The five stopped when a giant, overturned human head blocked their path.
The black stone statue's face was smashed beyond recognition, its surface covered with pits and craters. The face was so blurred that it had a mosaic effect, with only simple bumps and undulations remaining. From a distance, you could make out the eyes, but up close, you couldn't make out anything at all.
After wiping away the surface dirt, I inadvertently found traces of pure gold inlay on the edge of the stone statue.
Yan Ruoying: "This head... must be twenty meters long, right?"
Shi Jin rubbed his fingertips together a few times and pulled out a tiny gold nugget from the dust. "It is very difficult for human beings to build such a statue. Apart from the heir to the throne, only the gods worshipped by religions have the right to make such statues."
“It must be a religious belief.” Shekh cleared away the stones under his feet and took out a palm-sized black stone statue. Although its face was scratched, it was still barely intact. “This size is perfect for a missionary to carry with them.”
“That makes sense.” Yan Ruoying patted Pusheng on the shoulder. “Aren’t you a Taoist priest? You should know this, right?”
“I don’t understand.” Pu Sheng shook his head like a rattle-drum. “We’re all people you can believe or not believe as you please. We don’t have time to spread faith everywhere, and we don’t carry around treacherous people.”
Shi Jinzhe: "Then how much do you know about the others?"
Pu Sheng: "...I don't understand. I'm very loyal. I don't look at other women."
“Okay…” Shi Jinzhe knew he couldn’t place his hopes on others. He kicked away the rubble at his feet. “Look around for more stones here. If there are a lot of smashed and destroyed statues, they are most likely religious deities.”
“Actually, it’s also possible that the emperors of the past built it for themselves,” Pu Sheng said, trying to salvage his reputation. “It’s possible that rulers of different dynasties could overturn the statues of previous emperors.”
Shi Jinzhe: "That's possible, but you've forgotten one thing. The Queen is the supreme ruler here. If there are statues of emperors, why doesn't she have one of herself? We've been walking all day, and this is still the capital city where she resides. Have you seen any stone statues related to her? Not to mention related to her, we haven't even seen any stone statues."
Pu Sheng blinked, as if he didn't understand.
Shi Jinzhe asked him, "What is the purpose of the people who later smashed the statues of the previous emperors?"
Pu Sheng said uncertainly, "To erase his achievements and elevate himself?"
Shi Jinzhe: "So if the reigns of two emperors are too far apart, there's no need for this. If they did this, it would prove they lived in the same era. But that's not the case here. The queen considers herself supreme. Do you think that if there were an emperor from her era, she would be willing to simply erase the other party without highlighting herself?"
Pusheng rolled his eyes, seemingly digesting what he had just said.
Shi Jinzhe didn't care whether he really didn't understand or not; after explaining, he started looking for the broken stones on the ground.
Shehe already had several pieces in her hand. She handed one to Shi Jinzhe and said, "Look, not only the black stone, but this white one also has carving marks."
Shi Jinzhe picked up the stone and heard her say, "The two statues are different people, one black and one white, they are two gods."
"Two?" Shi Jinzhe took them and compared them in his hand.
Half a day later, he asked Shekh, "They don't have faces, and their shapes and sizes are about the same, how did you tell them apart?"
Shekh was puzzled. "Isn't it obvious? Look here." She picked up the white statue and pointed to the arm. "The white statue has wheat stalks draped over it here, while the black one has an arrow here."
Shi Jinzhe couldn't see the wheat ears and arrowheads clearly with his eyes, so he had to press them down little by little with his hands and feel them by touch.
...
No, he could only feel the prickling sensation; he couldn't feel anything at all.
How exactly did Schechter figure it out?
The probing gaze shifted from the stone statue to Shekh's face, and Shi Jinzhe stared at her for a long time.
He was fairly certain that Shekh had such a deep impression of the two statues that even after they were destroyed beyond recognition, the original appearance of the statues could still be vividly recalled in the depths of her mind.
Can you tell the faces of these two stone statues apart?
Shekh shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. I only recognized the ears of wheat and the arrowhead."
“Alright, this is also a very important clue.” Shi Jinzhe didn’t press the issue. “The black arrow, the white wheat ears, and the two gods with different directions of prayer—one is somewhat related to war, and the other is associated with a bountiful harvest.”
He shouted to the other three, "Have you found any other minor damage to the stone statue remains?"
“Here.” Yan Ruoying held up a black stone slab and laboriously walked over from the large rock.
"The statue is only half there, but its back has not been smashed. The silhouette is very clear, with long hair, and it's curly hair."
“I found one too.” Ji Hui flipped over a half-meter-long rock, revealing the rest of his arm with an arrow engraved on it.
“I have one too.” Pu Sheng also found a thin slice, but his was white, and the undulations looked like the folds of clothing, clearly indicating that the surface had broken off during a smashing or attack.
“Look, this piece has a very good color and is especially smooth.” He breathed on it, wiped the dampness off with his clothes, and then took Ji Hui’s searchlight.
The lustrous color flashed by, and Sheh suddenly remembered those golden Buddha statues that had been polished to a shine by tourists; the patina on their big toes was exactly the same color as this stone slab.
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