The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 128: Huo Family

With the help of four by four horsepower, the sand jeep pushed its way through the middle of the tents, kicking up sand in a complete and utter mess. Those people whose faces got sprayed with sand threw wine bottles at the vehicle, but the driver was obviously used to it and didn't care.

The car drove like they were in the Dakar Rally [1], meaning that his broken leg that was finally starting to feel a little more comfortable, now felt as if it had been shattered again. Li Cu had turned pale with the pain, and broke out in a cold sweat.

The bearded man kept on talking, and Li Cu didn't dare refuse to listen. He knew that what the bearded man was asking him to do was the most basic thing he could deal with at this time. If the bearded man's claim didn't hold true, then he would really become a lamb at the slaughter.

Tang Sanzang [2] may have been the only one in history who had received such treatment. Unfortunately, his Great Sage Equal to Heaven [3] was blown up by C4.

The bearded man pointed out various forces along the way. The tents were all mixed together without obvious boundaries, but Li Cu didn't expect that there were so many factions.

He didn't clearly hear who most of the people were, but names like Lao Han from Nanchong, Jiahong Mao Guizi from Heilongjiang, and Ma Yanfan from Hulunbuir were more difficult to understand than his female classmates' screen names.

He could only remember a few of the big forces, because they could be distinguished by their numbers and setup. For example, the Huo family occupied a very large territory— almost a quarter of the area—which was very quiet, but Li Cu could feel that there was an internal bitterness there, because there were many distinct watersheds in the camp.

"This is my family. After my grandmother died, her two grandsons fought fiercely. There's also a granddaughter. There was a young master from the Xie family who was supposed to mediate, and make a safe transition, but he somehow died suddenly some time ago. Now it's all a mess. The two grandchildren—we'll call them Big Evil Huo and Little Evil Huo— are publicly working together, but secretly fighting against each other. Not only did they not take over the Xie family's territory, but they instead suffered serious internal injuries. Despite this, the Huo family has a large plate. Now that the Xie family have fallen, the Huo family have sole control here." The bearded man continued, "Because the Huo family is a matriarchal clan, I'm considered an outsider. After my grandmother became the head, all her other sisters got married, and I was born abroad. You don't have to worry about it too much. You're a distant cousin, understand? There are too many children in the Huo family, so spending a long time overseas with no contact has turned it into a business, rather than a familial relationship. They don't need to know who you are."

"What's your name?" Li Cu asked. "It won't be good if I don't even know your name."

"My Chinese name is Huo Dao Fu." The bearded man said: "If someone asks you about your specific relationship with my relatives, just say that you're not sure. No one will doubt it. They don't know even know how I'm related to them."

"Huo Dao Fu?" Li Cu thought for a moment and said to himself, do you have a courtesy name called "Kuan", and your artname is "Taobao Householder" or something? [4]

"You'll tell them you're helping me here. Three days ago, you broke your leg in the camp, and were hijacked by those guys in black. The rumors are all nonsense spread by someone trying to cause trouble. All my progress was because of my own staff."

"Will they believe it?" Li Cu asked.

The bearded man gave him a very expectant look and said, "You better act like you believe it."