The moment he finally walked out of the deep dense forest, Renguo was stunned!

His body trembled violently, he forgot everything, and stared at the scene in front of him - what kind of place is this?!

The ruined walls, the ruined streets, the unrecognizable stone statues, the incomplete but faintly visible half-carved doors and windows...... It is like a city that has been trampled and ravaged by giants.

"A whole city, oh my God, am I crossing through?"

The golden glow was the (presumably) golden roof of a large building that had collapsed on the ground, with only a third remaining. The rest of the building was torn apart, some of which was hidden by a thick layer of dust.

If it weren't for the coincidental angle of the sunlight just now, I am afraid that the roof would not have reflected so brightly, and it would not have attracted the attention of the kernels and fruits far away in the dense forest.

Providence!

At this time, the pale pink afterglow of the sunset dyed the ruins with an indescribable taste, mysterious, decadent, distant, and desolate!

Even though there was no one and he couldn't hear any sound, Renguo's soul seemed to be able to talk to those broken walls, doors and windows, and his heart was deeply shaken.

He carefully bypassed the crooked obstacles and walked into the "city", gently stroking the place within reach. Is this a long-lost ancient civilization?

But looking at these buildings, when they didn't collapse, they should be better than the houses where the Apatani people live now, shouldn't human civilization be getting more and more progressive? Why is the Apatani civilization getting more and more regressive?

Renguo was puzzled.

At noon that day, after he "disappeared" in the field, one of the old men glanced worriedly in this direction and asked the others: "Shouldn't he go in that direction? Oh, that's bad! Our ancestors have been warned for generations, and we must never go there!"

But no one warned Renguo and Mo Xiaoyu. Because people think that they are messengers sent by the gods, they should know everything.

The other men who were farming together said, "No, the messenger sent by the gods should have gone home, his home is in the other direction, and he goes home every day to hug the baby very punctually!"

The old man breathed a sigh of relief: "That's right, that's right, let's not scare ourselves." ”

So, everyone put their hearts back in their stomachs, and after finishing work, they went home.

However, on this day, Mo Xiaoyu waited until it was dark and didn't see the kernel fruit, which had never happened before.

Since Renguo got married, he has gradually changed from a monk who doesn't understand the affairs of men and women to a 24-year-old model husband of filial piety.

There is no entertainment here, and there are no other women who dare to seduce the messengers of the gods, but three meals a day, on the kang on the edge of the field, life is simple and simple, so their monogamous life is quite happy, and Mo Xiaoyu is getting farther and farther away from her police flower ideal and revenge.

Renguo usually goes out to work during the day, and usually comes back before the sun sets, but what happened today?

Mo Xiaoyu was a little anxious and went to discuss with a local person he knew.

Everyone looked at the dark sky, and they were all anxious, after dark, there would be wild beasts in the vicinity.

Because they lived in groups and there was fire, the beasts did not dare to approach the stockade, but if someone was out alone, it would be difficult to say.

The young and strong men were divided into small groups, and they searched all the places they could find with torches, and there was no shadow of the kernel fruit, but there was no shadow of the beast.

At this time, the anxious Mo Xiaoyu heard someone whispering: "You say, the messenger of the gods should not have gone to that forbidden area, right? Listen to my grandfather, they were working on the ridge not far from the forbidden area, and then the messenger of the gods disappeared." ”

The other trembled with fright: "Oh my God, we have been told by our elders since we were young that we can't go over there, otherwise we will be cursed!"

"What forbidden area?"

Mo Xiaoyu, whose language had greatly improved and understood this whisper, immediately asked.

But the man did not dare to say more.

Mo Xiaoyu's heart tugged. What if something happens to Renguo...... She didn't dare to think about it. I am already helpless and lonely in this world, how can I lose my family again?

These people refused to say anything, so she had no choice but to run to ask Ami, the girl who had the best relationship with her in the whole village, if she knew anything about the forbidden area.

Ami's face immediately changed: "Actually, I don't know exactly what is there, but my ancestors have taught future generations that you can't go to that wood, otherwise something terrible will happen." A few years ago, there was an uncle who didn't listen to people's persuasion and had to go to the forbidden area alone, but as soon as he took a few steps over there, he was killed by a thunderbolt. His woman is also crazy because of this, so everyone is even more afraid. ”

"But I'm not afraid!" Mo Xiaoyu said firmly, "If the only way to find the kernel fruit is there, then I will set off at dawn!"

Ami was frightened, and she couldn't persuade her, so she had to take over the small bag that she didn't understand anything. Mo Xiaoyu said that if she has three longs and two shorts, the bag depends on her.

"No, no, you can't go over there!" more than a dozen Apatani people grabbed Mo Xiaoyu, "You will be cursed, you will die without a place to be buried!"

But Mo Xiaoyu was resolute. She's highly educated, she's an atheist, she's a Renguo woman, so she has to go.

At this time, Renguo, because of overexcitement and fatigue, unknowingly fell asleep on the ruins, and he dreamed of what this ancient city looked like before it became ruins......

At that time, there were many people coming and going on the streets, and there were many merchants on both sides of the road, people greeted each other and joked, and buyers would bargain with sellers. And that magnificent golden domed building is a place where people gather.

In the midst of the excitement and peace, there was a deafening sound suddenly!

In an instant, the sand and rocks were flying, the ground was shaking, and an invisible force swallowed up the city, so that the roads were destroyed, the buildings collapsed, the blood flowed like rivers, and people fled with their heads in their hands, trampling on each other, but no one could escape the palm of the sky.......

The sun sets and rises, and the most calm thing in the world is the sun and the moon, right?

No matter how happy or sad things happen, time flows as usual, neither humble nor arrogant, and does not stop for anyone.

When the day dawned, Renguo woke up to find his head resting on a large cool stone carved with images of dancers in ornate dresses and mysterious characters that he could not read, but as far as he knew, the Apatani had no writing.

Why did there be writing before, but then it didn't?

There are a lot of questions in his heart, and everything unknown here deeply attracts him, so he temporarily forgets his wife and children, and continues to wander in this mysterious ancient city.

Finally, he saw a man!!

But not alive.

It was a strange gray-white humanoid stone, life-size and delicately outlined! The stone man was lying on the ground in a strange posture and a painful look!

Renguo stood in the distance and looked at it for a long time, and suddenly found that there were more next to him, there were adults and children, all of them were in a painful posture, as if they had been collectively enchanted!

Could it be that these are petrified people?

Born with a bodhisattva's heart, he empathizes with the suffering of these people before they die.

He had the courage to step forward and touch it, and it was hard. Knock on it, listen to the sound, it's empty!

Isn't it a human being, it's just a sculpture? Who made so many painful sculptures with ingenious carving techniques, and what is the use of them?

When he stood up in horror, he bumped into the face of a living man!

A living person with flesh and blood like himself, and less than half a meter away from himself!!

"Ahh

Renguo, who has always been relatively calm, couldn't help but be frightened under such a scene, and took several steps backwards one after another, only to see that person turned out to be Mo Xiaoyu!

Her hair was scattered, many parts of her body were torn, her eyes were misty, and she was looking at herself with concern, and her expression was mixed with the bitterness of the trek, the worry of a night, and the joy of reunion!

Renguo: "Xiaoyu, how did you find here?"

Mo Xiaoyu: "They all said that this is a forbidden place, and they won't let me come, I'm very happy, fortunately, I persevered, are you okay?"

After a brief exchange of heartfelt feelings, the two wandered around the ancient city together.

Mo Xiaoyu was so bent on finding a husband just now that she didn't even notice everything here. At this moment, she pondered and asked, "Do you know that there is a place called Pompeii?"

Due to the family's financial limitations, Renguo also had limited books, and he only happened to read about the Apatanis, but Pompeii had never heard of it.

Mo Xiaoyu searched from his memory: "It was an ancient city on the Apennine Peninsula, one of the world's top ten ancient tombs. If I'm not mistaken, it was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and buried by volcanic ash, but it is intact and contains a municipal square, a temple, a theater, a gymnasium, a shopping mall, a tavern, a garden, and a bathhouse. ”

Renguo was dumbfounded.

Mo Xiaoyu: "I've seen it on TV, and there are many such humanoid stones there, because at the moment of the eruption, the victims had already died, but the volcanic ash wrapped their bodies, solidified their last posture, and left a relatively hard empty shell. ”

The two men looked at the human figure on the ground in unison.

Renguo: "Could it be that many years ago, volcanic ash also buried this ancient city, but because generations of Apatani people have heard that they will be cursed by the gods if they go in this direction, even though it is only a dozen kilometers away, no one has ever come?"

Mo Xiaoyu expressed her judgment as a police flower: "Well, I think it's the same." ”

Renguo: "So, their civilization is interrupted, otherwise it would never be so backward. ”

Mo Xiaoyu unconsciously always thinks of the interests of the country at the first time: "We should find a way to inform archaeologists that this will be another great cultural heritage of mankind!"

After that, there was silence again.

I don't know how to return to modern society and how to avenge my father's murder!

The two of them would never have imagined that at the same time, archaeologists of modern society were keeping a close eye on where they were!