Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 204: Chapter 194: The Xing Clan’s Treasure

”Da Hua, Xiao Hua, are you two hurt?”

Lao Ba had been right. Ah Mao was gravely injured, with only enough strength left to speak.

”We’re fine, Father. How are you?”

Da Hua answered, holding back her tears. Xiao Hua also gripped her father’s hand tightly, refusing to let go.

”Good girls, good girls. As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters.”

Seeing that his two daughters, the ones he worried about most, were safe and sound, Ah Mao felt a great sense of relief.

”Tang Mo, thank you.”

Ah Mao’s breath was already weak, but he still looked at Tang Mo and thanked her earnestly.

He knew that if it weren’t for Tang Mo, his family of four—and even the entire Xing Clan—would not have escaped death.

He didn’t know what Tang Mo’s motives were for saving them, but right now, she was the savior of his entire clan.

”The item they’ve been after is in Da Hua’s cave, hidden beneath her stone bed. It has brought nothing but disaster upon the Xing Clan. Perhaps our fate is not strong enough to handle it. Tang Mo, you saved our people today. For that, I ask you to take it.”

Ah Mao had said too much at once. His chest heaved as he struggled for breath.

”Da Hua, your sister is still young. In the future, the clan’s affairs will fall to you. I had originally thought that after you married Xiao Wu, you would have someone to protect you. But since you don’t wish it, I won’t force you. Even if you cannot handle the burden of leadership, it’s okay to let it go. All I want is for you, your sister, and your mother to live happy lives.”

Of course Ah Mao could see that Da Hua didn’t want to marry Xiao Wu. He had only pushed for it because she was to inherit his position as chief.

He could protect Da Hua for a while, but not for her entire life.

He thought that with Xiao Wu’s protection, Da Hua’s life would be easier.

But today, he saw it clearly: deep in her heart, Da Hua couldn’t accept anyone.

Forcing her to marry someone would only ensure she would never be happy.

’So be it,’ he thought. ’What in this world is more important than my daughter’s happiness? What does the title of chief matter? At worst, when I go to the great beyond, I’ll just have to endure a few more scoldings from my ancestors.’

”Father... Don’t say that. I want to be with you forever.”

Hearing this, Da Hua could no longer contain her repressed emotions. She collapsed onto Ah Mao’s body, wailing uncontrollably.

As her older sister began to cry, a confused Xiao Hua started crying along with her.

For a moment, though the cave entrance was packed with people, it was utterly silent save for the sounds of Da Hua and Xiao Hua’s weeping.

”Tang Mo, please go and retrieve the item. Once you have it, I can rest easy.”

Ah Mao knew his own condition. He wouldn’t last much longer.

Tang Mo, standing to the side, nodded. She turned and entered Da Hua’s cave.

She understood Ah Mao’s intentions.

Thanking her was part of it. But more importantly, Ah Mao knew the Xing Clan could no longer protect the treasure.

Today, an attack from just the Wildman Tribe from the mountain’s base had nearly wiped them out.

Now that more people knew about the treasure, the Xing Clan would be in grave danger when someone even stronger came for it.

He was dying. He couldn’t leave such a massive liability for his wife, daughters, and people.

A treasure might be precious, but you had to be alive to keep it.

Tang Mo already had a good idea of the situation. Based on Abu’s earlier behavior, she had deduced that the treasure was hidden in Da Hua’s cave.

Following Ah Mao’s directions, Tang Mo reached out with both hands to lift the stone bed.

Tang Mo was actually very strong, but even as she strained with both hands, the stone bed didn’t move an inch.

’No wonder Abu spent so much time in Da Hua’s cave and never found the treasure,’ she thought. ’He probably couldn’t move this bed, so it never occurred to him that the treasure could be hidden underneath.’

’Looks like I have to use my trump card.’

Tang Mo took out the Wind Breaker she had retrieved from Ah Mao’s cave, infused it with her spiritual power, and brought it down hard on the stone bed.

Infusing a weapon with spiritual power was a new technique Tang Mo had recently devised.

Compared to simply materializing spiritual power, this method maximized its offensive potential.

Of course, an ordinary weapon wouldn’t be able to withstand such immense spiritual power.

As the spiritual power-infused Wind Breaker cut through the air, it let out a series of crackling booms.

When it finally struck the stone bed, the bed instantly split in two.

But that wasn’t the end of it. A few seconds later, cracks spiderwebbed across the two halves, and they crumbled into a pile of rubble.

And beneath the rubble, Tang Mo saw it—the glowing thing the Wildman Tribe Chief had spoken of.

It was...

An axe. An axe shimmering with a golden light.

No wonder Ah Mao had hidden it beneath a stone bed. The light it emitted was so brilliant that it would instantly attract covetous eyes if one wasn’t careful.

Everyone knew that a Flowing Light Treasure was among the most precious items in the world.

Tang Mo stepped forward to pick up the sharp, meter-long great axe.

Hngh...

The axe was far heavier than she had imagined; she couldn’t lift it with one hand.

Tang Mo tried again with both hands.

Hngh...

Still no luck. Her second attempt had failed.

Tang Mo felt a bit frustrated. ’My Strength Attribute Value is my weakest attribute,’ she thought, ’but it can’t be so low that I can’t even lift a single axe, can it?’

This time, Tang Mo held nothing back. She gathered all the spiritual power in her body and focused it into her hands.

Only then was she barely able to lift the axe.

However, swinging it to strike an enemy was still completely out of the question.

’This axe must have been hidden away because Ah Mao couldn’t wield it easily either, huh?’ Tang Mo mused.

’But then again, if even Ah Mao couldn’t use it, I wonder what the Wildman Tribe Chief would have done with it if he’d managed to get his hands on it.’

At this moment, Tang Mo found the situation rather amusing. The Wildman Tribe Chief had let his greed get the better of him just by seeing a flash of light.

She wondered how he would feel if he knew that the treasure he had sacrificed nearly his entire tribe for was, to him, just a useless piece of scrap metal.

She couldn’t use the axe for now, and Tang Mo didn’t want to create any more unnecessary trouble.

She simply stored the axe in her Space and walked back out empty-handed to Ah Mao’s side.

”I’ve secured the item. You can rest easy now,” Tang Mo said.

”Good, that’s good.”

At this point, Ah Mao naturally understood that Tang Mo possessed a pocket Space. Hearing her confirmation, he closed his eyes in relief and fell unconscious.