After dinner, I went inside early, turned on the desk lamp, placed the cleaned bronze seal underneath, and looked at it for a while. I was certain that it was a pre-Qin artifact, but the characters on it did not belong to ancient Shu. It seemed to be a script between the two, a kind of transition.

But I know that what is recorded here must be very important. It is about sacrificial divination, because it was too mysterious at the time, so it was recorded on bronze inscriptions.

"I'll go see Xiang Fei tomorrow and have him take a look," I thought to myself. I took out the two photos again. Although the people in the photos had changed, the backgrounds were exactly the same. It was obvious that they were taken at the same place and at the same time.

The photo that the Monkey King brought out of the Shu Tomb has two more people than the one left by the ancestor. And it just so happens that the parts of these two people are blurred, and only their bodies can be roughly seen.

"Who could these two people be?" I had a feeling that I had seen these two people somewhere before. If I counted the people in the photos, they must be at least a hundred years old. I don't recognize any hundred-year-olds. I guess we can only find one in our town.

My doubts grew, so I took out a magnifying glass to examine it more closely. As I looked, I was startled. Next to both photos, there was a figure, a solitary figure that was not one of the people in the photos. Because they were black and white photos, it was hard to see without zooming in. This figure stood there like a ghost.

Aside from the two unseen people, there are five people in each of the two photos, only one of whom is not the same person. Among them are my great-great-grandmother, Chairman Zhang's grandfather, and a woman. I don't recognize the others.

I searched carefully for something of value among these figures, but after looking for a while without any results, I put the magnifying glass on the table. "What could be wrong with this?"

After thinking for a moment, I picked up the magnifying glass again to examine the people inside. Suddenly, my eyes lit up. "Why does this woman look so familiar?"

I closed my eyes and searched my memory. After a while, I finally remembered something and jumped up from my chair. "Isn't this the female professor from the archaeological team I was supposed to collaborate with at Sanxingdui last time?"

Although she looks much older in real life, I'm sure it's her. In the photo, she has two ponytails, a typical look for intellectuals at that time.

"If she were alive today, she would be at least a hundred years old. She looks about twenty years old in the photo, but the last time I saw her, she looked to be in her sixties or seventies, and she looked very healthy and had no health problems at all."

There's a problem, there must be something wrong here. We'll have to be more careful next time we meet.

Looking at the time, it was almost eleven o'clock. I decided to go to bed. I had to take care of some things in the county tomorrow, and I would have to go see Xiang Fei when I got back.

In the middle of the night, I was woken up by the barking of dogs. Several dogs in the village were barking, including our yellow dog, which was barking very fiercely.

I'm usually a very startled sleeper; the slightest noise will wake me up. It's normal for dogs to bark at night, but tonight... something seems off. All the dogs are barking in the direction of my house.

After listening for a while, I became alert and quietly started to pick up the items. Although there have been fewer thieves in recent years, it doesn't mean there aren't any.

After getting dressed, I took the flashlight in my hand and the Tang sword hanging in the room. Xiang Fei had given it to me, saying that hanging it in the room could ward off evil spirits.

My family's house is on ancestral land. When we built a new house a few years ago, my grandfather personally checked the feng shui and arranged a yin-yang formation around it. The terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In other words, apart from the main gate, it is not easy to enter my house. My uncle's house is behind it, and there are other houses on the left and right sides. Only the front is adjacent to the main road.

I opened the door and slowly made my way down to the hall. I turned on the lights and then ran upstairs to turn on the spotlights, which illuminated the courtyard below.

My mother was also awakened and came out to ask me what was going on. I told her to go back to sleep and I would check again. At this time, my uncle's family also got up, and several other families followed suit.

I stood upstairs and shone my flashlight into the corners that the light couldn't reach. I saw that the yellow dog in the yard had also quieted down. I barked once and then quickly got up and wagged its tail at me.

The night grew quiet again. I looked at the mountains and forests not far away, which were pitch black, as if someone was watching me from inside.

After thinking for a moment, I turned off all the lights, pretended to go to sleep again, and then crouched down in the dark to observe carefully.

A while had passed, and it must be past 3 a.m. now, but there hadn't been a sound. "Could they have left?" I thought, deciding to wait a little longer and go to sleep if there was no further movement.

Just then, a 'snap' sound rang out in the quiet night sky. It was the time when bamboo shoots grew into bamboo, so the village was full of fallen bamboo leaves, which made a crackling sound when stepped on.

Startled, I knew the thieves were back. Without showing any emotion, I continued to crouch and observe. Of course, my observation involved listening; I could tell which thieves were going and where they were just by listening to the slightest sound.

The scene quieted down again. I listened carefully and finally heard a very faint footstep, which sounded like it was approaching my house.

Slightly surprised, it seems this thief tonight is quite skilled; he managed to walk like this in the dark without even the dog noticing.

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