"...We found the missing Ma Chunhua and Xiang Andai in the underground shrine. After follow-up investigation, I found that there are a large number of magical artifacts stored in the shrine, and they are all of good quality, especially a set of yellow paper, calligraphy brushes, Cinnabar can still be used to draw talismans. These grandsons are really rich (cross out this paragraph). Some of the magic weapons have been used. It should be that Ma Chunhua has entered some kind of ritual, but the scene layout There are many errors and omissions, and there are no residual traces of mana. It is inferred that Ma Chunhua came into contact with some scattered knowledge in archaeology, and then spliced it together. Just in case, I checked carefully. Although Ma Chunhua was mentally disturbed, her soul was intact and her body was not. Signs of being invaded by evil spells; Xiang Andai's body has become stiff, there are corpse spots on the skin, the abdomen is slightly bulging, and the internal organs have begun to rot, but there are no signs of corpse transformation, demonization, or possession."
Li Changan grasped the pen holder and kept his eyes blank for a while, then struggled to squeeze out another paragraph.
"There are traces of human life in the underground village, but the houses are very tidy, and there are no animal bones in the chicken coops and pig pens. It doesn't look like it suddenly disappeared due to an accident, but more like a planned and orderly evacuation. As for the moldy phenomenon in the village, I No monsters or monsters were found, but the smell was very, very strong and very pungent. I don’t know how the archaeological team could bear it. Anyway, I couldn’t stay there for a second (this paragraph is also crossed out). The above may have been here. There really are some kind of monsters and gods, but for now, we’re not worried about them.”
After drawing the end, Li Changan breathed a sigh of relief.
He is a serious person and does not have the habit of keeping a diary. What he writes in the diary is a work record. It is considered as part of the task. He is required to record everything in detail. He originally had a small video camera that fell in the landslide.
Zhong Huansu had specifically warned that this matter was very important, as it was the experience of countless seniors risking their lives.
Li Changan is an honest man. After taking other people's money, he has to deal with other people's affairs.
And now.
He has to do another big thing.
The Taoist priest packed up his notes and walked out calmly, bypassing the rain-soaked courtyard and entering an inconspicuous hut in the corner of the ancestral hall.
open the door.
Wang Zhongmin has been waiting here for a long time.
Outside, it was raining heavily; inside, it was dim and cramped.
Wang Zhongmin silently raised the iron sword, and Li Changan silently lit the flame.
"What's for lunch?"
"Potato shreds."
Yes, it’s Huo Fu. Isn't food, clothing, housing and transportation the most important thing in the world?
After discovering the cave, in the past two days, the archaeological agent plunged into the underground village, forgetting sleep and eating like crazy, leaving Li Changan and Wang Zhongmin behind. One could not stand the musty smell, the other was not interested, and was too embarrassed to do nothing, so he took the initiative to provoke Logistics work.
Usually, two people prepare meals for seven people, but it's different today.
Just as the stove was turned on, the door opened again and a girl came in, saying hello in a soft voice.
"Brother Li, Uncle Wang."
Wang Zhongmin turned around and was happy.
"Hey, it's Xiao Xiao. Why are you here so early today? Could it be that Professor Shao and the others are hungry and anxious and asked you to help them eat? Don't worry, it's almost over."
"They act like immortals as soon as they work. How can they be hungry?" Xiao Shu smiled and shook his head, "Aren't we repairing the murals? Today we have the first stage results. I'll ask the two leaders to come and check for acceptance."
As she said that, she rolled up her sleeves and was about to come over to help with the cooking, but before she even got to the stove, Wang Zhongmin waved a spatula and pushed her away.
"It's so smoky, what are you doing here, little girl? Besides, you work during the day and take care of the pony at night. You're so tired that you're almost out of shape. You should rest first."
"It's not that exaggerated."
Xiao Shu didn't refute, and turned around to wash the dishes with a smile. After that, Qiqi Aiai walked to Li Changan.
"Brother Li, something..."
"it is done."
The Taoist priest nodded.
He handed her a yellow talisman, which was a calming talisman.
Taoist priests are sneaky when they steal sheep, but they are open and honest when studying talismans. Most of the archaeological team were atheists, and they only thought that Li Changan's academic direction was partial. However, Xiao Shu was a girl, more emotional, and interested in the theory of ghosts and gods, so he begged Li Changan to draw a talisman for Ma Chunhua.
In fact, it is of no use. Ma Chunhua has a heart disease that is difficult to cure with talismans and medicinal stones.
But Li Changan still found time to draw a frightening and calming talisman.
Although it cannot heal the sick, it can at least comfort relatives and friends.
Seeing Xiao Shu say "thank you", he carefully put the talisman away.
Li Changan hesitated for a moment.
"Is Ma Chunhua feeling better now?"
Xiao Shu's raised eyebrows suddenly dropped.
"still the same."
That day I found Ma Chunhua in the underground shrine. At that time, she had been holding Xiang Andai's body and refused to let go. The crowd had no choice but to forcefully separate the two, put the body back into the coffin, and nailed the lid with coffin nails.
At this time, Ma Chunhua calmed down, but she seemed to have lost her soul. She lay in bed silently all day long. Only Xiao Shu, her best friend, could occasionally respond to the call, but she just turned her face and looked at her with empty eyes. The handsome man looked sluggish, just like the old man in the rain that day.
Mentioning her, the atmosphere suddenly became much duller.
Fortunately, Wang Zhongmin had already prepared the meal.
The three of them split up.
Xiao Shu went to take care of Ma Chunhua.
Li Changan and Wang Zhongmin went to deliver meals to Professor Shao and the others, and also 'check the results'.
…………
The underground is still the same.
The underground river is still flowing rapidly, the village is still rotting and dead, and the buildings are crawling in the darkness, like high and low tombs.
Li Changan walked quickly through the "mass grave" and arrived at the square where the archaeological team was located.
Some candles and coal lamps were lit in the square, barely holding up some light in the dark and boundless world.
These things, like oil, rice and vegetables, are all borrowed from fellow villagers.
certainly.
It's okay to say "take" because the host neither agreed nor refused.
Wang Zhongmin, who did this, did not feel guilty at all. According to his statement, he had brought these supplies into the mountains one by one and moved them into each house with his own hands.
Now, just think that he sent it to the wrong place.
No gossip.
Professor Shao looked at Li Changan and Li Changan from a distance, and shouted to them to come and see what they had accomplished in the past few days - a spliced mural.
The content is a continuation of the intact one.
The background is the heart of the mountain, the depths of a cave reached by a tunnel extending upward from the foot of the mountain. There are only two characters, one of whom should be the hero who walked out of the village, outlined with a simple black line. The hero in the painting is prostrate on the ground with his hands raised in the air.
There is another figure above the hero, two or three times larger in size and inhuman, painted not with black lines but with white.
Between the two figures, there are dense white dots, all of which merge into the hands of the hero.
Li Changan stared for a long time, involuntarily entranced, as if he saw this scene in a trance:
In a dark and lightless cave.
The huge inhuman thing is entrenched in the depths of the shadows. It exudes pale blood, like conscious flying insects, drilling out of the skin drop by drop, and collecting in the hands of the prostrate mortals.
"Did you think of anything when you saw this painting?"
Professor Shao was in high spirits, like a child showing off a new toy.
If Wang Zhongmin gained anything, Li Changan next to him calmly replied:
"Azhi's story."
"right!"
The professor clapped his hands.
"Azhi! Divine blood! Soul-returning sand!"
His rickety and thin body almost jumped for joy.
"These murals are likely to prove that the soul-returning sand is not a fiction. Although we don't know what it is yet, it has its original shape and really existed in history."
Is the soul-returning sand real?
Li Changan looked at Zeng Guangwen with his eyes, and the old man with his glasses dropped his face, full of embarrassment.
Professor Shao continued to talk.
"In the entire research on the religion, history, and culture of the Liangshan area, most of the original materials have no text or examples. Most of them come from oral songs and stories, and there are too many guesses and inferences. But now, this ruins, this mural, Not only does it fill the gap in this area, it may even make all related research overturn and start over!”
He spoke impassionedly, and Li Changan expressed his understanding, but the smell was too strong and he really couldn't empathize with him.
then.
"How about...eating first?"
…
Put the food on the spot.
One pot of potatoes, one pot of pumpkin, one pot of dry rice and one pot of rice soup.
Professor Shao said happily while dividing the chopsticks:
"As expected of Chef Wang, today's meal is still sumptuous!"
"What's so rich?!" Wang Zhongmin shook his head and added food to everyone, "I didn't even get a piece of meat."
"It's already pretty good." Professor Shao smiled, "If you don't believe me, ask them, what do we usually eat?"
Yi Baohua spoke concisely and to the point, with a sigh on his face.
"Fire-roasted steamed buns."
Zeng Guangwen added: "Add mustard."
"No way?"
Wang Zhongmin couldn't understand. They were all educated people, how could they have worse food than the coolies working underground?
"For field work, keep everything simple."
Professor Shao didn't explain much. He changed the topic and asked a question that everyone was concerned about - when will the rescue come?
The village is located deep in the mountains and old forests, with no human beings around. If you want to seek help, you have to hike out of the mountains in the heavy rain. It is too dangerous, so everyone has to stay in the isolated village and wait for discovery from above.
Being so passive, it is inevitable to feel anxious.
"Don't worry, I estimate it will only be two or three days."
Wang Zhongmin, however, was full of confidence and made a big deal.
"A few years ago, I was once blocked by a landslide in the mountains. My wife found out that I didn't come home, so she went to find the leader at that time. As a result, the road was blocked at noon, and the excavator arrived in the afternoon!"
"Although I have to stay in the village permanently this time when I go to work in the mountains, I have agreed to go back and report every few days. I guess the county should also suspect that we have encountered a problem."
"So Professor Shao, you don't need to panic or be anxious."
"I'm not in a hurry, I'm just..." Professor Shao retorted a few words, suddenly burst into laughter, and then nodded and admitted, "I am indeed anxious."
He stood up and pointed at the rotten underground world in the darkness with his chopsticks.
"With the current manpower and tools, the efficiency of such a major archaeological discovery is too low. I can't wait to immediately recruit a big team and a lot of good equipment to set up a research institute and laboratory. Yes, there is also that mountain road, it's really It’s time to redo it!”
"Repair! Of course we must repair it!" Wang Zhongmin immediately agreed, looking even more excited than Professor Shao, "If we don't build roads, how can tourists get in? Huaxia, no! It is the only underground village in the world. This is a golden goose." No, the entire county’s economy depends on it!”
The atmosphere was tense.
Several people were chattering away, each talking about their thoughts after the mountain road was reopened.
Yi Baohua hesitated and said that he wanted to invite Xiao Shu to watch the upcoming movie.
Zeng Guangwen talked about his hometown and said that he would definitely go back to visit his parents this time.
Finally, several people turned their attention to Li Changan, who had been listening without speaking.
The Taoist priest sighed quietly.
"I don't want to think about anything else, I just want to eat meat."
After a brief silence, cheerful laughter resounded throughout the ground.
Wang Zhongmin patted his thigh.
"I'll kill a fat pig when I get back, and treat everyone to pig-killing soup when I go out."
"keep your word."
Li Changan ladles out a bowl of rice soup to serve as wine.
Everyone was learning something, and several broken bowls were clinked in the air.
"cheers!"
"I hope rescue will come soon, and I wish all our wishes will come true!"
It's over.
Professor Shao did not eat. He held rice soup and stared at the mural next to him for a long time. His eyes were complicated, relieved, happy, and unwilling.
Students are concerned: "Teacher?"
"fine."
He shook his head.
"I was just thinking that I have been responsible for finding this place in my life. The only regret... is that everyone in the team should be able to see it with their own eyes and discover it with their own hands."
He looked at his students.
"Baohua, Guangwen, Andai, Chunhua and..."
At this point, Professor Shao paused and said "Huh".
"Xiao Shu? Why haven't you come here yet?"
…………
When Xiao Shu walked out of the kitchen, Li Changan had already left.
The heavy rain continued, and the accumulated water formed a shallow pond in the yard.
Ma Chunhua's room is on the other side of the "pond".
If she wants to go there, there are two ways.
Or just walk across the yard in the rain.
Or go around along the corridor.
But a section of the corridor had collapsed, and if she wanted to go there, she had to pass through the Xiangtang.
There was a coffin lying across the hall. Inside the coffin lay a familiar friend. The lid of the coffin was sealed with iron nails.
She hesitated for a moment and stepped into the rain.
…
Come to the front of the house.
The door was closed tightly, Xiao Shuyun took a few breaths and tried to look gentler.
"Duo duo."
She struck the first bell.
The rain behind me became even stronger, and the white rain curtain was like thick gauze, wrapping the yard layer by layer.
"Duo duo."
She struck a second time.
There was no response in the house, only the sound of wind and rain could be heard, noisy and dead silent.
"Duo duo."
She struck a third time.
A cold wind blew. She suddenly remembered that everyone had left, and in this small isolated world, she was the only one... and the body in Xiangtang's coffin.
She shuddered.
right.
There are also spring flowers.
She quickly opened the door and jumped into the side room.
…
Maybe it's because the windows aren't open.
In the room, despite the darkness, the musty smell in the air became more rotten and thicker.
Xiao Shu put his lunch on the table, next to it was the breakfast brought today. He glanced at it and didn't move it at all.
The gentleness on Xiao Shu's face fell away, leaving behind deep exhaustion.
She sighed softly and advised: "Chunhua, I know that Andai... is gone, you feel bad, and so do we. But you have to eat something, think about your uncle and aunt, they only have your daughter. , you can’t let yourself collapse.”
But Ma Chunhua is still the same.
Like a dead person.
No reaction at all.
Turning his back to her, he curled up on the bed and covered his body with the quilt.
"Ma Chunhua!"
this moment.
Maybe it’s because of concern, maybe it’s because of fatigue and frustration.
Xiao Shu came to the bedside, grabbed Ma Chunhua's shoulders, turned her body over, and questioned her eye to eye.
However.
When Xiao Shu's hand grasped Ma Chunhua's shoulder.
It feels strange to the touch, not like skin and meat, but like butter covered with a layer of egg skin, or mashed potatoes with crispy crust fried on the surface.
The five fingers dug in lightly, and then touched something hard and smooth.
What's this?
Some doubts arose in my mind, but soon, the strange feeling was like living leeches, worming its way into my body along my fingertips, and my brain, which was so cold and desolate, went blank.
But her body still followed the previous instructions.
She broke Ma Chunhua over.
There was a faint sound of continuous and slight tearing in the quilt, the sound was like tearing apart a piece of Velcro.
She saw her face.
On the left side of the face, the skin color is even, the eyes are lightly closed, and there is a smile on the corner of the mouth, with a peaceful expression, as if he has sunk into a beautiful old dream.
And the right half of the face... no, that's not a face, that's a ball of rotten bones and flesh!
It has become ulcerated, suppurated, and moldy. Clumps of mycelium grew out between the yellow-brown meat and the white bones. They were yellow, white, green, purple... the colors were rich, and they spread lively on the rotten meat. .
The eyelids have disappeared.
As Ma Chunhua "turned" around.
Rotten water seeped out of the eye sockets and slid down the corners of the eyes. The eyeballs also slipped around, and the dazzling eyes met Xiao Shu's horrified gaze.
Xiao Shu finally understood.
It turns out that Ma Chunhua's skin and flesh are crispy, but her bones are hard.
