Li Lanzhen was astonished to discover a golden inverted triangle on the stone wall of the underground river.
As the water flowed, the golden triangle swayed continuously. Li Lanzhen's gaze was fixed on the triangle, which swayed back and forth on the mountainside.
She turned her head and looked at the open hole. The sunlight still shone brightly on the surface of the underground river, reflecting the light off its mirror-like surface.
Linglong and Miaomiao were still happily playing in the water in the distance. She slowly walked into the area where the triangle had been shaking. She just found it strange that light could refract into a very regular triangle.
Reaching the mountain wall, Li Lanzhen slowly stretched out her hands and gently placed them on the swaying golden triangle.
Her hand chased the triangle, slowly sliding along the cliff face, until she could see her hand drawing a circle on the rock face as the triangle swayed.
Just as Li Lanzhen let go of her hand and looked at the white alkali frost on her hands, she looked up again and the golden triangle was gone, leaving only a circle drawn by her hand on the mountain wall.
She turned her head and looked at the open hole in the cave ceiling. It turned out that the sunlight had moved to a different position. The river surface was still bright, but without the sunlight shining on it, the triangle shape could no longer be refracted.
Li Lanzhen placed her hands on the circular area once again, slowly exploring it. She had a feeling that there was something wrong with it.
Just as she was groping around, her thumb suddenly brushed against a protruding rock. There was a cracking sound, followed by a loud crash, and a hole collapsed beneath Li Lanzhen's feet. She vanished from the spot.
When Linglong and Miaomiao heard the sound, they turned around and saw that Li Lanzhen was gone. The two children were terrified and cried out.
"grandmother!"
"grandmother!"
When Linglong saw that Li Lanzhen was gone, and there was a large, dark hole in the ground, it looked like a monster with its mouth wide open, she screamed, "The monster ate Grandma! Waaah! Linglong doesn't have a grandma anymore..."
She knelt at the entrance of the cave and shouted loudly down, "Grandma, wet nurse~~"
Ever since her brother brought her to meet Li Lanzhen on the burning mountain, she picked up Linglong and said to them, "Come on. Come with Grandma."
Linglong was no longer afraid and became attached to Li Lanzhen like a family member.
Children are the best at knowing who treats them well.
Miao Miao said, "Linglong, you stay here and watch over Grandma. I'll go and call my dad to come and save Grandma."
Linglong nodded vigorously, wiped away her tears, and knelt at the cave entrance. "Sister, you go. I'll stay with Grandma. I won't let the monster eat her."
Soon, the people from Hanjiacun arrived. They all gathered around the cave. Xue Laohu said, "Everyone, stay away from here. If it collapses again, you'll fall in."
The old village chief asked Miaomiao, "Miaomiao, what happened? How did your grandma fall in?"
Miao Miao couldn't explain it clearly either, only saying that they were playing in the water, and Grandma was walking along the riverbank when suddenly she heard a loud rumble, and then Grandma disappeared.
When Han Mingjiang and Han Minghai heard that their mother had fallen into a hole and disappeared, tears welled up in their eyes. The two men knelt on the ground and called out to their mother with all their might towards the hole.
Seeing that the cave was dark, Xue Laohu lit a torch, took it, and said, "I'll go down and take a look with Lao Er."
Han Minghai and Xue Bao wanted to go down too, but Xue Laohu disagreed, saying, "Safety up here is also important. Second brother, you come with me. Xue Bao will stay here and help the village chief keep an eye on the house."
As for Li Lanzhen, with a loud cracking and rumbling sound, she fell into the pit in freefall. She closed her eyes and sensed that she was falling down to a depth of more than ten meters. Then, with a thud, she landed on her bottom.
Her bottom hurt terribly from the fall. Lying on the ground, she opened her eyes and adjusted her vision to the dark underground environment. Li Lanzhen looked around but saw nothing.
Suddenly remembering the flashlight in her spatial dimension, she sat up, took out the flashlight, turned it on, and shone it around. Everything within the flashlight's reach was stone; it was an underground cave.
A moment later, she heard someone calling her from above. She took out her flashlight, shone it towards the cave entrance, and shouted back, "Hey! I'm underground."
Those on the ground suddenly heard Li Lanzhen's reply and wept with joy.
It's good to know she's still alive, and that we've even seen a glimmer of hope.
Li Lanzhen stood up, holding a flashlight in one hand and a stun gun tightly in the other.
She didn't know what was down there. Maybe there was a giant python, maybe some ferocious beast or something else. There shouldn't be anyone there, right? Maybe it was a treasure vault.
With this in mind, Li Lanzhen perked up and quickly walked around the cave, observing her surroundings.
The area where it fell wasn't large, but if you went further into this cave, it would still be a cave.
It was very quiet here, only the sound of Li Lanzhen's footsteps could be heard, eerily quiet.
But Li Lanzhen still wanted to see what was there. She walked along but found nothing, just bare stone walls. After walking for about 100 meters, a very large cave suddenly appeared.
The cave was not only spacious but also very tall. She used a flashlight to look around the cave bit by bit, but there was nothing there. There wasn't even a scratch on the stone wall. Li Lanzhen found it strange. The circle drawn from the triangle was also very strange.
I pressed my hands on it, which must have triggered some mechanism, causing it to fall. Since that's the case, it must have been intentional.
So, was this cave once inhabited by people or used to store something?
Since that's the case, there should be some clues left, but there was nothing. Just as Li Lianzhen was halfway there, her flashlight beam shone on a skull on the ground.
It startled her, but Li Lanzhen didn't scream.
Shine the flashlight beam on the skeleton again and observe it. Based on the shape of the bones, this person must have been sitting cross-legged here before.
Next to him was a large wooden box, probably two meters long and half a meter wide, and at his feet was an open book.
Li Lanzhen did not rashly open the box or touch the book, fearing that she might trigger some kind of mechanism designed by the ancients.
She stood with her feet together and bowed three times to the skeleton.
He muttered to himself, "I didn't mean to disturb you. I don't know why you're here. I'm just passing through and will be leaving tomorrow."
Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly touched the side of the box, and the wooden box slowly opened, startling Li Lanzhen. She quickly stepped back more than ten feet.
Shining a flashlight on the box, it looked like a coffin at that moment.
As expected, the box contained a hidden treasure. After slowly rising one layer, it was moved to the side, and then another layer rose from below, for a total of three layers, before the wooden box stopped moving.
Li Lanzhen slowly approached, her right hand tightly gripping the stun gun. When she was a step away from the wooden crate, she stopped and waved the stun gun, scanning the three layers of the crate several times.
Li Lanzhen was relieved to find that no poisoned arrows or anything like that had been fired.
She scanned the box layer by layer with her flashlight, and when Li Lanzhen saw what was inside, she smiled.
Wow! Looks like there really is a treasure.
It turned out that the first layer was made of neatly arranged silver ingots, plump and cute! The second layer was full of colorful gemstones of different sizes, shapes and colors.
These gemstones, resembling modern ones, are of unknown origin—whether they came from this country or were brought here from elsewhere—but Li Lanzhen likes them.
She thought, no one could dislike something so sparkly and shiny.
There was another layer containing a small, flat wooden box, surrounded by jade jewelry.
Li Lanzhen stood there for a while, wondering what to do. She looked at the long wooden box, which should be a coffin.
Could it be that this deceased person prepared the coffin himself? But why didn't he lie in it? Why did he choose to sit here?
What should we do? Collect the items and put his remains inside? Let him rest in peace in a coffin?
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