This winter came exceptionally early and was exceptionally cold. It was midnight when the alarm bell of the J County Public Security Bureau rang, and nearby villagers called and said that there was a group of strange people wandering around the village, which was very scary. When the police arrived, the group was nowhere to be found.

In the early morning, Liu Qiang, who was patrolling the mountains, hummed a few small tunes from time to time, thinking that after the inspection earlier, he would hurry home and drill to the kang to warm up and be warm. "!" There was another gust of cold wind, he covered the Lei Feng hat on his head, and wrapped the padded jacket tighter. It was so cold that the heat even condensed on the tip of the nose and formed a layer of frost. With this kind of ghost weather, how could someone come to steal the mountain? Liu Qiang walked slower and slower, and finally stomped his feet and decided to take a shortcut to return home that few people had passed. Thinking that he could get home after walking for more than an hour, he even planned to buy some lo-mei and some wine in his heart to treat himself. Thinking about it, my pace became a lot lighter. It doesn't matter if this walk is fast, Liu Qiang suddenly hung in the air and stepped into the pit all of a sudden. "x his grandma!" When I looked down, I found that there was a deep pit on the ground that could accommodate one person, and it was well hidden by dead branches and leaves. Pushing aside the branches around him, Liu Qiang lay on the ground, almost half of his body poked in, the hole was curved and stretched, and he couldn't see the end at a glance. Liu Qiang felt the novelty, and hurriedly called a few villagers to dig the hole to take a look. It's just that this hole is just fun to look at from the outside, and after digging for a long time, I can't see the end. Liu Qiang was a little panicked, and said in his heart, I'm afraid that something didn't come out of the ground? That's when I thought about calling the police.

It wasn't until the afternoon, when the sun began to set in the west, that the two policemen reluctantly stepped on the mountain road. I studied left and right on the wall of the cave, and shone a flashlight into the cave for a long time, and vaguely saw a door at the bottom of the cave. The faces of the two of them tightened, I'm afraid this is not a thief hole. So one policeman stayed behind to guard the entrance to the cave with the villagers, while the other hurried back to the bureau to contact the relevant personnel.

Researchers from the Provincial Institute of Archaeology arrived overnight, and it was not until noon the next day that the entrance to the cave was opened, and the tunnel was more than 40 meters underground. At the end of the tunnel was a rusted bronze door, crooked in the mud, on which some strange patterns could still be faintly seen. When the bronze door was removed, it was really a tomb. It's just that the tomb has collapsed in many places, buried by earth and stone, and it is no longer possible to see the original appearance, and scattered fragments of the underworld weapon are scattered on the ground.

The archaeological team worked day and night to finally complete the cleaning work. The earth and rocks were excavated, and the entire tomb was revealed. Although it is a tomb, it has only one room, and the walls around it are mottled and even collapsed, and broken pillars are scattered on the ground. Thankfully, presumably because the unbearable cold had slowed down the grave robbers' progress, the most important coffin had not yet been destroyed. In the center of the burial chamber, two coffins were placed close together. One of the wooden coffins was badly decayed, and when the lid was removed, the red garments on the corpses were rotten in many places, and although only the skeleton remained, it was obvious that the owner of the tomb had pressed a book to his chest. The other coffin next to it was smooth and translucent, and the young man lying inside was dressed in red, as if he had just fallen asleep.

Xu Ran put on his gloves and carefully took the book, and was surprised to find that although the book was old, it was still intact, and it could even be called soft and elastic to the touch. When you open it, although the text inside is neat, it is not the font of the Chinese dynasties, but more like a brand new and ancient script that has never been discovered.

We're all in the same place. Xu Ran's heart flashed this sentence inexplicably.

It's just that she didn't have time to investigate the reason, the staff around her were still cleaning and tidying up the scene, she held the book, trotted to her mentor, who was also the general person in charge of this exploration, Mr. Ji Ping, desperately suppressed her crazy heartbeat, and opened her mouth with a trill: "Teacher, we may have discovered a new civilization." ”

There were only a few pieces of cultural relics unearthed, and in order to prevent secondary damage, they were transported to the provincial research institute as quickly as possible together with the two coffins. The mountain road was rugged, and the carriage was shaking badly, Xu Ran looked down and flipped through the booklet taken out of the coffin, and couldn't help but feel a little sick after a long time. Zhou Bin looked at his girlfriend's sallow face from exhaustion, and felt distressed, so he took advantage of Xu Ran's contemplation and waited for the opportunity to pull the booklet away. "What are you doing?" Xu Ran's brows tightened a little, and he subconsciously pursed his lips. Zhou Bin burst out laughing, "No matter how good-looking this thing is, can it be as good-looking as me?" Look at you, you forgot about me when you had a project. ”

"Give it back to me, this time it's different, if you make trouble again, I'll be angry." Xu Ran was a little annoyed. She and Zhou Bin have been together for three years, Zhou Bin is good at everything, tall and big, working neatly, running the scene is indeed a good hand, and the new ideas put forward from time to time in scientific research work can always make people shine, and they care about her in life, and they can play treasure and laugh. She loved his talent, his humor, his back in a white coat in the laboratory, and the beads of sweat that swept across his neck under the scorching sun. But there is one thing that she can't accept, Zhou Bin often gags in between work. The scientific research work is sacred and serious in Xu Ran's heart, and she can't tolerate her boyfriend having a little bit of a joking attitude. She has said this question jokingly or seriously several times, but every time Zhou Bin will put on a pitiful look, protesting miserably that Xu Ran is too serious, and Xu Ran bullying him. Seeing her boyfriend like this, a Shar Pei dog with a wagging head and tail appeared in her mind, and she lost her temper in an instant.

This time again. Thinking of this, Xu Ran's brows unconsciously wrinkled even more. Zhou Bin saw that the atmosphere seemed to be tense, and he hurriedly changed his hippie smiling face, cleared his throat, and said seriously, "Ranran, you haven't rested for almost two days, I know this tomb is very special, but you can't study it at the cost of damaging your body." We don't miss this moment, you sleep on my shoulder for a while, and I'll give it back to you when you wake up. ”

Xu Ran had no choice but to lean on him according to Zhou Bin's wishes. As soon as he closed his eyes, a strong feeling of sleepiness hit me, and within half a minute, he fell into a deep sleep.

The grass is endless, the soft wind blows on the face, slightly moist, and the breeze sweeps across the grassland, making a rustling sound. Xu Ran looked around, the grassland, the trees and red flowers that connected the leaves in the sky, and himself, and nothing else. Xu Ran was a little stunned, he wasn't in the car just now, but where is this now?

Just as she was at a loss, a man in a red robe jumped down from a tree and smiled at her. "The tree's name is heather, and it blooms every four years. Heather grows in the cracks of the stone, probably because it is too difficult to grow, so every time the flowers bloom are blood-red, how about it, do you like it? Somehow, an inexplicable sadness welled up in Xu Ran's heart, she wanted to get close to this person, she wanted to touch him.

"I think I've seen you."

The man smiled, and the warm breeze blew through his long untied hair, and his coat flew up, revealing a small, delicate lock.

"What is this?"

"Longevity Lock."

"Can I take a look?" Xu Ran was very curious, and the small lock reflected a little silver light in the sunlight.

"It's time for you to go." The man tucked the lock into the hem of his coat and turned to leave.

The ground under his feet suddenly began to shake and crack, and Xu Ran hurriedly ran towards the man, but his feet seemed to be stepping on cotton, and he couldn't do anything. "Who the hell are you? Where is this? Xu Ran shouted.

In an instant, the sky cracked, and huge rocks fell at her. The man turned his head sideways to look at her, the expression on his face inexplicable.

"Chang'an Palace."

……

"Yet? Yes! Wake up, we're here. ”

Xu Ran woke up in shock, straightened up suddenly, and gasped for breath. "What's wrong, having a nightmare?" Zhou Bin took her hand and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. "No, it's okay, let's get off." Recalling the dream just now, Xu Ran could still feel the sadness and fear that penetrated his heart.

After entering the research institute, before the two of them had changed into experimental clothes, Wang Jinlin from the monitoring department hurriedly came and raised the report in his hand, "The carbon 14 test report came out, 25,000 years ago!" As soon as the news broke, the entire research institute exploded. Although it is too long to determine the exact age of these artifacts, the figure of 25,000 is enough to make people shocked. The stakes are very high, Professor Ji Ping immediately contacted the leadership of the National Institute of Archaeology, and after some discussion, the special research team was formally established, and the research process was required to be kept confidential, and the project code name was "Sangtian".

For research convenience, the two coffins were placed separately in adjacent sterile rooms. Xu Ran looked through the glass window at the translucent coffin. Time was so rushed that she hadn't even looked at it properly. I saw that the man in the coffin was slender, his long hair was tied up, he was wearing a jade pendant around his neck, holding a bright red bouquet, wearing a brocade robe, and his waist was covered with ink and gold. The appearance is no different from that of the Central Plains, his face is like a pearl, and his color is bright, even from the current point of view, he is also a beautiful son. Xu Ran was shocked, isn't this the person in his dream? The ruins of 25,000 years ago, the book in the coffin, and the man who was so well preserved that it even made one suspect that he was just asleep, everything was so strange that it seemed to guide her to explore something.

It was late at night, and from time to time there were a few squeaky insect chirpings outside the house. Xu Ran packed his things and prepared to go home. Standing in the corridor, I found that the light in Professor Ji's office was still on at the end. She hesitated from side to side for a moment, gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and strode over and knocked on her mentor's door.

"Teacher, please let me lead the team to take care of the translation of the books."

Ji Ping raised his head and met Xu Ran's eyes. Xu Ran is talented, although he is young, his knowledge reserve is extremely deep, and he has also accumulated a lot of practical experience by following him around for research and investigation. He was very happy to see that his proud protégé had such courage, but this time the project was too difficult and extremely important, and Ji Ping was not at ease when he handed over the work of leading the team to a 27-year-old girl.

Xu Ran saw the indecision of the tutor and insisted: "Teacher, I have been exposed to ancient books and ancient characters since I was a child, and now I have been studying with you for 10 years. I know 10 years isn't a long time, but time isn't everything, you know it. Please give me a chance, and if anything you feel is inappropriate, you can always replace me. ”

Ji Ping took off his glasses and lowered his head to think again. After a long time, he finally spoke.

"Okay."