However, he wasn't an ordinary person, so he didn't need to worry too much about those Storm Warriors. In fact, he might even be able to turn the tables on Himiko and seize the Storm Legion for himself.
Moreover, judging by the behavior of the Storm Soldiers and the Storm General in the game, although the Storm Warriors were controlled by sorcery, they retained a portion of their minds and reasoning, making them unlike mindless zombies.
To use an analogy, these Storm Warriors were like the Shadow Khans from Jackie Chan Adventures; they possessed strict discipline and even employed certain tactics during combat.
Aside from lacking a Shadow Realm and the ability to merge into shadows at will, there really wasn't much difference between the Shadow Khans and the Storm Warriors. One was ninja, the other was samurai; both were undead controlled by sorcery, both possessed a degree of thought and judgment, and both were of Japanese origin.
As he thought about it, Xia Yu began to covet them. These Storm Warriors were actually quite good. After all, the Shadow Khans were the most useful and versatile tools in the multiverse. Since he couldn't get the Shadow Khans right now, settling for the Storm Warriors would do just fine.
It seemed that enslaving Himiko was a necessity. This sorcery, capable of creating an undead legion, might be the greatest harvest of this trip.
If they could learn it, they could completely form their own Storm Warriors, or even evolve them into their own Shadow Khans.
After a moment of reflection, Xia Yu snapped back to reality. Lara was still there, flipping through the diary in an attempt to find clues about the "Oni."
"Lara, we should leave. It looks like Japanese soldiers from WWII once landed on this island, but they all died here. We might find more diary clues left by others."
Reminded by Xia Yu, Lara also snapped out of her reading.
Indeed, she shouldn't obsess over a single diary. To find the truth, she had to verify things from multiple angles. It really was time to leave.
After tearing out the pages with records from the diary, Lara finally spoke.
"Alright then, but which way should we go? Should we continue along those trodden paths?"
"No, next we go here."
Xia Yu shook his head and pulled Lara toward the interior of the house. It was pitch black inside, and that was precisely where the eerie music was coming from.
Xia Yu casually pulled a small, high-intensity flashlight from his waterproof backpack. As the bright beam shone, the pitch-black interior was revealed to them.
There was a bottomless entrance to a tunnel, and the music was coming from inside it.
There were signs of trampling around the dark entrance, which meant someone had definitely been near it, so there shouldn't be too much danger.
Without much hesitation, the two of them, one in front and one behind, climbed down the vertical iron ladder. This kind of ladder was fixed to the wall and perpendicular to the ground, serving as a permanent escape ladder.
The bottom of the hole was filled with stagnant water, and the surrounding space was reinforced with steel plates. A passage reinforced with wooden planks led to parts unknown.
Himiko's Sun Totem was carved onto the walls, and pale skulls were embedded in the crevices. The skulls' mouths were wide open, seemingly letting out unwilling roars and howls.
Just seeing this scene, the same word came to the minds of both people who had climbed down.
Sacrifice!
And a bloody sacrifice using human heads at that. They just didn't know if the sacrifices were the dead or the living.
After trying their best to ignore the hollow-eyed skulls around them, the two cautiously moved forward again. The water-filled passage was just wide enough for a person to pass through.
The stagnant water only reached their waists. Although it was a bit uncomfortable being soaking wet, it was bearable; this was a necessary part of the exploration.
As they continued to explore, the passage became narrower, with collapsed rebar everywhere, forcing them to bend over to pass.
After walking for a while longer, the passage reached its end, which was a set of stairs leading upward. The two continued up the stairs and soon arrived in a room.
"Heavens, this is insane." Looking around the room at the end of the passage, Lara spoke out in surprise.
There were obvious signs of human life in the room. A deerskin was draped over a bed made of bamboo strips, and discarded jars and bottles were scattered everywhere.
The skulls and bones of various creatures hung there, and there were extinguished candles all around. Everything indicated that someone had been living here not long ago.
But for some reason, the person living here had left—or perhaps they had only left temporarily and could return at any moment.
"What kind of person lives in a place like this? We should leave quickly."
The eerie skulls and bones around her made Lara a bit afraid. She felt as though those empty eye sockets were staring at the two intruders.
"This is probably a temporary residence for a survivor," Xia Yu guessed as he looked at the signs of life around them.
"A survivor?"
"That's right. Since we survived the storm, it's not impossible for others to have done the same. You know, countless ships have gone missing in the Dragons Triangle. Maybe the survivors of those ships are on this island too."
Hearing this, Lara scanned the surroundings again and asked in confusion, "Then why does this place look so... eerie?"
"Eerie? Maybe because they've been trapped for too long and have lost their mind."
While speaking, Xia Yu had already started rummaging through the surroundings.
"Anyway, no one's here, so let's search. We might find something valuable."
Hearing Xia Yu say this, Lara originally wanted to say forget it; after all, they were all survivors who had lived through the storm, and the other person's life wasn't easy either.
But seeing that Xia Yu had already started rummaging through things, Lara could only sigh softly and choose to search along with him.
After searching for a moment, Xia Yu found a Hannya Mask in an iron box. Hannya is a type of demon from Japanese legend, and the Hannya Mask is a type of traditional Japanese Noh mask.
The moment he picked up the mask, the Tomb Exploration System, which Xia Yu had almost forgotten, issued a notification. Because he had found a tomb relic, his stats had increased.
The moment he heard the notification, Xia Yu was stunned. He had actually almost forgotten his true purpose; his goal was to explore the tombs in Yamatai.
"Tch!"
Xia Yu gave a soft click of his tongue and stuffed the mask into his backpack. This thing might be worth some money; he would put it up for auction at an auction house when he got back.
Yeah, he decided to take all the antiques he found on this island back for auction. Given Lara's family background, setting up an auction would be easy.
When the time came, he'd let the Japanese, who were living quite well, buy back their ancestors' antiques through the auction. He didn't feel any guilt about scamming them; in fact, he might even find it a bit pleasurable.
"Xia Yu, did you find anything?"
Lara, who was still searching, noticed Xia Yu's movements and asked curiously.
"Yeah, I found a relic—an antique, I suppose. It should be worth some money, so I tucked it away. What about you?"
"Sorry, I didn't find anything. This place is too dilapidated; almost nothing was left behind," Lara said somewhat dejectedly.
"It's fine. Exploration is like this; perhaps finding nothing is the norm. Let's keep going."
"Mhm."
Lara quickly adjusted her mood and walked out through another exit of the room with Xia Yu.
The other rooms were still very dilapidated with almost nothing of value, but the two of them did find another passage—an exit leading to the outside.
After searching the rooms one more time and finding no other valuable items, the two left the area through the passage.