Origin

After Wu Zhongyuan finished speaking, Wang Xinran smiled and said, "This person is quite interesting."

Wu Zhongyuan also laughed, "Yeah, it's better to be careless than to be serious. This is a truly capable person. It's rare that he still has true temperament and is not pretentious."

Wang Xinran nodded and then raised his hand to look at his watch. Nearly half an hour had passed since the fight ended, and the mango-headed turtle and black dragon still did not surface from the water.

Seeing Wang Xinran's impatience, Wu Zhongyuan knew that she had no intention of waiting any longer, so he said, "Ask the experts at the headquarters to see if these two creatures will float immediately after death."

Wang Xinran accepted Wu Zhongyuan's suggestion, and soon the headquarters received a reply. Only a few fish will float on the water after death. Most aquatic animals, drowned people or other terrestrial animals will not float immediately after death. It takes a while for the body to surface when metabolism stops and bacteria in the body cause the body to swell.

After getting the reply, Wang Xinran looked at his watch again, "Wait another fifteen minutes. If there is no movement at twelve o'clock, we will start launching the water."

The rescue boat arrived ten minutes later. After the four people entered the water, they had to be on the water without backup.

After explaining the relevant matters to their colleagues on the ship, the four people put on diving equipment and prepared to go into the water.

Zhang Shukai was the first to finish dressing, and said to Wang Xinran, "I'll go down first to take a look at the situation underwater. You guys wait for me above. If nothing happens, I'll be up in five minutes."

Wang Xinran thought about it and nodded in agreement, "Pay attention to safety."

Zhang Shukai nodded, bit his respirator, and stood up into the water.

Wang Xinran lit a cigarette, held it in his mouth and waited.

"Why didn't they come up?" Wu Zhongyuan had doubts in his heart.

Wang Xinran shook his head. Wu Zhongyuan's question was also hers. According to Zhang Kui, who surrendered before, there were five people trapped underwater. Only one person surfaced before. Where did the others go?

Wu Zhongyuan added, "If they were blocked underwater by the black dragon, they should take the opportunity to escape after the black dragon left."

Wang Xinran said, "Maybe they didn't get what they wanted. The one who surfaced earlier might just be a deserter."

"You mean they are still underwater?" Wu Zhongyuan asked.

"It's possible." Wang Xinran nodded.

The burning time of a cigarette is five minutes. Before Wang Xinran threw away the cigarette butt, Zhang Shukai emerged from the water.

Seeing that he returned safely, Wang Xinran secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After the other party took off the respirator, he asked, "What's going on?"

Zhang Shukai clung to the side of the ship, "There is a strong undercurrent under the water and the visibility is not high. We did not find the bodies of the mandible turtle and the dragon. They may have been washed downstream by the undercurrent."

Before Wang Xinran could ask, Zhang Shukai took the initiative and said, "There is a very steep cliff under the water. According to the diving instrument, the vertical distance between the top of the cliff and the water is 23 meters, and the bottom of the cliff is 93 meters from the water. There is a 70-meter drop between the two, and there are many huge stone statues at the bottom of the cliff, arranged in two rows from north to south."

"Isn't there an ancient city underwater?" Wu Zhongyuan asked.

Zhang Shukai shook his head, "I didn't go far, there are no city ruins nearby."

Lu Jiahui asked, "What are the carvings on those underwater stone statues? Are they arranged in an orderly manner?"

"There was thick moss attached to the stone statue, but I didn't notice it deliberately," Zhang Shukai said.

"The stone statues are arranged fairly neatly. The underwater undercurrent mainly flows through the top of the cliff, and the water flow below the cliff is very gentle."

After listening to Zhang Shukai's description, Lu Jiahui made a judgment, "It is probably an underwater mausoleum. Those stone statues should be the tomb-guarding beasts on the corridor. The entrance to this kind of tomb that is carved into the mountain is usually at the end of the corridor, that is, Right below the cliff.”

"Did you see the entrance?" Wang Xinran asked.

"No," Zhang Shukai shook his head, "The visibility underwater is not high, and I didn't turn on the strong light because I was worried about exposing the target."

Wang Xinran didn't ask any more questions. Listening to other people's stories was not as good as seeing it with his own eyes. After getting ready, the four of them dived together.

Although Wu Zhongyuan was very good at water, it was his first time to use a respirator and he was not used to it. Wang Xinran and Zhang Shukai pulled him from left to right and led him down.

Zhang Shukai was right. The visibility underwater was indeed not high. Looking at the situation in the water through the diving goggles, it was foggy.

The undercurrent was not as scary as Wu Zhongyuan imagined. Although the momentum was great, it would not be swept away by the undercurrent. After diving for more than 20 meters, the momentum suddenly disappeared.

As the depth of the dive increased, the light became darker and darker, and the visibility became worse and worse. The strong sense of depression made Wu Zhongyuan feel that he could not breathe smoothly, and he could only take big breaths to relieve the discomfort.

In addition to feeling depressed, I also experienced severe tinnitus, buzzing in my ears, and bulging eardrums, which was very uncomfortable.

Wang Xinran noticed Wu Zhongyuan's discomfort and gestured to Zhang Shukai and Lu Jiahui, and the four of them slowed down their dive.

Everything has a process of adaptation. After the diving speed slowed down, Wu Zhongyuan's discomfort also eased, but the strong sense of depression still existed. It was not fear, but just panic and shortness of breath.

Wu Zhongyuan didn't have a specific idea of ​​how long it took to get to the bottom of the water. It might have been three minutes, or it might have been five minutes. After stepping on the ground, he felt much more at ease, although this feeling of being on the ground is still very different from that on land. .

After going to the bottom of the water, Zhang Shukai swam north, while Lu Jiahui went to explore the stone statue on the left, and Wang Xinran stayed in place with Wu Zhongyuan.

Wu Zhongyuan turned around and looked around. It was the brightest time outside, but it was like a dark night underwater. Fortunately, he had night vision and could barely see the surrounding scenery. There were twelve people on each side of the left and right. According to the outline of the stone statues, these stone statues are not carved of animals, but of human beings in various postures.

These stone statues are about three times the size of ordinary people. They are about five meters apart and extend tens of meters from north to south. The distance between the east and west rows of stone statues is about twelve meters. They squatted down and pushed away the loose soil, revealing the square statues. Lu Jiahui's previous judgment on the stone slab was correct. This was indeed a mausoleum. The two of them were standing on the corridor in front of the mausoleum.

After Wu Zhongyuan adapted to the underwater environment, Wang Xinran pulled him towards Lu Jiahui, who was not far away. At this time, Lu Jiahui was using special tools to clean the moss attached to the stone statue.

Lu Jiahui is good at underwater archaeology, and the corresponding tools are naturally available. After she cleaned it, a stone statue quickly revealed its true appearance. It was a statue of a middle-aged man, wearing Hanfu, a crown on his head, and a matching set on his waist. Holding a long sword.

Different from common statues, this statue looks very weird in both manner and expression. To be precise, it is not weird, but it is different from the common serious statues. This is a realistic statue, and the head of the statue is crooked. The right eye is closed, and the index finger of the left hand is placed under the nose. If you look carefully, you can see that it is picking your nose.

After seeing the stone statue clearly, Wu Zhongyuan and Wang Xinran looked at each other. It took a lot of manpower and material resources to carve such a large stone statue. Why did they carve it into a nose-picking gesture?

Lu Jiahui was also surprised, but she was more excited. In ancient times, there were clear levels of hierarchy, and there were strict restrictions on what to wear. This stone statue wore a nine-pointed crown on its head. This is a crown that only princes are qualified to wear. If you can Once you determine the person's identity, you can completely restore the person's true appearance, which is much more accurate than skull restoration.

People who study archeology all have a common characteristic, carefulness, and Lu Jiahui is no exception. They clean up very carefully. Seeing this, Wang Xinran stepped forward and interrupted her, pointed to the rest, and motioned her to clean up those again.

Soon, the second stone statue was also cleared out. This was a seated stone statue of a middle-aged man. The stone statue was sitting on a stone-carved wooden cart. The style of the wooden cart was somewhat like a modern wheelchair. The man on the cart was leaning forward. Erlang's legs, a feather fan on his knees, two bamboo sticks in both hands, with a fish stuck on the bamboo sticks.

If the first stone statue gave them confusion, then this stone statue gave them shock. The wooden chariot feather fan was Zhuge Liang's standard equipment, and this stone statue was undoubtedly carved by Zhuge Kongming.

Zhuge Kongming is a god-like existence in history. He dedicated himself to death and was a model of loyalty and patriotism. However, the sculpture of this stone statue is too unserious. How could a legendary figure look like this?

However, it seems that it is not a malicious vilification, because the stone statue's facial features are handsome and refined, and it has an elegant character. Although it is holding a fish, it does not have the salivation of being about to feast, but the solemnity and worry of deep meditation.

At this moment, Zhang Shukai swam over from the north and made a gesture to Wang Xinran, indicating that there was indeed an entrance to the north.

Wang Xinran was looking at the stone statue and raised his hand to signal Zhang Shukai to wait a moment.

Zhang Shukai made another gesture. Wu Zhongyuan didn't understand this gesture, but Wang Xinran did and followed Zhang Shukai north.

At this time, Lu Jiahui had already started to clean the third stone statue. As usual, she cleaned the head first. This was a seated stone statue of a young woman. On the head of the stone statue was a phoenix crown that would only be worn by concubines in the palace. She was dressed luxuriously, beautiful and graceful.

At first Wu Zhongyuan thought that this stone statue was relatively normal, but when Lu Jiahui cleaned up the lower half, he found that he had overthought it. This stone statue was very abnormal, to be precise, it was very improper, because the young woman's buttocks What she was sitting on was not a chair, but a toilet. This stone statue was actually carved by the concubine Chu Gong.

While Wu Zhongyuan was staring in shock, Wang Xinran came back and was stunned when he saw this stone statue.

After a brief daze, Wang Xinran waved to Lu Jiahui, and then pulled Wu Zhongyuan to swim north.

There is indeed an entrance under the cliff to the north. They are two stone doors nearly two meters high and about five feet wide. The stone doors are open and covered with moss. This shows that the stone doors were not pushed open by humans, but were not closed in the first place.

At this time, Zhang Shukai was not outside the door. Wang Xinran dragged Wu Zhongyuan and swam into the stone gate. Inside the stone gate were ascending steps, a total of eighteen steps. "Climbing up the steps" he saw a waterless stone chamber inside. The stone chamber was square in shape and contained about fifty people. It is an area of ​​​​square meters, with a strong fishy smell inside, and some animal bones are scattered around. It can be seen that the black dragon was entrenched here before.

A goose egg-sized green bead is inlaid directly above the stone chamber, and the fluorescent light illuminates the stone chamber with a gloomy green color. There is a stone monument to the north, and to the north of the stone monument is a half-open stone door.

"They are still inside." Wang Xinran pointed to the northeast corner of the stone room, where several sets of diving equipment were stacked.

Wu Zhongyuan nodded.

"He knew we were coming," Wang Xinran said.

"Who is it?" Wu Zhongyuan didn't know why.

"Zuo Ci," Wang Xinran pointed to the stone tablet to the north, "it has been written on the stone tablet..."

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