People in Zong Tomb, Jieling Pirates

Chapter 281 Departure (continued)

Looking back from the cave, Chen Ziyan raised his head and glanced at the sky, then said to the gentle woman: "The clouds are getting thicker and thicker. I'm afraid the weather will change later. Let's set off now, and you should go back as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen, we are prepared." The gentle woman responded softly.

Although she can't read the sky, there is no shortage of talents in this field in the team, so she already knew about this before coming here, so she was already prepared.

Hearing what she said, Chen Ziyan couldn't say anything more and had to do his own thing.

"Lao Hu, fat man, it's time to work!"

Following Chen Ziyan's greeting, the two men, who were already ready to go, immediately took action, pulling the boat towards the cave one after the other.

Others followed on foot. After all, the water depth outside was limited, so they had to wait until the boat reached the real underground river in the cave before going up.

Boom——

As luck would have it, as soon as the few people here walked along the edge into the cave, there was a thunder from the sky, and then the patter of raindrops began to fall.

Chen Ziyan, who was standing on the edge of the cave, looked back and saw that the gentle woman and others had put on their rain gear. It was obvious that what she just said was not perfunctory.

The moment their eyes collided, after the two nodded to each other, Chen Ziyan turned around and followed the footsteps of the others.

The entrance to the cave is a small slope, about one or two meters in length, and underneath is the undulating underground river.

Although this slope was very shallow, it did not block the progress of the boats. By the time Chen Ziyan walked over, the boats that came in first had already stopped firmly on the underground river.

I don’t know why. It’s just such a short distance, but here and the outside world are like two isolated worlds. Apart from the gurgling sound of the underground river, the wind, rain and thunder outside can’t be heard here at all.

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Chen Ziyan was the last one to board the boat, and the others were already waiting for him.

"Let's go." Chen Ziyan gave the order after taking a look at the road ahead with the help of the powerful searchlight on the bow.

There is nothing to see here, and they are not here to study the geological environment.

When Wang Kaixuan heard this, he hurriedly patted Hu Bayi next to him: "Old Hu, what are you waiting for? It's so quick to move. I can't wait to dig out the lair dedicated to Mr. Wang."

"What are you trying to do? Things won't run away there." Although Hu Bayi said he was not convinced, the movements under his hands were not slow at all.

With the roar of the engine, the boat beneath them began to move forward slowly.

The reason why we choose this speed is because we are now in an unfamiliar environment and need to leave enough reaction time for emergencies.

"Do you think we should give this operation a code name? This will make our operation more planned and purposeful." Shirley Yang, who felt that the atmosphere was a bit cold, took the initiative to start a conversation.

Ding Sitian nodded when she heard this and agreed: "I think it's okay, it will be more cohesive."

Coming from a special system, she had long been accustomed to having code names for her actions, but she felt a little uncomfortable when she suddenly didn't have them.

Wang Kaixuan thought about it for a while and said: "How about we just call it Operation Touching the Ming Weapon and point out the theme directly. We are all happy people and we don't deal with those empty-headed things."

"Come on, if this code name is changed to a place with people, it will be called "Don't bring it upon yourself!" Hu Bayi complained sharply.

Because of the action code matter, several people were no longer silent as before, and just started chatting with each other.

Chen Ziyan, who was sitting alone on the bow of the boat, couldn't help but chuckle and shook his head as he listened to the increasingly eccentric conversation behind him, but he had no intention of getting involved.

As he was tasked with observing the situation, he needed to be fully focused and could not be distracted by such things.

Different from the hot and humid climate outside the cave, the deeper you go into the mountain, the lower the temperature becomes. From time to time, you can see phosphorus fire flickering in the distance, which all proves that this is not a dead world without life.

Taking the time to turn on the flashlight and shine it into his hand, Chen Ziyan found figures swaying from time to time in the clear water. It looked like they should be water snakes, small fish or other creatures.

Wang Kaixuan noticed Chen Ziyan's movements, and he also looked at them, and then put his hand in to try.

"Hi ha! This water is so cold!"

But the biting coldness of the underground river water directly exceeded his psychological expectations, causing the guy not only to retract his hand like lightning, but also couldn't help but let out a exclamation.

Shaking away the remaining water droplets on his hands, Wang Kaixuan said: "I never thought there could be such cold water in Yunnan. Could it be snow water flowing directly from the top of the mountain?"

Shirley Yang gave him popular science: "This has nothing to do with whether it is snow water or not. It is because the temperature difference between here and outside is relatively large, which causes the human body to create an illusion. Once you get used to it, you won't feel cold anymore."

"How do you adapt to this..." Wang Kaixuan wanted to say something more, but before he could finish his words, his body was carried sideways by the hull of the ship.

Fortunately, in order to prevent their heads from being hit by stalactites, except for Hu Bayi, who was in charge of the helm, everyone else sat directly after setting off, so they quickly regained stability.

After regaining his seat, Wang Kaixuan looked at Hu Bayi and asked, "Old Hu, what's going on?"

Hu Bayi glanced at both sides of the boat, frowned slightly and said: "I think I hit something, maybe a stone on the bottom of the river or something like that. You all sit still, I guess there may be more next time."

While speaking, Hu Bayi couldn't help but secretly feel happy.

In the current situation, if they were traveling on a random bamboo raft instead of this boat, their situation would not be as easy as it is now.

"Speaking of which, the scenery here is pretty good." Shirley Yang ran up behind Chen Ziyan at some point and said softly.

Chen Ziyan glanced at those jagged and weird stalactites and nodded: "It is indeed quite bizarre. Only the uncanny workmanship of nature can carve out such a scene."

Before he finished speaking, he saw that the river in front of him suddenly widened. Under the illumination of the searchlight, he could clearly see that naturally occurring lava terraces appeared on the cave walls on both sides of the river. The layers upon layers of lava.

The terraces are like undulating waves, and from a distance they look like a solidified silver ocean.

In the very center of the river, there is a vermilion stone bead hanging upside down. Behind the stone bead is a beast's mouth that looks like a tiger or a lion.

The shape of the beast's mouth is simple, but it has a unique charm. At this time, against the interlacing light and shadow, it looks like a roaring beast with its teeth bared, trying to swallow the scarlet stone beads into its belly.

.

Although this scene refuted Chen Ziyan's words, he had no intention of paying attention to it at the moment. Instead, he stared closely at the beast's mouth in front of him, and there was a trace of uneasiness in his heart that he hadn't seen in a long time.

He already knew the plot and knew that after passing through this door, their journey would officially begin.

This scene was not only seen by Chen Ziyan, but also by the rest of the people on the boat.

Especially Hu Bayi, who was in charge of controlling the ship, immediately shut down the engine and threw the anchor at hand into the water.

After the boat stopped completely, he asked: "Master Chen, can we get in?"

They had already obtained the information about this waterway from Wen Wan Woman, but such a distinctive place was not mentioned in it. This had to make Hu Bayi wonder if he and others had gone the wrong way.

This is also the reason why he stopped the ship. After all, when the way forward is unclear, you can't just go blindly.

Several people on the boat looked at each other in silence. After a moment of silence, Chen Ziyan took the initiative and said: "Let's see what the situation is first."

Otherwise, what can he do? He can't say that he knows what's behind.

As he spoke, he adjusted the searchlight and put the beam of light into the beast's mouth. Then he saw the human figurines hanging behind the door. They seemed so densely packed that they couldn't be counted at a glance.

Seeing this horrifying scene, Wang Kaixuan whispered: "I remember that little peacock girl said that sometimes human figurines fall down from the mountains here, and they are full of maggots. Shouldn't the ones in front of them fall down?"

Could it be that thing?"

After he finished speaking, even with his courage, he couldn't help but shudder. Thinking about this kind of thing simply made people's scalp numb.

The two female idioms in the team were even more uncomfortable with it. After hearing the word maggot, they felt their stomachs churn and turned their heads away from looking at the densely packed human figurines.

Hu Bayi was silent for a moment and said: "This... probably is that thing."

They all fall within the scope of Zhelong Mountain. How could there be two kinds of human figurines? What's more, the information found mentioned that there would be some human figurines in this waterway.

Scanning the people behind him from the corner of his eye, Chen Ziyan took a breath and said slowly: "There is only this road in front of me now. There is no possibility of going astray. Don't think too much. No matter what, you have to go in and take a look.

Let’s talk about it later.”

You haven't even encountered a decent danger, so you can't retreat just because of that, right?

If this is the case, then they are not far away from changing careers.

In fact, the main reason why they reacted like this was that the beast's mouth portal appeared relatively suddenly, and the light and shadow effects were rendered so well that after seeing the human figurines at the door, there was a sense of a chain effect.

Now that I have adapted a little, the shock has faded away and I have returned to my normal state of mind.

"Okay, let's take a look and then talk." Hu Bayi responded.

He then retrieved the anchor from the water and restarted the ship's engine.

This time, none of them were in the mood to chat anymore. They were all staring at the situation ahead. In such a strange place, no amount of caution would be too much.

Especially Hu Ba and Wang Kaixuan, both of them had witnessed corpse-raising with their own eyes, so at this time they were staring at the human figurines without blinking, for fear that these things would suddenly attack.

When the boat sailed into the entrance of the beast's mouth, Chen Ziyan saw the specific situation inside, and saw that the river behind it had become narrower and deeper.

After carefully looking at the river and making sure there were no problems, a few people focused on the hanging human figurines.

Now that I got closer, I saw that all these human figurines had their hands behind their backs and were placed in a binding position.

Because of the damp and cold underground environment, the surface of these human figurines has turned grey-brown, and the outline of their facial features has long been blurred, as if a layer of frosted rock has been hung on the surface of the body, making them look like stone figures.

The figurines are somewhat similar.

However, although it is impossible to distinguish the appearance of men and women, in terms of body shape, these human figurines are quite different. Some are tall and some are short, and some are fat and some are thin.

And after careful observation, we can also find that in addition to adults, there are also some teenagers who have not yet grown up. It can be seen that they are not in accordance with the standard and are completely different from the specifications of the stone figurines of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

At the top of the cave, the copper chains hanging upside down human figurines have long been mottled with green, and some have fallen off due to age.

"This thing is really permeable!"

Seeing those human figurines hanging above his head, like hanged ghosts, even Chen Ziyan couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Especially since this place is in a deep mountain, it further enhances the atmosphere.

Naturally, the others were also very uncomfortable, and even their heartbeats were subconsciously beating a few minutes faster.

At this time, a human figurine that had fallen off at some point drifted slowly to the side of the boat with the current.

After Shirley Yang forced herself to calm down, she directly fixed it with the paratrooper knife she carried, keeping it parallel to the ship. Then she used a flashlight to observe closely: "These figurines look a bit Han Dynasty style, but they are more...

There are no specific characteristics.”

Ding Sitian also came closer, but as soon as she got closer, she frowned and said, "Something's wrong!"

Wang Kaixuan quickly asked: "Xiao Ding, what's wrong?"

Ding Sitian didn't care about her inner feelings. She took out her dagger and scratched the body of the figurines. Then she turned the blade upside down and brought it to her face. She took a gentle sniff and said, "These don't seem to be stone figurines!"

"Not stone figurines? What kind of figurines are they?" Wang Kaixuan asked in confusion.

But before Ding Sitian could answer, Shirley Yang said: "Sitian, use a knife to cut this human figurine open and take a look."

"Okay." Although Ding Sitian felt nauseous, she was still within the tolerance range.

And after she cut open the skin of the human figurine, she saw that it was full of maggot corpses that had long since rotted.

While washing the dagger in the water, she looked at the human figurines and said, "If I hadn't guessed, these human figurines should be made of living people."

In fact, after they saw these human figurines, they had some vague suspicions in their hearts, but before it was truly confirmed, no one thought that the truth would be so heartbreaking.

This can no longer be described as evil.

After getting the answer she wanted, Shirley Yang let go of the figurine. She washed the paratrooper knife and said: "It is rumored that King Xian was a wizard king in the ancient Yunnan period. This kind of thing is related to his methods.

It's very consistent. I've seen corresponding records in some ancient books. It says that the evil spells used by Xian Wang are mostly based on the souls of the deceased. It is said that the more the number of wronged souls, the more powerful the evil spell will be. I would like to use it with Xian Wang.

The evil technique on his own tomb will definitely cost him everything."

She paused for a moment before continuing: "I even guess that this is just a part. If we continue to go deeper, we may see more similar things."

Shirley Yang had conducted an in-depth investigation into King Xian. Although there were not many records left by this kind of frontier king, she was able to find some by piecing it together here and there.

However, the appearance of these human figurines also made her truly agree with the statement that King Xian's tomb is here.

"If these human figurines were made by King Xian, then this might be the waterway he built to transport materials at that time."

Shirley Yang, whose sanity came back online, made a judgment on the origin of this waterway in the blink of an eye.

After all, in the current environment, water transportation is the most time-saving and labor-saving shortcut.

Wang Kaixuan was not very interested in these. He glanced at the human figurines that had drifted away and asked with some uncertainty: "Does that mean these human figurines are all made of living people?"

Shirley Yang nodded lightly and said: "I saw it when searching for information. There is a kind of figurine in the evil technique, which is to tie up the whole body of the person, force it to swallow a kind of ' evil spirit', and then seal it to death.

Take the seven orifices of the human body, hang them up with copper chains and suffocate them alive, so that you can get a figurine of a ferocious human being."

It is precisely because of this that Shirley Yang asked Ding Sitian to cut open the human figurine for further verification.

(End of chapter)