Tomb raider: You're going to extract my alien bloodline?

Chapter 4

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Qin Yuan had already taken out a box of steaming hot xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and two cups of soy milk from his system space. When Fatty Wang rubbed his eyes, yawned, and crawled out of the tent, he saw Qin Yuan grinning at him with two rows of white teeth, holding the steamed buns.

"Holy crap! Little Blackie! What...what kind of trick is this?" The fat man instantly snapped awake, his eyes widening in disbelief. He rushed over, staring at the box of steamed buns incredulously, even touching the packaging to check its temperature—it was indeed warm! "Where did you conjure up hot steamed buns in this desolate wilderness? Am I still half asleep? Or did we go down into the tomb last night and fall for some kind of advanced hallucinogenic trap?"

"Shh—" Qin Yuan deliberately put on a stern face, lowered his voice, and adopted a mysterious and unpredictable demeanor. "I have traveled from the future, bearing the heavy responsibility of saving the world. Such a minor skill as concealing one's inner power is nothing but a trivial matter, not worth mentioning." He puffed out his chest, trying to make his tone sound profound and enigmatic. "Wang Yueban, I have known you for a year. Considering your diligent service and loyalty, today I bestow upon you the divine title of Marshal Tianpeng, to accompany me to the mortal realm to subdue demons and monsters..."

He waited patiently for a long time, but didn't hear the expected exclamations or complaints. Turning his head, he saw his "Marshal Tianpeng" stuffing the last steamed bun into his mouth and chugging down soy milk, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster.

"Burp~" The fat man let out a satisfied burp, wiped his mouth, and said, "Keep pretending! Whether it's magic or magic, if you can conjure up hot buns and put them in my belly, that's good magic! Hurry up, eat and drink your fill, and get ready to work! Little Blackie, let's go!"

"Yes, Marshal Tianpeng, depart!" Qin Yuan drawled out the words, playing along with the boring act. The two exchanged a smile, and the slight tension from before vanished completely.

Reaching the entrance to the tomb wall they had dug open, the fat man became serious again. He practically lay face down on the exposed blue brick wall, his fingers carefully tracing the gaps between the bricks, and he even brought his nose close to smell them.

"Tsk tsk tsk... This tomb owner was really ruthless!" The fat man clicked his tongue, pointing to the slightly darker, different-textured filling behind the brick wall. "See that? There's a hidden layer behind that, filled with strong acid, specifically designed to trap those clueless fools who want to break through walls by force! Once you smash it open, the acid will pelt you, giving you a live Candy Crush performance!"

Qin Yuan stood to the side, silently taking out equipment from his Doraemon backpack. He was prepared, handing over a small rubber suction cup and a thin, hollow metal tube.

"If you don't have the skills, make up for it with equipment." Qin Yuan stepped forward, pushed the fat man who was still studying aside with one hand, and used the other hand to firmly attach the suction cup to a wall brick, pulling it outward with force. The heavy wall brick was actually sucked out by him, revealing a dark red wax seal layer behind it that trembled slightly like jelly, with liquid sloshing inside vaguely visible.

The fat man stared in disbelief, instinctively touching his arm.

Qin Yuan carefully inserted the metal tube into the wax seal, aiming the other end at a pit that had already been dug nearby. The dark red, viscous acid with a pungent odor slowly flowed out of the tube, dripping into the pit and immediately making a loud hissing sound. The soil was corroded, emitting puffs of white smoke and bubbles, and quickly forming a small pit.

Seeing the terrifying corrosive effect, Qin Yuan subconsciously touched his chin, muttering to himself, "Hiss, this little thing is pretty potent... I wonder which is more toxic, my blood or mine? But judging from the concentration and magnitude, mine should be superior?"

Once the acid inside the wall had been completely drained, Fatty Wang swung his oversized entrenching tool, took a deep breath, and got into position: "Hey! Little Blackie, watch closely! I'll show you how a big shovel costs eighty, a small shovel costs forty! Let's go!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" With a few muffled thuds, the fat man quickly smashed open the already damaged interlayer wall, revealing a dark hole behind it. A cold wind, even stronger and more concentrated, carrying the scent of millennia-old dust and decay, rushed in, making one shiver involuntarily.

The two exchanged a glance, turned on their headlamps, with the fat man leading the way and Qin Yuan bringing up the rear, carefully slipping into the space behind the wall.

However, the sight that came into view stunned them both.

Behind the wall was not the expected burial chamber or passageway, but rather—another solid earthen wall!

"Holy shit!!!" After holding it in for a while, Fatty Wang finally blurted out a curse, "Isn't this just playing a joke on people? What kind of decent family builds a tomb like this? Is there a solid wall behind the trap? How insecure was the tomb owner?!"

Qin Yuan's lips twitched; this design was indeed insidious. It seemed the tunnel the fat man had dug only penetrated the outer layer of defense; there was another structure inside.

"There's no other way, Fatty. You'll just have to keep being a pangolin." Qin Yuan sighed and picked up his entrenching tool again.

The two had no choice but to continue their arduous work. Qin Yuan, watching the fat man's prominently swaying buttocks with each digging motion, felt a sense of impending doom and sternly warned, "Fatty! I'm warning you seriously! During the digging process, releasing any toxic gases is strictly prohibited! Otherwise, don't blame me for finding a thermos stopper to physically seal it off!"

"Hey! What kind of international joke is this!" The fat man didn't even turn his head, his voice muffled as he said, "Do you think I'm the kind of person who can't control the floodgates? Back when I was emptying that water bucket in Guangxi, the situation was incredibly critical. I took a dump and held it in for a full five days! That willpower, that self-control, is nothing short of a miracle!"

"Ugh—!" Qin Yuan almost vomited. "Enough! Fatty! Stop your nonsense! If you keep talking, all the steamed buns I ate yesterday will come back to haunt me!"

The two bantered and teased each other while digging diligently, and time flew by. Before long, with a soft "poof," the soil in front of them was finally broken through, and a stream of air, different from before and colder and drier, flowed in.

"It's open!" the fat man exclaimed, crawling forward on all fours.

Qin Yuan's heart tightened; he knew the real adventure was just beginning. He took a deep breath, gripped his entrenching tool, and followed the fat man as he crawled out.

However, just as Fatty Wang's front half emerged from the tomb-raiding hole, before his feet had even firmly planted themselves in the tomb passage, a muffled "BOOM!!!" resounded from the depths of the tomb! The entire tomb passage seemed to tremble, and a flurry of dust fell.

"Damn it! Which bastard who gave birth to a son without an anus put explosives in there?! Someone beat me to it!" The fat man shuddered in fright, cursing and swearing. With an agility that was disproportionate to his size, he "whooshed" back into the tunnel, his plump buttocks almost shoving directly into Qin Yuan's face, who was right behind him.

Qin Yuan's heart skipped a beat from the sudden explosion, but he quickly recovered. He and Fatty had arrived a little earlier than Wu Xie and the others; the ones planting the explosives were probably the well-equipped international salvage company team led by A Ning!

"Better late than never, let them test the waters for us." Qin Yuan instantly made up his mind, grabbed the still somewhat shaken fat man, and whispered, "Fatty, don't panic! Judging from the noise, the people inside are still some distance away. Let's hold back for now and wait until they're far away. We can have them clear the way for us and test the mechanisms."

Fatty Wang was taken aback for a moment, then a knowing, sly grin spread across his face, his small eyes gleaming: "Damn it! I wasn't wrong about you back then! Little Blackie, your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys are all black! You're full of bad ideas! But... hehe, I like your fat brother! That's settled then! We'll sneak into the village, no shooting, just follow behind them, and then ambush them from behind!"

The two reached a consensus, held their breath, and patiently waited for another ten minutes or so in the narrow tomb-raiding hole until they could no longer hear any footsteps or voices deep in the tomb passage. Only then did they carefully climb out of the tomb-raiding hole again and officially step into the tomb passage.

The tomb passage was wide, with huge stone slabs paving the ground. The walls on both sides were covered with indistinct murals, the content of which was eerie. Due to the age and dampness, most of them had peeled off and faded, and only some distorted human figures and animal patterns could be vaguely seen. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, dust, and that unique, cold atmosphere of a tomb.

The two crouched low, using the natural shadows and remaining stone pillars in the tomb passage as cover, and crept forward stealthily. After walking for a short while, a huge jade door appeared ahead. The jade quality wasn't top-grade, but the sheer size of the entire jade door was enough to make anyone gasp in value.

Unfortunately, an irregular hole was blasted open in the center of Yumen, with charred marks still remaining at the edges, and rubble and jade fragments scattered all over the ground.

"Damn it! Those damned bastards up ahead! They're wasting precious resources! What a waste!" The fat man stamped his feet in anguish at the sight, squatted down, and stroked the fragments of the jade door, heartbroken and almost in tears. "Such a big piece of jade! Even though the quality was so-so, it was huge! And they just blew it up like that! What a tragedy!"

"Forget it, Fatty, out with the old, in with the new." Qin Yuan stood aside, calmly observing the darkness behind the jade door, and comforted him, "This piece of jade is so big, you can't move it without blasting it open. Why don't you go inside and take a look? Maybe there are some valuable items that are easy to carry."

"Sigh, that's all we can think about..." The fat man sighed as he stood up, dusted off his hands, and was about to crawl through the hole into the jade gate with Qin Yuan.

Just then—

"ah--!!!"

A piercing scream, filled with unspeakable fear and pain, suddenly rang out from the depths of the tomb chamber behind the jade gate, shattering the deathly silence of the tomb. It sent chills down one's spine and made one's blood almost freeze instantly!

"What's going on?!" Fatty Wang's expression changed drastically. He grabbed Qin Yuan's arm, quickly took a few steps back, and pressed himself tightly against the shadows of the wall next to the jade gate. He lowered his voice, his tone more serious than ever before, "Something's happened up ahead! Little Blackie, something's wrong. Let's hide and see what happens!"

Qin Yuan's heart pounded. The scream was too horrifying, as if he had witnessed the most terrifying sight in the world before his death. He gripped the entrenching tool in his hand, feeling the cold and powerful force brought by the alien bloodline in his body, as well as the heightened alertness of his combat instincts. He took a deep breath and nodded to the fat man.