Underworld

Underworld

I. Liu Zhihu

The project is progressing very smoothly.

In the early stages of the archaeological project, more than twenty large excavators worked day and night, their engines roaring, creating a bustling scene. Lighting lines were erected at the archaeological site of the former Wangzhuang cemetery for the "ancient tomb development." Excavation was underway across a large area of five acres.

The archaeological project leadership team consisted of over thirty people, but only eleven and a half were actually staff members. There were ten leaders and more than ten others in name only. It was indeed not easy for ten people to lead hundreds of people. If the work was to proceed smoothly, responsibilities had to be clearly defined. However, because the purpose of this project was not very clear, the main people in charge were divided into two factions.

Team leader Yang, whose goal is to find people, advocates speeding up the process as quickly as possible; Professor Yin, whose goal is archaeology, advocates a combination of speed and pace.

By November 15th, the two factions had reached a consensus and were placed under the command of Professor Yin, an archaeological expert. The reason for this was, of course, that everyone was a "materialist" who did not believe in ghosts or gods and did not believe that "people would be here." But in fact, apart from Professor Yin, everyone else understood one thing: the longer the construction period was delayed, the better it would be for individuals and the collective.

Professor Yin is an elderly professor.

He has participated in archaeological research in mysterious areas such as the ancient Loulan ruins, Lop Nur, Dahei Gorge (Tibet), and the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. He was an expert specially invited from outside the province. At over eighty years old, he is still as energetic and vibrant as someone in their forties or fifties, with his eyes always shining with profound wisdom.

Academics like him are dedicated to research and contributing to the country, never considering people's mercenary thoughts. He never even considered that his position as a formal leader was due to people wanting to exploit his authority to take advantage of the country.

Before coming here, he was working on another extremely important archaeological mission, and he was very reluctant when he received the order to come.

But as soon as he arrived at the Dazangshan archaeological site, he received a letter from an old friend. The letter pointed out the potential archaeological value of the site and included a large number of books and materials. At the end of the letter, there was also a handwritten comment from a well-known person who was in charge of four famous private schools, which made him more cautious.

He followed the instructions in the letter and took in "half" a person.

——Xiao Ding

His friend was a recluse, but his search skills were world-renowned. The dean of the four universities, on the other hand, had a wealth of talented subordinates, and his words were worth their weight in gold.

Subconsciously, he disliked this man. Rumor had it that he had close ties to the underworld. Some even said he was a powerful figure in the criminal underworld himself. But given the supposed borderless nature of science, he couldn't help but admire the man's knowledge. In the face of knowledge, everyone is equal. Given the man's expertise, his assertion of the immense value of this place must have some merit.

After reviewing the accompanying books and materials, he also concluded that this place was extraordinary.

The facts proved this in the middle of the archaeological process.

By December 10th, he had discovered over thirty tombs beneath existing ones, each one leaving him utterly astonished. The burial goods inside were few, but the construction methods and design of the tombs were eye-opening. The wisdom of the ancients seemed to have surpassed that of modern people. However, the tomb beneath the Wangzhuang ancestral cemetery was the one he valued most highly.

This tomb was discovered by Liu Zhihu.

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Liu Zhihu was the top tomb raider in Liuzhuang.

He started tomb raiding at the age of ten and has thirty-five years of experience. Like all the tomb raiders in Liuzhuang, he was only interested in burial goods and believed that the various tombs in Wangzhuang were worthless. Since he thought so, of course no one in the villages at the foot of the mountain would object to the large burial.

He discovered the tomb beneath the Wangzhuang ancestral cemetery on December 20th.

It was an early winter day, neither sunny nor cloudy.

At noon that day, the sun listlessly cast a hazy gray glow. The wind was cold but not strong. At noon, the laborers were busy eating, while Liu Zhihu and more than ten people from Liuzhuang were still carefully digging. Every now and then, someone would spit or blow their nose—after all, this was Wangzhuang's ancestral grave.

When Liu Zhihu stopped to wipe his sweat, he suddenly noticed that the soil marks were different after the excavation was expanded.

When the Wangzhuang ancestral graves were relocated, the large round hole behind the gravestone was dug to its bottom, revealing a depth of only thirteen meters. The ancestral graves were more than ten meters below the ground. When the construction team expanded the excavation of the Wangzhuang ancestral graves, they dug a tomb shape with a diameter of thirteen meters, following the original path, with the original large round hole at its center.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [4]: When the Wangzhuang ancestral graves no longer exist, the diameter of the circle becomes ten meters, and when the large circular hole disappears, the diameter becomes nine meters, and then seven meters.

At this moment, they are working on excavating the entire structure, which is now complete.

After completion, Liu Zhihu suddenly noticed that within a seven-meter radius of the center, the soil marks were different from the surrounding soil.

He immediately began to walk in circles, slowly moving around and around.

—There's a sense of emptiness.

—The overall area is ten meters in diameter.

The gray sun shone on this ten-meter-diameter circle, and a green yin-yang symbol seemed to suddenly appear on the ground.

This was a fleeting event, but Liu Zhihu did not overlook this phenomenon.

Tomb raiders pay great attention to surface light, believing it to be one of the signs of something underground. He immediately gathered his men and had the entire ten-meter-diameter circle thoroughly cleaned, leaving no loose soil behind.

According to common sense, after excavation and cleaning, the surrounding soil should become similar, but this time, the loose soil seemed impossible to clean up no matter how hard you swept it.

The soft horsehair brush gradually swept out a spiral pattern.

A cigarette butt was also swept up.

After continuing to clean, he discovered a spiral-shaped passageway large enough for a person to lie down in. He immediately realized: someone had been here!

—He was a tomb raider, and his skill level far surpassed his own.

Then he saw Xiao Ding

In his memory, this thin and frail little girl seemed like Professor Yin's granddaughter, but not quite, because she seemed to be following the etiquette of a student.

※※※※※

Xiao Ding is one of the "half" people in the "eleven and a half people".

Before the professor arrived, she was "half" a member of the project leadership team; after the professor arrived, she became "half" a member of the archaeological research team.

The former was Lei Zhenyu's arrangement, and the latter was Professor Yin's idea.

Both were at the behest of Xiao Ding's master.

Xiao Ding's full name is Ding Xiaoxiao, and her older brother is Ding Dada.

Lei Zhenyu was aware of this.

Personally, he almost killed A Ding because A Ding not only tried to steal his girlfriend but also nearly raped his girlfriend, later wife, Huang Zilan. As for Ding Xiaoxiao, Lei Zhenyu couldn't possibly say he liked her.

But you can mess with A-Ding, but you can't mess with Ding-Xiao-Xiao. That's because A-Ding's master is already dead, and even if he were ali

……