small building on the outermost edge of the village. He touched the ground with his toes and immediately rose again, like a dragonfly skimming the water, ready to launch a second attack. Although the machine gun bullets, like rain, struck his body, they had no lethal effect. This fact quickly erased the joy that had just appeared on He Jishang's face.

She had just used her alluring smile to try and bewitch the puppeteer with Miao magic, but to no avail. After seeing the puppeteer move freely amidst a hail of bullets, she must not be feeling at ease.

"Heaven and earth are ruthless, using all things as puppets; all those who are puppets say: Kill! Kill! Kill!" The puppeteer shouted fiercely, spreading his arms like a kite in the spring, flying to a height of more than 20 meters, and then suddenly swooping down.

The gunner dropped the machine gun, performed a diving roll, and lunged five meters to the left. When he jumped up again, he had a sniper rifle wrapped with grass-green camouflage tape in his hand. He spread his legs and steadily aimed at the sky.

"Kaku—" I whispered. Only a true disciple of a prestigious sect could possess such an aura of invincibility with a single spear in hand. Shooting Tang Xiaogu in the camp was merely a small test; after all, the significance of facing a fleeing person versus an attacker was entirely different.