"Old Li, is what Xiao Sun said true?" Duan Jie asked as soon as he arrived.
He trusted Master Li's judgment.
"Take a look for yourself. I wouldn't dare say it's 100% certain, but it's about 50% or 60%."
Master Li, please move aside.
Duan Jie and his group quickly used Luo Yunhang's flashlight to carefully examine every inch of the room.
After inspecting the area, Duan Jie questioned Luo Yunhang, who had discovered the problem, in detail.
Luo Yunhang naturally repeated the explanation he had just given to Master Li.
The group was at a stalemate.
To verify its authenticity, it is necessary to destroy it by brute force.
On the surface, there is indeed a slight sense of incongruity, but if we were to damage the mural based solely on this slight sense of incongruity, it would be an irreparable injury to the mural, if we are not mistaken.
However, now that the problem has been discovered, it seems unbearable to leave it unresolved.
After much discussion, Dean Duan and Master Li decided that they must get to the bottom of this.
Everyone gathered their tools and decided to cut open a corner first. Luo Yunhang chose this spot because it would allow them to discover the clues inside the mural more quickly without damaging it.
After much effort, they finally managed to pry open a small corner, and it was this small corner that terrified them.
This is no longer the original mural; it's clearly a fake, a replacement placed there by someone with ulterior motives. This piece is completely different from the surrounding natural stones.
Under Luo Yunhang's direction, everyone directly peeled off a whole piece of the fake mural, which was more than one meter long.
Only then did we see the whole picture inside. Such a large mural was deliberately pasted on, and the level of realism was breathtaking.
Where did the original murals go? How were they transported away? The other party may have bribed the villagers on duty nearby, otherwise it would have been impossible to complete these things quietly without being discovered.
Moreover, achieving such perfect cutting and patching techniques is very difficult.
It's extremely shameful. Due to environmental limitations, they themselves can't even do it now, yet someone else has. This shows that the forces behind them are not simple. It's very likely that some foreign fake devils who want to steal civilization sent people to do it.
Dean Duan and Master Li both had many thoughts in that instant, but they couldn't say them out loud for the time being because the matter was just too serious.
Besides being surprised that someone had switched the goods, there was another headache.
Did they only replace this mural, or did they replace many other things?
A thorough inspection would be a huge undertaking, and they might not be able to accurately distinguish between real and fake items. What if they accidentally damage the real thing?
Before uncovering the mural that was discovered in front of them, they weren't sure if it was real or fake. It was only after Luo Yunhang insisted that they called Dean Duan over.
They felt both heartbroken and guilty. How long had this been going on without them noticing? Everyone was dejected.
This counterfeit is truly of the highest quality; the forger must be no ordinary person.
This mural has raised a host of issues that urgently need to be addressed.
Dean Duan, befitting his position, after some thought, solemnly issued a gag order: "Everyone here, remember, what happened today is not to be disclosed for the time being."
This group dared to blatantly switch the goods; there must be someone within our ranks watching over them and providing cover.
We must find this person to protect more cultural relics.
"Dean Duan is right!"
"We understand."
"It's rotten inside me."
…
Everyone agreed to keep it a secret.
"Thank you all for your cooperation. This incident was due to our negligence. The only solution now is to lure the snake out of its hole, catch these thieves, and eliminate them completely."
Here, I would like to give special praise to Comrade Luo Yunhang, who is the youngest among us.
But his insight is better than ours; he dares to discover and raise questions without fear or timidity. He is a role model worthy of our emulation.” After saying this, Dean Duan led the applause, and everyone followed suit.
Luo Yunhang smiled somewhat embarrassedly. In fact, he only had X-ray vision because of it. In terms of eyesight, he was no match for those old people who did restoration work all day. He just benefited from X-ray vision.
"The most urgent task we need to complete is to survey all the grottoes, find out the items that have been switched, and compile a list."
Everyone was stumped by Dean Duan's words.
“We walk around here every day and have never noticed anything different,” someone said.
"Yes! It wouldn't be good if we found the wrong one."
…
Firstly, due to limitations in visual acuity, ordinary restorers would find it difficult to discern significant differences or problems at this level of sophisticated alteration.
Only master-level restorers like Dean Duan and Master Li could discover the problem.
Secondly, due to environmental constraints, in order to deceive the thieves and avoid being discovered, they could not conduct a large-scale search throughout the entire grotto area, as this would easily alert them.
Everyone's eyes turned to Luo Yunhang, the youngest but most renowned comrade.
Dean Duan looked at him and Xiang Tianhong with hope: "I know this may be a very difficult and arduous task, but we really can't find anyone more suitable than the two of you in our team."
These two young comrades have exceptional eyesight, and their passion for cultural relics is in no way inferior to that of our older comrades. They are trustworthy.
I'd like to entrust this task to you to carry out secretly, but I don't know if you... agree or not.
Dean Duan was a little embarrassed at the end, because he couldn't find a suitable person in his team and had to rely on the two young comrades who came to learn.
Master Li was also somewhat hesitant to speak.
If it's out of a genuine desire to protect cultural relics, then they should be allowed to go.
However, he knew very well that this was not an ordinary task, and the implications were far from simple.
The two were filled with inner conflict.
On the contrary, Luo Yunhang and Xiang Tianhong, like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, immediately accepted the task.
"I can."
"I can."
The two answered in unison, which made Dean Duan feel embarrassed.
"Alright, you two just go for it. If you do a good job, I'll recommend you for credit. If any mistakes happen, it's on me. I'll take care of it, even if the sky falls down," Dean Duan said with great authority.
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