The bronze wedge in Jiang Man's hand is also called a chisel. It is a tool used for drilling holes or digging grooves. It belongs to production tools, so it almost never appears in the category of burial objects.

In ancient times, when productivity was low, bronze tools were extremely precious. Therefore, many ancient tombs from the Shang and Zhou dynasties have almost no bronze tools left behind. This was not only against etiquette, but also because these tools had to be counted in full.

The fact that we can find bronze artifacts here proves that this passage was secretly dug out by the craftsmen who built this place to escape for their own lives.

In other words, he could very well be a backdoor.

As for where this passage leads, I'm not sure yet, but the fact that the craftsmen can walk this way naturally means that we can avoid many dangers.

I checked the inside of the cave and made sure that the people in front of me hadn't set any traps, so I was the first to climb in.

The cave was very narrow and irregularly shaped. Even wearing a rat-patterned coat, my limbs ached from the pressure. I imagine the slaves who escaped from here must have suffered even more.

After crawling forward along the cave for a while, I suddenly saw a flash of light ahead. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but the green light ahead contrasted sharply with the yellow light from my headlamp, so I quickly turned off my flashlight.

The passage returned to calm, and in the darkness ahead, the eerie green light stood out starkly.

I continued climbing forward a bit more, and under the green light, I could barely make out that there was a small space outside. The source of the green light was a round object located at the entrance of the passage, which looked like a luminous pearl.

We had previously discovered a large amount of fluorite in a cave on the way to the second gate, so I wasn't surprised by its appearance. Instead, I said to Jiang Man, "That thing ahead looks like fluorite. The two teams that passed through here before didn't touch it. Perhaps there's some kind of trick involved. Be careful when you pass through."

As I was speaking, I had already climbed to the front of the fluorite. Sure enough, it was a round stone, which must have been a burial item stolen by the craftsman back then, but was abandoned here for some reason.

My current task is to catch up with Duan Jinyan, and I have no interest in anything else. Since the team ahead of me hasn't touched the rock, I've decided to go around it.

After I got to the rock, I spread my arms and legs, ready to climb over it, but I was startled when I saw what it looked like.

This is a human head.

To be precise, it's a human skull sculpture.

The skull is very well carved, with clear lines on the lower jaw and neat teeth. At this moment, its eyes are looking up at the cave. I had mistaken it for a luminous pearl before because I saw its crown.

Seeing that I had stopped moving, Jiang Man asked, "Duan Shenxing, what happened?"

"No, it's just that this thing feels a bit strange to me."

I continued climbing forward: "The carvings we saw before were all crudely made with simple lines, but this skull sculpture is exquisitely crafted, and the craftsmanship is different from what we've seen outside before."

As I was speaking, Jiang Man behind me suddenly exclaimed "Huh!" and then said, "This thing isn't a sculpture; it looks like a real human skull!"

"impossible!"

I replied firmly, "How could human bones glow? That thing is clearly carved from fluorite!"

"It really is a human skull. The skull is composed of 23 flat bones and irregular bones. Except for the mandible and hyoid bone, they are firmly connected to each other by sutures or cartilage. There are 8 cranial bones, including the paired parietal and temporal bones and the asymmetrical frontal, ethmoid, sphenoid, and occipital bones. They together form the cranial cavity, which contains and protects the brain."

Jiang Man said from behind, "All the skeletal structures of this skull fit perfectly with human skulls. Unless someone carved all the bones and then pieced them together, even modern sculptors would find it difficult to do this. It would have been even more difficult in ancient times!"

"If it really is a human skull, how do you explain the glowing? If ancient times had this technology to make bones glow, it would have been widely adopted long ago. Why would they go to the trouble of capturing whales and using whale oil to make eternal lamps? They could have just placed a row of glowing skulls, which would have served as both eternal lamps and a way to scare away tomb raiders. Wouldn't that be more frightening than any tomb guardian beast?"

I still don't believe Jiang Man's conjecture: "Nowadays, handicrafts are made for the general public to appreciate, but ancient handicrafts were indeed for royalty and nobility to appreciate! If you put a knife to the throat of a modern sculptor and tell him that he will be beheaded if he doesn't achieve his goal, I believe his craftsmanship will definitely improve by leaps and bounds! There's a saying that goes, 'People are forced to their limits!'"

"Perhaps, but I really don't think this thing is man-made, and its material doesn't look like fluorite. It's more like crystal, and apart from the skeletal structure, it certainly doesn't look like bone!"

Jiang Man avoided the skull behind me and crawled forward with me.

Just as I was about to turn on my flashlight as I approached the exit of the passage, I noticed that the space outside was still shimmering with green light.

At first, I thought I was seeing things because I had seen the crystal skull, but when I peeked out, I found that the space outside was filled with bones.

They were all like that skull, glowing bones.

Inside this small cave, which isn't very big, there are at least a dozen skeletons.

The passage of time has caused their skin and muscles to decay, but their bones have remained.

These bones all emitted a faint green light, illuminating a small area around them.

Jiang Man followed me out of the passage. After seeing the situation outside, she turned back to look at the passage behind her and said, "If the human head in the passage was carved, then do you think the skeletons here were also man-made?"

"I guessed wrong."

I shook my head: "When I saw that skull before, I subconsciously assumed it was a burial item that the craftsmen had stolen. If it were just one head, it would be fine, but there are more than a dozen skeletons here! Even if they are works of art, these craftsmen could not have carried such heavy things through such a narrow passage when they were escaping."

Jiang Man stepped forward and examined the skeletons in front of her with her knife: "These skeletons are proportionally even, but they are not symmetrical on both sides and are slightly deformed, which indicates that they engaged in heavy physical labor in their lives. Such marks could not have been made by a sculptor! I believe these skeletons are those of the craftsmen who were trapped and died here! But why do their remains... emit light?"