Chapter 4 Chapter Four: The Family of Tomb Raiders

Dabagou is in the northeast of Baotou. Although it is only twenty miles away from the town on a mountain road, it is not easy to get in.That place is at the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains. It is a typical half-mountain and half-plateau landform. At a glance, it is full of endless ravines. The traffic is extremely inconvenient. It can be said that there is not even a decent road. After taking the train for two days and one night, I walked unsteadily to the intersection of the village and was worried when I saw a tractor slowly approaching and turned towards the mountain.I chased desperately, but the driver was startled by the way I barked my teeth and claws. After asking about the situation, he raised his hand and let me sit on the back of the car.

Just like that, I started to wobble again, and just when I felt that my bones were about to be shaken apart, the Dam Ditch finally appeared in front of me, under a ray of setting sun. A few years away from home, the mountain village has not seen any changes, it is still so peaceful and dilapidated.The special geographical environment makes it far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and is in a quiet and desolate primitive state. Stepping into the entrance of the village, I saw a group of people chatting lazily around the tree from afar. Suddenly, they all stopped and stared at me like watching porn, and then came over one after another, shouting the unique loud voice of the mountain people. greet.

"Isn't this Tianhua! The baby has grown so tall." "That's right! They eat delicious food and drink spicy food in the capital, look at this skin is white and smooth." "This posture, dare to be a high-ranking official." The neighbors teased me without hesitation, and obviously regarded me as their own family. However, the noise soon attracted more spectators, and it was crowded for a while.I have never experienced this scene before, and I suddenly felt like returning home. This impulse actually divided up more than a dozen catties of candy. All of a sudden, the crowd of onlookers fell silent, and each of them shrank back like a ghost. Just as I was surprised, I felt my shoulders sink, and then, a deep voice rang in my ears, "Tianhua, you are promising!" , go home and see the folks coming, good! good! Don’t forget the original..."

"Master Li!" I swallowed dryly, not knowing how to deal with this famous "talker". When I was young, I often heard adults say that Mr. Li talked more in a day than others in a year. Not necessarily an exaggeration. "It's a master, just call it Lord Li. Look at this fabric, everyone. It must be the best 'really cool' in the capital. Last year, my daughter insisted on buying one. I said we do farm work, so why bother! Hehe!" Master Li spoke very fast, he didn't give you a chance to interrupt, and the topic changed quickly, "Which unit do you work in now? Do you take your father's position? How can you say that with your grandfather taking care of you, you have a bright future what……"

"Master Li, don't mess with me." When I mentioned grandpa, I felt very uncomfortable, so I quickly changed the subject, "By the way! Is my sixth master back?" "No! This sixth son has been missing for several years, and I have been worried about it." Master Li took my hand and chattered as he walked, "It would be great if he was here. Strange things, quite scary, your sixth master liked to make weird things since he was a child, maybe he can tell you something." "Oh! What a strange thing?" As soon as the words came out, I immediately regretted it, thinking that it would be hard for my ears to open the gate of Master Li's words!

"It's just that I can't say it. The dead body is not like a dead body, and the wood is not like wood. Anyway, I feel frightened when I look at it." Master Li stopped suddenly, with a disgusted expression on his face, and said with gestures: "We Do you remember the dirt ditch on the mountain behind the village? Although the place is flat, nothing can be planted. Even the grass grows sparsely. , made a hole in the ground. This kid jumped down to look at it, and was almost scared to death! Guess what, there is a dead body standing inside..." "Ah!" Master Li's exaggerated description really shocked me.

"At that time, I rushed over to have a look as soon as I heard about it. At first I thought it was a dead person, but when I looked closely, it didn't look like it. Although it was in the shape of a human, it was chubby like a mummy, and it was still elastic when I poked it with my fingers. Later I Ask someone to pass a flashlight, and then I can see clearly that the thing has a layer of bark-like markings, and its feet are still deeply embedded in the soil. But if it is wood, it is soft, and the whole is like reconciled dough... " "Is there such a strange thing? Have you dug it out?"

"No, it's too evil, who dares to touch it!" Master Li paused, then looked at me suddenly and said, "That's right! You've been in the capital for so long, you've seen the world, and your father is on the archaeological team. I've learned something. I'll take you there to see, maybe you can learn something." See what it is." "Uh...Okay! I'll watch it when I settle down." I prevaricated, this Mr. Li is really troublesome, I really don't want to entangle him endlessly at this time, I just want to go home early, Open the crate early.

... Going straight along the dirt road at the entrance of the village, bypassing the grain drying field, the dilapidated courtyard of the old house immediately came into view, and I saw piles of weeds swaying in the wind on the roof, and the half-rotten wooden door was hanging down, revealing the vicissitudes of life everywhere. dilapidated.Although I had expected this kind of situation, but faced with it at this moment, there was still a sense of sadness welling up in my heart. Walking into the courtyard, I took out the key and was about to open the lock on the door knocker, when suddenly something was wrong - the lock was new!It has been replaced!Did mother come back?impossible!To her, Dabagou was simply a nightmare.Could it be the sixth master?But isn't he missing?

"Brother Tianhua is back!" A few cousins ​​walked into the yard at some point, and greeted each other by clapping hands and shoulders.I haven't seen each other for three or four years, and they all look like adults, especially Tianbao, who is one year younger than me, who is as strong as a cow. "I lost the key, I'm worried!" I smiled, knowing that this group of stunned heads were still young, and it would be useless to ask about the weird thing about the lock being changed, so I lied. "That's neat!" Tianbao lowered his head and looked around. His eyes suddenly stopped on a stone brick in the corner. A musty chill came out.

"You are so strong! If you don't pick shit and move rocks, you will be buried." Looking at the swaying wooden door that was almost falling apart, I half-closed my eyes and made a sarcasm, but this guy couldn't hear it, and said cheerfully and loudly, "Yeah! I'm going out to make money. I That friend's father is digging coal in Shanxi, and he promised to take me there after a while." "Okay! There is a future." I walked into the house while being perfunctory, and broke the electric switch without thinking that the whole electric row fell off. "There's no electricity." Tianbao kicked the electric row aside, sat down on the kang bed with a grin, and said with a crooked mouth: "There have been droughts for the past two years, and the river has bottomed out. There is no way!" "So serious?" I frowned. It was hard to imagine that the dam ditch surrounded by two small rivers would be short of water. "That's right, our village relies on wells now! Fortunately, it's the slack time for farming, otherwise it will be a big trouble!" "Brother Tianhua, guess what's in that dry river?" Tianbao suddenly smiled and said, "It's all stones the size of bricks, ha ha! That thing is suitable for building houses and walls, no, the whole village ran to pick it up." "Yes, yes! My family has built several pigpens."... The cousins ​​were talking about their achievements, chatting lively. Taking advantage of this meeting, I took a look at my home after a few years of absence.Although there are no dense spider webs or thick accumulation of dust, and the furniture is still arranged in an orderly manner, it still cannot conceal a heavy and dead air.When the eyes glanced at the small wooden box on the kang bed, the sadness in my heart subsided slightly, after all, this was the goal of this trip. "Brother Tianhua, the sun is about to set, come to my house for dinner! Get a sesame oil lamp later." "Okay! Brother came here in a hurry this time. I brought some candy and distributed it to the village. There are only a few clothes left." I touched my trouser pockets, took out a few ten-yuan "Great Unity", and said with a smile: "Come, one person One is ready." "Oh! Looks like Brother Tianhua has really gotten rich." "When will you take the brothers out for a ride?" "Hey! Brother has a lot of ideas, and I will never forget you when I find the right one." After living in Beijing for a few years, I suddenly realized that it was effortless for me to brag, so I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, coughed and said: "You guys go back first! I'll pack up and go." ... After sending off my cousins, I went straight to the kang bed and picked up the small wooden box.At this moment, I faintly felt that something was wrong. Unlike other things in the house, the small wooden box was surprisingly clean, as if someone had just cleaned it, and the original small lock on the button was gone. broken!Don't be an empty box.My heart was shocked, and after taking a deep breath, I opened it suddenly, only to see a full box of books stacked inside. what on earth is this kind of happenings?Who came in first?I am full of doubts, but I can be sure that this is not done by thieves, because in such a remote, poor and simple mountain village, the word "stealing" almost never appears, and there is no sign of turning over the house. Besides, it is impossible for thieves to steal. I'm done changing the lock for you. I shook my head, forcing myself not to dwell on these questions, which would only make me more confused, so I turned my eyes back to the wooden box. This is a stack of books of the same size and thickness. Even the decoration is exactly the same. They are all thread-bound books with kraft paper covers. Judging from the quality of the paper, they should be old, but they are arranged in an orderly manner, which shows how careful the collectors are. How cherished.However, only the top one is a little wrinkled, and a little corner of the page is still exposed.I picked it up carefully and opened the cover tremblingly... Father's delicate handwriting appeared in front of his eyes. Although most of the inside was damaged, it was obvious that it had been seriously repaired.Suddenly, I felt a burst of sadness, tears dripped down involuntarily, and the tragic scene of my father before his death reappeared in my mind.That's right!Back then, he crawled up to me with this book, said a few inexplicable words, and suddenly went crazy, tearing the pages of the book into pieces... Hey!And who framed it? At this time, I was not in the mood to read the content carefully, just in time Tianbao walked in, he held an oil lamp and some beet buns, he put them on the table carelessly, and said while lighting the lamp: "I know you are sitting The car must be sleepy for two days, so I might as well bring it to you, go to bed early after eating, and play with you tomorrow." "Tianbao, is our sixth master really missing?" "That's right! He hasn't come back since before your father passed away. Hey! Without him, our family's life is hard now." "Then... do you know what he's doing outside?" "Yes, dig graves everywhere to find a way to break the wolf curse!" Tianbao blurted out, his tone was very flat, he picked up the beet buns in the bowl and took a bite, then said: "A long time ago, he gave a copper incense burner to My family, not long ago, the family couldn't open the pot, so my mother took it to the city, looking for someone to exchange some money, but she was arrested by the police, saying that it was some kind of cultural relic, which was only found in the ancient tomb. It was confiscated, and I still asked where it came from, and wanted to arrest people. Fortunately, my mother told the truth..." What Tianbao said confirmed the speculation I had been keeping deep in my mind—grandfather, sixth master, and even father, they must be involved in the tomb robbery.Thinking of this, I can't help looking forward to the stack of books in front of me. After sending Tianbao away, I put all the books in the box on the kang.This pile of uniformly decorated books didn’t have any marks on the outside. I took out one at random, and found that it was all hand-copied inside, with neat and powerful fonts. When I turned back to the first page, I saw four large characters written on it—""Looking for the Dragon" "Acupoints"". "The art of phase and earth, starting from the dragon, cave, sand, water, and the five tactics..." I flipped through the flowers and read aloud, "... Chao'an Mountain - shaped like a court arch. A mountain is like a monarch surrounded by officials... the court case can block the wind. If you find this mountain, there must be a dragon's lair in it." Dragon Den!what is this?I scratched my hair and continued to read, but the scribe seemed to know my predicament, and added an illustration to the back, not only drawing this kind of mountainous landform, but also detailed notes, and a certain ancestor discovered somewhere in a certain year etc. I suddenly understood that this manuscript is a collection of the experience and lessons of the ancestors of the Geng family, processed and revised by generations, and it is precisely because it is left for future generations to read, so it is compiled as easy as possible.Even so, I was still confused, so I changed to another one. ""Dividing the Caves and Debating the Soil"?" This title is really inexplicable, but I still read it patiently.The same neat and powerful handwriting, the same recording method of illustrations and annotations, the only difference is the content.This book is all about how to distinguish rammed earth, how to tell the age from the material, smell, color, dryness and wetness, and then infer the identity of the owner of the tomb... and the latter part teaches people how to find the location of the main coffin in the tomb; How to avoid poison and evil; how to crack the hidden weapon of the mechanism... In this way, under the flickering lights, I flipped through the books, including descriptions of various sects of tomb robbers, the use of tools, and many terms and jargon of tomb robbers, as well as incisions.And the most shocking thing is the detailed description of the process of tomb robbery. The thrilling and weirdness is very exciting.In a trance, my mind was taken to the barren mountains and mountains, to the eerie tomb.However, when I turned to the last book, I jumped up like an electric shock, my throat seemed to be tightly strangled, and I kept swallowing dryly. There is first a paragraph in it, which records the reason for the Geng family's tomb robbing for generations-to break the wolf curse.The Xiongnu regarded the wolf as their god, and Shanyu considered himself the incarnation of the wolf, just like the dragons of our Han nationality. The wolf curse is the most vicious of the many witchcrafts of the Xiongnu shamans.At that time, the shaman of the Xiongnu was the mother-in-law of the Northern Chanyu, the Empress Dowager (mother-in-law). She was captured by Geng Kui during the rebellion. …And Geng Kui fell under the wolf curse. Generations of descendants live in pain and fear. The only way to break it is to find the golden coffin of the “Wolf King” Bei Danyu and use his “wolf skull” to break the curse... … Behind this record is a long list. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that they are the "heroes" of the Geng family's tomb robbers in the past. So-and-so's tomb.What stunned me was that the names of my grandfather and father were also among them, and the handwritten recorder was Liu Ye.So far the truth has come to light, just as I have always guessed - we are a family of tomb robbers. I stared at the oil lamp in a daze, and suddenly remembered the book my father tore up, wondering what would be recorded in it. Facing his father's posthumous writings again, he couldn't help feeling overwhelmed, and felt that the whole room was shrouded in a desolate atmosphere.My father's handwriting is also very neat. Although it is delicate, it is not lacking in vigor. From the lines between his words, I can see a kind of persistence, a kind of heroism that does not want to accept fate. Because it was torn up and re-mounted, there are many missing parts, and many places cannot be connected, so I can only guess to see the general idea.It is recorded in the book that after he was engaged in archaeological work, he tried his best to track down the whereabouts of the golden coffin of the Huns, and found several suspicious places in Mobei, among which there was a place name that I will never forget - Ulila... Urila!I immediately thought of the words my father said before he died, presumably what he was going to tell me was this.But since he found the clue, why didn't he dig it out?Is it too late, or is there another reason? Where is the exact location of this tomb?I continued to flip through, but the back part was completely torn, leaving only a small corner of the page without words. ... "Tianhua, are you awake?" Master Li was yelling outside, and I came back to my senses, only to realize that it was already light outside the window.The mountain village in the morning was very quiet, which was very different from the hustle and bustle of the city. I rubbed my red eyes, carefully put the books back in the wooden box, and opened the wooden door and walked out after sorting it out. "Hehe, you're being lazy in the capital city! Get up early and feel good. Let's go, I'll take you to Houshan Tugou to have a look. If I don't understand that thing for a day, I won't be at ease for a day!" Li Ye yelled. Smiling face, but there was a hint of panic between the brows. "Master Li, have any foreigners entered our village recently?" When I walked out of the courtyard, I found a topic first, because I knew that this chatter would keep on talking all the way. Instead of being tortured by my ears, I should take the initiative. Maybe I can find out the truth about my door lock being changed from him. This old man Slipping around all day long, it is difficult for him to ignore the big and small things in the village. "Who is coming from the poor mountains and wild places!" Master Li responded casually, then stopped suddenly, scratched his head and said, "Oh! I remembered it when you mentioned it like this, there was a person wearing glasses who came here not long ago , Yes! As soon as you enter the village, ask for your home address." "my home?" "Yeah! I saw him sneaking around, so I followed him secretly. This man walked around and left..." "What kind of person?" I interrupted Master Li. "Hmm! Forty or fifty years old, tall and thin, with a very gentle appearance. At that time, I chased him out of the village and dawdled for a long time, but I didn't ask any questions. That guy seemed dumb." The more Mr. Li said, the more excited he became. , followed by another piece of my own speculation about the bad elements of the US and Chiang Kai-shek spies, and I couldn't stop talking. From this point of view, this weird visitor should be the same person who changed the door lock. Why did he break into the house?I racked my brains and couldn't figure out why. Just as Master Li was frothing, he came to the ditch in Houshan without knowing it.I came to this place a few times when I was a child. There was nothing interesting about it. It was just a bare flat ditch winding out from a mountain depression and stopping abruptly after going around a mountain wall. At first glance, it looked a bit like The word "了". It was just autumn, and the scattered weeds in the ditch were already withered and yellow. This lifeless atmosphere was in stark contrast to the surrounding mountains, and the rustling wind made people feel very strange. "It's right there, let's... it's better to take it easy." Master Li suddenly slowed down, pointed to a pit in front of him and said, his voice was out of tune, as if swallowing a fly. Why did he suddenly become timid?I turned around in surprise, only to see his frightened face looking at me helplessly.This completely subverted my awe of him since I was a child. Maybe he was afraid of that thing from the very beginning, but as an elder, he could only try his best to cover it up in front of everyone, but now with my "backer", he naturally revealed it. come out. Looking at Master Li's panicked eyes, I suddenly burst into pride, my head was hot, and I took a big stride and walked straight over, without thinking about why he was so scared. From the outside, it looks like a pit similar to a well, but it is very shallow, about one meter or so, but there is a hole at the bottom that slopes downward.I squatted down, tilted my head and looked into the fork. In the darkness, there was really a "person" standing motionless in the depths, dimly, like a terracotta warrior. At this moment, Mr. Li, who was squatting beside him, suddenly fell to the ground, waving his arms and legs, as if he wanted to say something to me, but only made a strange "uh uh" sound, and what was even more frightening was his wrinkled face, The whole thing is blue-gray, not like a living person at all. "What's the matter with you?" "Fraud... cheat corpse..." Master Li held back for a long time, then suddenly let out a woman's scream, "The posture of that thing has changed." Maybe it's because of my rough family background, I think I have better psychological endurance than others, but at this moment, I feel an inexplicable chill in my chest.Of course, it wasn't because of the so-called "deceitful corpse" Li Ye said, but because of his terrifying expression reaction, which was really terrifying. "What's going on?" I calmed down and pulled him up with my hands down. "Look at his hands, he didn't fiddle with them like this when he found out last time." Master Li's voice was still trembling, but he was obviously not so groggy. I squatted down again and looked in, the thing was still the same, there was no movement at all, I thought it must be Mr. Li's old eyesight!If it's really a ghost or a goblin, wouldn't it just change the action and jump out to arrest people early?With this idea, I am more convinced that everything is just an illusion. "I'll go down and have a look." "Okay! Be careful." At this moment, Master Li's words were much more concise. I smiled back at him, on the one hand to calm his emotions, and at the same time to give myself courage. After all, this is the first time I have experienced such a thing in my life. There is a feeling of "the wind is rustling and the water is cold". ... From the moment my feet touched the bottom of the pit, my stomach began to twitch, and I felt a sense of vomiting lingering in my throat, because there was a strong and strange smell in it, which smelled like dead fish and decayed wood It smelled musty, and the space was so narrow that there was no room to escape. I spit out a mouthful of phlegm, regretting that I shouldn't be so reckless, and at the same time, I also understand that there is a price to be paid for being brave.Now I am in a dilemma, I can only see what happened as soon as possible, so as to end this unprovoked torture.So I tried my best to touch the fork hole, and with a hard heart, I bent down and poked my head in... After a tenth of a second, I popped out like an electric shock. Just now, my face just hit the head of that "person". In an instant, an extremely disgusting feeling spread from the nose to the whole body and to every nerve, and I couldn't help but bow my head and vomit. The thing is sticky and slippery, and slightly elastic, like a corpse soaked in oil for many days... I don't think I will ever forget this disgusting feeling in my life, and I believe it will be in my future nightmare keeps reappearing. "Tianhua! Are you okay?" Master Li yelled uneasily from above. I waved to him as I desperately wiped off the mucus on my face.Until now, I can only hold on. Of course, the main reason why I am so strong is because the thing has not moved, and I don't feel threatened. After my eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, I began to look at this monster.To be honest, from the moment I bumped into it just now, I thought it was a person, no!It's a dead body.At this moment, if I look closely, I am more convinced of my judgment. It not only has human limbs, but also has an oval head, and there is even something like a braid on it.Only his color was queer, a grey-brown, strangely lustrous hue, like a piece of fresh pork liver. What is creepy is his turbid facial expression - distorted facial features, eyes widened to the limit, as if he is enduring intense pain... I watched with bated breath, suddenly, a feeling of desolation appeared in my heart, as if the world was full of sorrow, and then, the sound of miserable crying lingered in my ears, and I stretched out my hand involuntarily, Touch the monster's face. "Ah!" When my fingers felt sticky again, I immediately came back to my senses, and was stunned for a moment. Why did this happen?Could this thing be soul-stirring?The legend about the dementor quickly came to my mind, so I quickly looked away, never daring to look at his face again. However, the monster's bloated body is also quite impressive, and the posture is very strange-two hands are bent at ninety degrees, one is stretched forward, and the other is slightly backward, as if it was frozen in a desperate run. The feet are even more frightening—there are root-like things growing from the knees down, and they are densely inserted into the soil... Is this just an unknown plant that grows into a human shape?Something like He Shou Wu?At this time, I was dizzy, and the choking smell forced me to exit the fork hole to breathe. When I raised my head, I met Master Li's admiring gaze. The whole fork hole was thoroughly explored. Obviously, this slanted fork hole was not formed naturally. From the neat digging marks on the four walls, it can be seen that the person who dug the hole was very professional and hasty at the same time, because the hole was too narrow and could only barely accommodate it. one person. Looking in along the digging marks, the cave wall was blurred at a depth of four or five meters, and then it was gloomy and dark.I really regret not bringing a flashlight down, I took another step forward, stood on tiptoe, and looked into the depths through the monster.It was this curious act that made me see a strange thing. I saw that the monster's hand that was swung back was actually holding a bright yellow sign. Although only a small corner was exposed, I was sure that it was a piece of metal.This thing is very hidden, it is behind the monster's waist, and it cannot be seen from the front. This is why Master Li didn't find it before! I paused, stretched my hand in tremblingly, held back my nausea, touched the edge of the sign, and pulled it out violently... With a creepy "squeak", the sign finally fell firmly into my hand.I let out a long breath, impatiently wiped off the sticky debris, and took it to a bright place for a closer look. This is a waist card. Judging from the feel and weight, it should be made of copper, with only a layer of gilt on the outside.The surface of the card is covered with flying dragons and phoenixes, very similar to the spells drawn by Taoist priests, and in the center of the card, there is a big Song typeface-"kai".Turning over to the other side, it is still the same kind of spell decoration, but engraved in the center is another word - "avoid". Anyway, I have been in Liulichang for a while, and I know the value of this kind of thing. Folk groceries like this have no background, and the workmanship is not fine at all. . Even so, I am quite excited, after all, this is the first "antique" I got, and more importantly, it helped me solve several doubts.First of all, the badge appeared in the hands of the monster, proving that he was indeed a "person", and the person carrying the badge should not be a modern person, at least before liberation. However, this brings up more questions at the same time - if it was the ancients, why didn't it rot?What is he doing here?How did you die?And what made him look like this?