Hutong fantasma

Capítulo 1

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 alive, he wouldn't be able to hold his head high; while Ding-Xiao-Xiao's master is someone you can't mess with.

He himself can be provoked at will, but what's frightening is that he has a close relationship and connection with Feng Luo, the dean of the four major universities who holds the fifth golden chair in the underworld.

In the underworld, there are countless people you can't mess with. Lei Zhenyu himself is one of them, but in the eyes of these people, there are only six people you really can't mess with.

The four hegemons were upright and harmonious.

A dean.

A manager.

What is Lei Zhenyu? At best, he is just an insignificant deputy, nominally only two steps away from becoming the overlord, but in reality, he is as far away as a county magistrate from a small town is from the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Even the four overlords treat Feng Luo with utmost respect, regarding him as a god. What is Lei Zhenyu compared to them? The words of Feng Luo's old friend are something that even the four overlords must carefully consider. How many heads does he have to dare disobey?

Therefore, having been ordered to protect Xiao Ding, he had no choice but to do his utmost. Unable to keep Xiao Ding by his side all day, he entrusted the task to the construction team leader and secretly dispatched no fewer than five bodyguards for his protection—even though it was impossible for anyone to harm Xiao Ding.

He, of course, also oversaw the project's progress—simply because he was one of the nominal leaders of the project. Each of his arrivals caused a stir throughout the construction site; aside from Professor Yin and Xiao Ding, it was almost impossible to find anyone who hadn't been scolded by him.

For Lei Zhenyu, archaeology was secondary, absolutely not secondary. Finding his wife was the primary concern; finding someone was of utmost importance.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [5]: -- He might not care about his own wife, but how could he not care about Ding Dada, Du Liu, and Chen Xing, who were suddenly specifically named by the upper echelons of the underworld?

—Moreover, members of the Gentlemen's Tomb Raiding Business have also disappeared here; although the Gentlemen's Tomb Raiding Business has declined, it is still a formidable force and cannot be lost casually, otherwise, not only will they be unable to explain themselves to the Jiangxi underworld, but they will also be unable to cope with the chief steward's inquiry.

But deep down, he also hoped the project would drag on for as long as possible.

—His wife and the others must have died long ago. Otherwise, how could they not be found?

—Recently, there has been a change in the underworld. The four overlords have all retired and withdrawn from worldly affairs, leaving only the steward in power. However, the steward, Shen Lin, suddenly ordered all members of the Gentlemen's Gate tomb raiding business to report for duty. It would be better if all these people were already dead, so that they could claim it was "due to natural disaster, not due to poor performance," thus preserving their status, position, and the only head left.

—But if his wife and the others are still alive, then of course the sooner they are found, the better.

The world is a unity of contradictions, and so is his thought.

Xiao Ding wasn't in a hurry to find the person.

Life and death are determined by fate, success and failure by destiny. If a person is already destined to die, what use is finding them as quickly as possible?

Of course, there was his older brother there, but how could family ties overcome reality?

Besides, she knew that her brother had always lived a very tiring, difficult, bitter, and pitiful life. If she were in his shoes, she would have committed suicide long ago.

But she is also trying.

She admired Wang Jia. She heard about Wang Jia from the people of Wangzhuang, and from Cai Yin, a funeral expert, she learned that Wang Jia and Wang Mu were buried underground.

She believes it is true.

Belief stems from belief in oneself.

She practiced the "Jade Palm Immortal Mirror," which differed from the Round Light Technique. It was a qigong technique that allowed one to see images through their own palm, and therefore it was not widely practiced. The "Jade Palm Immortal Mirror" technique had three parts: the "River Reversal Technique" for seeing the past, the "Jade Palm Remote Measurement Technique" for observing the present, and the "Worldly Affairs Like a Chess Game Technique" for predicting the future.

The "River Reversal Technique" told her that Wang Jia and Wang Mu were trapped in a narrow room, and the "Worldly Affairs Like a Chess Game Technique" told her that those people were already dead; however, the "Jade Palm Remote Measurement Technique" was always difficult to use due to the obstruction of the earth's energy. Therefore, she could only worry in vain, and as time went on, she stopped worrying.

There's no rush at all.

—Anyway, they're all dead. And everyone will die eventually.

That day, all she could use was the "Jade Palm Remote Sensing Technique." During lunch, while the old professor held his daily meeting, she came to the tomb and saw Liu Zhihu fifteen meters below. After more than a month of study, she had learned some basic knowledge of archaeology, so upon seeing the cleanliness of the underground area, she knew that another discovery had been made.

※※※※※

“Someone came here before, probably within the last six months.” Liu Zhihu looked at Xiao Ding, who was hopping down, and explained, “His excavation skills are better than mine. Moreover, he sealed the tomb immediately after digging. That person must have been able to breathe in the puddles and breathe in the faintest possible airflow. He must have been able to determine that there is a place under the tomb where one can breathe.”

"In other words, there is a tomb beneath another tomb, but it is difficult to know or estimate how deep we need to dig to find it. We must bring my tools."

By 2 p.m., Liu Zhihu had brought his tools.

This is a peculiar tool, only a foot long, dark brown in color, with a bullet-shaped tip about ten centimeters long. The middle section is smooth and cylindrical, five centimeters in diameter and ten centimeters long. In the center is a groove two centimeters wide and one centimeter deep, with a movable handle attached. The rear is a flared mouth, twenty centimeters in diameter, with a rounded transition. The tool looks very delicate, and when struck, it produces a sound like solid wood. It seems to be neither iron nor copper nor wood, and its material is unknown.

The old professor arrived with his archaeological team. He was clearly very interested in the peculiar tool. Liu Zhihu gripped the handle, closed his eyes for a moment, and the tool suddenly spun rapidly, emitting a buzzing sound like a helicopter propeller when it starts up. His body also seemed to be driven by some kind of magic to spin in place.

At this moment, he was the only one standing in the center at the bottom of the tomb, his body spinning faster and faster, like a drilling bit.

A minute later, he suddenly spun in the opposite direction, and the tools in his hands stopped making a sound, but in the distance, some dogs barked in alarm.

Suddenly, the bullet-like tip flew out, leaving some marks on the ground, and the trumpet-like rear also flew out, disappearing with a "whoosh!"

Liu Zhihu fell down.

The standard time at this moment is 2:10 PM on December 20th.

Five minutes later, Liu Zhihu got up from the ground and said to the people on the circular platform three meters above, "There's a big tomb down there! It's a huge tomb!"

The archaeological team couldn't help but take a second look at this peculiar tool.

Liu Zhihu immediately wrapped his tools in a gray-black cloth, tied it around his waist, and then began to sweep away the loose soil.

The flared bullet left a circle on the muddy ground. Measured along the circle, about ten feet from the center, connecting the center to the corresponding point on the other side created a circle of the same size. The bullet, however, left strange and unusual patterns on the ground.