"How ruthless!" "This is exactly what a tyrant would do, let's go dig up his grave and scatter his ashes to the winds, that'll be revenge for that kid."

  Touching those rusty chains, I can still imagine the bloodiness of that year. Killing, bloodshed, death, this was the main melody of that time. It's not in vain that all the legends say that civilization was destroyed by a great flood, did human nature really disappear with history in these ancient ruins?

  "In the past, the objects of sacrifice were not chickens, ducks, fish and meat as they are today, but human beings. Women, children, prisoners of war... In the barbaric ancient times, survival was the only purpose, rulers needed to stimulate the hormones of those warriors with fresh blood, these were all sacrifices, the sin is not just performed here, it is performed on every piece of land around the world."

  I said: "Guo Lao has a lot of experience and understands the meaning here?"

  "Snakes, ancient people all worshipped this creature, not just in Asia, but also in Africa, in Egypt, isn't Nüwa a snake-bodied human? Snakes are also the closest natural creature to the dragon totem. In my opinion, the remains of this snake were probably caught and used for sacrificial purposes, it's just a pity for that child."

  "What's up, everyone? Are we going down or continuing to enjoy the view?" Fatso's words reminded me, I took a look at my watch and it was already past 10 pm. There were only nine hours left until our meeting with Dragon Brother at 7 am. I said: "Everyone, time is running out. We'll eliminate anything that doesn't align with our goals."

  Fatso glanced at the hollow pillar and started scratching his head: "How do you get down from this thing, little brother, have you been here before? How did you get down back then?"

  Ye Qiu looked down, and I saw that his expression was also a bit perplexed. "I forgot, it's just a vague image, it seems like it'll go on like this."

  "Wow, isn't that so, little brother? I see you're quite skilled. Have you learned the gecko technique or something? This is no ordinary sewer outside, if you can't hold on, you'll lose your life."

  "Let's use a rope," suggested Cha Wenbin, "how long is the rope we brought?"

  I said: "No more than thirty meters, I just threw a stone and listened to the sound, I estimate our rope is not long enough."

  Ye Qiu suggested: "This pillar is only about twenty meters high, I think if there's an underground palace, it shouldn't be too far from the ground surface, let me go down first."

  Cha Wenbin agreed with Ye Qiu's words, nodding in agreement: "That's good too, after all he's agile." I tied the rope to the tree root at the top of my head, making a secure knot. The remaining part hung down from the pillar. Ye Qiu chose to go head-down, this move didn't leave any room for retreat, if something happened and he needed to come back up, it would be difficult.

  "Hey, you..." Fatso reminded him.

  "I hope I can see the danger rather than having it appear behind me."

  He wrapped a rope around his waist, hooked his feet under the rope and also tied a knot, then slid down with the momentum, just like a monkey, the technique made my heart skip a beat.

  Ye Qiu slid down at an extremely fast speed, and soon it was hard to see him clearly. At most half a minute later, he gave us a signal from below, flashing his flashlight three times towards the top.

  Fatso said: "It's safe, let's go!"

  I was thinking a lot, Gu Lao and Cha Wenbin both have a bit of a literary temperament, this kind of thing is really not suitable for you two, I'm afraid it will be dangerous so I suggested: "Why don't Wenbin and Gu Lao stay behind, this kind of thing is really not suitable for you two."

  Zha Wenbin said, "Gu Lao, you stay behind, your age and physical strength are a problem, it's better for us to have someone to take care of things up here. Besides, Pangzi, you also stay behind, in case we need someone to pull from below, you're the strongest one here, and the diameter of this pillar isn't that big, it won't be easy for you to get in either."

  "This old bone of mine isn't really suitable for going down, just help me take some photos to bring back." He handed the camera to Zha Wenbin, who took it and looked at me, saying: "Xiao Yi follows behind me."

  "Alright." I replied, thinking that if I had gone down that day, maybe today I wouldn't have the chance to sit here and chat with everyone. Fate is just arranged like this, everything is predetermined.

  It's necessary to leave two people up there, and it's also a must. Guo is too old, and someone has to be in charge of the rope safety, that's the right idea. But how can Fatso possibly agree to stay up there? If he could behave himself, then he wouldn't be Fatso anymore.

  Just as I was about to go, Fatso took a step ahead of me and slipped in. As he left, he smiled at me and said: "Little Xiaoye, you're also a cultured person, don't get involved in this kind of thing, Fatye is the one who does this line, no matter what, it's more suitable for him than you."

  His antics changed everything, it's not that I didn't want to go down, but I had to stay behind for the safety of everyone.

  "Be careful and take good care of Wenbin!" This was my last advice to him.

  Later events, I all heard Cha Wenbin tell me, below has a layer of silt can reach ankle, so the stone I lost did not make a sound, inside everything originally should also be soaked in water.

  The entire underground palace is generally large in area and has a lot of wealth accumulated inside, according to Wen Bin. The muddy water inside is filled with glittering gold, which makes Baozi (the fatty) extremely happy. With one handful on the left and one on the right, he stuffed all the places on his body that could be filled, making him look like a newly rich man.

  The underground palace is relatively flat, with a row of human figures on either side. What's strange is that all the human figures have no heads, and there are no fallen parts on the ground, as if they were never fired with heads from the beginning. Following the human figures, in the middle is a path, at the end of which is a coffin bed, slightly higher than the ground, visible to the naked eye, only tens of meters away, even children can run there in one breath.

  Zha Wenbin told me that it was the largest coffin he had ever seen in his life. I once went to the museum in Changsha with him, where there is a complete female corpse of Marquis Dai. The coffin of the female corpse is as high as one and a half floors, and the whole body is made of wooden frame structure without using a single nail. However, he said that the lower coffin was about twice as large as that of the female corpse of Marquis Dai!

  It was quiet in the underground palace, except for the silly smile of "heh heh" from Fatso, Ye Qiu and Cha Wenbin were both silent.

  Intuition is a kind of strange sixth sense. Some people are very accurate, but I belong to the latter category with relatively poor intuition. However, Zhang Wenbin and Ye Qiu both belong to the former.

  Danger lurks everywhere! The two exchanged a glance, not daring to take another step. Zha Wenbin whispered to the fatty, "Don't touch anything here."

  Fatso reluctantly poured out the things in his pocket, and at this moment, Cha Wenbin suddenly felt that the oppressive atmosphere had eased by half. He took out three incense sticks, lit them up, and handed one to Fatso and another to Ye Qiu. However, Ye Qiu just glanced at it without accepting it, saying: "I only believe in myself, heaven can't take care of me."

  Zha Wenbin didn't say much, he just raised the incense over his head and bowed three times: "I'm sorry to disturb your rest, it's really unavoidable. If I've offended you today, please forgive me. The cause of our past lives has led to the effect of today, since we were arranged to meet, it can be considered a reunion after thousands of years. First, let me offer this incense as an apology."

  He then pulled the fatty to bow down and kowtowed three times in front of the coffin. Ye Qiu stared at those clay figures all along, and suddenly said, "One is missing."

  The fat man was startled by his words and stuttered: "What's missing?"

  Ye Qiu pointed at the people in front and said: "There are eighteen on the left side, but only seventeen on the right side. One person is missing."

  China is a country that values symmetry, in such a grand tomb, how can there be one less terracotta warrior? The fat man chuckled and said: "Little brother, don't be so surprised, after all these years, it's normal for one or two to have fallen over or been destroyed."

  Ye Qiu shook his head and said, "It's not normal, didn't you notice that these terracotta warriors are of different ages?"

  The fatty shone the flashlight and observed carefully, it seemed that what Ye Qiu said was true. The clay figurines on the side of the coffin had some cracks, while those closer to him were intact, even the outer layer of mud felt much fresher.

  Zha Wenbin had already lit a candle, this candle is also called an ever-bright lamp. In such places, ordinary light can't see the truth sometimes, and firelight must be used.

  He handed each of them a candle and said, "Don't be fooled, the mud here is so thick that you might get washed away by the water. Don't scare yourself. Turn off your headlamps, place the candles in front of your eyes, pay attention to your feet through the candlelight, and walk in a line, don't scatter."

  It was a real case of one foot deep and the other shallow, and the mud in it was as sticky as a rotten rice field. After walking for about 7 or 8 meters, Cha Wenbin felt something obstructing his foot when he lifted it, and with a slight effort, he pulled it out along with the thing that was stuck to it...