"You said there are 'green sticks' underwater?"
Lin Yi stood up and chased Chen Erwa with a flashlight.
Chen Erwa hadn't dried her body yet and wasn't fully clothed yet, so she quickly protected her important parts.
"Brother Lin, please don't act like this and respect my privacy!"
"Excuse me!"
Lin Yi quickly turned off the flashlight switch, and the surroundings immediately fell into darkness.
"I tell you, don't change your clothes. Let's go into the water and take a look."
Chen Erwa turned around and thought, it was right, so she simply folded the clean clothes, put them in a sealed bag, placed them on a stalactite, took the liquor handed over by Lin Yi, raised her head and took a swig.
The strong alcohol entered his throat, dispelling the chill from his body, and he instantly became much more awake.
"It's cool! Come on, I'll take you to see it!"
After that, Chen Erwa unscrewed the flashlight, held it in her mouth, and dived into the water step by step. Lin Yi also took off his clothes and followed him with a backpack.
The position was still in front of the big iron chain just now. Chen Erwa pointed at the feet of the skeletons hanging on the iron chains. Lin Yi understood, put his head out of the water, took a deep breath, and dived into the water.
Under the light of the flashlight, a neatly stacked piece of wood appeared at the foot of the skeleton, forming a triangle.
These woods have been somewhat rotten after being soaked in water for many years. Under the green aquatic plants, you can still see exposed rusty metal rings.
The wood at the bottom is about forty or fifty centimeters in diameter.
In the middle of these timbers, a round wooden pile with a diameter of about one meter is particularly eye-catching.
Lin Yi's ability to hold his breath without equipment has almost reached its limit, and he can only float to the surface for air for the time being.
Chen Erwa also floated up.
"What are you doing, Brother Lin? Is this what you are looking for?"
"It's very possible! These people are not ordinary cunning people. They deliberately created so many messy ruts and footprints that extend deep into the cave, making people mistakenly think that they have transferred all these things to the rear.
If we had walked back recklessly just now, there might be something more sinister waiting to deal with us behind. "
Chen Erwa suddenly felt a little scared when she heard this.
Lin Yi sighed.
"I know why these people are hung here. They are the cushions for these 'green sticks'."
"Cushion pad?" Chen Erwa was a little confused.
"Hundreds of years ago, the water level of the Minjiang River was much higher than it is now. These green sticks entered the cave through the siphon effect and accelerated all the way to this position. A buffer was needed to intercept them.
The iron chain is an important barrier. Hanging something on it can act as a buffer to prevent these things from being damaged by violent impacts. "
"Oh, then are these people treated like the door curtains of a slaughterhouse, blocking the way when pigs are being sent from the conveyor belt?"
Although his metaphor is not that appropriate, the meaning is indeed the same.
Now it is not difficult to explain that among the skeletons with their collarbones clasped, some have complete skeletons, while others have missing heads.
Under the huge impact of these wooden piles, how could the bones not fall apart?
Who are these people hanging on the chains as buffers?
Why was he treated so cruelly?
These questions still have no answers.
However, the neatly stacked wooden piles underwater gave Lin Yi new hope.
He reached into his backpack and took out a roll of rope and handed it over.
"Erwazi, you take this roll of rope. After entering the water, tie it to the iron hoop of the top green stick. You push it from behind and I pull it from the front. Let's try to see if we can get it out of the water. Drag him out."
"Okay, Brother Lin, I listen to you."
After saying that, Chen Erwa took a breath and dived into the water with the paracord on her back. Not long after, she stuck her head out and gave Lin Yi a thumbs up. She rolled the remaining rope into a knot and threw it towards Lin Yi.
Lin Yi caught the rope, swam to the shore, found several suitable footholds, and tugged on the rope. He felt that the rope was getting stronger, and he was sure there was nothing wrong.
He turned around and picked up a thick stick of firewood that had not rotted away from the shallows and threw it to Chen Erwa.
Chen Erwa received the signal, took the firewood stick, dived into the water, and while overcoming the influence of buoyancy, she used all her strength to push the firewood stick into the gap between the wooden piles, using her hands and feet to hold it in place. On the firewood stick, pry hard.
Lin Yi pulled the rope like a tracker on the shore. The two of them worked hard together, and the top wooden stake finally began to loosen.
As the force of the crowbar and the rope continued to increase, the green stick was finally pried off.
A burst of muddy water arose and rolled down from the top. Chen Erwa took advantage of the situation and pushed forward from behind. Lin Yi used his strength on the bank to continuously find the point of force with his feet and dragged it upwards.
The green stick passed under the iron chain smoothly and was dragged to the shoal by the two of them.
After one trip, they were both exhausted.
"For this kind of work, it would be great if Lao Wang was here, Lao Wang would take action, and one person could do the job for the other."
Lin Yi turned over and lay on the ground, resting for a long time. Chen Erwa also gasped and came out of the water.
This green stick has been soaked in water for too long. It is thick in the middle and thin where the two ends are bound by iron hoops. It looks like a sausage.
"Brother Lin, how do you open this thing?"
Lin Yi stood up, drew out his barrier knife, and pointed it at the two rusted iron hoops.
There were two crisp sounds of "dang-dang", sparks flew everywhere, and the two iron hoops broke apart.
Without the restraints of the iron hoops, the swollen wood was finally released and spread out from the middle.
All the parasitic shrimps and crabs in the tree trunk came out, and the hollow interior appeared in front of the two people.
It was so dark and filled with mud that nothing could be seen clearly.
Chen Erwa picked up her dog-leg knife and dug twice into the pile of black mud, and there was a dull sound of metal hitting it.
"There is something! Brother Lin, there is something here!"
Lin Yi picked up a short stick and stirred it inside. Sure enough, something was buried inside.
He motioned Chen Erwa to move aside, and then he picked it up hard. Several dark objects were picked out and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
The two of them followed the sound, and Chen Erwa opened her hand to pick it up, but Lin Yi held her back.
He took a few handfuls of water from the pool and washed away the mud, finally revealing his true face.
They are two silver ingots that have been severely oxidized. The words "Daxiku Silver, Ten Liang" are written on them in faintly visible writing.
This font is almost the same as the current simplified characters, and Chen Erwa can recognize it at a glance.
"Isn't this the same as the silver ingots unearthed at the 'Jiangkou Site'?"
(End of chapter)
