Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

"Hey, we're about to leave." Wu Wei received Yin Fengjue's message, stuffed his phone into his pocket, and shouted into the yard.

"Here you are." Hei Xiazi walked out of the room carrying two backpacks, one his own and one Wu Wei's.

Wu Wei reached out to take his bag, but Hei Xiazi avoided his hand and stuffed both bags into the trunk.

The two drove to Zhengyang Road.

When they arrived, Yin Fengjue was already waiting. He had driven an SUV and was standing next to the car, looking down at his phone.

Hearing the engine, he looked up and waved to Wu Wei.

After getting off the bus, the group greeted each other.

Wu Wei stepped aside to let Hei Xiazi pass and introduced him, "You can call this Master Hei; he's my assistant."

Yin Fengjue shyly extended his hand: "Hello, Mr. Hei, thank you for making this trip."

Hei Xiazi wore a white shirt picked out by Wu Wei today. He was tall and had a tough demeanor.

Although he still exudes a bit of a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) vibe, when he stands there, he really does look like an assistant.

He reached out and shook hands with Yin Fengjue, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

After a brief introduction, Yin Fengjue drove ahead to lead the way, with Hei Xiazi and Wu Wei following behind.

It takes nearly seven or eight hours to travel from Beijing to that small county in Henan.

The scenery outside the car window gradually changed from the undulating northern mountains to the vast plains.

The crops stretch out as far as the eye can see, like a green ocean, with layers of waves when the wind blows.

Wu Wei peered out the car window for a while, then exclaimed, "It's truly magnificent!"

After a while, Wu Wei turned to Hei Xiazi and asked, "Are you tired? Let's switch. I'll have a meeting, and you can rest for a bit."

Black Bear, who was holding the steering wheel with one hand, waved his hand and said, "Come on, this distance isn't tiring."

After saying that, a slight smile appeared on his lips, as if he had thought of something interesting. "This is the first time the blind man has gone into a tomb for reasons other than tomb raiding."

Wu Wei leaned back in his chair and turned to look at him: "There will be plenty of opportunities like this in the future."

He then took out his phone and called Yin Fengjue, who was leading the way, to ask if he needed help driving for a while so they could rest.

Yin Fengjue's voice came through the receiver: "No need, Senior Brother, we're almost there."

Wu Wei responded and then hung up.

Hei Xiazi said quietly, "I do care about your junior brother."

Wu Wei put away his phone and casually replied, "What junior brother? My advisor takes on students every year; I have plenty of junior brothers."

Smoke was already rising from the villages we passed by; it was almost dinnertime.

Ahead, Yin Fengjue turned onto a side road and headed towards one of the villages.

The car made several turns before finally stopping in front of a local courtyard.

Yin Fengjue got out of the car and was talking to the person waiting at the door when the person turned around and ran inside to call for help.

As soon as Wu Wei and Hei Xiazi got out of the car, a large group of people walked out of the courtyard.

The two men at the head of the group were both elderly and looked quite old, but they were in good spirits and good condition.

One of them stepped forward and warmly extended his hand: "This must be Comrade Wu Wei, right? Thank you for coming all this way."

Yin Fengjue seemed to be quite familiar with the archaeological team. Pointing to the elderly man with completely white hair, she introduced him: "This is Professor Gu, who is in charge of the excavation of the artifacts."

He then pointed to the younger, gray-haired elderly man, "This is Professor Chen, who oversees the restoration and preservation of cultural relics."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Professor Gu welcomed the three into the courtyard.

The food had already been laid out inside; it had been reserved for them in advance.

The archaeological team had ample funding and decent food; several dishes were laid out on the table, and a basket of large white steamed buns was placed to one side.

Professor Gu handed each of them a steamed bun: "The staple food here is steamed buns, there is no rice, please don't mind."

Wu Wei looked at the large white steamed bun in his hand and took a big bite.

Mmm, delicious, with a rich wheat flavor and a satisfying chew.

After the meal, Professor Chen coughed a few times before speaking: "The collapse occurred in this village. To facilitate the excavation, the team stayed at a villager's home."

Wu Wei glanced at Hei Xiazi, who raised an eyebrow at him with an expression of certainty.

Professor Chen continued, "The standard of living in the village is quite good now. We found several independent courtyards. We heard you were coming, so we prepared one for the three of you."

"We usually eat and work in this courtyard, and we've hired villagers to help with cooking."

After synchronizing the information, Professor Chen called over a young man and asked him to lead the three of them to the courtyard where they were staying.

On the way, the young man introduced himself. His name was Li Jingming, he was Yin Fengjue's friend, and also Professor Chen's student.

Li Jingming said as he walked:

"Please feel free to tell me if you have any requests."

"We just hope to translate the inscription on the stone wall beneath the tomb as soon as possible; the professor is pressuring us."

Li Jingming coughed a few times on the way, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He then instructed Wu Wei and the other two:

"The temperature difference between day and night has been large lately, and many people in the team have caught colds and coughs. Please take care to keep warm."

The village wasn't big, and we arrived at the courtyard quickly.

It's an old-style tile-roofed house, with three main rooms and two side rooms, and it's kept quite clean.

Wu Wei and Hei Xiazi chose two side rooms, while Yin Fengjue stayed in one of the main rooms.

"Good night." Wu Wei said goodbye to the two of them and went back to his room.

The journey was long and tiring.

The next morning, Wu Wei was awakened by the crowing of roosters.

Most people in the village don't need alarm clocks to get up. Every household raises a few chickens, which crow in unison, louder than the loudest alarm clock.

Wu Wei rubbed his eyes and walked out of the room, just in time to run into Hei Xiazi, who had already come out. He couldn't help but complain, "I thought I could get a good night's sleep here."

Black Bear leaned against the doorframe, seeing his sleepy appearance, and a smile played on his lips as he teased him, "Since you're up so early, shall we practice our skills again today?"

Wu Wei immediately sobered up and refused decisively: "No."

They picked up a set of disposable toiletries and washed up together.

Black Bear went to the kitchen and found no ingredients.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, so she called Yin Fengjue to go with her to Professor Gu's courtyard to find food.

After breakfast, the three of them, along with the two professors, headed to the collapsed tomb.

It was a field planted with crops, and a large, deep pit suddenly appeared on the flat land. The area had been cordoned off, and several archaeologists were already busy around the pit.

Professor Gu and Professor Chen gave a few instructions and then went to attend to their respective tasks. As the leaders, they were even busier than the ordinary team members.

Li Jingming led them toward the stone wall of the underground palace.

As soon as he reached the tomb, the abnormal energy guide above Wu Wei's head began to flash with a halo.

He focused his mind and carefully observed as he walked.

After descending through the tomb robber's hole, there was a tomb passage half-covered by silt.

The stone walls on both sides of the tomb passage were rough and damp, covered with large patches of dark green moss. When a flashlight shone on them, the moss even shimmered with a faint phosphorescence.

The stone slabs underfoot were loosened by the underground water, and with each step, you could feel your shoes sinking slightly. Occasionally, when you stepped on the edge of a loose stone slab, a small stream of murky muddy water would seep out from the crack.

The air was filled with the smell of damp earth and rotten wood, mixed with a very faint, almost imperceptible sweet and fishy odor.

Passing through the tomb passage, one comes into view a completely destroyed antechamber.

The ground was littered with broken pottery shards and rotten wooden remnants.

It's clear that more than one group of tomb raiders came; they had already looted everything that could be taken.

Only a few broken terracotta figures remained in the side chambers, lying crookedly in the corners.

There were chisel marks and soot marks on the wall. Li Jingming saw Wu Wei staring at it and said in a low voice, "These were left by tomb raiders in the early years."

The sound echoed in the empty tomb chamber for a moment, inexplicably raising goosebumps on one's skin.

As they passed through the antechamber, the halo above Wu Wei's head transformed into an arrow, flashing and pointing in the direction behind him.

Li Jingming led them to the stone wall, coughed twice, and pointed to the obvious break in the stone wall, saying, "That stone slab was chiseled off from here."

Wu Wei nodded and said to Li Jingming, "You go ahead and do your work. We'll try translating first."

"Thank you for your help. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything." Li Jingming obediently left; he was also very busy.

Wu Wei and Yin Fengjue began translating the stone wall from two different directions.

The writing on the stone wall was denser and more complete than that on the previous stone slab. Yin Fengjue had already squatted in front of the stone wall, took out his notebook, and started recording line by line.

Suddenly, Hei Xiazi walked up to Wu Wei and said in a low voice, "Something's not right here."