Chapter 5 Chapter Five: Tomb of Wang Yuanlu

Qin Yun was very lucky, the timely arrival of the agent allowed him to keep his handsome face.However, his luck is always good and bad. He doesn't know that another big crisis in his life is quietly brewing.Today, when he opened his eyes, he saw a group of reporters surrounding his hospital bed tightly. "Wake up! Wake up!" cheers erupted from the reporters as they scrambled to ask questions. "Mr. Qin, what was the cause of the fire in the northern part of Mogao Grottoes last night?" "I heard that you were excavating Monk Hua's tomb last night. Did you find anything important?"

"Monk Hua's concubine, no, is the lover buried with him?" ...Facing the camera and the reporter's constant questioning, Qin Yun just woke up, still in a daze, and couldn't help but get up, forgetting the old Huangtou's warning for a moment.He propped himself up and said triumphantly: "Old Huangtou and I encountered unimaginable dangers in the JM01 cave, but we managed to save the day with our wisdom and courage, and finally found the okra yellow and Tianyu Zhongkui statue, as well as a secret passage under the statue. A secret path leads to the second Buddhist scripture cave in the Mogao Grottoes. We also dug out the beating heart of Monk Hua after thousands of years..."

"Wow!" The reporters yelled at the same time, and they all squeezed to the bedside, and some wanted to climb onto the hospital bed. Qin Yun was even more proud, and repeated the experience of last night several times before the reporters left with more than enough satisfaction.The reporter's flashing lights made Qin Yun forget himself. He imagined that his name would be on the headlines of major newspapers and magazines across the country. From then on, he became famous all over the world.Qin Yun thought to himself, if there is such a day, should he sign autographs for fans one by one, or wear sunglasses, pretend to be busy, and squeeze through the crowd indifferently?This is really a difficult problem, and Qin Yun has been troubled by it all day.

On the second day, Qin Yun's body recovered and he could be discharged from the hospital. When he walked out of the hospital, he found several people standing at the gate pointing at him, Qin Yun smiled secretly: "Fame has really come up." He took a taxi back to the Dunhuang Research Institute, and saw a notice posted on the gate of the hospital, Impressively has his name.Qin Yun hurriedly leaned over to look at it, and it read: "Comrade Qin Yun, an employee of our institute, is no longer suitable for archaeological work because he suffers from severe delusional psychosis. He has been expelled by the Dunhuang Academy Party Committee's decision! His statements are all fictitious, please do not spread them in the media."

This notice hit Qin Yun on the head like a sap, but instead of knocking him out, it woke him up.He remembered the warning that Professor Yuan gave him in the scripture cave, and also the work discipline repeatedly emphasized by the old Huangtou. He talked about state secrets in front of reporters. For a researcher engaged in secret archaeological work, An unforgivable mistake has been made.Qin Yun realized that the JM01 cave and his speculation about the scripture cave must have touched a sensitive nerve in the country, which happened to disprove the authenticity of the speculation.Is there really a second Buddhist scripture cave in the Mogao Grottoes?Or is the secret passage in the cave JM01 the entrance to another scripture cave?

In any case, the mistake has already been made, Qin Yun knew that resistance was meaningless, and would instead drag him into a more passive situation. Qin Yun silently entered the research institute to go through the resignation procedures. He saw the old Huangtou standing in the corridor on the second floor. The two looked at each other with heavy hearts. They didn't talk anymore. On the day of leaving, Qin Yun felt extremely sad.Three years ago, he devoted himself to this remote town with full of enthusiasm and the ideal of prosperous Dunhuang culture, but his enthusiasm was exhausted, he failed to achieve anything, and was kicked out.This is the fate of the little people, always unable to get rid of the situation of being manipulated by the powerful.

Qin Yun packed his belongings and walked out of the research institute.After the closing time, the road in front of the door was very deserted, and he suddenly felt a little cold.Mogao Grottoes stands like a peerless venerable in the twilight, revealing an incomprehensible profundity, as if seeing through Qin Yun's future, but refuses to show him. At this time, there was a sharp turning sound of a car behind him. Qin Yun turned his head and saw an unlicensed Nissan car plugging into the road, rushing towards him like an angry lion.Qin Yun was so frightened that he threw the box away and fell headlong into the dry Daquan River beside the road. Nissan knocked off his leather shoes, brushed past the street lights, made harsh noises and dazzling flames, then turned sharply and swung his butt Disappeared in the vast night.

When Qin Yun climbed up, he suffered multiple abrasions on his palms, elbows and face. This is premeditated murder!The consequences mentioned by Professor Yuan are far more dire than expulsion. This made Qin Yun feel panic and helpless, he is just a researcher full of imagination, unable to deal with such things at all.We must leave Dunhuang immediately, Qin Yun thought to himself, rushing to the room without even picking up the scattered items.He rents a small building near the Mogao Grottoes, and the lights are on now, except for room 213 where he lives, the other rooms are brightly lit.But even so, Qin Yun couldn't feel safe. He pricked up his ears and walked up the stairs slowly, paying attention to every sound around him.Fortunately, everything is normal.Qin Yun came to the door of 213 smoothly and pushed open the door. Suddenly, something hit him on the forehead. He screamed in fright and fell down in the corridor.A letter floated down from the door, Qin Yun searched the entire room using the dim light projected from the outside, but there was no one inside.With a little peace of mind, he opened the letter tremblingly, which read:

"I can prove your conjecture. Please come to Wang Yuanlu's tomb for an interview tonight." Not signed. The tomb of Wang Yuanlu is located next to the ticket office of the Mogao Grottoes. It is a place full of tourists during the day, but it is deserted and dark at night.Why did this person choose this place to meet?Could it be that he wanted to take the opportunity to murder him?Qin Yun thought anxiously, he didn't want to make any more troubles, but the young people's curiosity and desire to prove themselves bothered him very much.At the last moment when he packed his luggage and planned to leave Dunhuang overnight, he finally made up his mind to visit Wang Yuanlu's tomb at night.He believes that Wang Yuanlu's tomb is still in the cultural relics protection area, and there are guards not far away, so the inviter would never dare to kill in public.Moreover, he simply thought that if someone wanted to kill him, there was no need to make such a false show, and he just stabbed him in the back.It was impossible for him to know at this moment that it was this innocence that had dragged him into a terrible situation from which he could not escape.

At ten o'clock sharp, Qin Yun stepped into Wang Yuanlu's tomb, which occupies a very large area, with a white pagoda in the middle, surrounded by a square low fence, which shimmers coldly under the moonlit night.Wang Yuanlu's dharma body is stored in the White Pagoda. He is a Taoist priest, but he devoted his whole life to guarding a Buddhist cave. He opened the most important door of Dunhuang culture, but despised Chinese treasures. Sold to foreign raiders.Later generations of intellectuals loved and hated Wang Yuanlu, so it is no wonder that Mr. Chen Yinke wrote "The Sadness of Our Country's Academics in Dunhuang".

There is no one in front of the tower, could it be that the inviter can't wait and has already left?Qin Yun carefully stepped onto the cemetery, and the moonlight made his shadow thin and long.The surrounding area was very quiet, and Qin Yun suddenly found that all the security guards who were supposed to be on duty not far away were gone.He was taken aback, and was about to leave when a man turned out from behind the white tower.He is estimated to be in his thirties, with a travel bag on his back, wearing a black T-shirt, blue-gray jeans, a big crew cut, very strong, with rounded shoulders, stiff face lines, dark skin, unshaven beard, and smudged hair all over his body. It was full of sand, and I was dragging two shovels in my hand.Qin Yun asked tremblingly, "Who are you?" The man let out a "shh", stepped forward and dragged the anxious Qin Yun and said, "Come with me!" The two turned to the back of the white pagoda, and found that a stone slab had been lifted from the ground, revealing a dark cave.There is no soil outside the cave, indicating that this cave has existed for a long time, and it probably leads to Wang Yuanlu's coffin.The man threw the shovel in first, and then jumped down. The cave was not deep, so he stood below and whispered: "Come on, there is a scripture cave you are looking for below." Tibetan scripture cave?Qin Yun was shocked, did Wang Yuanlu know about the existence of other scripture caves long ago, and deliberately concealed them?And choose to sleep forever in the scripture cave.If so, the guts of this down and out Taoist priest are too deep.Strong curiosity drove Qin Yun to forget the danger, and he slid into the cave.The man poked his head out again and dragged the opened floor to cover the hole, and the inside was suddenly pitch black.Qin Yun felt stuffy and fearful, he said uneasily: "Turn on the light!" "Hush—" the man stopped him again, grabbed him and walked into the darkness. "What are you doing?" Qin Yun broke free from his hand and yelled in fear. Only then did he realize that killing people here would be unnoticed. The man rushed up suddenly, squeezed Qin Yun's head against the cave wall with his elbow, and said in a deep voice, "Hush your voice, are you looking for death?" Qin Yun confirmed that tonight was going to be a bad day, so he suddenly exerted force, pushed the man to the ground, ran back quickly, and shouted: "Help, help!" But he hit the wall before he ran a few steps. bling. The man rushed over again, grabbed Qin Yunhou and quickly dragged him to the depths of the tomb, threw him on the ground, pressed the shovel on top of his head, and said sarcastically, "You're so brave? Don't make a sound now, listen carefully. "After speaking, he held his breath, and the grave was suddenly silent.At first, Qin Yun only heard the sound of his own "thumping" heartbeat, then slowly heard the sound of insects crawling in the tomb, and finally heard the sound of running water, which seemed to be there, and this kind of water sound can only be heard in the quiet night It can only be heard when there is no sound.He could feel that the water flow was not far away, so how could there be the sound of water?There are no water springs or municipal pipelines around the cemetery. Even the Daquan River has dried up. Where does the water come from?He looked up in astonishment, and saw the man's eyes emitting a strange light in the darkness. The man put down the shovel and finally turned on the flashlight. The tomb is small, about two meters high and three meters long and wide. On the left is a Zen seat about two meters long and half a meter high. The dharma body after sitting in Yuanlu.The walls of the tomb are all made of stones, and now they are covered with black moss, and many unknown bugs are moving back and forth on them.There are no scripture scrolls in the tomb. "Where is the scripture cave?" Qin Yun asked after regaining his composure. The man scratched his head and said, "Wang Yuanlu once privately kept a batch of elite scriptures in the Sutra Cave in Cave 17, and he did not take them out until he died. He has no children, so he must have brought these scriptures into the tomb." Qin Yun has basically confirmed that the man has no malicious intentions. He said: "You fooled me here, not to show me the scripture cave, but to let me accompany you to find things? Ha--that's ridiculous!" "I've heard your point of view, and it agrees with mine. Since I have an idea, why don't I go to verify it? I've been looking for other scripture caves for a long time, and I'm almost sure that there's a mystery hidden in this tomb, but how many people have entered? I didn’t find the answer this time, so please take a look.” The man said sincerely, “My name is Lu Changsuo, nicknamed Black Bat.” He stretched out his thick palm. Qin Yun grabbed his hand and stood up, walked around the tomb, and asked, "What's the matter with the sound of water?" The black bat smiled: "This is the basis for my guess that there is a hole in the tomb, but I searched every inch of the wall, and found no entrance or mechanism." Qin Yun agreed with his speculation. He pulled away Wang Yuanlu's bones, but found nothing. Then he went to check the Zen seat. It was made of bricks, and there was a stone door on the left. When he opened it, it was hollow inside, but there was nothing there. thing. At this moment, the sound of chaotic footsteps came from above.Qin Yun was taken aback, and asked in a low voice: "What traces did you leave behind, were you discovered?" The black bat looked at his watch and said anxiously, "The security guard who was knocked out by me must have woken up." The two suddenly panicked, the tomb was too small and there was nowhere to hide, it seemed that they were about to be caught and revealed.