Infinity: Our Zhongzhou team is really amazing!

Chapter 238: Tomb Raiders Alliance (Part ) Strange Stone Figurines
The four-man team, all of whom are experts, moved very quickly.

Chen Yulou was responsible for observing the mountain, Partridge Whistle was responsible for determining the location of the acupuncture point, Zhang Qiling was responsible for clearing the way, and even Gou Wu's dog could avoid the traps.

This is a team that almost brings together the top talents and industry elites from the southern and northern schools of tomb robbing in the Republic of China.

It can be called the Tomb Raiders Alliance.

"Wait." Partridge Whistle stopped moving with a wave of his hand, his ears twitching slightly: "There's an underground hanging river nearby!"

Chen Yulou raised his eyebrows: "Underground, hanging river?"

Underground rivers are not uncommon here, but how could a hanging river appear in Guanzhong?

Zhang Qiling lay on the ground, sensing with his right ear against the ground.

"Yes, it's a hanging river."

Chen Yulou frowned but didn't say anything.

But Zhang Qiling's next sentence shocked the remaining people.

"There's a tail following behind, the number of people——"

Zhang Qiling's indifferent eyes seemed a little confused.

"There should be hundreds."

Chen Yulou and Partridge Whistle looked at each other, and their eyes became very solemn.

Gou Wu was also a little panicked. There were only four of them now, and they were outnumbered. If they were blocked by someone, they would have no chance of running back to Changsha.

Chen Yulou thought about it and gritted his teeth: "No matter what, we have to hurry!"

"They came in with such force, they must have followed us in a long time ago. They haven't caught up with us yet, so they're just looking for someone to step on the mines!"

Partridge Whistle instantly pulled out his box gun, and Chen Yulou immediately held his hand: "Brother Partridge Whistle, I know what you are capable of."

"But a hundred miles away is the Japanese military camp."

"They were able to gather hundreds of people into the mountains right under the noses of the Japanese. Even if they weren't Japanese, they were definitely traitors!"

Chen Yulou is very experienced, and as a Green Forest Avenue, he also knows some military tactics: "One against a hundred, unless it is the invincible Yan Shuangying with his divine spear."

"Otherwise, the four of us are no match for them."

"Then let's fight quickly and decisively." Partridge Whistle took out the mountain map for comparison.

"This river runs east-west, and it's obviously not following the mountain."

Zhang Qiling silently added, "It's a man-made moat."

“Entering this river should lead to the underground palace.

"Brother Zhang, you're wrong!" Chen Yulou disagreed and retorted, "How could anyone in the pre-Qin period have opened up an underground hanging river?"

“Manpower, material resources, and technology are all unavailable.”

Chen Yulou knew in his heart that this matter was definitely related to the Zhang family. He hated people who always tried to be mysterious and keep secrets.

If the person on the other side was not very likely to be Japanese, he would have to have a good talk with Zhang Qiling.

Moreover, building an underground hanging river in the pre-Qin period was much more difficult than building the Great Wall.

Zhang Qiling did not explain.

Feeling the atmosphere grow awkward, Partridge Whistle turned to Zhang Qiling and said, "Brother Zhang, can you figure out the direction of this river?"

Zhang Qiling nodded and placed his fingers, which were much longer than those of an ordinary person, on the ground.

After a while, he stood up, looking puzzled: "How can this river flow from low to high?"

"The river flows around this side peak and towards the second main peak of Jiutian Mountain."

Partridge Whistle was silent for a moment, then said to Chen Yulou, "Brother Chen, I think what the Zhang brothers said is correct. This river must be the moat of the underground palace. We want to get in."

"Instead of looking for that illusory tunnel, it is better to enter the underground river and float downstream, which can also shake off most of the pursuers." As he said this, Partridge Whistle looked at Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling nodded: "They stopped too!"

Chen Yulou looked up and saw a Japanese fighter plane with a plaster flag on it flying by.

His expression changed: "Damn, it really is the Japanese!"

He was hesitant in his heart, but he was the oldest and highest-ranking member of the team, so he had more to consider.

This time we are actually confronting Japan directly, which is troublesome but also reasonable.

However, if it is true as this silent guy said.

This underground hanging river is so wide, so how big must this underground palace be?

Even the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor may not be so large.

Then the problem is coming.

Who is buried here?
If you want to enter the underground hanging river, it is impossible for just a few people to dig a hole in the ground and crawl in.

No time and no tools.

This time it was Gou Wu who made a great contribution. His little tool discovered an abandoned stone road, which seemed to be a mine road used by miners to dig stones and mines during the Song Dynasty.

Partridge Whistle led the way in front with an oil lamp, while Chen Yulou followed behind with a box gun, being careful of those who were following behind.

The two men stood one in front and one behind, protecting the two young people in the middle.

It was also pitch black inside. Stone figurines lay across the stone path. The cave walls on both sides were full of potholes and cracks, and sometimes you could see unfinished relief stone carvings.

These things are all very large in size. Gou Wu couldn't help but wonder how the stones mined here were transported to the outside world.

In the darkness, it was very quiet, with only the sound of a few people's footsteps. Gou Wu was nervous, and he always felt that the footsteps of four people were the voices of five people.

To relieve the pressure, he started to make small talk: "This mine was built during the Song Dynasty. Could it be that it was used to mine the birthday gift for Emperor Huizong of Song?"

"The birthday gift is the flower and stone gift, which comes from the south of the Yangtze River and is made of Taihu stone." Partridge Whistle knew more than the uneducated Gou Wu, and he explained patiently.

"In order to transport the Taihu stones, so many bridges were demolished along the way and so many fishermen's livelihoods were destroyed. No wonder the Liangshan heroes made it so difficult for the government troops to breathe." Chen Yulou also became interested.

He admires Liangshan very much, especially since he is now considered the leader of the green forest heroes and the chief of tens of thousands of guards. He always has a sense of identity with Liangshan.

"Of course, given the extravagant lifestyle of Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, there might have been officials in northern Shanxi who, in order to please him, ordered large-scale mining." Partridge Whistle added.

"Aside from his good handwriting, Zhao Ji is completely useless."

"I know, it's that thin golden font, right?" Gou Wu said excitedly, "I saw a copybook in Master Buddha's house. The calligraphy was really beautiful!"

"If I had a grandson, I would definitely let him practice the Slender Gold Body!"

"Why is it the grandson?" Zhang Qiling, who had been silent all the time, suddenly asked.

Gou Wu chuckled and said, "This worthless emperor is only fit to be my grandson."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Suddenly, laughter rang out in the mine tunnel.

"If the dykes are connected to mountain streams, it is possible to form a water system inside the mountain." Partridge Whistle brought the topic back on track.

"But I still can't understand why there's an underground hanging river here."

"We walked in for about two incense sticks, so we should have walked three miles."

It was pitch black in front and behind, and the lamp oil was exhausted, making it very dim. Several people had to stop to change the lamp oil and smoke some tobacco to refresh themselves.

Zhang Qiling stood there, stroking those lifelike stone figures.

For some reason, Gou Wu felt that this young man was kind: "Young man from the Zhang family, can you tell what these stone figures are carved with?"

Zhang Qiling frowned slightly and shook his head. "It's strange, I've never seen a stone man like this before," said Partridge Whistle.

Chen Yulou and Queqiao Shao are both experts in tomb robbing. Over the years, they have robbed at least eighty tombs from various dynasties.

But I have never seen such a strange stone man.

The technique does not conform to any dynasty, but it is an object from the Song Dynasty.

Chen Yulou blew out a smoke ring. "Chinese clay and stone carving has a long history, and it has been integrated with ancient Indian and Tibetan culture for a long time. However, I can only remember one instance of a carving technique that used realism as its primary means of expression: that was Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army."

"But the stone statues here are completely different from the Terracotta Warriors. They are truly an anomaly."

These stone men are of the same style, with very long limbs and their torsos seeming to be wrapped in tight armor.

In particular, he wore a helmet with a single horn on his head. The lower edge of the helmet was a bit like the ox-horn helmet of the Ming Guang armor, but the protruding right angle on the top was very strange.

His chin was pointed and protruding, and there were two long armor plates on his shoulders.

The overall effect gives people a weird aesthetic feeling.

But after searching through all their memories, several people were unable to tell which dynasty this armor belonged to.

"This mine tunnel is very long." Zhang Qiling suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Chen Yulou frowned.

Partridge Whistle's eyes lit up, and he looked at the stone statue carefully, as if he had thought of something.

"I mean, the stone figurines at the mine entrance and the stone figurines here are not from the same dynasty."

"There's at least a hundred years between them."

Partridge Whistle patted Zhang Qiling's shoulder in admiration.

"You are indeed a hero of the Zhang family. Now that you mention it, I realize that the stone figurines in this passage are getting older and older as we go further in."

"The deeper we go, the older the figures become, and the stranger their shapes become."

"It's like later generations can only imitate the previous stone figurine, so there will be subtle differences."

"When you compare the two, the difference is not big, but when you compare the original one with the current one, the gap is very obvious."

Chen Yulou was puzzled: "Why on earth would these craftsmen come here for hundreds of years to carve a stone figurine, and they can only refer to the previous one."

“Why don’t they go deeper?”

Several people looked into the depths of the dark mine tunnel.

Yeah, why not go a little deeper.

What on earth is there?

After walking forward for a few more quarters of an hour, they estimated that they had reached the depths of Jiutian Mountain. The stone figurines here were becoming more and more dense, their sizes were getting bigger, and their appearances were becoming less and less like human beings.

"It's the end." said Partridge Whistle.

Sure enough, there was a stone wall in front, and at the end of the stone path was a small stone chamber with many broken stone figurines lying inside.

There are stone lamps around, and in the middle of the stone chamber, there is a stone coffin.

The sarcophagus was very large, with incomprehensible talismans carved on the lid. Two dragon bodies were wrapped around both sides of the coffin, and the carving was very refined, but the dragon's tail was obviously not finished, and only a rough outline was carved.

When the oil lamp shone on it, the stone of the coffin appeared translucent white like solidified fat.

The coffin lid was not closed, revealing a gap as thick as an arm. The entire coffin was placed on the coffin bed, with nothing else around it.

It seems to be a burial coffin, which may have been left over during the burial, or carved as a spare and abandoned here.

"Why is this stone path so long and only leads to this place?" Gou Wu wondered.

"This is obviously a place where defective products are piled up. There is no exit." Chen Yulou looked around and said in confusion.

According to Zhang Qiling's judgment, theoretically the hanging river would pass through here, and the air would become more and more humid as you walked in.

Could it be that there is a secret passage in this stone chamber?
Partridge Whistle thought to himself.

Several people looked around but found no secret passage, and finally gathered around the sarcophagus.

Gou Wu pulled San Cun Ding around the coffin twice and asked, "Are there any zongzi inside?"

Chen Yulou was speechless and said, "No, I've never heard of burying the body first and then carving the coffin."

"Besides, the air here is flowing, the mountains and rivers circulate, it is a place where the vitality overwhelms the dead air. Without sufficient earth energy and filth, the zongzi cannot be produced."

"This should be an empty coffin."

Since the headman said that the coffin was empty, Gou Wu felt relieved and walked to the side of the coffin and pushed it hard.

It's too heavy to push.

"Maybe the entrance is under this coffin. Should we push it open and see what's that look on your face?"

Gou Wuyi turned around and saw that Chen Yulou's Partridge Whistle's face changed drastically, and the young man from the Zhang family also suddenly widened his eyes.

Gou Wu had also fought many battles before. His heart skipped a beat and he was about to run forward when he suddenly felt a chill on his hand. He looked down and saw a dry and pale hand stretched out from the gap in the coffin lid and grabbed his wrist.

Gou Wu's scalp suddenly felt numb and goose bumps appeared all over his body. He tried to pull his hand back like crazy.

However, the withered hand was so strong that not only could he not get rid of it, it also pulled him straight into the coffin.

Gou Wu was so scared that he almost lost his mind. In the chaos, a gunshot rang out and the bullet hit the corpse's hand accurately.

The force of the bullet immediately loosened the corpse's hand, and Gou Wu rolled and crawled behind Zhang Qiling.

He couldn't speak clearly: "Zong Zongzi!"

"I understand." Chen Yulou held the box gun with a serious expression.

Just now he boasted that there was nothing in the coffin, but he didn't expect to be slapped in the face so quickly.

"This is not an ordinary rice dumpling!" Zhang Qiling stood in front of Gou Wu and took out a black gold dagger.

"The inside and outside of the stone chamber are connected, and there is running water next to it. It is a place where yin and yang meet. How can zongzi be born there!" Partridge Whistle took out the box gun and flying claws, full of doubts.

Partridge Whistle has processed at least eighty rice dumplings, but he has never seen one that is so unconcerned about feng shui and qi points.

Shouldn't it have rotted into mud long ago?

Chen Yulou loaded his gun and said, "No matter what it is, kill him first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the coffin suddenly shook by itself and a muffled sound came from inside.

Gou Wu felt a chill all over his body, thinking, "Oh no!"
Damn, there really is a big problem here!

Then, the lid of the sarcophagus exploded, and a bloody figure jumped out from it.

Then there was a burst of gunfire. Chen Yulou and Partridge Whistle were both sharpshooters, and their box guns could accurately hit willow branches fifty feet away.

The blood-red figure was stopped by the bullet and fell to the ground.

Gou Wu hasn't breathed a sigh of relief yet.

The blood-red figure moved even faster and rose straight up from the ground.

In an instant, it appeared in front of him.

Gou Wu looked at the huge bloody monster face, the black hole without pupils staring at him.

He suddenly recalled the Warring States tomb in Puziling, Changsha, where his father and elder brother died tragically ten years ago.

And that monster.

Suddenly, everything went black and I lost consciousness.

(End of this chapter)