I turned my head slightly to look at squad leader Liu in the second row, and said to him meaningfully: "Song Guilong has an injury to his right foot, he won't go too fast." ”

Among the six people, the one with the strongest determination to find Song Guilong was squad leader Liu. In my eyes, he came out with a dead heart. What I am most sure of now is that Company Commander Li must have said something to Squad Leader Liu in those five minutes. Otherwise, the attitude of this product would not be so resolute, and the change would not be so big.

Squad leader Liu said angrily in the dark: "No matter how fast or slow he goes, there will always be a head on this road." There must be a time to meet. ”

Team Leader Liu's words are right. At present, not only me, but also Xiao Guolin and Cao Mingzhe also believe that this drainage canal is a channel used by ancient civilizations to collect drinking water. We set the role of this channel to collect drinking water, not because of unfounded speculation, but because this channel is too clean. It is conceivable that both rainwater and river water must be sedimented and filtered before being introduced into this underground channel, at least not allowing sediment to flow downstream. Such a complex and delicate water storage project, used for irrigation of the ground, is an inconceivable luxury even now.

The final collection point for drinking water is not too large and is definitely the end of the channel. "We'll meet sooner or later." I said this calmly, turned around and moved on.

The biggest advantage of good lighting is that there are no gaps. After walking for an hour, we passed a fork in the road and marked it. We didn't go far before we found another hole.

The hole is opened at the top of the vault and is about 60 centimeters in diameter, like a maintenance hole for access to the passage. The hole is not deep, and under the high-energy light, you can see that there is a stone fence on the top, but you can't see it really. Six people gathered around the entrance of the cave and looked up.

"Go up and have a look." Platoon Commander Zhao ordered.

Xu Xinming took off the walkie-talkie and prepared to go up. But his walkie-talkie didn't know who to give it to, so he had to cast an inquiring glance at Platoon Commander Zhao. In our six-person team, Xu Xinming was a coolie. Of the three soldiers, he was the only soldier, and the other squad leader was still half-life, and he couldn't be counted on at all. Two of the three archaeological team members are older, and one of them has mental and perceptual nerve problems, and I can help him in terms of age and physical condition, but he doesn't know whether he should ask this young Professor Zhang to help him get a walkie-talkie.

Although a group of six people came out to find water this time, the main responsibility of the archaeological team was to characterize the channel and locate the water source according to the ruins. At present, it should be easy to find a water source, depending on whether there is still water. asked the archaeological team members to do something else, and Platoon Commander Zhao felt that it was a little difficult to speak, so he took over the walkie-talkie.

Although the highest point of the vault is only two meters five or six, if you want to go up, you still have to take a ladder. I said to Xu Xinming, "I'll go up." ”

In front of Platoon Commander Zhao, Xu Xinming would not be submissive, and immediately looked at Platoon Commander Zhao and waited for Platoon Commander Zhao to confirm. Seeing that Platoon Commander Zhao nodded, he squatted slightly. I put my first foot on his knee, my second foot on his shoulder, and I poked my head into the cave with my hands gently raised and touched the wall.

The walls of the cave are made of blue bricks, which look more corrupted than the brick walls of the passage, not oxidized, and there is a big difference between the two. The serious decay is due to frequent use and water erosion, and the bricks decay under water erosion, rather than simply oxidizing and deteriorating in the air for a long time. This means that it is an inlet hole, and it is used very frequently. There are no handles or stepping points in the brick hole, but the space is small, so I can use my hands and feet to support the wall and climb up.

Because the brick hole is very short, I climbed to the top of the rotation in a few clicks. Above is a stone fence, very strong, the density of two fingers between the stone fence should be able to block larger debris. I put my back against the wall of the hole on one side, crossed my legs and kicked on the opposite side, making room for Platoon Leader Zhao to turn on the lights. I am very concerned about the layout above the stone fence, which is our best hope to find a way out.

The white light passed through the gap in the stone grate and hit a complete bluestone slab above. I frowned and looked at it for a moment, then gestured downwards and slid out of the hole and jumped.

"This is an inlet into the aqueduct. In this underground network, this inlet should still be there. But..."I glanced around at everyone, and then said: "There is a large bluestone pressed on the water inlet, maybe it is similar to the bluestone ground found in the exploration party, in short, the water inlet is artificially blocked, and there is no way out of this water inlet." ”

My words extinguished everyone's faint hope of escape, and although when it was discovered, everyone thought that there was little hope of a way out, but there was a big difference between hope and no hope.

"Maybe the other inlets aren't blocked." Platoon Commander Zhao said unwillingly.

Xiao Guolin and I glanced at each other and did not speak. Xiao Guolin reluctantly replied: "Maybe." ”

This answer was too reluctant, and even Platoon Commander Zhao could hear the hopelessness in Xiao Guolin's words. And I know how much courage it took for them to block the inlet of such a huge water storage project, and how much pressure they faced at that time. Again, one question stands out even more: What happened at that time?

Obviously, this underground water storage system was completely abandoned from the moment it was sealed. Why?

I don't know if Platoon Commander Zhao has this question, Xiao Guolin obviously has, although he is still pretending to be casual, but his gradually solemn face betrays him.

I didn't pretend, I was already scared by the question in the brick hole and had decided to accept it calmly.

The special squad leader Liu is now more and more able to pretend, without any expression on his face. But I don't believe he didn't think of this question, maybe he knew something I didn't know, and in the five minutes that the call was closed, Company Commander Li said something to him, and the question was already tormenting me like an appendage. I don't know if the strength of the morphine has passed, or if the concussion is beginning to reflect the consequences, his face is a little pale. I hope he was frightened by reality, this pretending to be a co-op is becoming more and more like Company Commander Li.

The six of them took the opportunity to stop, took a break, and had a simple meeting. The main thing is that at the insistence of Platoon Commander Zhao, a new task has been added, looking for exits along the way. It seems that he did not realize that there would be no exit from the brick hole, and that there would be potential danger in the passage.

During the break, I sat quietly next to squad leader Liu, lowered my voice and asked him, "What do you know?" What did Company Commander Li tell you? We need to be open and honest about this information. ”

In order to save battery, the flashlight is turned off when resting, and the eyes are black in the channel without any light source. Only voices could be heard, and no one knew each other's expressions.

"You want to know?" Squad Leader Liu's voice was very relaxed, a little ridiculous. I immediately thought of Company Commander Li and imagined how Company Commander Li would answer. Sure enough, it was the same as I thought, "Unfortunately, I can't tell you because that's not what you should know." ”

I suppressed my anger and calmly said to him, "You will definitely tell me, and you will take the initiative to tell me, maybe in the next moment." ”