After deciding on their goal, the two rested for a moment and then headed toward the central canyon along the Solarii's temporary camp.
They quickly passed through the outer forest, and before long, they arrived at the cliffside.
The canyon cliffs were filled with various wooden structures, with wooden suspension bridges connecting the buildings, though many had already rotted and broken.
These structures stretched all the way to the other side of the canyon, which was precisely Xia Yu and Lara's destination.
Looking at the continuous stretch of wooden houses, Lara felt a surge of excitement and said eagerly, "Xia Yu, how about we just run across these connected houses to the other side of the canyon? With our current physical condition, I think it's feasible."
Hearing Lara's words, Xia Yu thought of her mysterious 'demolition constitution' where everything she touched collapsed, and then he thought of the hundreds of ways Lara could die in the game. He fell silent... "What's wrong?" Seeing Xia Yu's sudden silence, Lara asked curiously.
After thinking it over, Xia Yu decided to tactfully express that this path was unsafe. If they really took it, the two of them would definitely end up in a real-life Temple Run.
"Let's take the safer path on the other side. These wooden houses feel too unstable; I'm afraid they'll collapse the moment we step on them."
"How is that possible? These houses have been here for so many years and they're still fine. How could they collapse just because we step on them?"
Lara felt Xia Yu was being a bit too cautious. The two of them weren't heavy, so how could they cause these houses to collapse?
"It's my intuition. Trust me, we can't take the houses!"
Hearing Xia Yu say this, Lara nodded with some regret; she really wanted to try parkouring through the continuous houses.
After convincing Lara, Xia Yu immediately decided to take a different route. The path to the other side of the canyon wasn't just through the wooden buildings and suspension bridges; there were also man-made cliffside stairs.
However, these stairs weren't continuous. If the path was cut off in the middle, one would need to climb across to reach the other side.
But whether it was climbing or anything else, it wasn't difficult for either of them.
As they moved along the cliffside stairs, they occasionally encountered other Solarii members perched on the cliff paths, seemingly on routine patrol.
However, these members didn't even notice Xia Yu and Lara before being assassinated by Lara with headshots from her arrows.
With Lara's current skills, she could guest star as a legendary female assassin in Assassin's Creed at any time.
Of course, only in the traditional Assassin worlds; the Mythology Trilogy doesn't count—that's not Assassin's Creed anymore, that's Berserker's Creed.
After walking for another half a day, a storm-swept cliff appeared before them. Decaying wooden structures could be seen faintly inside the steep cliff walls.
"Looks like another ruin of the Yamatai Kingdom."
Looking at the storm-ravaged cliffside, Xia Yu quickly thought of an optional tomb from the game, the Hall of Ascension. That was the hall where Himiko was once crowned.
Although this ruin was called the Hall of Ascension, it wasn't actually connected to the palace; it was a separate building.
One thing was certain, though: there would definitely be treasure chests and plenty of valuable antiquities inside.
With that in mind, Xia Yu said, "Lara, here's another ruin to explore. Want to go in and take a look?"
Hearing this, Lara checked the sky. Although it was afternoon, it was still bright, so she nodded and gave an affirmative hum.
Having reached an agreement, the two walked in through a crevice in the cliffside. The gap was large enough for an ordinary person to pass through easily.
Emerging from the crevice, they stepped onto a passage clearly carved by hand. Many Buddha statues were carved into the walls of the passage.
"The people of Yamatai were truly devout; they even have Buddha statues here," Lara remarked, looking at the relatively intact statues.
"That means we're on the right track." Xia Yu glanced at the surrounding statues. "A passage entrance with statues like this definitely leads to extraordinary ruins and treasures."
The passage wasn't long. With their speed, they emerged from the mountain passage in no time, and a hall built into the mountainside appeared before them.
On the bridge leading to the hall, half-rotted flags were still planted, flapping loudly in the storm.
"Was this once part of the Yamatai Kingdom?" Lara walked into the hall against the storm, surveying the well-preserved ruins. "It's incredible; these mechanisms, over a thousand years old, still seem functional."
"It really is incredible," Xia Yu agreed, then chuckled. "But that's not important. What matters is the treasure hidden in this hall."
At this, Lara rolled her eyes at Xia Yu, but she didn't disagree. Treasures were part of the rewards of exploration, and no one disliked them.
After briefly surveying the hall's layout, the two split up and soon found hidden treasures and chests.
These were cultural relics with archaeological value, worth no less than ten million, not to mention that these artifacts represented the developmental history of a civilization to some extent.
Therefore, to help their Japanese friends 'reconnect with their roots,' Xia Yu thoughtfully helped them collect these relics. When they were auctioned publicly later, he was sure many international Collectors would be interested.
After gathering all the treasures in the hall and searching for a while longer to ensure nothing was missed, they left through the passage they came in.
Outside, the sunlight was still bright. This exploration hadn't taken much time. After getting their bearings, the two moved forward again.
Before long, however, a waterfall spanning the cliff appeared before them. Looking at the waterfall, Xia Yu showed a clear expression of disgust.
"What's wrong, Xia Yu? Is there something wrong with this waterfall?" Lara asked, noticing his expression.
"Nothing, it's just that this waterfall brings back some unpleasant memories." Xia Yu shook his head and didn't say more.
This was the very waterfall that washed Lara away in the game. Under his control, Lara had been impaled through the neck by steel pipes at least several times. When he finally navigated it carefully, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Lara, descending by parachute, was impaled again by tree branches in the forest below.
These two ways of dying were extremely gruesome, and they even had damn close-ups. He was almost traumatized back then; the game company was simply inhuman.
Shaking the game memories from his head, Xia Yu took Lara's hand and said seriously, "In the future, whenever you see a waterfall, never think about wading through it. It's very dangerous."
Hearing Xia Yu say this, Lara found it a bit strange, but seeing the concern in his eyes, she nodded seriously.
"I'll remember. But how are we going to get across?"
Hearing this, Xia Yu took his backpack out of the Red Envelope. Since Lara already knew he had a storage method, Xia Yu had also stuffed his backpack into the Red Envelope—though he still used a Flash spell as cover.
After taking out the backpack, Xia Yu pulled out two climbing axes, matching ropes, and so on.
"...You really are well-prepared."
Looking at the tools Xia Yu took out, Lara was speechless. She realized she still had so much to learn; at the very least, she had to learn to be prepared for any eventuality.
I watched a walkthrough video of tomb raider 9 again today. After watching it, I realized Lara's arm strength is incredible; she literally ripped the support pillar out of a wooden house, causing the whole thing to collapse.