Chapter 23 Chapter 22

We have a total of seven people in this team, Lao Shi, Huang Lin, me, and four fellows with strong bodies, two of whom are carrying almost all the road equipment, and the other two are carrying the long box for Shimei , I was not at ease all the time, so I followed closely behind those two people, for fear of bumping into them, and wished I could lift them myself, but I didn't have that ability, so I had to remind them to pay attention to their feet and walk slowly from time to time. Lao Shi walked in the front, and occasionally turned his head to look around, but he didn't know what he was looking at. After walking like that for an hour, I found that the two guys who carried Shimei were very cautious all the time, which can be said to be something I didn't expect I have thought of it all, and I have never encountered bumps along the way. Even in very difficult places, it is rare to have a large shake. After following for so long, I finally felt relieved, and walked quickly to Lao Shi and asked if he wanted to take a rest , I saw them carrying them for so long, they were exhausted.

Lao Shi nodded, looked ahead, and said to rest there. When we came here, the terrain rose rapidly, the tall trees became less and less, and the rocks and shrubs began to increase.Because of the existence of these rocks, the feet become uneven, and many of the stems and leaves of these shrubs have thorns, which will be pulled if you are not careful. In addition, they grow densely, which is fertile and flat under the tall tree crowns in the forest before. Compared with the thick soil, the road is much more difficult to walk on, and the higher the mountain, the harder it is. We stopped in front of an upright rock as high as a two-story building. The rock face is slightly tilted forward as a whole, looking down. There is a large rock under the rock face. The rock surface is relatively flat and only sparse There are a few small trees growing on the ground, which is a pretty good resting place in this forest.

A few guys took off all the weight on their bodies, and then started to exercise their muscles and bones like doing radio exercises. Lao Shi looked around the place where we were resting, but he didn't know what he was looking for. I took out a piece of plastic cloth, blew on the rock a few more times, spread it, and then sat down. I really didn't expect her to be so clean, so I couldn't help but take a few more glances, and found that we guys were all She is disheveled, and her face and body are extremely dirty. Only this Huang Lin looks very clean, and even the camouflage uniform on her body is rarely seen. It's a woman's nature, no matter how big or small or old, no matter where she goes.

"Xiao Ma, what do you keep watching me do? What are you thinking?" Huang Lin suddenly smiled at me, and asked casually while wiping the fine beads of sweat on her face with a towel. I'm not shy about it, and directly asked questions about her age and appearance. To be honest, I'm really curious how a woman who is over fifty can still maintain such a young appearance. This is something that countless people especially A girl's dream. "Because this face is not mine." Huang Lin squatted down like me, and whispered in my ear. I was really taken aback when I heard this sentence, and moved aside a little unconsciously, and then went to look at her, only to find that her expression was quite mysterious, I couldn't figure out what it meant, and said falteringly: " Sister Lin...isn't it? Don't scare me..."

"You don't believe me? I'll show you..." Huang Lin stretched her hands under her neck as she spoke, as if she wanted to uncover something. As soon as I saw her move, I couldn't help shouting, telling her not to tear it up, I believed it, and said in my heart that if I saw a human face being torn off alive, it would be too scary. It's a movie, I don't want to see the real version. Seeing me yelling, Huang Lin really didn't want to tear it up. Instead, she took off the hat, let down her long black hair, fiddled with it a few times, and then laughed happily.

I didn't understand her smile again. At this time, Lao Shi also came over, knocked my head with a kettle, and said, "What's your name? She's teasing you. I usually see you in the town. You know how to do business, you are very shrewd, why are you so confused when you get here?" It turned out that Huang Lin was teasing me. I really thought her face was not mine. After hearing what Lao Shi said, I hated Huang Lin and said, "Sister Lin, I don't know the place where I was born. Yes, and you and Lao Shi have been hiding so many things from me all the time, I didn't know anything at all, I followed Brother Yan in a daze, and then I stumbled along with Mr. Liu's team until I saw You guys just know the current situation, and you don’t know how dangerous it is along the way. I almost died several times. If it weren’t for them to help me, I would definitely not see you. I am getting more and more timid now , are all scared, sister Lin, you still come like this, I really can't stand it."

"Hehe, Brother Nine, you're right. This kid's mouth is really sweet. I'm a circle older than him. I'm considered an auntie. He can still call Sister Lin every time. Not bad... But Xiao Ma, I see that you have been depressed and nervous all the way, right? So I want to tease you and let you relax, hehe... You are quite a funny person." When Huang Lin laughed, there were still some wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She coiled her hair up again, put on her hat again, and continued: "There are some things that you can't change for the time being, so don't take them too seriously. As long as you We do it, and there will always be results. So, before waiting for this result, try to maintain an optimistic and good attitude! You see, after so many years, I want to find out who Shimei is more than anyone else. Because I carried her out of the grave with my own hands, I fell in love with her when I saw her. In the days after that, I cared about her more than you, and was more nervous about her, but I still put her Hand it over to Lao Shi, watching her grow up little by little behind her back, watching her mature day by day, and then getting to know you and being with you... Even if she is like this now, I can still joke with you and be full of hope So, Ma Yuanqing, cheer up! Don't be depressed, don't think about those questions, there is still a long way to go, come on!"

Huang Lin's voice not only sounds mature, but also has a special charm, which may be the power to infect people.If these words of hers were uttered by an ordinary person, I might feel quite strange or awkward, but there is such a taste from her mouth, this taste suddenly opened up my mind a lot, entangled a lot The doubts in my heart seemed to become less important, and I made my direction clear again, which was to follow them all the way to Buzhou Mountain, until I found what we were looking for! "Haha, thank you, Sister Lin! Sincerely! But I'm really curious about your method of keeping youth forever, can't you tell me?"

"Hehe, this is my secret. Of course I can't tell you. You know, every woman has her own secret, so don't think about it!" As expected, a woman is still a woman, especially a beautiful and charming woman, who always has the capital to be playful.I didn't ask any more questions, took out the water bottle, stood up, raised my neck, and wanted to take a sip, but suddenly found that directly above my head, that is, on the top of the rock face behind me, was a black head , poking out from there, a pair of blood-red eyes in the middle of the head staring down at us. "Ah... this..." Chen Quan faltered all of a sudden, looked at Huang Lin's face, and then continued: "This... Mr. Huang has something to say first, I can't tell you, and I can't help it. You can ask other questions, ten questions can be exchanged for a cigarette!"

As soon as I heard what he said, I didn't bother to talk to him, and turned to look at Huang Lin, but Huang Lin smiled at me and said, "Why don't you ask me?" "It's useless to ask you!" I replied angrily. "Haha, Xiao Ma, in fact, Brother Jiu and I don't intend to let you know many things at all, because the things inside are beyond what you can understand now." "What do you mean I can't understand? What era is it now, no matter if it's a science fiction blockbuster or a fantasy novel, I don't want to read too much! Sister Lin, can you tell me what else I can't understand?"

"Are you living in a sci-fi world?" Huang Lin put away her smile and looked straight at me. Seeing her serious face, I can only shake my head. Indeed, movies can only be movies, and novels can only be novels, but I am in a living reality. If the things in those movies and novels really break into this real world, what will it look like?And is it possible?Do they have a reason to exist? Because we don't believe it, we see it, and that's why we enjoy it.If we believe it, we may live in fear and panic forever. "However, I feel that my journey here is like watching a movie. Many bizarre things happened so naturally, so please tell me, Sister Lin, I think I can understand after going through this." I spoke sincerely Extremely, I have already mentally prepared, even if Huang Lin's words are fantastic, I will believe them. "Okay, that's a human being." Huang Lin sat up straight and said calmly. "People?! Who is it? Who looks like that?" Her answer was a bit beyond my expectation, and she asked immediately. "Precisely it used to be a person." "It used to be a person? Then what is it now?" I asked. "Don't worry, listen to me..." Huang Lin took a sip of water and continued, "You know that in ancient times, the tombs of the emperors were all guarded by tombs, so take the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that I told you earlier. To put it bluntly, after the completion of the project, countless nobles and nobles and grandsons all moved to the location of the tomb. There were tens of thousands of people, so that it later developed into one of the most prosperous towns. The mausoleum guardians also have ranks and division of labor, and most of the mausoleum guardians of the imperial tombs have been passed down from generation to generation, and they have been guarding around the mausoleum according to the precepts of their ancestors. "Of course, for the mausoleums of emperors with great fanfare and plain sight, such a form of guarding the tomb is called Mingshou, which you should be able to understand well, but there is another form of guarding the tomb, which corresponds to Mingshou, called dark guarding. "Darkness, literally we can know that this method of guarding the tomb is carried out secretly. As for why he guards the tomb secretly? Because he doesn't even want others to know the location of the tomb. "Even if someone is standing above the mausoleum, the mausoleum guard will not immediately jump out and say 'Hey! You can't stand here', but will observe you secretly, observe your behavior and behavior, and then make a judgment. Once you If there is any action that makes him think that you are a threat to the mausoleum, he will shoot you without hesitation and kill you! This way of guarding the mausoleum is secretive and terrifying, and it is definitely a nightmare for those who trespass. There are some deep mountain The missing cases in the book were actually caused by being killed by secret guards. "Let me give you the best example of secret guarding, that is the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan. You know, no one has found the real location of his mausoleum until now, right? "Secret burials are prevalent in Mongolia. Genghis Khan also had secret burials, but that doesn't mean he won't arrange for tomb guards. On the contrary, his tomb guards are also quite large, forming a mysterious organization that lasted nearly a thousand years. It has always existed, and their job is to prevent people in the world from finding the real location of the mausoleum. They do everything possible for this work, including destroying all kinds of books, historical materials, folk records and other materials that may lead to the mausoleum. It even includes all kinds of relevant data on the Internet; they also create false public opinion to divert people's attention from the imperial tomb... If someone still finds the location of the tomb, they will quietly kill those people in secret, and then Do a lot of work to bury the truth and get things done quietly. "The mausoleum guard team of Genghis Khan Mausoleum can be said to be one of the largest secret guard organizations in the world. His organization is little known, but there are still records. If your desire to explore or greed is not so strong that you want to find If his real mausoleum is located, then nothing will happen. And the secret guards of those mausoleums without any records or even unknown origins are the scariest. "The official statement of our Chinese civilization is five thousand years, but it is not true. What I can tell you is that it is far more than five thousand years. Some things we have already discovered, but they are too shocking and incredible, so we can't Make it public. In this long period of civilization, we cannot imagine how many princes, generals, and talented people have come out. However, these people who once stood at the top of society, even if they died There are still huge life energy left behind, and some of them built extremely secret mausoleums after they were born, and arranged various secret guards. "There is also a distinction between secret guards. Generally, secret guards are undertaken by humans. Some people who drive wild beasts will let wild beasts guard the tomb. This kind of beast is called a tomb guard beast. It is more terrifying than humans. People are cruel, but not necessarily cunning, each has its own strengths. "There is also a more mysterious secret guard. There are almost no written records about this kind of secret guard. It is completely mysterious. If I hadn't seen it here a few days ago, even I would not have believed it. They actually exist. ..." Huang Lin stopped here and looked at me thoughtfully, I quickly recalled her words, finally understood, and then asked: "Sister Lin, what do you mean, that thing just now is The kind of...mysterious...secret guard you mentioned?" Huang Lin nodded slightly, and continued: "I heard about the origin of this kind of secret guarding from Liu Ye, Mr. Liu. He once entered a rock tomb of unknown age, and met him there. This kind of secret guard has also been fought, and then he found out what it was based on some information left by his ancestors, and later told me and brother Jiu, at first we didn't believe it, so he showed us something." "what?" "A hand, a black hand like a claw." "That hand was cut off from the secret guard you mentioned?" "That's right, that's what the sixth master said, and he also gave us a general description of the dark guard's general appearance: humanoid, black all over, only the pupils are red, walking on all fours, extremely agile, with flexible upper limbs and great strength in the lower limbs There are records of this kind of thing in the notes left by his ancestors, and he named it a puppet, a ghost next to a single person, which means something that is neither a human nor a ghost, and said that it was actually transformed from a human. " "There really is such a thing... Is it really a person who changes? How can a person become like that?" "As for how it changed, there is no detailed record in the notes, and I haven't checked it, but presumably this kind of dark guard called puppet did not become like that voluntarily, but the person behind it, that is, the person in charge of the dark guard organization People behind the scenes are manipulating..." Speaking of this, I suddenly realized that regardless of how the thing changed, one thing is certain, so I said: "Wait... Since there is such an unusual secret guard in this forest, it means Is there a rather hidden ancient tomb here?" Huang Lin nodded, smiled slightly, and said, "Hehe, if ordinary people encounter something like that, they will probably think it is a ghost in the forest, and they will stay away from this forest land, but if someone knows that it is the most mysterious secret guard First, it can be inferred that there is an ancient tomb here. As for the age, scale, and person of this ancient tomb, further research is needed. We passed through this forest by accident and found this kind of secret guard, but Since Brother Nine and I did not intend to visit this ancient tomb, we informed Sixth Master." Hearing what he said, the context of the whole thing became clear in my mind: A few days ago, after Huang Lin and the others entered this forest, they encountered a secret guard like a puppet. Someone died in the team, that is, the guy who was buried at the junction of the meadow. They didn't know much about the puppet. Tell Mr. Liu to let him come, because Mr. Liu has a certain understanding of the puppet, and he must also have a certain understanding of the tomb guarded by the puppet. He must be interested.And Huang Lin and the others were waiting for Mr. Liu in the woods, and by the way, after a little investigation, they found that weird wooden house and the strange mobile phone in the wooden house that seemed to be mine. They called me and asked me to come over, just as Mr. Liu and the others had just When I arrived in Lijiang, I could be picked up here by the way. And this morning, Lao Shi Huanglin's team bid farewell to Mr. Liu's team, not because I was sent to the task and completed, but because each has its own things to do, we continue to rush to the legendary Buzhou Mountain, Mr. Liu The other team is looking for the whereabouts of the ancient tomb in the woods. But there is still a question, that is, who was the one who shot in the woods last night?The puppet probably doesn't know how to use firearms... I thought about it and asked Huang Lin. Huang Lin shook her head and said, she doesn't know if puppets will use guns, but since this kind of ancient tomb has secret guards like puppets, there may be other types of secret guards, because according to her analysis, Well, things like puppets are living things after all, and living things have a lifespan. It is impossible for them to live since they were dug from the mausoleum. The greater possibility is that the secret guard organization of this mausoleum has had a leader throughout the ages. This leader is likely to be a human being who knows how to transform other humans into puppets. In order to guard the mausoleum from generation to generation, he needs to constantly He is constantly looking for human beings who are suitable to be transformed into puppets to fill his secret guard team. I felt incredible when I saw something like a puppet before, but after listening to Huang Lin's analysis, goosebumps came out.If there is such a guy who knows how to transform people into puppets, it is simply too scary. I really don’t understand why this kind of person would kill other human beings from generation to generation, and transform living people into monsters that are neither human nor ghosts. And the only mission to support his belief is just to protect a person who died for an unknown number of years... The ancients, especially the strange ancients, their abnormal beliefs in my opinion are really incomprehensible, but it is conceivable that the things they guarded have extraordinary secrets, which cannot be discovered by others. The exact reason.That's why they have been waiting in the same place for thousands of years, a place completely isolated from modern civilization. What also makes me difficult to understand is why Mr. Liu came here all the way, is it because he discovered such an unusual secret guard like a puppet?Or still want to find this mysterious ancient tomb and get the treasure inside? Along the way, in my impression, although Mr. Liu was born as a tomb robber, he is completely different from those vicious, greedy, ungrateful tomb robbers, and to be able to make friends with people like Lao Shi, it can be said that he is also a respected old man. I had heard the story of Ah Feng before, and I felt that he was a good man who was a chivalrous man. Moreover, his wealth and power had accumulated to a considerable scale, so he should not be easily moved by those so-called ancient tomb treasures. Since it wasn't for money, then why did he take such a big risk and come here to fight against the secret guard in this ancient tomb in the dense forest? Maybe Mr. Liu himself has an obsession that he can't let go of. This obsession is related to the puppet, and the ancient tomb guarded by the puppet. Maybe it is the unfinished business left by the ancestors of their tomb robber family. Of course, this is all my guess. Huang Lin didn't tell me any more about Mr. Liu. She only knows that they are looking for clues to the ancient tomb in the woods, and we have reached the edge of the woods, and we can go up. , is the rocky mountain. The puppet that was lying on top of its head and peeping at us just now may have followed us all the way, but I don’t know why it has followed us all the way to the edge of the forest. According to Huang Lin’s speculation, the range of the ancient tomb should be in the middle of the forest. There's no need to keep staring at us this way. On the way here before, Lao Shi kept looking back. He must have noticed the puppet long ago, but he didn’t tell us, but just now the puppet was lying on top of our heads, so Lao Shi had to chase it out, because The puppet's behavior seems unusual, and it has exceeded its detection range, so the purpose may not only be to observe us secretly. Huang Lin said that my deduction is correct, the purpose of these puppets is not just to guard the tomb. "A few days ago, in the camp at the junction of the meadow and the forest, puppets attacked the team, but only one person died in the team, but they paid a heavy price. Several puppets were killed in the conflict .So, after we entered the woods, they didn't act rashly anymore, but were lying in ambush all around, spying on our every move, and you know? They've been staring at something in our team..." "what?" Huang Lin didn't answer, but looked at Shimei's box. Looking at her eyes, I seemed to understand, and blurted out in surprise: "Shimei? They have been staring at Shimei?" "No, it's that thing..." It turned out that Huang Lin was looking at Shimei's box, not referring to Shimei, but the thing in the box.I saw Lao Shi put the thing in the box together with the box and cotton bag into Shimei's box before, and I thought so too, "that thing" is so weird, it's no wonder those puppets will stare at it, as for them to " It's not clear what that thing is used for. Huang Lin also said she didn't know. "However, they have only stared at them until now. Since that conflict, they have not made any substantive actions except spying. Now they are at the edge of the forest. It should be their last chance, so later It is possible to..." Before Huang Lin could finish her sentence, I saw a black figure jumping out of the bushes behind her. The speed was extremely fast, and a huge claw stretched out from the black shadow, aiming at Huang Lin's forehead Catch it! My brain didn't have time to react, so I just pushed Huang Lin out of conditioned reflex, and pushed her out in an instant, but the claw didn't change direction, and it grabbed straight at my face, and I thumped in my heart: It's over!