Oracle bone fragments

Chapter 22

"I was thinking about the chaotic scene in that basement at the moment it all happened. One morning, afternoon, or night, those people went into the closet, climbed into the basement hall, and found their own little huts. Maybe they lit a candle in front of them..."

As Sun Jing slowly recounted his speculations, one could almost see the scene from that time.

Behind each candlelight sat a person. They couldn't see the person next to them separated by a wall, nor could they clearly see the face of the experimenter behind the candle opposite them. But they could see the central circular platform, where candles should also be lit. And what might be placed in the bronze dish on the platform? Was there a better answer than a wizard's skull?

If it were the model used by European experimenters, there would be an unseen presiding person listening to the attendees recount the progress of their mysterious powers. But since a circular platform has been built here to hold the wizard's skull, there should be a separate ritual prepared specifically for Eastern experimenters—a ritual related to oracle bones and witchcraft.

However, for reasons unknown, a sudden change occurred. The experimenters recklessly squandered the mysterious power in the underground hall; some were injured, three died instantly, a large portion of the circular platform disappeared, and the brick walls of many small rooms collapsed…

The survivors decided to abandon the wizard's skull.

"That's not right." At this point, Sun Jing opened his eyes and shook his head.

"If the wizard's skull is abandoned, then it means that the skull is closely related to this incident."

“There must be a connection.” Xu Xu said, climbing inside. All the fighting seemed to have occurred on the side near the exit, where the inner compartments were better preserved.

Sun Jing watched as he slowly crawled inside, then suddenly straightened up. He had been kneeling on the ground, and now his head hit the ceiling with a dull thud. Judging from the sound, the ceiling seemed to be covered with a precast concrete slab.

“I’ve got it.” Sun Jing said, shining her flashlight in front of Xu Xu. “Look, there are no cubicles directly in front of you. The two rows on the left and right meet with about three cubicles of empty space. They’re not connected as a whole. This naturally divides the people at the gathering into two groups. Was it really necessary to make the basement like this? Unless they weren’t originally one group of experimenters, but two groups.”

"Two groups? You mean there's a conflict between the two groups, so..."

"Yes, that must be it. Hedin believed that oracle bones played a role in advancing the experiments, but this was his conjecture. To confirm the conjecture, experiments were needed, and comparative experiments were required. We initially thought that Chinese experimenters would be compared with European experimenters, but if the experiments were conducted in China, it would make sense to divide them into two groups. One group would perform the ritual using the Metanzo bronze plaque, and the other group would perform the ritual using the wizard's skull. If the group using the wizard's skull had particularly good results, such as being able to control the mysterious power that descended upon them, wouldn't the other group feel that it was unfair?"

"Of course, there will be conflicts even within the wizard skull group, because there is only one skull. The temptation to wield superhuman power instead of some messy curses is enough to drive everyone crazy. Everyone, you and I, will be no exception."

"The contradictions accumulated and deepened, and one day they were bound to erupt. However, it seems that things did not get out of control. The wizard's skull was donated to the country, and no one owns it. This should be a compromise."

“But the wizard skull in Dongbo is fake.” He slowly climbed to two-thirds of the way down and stopped, straightening up and scanning the surrounding chambers with his flashlight.

“Oh, another dead person,” she said.

Sun Jing was lost in thought about what the fake wizard skull meant, and for a moment he was distracted. He looked over at Xu Xu and was horrified to see her fall forward, her flashlight rolling to the ground.

A gentle breeze rose from the deepest part of the basement and brushed against Sun Jing's cheek.

At the end of the alley, Half-Ear had already finished loading the medicine, and his apprentice, who was in charge of the two buildings opposite, finished loading it not long after him.

The cordon was expanded outwards again. The engineer in charge of the detonation said to the traffic police next to him, "Can we control the traffic now? It will be detonated in half an hour."

The traffic police officer picked up his walkie-talkie and directed his colleagues nearby to begin traffic control.

The engineer glanced down at his watch, and after a moment, he looked up at the timekeeper and said, "Half an hour to go, start the countdown now."

The underground hall was deathly silent.

Sun Jing didn't rush over immediately, but waited a while. He didn't see clearly how Xu Xu fell down, but the sudden gust of wind reminded him of what Xu Xu had said.

Is it... a ghost?

The flashlight beam moved slowly around Xu Xu, shrouding several cubicles in darkness. It couldn't shine through from Sun Jing's position. There was no sound, as if Xu Xu had collapsed on her own.

Sun Jing held the flashlight in his mouth and slowly crawled towards the target. Unlike before, this time he was on his hands and feet, bent over, and kept his muscles tense so he could react quickly if anything went wrong.

Sun Jing stopped when he was less than two meters away from Xu Xu's heels. He took the flashlight out of his mouth; from this position, he could clearly illuminate the dark areas nearby.

Just as he reached for the flashlight, a strange gust of wind rushed towards him. He instinctively squinted and glimpsed something being swept towards his face by the wind.

He quickly blocked the flame with his flashlight. The thing hung on the flashlight without making a sound, but a pungent odor was carried to his face by the wind. Sun Jing felt dizzy and immediately held his breath, but a huge weight was lifted from his heart.

This is a wet towel soaked in a powerful stun agent. Anyone who would use such a despicable thing is certainly not a ghost or monster.

Sun Jing flicked his flashlight and threw off his handkerchief, and the wind suddenly picked up. He quickly rolled to the side, and almost at the same time, there was a "snap".

The sound erupted from where he had been standing.

Sun Jing recognized the sound immediately, cursed inwardly, and quickly rolled over again. As he rolled, he reached into his vest pocket.

He pulled out something about the size of a cell phone and casually stabbed it to the side.

Another loud bang, almost exactly the same as the previous one, followed by a dazzling arc of electricity, the echo reverberating in the hall.

Sun Jing didn't expect to shock the attacker. It was just a deterrent, to tell the guy that if he had a stun gun, so did he.

The wind stopped.

Next to Xu Xu, squatted a man dressed in black hooded clothing. His hood was pulled down low, and Sun Jing's flashlight beam could only illuminate the lower half of his face.

Of course, it's a face, not a skeleton.

"It really is you, Director Wen."

Wenzhen and Yaya laughed and took off their hoods.

“You’re not very trustworthy, so I took one down first,” he said. “But with Miss Xu here, the fact that you took so long to find this place is making me very anxious.”

"If you're in a hurry, you should have written it clearly in the text message earlier, about this weird place where they use a closet as a door."

Sun Jing wanted to ease the tension, because Xu Xu was lying at Wen Zhenhe's feet, already a hostage. Rescuing a hostage wouldn't be easy. In this low-lying area, only creatures that naturally walk on four legs could maintain normal speed, and as for him, Wen Zhenhe would have plenty of time to react before he could pounce.

“If I still can’t wait for you, I might really do it,” Wen Zhenhe said, the meaning of which only he himself understood.

"So, the person Xu Xu saw on the day Han Shang died was you." Sun Jing stared at Wen Zhenhe. "Your head is so small, and when you shrug your shoulders, wearing such a big trench coat, the top of your head is right below the collar."

"Oh," Wen Zhenhe replied noncommittally.

"The head you're carrying on your head, wrapped in your hood, is it a wizard's skull? I mean, a real wizard's skull."

Wen Zhenhe lowered her head slightly and remained silent.

"Your abilities are related to the wind, aren't they? Going to all this trouble to kill people while wearing a wizard's skull, it seems that thing can make your abilities perform even better. The little bit of wind that blew me over the flowerpot just now wouldn't have been enough to blow it over. But I don't quite understand why you opened the door to show your face. Is that a limitation of your abilities? Fortunately, with that skull on your head, even if someone sees it, they'll be startled and won't notice your real head hiding under your collar."

At this point, Sun Jing smiled and said, "But it seems that Teacher Wen is more of a scholar and doesn't do this kind of thing. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been hiding in the basement to avoid trouble, only to realize she hadn't cleaned up her footprints when she heard footsteps approaching and hurriedly came out to scare her away. It's not easy being a ghost yourself."

Wen Zhenhe rolled her eyes and laughed in a dry voice, "It's really amazing, as if you saw it all. I've been listening for a while now, and you can tell me about things that happened forty years ago with just a few glances. It's really amazing."

"Director Wen's words make me feel ashamed. We even came to the museum pretending to seek your cooperation. You recognized Xu Xu at first glance, right? You must have found our performance very interesting."

"You're wrong. That day, my face was hidden inside my trench coat, with only a small gap at the collar showing. I was in such a hurry that I didn't get a clear look at Miss Xu's face. But you, with that band-aid on your forehead, hehehehe. I took a closer look at Miss Xu before I recognized her."

Sun Jing grunted. It turned out the problem lay with him. He'd just been hit over the head, and now, with a huge bump on his head, he was trying to trick the guy who hit him? How ridiculous of him!

The flashlight fell to the ground, still on, its beam slanting past Wen Zhenhe. Wen Zhenhe held the stun gun in her right hand, but as she spoke, she casually stretched her left hand forward, a gesture that Sun Jing immediately noticed.

What random action might be taken in this situation? Sun Jing didn't believe it, but couldn't immediately guess the intention.

Wen Zhenhe did not make any further moves, but when he finished speaking his last sentence, he tilted his left wrist and glanced in that direction.

Was he checking his watch? This thought suddenly flashed through Sun Jing's mind.

But why is he looking at his watch? Is he in a hurry, or is he trying to stall for time?

Sun Jing casually waved his flashlight, the beam sweeping across Wen Zhenhe's right arm. He gripped the stun gun tightly, even twitching slightly as the flashlight beam passed by.

He's poised to act! He must be in a hurry.

If the enemy is in a hurry, then you should do the opposite and delay them a little longer, which may lead to a change in your favor.

“Luckily, I also brought a stun gun. I don’t know if Director Wen has studied this kind of thing. Many people think that the higher the voltage, the better. In fact, those that claim to be three or five million volts are just empty shells, useless. How powerful this stun gun is depends on its actual power.” Sun Jing said, shaking the stun gun in his hand.

"Is that so?" Wen Zhenhe said calmly, unmoved.

"It seems Director Wen invited me here today either to knock me out with an electric shock or to drug me. Can you tell me what you plan to do after I'm unconscious? Kill me? Normally, in this underground secret room, a death or two could go unnoticed for decades, like those three. But this street is being demolished; how long can we keep it a secret? Or are you confident you can stage another accident like the broken flowerpot? But now that there are two of us here, can we still pull off that accident?"

"Aren't you very good at guessing? You can try to guess."

"Actually, I'm more curious about what happened here forty years ago. It was thirty-eight years ago, in 1969, right? Professor Wen was only twenty years old then, and she had already joined the experiment?"

"I was the youngest one at that time."

"Could you tell me how you joined the experiment? It seems you've gained quite a few new members since Sven Hedin left China."

"You're too curious; this has nothing to do with you."

"How could it be unrelated? Do you know that my great-grandfather was Sun Yu? He probably came to this place more often than you. After all, you stopped using this basement after 1969, and the whole building was emptied out. It seems that the people living upstairs and downstairs were all participants in the experiments. Do these people still keep in touch with each other? What do you think other people's reactions would be if they knew that you had returned here and that you had replaced the wizard skull in the East Museum with a fake one?"

"You really do talk a lot, but can you be quiet when you're talking? Do you think I didn't notice you slowly inching forward?"

"Oh, no problem, I can return it if you're worried."

“If you throw me the stun gun, I won’t be so worried.”

"What?" Sun Jing chuckled.

Wen Zhenhe looked at him, then suddenly pressed the stun gun against Xu Xu's hand, and a crackling electric arc appeared. Despite being unconscious, Xu Xu's body still twitched noticeably.

Sun Jing's eyelids twitched.

Wen Zhenhe laughed. He grabbed Xu Xu's shoulders, turned her over, and pressed the stun gun on her left breast, slowly drawing a circle before pressing down.

"She's very elastic, haven't you tried it? Now, throw the stun gun over here. Or do you want me to give her another one in the heart? How many seconds do you think she can hold out?"

"Here you go." Sun Jing tossed the stun gun to Wen Zhenhe.

Wen Zhenhe was surprised that Sun Jing suddenly became so agreeable. She was stunned for a moment and wanted to catch it, but then she realized that there was no need to catch it at all. She should just let it fall to the ground.

Seeing that he stepped aside and the stun gun was no longer in Xu Xu's chest, Sun Jing immediately threw the flashlight at his head and pounced like a leopard.

The flashlight hit Wen Zhenhe's head squarely. Although the flashlight wasn't made of metal, Sun Jing had used all his strength, so the impact was definitely not light.

Wen Zhen let out a painful howl, and then the wind picked up.

Facing the strong wind blowing against Sun Jing's face, he forced his eyes open, but both flashlights were scattered on the ground, and Wen Zhenhe's figure could not be seen! Without any hesitation, Sun Jing punched him in the spot where he had been standing.

Hit short.

An arc of electricity flashed in the darkness, striking Sun Jing's upper right arm. His entire body went numb, and all his strength was instantly drained. The loud bang only reached his ears now, as if delayed by a second or two.

If it were Sun Jing's own stun gun, he would have been knocked down by now. But this one was clearly less powerful, and it was hitting his limbs, which are the least effective areas.

But Sun Jing felt no joy whatsoever. He knew he wouldn't be able to control his body for a second or two, and would be sluggish for the next few seconds. That was enough time for Wen Zhen and the others to give him a few more electric shocks.

If you get hit just one more time, it's like you'll get hit ten more times, which means you're completely finished.

But he was completely helpless now. In fact, in such circumstances, once he took the first blow, everything was already decided.

Wen Zhenhe was hit in the mouth with a flashlight, his mouth filled with a salty, metallic taste. He gritted his teeth, one hand supporting himself on the ground, the other holding the stun gun, about to give Sun Jing another blow, when suddenly he was kicked hard.

"You old bastard, you dare to take advantage of me! I'll beat you to death!"

Wen Zhenhe was kicked to the ground. He was nearly sixty years old, and he curled up in a ball, clutching his waist. He had also thrown away the stun gun. Xu Xu rolled over and rushed over, unleashing a flurry of punches.

"I told you not to touch me, I told you not to shock me, do you think I'm dead? Don't you know hospitals use electric shocks to save people? Shock your idiot."

Sun Jing recovered, but Wen Zhenhe had already been calmed down by Xu Xu, who had been revived by the electric shock.

"Hey. Stop for a second, he seems to have stopped moving."