Chapter 49: Under the Nine Lands (Part 3)
"Perpetual motion machine?" Hong Si Niang finally came to her senses from the shock. She opened her mouth slightly and shook her head gently: "Isn't it impossible to achieve it in modern times?"
Jiang Xian whispered, "I mean, its name is perpetual motion machine, but its nature is not. Simply put, it is a non-perpetual motion machine called a perpetual motion machine."
Hong Si Niang and the Eight-Armed Arhat were stunned.
Ling Xiaozi took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "The idea of perpetual motion machines appeared around 1200 AD. It was first invented in India and later spread to the West. The only perpetual motion machine that has been recorded so far was made by a man named Hennecke. It is similar to the waterwheel we see now."
"Its principle is very simple. The rotating shaft is arranged in the center of the wheel, and a movable short rod is installed on the edge of the wheel. An iron ball is installed at one end of each short rod. The ball on the right is farther from the shaft than the ball on the left. Therefore, the torque generated by the ball on the right is greater than the torque generated by the ball on the left. In this way, the wheel will rotate endlessly in the direction indicated by the arrow and drive the machine to rotate. However, he failed."
"No one has ever succeeded in replicating a perpetual motion machine based on this principle... Dear, don't think this is unimportant. If we show this thing to the public, it will be enough to prove that the perpetual motion machine theory was first proposed by China! This will blow up the international archaeological community!"
Hong Si Niang and Babi Luohan nodded. Just as they looked elsewhere, they found Jiang Xian still staring at the perpetual motion machine in a trance. Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Xian pressed his hand and said first: "I have figured out something."
"Everyone, do you remember the golden wheel lock we saw at the beginning? And the picture of Houyi shooting the sun in the room above?"
Ling Xiaozi was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "You mean... after those golden balls fell... they arrived here?"
After saying that, he immediately began to observe carefully. He looked and calculated at the same time, and after more than ten seconds, he suddenly discovered that these balls were actually the same size as the ones they had seen before!
"In other words, this perpetual motion machine has just started." Jiang Xian breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his waist and trotted to the edge of the pond. He looked at it and said, "Everyone, look!"
Everyone immediately bent over and ran over. As soon as they took a look, everyone's brows furrowed deeply.
There wasn't much water in the pool, only about one meter deep, but the entire pool was two meters deep. You could vaguely see that the bottom of the pool was covered with calcified wood.
"Labors and materials." Ling Xiaozi blinked, slapped his forehead and said, "I understand... This is the processing plant! After the wood is made, they send it into the channel from here and rush down!"
"No!" Jiang Xian pinched his brows and said slowly, "There is no place to use wood here."
"Look at those houses and the ground, they are all made of stones. Stones cannot float to the surface of the water. It is not feasible to transport stones by river. And they specially built several hundred-meter-long ditches, which obviously means they have a large amount of wood to transport. Where did the wood go?"
silence.
No one can answer.
Apparently, an astonishing super-project had been carried out here; however, the main body of the project had disappeared.
"You think... this river is also used to transport that thing?" Hong Si Niang frowned and asked, "Maybe... it's a boat?"
"Xu Fu's immortal ship!" This time, everyone said in unison. However, as soon as they finished speaking, everyone shook their heads.
"It's still not right. History records that Xu Fu's fleet was in search of immortals. And why did they build it here?" "Yes, this place is too far from the coast. How can they reach the sea if they build it here?" "It's unnecessary to go far away instead of near... But you know what, such a ship can really hold 3,000 boys and girls and all kinds of supplies."
Silence again.
This river must be used to transport something, and that something is obviously extremely large, otherwise they wouldn't have spent so much manpower to build a canal over a thousand meters long. But... what is it?
"Let's go find Mozi." After a long while, Jiang Xian shook his head and said, "Only he has the answer. Let's go down first."
Everyone nodded, and the group bent down carefully and chose the river bank opposite the monkeys and cranes.
Walking in such a magnificent underground palace, silence follows you like a shadow. Every step you take raises the dust of history, and walking on the stairs built with countless lives, you will feel a sense of vicissitudes of life.
Walking down the wide white marble staircase, one can see an endless row of stone houses leaning against the wall. Twenty meters away from the door is the vast canal. The sculptures of evil spirits seem to be telling the vicissitudes of time. When they stepped down the stairs, they finally saw the ape crane that was so big that it was unbelievable.
It was about a few hundred meters away from them. It didn't feel that there were uninvited guests here. It slowly shook its short tail and its huge palm passed by slowly. Some stone houses that had long been weak simply collapsed under this huge force, turning into several meters of stones and falling down.
But to this giant, it was just a dropped watermelon.
"What a fucking monster..." Ling Xiaozi's lips were trembling: "Have you cultivated the inner elixir?"
Hush - everyone raised a finger to their mouths. They were all experts and knew what such a monster represented - its punching force was estimated to be more than ten tons. Even if all the people present were added together, it would only be a slap from it, and... they couldn't break the defense.
Bullets wouldn't penetrate this kind of monster. Once discovered... you can only hope for the best.
Jiang Xian shook his head, forcing himself to look away from the monster. He waved his hand, and when Yuanhe turned his head, he rushed into the next room. Then he looked back.
The underground waterfall looks extremely spectacular from this angle.
The hundred-meter waterfalls on both sides dropped huge water curtains, rumbling into the canal, pulling out a dim water curtain forty to fifty meters high, and below the waterfall was a huge cave.
That should be the place where the ancestors of monkeys and cranes lived... Jiang Xian looked at it for a moment, frowning slightly. He suddenly realized... the shape of this cave was not right.
It doesn't look like it was dug by humans. Through a telescope, you can see that it is full of potholes and very humid. But... its cut is round.
It's as if... something was arched out?
At this moment, everyone entered the stone house. Jiang Xian retracted his gaze, pointed to the top of his head, and said: "I just took a few glances, and every stone house has a pulley installed on the top. And, look here."
He pointed at the stone bed. In this windless place, the stone could not weather. The stone house had remained unchanged for more than 2,000 years. The bed and table were all there. And on the bed... no, even in many places in the room, there were some white hairs. But most of them had faded and turned light gold.
"Is this... the home of the monkey crane?" Hong Si Niang took a deep breath, then shook her head and said, "No, the body of the monkey crane cannot be entered at all. This is built according to the proportions of humans..."
“What if it’s a baby monkey crane?” Jiang Xian interrupted him before he could finish, “It’s impossible for a monkey crane to be that big when it’s born. Their food is bats and zombie fish. And there’s no telling how many zombie fish there are in this river, and they’re deadly to baby monkey cranes.”
Ling Xiaozi narrowed his eyes: "Do you think... this is the nursery of the monkeys and cranes?"
Jiang Xian nodded: "Yes, you can see that the fur has turned light gold. It has been for several years at least. Let's put it this way, monkeys and cranes can't get in here. But... we have to be careful, there are baby monkeys and cranes placed here."
Everyone took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.
The little monkey crane is not scary. What is scary is... if its cry attracts the monster, they will not be able to escape at all!
This stone house is useless to the monster. Even if it doesn't dare to tear it down for fear of the little monkey crane, once it is trapped in the stone house, it will be no different from waiting to die.
If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. Before the final exploration, all the dangerous points must be found. No one thought this was a waste of time. After everyone nodded, Jiang Xian took out a marker and casually drew on the ground: "Mozi's room should be in the middle."
He drew two vertical lines to represent the canal and made a dot in the middle of the canal. “As the master craftsman of this huge project, he needs to be in a place where he can be informed of everything going on. Moreover, he should be at the highest level, so he can overlook the project.”
"The rooms for the laborers are not very particular. Moreover, these stone houses are built layer by layer like terraces. The road we need to take is the top!" He marked four areas of different heights on both sides and emphasized the highest point with a marker: "I roughly calculated that the highest place of the houses here is more than 30 meters. This height... is very good!"
Ten meters, the monkey and crane could probably see it with a casual glance. This was a secondary dangerous height.
Twenty meters is exactly the height of the monkey-crane ancestor, within the range of its eyes. This is the most dangerous height!
Thirty meters was the distance it had to look up to see. Such a huge creature, especially in an environment where food was relatively scarce, would not do too many meaningless actions. Moreover, this was also a place that ordinary cranes had to climb to reach. If they were discovered, they would at least have some time to retreat .
It's dark under the lamp.
Hong Si Niang and Babi Luohan immediately understood this and looked at Jiang Xian with admiration. Even they hadn't thought of such details. Even though it was only ten meters away, it could mean the difference between life and death.
"That's incredible..." Hong Si Niang sighed, "If it were me, I might just move directly to the house on the ground. A new generation replaces the old one, awesome."
"I just thought too much." Jiang Xian shook his head and said solemnly, "Don't act separately. Take a break. In ten minutes, we will start a comprehensive exploration!"
"Remember, we only have nine hours! We must return to the room before dawn!"
