Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Exploring the Li and Finding the Pearl──The First Method of Grave Robbery

The doorbell rang, and I happened to be at the door, and I opened the door. Outside the door was a man with a dusty face, and his beard seemed to be stained with exhaustion. He was dressed in coarse clothes. I turned sideways quickly and let him in. He came to the wine cabinet first, took a bottle of wine, then fell down on the sofa, opened the bottle, gurgling non-stop Drinking. I looked at him, angry and funny in my heart, and shouted at him: "Hey, what do you think you entered? An ancient tomb without an owner?" He drank a few more sips of wine, then lowered his hands, looked at me, and suddenly let out a long sigh.

To me, there are quite a few friends who can regard my home as his own, but there are not many friends who are as unscrupulous as him. I haven't seen this person for a long time, and usually, if you want to find him, you really don't know where to find him. It's rare that he comes to the door by himself.So although I was yelling, I was really afraid that he would jump up and leave as soon as he put down the wine bottle. When I heard him sigh and worry, I felt relieved, because it proved that he didn't just pass by by chance, but came to see me specially for something, so he wouldn't leave suddenly.

This person's name is Qi Bai. After reading my account of the story of "Tomb Robbery", you must know that he is one of the world's top three experts in tomb robbery.The other two, one who was my good friend, Shan Si, died at the hands of a certain country's secret agents. (This is one of the reasons why I don’t like spies from all over the world. Shan Si died unjustly and innocently. Until now, all friends who knew Shan Si still feel deep condolences.) The other was the Egyptian Virus, who died at the advanced age of ninety-six.Therefore, Qi Bai, this weird person, can be said to be the only tomb-robbing expert left in the world today.

I was delighted to see him, for the simple reason that earlier I had entered a tomb that dared to be called the greatest in the history of mankind, an incredible subterranean palace.Since Qi Bai is an expert in tomb robbery, I want to talk to him about this super ancient tomb. I went over and sat down beside him.I saw him staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open, in a daze. After a long while, he took another three gulps of wine and sighed again. Seeing him like this, I couldn't help laughing: "What's going on, drink away your worries?" Qi Bai said bitterly: "Life is so boring."

I laughed out loud "haha". Such words are ridiculous when they come from the mouths of sentimental young men and women, let alone a person like Qi Bai whose life is full of legends and whose life is indescribably colorful. Hearing him say this seriously , I can't help but laugh out loud. Qi Bai sighed again: "Wesley, many people say you have no sympathy, and I often defend you." I could hear that his voice was full of frustration, it seemed that he was really troubled, as a good friend, it was naturally inappropriate to tease too much at this moment, so I stopped laughing: "Okay, what? matter? Can you tell it and let old friends share it? "

Qi Bai suddenly jumped up and pointed at me: "You caused everything." I was stunned for a moment, I didn't understand why he accused me like this, we haven't seen each other for a long time, and his troubles seem to be recent, so what's the matter with me? I didn't argue, just stared at him, waiting for his further explanation.He took a few breaths, sat down again, and said dejectedly: "Your account, 'living figurines', your account!" I shook suddenly, and in an instant, I fully understood what had happened! "Living figurines" records exactly how I entered the world's greatest ancient tomb: the tomb of Qin Shihuang.

Qi Bai is an expert in tomb robbery. He has a crazy passion for ancient tombs. That kind of enthusiasm is almost abnormal.For him, there is nothing more attractive to him than Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum! Maybe it was because of my account, or maybe he already had this "high ambition", no matter what it was, he must have gone there, wanting to enter the underground tomb of Qin Shihuang. And looking at his current appearance, this great tomb robber obviously suffered a huge setback in front of Qin Shihuang's tomb. He knew that such a great tomb was right under his feet, but he might not even be able to find the entrance.

After suffering such a big setback, he was naturally downcast, feeling that even his life had turned gray. I figured out why he was like this, so I asked in a low voice, "Have you been there?" He nodded, and I asked again, "How long?" Qi Bai sighed: "It's really shameful to say it, it's been a whole year." I made a gesture: "Nothing?" Qi Bai glared at me, lowered his head again, put his head in his hands, and took a breath: "I thought I was smarter than a gopher. Is there any place under the ground that I can't go to? Besides, I still have The sixth sense, knowing what is underground, this is my natural ability as a grave robber."

I smiled: "I thought you had a legendary magic weapon, for example, a mirror, you can see everything buried under the ground thirty-six feet deep." Qi Bai waved his hand vigorously: "I was there for a year, and the announced area of ​​the mausoleum is fifty-six square kilometers. I have visited almost every place, and I clearly know that where I have stepped , there are countless treasures buried in the ground, but they cannot be accessed, this is really incredible—” I remembered that Zhuo Chi, an ancient man from the Qin Dynasty, had explained to me in detail the various arrangements in Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum to prevent outsiders from entering, and I couldn't help being surprised at Qi Bai's boldness.

Because Qi Bai said so, he obviously used various methods in an attempt to enter the underground palace. I couldn't help shaking my head: "You are too daring and reckless, if you can leave alive, you already have great powers." Qi Bai smiled bitterly: "You mean there are countless traps in the tomb? Hehe, if I had the opportunity to encounter those traps, I would be willing. In fact, I spent a year, and I was still only on the ground, Turning around, do you think I will be in any danger?" Hearing what he said, I couldn't help but feel a little sad for him. This man has entered countless ancient tombs in his life. All ancient tombs, as long as they are of a certain size, are more or less protected from intrusion by outsiders. The traps, those traps, naturally couldn't trouble Qi Bai.

But this time, he didn't even have the chance to run into the trap, that is to say, knowing that there was such a big underground tomb, he couldn't even do it, let alone anything else. I don't know how to comfort him, because that was the biggest setback in his life, enough to make him doubt his ability to steal graves! Qi Bai, if he doesn't rob tombs, doesn't know what to do. No wonder he laments that life is meaningless. He sighed for a long time, and I thought for a while: "That can't be blamed on you. It's impossible for you to decipher the mausoleum that was built with hundreds of thousands of people back then." Qi Bai raised his head: "You don't understand, it's not a battle of numbers or strength, but a battle of wits." He said, pointing to his forehead, and poked it a few times: "It's a battle of wits. This year, I have proved that my intelligence is not as good as those designers who built the mausoleum three thousand years ago." I had no choice but to say: "You design a secret mausoleum, let them find it, and they may not be able to find it." Hearing what I said, Qi Bai turned his head and thought for a while, and he cheered up a bit: "It also makes sense, it's easy to hide things, but it's much harder to find them out." I made a gesture of agreement with him.He added: "According to your description, if I were at the entrance, I would have been able to find out where the entrance is." I said: "I believe that Bai Su and I both thought about it at the time, but we didn't know how to find you. Otherwise, we would definitely invite you to go with us." As soon as he heard me say this, Qi Bai showed an inexplicable dejected expression again.Only when a person thinks that he has missed the best opportunity in his life, or that he has missed the best things in his life, can he have such a dejected look. He clenched his fists and beat his chest: "At that time, I didn't feel anything. I was confident that I could find at least three entrances there. But I walked all over that place, but I couldn't find any. For example, , if there is another place paved with nine stone slabs, I will definitely be able to find it.” I frowned: "Every entrance and exit must be different. Just to give an example, there may be an entrance and exit under a bush. You can't connect every tree in the tens of kilometers around. Dig up the root and see the creation." Qi Bai scratched his head, and I said again: "You should really celebrate, you didn't find any entrance, otherwise, even if you found it, as long as the steps to enter are slightly wrong, you would have died there already." Qi Bai let out a long sigh: "It's amazing work, Wesley, this mausoleum was not built by earthlings, the one who planned the whole project must be aliens, it must be." He suddenly changed the subject. At first I wanted to laugh at him, but when I thought about it, if he felt that he was defeated by aliens, he might not be so sad psychologically, so I was noncommittal. Qi Bai was very serious: "There are records of aliens appearing in the Qin Dynasty, you already know it." I laughed: "No, this is the first time I've heard someone say that. What basis do you have?" Qi Bai looked at me with a surprised expression, as if it was impossible for me not to know, I made another gesture to show that I really didn't know, and he said: "It's weird, I thought you knew it a long time ago. Ganbao of the Jin Dynasty There is a record in the sixth volume of the "Sou Shen Ji"—" When he said this, I already understood what he said, so I immediately picked it up: "I know, the record is that in the twenty-sixth year of Qin Shihuang, there was a man who was five feet long and six feet long, and all barbarians wore clothes. All twelve people, seen in Lintao...'Isn't it?" Qi Bai said: "Yes, you know." I smiled: "Qi Bai, I don't know how many records of this kind exist in the notes of Chinese novels. It's not accurate, and it can't be inferred from this that it is a record of aliens landing on the earth." Qi Bai suddenly shouted: "What's the matter with you, Wesley, although this record is simple, but there is a time, a place, a number of people, there are such abnormal people's body size, and their clothing, if such a detailed record can't be done OK, so what else can you be sure about?" He spoke in one breath, and when I thought about his words carefully, I really found it difficult to refute. I had no choice but to say: "You like to have such an idea, and that's fine." Qi Bai shook his head: "It's not an idea. It's clearly recorded. There are very few records in Chinese characters that are so clear. Lintao is now Min County, Gansu Province. This place is the starting point for the construction of the west side of the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty. has a special meaning." I already guessed what he was going to say next, which shocked me, and hurriedly said: "Your imagination is richer than mine, I admit, please, don't tell what you think, I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it." Qi Bai was in high spirits, quite different from the dejected one just now: "Why can't you say it? No one has ever imagined it like this, right? Of course you know that the Great Wall is the only thing that can be seen with the naked eye in space. building." I let out a muffled grunt. What he was about to say was exactly as I expected. He really said it: "The real function of the Great Wall is to serve as an indicator for alien spacecraft to land on the earth, just like the indicator lights on the runways of airports today." I had to watch him and listen to his speech. He continued: "Based on this speculation, the entire underground palace was not used as a mausoleum at all, but a base of aliens on the earth. Later, for unknown reasons, it became the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang. The twelve Aliens, I don’t know what kind of planet they come from, they must have extremely outstanding abilities and advanced technology... According to the calculations of ancient weights and measures, the size of these twelve aliens is very large, each of which is more than ten meters long. Moreover, people had never seen their costumes at that time, so they had to be called "Yi Di clothes" in general." Seeing how persistent he is, I don't want to continue arguing with him, because there will never be any result in arguing about this kind of thing. But Qi Bai really had a lot of unique opinions about this short record, and he said: "These twelve tall aliens must have met Qin Shihuang, and they must have helped Qin Shihuang with something." Busy, so Qin Shihuang erected statues for them. The twelve golden statues are the statues of the twelve aliens. Unfortunately, although there are records in the history of the twelve golden people, they don’t know where they went. The records say that they are due to the lack of metal. , to collect all the weapons of the world to cast these twelve golden statues, you can see that these twelve golden statues are probably also in the mausoleum." I stretched my waist: "If Qin Shihuang had aliens to help him, he wouldn't have died so early, and he would definitely be passed down forever as he thought." Qi Bai said "Hey": "Who knows what's wrong with it? According to my guess, Qin Shihuang wanted to seek the elixir of immortality, and it was probably given by aliens. Poor him, he thought that Penglai Xiandao was on the earth. According to my opinion, the so-called Penglai Xiandao is naturally another planet other than the earth." I smiled: "Yes, some people say that the 'Shan Hai Jing' is basically a space navigation record. Now people are researching whether 'Fusang' is Japan or Mexico. And the creatures in that place are all outside the earth, and they are scenes on other stars in the vast universe." Qi Bai was very excited, and said a northern Chinese dialect: "Zhao, this is a bit interesting. Now you admit that in the Qin Dynasty, there were indeed aliens who visited the earth. Like Qin Shihuang, who has had contact." I shook my head: "According to what I said, such a conclusion cannot be reached. At most, I admit that at that time, in the Qin and Han dynasties in Chinese history, there were particularly many mysterious events, and that was true." Qi Bai stood up and took a few steps back and forth. I thought about the conversation just now, and felt that he would not bring up these questions for no reason. There must be another reason, so I said: "Do you have anything to say? It's better to say it out loud." Qi Bai stopped: "It seems that I can't hide it from you, you know, I didn't gain nothing in that year of hard work." I looked at him, not knowing what he meant by saying that. He said just now that he couldn't even find an entrance, so what else would he gain?Qi Bai then explained: "Among the many methods of robbing tombs, there is an ancient method that originated from Chinese tomb robbers. This method is called the 'Exploring the Li to Get the Pearl Method'." I laughed: "This is the lingo of your line of business. I have never heard of it. How to explore the tricks? How elegant is the name!" Qi Bai nodded: "Yes, the first tomb robbers who used this method were tomb robbers in Sichuan, China. It is said that this method of tomb robbery was derived from the technique of digging salt wells in Ziliujing area of ​​Sichuan. The salt well digging technicians in Sichuan , you can use special tools to go hundreds of meters deep underground to draw up the needed salt juice.” I was a little shocked: "You mean, that method is to use special tools to take out the things in the tomb without entering the tomb or opening the tomb?" Qi Bai's expression was a little proud: "That's right." I was stunned for a while: "Okay, then you used this special method of tomb robbery, what did you get?" Qi Bai blinked, and said: "You should listen to my experience first. I thought that such a big mausoleum has almost everything in it. If you find a random place, you can always find something by using the method of exploring the li and finding the pearls." from--" I didn't wait for him to finish, and said: "Don't tell me what happened, what did you find? Just now you said that you didn't get any results, you slippery thief." Qi Bai smiled slyly: "If I went around for a year and couldn't get anything, I would have been bumped to death a long time ago, I don't even have the ability to do that, so what kind of person is I? " My curiosity was drawn to an unstoppable level by his words, and I shouted: "What did you get?" Qi Bai smiled even more cunningly: "I know you too well, if I tell you right away, you won't listen to my story anymore." I looked him up and down.It is conceivable that it is impossible to get big things with that kind of "searching for pearls and extracting them", it must be very small things, so if he gets something, he must hide it by his side.At this time, I really wanted to search him thoroughly, but he obviously wouldn't let me do this, so I could only pretend that I didn't care, and even yawned. Qi Bai is still publishing his tomb robbery technique: "The reason why this method has such a name is that it is specially used to steal the pearl contained in the mouth of the dead. If someone dies in a wealthy family, Do everything possible, no expense spared, must find a big and good pearl, put it in the mouth, it is said that it can keep the corpse undefeated, and can also make the soul of the dead rest in peace." Instead of interrupting him, I took a glass and poured half a glass of wine, really wanting to stuff that glass into his mouth. Qi Bai sighed: "Don't be impatient, I'll explain it in such detail, you'll know after listening, there's a reason for it." I laughed back in anger: "Haha, am I in a hurry? I didn't even urge you." Qi Bai waved his hand, and still said to himself: "Tomb robbers who are proficient in this method can take out the most valuable pearl in the entire tomb at once, it is a miracle. It’s a skill that nobody notices, it’s the most advanced technique in the tomb robbery technique, I learned this technique from an old grave robber back then, and I don’t know how much painstaking effort it took to learn it successfully.” I drank and pretended not to be in a hurry.What Qi Bai was talking about at this time was not uninteresting, but he clearly got something in Qin Shihuang's tomb, but he deliberately refused to tell it, which is very infuriating. He continued: "Naturally, this method is afraid of encountering a frame outside the coffin. If it is a stone frame, there is another way, but it will take more than ten times the time to get through the stone frame. If it is a copper frame, then There's nothing you can do about it, you understand?" I just stared at him to see how long he could talk. But what he said next made me involuntarily say "ah", and I felt that his detailed description of the "method of exploring Li and finding pearls" was really reasonable. He continued: "Now you should understand that the whole process of using this method is to dig a hole, put a special tool in, and get what you want. This is an ancient traditional method. If you use a little modern If we improve our technology, how many uses can this method have?" I was taken aback when I heard this: "You mean, you can put the dynamite down and blow up the tomb?" Qi Bai nodded: "Of course, but this form is too violent and lacks art. If you want to find out what's going on in the tomb, you can—" I didn't wait for him to finish, so I called out abruptly: "Wait a minute." Then I took a breath, "It's ok... put a miniature TV camera tube down, if it is equipped with an infrared camera, then, even if the tomb is completely dark, you can still see the situation in the tomb through the connected fluorescent screen .” As I said that, Qi Bai nodded. I said sincerely: "Qi Bai, you are really a genius at dealing with ancient tombs." Qi Bai was very happy to hear me praise him like this: "I still have a greater idea. With my own strength, I can't accomplish much with traditional methods. If I have the financial and manpower, I can use oil production rigs. On the fifty-six square kilometers of land, thousands of deep holes were drilled, and they all used TV camera tubes to get a clear picture of the situation below. Since excavation is impossible, it is also good to find out what is going on below. .” I stayed for a long time before I said: "This is really a great idea, and it is feasible in theory. The detection of the oil drilling machine can reach several thousand meters deep. The catacombs are absolutely impossible. If It's really that deep, and your method of "exploring the li to get the pearl" is probably impossible to use." Qi Bai was stunned for a moment, as if he was thinking about what to say: "After I read your description, when I got there, I naturally started from the horse herding pit. After searching for a long time, I couldn't find the entrance and exit, so I started drilling the hole. .” I frowned, thinking of Zhuo Chi and the others, if they suddenly saw a pipe coming down from above, I don't know how they would react.I was very dissatisfied with Qi Bai's actions: "You know that there are people under the Wrangler Pit, but you still do this, it's too much!" Qi Bai didn't feel ashamed at all, maybe it's because the morals of grave robbers are different from ordinary people.He said: "I did it on purpose. I thought to myself, maybe if I can lure them out, I can ask them to take me into the underground tomb." I snorted and didn't say anything else. Qi Bai smiled wryly: "But don't worry, I failed. After hitting about five meters, I encountered an obstacle. I guess it was either a very hard stone layer or a metal layer." I changed the protective cover ten times in a row, all of which were the same, so I gave up and stopped the idea of ​​playing the horse-wrangling pit." I was relieved to hear him say that.Qi Bai continued: "I am within the scope of the mausoleum, drilling holes everywhere, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep, but I can't get through. I always encounter obstacles. After trying more than dozens of times, I am really frustrated. Extremely, you must know that it takes at least three days to drill a hole, and the work is very hard, all done by hand. If you can really use the drilling machinery, it will naturally be very different. "I told myself, try three more times, if it doesn't work, then give up, and try another way, it really pays off. After the second try, after ten meters, I feel that it has been dug through. This is amazing. I was inexplicably happy, I screamed and jumped, but no one came to share my joy." I was angry and funny: "If someone came to share your joy, you would have already been in jail." Qi Bai waved his hands, as if the joy at that time has continued to the present: "I put the miniature TV camera tube down, and connected the camera equipment of the TV screen—" When he finished speaking, he reached into his coat pocket and took out a stack of postcard-sized photos. He said: "This is the result of shooting. From your point of view, what is this place?" I took the photo and took a deep breath. This tomb robber is really clever, and he even took pictures of the almost unexcavable underground tomb of Qin Shihuang. The photo is quite blurry, which is naturally due to the unsatisfactory shooting environment. Although there is an infrared device, it is also not very clear. I looked at one after another, expressing my opinion: "It seems to be a space... a basement. The walls of this basement are decorated. It seems... like a bookshelf?" At this point, I looked up at him, wanting to hear his opinion.From the photos, the four walls of the room do have shelf-like devices. Qi Bai said: "I dare say it's a kind of shelf, and I don't know what kind of things are on the shelf, I can't see clearly." In the middle of that room, there is a table that looks like an octagon. There is also something vaguely placed on the table, which is quite small, and it is not clear what it is. After reading the photos, I said: "There is no doubt that this is a tomb, but it must not be the main part of the underground tomb, because it looks very simple and not magnificent at all." Qi Bai frowned, and seemed to disagree with my opinion, but he didn't say anything, with a mysterious attitude. After a while, he pointed to the octagonal table in the photo: "There is something on this table. , It’s not very big, I can steal it out, at that time, I put away the TV camera tube, and started to use special tools to get those things on the table.” "I originally wanted to get a few more, because those things are not big. The method of extracting pearls was originally created for picking pearls, and it can only take small and light things." "Several times in a row, I felt that when I went deep into the end of the tomb, I had caught something, but I couldn't get it up, because the thing I caught was unexpectedly heavy. Although it was small in size, it was too heavy. Falling down every time." I listened to him quietly. From the photos, the objects on the octagonal tabletop were very irregular in shape. It looked like...a bit like dried fruit. But if those little things are that heavy, they're probably made of cast metal. So, I asked: "If those things are made of copper or iron, then they can't be obtained?" Qi Bai gritted his teeth: "The situation is roughly like this. After trying seven or eight times without success, I put the TV camera tube down again, and found that there was only one thing I could get on the table, and the rest were all I fell to nowhere. At that time, I was really anxious and disappointed. If I didn't succeed this time, I would have no hope. I really blame myself for having so few tools. If I had a metal detector, then at least You can know what kind of material these things are." I smiled and said, "You finally took the last thing up, why bother to be suspicious." Qi Bai laughed: "I'm not making doubts, but I want you to know that I am the only one in the world who has this skill. I can lift such a heavy thing up with the method of exploring the Li and finding the pearl. Fingers that are extremely sensitive also require an extremely calm mind and immense patience." I applauded a few times: "It's great." Qi Bai took my "praise" as a matter of course, and then he took out a velvet box from his pocket, put it on the table, and pushed it slightly to me: "This is what I brought up, I don't know what it is, so I'm here to get your opinion." This guy, until now, can be regarded as getting to the point.I picked up the ordinary small box for jewelry, opened it, and saw the thing in the box. After seeing it, I couldn't help being stunned, and raised my head to look at Qi Bai, Qi Bai's expression was completely perplexed. The thing in the box, I believe no one can tell what it is just by looking at it.It is about the size of a chestnut, and its shape is completely irregular. It is quite heavy. It has a metallic bluish-white flash, and it looks like stainless steel. It is a polyhedron, and it is impossible to count how many sides it has. I have seen chalcopyrite ore, and the shape is a bit similar. But this thing is by no means a natural ore crystal, it can be seen at a glance that it is cast with fine craftsmanship.Each of its surfaces is about three square centimeters, with different shapes, some are square, some are rectangular, some are triangular, and even hexagonal and octagonal. On those small planes, there are extremely thin and extremely thin nicks, so thin that you can't feel it when you touch it, but you can clearly see it when you look at it. If Qi Bai hadn't told the story of such an indescribable piece of metal product and handed it to me, I would never have expected that it was taken out of the ancient mausoleum of Qin Shihuang three thousand years ago. Qi Bai asked again: "What is this?" I weighed the thing in my hand, but I really couldn't answer this question, so I could only say: "It looks like some kind of desk decoration, a purposeless gadget." Of course Qi Bai was not satisfied with my answer: "If I don't tell you where this thing came from?" I said: "Then I can't guess that it came from an ancient tomb. This thing looks very modern." Qi Bai nodded: "Moreover, it's also extremely magnetic. Putting it in my pocket, one of my pocket watches is magnetized and I can't walk anymore." With an "oh", I immediately moved the thing closer to the metal legs of the tea table, and the thing stuck to it with a "slap", and it took a lot of force to pull it off. When Qi Bai asked "what is that" for the first time, I had no choice but to sigh: "Just look at it like this, I can't tell, why don't you send it to the laboratory for testing?" Qi Bai shook his head: "That can't be done, this thing may be the most precious treasure I have obtained from tomb robbery in my life, and the test will destroy it." I said angrily: "Yes, this is a strange treasure. Whenever the moon is full, it will emit thousands of rays of light, so that you can get what you want, or it will turn iron into gold, or—" Before I finished speaking, Qi Bai reached out and snatched the thing back, holding it solemnly in his hand: "Anyway, this is very weird, which gives me more reason to believe that Qin Shihuang had dealings with aliens. This thing may be left by aliens, or it may be a component or a part of a group of instruments." I thought about the theories about the twelve "adults" carefully, and pondered: "If you have such a hypothesis, then you should test it. You don't have to destroy it, at least you can know a little bit about it." Qi Bai hesitated for a moment: "Okay, I'll try it. If I find out that it's just a piece of strange-shaped metal and nothing else, then I'll make it into a keychain, which suits my identity very well. It comes from the tomb of Qin Shihuang. A strange thing with no known purpose, as a small ornament on the body of the world's number one tomb robber, who would say it would be inappropriate?" I said, "It's very suitable." As I said that, I looked at those photos again and again, and counted them. On the octagonal tabletop, I could see a total of seven such small things.Although their shapes can be seen somewhat different even in the blurred photos, but inference, they should be the same kind of thing, so what is it?It's really intriguing.