PS: Take a walk with the tickets
Qin Shi lit up a gas lamp. Professor Chen looked at it and said to Hao Aiguo,"
"Look at this stone statue. Have we seen it somewhere before?”
Hao Aiguo put on his glasses and looked carefully.
"Ah, it's true. There was a Thousand Coffin Tomb in the Frontier Competition, and there was a stone man that looked exactly like this one. Its eyes were very prominent, and it was different from ordinary people.”
Stone statues of these giant pupils had been found in the Tianshan Mountains, Altay, Hetian River basin, and various parts of the Mongolian grasslands. As for the origin of the stone statues, it was impossible to verify it. Some scholars had once pointed out that they should be a god worshipped by the Mongolians.
According to the historical records, Kublai Khan had a secret palace in the desert of the Western Regions called the " Fragrance Palace." The earliest statues of these stone men were worshipped in the Fragrance Palace. However, a few years later, several ancient tombs and ruins were discovered, and giant pupil stone statues were also discovered. This overturned the hypothesis of the "Fragrance Palace". Some people said that it was left behind by the ancient Turks, but in the end, no one could say for sure, and it became one of the many unsolved mysteries in archaeological history.
Several students in the archeological team had never seen the giant pupil stone statue before. They took out their pens and wrote down and drew on their notebooks. They discussed digging up the sand below to see the whole body of the stone man.
Hao Aiguo told them some relevant knowledge. He said that everyone was tired today and should rest first. When the sandstorm stopped tomorrow, they would clean up the sand in the big house and see if they could find anything.
Hu Bayi changed his location and dug up the yellow sand to bury the corpse of the victim. He did not have anything on him that could prove his identity. He could not even make a simple tombstone for him. Sigh, it would be better to stay at home. Why did he have to go to the desert? He should rest in peace here.
I looked at my watch. It was already evening. The black sandstorm outside had not stopped. Instead, it was getting more and more violent. It might even continue to blow for the entire night.
Other than Brother Long, who was on sentry duty, the rest of the people rubbed their feet with fine sand and lay down in their sleeping bags to rest. They learned this from An Liman. In the desert, water was gold, and they could only use fine sand to wash their feet. Qin Shi found Brother Long, who was hiding under the hole in the roof, and told him to sleep for a while he stood guard for him.
Qin Shi sat in the corner, holding his sports air rifle in his arms, in case any wild beasts suddenly jumped in and hurt him. He smoked while listening to the wind outside. The thought of Professor Chen and the others continuing deeper into the desert gave him a headache. Who knew how many dangerous traps were hidden in the depths of the black desert? It was a miracle that none of the team members were injured in the sandstorm today.
Seeing Hu Bayi come to his senses, he smoked one cigarette after another. After an unknown period of time, the sky outside was already completely dark. The wind was still so loud, like countless demons crying. From time to time, sand fell into the holes in the roof. If the wind did not stop, the broken city wall in front of them would probably be swallowed by the sand.
At this moment, Qin Shi noticed that Shirley Yang had woken up. She saw me sitting in the corner of the wall and keeping watch, so she walked over. It seemed that she wanted to talk to me. Usually, I rarely talked to her, mainly because she didn't get along with Fatty. They didn't like each other, and she seemed to be very afraid of Brother Long. So, other than necessary communication, we didn't talk to her much.
Out of courtesy, Qin Shi greeted her. Shirley Yang walked over and asked me,"
"Mr. Qin Shi, why don't you take a nap? I'll cover for you for two hours.”
"No need, you can continue to rest!”
She sat opposite Qin Shi and started chatting with me.
Her father and the other explorers might not have died in the ancient city. There were all kinds of dangers in the desert. It was too difficult to find the bodies of the lost victims. Moreover, there were still many unsolved mysteries in this black desert.
(In fact, he had even dug up a general's tomb some time ago.)
In his previous life, Qin Shi knew that the three explorers had also come here to explore and then disappeared. After a long time, their bodies were found at the edge of the desert. The three of them had died of dehydration. The strange thing was that their water bottles were still filled with more than half a pot of drinking water.
There are countless similar things. We humans know too little about the desert. There are many types of animals and plants in the desert, some of which are undiscovered species. We'll just do our best to find it. Even if we can't find it, we don't have to blame ourselves too much.
Shirley nodded."Mr. Qin Shi, what you said makes sense. However, I still firmly believe that my father and the others have found Jingjue Ancient City. Ever since he disappeared in the desert, I have dreamed more than once of a big black hole. At the entrance of the hole hung a big coffin. The coffin was engraved with Ghost Cave Script and wrapped with many big iron chains. There was also a huge thing lying on the coffin, but I couldn't see what it was. Every time, I tried my best to see what was on the coffin. I woke up from my dream. For the past half a year, I had dreamt of the same scene almost every night. I believed that this was a dream that my father had entrusted to me. That coffin must belong to the Queen.”
Qin Shi wondered why the Americans were so superstitious and still believed in dreams.(We've already dug up the tomb, why are you still digging up ghosts?) However, seeing her solemn expression, he didn't dare to refute her. He only comforted her and changed the topic, asking her what was going on with the Jingjue Nation.
Shirley Yang said," My father and Professor Chen have been good friends for many years. They were classmates when they were young. They were both obsessed with the ancient culture of the Western Regions. In 1948, my father and his family went to America. After the cultural revolution, he returned to China.
When he was in the United States, he had bought a batch of cultural relics. They were all precious cultural relics excavated by European explorers in the early 19th century in the desert. Those European explorers had once discovered the ruins of an ancient city near the Niya Oasis. According to research, the ruins and cultural relics were all from the Han Dynasty. Based on some clues, it was very likely that the ruins belonged to the most powerful country in the 36 countries of the Western Region.
After years of research, my father and Professor Chen concluded that the Niya Ruins was just a subsidiary city of the Jingjue Country. The real Jingjue City should be north of Niya, downstream of the Zidu Underground River. My father hoped to find the ruins of Jingjue City in his lifetime, so he took the risk to organize an expedition team into the desert.
There weren't many existing records about this once glorious ancient city. The Jingjue Nation was the leader of the alliance of small countries in the Western Regions. Those small countries looked like cities of different sizes formed naturally along trade routes. Each small city considered itself a country, and the most powerful of these small countries was Jingjue.
The people of Jingjue were mainly from the Ghost Cave Tribe, with a few other ethnic groups mixed in. After the death of the last queen of Jingjue, the city disappeared in the sea of sand. Whether it was destroyed by natural disasters or by war, no one knew. It was as if this country had never existed.
However, on the eve of the Second World War, there was an explorer from the Ying Country who led an expedition team into the Taklamakan. In the end, he was the only one who came out alive. He had completely lost his mind, but the few photos and diary in the camera confirmed the existence of Jingjue Ancient City.
Later, some people tried to follow this clue, but then World War II broke out. It was only in the last three to four years that various exploration teams had the opportunity to enter the desert to search for treasures and ruins.”
Shirley Yang took out a small bag and showed it to me. I took it and opened it. Inside was an old yellowed black-and-white photo and an old diary filled with English. The picture was very blurry, and one could vaguely tell that it was a city in the desert. There was a tower in the middle, and the details were almost unclear.
Qin Shi asked Shirley Yang if this was…Shirley Yang said,"
"Yes, this was bought by my father from the Ying country. This is the diary and photo of the explorer, Mr. Walter, who had personally visited the ancient city of Jingjue. This also gave us some clues, but the diary only wrote that they saw a huge ancient city downstream of the Zidu Underground River and prepared to explore it in the morning. After that, there was nothing else. We don't know what they encountered in the ancient city ruins and why only one person with mental disorder survived.”
As Qin Shi chatted with her, he noticed that the eyes of the stone statue with a huge head dug out seemed to have moved in the corner of the room, which was illuminated by the steam lamp.
Qin Shi was shocked."
"F * ck, I forgot about this damn thing.”
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