When I think of this, I feel that this ancient city, which has been sleeping underground for an unknown number of years, is filled with a thick and gloomy atmosphere.

If the scale of the ancient city is not large, and there are no other normal dwellings except for these strange houses, then it is probably certain that the purpose of building this underground ancient city is actually to detain people like the three-eyed female corpse.

The three of us simply walked along the current road to the front, and as we walked, I secretly counted the number of these houses, from the time we came in to the present, there were about a dozen rows of such houses, and the number of rooms in each row varied, and it was estimated that there must be five or six of them, and when we walked here, there were about fifty or sixty of these small houses.

Hu Gaoshan was exploring the way ahead, and at the same time observing whether there was anything else in the house on the edge. Along the way, the house was empty, and nothing was found for the time being.

After walking for about 200 meters, a wall blocked the way. The walls were made of those huge stone blocks, and they were very high. Hu Gaoshan got my permission and climbed it with his bare hands. Although this stone wall is high, there are many places where you can borrow strength, and as long as you stabilize your mind, you can climb it.

After Hu Gaoshan climbed up, he looked at the head of the wall, turned his head to me and Mu Qiang and said, this is the end, there is a messy stone field outside the wall, which has been out of the scope of the ancient city.

Sure enough, the scale of this ancient city is very small, much smaller than that of other ancient cities in Central and Western Asia during the same period. After Hu Gaoshan came down, we walked along the tall wall and walked forward. We're very cautious about having set foot in a rather unfamiliar place, lest that strange thing make a surprise attack.

However, the strange thing scared us, and we must have scared it too, and while it attacked us, it must have great concerns.

Similar to the prediction, the tall bell tower is the center of the ancient city, no matter which direction you go, it is about 200 meters. That kind of very strange huts, evenly distributed in the ancient city, should have more than three hundred in total.

During the exploration, no normal houses were found, and more importantly, there were no cisterns that were indispensable for survival in this ancient city. Only in the northeasternmost corner, I saw two pools that were not too big, the pools had dried up, I don't know if they were used to store water, and even if they were to store water, they would not be much.

"The air here is a bit damp, and there may be water sources not too far away."

"But there are no houses to live in." I am still firm in my thoughts, this ancient city is not for people.

It took us a long time to walk half of the ancient city. It may be that the tortuous environment here affects the signal, and when the people left behind on the ground contact us, the signal on the intercom is always bad, but through intermittent calls, each other's situation is safe, and there is no danger.

"Let's go to the bell tower."

We walked to the east side of the bell tower, which was probably surrounded by a wall three or four meters high. There is a door in the wall, which is thick but not locked.

The bell tower was the center of the ancient city, and after going over the wall, I saw two huts side by side under the bell tower. The two huts, though simple, were normal houses, empty except for a few bits and pieces left in the corners.

We found a broken kettle, a bowl. The kettle and bowl are all black pottery, anyway, I have the impression that black pottery is generally not used in Central Asia.

Obviously, the two rooms under the bell tower may be inhabited by normal people, most of whom are the people who ring the bell, and are also responsible for the maintenance of the bell tower.

The bell tower is very high, more than 30 meters, such a high bell tower, as long as the bell rings, it can cover the entire ancient city.

The bell tower is very sturdy, buried deep underground, and may have never been affected by the natural environment or the outside world. I looked up, and it was so high that it was like standing in a pitch black environment, standing under a building and looking up at the tenth floor, and it was impossible to see clearly.

The three of us squatted on the ground to rest for a while, and Mu Qiang covered himself with his clothes again, lit two cigarettes, and handed me one. Hu Gaoshan is a good comrade and has no addiction to smoking, but he himself said that he usually likes to drink two sips.

"Mr. Lian, this ghost place, anyway, there is an evil aura everywhere." Mu Qiang pouted at the top of the bell tower and said: "We are walking half now, it is estimated that the remaining half, the situation is similar, if this ancient city is not used to live in people, then why build such a high bell tower, who will ring the bell to?" ”

"That's right." I nodded, this is also where I feel puzzled, a building more than thirty meters high, in that kind of backward conditions, it is quite troublesome to build, the ancients want to do something substantial, it must be useful, otherwise it will not be in vain.

If this ancient city is not inhabited, then who is the bell of the bell tower for? Is it for the weird stuff that's locked up in a small room?

Thinking about it, I thought it was unlikely, so I smoked a cigarette and planned to go to the top of the bell tower to have a look.

"Mr. Lian, let's go." Mu Qiang pinched out the cigarette butt, put it in his pocket, and said, "I'll take a look, I don't know if the stairs in the bell tower are broken." ”

I'm a little hesitant, a lot of things just rely on others to say, it may not be intuitive, it is better to see it with my own eyes. Mu Qiang probably knew my thoughts, and he said that he would go up and investigate first, and if there was no problem, he would inform me.

The door under the bell tower opens as soon as it is opened, and inside is a spiraling staircase. Mu Qiang walked slowly, and his figure quickly disappeared into the spiral staircase, and only his footsteps could be heard, and some afterglow of light could be seen.

The situation in the bell tower should be relatively calm, Mu Qiang has not sent back a danger signal, and after waiting for about fifteen minutes, he sent me a signal, indicating that everything is normal.

I asked Hu Gaoshan to stay outside, and I got in through the door of the bell tower. The stairs are paved with wooden planks, and the planks have undergone some treatment and are strong and durable, but some of the planks may have been corroded by the damp air, and they creak when stepping on them, and the roots of the people's teeth itch when they listen to it.

Walking to the top of the bell tower from below, it was actually higher than climbing ten floors, and when I climbed up, Mu Qiang was looking around at the top of the tower.

I thought that if I climbed to the top of the tower, I would be able to see the big bell hanging on it, but without the big bell, the top of the bell tower was empty.

"Nothing?"

"No, that's what I looked like when I came up." Mu Qiang responded: "However, there is something here. ”

At the top of the bell tower, there is a ring of thick iron bars, each almost as thick as my arm. In the direction of the north, there are some things that have not been demolished.

It was a relatively delicate set of pulleys, all of which were made of copper and covered in rust. On a main pulley about the diameter of a basketball, there is also a very thick rope. This kind of rope is called triple rope, the raw materials for making triple rope are different in each place, but the effect is similar, three or more materials are screwed together, which can ensure that the rope is flexible and strong. This kind of rope is also called the coffin rope, which is one of the strongest ropes in ancient times, and is generally only used when carrying the coffin out of the funeral. People believe that if the coffin of the funeral falls halfway, it is a very unlucky thing, so the ropes that stop the waist at both ends of the coffin must not be broken.

"Such a thick triple rope can bear at least one ton." Mu Qiang stretched out his head to look down and said, "Someone has hung something down from here." ”

"Did you hang the bell from the bell tower and get it away? No wonder you can't see the big bell on the top of the bell tower. ”

"I think we started thinking it was a bell tower, and we had a preconceived notion that it might be wrong." Mu Qiang said: "This tower may not be a bell tower. ”

Mu Qiang's analysis is because the tip of the general bell tower is a very strong place, because it is used to hang a big bell. That kind of big bell, as little as a thousand catties, and more than a ton of weight, so heavy bell, if the spire of the bell tower is not strong, it will collapse after hanging for two days.

And at the top of the bell tower where we are now, there is no place for wall clocks.

"Here." Mu Qiang took a picture on the ground and said, "This is obviously a base, it must have something in place." ”

The base, carved out of stone, thirty or forty centimeters thick, may indeed be the same as Mu Qiang said, there were originally things on the base, and it was a very heavy thing, and it was finally taken away, that is, it was borrowed from the set of pulleys that were not removed.

I was lost in thought, the roof had been taken away, and there was no trace left except for the pulley. I couldn't possibly know what it was, but I figured it out that it must have been a heavy thing, and it was hard to carry from the inside of the cramped tower, so I risked hanging it from this place.

I don't know why, but my mind flashed like a flash of lightning, and I suddenly thought of the bronze statue.

I looked at the pedestal at the top of the building and felt that if the bronze statue was placed on the pedestal, it would be a good fit.

What I'm thinking about now is just a hypothesis. If it is said that this set of pulleys took away the bronze statue, then the bronze statue may have had a little accident in the process of hanging down. Or the rope is overwhelmed and broken, or the rope buckle is loose, resulting in the bronze statue falling off when it is halfway up and falling down.

With this fall, the bronze statue was shattered, and the head and body were torn apart. It is also possible that when the bronze statue touched the ground, one of its ears was broken.

Of course, this is just my guess, and there is no evidence to prove that my guess is correct. However, if it weren't for the accident, no one would have smashed the bronze statue properly.

However, if we continue to deliberate on this reasoning, a deeper question arises: is there any purpose for the bronze statue to be placed at such a high place?