Chapter 2 Leader
"How did you get up here?" Chief Ma was squatting on the ground next to the sinkhole, reviewing the rescue plan with several police officers. Seeing Jiang Xian coming up, he asked with some surprise.
"I found something." Jiang Xian walked to Director Ma's side and pointed the bottom of the kerosene lamp towards him. Seeing the horrifying pattern, Director Ma was stunned for three seconds and then stood up suddenly.
"This is..." His breathing was a little heavy, and he looked at Jiang Xian with concern. Finally, his eyes fell on his chest. Jiang Xian said solemnly: "Uncle Ma, I want to ask you for a favor."
"Xiao Luo! Come here!" Before he finished speaking, Director Ma immediately waved his hand in tacit understanding. He said to the young police officer who was jogging over, "Now, go ask the villagers what's going on with this kerosene lamp base? Where did it come from?"
No one spoke, and the two walked to a secluded place in tacit understanding. Uncle Ma took out a cigarette, looked deeply at Jiang Xian, and hesitated to speak.
He knew too well how important this mark was to the other party. Precisely because it was so important, he was worried about what a huge blow it would be if his current comfort was exchanged for false joy.
As the two of them waited in silence and anxiety, Xiao Luo ran back panting and said hurriedly, "Director, I asked and they said it was from the 1967 earthquake. They dug it out after the earthquake. It looked like the right size, so they used it as a lamp holder. Almost every household has one!"
Jiang Xian's eyes suddenly flashed, and then he looked at the mountains in disbelief.
"Fuck..." Director Ma cursed inwardly and rubbed his brows with a headache. The meaning of this sentence was very clear - there was probably an undiscovered ancient tomb nearby!
Xijing Province is not an ordinary place. It is the ancient capital of 13 dynasties. If you dig a hoe, you will probably find an ancient tomb. Even digging for school infrastructure can unearth a Han tomb. If this place is related to an ancient tomb, this matter will be a big deal.
The geological team and the Institute of Paleoscience of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences will arrive immediately, and they will probably conduct joint exploration. Whether the police station should enter first is another big problem, and the wrangling in the middle will not produce any results for several days. Whether to enter or not, and when to enter, he cannot bear the consequences.
He couldn't help but look at Jiang Xian. He was the only one who could draw a clear conclusion here. After dozens of seconds, under Director Ma's expectant eyes, Jiang Xian retracted his gaze and frowned: "Strange... It's really strange."
Without waiting for the anxious Director Ma to speak, he pointed to the surrounding mountains and said, "The earthquake they are talking about should be the Nanzheng earthquake on August 20, 1967. The epicenter is not far from here. Earthquakes can easily destroy the structure of the tomb and make the ancient tomb 'revealed'. This is not strange, the strange thing is..."
"This kind of mountain is not an exaggeration to say that it is poor and barren. It is impossible for any important person to be buried here. Is this... not wanting to make life easy for your descendants? Trying to make your descendants extinct within three generations?"
Director Ma's eyes lit up, and he said in a deep voice, "Could it be some small family at that time? It's not a big tomb?"
"No!" However, Jiang Xian rejected it outright. He said solemnly, "Uncle Ma, I forgot to tell you that the characters on the lamp holder are Qin Xiaozhuan. They were only used in the Qin Dynasty."
What does it mean?
Uncle Ma frowned deeply, and froze for three seconds. After a moment, he took a breath and said, "The Nanzheng earthquake... was in 1967..."
"You mean... there's been more than 2,000 years between them? How could a bronze vessel from more than 2,000 years ago not have any rust?"
Jiang Xian looked at the surrounding mountains with a more and more fiery gaze. That's right... Just as Director Ma said, at first he thought that these things were passed down from generation to generation by the villagers. It was normal that there was no rust.
However, when the answer is something that was unearthed during the magnitude 5.0 earthquake in 1967, it is completely different.
Buried underground, immortal after more than two thousand years... He turned around, picked up the kerosene lamp on the ground, and looked at it carefully towards the sun.
Under the sunlight, the base of the kerosene lamp was dark, as if covered with a film, reflecting the sunlight faintly without even a trace of cracks.
A few minutes later, Jiang Xian put down the kerosene lamp and licked his lips: "Have you heard of 'super-era contact'?"
Director Ma shook his head blankly. This was completely a blind spot in his knowledge.
"In 1936, when the Iraqi capital Baghdad was building a railway, a tomb dating back more than 2,000 years was discovered. A set of strangely shaped copper pipes, pottery jars and iron rods were excavated from it..." Jiang Xian said slowly: "After testing, it was found that this was... a battery pack."
"Battery pack?" Director Ma asked in surprise.
"That's right. Just add a little bit of acid to the pottery jar and the whole battery pack will work... In archaeology, there are definitely many similar discoveries, such as the Han purple of the Terracotta Warriors and the memory metal of the Sword of Goujian, King of Yue. Many of these technologies were discovered thousands of years later... Therefore, once the technology and objects that transcend the dynasty to which the cultural relics should belong are discovered, they are all called super-era contacts. The most famous of them is..."
His eyes turned to the kerosene lamp in his hand.
Director Ma's Adam's apple moved violently, and he said hoarsely, "Could it be... this lamp holder?"
"To be precise, it's chrome plating technology." Jiang Xian narrowed his eyes and gently fumbled with the lamp holder in his hand. "It was first discovered that it was used in the Terracotta Warriors. Almost all the weapons unearthed in Pit 1 were chrome-plated. However, this technology was not invented by German scientists until the 1930s. Moreover, even now in 2016, it is still quite difficult to achieve a chrome plating accuracy of 0.2 mm on the Terracotta Warriors."
"And the kerosene lamp holder still feels smooth and does not fade or even wear out after more than 2,000 years. The only way to achieve this is with chrome plating technology!"
Eye-opener.
Director Ma sighed softly and shook his head with emotion. He had never imagined that a small kerosene lamp could carry such a huge amount of information.
Jiang Xian put down the kerosene lamp and said firmly: "Uncle Ma, there must be no tomb here. If there is, it must be a huge tomb from the Qin Dynasty that shook the world! The person buried there must be someone who will go down in history!"
This kind of technology, ordinary people in the Qin Dynasty... no, even the princes and nobles, can only afford it. Every one of them will definitely go down in history!
"Your people can't handle it."
He looked directly at Director Ma and said, "I want the right to lead the team."
Director Ma looked at him in surprise. After a long pause, he said in a deep voice, "Are you sure?"
"I am sure."
The two exchanged glances, neither of them meant to joke. Whoever took on this mission would have to shoulder its responsibilities. Not only Jiang Xian, but also Director Ma, once he nodded, it meant that he would face tremendous pressure to let outsiders rashly join the police rescue.
His chest rose and fell slightly, and he was silent for a full minute. He gritted his teeth and said, "Please."
If he's alive, I want to see him in person. If he's dead, I want to see his body.
"I will explain the specific situation to the other team members personally."
Director Ma left, and Jiang Xian stood there, staring at the surrounding mountains. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze and quietly walked to the edge of the cave.
Where does this place lead to?
Mandrills, earthquakes, chrome plating technology spanning thousands of years, the mysterious black death butterfly curse... What is... buried underneath?
"I'm really impatient..." He exhaled, and felt that after he gave up on breaking the curse, the blood in his body, which had been cold, began to boil again bit by bit. He snapped his fingers, and they made a clicking sound. Then, he started to do warm-up exercises.
"It's been a long time... since I came across such an exciting place."
……………………………………
Half an hour passed in a flash.
Swish... five ropes dropped down. Then, five nimble figures slid down along the ropes.
They all wore camouflage uniforms, had police ranks, and carried camouflage backpacks nearly a meter long, bulging with stuff. They all had a pistol on their waists. Jiang Xian was among them.
The pit was not high, only about seven or eight meters. The midday sun shone brightly, revealing the bottom of the pit. Dozens of seconds later, five figures landed steadily on the grass. Just as they landed, the five of them lowered their bodies a little - this was a posture that was convenient for bursting out strength at any time. It was used to deal with most emergencies.
It was very quiet at the bottom of the cave.
There was not even a hint of insect chirping. The temperature was also much lower than on the ground. The five people stood back to back, and the cool breeze passed through their necks, bringing a creepy feeling.
In the silence, Jiang Xian was the first to stop moving. He stood in the middle and slowly scanned all the police officers. Suddenly he said, "Director Ma should have told you that I am the leader of this search and rescue operation."
"Who has any objections?"
His eyes fell on one of the men, who was in his forties, with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes. This was Director Ma's confidant, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team 1, Song Lianshi.
He was not old enough to convince the crowd. However, there was no time to establish his authority during the golden time of the rescue. The situation below was likely to be complicated, and if his orders were not obeyed, some unpredictable consequences might occur. The best way was to have an old man who could control the situation and act as a mouthpiece.
This time, the team consisted of all the elite members of Criminal Investigation Team 1. No one could speak better than Song Lianshi, not even Director Ma.
"It is a soldier's duty to obey orders . No problem." Song Lianshi said in a deep voice without hesitation.
However, the others did not answer and just remained silent.
Jiang Xian nodded, his voice extremely solemn: "Since there is no objection, then, before the search and rescue, as the team leader, I have two words to warn you."
He raised a finger and said, "First, the geographical situation down here may be very complicated. There may even be something you cannot understand. I hope that no matter what you see, you will remain calm at least. Please remember your identity."
He would search for Er Ganzi, although he did not think he was still alive. But he would try his best. At the same time, he would also take advantage of this opportunity to conduct a preliminary survey of Wowokeng.
Here lies the only clue for him to save himself!
"Second." He raised his second finger. "If something you have never heard of really happens... since you have not received professional training in this area, if you really want to survive at that time, there is only one rule."
" You do whatever I say! Do you understand?"
"yes!!"
