The salty sea breeze with the smell of fish sauce hit us in the face. We lay on the deck of the fishing boat, watching the customs terminal gradually become clear. Tang Ren suddenly turned over and sat up, pointing at the red lanterns lined up on the shore: "What day is it?"
Qin Feng took out his water-soaked pocket watch, which was covered with white clouds: "Lunar, lunar eighth month..." As soon as he finished speaking, the whole city suddenly fell into darkness. A beam of light rose from the direction of Chinatown, illuminating the sky. At that moment, I caught a glimpse of hundreds of Kongming lanterns forming a huge Q-shaped totem.
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When he ran through the chaotic crowd to the starting point, the paper shops on the whole street were burning. Tang Ren picked up a bucket of water and splashed it on the largest pile. The water washed away the ashes, revealing the burnt bamboo frame tied with gold foil strips. Qin Feng picked up the half-melted copper wire: "This, this is the lightning rod modification trigger device."
I kicked away the broken lantern paper and found that the burn marks on the surface were arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. Looking in the direction of the spoon handle, there was a intact revolving lantern hanging on the eaves of the Guandi Temple. Tang Ren used his wall-climbing skills to remove the lampshade. On the inside was a painting of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, and He Xiangu's lotus core was embedded with a jade bead.
"It's made of the same material as the broken finger of the jade Buddha." I concluded after using the system to scan. Qin Feng suddenly grabbed the lantern frame and twisted the burned and bent wire into the shape of the Big Dipper: "The longitude and latitude of the shipwreck that year!"
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Emerald Island glowed in the moonlight. We drove the boat around the island three times and finally found an underwater cave on the back of the reef. When Tang Ren held his breath and dived, his belt was swept away by the undercurrent, revealing a bronze key on his waist - the one found in the freighter's safe.
"This, this is a mechanical lock!" Qin Feng touched the groove on the cave wall. The moment he inserted the key, the sea water suddenly receded, revealing the rusty wreckage of the Dongxing. The skeleton on the deck was still in the posture of moving a wooden box, and the gold bars in the box were printed with the collection number of the British Museum.
Tang Ren pried open the captain's room and found a contract in the tide-covered diary. Qin Feng used a flashlight to scan the cinnabar seal at the end of the contract and suddenly stuttered violently: "Su, Su..." I snatched the contract, and the moonlight just illuminated the signature - Su Huaiyuan, my great-grandfather.
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On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinatown was decorated with lanterns and ribbons, and we were squatting on the roof of the Jinyu Pavilion. As the time approached, thirteen Kongming lanterns rose from all directions, forming a Tai Chi pattern in front of the full moon. Qin Feng suddenly pulled my sleeve: "Lanterns, lanterns, cotton thread!"
Following his gaze, all the lantern strings were tied to the bell and pestle of the Guandi Temple. When the moonlight moved to the center of the sky, the bell and pestle automatically struck the bronze bell, and the sound waves broke the lantern strings. Gold powder flew out of the fallen lanterns, and poisonous Q-shaped smoke condensed in the air.
"Go to the bell tower!" I kicked the monk who was chanting sutras away. Tang Ren was already holding the bell pestle. Qin Feng quickly disassembled the bell tongue and took out a sandalwood box from the inside. The parchment scroll in the box recorded a hundred-year plan: every Mid-Autumn Festival, the sound wave resonance would cause the seabed to tremble, so that the treasures of the sunken ship could be brought to light.
The sea surface suddenly raised a hundred-meter-high wave, and thunder was heard from the direction of Emerald Island. Qin Feng inserted the bronze key into the brick of the bell tower, and the sound of the mechanism turning came from the bottom. The entire Guandi Temple began to sink, revealing a giant bronze bell hidden under the base - this was the real source of resonance!
Tang Ren picked up a fire axe and cut the rope of the bronze bell. The bell fell into the reservoir. The tsunami miraculously subsided. A jade pendant with the letter Q floated up from the bottom of the pool. Inside the pendant was engraved the words "The game continues" as small as a mosquito's foot.
When the morning light pierced through the clouds, the aroma of mooncakes wafted through the old street. Tang Ren bit into the lotus seed filling and suddenly spat out the egg yolk, which was imprinted with a new Q-shaped pattern. Qin Feng looked at the junction of the sea and the sky, stuttering with a smile: "Next, next time, go to Antarctica to solve a case?"
The sea breeze blew away the voices, and the bells of tricycles rang around the corner. No one noticed that cinnabar was slowly oozing out of the tip of the Guandi statue...
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