novelTele Chapter 28 Uncle Baldy
Chapter 28 Uncle Baldy
The group followed Qin Yuan back along the path he had cleared earlier. Stepping on the walls that were about to close again due to changes in the mechanisms, they soon arrived at a hidden tunnel that Qin Yuan had discovered earlier, led by him.
"This is it," Qin Yuan said, pointing to the dark hole. "This must have been dug by someone before. I just reopened the seal. Judging from the method and the degree of weathering, I think it was left by your third uncle's group twenty years ago." He said to Wu Xie.
He concealed the fact that he had discovered and destroyed a stone brick with a message left by Wu Sansheng nearby, specifically intended to pique Wu Xie's interest. He considered Wu Xie a friend, and since they would all protect him, some hardships were not necessary to endure.
Without the involvement of Wu Sansheng and Xie Lianhuan, one will naturally find out when the time is right. Stepping into it now is too early and will only cause unnecessary trouble.
The entrance to the tomb was narrow, allowing only one person to crawl through at a time. The group crawled in one by one, with the fat man being the largest, huffing and puffing as he climbed, while also talking.
"Little Blackie, you have no idea how much trouble you've caused me while we were apart!" Fatty complained to Qin Yuan as he struggled forward. "That Ah Ning, she's a real bastard! She looks all respectable, but she's got a black heart! She used our Little Innocent as a human shield to clear traps! Good heavens, the arrows rained down like rain, turning Innocent into a pincushion!"
Wu Xie, who was listening from behind, turned pale and muttered, "You fatso! Can you stop bringing this up all the time?!"
The fat man chuckled, "What's there to be afraid of? Nothing really happened! Luckily, that arrowhead was a damn lotus-shaped thing, all show and no substance, otherwise you'd be dead by now!" He paused, his tone becoming wistful, "But speaking of which, the one I admire most is Little Brother! He's a real actor! Who would have thought that greasy, talkative, and handsy Baldy Zhang was actually..."
Halfway through his sentence, the fat man abruptly stopped. His massive body stuck in the tunnel, he laboriously turned his head to look at Zhang Qiling, who was bringing up the rear, then at Qin Yuan, who was leading the way. His small eyes gleamed with sudden realization: "Wait a minute! Little Blackie! Did you already know that bald guy was Brother in disguise?! Damn! I was wondering why you were so interested in a real bald man, even touching him! So you didn't just have unusual tastes, you've been coveting Brother's stunning good looks all along, haven't you?!"
The more he talked, the more convinced he felt he had discovered the truth, his voice rising eight octaves: "You were trying to fool me into thinking I'd find you some cute puppy who's no worse than 'Big Brother Zhang'! You're just playing me! Come on, come on, the real deal is right here," he pointed laboriously to Zhang Qiling, who was silently standing at the end of the line, "I've found him for you, go now!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiling, who had been crawling quietly, couldn't help but purse her thin lips even in this environment. Her cold gazes, directed at Wang Pangzi and Qin Yuan, were directed through Wu Xie.
Qin Yuan was both amused and exasperated by the fat man's retort, and quickly softened his tone, explaining, "Fatty! Fatty, calm down! I was just playing along because the young man was trying to hide his identity! Besides, he did give us hints; his skills and his eyes—anyone could tell he was extraordinary, right? It's your and Tianzhen's fault for being so busy complaining about his baldness and greasiness that you missed the signal. Whose fault is that?"
The fat man yelled with a contorted expression, "You two call that a hint?! That's clearly taking advantage of our innocent little girl! Holding her hand and refusing to let go..."
Amidst the commotion, Qin Jiu, who had been held in place by Qin Yuan with a baby carrier and had been curiously blinking his big, bright green eyes, seemed to understand the word "bald." Suddenly, he pointed his little finger in Zhang Qiling's direction and uttered a childish, indistinct cry: "Uncle Baldy!"
The tunnel fell silent instantly.
"Pfft! Hahaha! Baldy! Uncle Baldy... Hahahaha!" The fat man was the first to burst out laughing, his whole body shaking with laughter, almost causing the tunnel to collapse.
Wu Xie couldn't help but chuckle, his shoulders trembling.
Zhang Qiling's lips straightened, then his expression returned to blank, though his ears seemed slightly red.
Wu Xie smiled and turned around, looking at the white-haired, green-eyed little nephew in Qin Yuan's arms. The more she looked at him, the more she liked him. She joked, "Qin Yuan, you've got a good son! He's smart and cute! Why don't you just take him back and make him your son, with my surname? That way, my grandma will have a great-grandson to hold and won't keep nagging me to get married."
Qin Yuan raised an eyebrow, crawling leisurely as he retorted, "Your surname? Wu? What's your name? Wufangzhai? Sounds like a rice dumpling seller. Are you suggesting my little rice dumpling sell rice dumplings?"
"Get lost!" Wu Xie laughed and scolded. "Wait, little zongzi?" Wu Xie, who had originally wanted to kidnap the child, was stunned and realized what was going on.
"Otherwise, you really thought this was born from a forbidden woman?" Qin Yuan rolled his eyes, revealing Qin Jiu's true identity.
With Qin Jiu as their protector, their ascent was surprisingly smooth. Creatures like the forbidden women and sea monkeys that might have been roaming the tomb passages sensed the special aura emanating from Qin Jiu and all kept their distance, not even showing their faces.
The tunnel was narrow, and the group crawled forward. After climbing about halfway, Fatty Wang suddenly started to wriggle restlessly, his large buttocks swaying from side to side, almost blocking most of the passage.
Wu Xie, who was following behind him, immediately tensed up and said in a low voice, "Fatty! What are you twisting for? Are you going to fart again?! Quick, quick! Qin Yuan! Quickly, make me a stopper! Little Brother and I are still behind him! This confined space can't take it!"
The fat man paused, turned around with difficulty, and rolled his eyes: "Bullshit! Do you think I'm the kind of person who just spews fumes indiscriminately? It's my back! I don't know what's wrong with my back, but it's suddenly incredibly itchy! Little Innocent, can you help me check if any bugs have crawled inside?"
Wu Xie, still somewhat skeptical, used the flashlight's beam to look at the fat man's back. What he saw made him gasp: "Holy crap, Fatty, how long has it been since you showered? Your back... it's practically moldy and covered in white hair!"
Beneath the sweat-soaked fabric of the fat man's work clothes, patches of mottled white fuzz could be vaguely seen, which did indeed look like mold spots.
Qin Yuan, who was ahead, turned around and glanced back, his brows furrowing slightly. "The things in the tomb are hard to describe. This might not be ordinary mold. Could it be poisoning or something unclean that's gotten into it?"
Upon hearing this, the fat man's face turned green, and he said in a tearful voice, "Poisoned? What are we going to do, Little Blackie? I don't want to die here with all this fat!"
Qin Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "I've heard that Qilin blood makes one immune to all poisons..."
Following at the back of the group, Zhang Qiling, who had been silent all along, heard this and almost without hesitation raised his hand, ready to use the Black Gold Ancient Blade to cut his palm.
"No!" Fatty and Wuxie almost simultaneously objected.
The fat man shouted anxiously, "Young man, don't just bleed people out like that! Your blood is so precious! Every drop used is a drop less!"
Wu Xie nodded repeatedly, "Exactly! This is such a small matter, why would you need to bleed?"
Qin Yuan watched Zhang Qiling's decisive action, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, followed by a hint of mockery. He slowly said, "Young man, don't rush, I haven't finished speaking. Using your blood to deal with this little problem on Fatty's back is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it's too wasteful. You can use some saliva, or even urine."
Fatty: "???"
Zhang Qiling: "..." He looked at Qin Yuan expressionlessly, his eyes clearly indicating that it would be better to bleed him than to make him urinate in public.
Qin Yuan, having teased Zhang Qiling enough and satisfied his mischievous pleasure, then smiled and said to Wu Xie, "Alright, that's enough. I almost forgot, Tianzhen, you've consumed Qilin Blood. Although its effects aren't as good as genuine Qilin Blood, your saliva should be enough."
Upon hearing this, Wu Xie's eyes lit up immediately. He grinned mischievously, and while drooling, he said to Fatty, "Fatty, don't move! I'm going to put some special baby balm on you to ward off evil spirits and miasma. It'll work wonders!"
"How disgusting!" The fat man's face twisted in disgust, but in order to get rid of the itch on his back, he endured the discomfort and let Wu Xie smear his saliva on his back.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" The fat man howled as soon as the saliva touched him, but miraculously, the excruciating itching lessened considerably, and with the problem solved, the group continued to crawl forward.
Amidst the laughter and chatter, the tunnel began to slope upwards, with faint light and damp air, unlike that of a tomb, seeping in from ahead.
"We're almost at the exit," Qin Yuan said in a low voice, stopping what he was doing.
He gestured for everyone to pause, then went up to scout the situation first. He pulled Qin Jiu closer to his chest, took a deep breath, and with a burst of strength, pushed open the wooden plank above their heads that was being used as a disguise!
However, just as the wooden plank was pushed open—
A hand covered in bluish-black scales, with sharp, inhuman fingers, suddenly reached in from above, bringing with it a foul stench, and grabbed straight for Qin Yuan's face!
Just as the sharp claws were about to grab her face, Qin Jiu, who was being protected in Qin Yuan's arms, seemed to be enraged by the sudden attack. She raised her little head and let out a low, threatening growl at the strange hand: "Awooo—!"
The voice was still childish, yet it contained a rhythm.
The owner of the scaly hand above seemed to be startled by the roar, his movements visibly faltering, his sharp claws pausing in the air for a moment before quickly retracting.
It's now!
A cold glint flashed in Qin Yuan's eyes. Seizing the fleeting moment, he exerted force with his waist and abdomen, and like a cannonball, he shot out of the tunnel entrance and landed steadily on the ground outside, assuming a defensive posture at the same time.
The outer tomb chamber was surprisingly bright, and the star map embedded in the ceiling was more intricate than the one Qin Yuan had seen in the first tomb chamber. The soft light shone down, illuminating his surroundings and vaguely outlining the silhouette of the attacker.