Chapter 20 Chapter 19

After Li Dazui was pulled up, he hurriedly asked Old Wei: "How is it? What conclusions do you have on the mural?" Old Wei shook his head and looked at Gengzi who was explaining things: "Professor Tan and Qin have some ideas. But the most important thing at the moment is that we are going to the other side." Li Dazui was a little surprised, he stroked his hair subconsciously: "How did you get there?" The boy next to us had already finished explaining the matter to Lao Liu, and clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention: "Listen up, everyone, now we are all going to the opposite side. The first group of people will be taken by Lao Liu. Those who want to survive Just listen to him tell you how to operate. Then the seat belts and quick buckles will be pulled back, and the second group of people will put them on. I finally took Uncle Yan over there, did you understand?"

I looked at Professor Tan with some concern, and Professor Tan nodded slightly to me, signaling to me that she could do it.Professor Tan, Yu Yanyan and I were assigned to the second batch, and the able-bodied men were assigned to the first batch. I stood on the dark and boundless cliff and watched them put on their safety belts and slide to the opposite bank one by one under the leadership of Lao Liu.When I saw Old Wei with his huge head on his head, struggling to slide to the opposite bank between the lines above the abyss, I couldn't help thinking sadly in my heart that archaeologists might be the only superman left on this earth.

I still remember my little figure standing on the edge of the abyss, the anxiety, fear and inexplicable excitement and expectation.This abyss is like a metaphorical gap, between us who are full of exploration desire in the present time and the mysteries scattered in countless past times. "Teacher Tan," I said in a low voice while taking the pulled back seat belt and slowly fastening it on my body, "What are we looking for? Everything seems to be nothingness and absurdity." Professor Tan held my hand with dry and thin fingers, and she stared at me in the dark: "What we are looking for is the lost memory and time of human beings. Children, all journeys are lonely. Don't be afraid, use Your courage to go on."

I looked to the other side, and Li Dazui and Wei Datou who had already landed were waving to us vigorously, signaling us to hurry over. I heard a faint sigh behind me, but I didn't know where it came from.When I turned my head and looked behind me, nothing but darkness was still darkness. Different from what I imagined, it turned out to be an unprecedented pleasure and excitement when sliding over the rope.As if death was just below me, I screamed and flashed to the other shore.As if inspired by the murals, everyone swept away the gloomy atmosphere of the past and became excited with their own goals.

Li Dazui tugged at Old Wei's sleeve: "Later, I will discuss the mural with Professor Tan. I always feel that there is a deep meaning behind this mural." Old Wei nodded ponderingly: "It's more than just a deep meaning. Looking at the appearance of Professor Tan and Qin, I think they seem to have discovered something...Look, Gengzi is going to bring Uncle Yan here." Perhaps because of Uncle Yan's sacrifice of his life to save him, Wei paid special attention to Uncle Yan.We looked across and saw that Gengzi was fastening Uncle Yan's seat belt.Xiao Fei stood beside Zhu Liang who was lying down, and they seemed to be discussing whether to bring Zhu Liang over.Soon, the discussion apparently came to fruition, Xiao Fei also fastened Zhu Liang's seat belt, and was hung by the rope on the rope.Soon, Xiao Fei carefully slid over with Zhu Liang.

We watched with trepidation as the two slowly moved towards us on the ropes.Halfway through the journey, Xiao Fei suddenly stopped. Gengzi straightened his neck and shouted: "Xiao Fei, what kind of plane are you doing?" Xiaofei turned his head, his voice was a little frightened: "Brother Geng, there seems to be something down here." Gengzi waved his hand violently: "What the hell, you go first!" Xiao Fei tremblingly said: "I, I can't move..." Xiao Fei and Zhu Liang struggled on the rope for a while, but their eyes looked down from time to time.Li Dazui took the emergency light and shone it down. The dark cliff wall illuminated by the light surrounded the vast and unchanging space, and everything was silent.

Xiao Fei looked down carefully for a while, finally heaved a sigh of relief, swayed his figure, and slid towards us with Zhu Liang. Lao Liu grinned and said, "Xiao Fei, I think you're in need of pumping again." Xiao Fei drooped his head, put Zhu Liang on the ground, and stretched out his hand to undo the quick buckle. "I really thought I saw... oh, forget it." He turned around unhappily, and waved to Gengzi, indicating that they could come over. Gengzi swiftly connected Uncle Yan with himself, hung on the rope, and slid over quickly in a graceful manner.He unfastened the quick buckle, carefully placed Uncle Yan in a safe place far away from the edge of the cliff, raised his head and scolded Xiao Fei: "It's the worst thing to stop at high altitude while gliding, don't you want your life?"

Xiao Fei lowered his head and mumbled, "Brother Geng, I was wrong." Seeing the landing of the ridge, the sixth child could not wait to run to the place where he had seen the twilight with his potatoes.I don't know if it's because of the short distance or the angle, but looking at the past at this moment, the glimmer of the past has disappeared.There was a faint uneasiness in my heart, and I couldn't explain the reason. "Rangzi! Rangzi! Rangzi!" The hoarse howling of the sixth child interrupted my thoughts.Everyone didn't know what happened, and they were a little flustered.Gengzi said to Xiaofei, "You stay here and take care of Uncle Yan."

Qin Suo gave Xiaofei a push: "You go with Gengzi, I'm here to take care of two patients." He seemed to be aware of Gengzi's suspicion, and said with a wry smile, "One is my old friend and the other is my team member. What can I do to them?" The howling of the sixth child continued, and Gengzi no longer hesitated, nodded and ran forward. We follow him subconsciously, and the longer we stay in this darkness, the uncontrollable fear and great loneliness are like a long-lasting haze, making people confused. Lao Liu and Tudou stood there stiffly.For the first time I saw fear and trembling in the eyes of the desperadoes.Tudou turned around tremblingly, his eyes glazed over, he wanted to open his mouth to say something to the boy, but his throat was hoarse and silent.

Gengzi held the emergency light and strode up.He looked at Lao Liu and Tudou sternly, and stretched out his hand to push them away. After Lao Liu and Tudou stepped aside, they gave way to the lights. At the moment when the light shines in front of me, I may not believe that there are gods in this world, but I do believe that there must be so-called evil spirits in this world.The suffocation and fear made me grit my teeth, and I heard a low "ah" from someone beside me, like a sad and distant sigh, but also like shrinking from the ferocious darkness. The pale emergency lights reflected two corpses, one of which fell stiffly on the ground, and the other was sitting on the rock wall, with both legs paralyzed.

The light clearly shines on the human body on the ground. To be precise, it was no longer a person.It is a static display composed of half bones and half flesh.The remnants of clothing were vaguely discernible, and most of the face on the corpse had been eaten off, leaving only a vaguely discernible chin and one eye. The corpse sitting by the rock wall is relatively complete, but the whole face seems to be soaked in blood, bright and brilliant.I recognized him from his clothes——Wang Jiayu. Unexpectedly, Gengzi did not walk towards the familiar Wang Jiayu, but squatted down beside the strange corpse.He slowly stretched out his hand, paused in the air for a moment, and finally made up his mind to caress the only remaining eye on the corpse and close his eyelids. The muscles on Gengzi's face kept trembling, his excitement and anger far exceeded his fear.His jaw was tense, and he whispered: "Xiaoquan, my brother." "He's still alive!" Yu Yanyan, who was squatting beside Wang Jiayu, cried out and looked up at us. "He still has a pulse," Yu Yanyan's voice was a little excited, she reached out and shook Wang Jiayu's body, and called out hastily, "Wang Jiayu, did you hear me?" We took a few steps forward and surrounded Wang Jiayu.Only then did I see clearly that Wang Jiayu's eye sockets were empty, and there was a piece of blood on his fingers—he pulled out his eyes, as if he didn't want to see the world again.The moment he was shaken by Yu Yanyan, his upturned face was weakly supported by his neck, trembling like a straw drifting with the tide. One of Wang Jiayu's shoes was nowhere to be found, revealing worn out socks and bloody soles.Gengzi took out a Swiss Army knife from his body and swiped at Wang Jiayu's feet with the back of the knife, but the latter didn't respond.Gengzi thought for a moment, turned the blade around, and swiped again. "What are you doing?" Old Wei stretched out his hand to stop Geng Zi, "He is unfortunate enough." Gengzi gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "See if he is really alive." Our hearts were pounding, and we looked at Wang Jiayu's feet.There was a wound on his foot, the flesh was slightly rolled up, and blood oozes.Gengzi seemed to let out a sigh of relief, stood up and said, "Anyway, wake him up and ask him about the situation." At this moment, I heard a door hinge that seemed to be in disrepair was pushed, making a creepy "hiss" sound.Wang Jiayu, who was sitting on the ground, let out a long breath, with a filthy and rotten breath, his hands tremblingly lifted from the ground, and then fell down feebly. We took a step back in shock, but Yu Yanyan squatted down again and asked eagerly, "Wang Jiayu, can you hear me? What happened?" Wang Jiayu's mouth was buzzing, and some unknown syllables came out from the depths of his throat.The rancid smell spread out with his breath, Chen Wei turned around and threw up on the ground and vomited. While vomiting, he muttered to himself: "Heaven will send a great mission to the people, and you must first work hard on your heart and muscles... vomit ..." "Shut up!" Gengzi's yelling interrupted him, "Listen to what Wang Jiayu has to say." Chen Wei covered his mouth and tried his best not to make a sound.We stood silently beside Wang Jiayu, listening intently to the indistinct voice he made with his last will. His voice was like a thread of blood after being hacked by an axe, floating in the silent darkness.Those syllables and meanings are scattered in the sweet and dirty smell, like the last chants of the dead who are about to travel far.After he murmured to himself for a while, he raised his fingers again, trying to reach his chest, where his heart was. "What do you mean?" Lao Liu finally came back to life, but his voice was anxious, "What nonsense is he talking about?" We have all heard it—whether we want to, understand it or not, we really heard what Wang Jiayu said at the last moment of his life.His head was slightly tilted to one side, and the blood on his lips and teeth was faintly visible. "This is the end of the world guarded by the devil... There is no eternal life... Only death... Help me, kill... me." Wang Jiayu's empty eye sockets were filled with blood and mucus.He walked from one darkness to another eternal darkness, and in this thousand meters underground, he was extinguished. "Well, at least we don't need to do it," Tudou muttered, "he's really dead." Tudou withdrew his hand to check Wang Jiayu's pulse, and rubbed against his pants, as if he was afraid of getting the breath of death. The sixth child took out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, and after several attempts, he finally managed to light it.He took a puff, finally calmed down, and handed the cigarette to Gengzi. Gengzi took the cigarette and took a sip.Lao Liu said cautiously: "Brother Geng, I think we should stop. This matter...is too evil." Gengzi gave him a cold look and turned around. "Go." He ordered concisely, "Everyone follow." His gaze rested on Xiaoquan's corpse for a moment, he dropped the cigarette in his hand, walked around the corpse and walked directly forward. Depression and exhaustion entangled us, and everyone followed the ridge to the dim light in silence.I tried my best not to think about the faces that passed away in my life, from Xiao Gu to Wang Jiayu, they kept appearing in front of my eyes like flashbacks in a movie.Those moments of laughter or ordinary conversations, embarrassment or happiness of life are constantly engulfed by the darkness in front of them, rise again, and finally dissipate. "Professor Tan, do you think the phrase 'the end of the world guarded by the devil' is very familiar to you?" Old Wei asked Professor Tan softly. Before Professor Tan could answer, Li Dazui had already interjected: "This is the legend of Xiaohe Cemetery - at the end of the world, where the devil dances with the gods, the devil guards and buries a thousand coffins - Professor Tan, regardless of Wang Jiayu's last Is there still a clear mind, this sentence always makes me think it has a lot of meaning." Professor Tan nodded: "This connection is possible. We have begun to approach the core of the mystery. Have you ever thought about why the belief in rebirth and eternal life is repeatedly emphasized in the remains of the Xiaohe-Gumugou cemetery?" Lao Wei and Lao Li glanced at each other, as if they hadn't thought about this issue.Dou Miao quietly said beside her: "Death." "Yes," Professor Tan sighed softly, "it is death, and it is the repeated death that makes them full of desire for rebirth. I think this is related to the fact that there are no human living sites around the Xiaohe-Gumugou cemetery cultural circle, and that Loulan is related to the reason for the One Night Sky City in the ancient Moshan Kingdom." She looked into the distance, and her voice seemed to be deep in thought: "They brought back some kind of witchcraft from the Darkshore, and believed that it could bring people back to life. They made a pact with the dead to regain life from heaven." "Then... what was the miracle you mentioned when you saw the mural just now?" I couldn't help being curious about the mural, so I asked. Professor Tan gently caressed his chest with his hand, and lowered his head slightly: "This is a bold speculation. I still need to communicate with Qin Suo again to see what he thinks." I thought about it for a moment, and said with some hesitation: "Professor Tan, there is something about Qin Institute that I have not told you." Lao Wei and Lao Li smelled the gossip, they rustled over and waited for me to reveal the news with wide eyes.I smiled wryly, and said in a low voice: "When I went with Yu Yanyan for convenience, I saw a woman from the Qin Institute's archaeological team, but she...was dead." Li Dazui subconsciously shrank his shoulders and asked, "How did you die?" I was about to open my mouth to answer, when suddenly the line stopped.Gengzi raised his hand high, signaling us to keep silent.He tentatively took two steps forward, put down the flashlight, and turned on the emergency lights. Pale lights instantly lit up in front of us.We held our breath and watched the white light sweep across the scene in front of us. At this moment, no one speaks.We are like zombies drained of our minds, staring dumbfounded, our minds blank. It was a nightmare that I will not forget as long as I live.Even after many years, every time I turn off the lights and turn off the light, this scene always appears in front of my eyes. It was the wordless pain of being torn apart, a mixture of shock and trembling fear.What I see at this moment and what I will remember in the future are all the eternal imprints that fate has engraved on my soul, making me never have a peaceful day in this life. We slowly looked up with the lights of the ridge, but we still couldn't see the end.Gengzi took a few breaths, then turned around and asked Professor Tan, "What's going on here, can anyone explain it?" In front of us, a thousand meters underground, a huge tree suddenly appeared. It is a dead tree.Those scattered branches are like the fingers of the undead, deeply inserted into the rock wall, lifted to the sky, and stretched into the empty space.Under this dead tree, there is an endless plain of white bones.These human bones are covered at the bottom of the thick and shocking trees, like the white clouds galloping on the green grassland, spread out vastly and willfully to the edge of our sight. I immediately understood the reason why Wei had seen the shimmering light.These gleams are not the light of life, but death, death without limit. "It's true!" Chen Wei, who has always been timid, was uncharacteristically excited at this moment, dancing and running to the giant tree, with a strange smile on his face, "It's true, a tree dies like a boat! All this is true ! This is the real palace of death!" He turned his head and shouted at us incoherently: "Do you know that I will eventually become the greatest person in the world! All those who have despised me will surrender at my feet!" "Chen Wei," Professor Tan frowned, "What do you know? Is it from Zhou Qian's record on the Tocharian parchment?" Chen Wei raised his hand high and pointed to the top of his head: "Do you know where this is? Just above our heads is the Xiaohe cemetery site! The real palace of death is a thousand meters deep under the Xiaohe cemetery. Not only that, only Only when you reach the death hall can you find their place of rebirth." His eyes brightened abnormally, flickering with unpredictable light in the darkness, "Zhou Qian is a lunatic, he once had a treasure without knowing it. My wife Fortunately, God favored me and destined me to become the king of this world!" He knelt down under the tree, closed his eyes, and raised his face to the sky, murmuring in the air as if praying, or ecstatically talking to himself. "I think it's going to be crazy again." Lao Li sighed and looked at Chen Wei pityingly. Old Wei shook his head: "Not necessarily. I think Chen Wei knows more than any of us, and he is verifying the information he learned from the parchment step by step. I think there is something more surprising to us behind this. " Li Dazui's eyes flickered suddenly, as if he remembered something, he said in a hurried tone: "The first time Liang Ke saw the black cloth bag with parchment hidden was in 409. But where did this black cloth bag come from? Zhou Qian never said it. Old Wei, do you remember that when I was in Jintan, I woke up in the tent at four o'clock in the morning that day, and found that Zhou Qian had gone to the black-clothed tomb again. Now it seems that he went alone The re-excavation of the deserted tomb must have got this piece of parchment from the tomb. Damn, why didn’t we find it at the time..." Old Wei frowned, and thought deeply: "The tomb owner in black must have a vital connection with the life and death of the ancient Moshan country and the history of the ancestors of the entire northern Xinjiang. She must be the priest who holds the core secret... But There is more than one tomb in black, why is that? Could it be..." "This is because the priests guarding this secret," said Professor Tan, who had been standing quietly by the side, "are not alone. They must be the guardians passed down from generation to generation. The ancient Moshan Kingdom has never really died. And the people they guarded The secret is the answer we seek, the clue that leads us here." Professor Tan took a few steps forward, and her thin figure stood in front of the Plain of Bones, under the giant dead tree.Her figure gave me a certain illusion, as if this place is not a devastated place of death, but a February day where the grass grows and warblers fly, and the breeze blows over my face is warm and soft.In the green oasis, a woman with a wooden barrel went to fetch water from the river, and children screamed excitedly and ran around under the trees, chasing birds.Those happy and sweet moments rippling and overflowing in the flow of time, lingering in the dream that makes people linger and refuse to wake up. "Let's go, go up and check." Old Wei's voice interrupted my thoughts. I woke up suddenly.The light and green trees suddenly disappeared, and there was only boundless darkness and a giant tree that appeared strangely but died. Looking at the tree again, everything is gone.Under the huge stretching dead branches, there are still endless human bones.They are eerie and white, like the dregs that have been swallowed and chewed by time. The height of the dead tree is more than 30 meters, the range of the crown reaches 100 meters, and the diameter of the tree body is about 10 meters.We can't explain why there is such a giant tree here, which violates the most basic principles of photosynthesis.Judging from the way the roots penetrated into the rock, the tree had somehow grown here for quite some time. Dou Miao carefully scraped off a piece of bark with a knife, put it in a plastic bag and put it in his pocket.He ran his fingers over his chin, lost in thought. Li Dazui walked over with his hands in his pockets, his voice full of pessimism: "Brother, don't take samples. Whether you can get out alive is the question." He patted the tree trunk with his hand, and sighed: "Everything is unexpected, and everything is unexplainable. If I can really get out alive, I will definitely change my career—not to do archaeology, not to do paleontological research, just open a new one at the gate of S." The stall only sells fake antiques." Li Dazui stretched out his hand and stroked his hair, "I want to abandon the darkness and turn to the light." When Li Dazui and Dou Miao were talking by the tree, Lao Wei, Professor Tan and I had already bent over to inspect the remains of the bones.We sampled several skeletons, and found that they were basically out of shape, not like external damage, but the natural scattering of bones.Judging the age of the deceased from the shape of the bones, there are all age groups.Especially when I found the skeleton of a small child among the bones, my heart was sad and heavy. Old Wei adjusted his glasses and sighed softly: "This is like a catastrophe." When his finger moved, it caused the flashlight in the other hand to shake.The moment the flashlight flashed across the bones in front of me, I accidentally saw an abnormal situation.I ignored Old Wei's mournful mood, snatched the flashlight from his hand, and shone it into the bone pile. I picked up a humerus standing vertically in the pile of bones. Judging from the growth of the bone, it should be the skeleton of a teenager about 10 to 15 years old. I was about to hand over the humerus to Professor Tan for inspection, when I suddenly heard Li Dazui yelling "ah", which seemed abrupt and frightening in the weird scene we were in. We turned around and looked over, Li Dazui was standing by the tree blankly, and even the always cynical Dou Miao was standing there blankly.Old Wei wanted to ease the atmosphere, and said with a dry smile, "Don't be surprised if you're fine, we're not trapped to death here, but you'll scare us to death." Old Li's face was shocked and confused. He slowly stretched out his hand and said tremblingly, "What do you think this is?" Gengzi and others surrounded him, forming a circle of figures around the emergency light. The sixth child looked down at Li Dazui's palm, grinned and said, "Isn't it just a skin trauma, bleeding a little?" The little flying man is pure and enthusiastic, and hurriedly prepares to find gauze from the bag.When he was searching in a hurry, he realized that our equipment and packages were left at Uncle Yan's place on the edge of the cliff.He raised his head in embarrassment and said, "There is no gauze for now." Lao Li shook his head: "No, I wasn't injured. I was just now—" His bewildered eyes moved to the giant tree, and he said tremblingly, "I touched this tree." The blood in the palm of Li Dazui was black and red and viscous, and it looked a little disgusting.As soon as Lao Li finished speaking, the emergency lights and flashlights all focused on the giant tree.The intertwined rays of light illuminated a part of the giant tree, and the old and withered bark clinged tightly to the trunk like cracked grinning faces. Dou Miao hesitated and said, "Just now... I scraped off a small piece of bark to make a sample." The light has found the place where Dou Miao took samples.It was vaguely visible that dark red liquid was oozing from the damaged bark, like the tears of an ancient tree, and also like a hidden curse.We stood by the tree, solemn and silent.This tree once grew thousands of meters underground, flourished and then withered.Beside it are endless bones of the dead.How could one have imagined such an unexplainable scene if one hadn't seen it with one's own eyes?Even if I saw it with my own eyes, how could I explain this vast and strange scene? Gengzi scratched his hair, paced a few steps back and forth in front of the tree trunk, and asked, "Does none of you know what's going on? This, this is fucking nonsense! I haven't seen any valuable tombs, what a ghost! Strange things keep happening in this dense place! Chen Wei!" When Chen Wei heard Gengzi call his name, he trembled subconsciously, and soon recovered his normal state and asked, "What's the matter?" Gengzi pulled out his pistol, walked quickly to him, and put it against his forehead: "I won't play a double-reed show with you this time, let's do it for real. I don't care if your parchment was stolen, you Mom, tell me clearly, what is going on here?" Chen Wei raised his hands and his eyes flickered: "I..." Gengzi's insurance was opened, and with a click, Chen Wei trembled again. "In fact, most of the words written on the parchment are vague, and there are many unrecognizable characters that cannot be recognized." Chen Wei stammered, "I, I can only understand roughly." Gengzi shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Don't play tricks, my patience is exhausted! Don't challenge my limits." "This tree is a dead tree nourished by flesh and blood!" Chen Wei rolled his eyes, looked at the hand of the trigger on the top of his head, and said quickly, "The record on the parchment said that the god of death came to the ancient Moshan country, Deaths keep happening, and finally the kingdom perishes. The priests in charge of rebirth made a pact with God, they piled up the dead beside the dead tree, and lived their souls in this tree. The priests guarding the rebirth contract walked around again to ensure that the time came From time to time, the descendants of the surviving priests will return here to perform the spell of resurrection. The residents of the ancient Moshan Kingdom are the descendants of the builders of Xiaohe Cemetery and Gumugou Cemetery." "These priests are really more than one person, they are a group, and they pass on this guardian secret from generation to generation?" Wei Datou adjusted his glasses, as if realizing something. Chen Wei nodded. Old Wei turned to Li Dazui: "This explains..." Li Dazui nodded, and said, "It explained why we were able to dig a tomb in black at the Golden Altar. Sifang... Did they go in four directions, east, west, north, south?" Tudou interrupted Li Dazui: "Don't ask these useless...Chen Wei, so rebirth really exists?" Chen Wei nodded and looked at Gengzi and almost cried: "Yes. And the temple of rebirth is underground. If Brother Geng kills me, you will never be able to go to the temple of rebirth. It is the depository of the wealth of the ancient Moshan country." Gengzi thought for a moment, and finally put down the pistol slowly.Chen Wei fell to the ground all of a sudden, gasping for breath, his head covered in cold sweat. "Take us to the Temple of Rebirth." Gengzi's voice sounded coldly. Chen Wei really cried this time: "I don't know where the Temple of Rebirth is, I really don't know. The records on the parchment say that when you reach the dead tree, there will be gods guiding the way to the Temple of Rebirth." I quietly pulled Professor Tan over and whispered to her: "Professor Tan, I found an abnormality in the bone pile just now. Look." I handed the humerus in my hand to Professor Tan, and she looked over the bone carefully.After a while, her brows furrowed. "There are tooth marks on this long bone, and the deceased was gnawed on during his lifetime." she whispered. I nodded and looked at Chen Wei who was talking to Gengzi with a sad face not far away: "I think if we look at more samples, we will be able to find more bones with such tooth marks." Lao Wei and Lao Li opened their mouths wide and said "ah". Professor Tan's eyes turned from the humerus in his hand to the plain of bones, and pondered for a moment: "The situation here does not conform to any kind of burial customs. Judging from the accumulation of corpses, this is not like a sacrificial offering, but more like an exile and abandonment I think, something must have happened to make this the final resting place. If Chen Wei did not lie to us, then the owners of these bones should all be residents of the ancient Moshan country. " Lao Li's mouth trembled for a long time, and he uttered a sentence: "Yes, what will happen?" "It's a very tragic and terrifying thing, maybe the inside story is far beyond our imagination." Professor Tan let out a sigh of relief, as if sighing.She looked slowly at the desolate giant tree, and said softly: "Is this tree really a dead tree that resides in souls, waiting to be awakened and reborn?" I remembered the strange experience with Yu Yanyan in the stone room and hadn't told Professor Tan and the two master brothers, so I said: "When I went with Yu Yanyan for convenience, we were actually going to check on a doubt of Sister Yanyan. We found a stone room where Qin Suo and others were found, and the woman inside was already dead." "In the wound on her body, there are human tooth marks." Yu Yanyan's voice suddenly sounded in the darkness, the volume was not high, but it was enough for us to hear the cold words, "She is Qin Suo's subordinate. Professor Tan, after entering here, I understand that the Qin Institute and the others have been here before. They must have encountered something. What they did was not due to lack of food, but a kind of sickness." Old Wei and Old Li just took over the humerus with tooth marks, held it in their hands and examined it carefully.Hearing Yu Yanyan's words, the two of them withdrew their hands, and the bones fell to the ground with a thud. "Could it be...could it be..." Old Wei's polygonal face turned pale, he stuttered and couldn't speak. Professor Tan nodded and stared at the bones on the ground: "I think the ancestors of the ancient Moshan Kingdom spent a lot of time going underground and died here because of this 'disease'. Before they died, they must have experienced They killed each other bloodily, and finally the bones piled up here. Aware of this 'disease' and the fate of extinction, they pinned their hopes on rebirth." Yu Yanyan added: "I believe that Qin Suo and the others have already been infected." Lao Li glanced at the tooth marks on the bones, couldn't bear it anymore, turned around and vomited.There was a chill in my heart, I would rather face Li Dazui who was vomiting than look back at the plain of bones. "We must leave here quickly." Yu Yanyan and Professor Tan said it almost at the same time. At this time, Xiaofei's voice sounded far away. "Professor Tan, come here! Li Renxi has found something!" Li Renxi was still the same, with dry food and water hanging diagonally around his neck, and his smiling face looked like a carefree child.His fingers persistently pointed to the dark place behind the giant tree, and he kept talking non-stop. Gao Hong translated next to him, "He said that there is a boat here, which will carry the undead across the sea of ​​death, go to rebirth, and live forever." Lao Liu spat on the ground and sneered, "If it was possible to be reborn, there wouldn't be so many skeletons lying here. And boats? Will there be boats under the desert? I think your archaeological team is either lunatics or fools." .” After a while, Gengzi and Tudou appeared from behind the tree with emergency lights.He stepped on the bones, with an unbelievably confused expression on his face, and shouted to us: "Professor Tan, there is really a ship here!" Following his light, we staggered to the back of the tree.The light folded over the tree trunks, casting a huge shadow on the ground.On the flickering pile of bones, Lao Wei almost fell down while running anxiously.He wanted to reach out to hold the tree trunk to stabilize his figure, but when his hand was about to touch the big tree, he withdrew his hand in fear.Li Dazui held him back, and said in a low voice, "Trees don't bite people, what are you afraid of?" Old Wei took a breath and shook his head: "This place is too gloomy. I have participated in the excavation of the remains many times, and I have never encountered such a weird and gloomy world." Li Dazui tilted his mouth and smiled: "When you were in Korla, didn't you think of getting into the camp every day like an ant on a hot pot? Wei, you have to accept your fate. Go and see the boat, look at the desert underground What happened to the ship?" Contrary to what I'd imagined, this wasn't the boat coffin we'd seen before, or a variation of it.This is a real boat, about nine meters long and three meters wide.The boat is basically similar to the boats made by the residents of the Central Plains waters, but without masts and sails.The boat was equipped with wooden oars, which were all decayed.We gathered around the boat, gaping at the unexplainable ship. "They really built a boat, and took great pains to bring it underground." Old Wei sighed, "Can this boat really carry the souls of the undead across the sea of ​​death?" Gengzi wanted to climb onto the boat to have a look, but Professor Tan stretched out his hand to hold him back: "Don't go up, the location of this boat is very dangerous and unsafe." I just noticed that there is a cliff next to the boat.The terrain here is sloping towards the edge of the cliff, and the boat is parked on this slightly sloping ground, with the bow of the boat facing the abyss, as if the boat was prepared for entering the abyss.On the edge of this dark cliff, the bow of the ship is tilted towards the deep abyss of nothingness, which makes people frightened. The gloomy boneyard seems to be an isolated island in the dark underground.Looking forward along the edge of the cliff, a big crack separates this place from other places, like a quiet cradle, embracing the bones of the dead.The boat moored quietly on the edge of the cliff, and fell asleep peacefully. Lao Liu patted the boat and looked it up and down: "This thing is too big, if it is smaller, let's go out and sell some money." "Ignorance." Chen Wei whispered. Lao Liu has always been willing to bully the weak and fear the strong. Seeing what Chen Wei said, he immediately widened his eyes and said, "What are you talking about?" "I said you were ignorant." Chen Wei sneered, "You only see money, a useless thing in the world, but you can't see the real wealth that is close at hand. The secrets and power contained in the underground of Moshan Kingdom are enough to make me, Or you, become the masters of this world." Lao Liu thought for a while, stretched out his hand softly, and said angrily: "I only talk about some things, I only know how to brag." Li Dazui has been observing the ship, he hesitated and said to me: "Liang Ke, there seems to be blood on the side of this ship." There are two types of bloodstains on the side of the boat, one is black and looks old.The other color is still bright, and it is dark red and solidified. Yu Yanyan and Gengzi went up to have a look, and glanced at each other. "I'll give you the emergency light, go up and have a look." Gengzi said to Yanyan. Yu Yanyan nodded, took the emergency light, stepped on Gengzi's bent knee, and swept the light across the interior of the boat.After a while, she came down. "There are two dead people inside, one of whom is Researcher Pei Fengfeng - I have seen his photo. The other should be one of yours." Yu Yanyan said to Gengzi. The muscles on Gengzi's face tightened, and he whispered, "How did they die?" “埂子，谭教授和我都建议迅速撤离这里。”于燕燕的表情异常冷峻，“还记得刚进石门时，秦所以性命相胁不想让我们进来么？他说这里是地狱，他没说谎。” “我是问你，”埂子的表情凶恶，从牙缝里挤出几个字，“他们怎么死的？” “他们两个身上都有伤，伤至露骨，有被相互啃噬过的痕迹。从死者的姿态上来看，应该是你们的人先枪杀了裴研究院，然后自杀。” 埂子一把夺过于燕燕手里的应急灯，对老六道：“蹲下。” 老六听话的曲下一条腿，让埂子踩了上去。埂子用应急灯查看了一会，我们心里七上八下，静默无声地仰望着他的表情。 埂子很快下来了，简洁道：“立刻撤退。不仅仅是离开这里，我们必须原路返回到地面上。” 土豆心有不甘，嘀嘀咕咕道：“严叔……不会同意的。” “严叔会同意的。”埂子冷冷看着土豆，“从小全到孟刚，他们死得都异常蹊跷。这里不对，感觉会有大事发生。如果你想留在这里请便，我不强求。” 土豆看了看老六和小飞，老六低声道：“我早说该收手，这里发不了财，赔上命倒是大有可能。” 土豆悻悻地摊了一下手，垂头丧气地跟在埂子后面。 我们不再耽搁，立刻回头向严叔和秦所的方向走去。按照预先的设想，我们与严叔等人汇合后，到一号补给点取食物和水，然后返回地面。 此刻交织在心里的，是即将返回地面的兴奋、生还的庆幸和没有走到谜底终点的遗憾。我们一心向着来时方向走去，盼着早点离开这鬼气森森的黑暗地下，比任何事情都来得迫切。 “就算没找到什么重生圣殿，这趟经历也够我们吹的了。”李大嘴拉了拉我的袖子，安慰我道，“你可以回去好好气气小杨他们，把咱们的光辉经历告诉他们。” 老魏没说话，脸色一直很苍白。那时我不知道，老魏心里正隐隐觉得不安，仿佛大难将至。 严叔依然躺在崖边地上，秦所坐在他身边。我们快步走了上去，秦所并没有站起来，只是眯着眼睛望着我们。 谭教授四处打量了一番，没见到朱亮的身影。向志远开口问道：“秦所，朱亮人呢？” 秦所咳嗽了一下，声音有些虚弱：“他醒了，想找个地方方便一下。” “那你身上的血迹是怎么回事？”窦淼的声音幽幽响起。 我们的目光集中在秦所身上，在昏暗的手电筒下果然可以看到秦所身上丝丝点点的新鲜血迹。 秦所低头看了一下，苦笑道：“哦，这我倒是没想到。”他的目光有些混乱，梦游般地望向我们，缓缓站起身来。 “别动，”埂子手里的枪举了起来，冷冷看着他，“把你的上衣脱掉。” 秦所淡淡道：“何必脱衣勘察？既然知道了一切，你直接开枪吧。” 埂子犹疑了一下，打开了枪的保险，却迟迟挣扎着按不下扳机。 秦所微微笑了一下，目光掠过人群，落在谭教授身上：“谭教授，关于壁画的判断，相信您自己的直觉。你知道吗，其实这些亡者从未被遗弃，他们为重生做好了一切准备，包括记忆。” 谭教授走上前一步，声音有些悲哀：“秦所，您……” 埂子伸手止住了谭教授，避免她和秦所接触。秦所仿佛感喟般叹息了一声，抬头面对高而黑暗的岩顶，闭上眼睛沉默了片刻。当他再次睁开眼睛，看到埂子和我们都在望着他，他的嘴角浮现了笑容，向躺在地上的严叔伸出手去。 “别碰他！” 埂子声音吼叫的同时，他手里的枪也响了起来。 秦所被子弹震得后退了两步，踉跄着摔倒在地上。子弹打中了他的胸部，鲜血顿时盛开在他的胸前，像一株被黑暗侵蚀过的玫瑰。 我大口喘息着，僵硬地站在原地看着秦所。 秦所的嘴角流出一丝血迹，他的眼睛睁着，向严叔的方向望去。出乎我们意料的是，秦所在弥留之际依然挣扎着向严叔伸出手去，仿佛这是一个未了而不甘心的愿望。他倒地的位置已经无法接触到严叔，但他依然保持着伸手的姿势。秦所口腔里涌出越来越多的血，几乎阻塞了他的呼吸，也让他在生命的最后时刻倍加艰难。 "forgive me." 我听见秦所最后梦呓般的声音，断断续续，在血漫过的喉咙里含混不清地吐出这句话。 "forgive me." 秦所再次重复了一遍，眼中的光芒越来越弱，终于彻底黯淡了下去。他的双眼一直望着严叔，口边的血迹让他原本儒雅英俊的脸孔显得狰狞凌厉。即便他已经故去，那种让人畏惧的力量却仿佛并没有消失。 “接，接下来干什么？”陈伟结结巴巴地向埂子问道。 “原路返回，所有人跟我走。我带严叔，其他人管好自己。” 埂子的话明确而毋庸置疑。他一边扶起严叔，一边将老六叫了过来，示意他打前站。 “可是，我，我们怎么返回呢？”陈伟不太流畅的声音又响了起来。这声音里有一种抑制不住的狂喜，我清晰的感觉到了，这声音的颤抖绝非因为目睹秦所死亡而带来的恐惧。 埂子抬起头，有些不耐烦道：“废话，当时是从拉索处再滑回去。” 小飞的惊恐声音忽然响了起来：“埂哥，你看……” 顺着小飞举起的光源，能清楚地看到原本连接两岸的拉索已经被割断。原本一线相连的悬崖两岸如今光秃秃，只有安全点上的膨胀螺丝孤独的凸立着。 埂子的手指插进头发，焦躁地揪了两下，“狗日的，狗日的！他干得太绝了！” 他转过身，对小飞吩咐道：“把装备包拿过来，我要荡到对岸，重新进行连接。” 陈伟的脸上带着诡异的笑容，声音极力克制着喜悦：“装备包，给养包，所有的都不见了。埂哥，我们命中注定回不去了。” 这句话像一柄大锤，结结实实夯在我们心头。那一刻所有的眼睛都意识到，在崖边相对平荡的地面上，原本堆放在一起的装备包和补给包都不见了。 因为刚刚出发时的目标离此处不远，且这里又有人看管，所以大家都是轻装简行。但我们无论如何没有想到的是，秦所竟然能做得这么彻底决绝。 “从进来开始，他就决定了不让我们回去。”老魏苍白的多边形脸凝视着地上秦所的尸体，声音轻而悲哀。 埂子像是困兽般原地打转，终于忍耐不住，冲到秦所的尸体边向他猛踢了几脚。他的愤怒并没有随着这几脚而消失，相反却累加到了极限。埂子咬牙切齿地喘息了两口，掏出手枪，表情凶恶。 他再次向秦所的尸体射击了两颗子弹泄愤，口中狂叫着：“骗子！懦夫！狗娘养的！” 秦所的尸体任凭埂子怎样泄愤，都已冰冷静止。埂子血红的脸色让他最终不堪重负，抓住自己的头，痛苦而沮丧地蹲了下去。 我们绝望无声地站在崖边，严叔依然昏迷着。那时我心底忽然涌起一个念头，如果严叔是醒着的话，他一定有办法带我们逃离这个地狱。 连日的奔波和眼前的绝境让我觉得眩晕，我踉跄了一步，谭教授及时扶住了我，像是儿时母亲曾经对我做的那样，揽住我的肩膀。 “别担心，我们大家人都在，只要想办法，一定可以逃离这里。”谭教授轻声安慰我道。 “逃离这里？您太天真了。”陈伟的声音欢快响起，“在这里只有两个结局，永生，或永死。” 老魏和老李冷冷盯着陈伟，目光中除了鄙夷蔑视，还有渐渐燃烧起的怒火。 陈伟倒退了一步：“干，干吗看着我？” 老魏和老李没有说话，只是静静地看着他。 几乎与此同时，我听到一阵低微而让人悚然的震颤声自崖岸下方传来。甚至来不及作出像样的思考，一个庞然大物的黑色影子已经扶摇直上，瞬间笼罩了我们。电光石火间，我听到陈伟由欢喜至绝望的惊呼：“它来了！死神来了！秦所让我们成了祭品！”