Chapter 9 Chapter Nine Karez

An arch bridge-shaped canal appeared in the low-lying pond. Because the entrance of the canal was facing me, I hadn't noticed it just now.After all, I majored in civil engineering and civil construction, and I know some ancient engineering. What I saw in front of me was the most brilliant Karez in the Huoyanshan area.The children at the foot of the Flame Mountain regard Karez as ordinary, but they don't know what a great project it is. Here, let me first talk about what Karez is, because it is inextricably linked with the story.When you see this, you already know that the water resources in the Huoyanshan area are very precious. They are hot and rainless here, and the north is the Bogda Peak of the Tianshan Mountains.Those peaks are all ancient glaciers and snowfields, and the melted snow in summer is the main water supply in the Turpan area.There are more than 30 kilometers of alluvial fans in front of the Flaming Mountains. This area is composed of extremely thick coarse sand and gravel layers. There is abundant groundwater in the Gobi layer, and the degree of burial is relatively small. It is only 50 kilometers from the foot of the Tianshan Mountains to the Flaming Mountains. But the difference between the two places is 1050 meters.This special geology forms the environment required for Karez.

In order to live, the locals invented Karez.It is an underground culvert that leads water to the depths of the basin for artesian irrigation. In this project, the main facilities are shafts and underground channels connecting the shafts.Experienced hydraulic engineers select groundwater overflow areas, dig shafts in turn, use the shafts as outlets, and dig culverts.Because of the drop of 1050 meters, the shafts are deep and shallow, more than 60 meters deep and several meters shallow.Karez wells are several kilometers short and more than ten kilometers long.I remember, when I first came here, I met a person from the Geological Office of Shanshan County. He said that in the Huoyanshan area alone, there are more than 1,000 Karez wells, and the culverts alone are more than 5,000 kilometers long, not counting shafts. project.It is said that this earthwork must be more difficult than the Great Wall, because it is all done underground.

In front of me was an underground ditch, and I was a little hesitant, wondering if I should go in or not.This is Karez, which connects the entire underground world of the Flame Mountain. If you get lost in it, it will be bad.Although there are shafts connecting them, I can't climb up even if the depth of the shaft is only a few meters, so I didn't rush into the culvert immediately.But when I thought of the hedgehog in the water, I immediately jumped into the water and followed it into the dark ditch. As long as I follow it, I will still find the exit.So many people have disappeared around here, I believe they must have entered the culvert, but the water is not deep, just up to knees.

I followed the hedgehog carefully with a flashlight, for fear of accidentally losing it.There was no sound at all in front, it was very quiet, but I still endured my anxiety and walked forward.The culvert is very wide, but smaller than the railway tunnel. Occasionally, there is a hole leading to the ground, and the front can barely be seen by the moonlight, so in order to save electricity, I wanted to turn off the flashlight.However, just as I was about to turn off the flashlight, there was a red undercurrent in the water.I thought to myself, could this be blood, so someone in front was injured!

I was a little anxious, wading through the water, the hedgehog might have been frightened, it suddenly swam fast, and there was a fork in front of it, the blood flowed from the undercurrent on the left, and the hedgehog swam to it The direction is the dark ditch with no blood flow on the right.I weighed it in my heart, thinking that saving people is the most important thing, now that the exit is not too far away, I just need to go out immediately after saving people. Now, I wish I had a hundred flashlights, because without the company of the hedgehog, I started to panic in the dark.I didn't take a few steps, and another fork appeared. Fortunately, the blood flow was clear, so I knew which undercurrent to take.The culvert gradually became larger, and there were paths for people to walk on both sides.I have always been worried about the monsters of the day in the water, but now I can walk on the solid soil and feel very comfortable.Just when I was rejoicing, a bloody smell blew from the front, so strong that I wanted to vomit immediately.

In the darkness, with the dim light of a flashlight, I saw a man lying in the water ahead, his head on the bank and his body in the water.I was shocked, thinking that this person must be hopeless.Walk over, bow your head, this dead man belongs to the expedition team!I remember that he was the one who followed Professor Lu Cheng all the time. He never spoke and always beat his head with his hands.Thinking about it now, I suddenly feel that his behavior is a bit like "Sweet Potato", but I don't know how "Sweet Potato" is now? I felt the person's pulse, and after confirming that there was no rescue, I got up and wanted to continue looking for anyone else.However, I don't want to leave anyway, because the death of this person has been shaking in my mind, as if to tell me something.I pointed a flashlight at this man's face and stared at him for a minute. His seven orifices were not only bleeding, but they were also torn apart. There were many round and big holes on his body, and the blood was slowly gushing out. It looked very strange. Nausea, a bloody man riddled with holes.Isn't this person the same as the policeman who died in that cemetery?

At that time, the policeman was killed by "Sweet Potato", but I was too far away to see exactly how "Sweet Potato" killed people, and afterwards "Sweet Potato" seemed to not remember what he had done.However, "Sweet Potato" stayed in the village, and this person could not have been killed by him. In this way, in the team, or among the three villains, there was one, or several others, who had the same behavior as "Sweet Potato". Thinking of this, I was a little nervous. Just in case, I held the bow and crossbow in my hand, for fear of being attacked suddenly.After walking for a long time, I gradually lost my sense of direction, because the Karez well is full of twists and turns, even if the people who dug the Karez well walked in, it was difficult to get out.At this time, the power of the flashlight began to run low. At that time, it was not known that the battery would die if it was not used. Batteries were very precious, so I was not willing to use these few batteries.In the end, the flashlight only had a bleak yellow light, which made my eyelids heavy and I wanted to sleep.After being in for so long, I found that there was no life in the water, and the further I went in, the more it smelled of sulfur.The most frightening thing was that the walls were covered with scorched earth, and there was a thin layer of wax-like objects on it, which immediately fell off a large piece when I touched it. When I saw it, I knew that there had been a big explosion here.

I took a closer look and found that the glass has begun to disintegrate, indicating that the explosion occurred decades ago, because the disintegration process takes a very long time.The flashlight won't last long, so after weighing it, I don't bother to turn it off and let it consume power.I wondered why I couldn't find anyone, so I just let a lion roar, I don't believe that they can't hear the sound, at worst they will attract those three villains, at least I can know what happened to Xu Shaode and the others. "Company commander—!" I yelled with all my might.

Next, there's just my echo, and then there's a tiny grinding sound.The dust in the air was slowly increasing, and I quickly realized that the sound just now caused disaster! Before I could even take a step, the underground ditch behind me collapsed, and I was also buried in the water.Fortunately, only part of it collapsed. My lower body was deeply buried, and my upper body was only buried with a little soil, so I would not be buried alive right away.After finally getting the dirt off my upper body, I didn't suffocate immediately, but unfortunately, there was a voice of someone talking in front of me.I listened, and it was the voices of those three villains!Because I was worried about being discovered, I turned off the flashlight and fell on the ground without moving.Waiting for the three villains to come over, I pricked up my ears and started working as a spy.

"You trash, why don't you look up to them!" A rough man's voice. "Boss, I'm just distracted, so I don't know..." This is what the short and frivolous man said. "Little San, I'm not talking about you, you really broke a lot of things along the way!" Another man of medium build taught me a lesson. "Sophomore, I just want to take advantage of that chick, who would have thought she would bite me!" The person called the third brother argued. "Stop arguing, didn't you hear the sound just now, maybe the expedition team is nearby!" The man who called the boss stopped the quarrel.

"But now I can't see anyone." Xiaosan was holding a bright flashlight in his hand. When it hit the collapsed location, my heart was in my throat. If they found out, I would be like a chopping block The pork is slaughtered.Fortunately, this person named Xiaosan was stupid, or the collapsed soil made them think it was a wall, but they didn't realize my existence. "You said that the damn expedition team came here for that too?" Xiao San muttered. "Don't worry about them, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and I'm afraid they won't succeed!" The boss was more vicious, as if he didn't take the expedition team seriously. "Hurry up and look for it. The thing is here. The newspaper said so. Thirty years ago, they happened in this place. If there is no accident, the thing must still be here!" The boss cared about what he said. , so I didn't see the threatening person or thing when I looked back, so I took the two of them into the depths of the dark ditch again. I saw them leave, so I immediately supported my body with both hands, trying to pull my body out of the mud, but no matter how hard I tried, it was useless.When I was about to give up, something ran in front of me. When I saw it, I was shocked. This is a long-clawed gerbil. As the name suggests, it has very long claws. It was often caught and eaten when it was a soldier. Now it is doing well. I can’t move. It’s no wonder it doesn’t avenge its own kind! I'm really afraid that something will come. This gerbil has brought a large number of companions behind me. Even if I have three heads and six arms, I can't be enough for them to chew on.When they came to the mound, they immediately burrowed in desperately and did not hurt me.I watched them come in and out wonderingly, until they pulled out a strip of bloody intestines, I realized that they wanted to eat the dead man in the dirt.Seeing the disgusting human organs dangling in front of me, if it wasn't for my good mental quality, I would have been scared out of my wits. Just when I was helpless, a person came in front of me, and I knew at a glance that he was Xu Shaode!This guy was the best at catching gerbils when he was in the camp, and now that there are so many here, he must be slandering!Really, I don’t even look at what time it is, but I’m still thinking about eating! "Xu Shaode, pull me out!" I yelled. "Brother Wanzang?" Xu Shaode didn't expect me to be here, so he was very surprised. Then, with all his strength, pulling and pulling, he finally pulled me out of the mound.This group of gerbils didn't seem to be afraid of people. They didn't react at all when they saw me and Xu Shaode, so they did what they should do.I just wanted to ask Xu Shaode what was going on, but my head hurt very much, and Xu Shaode was pointing at me in horror, and said, "Brother Wanzang, how can you...how can you..." "What's the matter?" I asked uneasily, but found that mucus was oozing out of my body, exactly the same as "Sweet Potato"!I was shocked: how could it be like this, how could it be the same as "Sweet Potato", what did I do to be like this? "Ah—! Ghost—!" Xu Shaode was so frightened that he turned around and ran away! "This damn Mr. Xu!" I just wanted to catch up, but I felt cold for a while, and then I lost consciousness.