Chapter 51: The Cinnabar Road (I)
Add the back line, Wang Xingguo probably understands, those stone chambers are separately divided into tombs or sacrificial venues, it should be that each passage will be connected to another tomb, so that it forms a network of tombs underground, some tombs will be controlled by stone gate organs, but most of the tombs were destroyed before they were completed, and many tombs also collapsed, if Yuzhi's sarcophagus can be sent here, and his tomb is still well preserved, then there must be a passage to here, But which of the eight passages will it be?
With no more information to support Wang Xingguo's idea, he looked up at the eight passages, which were the most neat and symmetrical burial chambers since entering the Coffin Mountain.
Wang Xingguo put away the route map, and Xia Ruobing still held the scepter and looked at it carefully.
"Xia Ruobing, let me emphasize the three chapters of the law again! First, don't run around alone! Second, follow the command! Third, give me the focus to survive! Wang Xingguo said word by word, his eyes staring at Xia Ruobing.
"If ......"
"Without ifs, even if the next tomb is full of gold and silver treasures, there is no time to waste!" Wang Xingguo interrupted her.
There is a reason why Wang Xingguo is angry, the longer they stay underground, the slimmer the hope of survival, even if this is the mausoleum of Loulan Wizard, even if it is priceless, but it is meaningless if people can't get out alive, he must let Xia Ruobing understand this, every second wasted is to push himself further into the abyss of death.
"Okay, so how do we get there?" Xia Ruobing had no choice but to compromise, looked at the eight passages, and asked Wang Xingguo.
"Try one by one, how are your knees?"
Wang Xingguo's concern made Xia Ruobing's heart warm, and he didn't check the knee injury just now when he was looking for clues.
"Hey!" Wang Xingguo squatted down, "Pull your trouser legs, I'll take a look." ”
……
"What the!" Chen Badai scolded, since climbing up this passage, they have passed by three collapsed and damaged stone chambers, there is nothing in the stone chamber except a pile of mud and stones, most of the passages have also been blocked, the three of them had to bump blindly, but several hours have passed, and there is no clue of finding a way out.
Sherpa leaned against the wall of the cave, snorting and panting, but Mr. Min was still able to keep his composure and sat down against the wall.
"Hey, why did you all stop?" Chen Badai was a little annoyed.
"Let's take a break." Sherpa had never drunk water, and although he did not exercise much in the dark, his nervousness had drained him a lot of energy, and he felt parched and dry.
Mr. Min lowered his head to untie the kettle on his belt, saw a red mark appear on the corner of the wall again, wiped it with his finger, and approached his eyes: "Huh? Cinnabar again? ”
"Can you eat it?" Chen Badai asked angrily.
"Let me think about it...... Cinnabar? In ancient times, it was used for embalming and pigmenting, why was such a valuable thing used to paint the corners of the wall? Mr. Min walked all the way along the corner of the wall and found that this passage was the same as the previous one, and a layer of cinnabar about 5 centimeters wide was sprinkled on the corners of the wall on both sides.
"Could it be painted?" Sherpa also noticed.
"If you make paint, it's usually used to paint, but what does it mean to paint the corners of walls?" Mr. Min was puzzled.
"Ha, maybe it's the roadway painted by the Loulan people, maybe at the intersection, and there is a zebra crossing." Chen Badai said coldly, don't you find a way to study cinnabar here? It's better to just eat a bite per person and be poisoned here.
"Reticles?! I've got it! Mr. Min suddenly realized, "I know how to find a way!" ”
"Huh?!" Chen Badai's spirits lifted.
"This underground labyrinth passage is like a spider web, you can't see the stars in the sky, and the instruments are out of order, what do the people who dig here rely on to orient themselves?" Mr. Min asked.
"With cinnabar?!" Chen Badai asked rhetorically, but then denied it, isn't it much cheaper to sprinkle yellow sand than to use cinnabar? Could it be that the people who excavate here are all local tyrants, and there is nowhere to spend more money?
"They're orienting with cinnabar! If I'm not mistaken, these underground stone chambers are interconnected, and not all of the passages that radiate lead to the outside, so they use cinnabar to connect the paths that can be walked. ”
“SO?!” Chen Badai felt that Mr. Min's inference seemed to be correct, but he still couldn't explain why he used cinnabar instead of cheap yellow sand!
"Follow the passage with cinnabar." Mr. Min stood up and walked in front of Chen Badai to lead the way.
"Mr. Xia?" Chen Badai asked Sherpa for advice.
"Try it...... "There was no better way at the moment, and Sherpa followed Mr. Min.
"Hey, wait for me!" Chen Badai just took a sip of water, and saw that the two of them had already walked away, and the kettle didn't have time to be covered, so he trotted all the way to catch up.
Mr. Min stood in front of a stone chamber, shining up and down with a flashlight, this stone chamber was seriously damaged, more than half of the walls were cracked and collapsed, and a large piece of the top collapsed, burying most of the stone chamber, almost nothing was left, fortunately, there were still two passages that seemed to be intact, Chen Badai caught up, and the remaining ground was indeed paved with a layer of dark red cinnabar, he squatted down and asked with his hand: "Why are there so many here?" ”
"This is the Tomb!" Mr. Min said with certainty that it was a pity that the tomb was destroyed like this, and he wondered if there would be anything useful left.
"Mr. Min, which way are we going?" Chen Badai turned on the caving flashlight and illuminated the remaining two passages, one of which was half buried by the collapsed rocks and mud, but the other was almost untouched.
"You explore the path first, and I'll check this tomb." Mr. Min walked over to the ruins.
"Mr. Min, don't waste your time." Chen Badai objected.
"Maybe there's a map here?" As Mr. Min spoke, he approached the rubble ruins.
This is also very reasonable, the efficiency of dividing the soldiers into several ways will be higher, as for whether Mr. Min can find the map, there are dates and no dates to hit a pole.
Chen Badai looked at the two passages, the left side was basically intact, and said, "Mr. Xia, I will go to the left, and you will go to the right." ”
"Huh?" Before the Sherpa could react, Chen Badai had already gotten in, and Chen Badai's voice floated from the entrance of the cave, "Hurry up Mr. Xia!" ”
Sherpa cursed Chen Badai in his heart, this cunning guy, this passage was buried most of the rocks and mud, Sherpa such a big man took a lot of effort to get in, fortunately, the hole was basically damaged, except for some fallen gravel in the passage, it was generally intact, and Sherpa had to explore the way between the rubble.
Standing in front of this large pile of rubble and dirt, Mr. Min didn't know where to start, but a strong feeling in his heart told him that this tomb was not simple, and if there were bones of wizards buried here, it would provide a lot of information.
But Mr. Min didn't have time to study slowly, he wanted to find the most direct things, such as epitaphs or some funeral utensils, but these artifacts were buried in this large pile of rocks and mud.
Separated from Chen Badai and Sherpa, Mr. Min was alone for a purpose, if there were really Loulan's relics here, he would not share them with anyone, he turned on the light of the flashlight, trying to find a trace of evidence related to Loulan from some large stone crevices.
Mr. Min is digging out the soil from the cracks in the rocks, I don't know how long it has collapsed, some of the falling soil has hardened, and his hands can't shake the hard soil at all, but fortunately, there is a survival knife in his hand, although the efficiency is not high, but it finally slowly expands the gap.
Mr. Min, who was digging the earth, suddenly felt that someone was watching him in the back of his head, and when he turned around, he was the only one in the collapsed stone room.
Mr. Min secretly laughed at his nervousness, and continued to dig through the gap with his knife, and put the flashlight inside, but there were only rocks and dirt deeper inside.
Mr. Min took a step back in disappointment, he looked at the pile of rubble and considered where it would be better to start, but he didn't pay attention to his feet, stepped on a piece of gravel, and sat down on the cinnabar floor.
"Alas......" Mr. Min didn't have time to cry out in pain, when he heard a sigh from behind him, he didn't care about the pain, turned his head suddenly, and the flashlight followed.
The circle of light hit the wall of the cave and there was nothing.