Tomb Raider: What the hell is this strange commission?

"Okay then." Xie Yuchen stopped closing his umbrella and said to Chi Yu, "I think it's a bit silly to continue holding the umbrella in this situation."

Hearing this, Chi Yu paused, glanced at Li Yuchen, and thought to himself that this guy was really merciless with his words. When he got angry, he would even say such words that hurt the enemy by 800 and hurt himself by 1,000.

——Obviously, there is more than one person here who looks a little silly, and the person who said this seems to have a sense of humor because of the item in his hand.

Chi Yu looked at the umbrella still held in Xie Yuchen's hand and thought silently.

But in order to prevent himself from being dragged into the same realm by this childish person, he did not choose to retort. He just snorted lightly, made a "keep up" gesture to Xie Yuchen, and walked into the lightless door.

Chi Yu walked so lightly that Xie Yuchen could not tell whether he was engulfed by the darkness or he belonged to the darkness and thus easily merged into it.

But Xie Yuchen couldn't adapt to this darkness.

The sunlight above could not penetrate deeper along with their line of sight and could only stay at the shallowest entrance. Xie Yuchen looked at the direction where Chi Yu disappeared, took out a flashlight from his portable waist bag, and quickly caught up with Chi Yu.

The things prepared by the Xie family have always been of good quality, especially the one belonging to Xie Yuchen. The high-intensity light illuminated the entrance tunnel, and even the murals on both sides had nowhere to hide.

Chi Yu was quietly waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. Because of the influence of light, she tilted the edge of her umbrella slightly downwards.

It looked like some silent autistic person was about to start refusing to communicate.

Xie Yuchen laughed at his own unreasonable associations, but quickly put away his emotions and began to observe the patterns on the murals.

Chi Yu's powerful strength allows him to not care too much about these details, but Xie Yuchen cannot learn this from him.

As an ordinary person, carefully observing the environment you are in and collecting relevant information is responsible for your life, because once you encounter danger, some easily overlooked details are often the key to saving lives.

Although Chi Yu's presence can help him avoid most risks, he will not always stay by Xie Yuchen's side. If a person is accustomed to that kind of comfort, then when he loses his support, the unknown destruction will definitely shatter him completely.

"You've been watching here for a while. Have you seen anything?"

Chi Yu's voice brought his wandering thoughts back to reality. Hearing the voice, Xie Yuchen looked at Chi Yu, smiled at the long-haired older man, and then walked towards him.

"I saw many birds, starting from the entrance of the passage and stretching all the way to the end," Xie Yuchen said. "They were flying towards the sun at the end like pilgrims, which was their eternal pursuit."

"During the pursuit, some birds fell down from exhaustion, and their blood and flesh became nutrients to nourish the ones that came after them, allowing them to continue to come forward."

"That sounds silly," Chi Yu said.

Xie Yuchen shook his head.

"Just like people always give up something that is hard to give up in the pursuit, losing again and again will change a person's essence, until finally reaching the end, when he has become unrecognizable."

Xie Yuchen said, "But reaching the end - this is what he wanted to achieve in the first place. Who can say that this is a foolish pursuit?"

He looked at the flock of birds flapping their wings on the mural. These countless little creatures flew devoutly to the end of the road. Above the dome, a golden sun hung quietly.

The flashlight shone on it, causing it to reflect a dazzling light.

Judging from the material, this sun wheel should be made of pure gold, Xie Yuchen thought.

The sun is the destination of the birds. Here, under the sun's light, they shed their feathers that symbolize mediocrity and enter a cycle that represents eternity.

On the totem of the sun, there are four birds connected head to tail, moving back and forth. They hold the sun up and take it to a higher place so that its sunshine can fill the world.

Just as the dark passage was now filled with light refracted by the sun, the golden light made the patterns on the murals look colorful, and every flying bird seemed to come alive again, but Xie Yuchen knew that this was just an illusion created by the gems inlaid in their eyes under the light.

And in this world filled with golden light, Chi Yu, who was right below the sun, held up an umbrella, firmly isolating himself from the light.

He hid in the shadows, not as dazzling as the sun, but the heavy darkness on him seemed vague and quiet.

If it were Chi Yu, maybe he would never understand.

Xie Yuchen looked at him and thought silently, because Chi Yu would not change because of these external things, and those things that Chi Yu wanted would flow into his hands through means that other ordinary people could not do.

Therefore, Chi Yu thought those people were stupid——

"I don't think it's reasonable to force yourself to change just to meet some demands."

Chi Yu spoke in a calm tone, but Xie Yuchen could sense some inexplicable boredom in his expression.

After he finished speaking, Chi Yu turned around and left the passage without any reluctance. The light was left behind him, and Xie Yuchen looked at his departing back and chose to walk side by side with him.

After losing the illumination of the flashlight, the light of the sun disk also went out, and the passage returned to its original depth.

Chi Yu and Jie Yuchen strolled deeper into the Tomb of the Sun, or rather, deep into the ruins of the Sun Civilization. The structure here did not conform to the traditional ancient tomb structures of the past, so Chi Yu preferred to call it an "underground palace."

Unlike the dryness outside, the underground palace was filled with a subtle humidity, which was the same strange smell that Xie Yuchen smelled when he opened the door before, and it was also something he needed to be wary of.

The flashlight in Xie Yuchen's hand was still on. He shone it around and found that after leaving the passage, he was in a huge cave extending downwards. Looking up, the towering dome seemed out of reach.

The space above is not undecorated. On the contrary, it is full of traces of carving. Xie Yuchen can also vaguely see some reddish-brown rust, but "emptiness" is Xie Yuchen's first impression.

"There doesn't seem to be anything useful here." Xie Yuchen said, "It seems that this place is very large. We need to spend more time."

"Time is the thing we have the most right now." Chi Yu said, motioning Xie Yuchen to look up.

"You seem to have never understood why I asked you to hold an umbrella. This is the reason. But be careful not to let them fall on you."

They strolled in this underground city that had perhaps not been visited by anyone for thousands of years. The buildings stood silently, allowing time to pass by. Only the darkness and silence remained unchanged.

The damp smell in the air made Xie Yuchen realize something, so when he looked up, a red rain curtain gently enveloped them.

It was like a silent hug.