Chapter 181 Approaching the criminals!
Xu Ying kept communicating with the fruit bats and adjusting their direction.
Just as they were about to walk out of the maze, Lou Yiqun suddenly stepped on a loose brick.
There was a soft "click" sound, and the sound of stones rubbing against each other came from above my head.
"Trap!" Qi Xiao pounced on Xu Ying, and a huge stone slab brushed their backs and fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Xu Ying got up coughing and found that the stone slab just divided the team into two - she, Qi Xiao and Chen Su were in front, while Professor Mo and Lou Yiqun were trapped on the other side.
"Professor! Are you okay?" Xu Ying shouted anxiously.
"It's okay!" Professor Mo's voice came from the other side of the stone slab, "but this stone slab is too heavy, we can't get through!"
Xu Ying's bat flew back to her shoulder, squeaking to convey the message.
She nodded. "The bat said there's a control mechanism not far ahead that can reset the maze. Professor, you guys wait here for now. We'll be back soon!"
The three continued forward and soon arrived at a circular stone chamber. In the center stood a stone pillar engraved with runes, and the surrounding ground was inlaid with a complex star map.
"The astronomical room of Jingjue Kingdom." Qi Xiao identified the words on the stone pillar, "We need to rotate the stone pillar according to the correct star sequence."
Chen Su glanced at his watch and frowned: "We don't have time to solve the puzzle."
Xu Ying walked to the corner of the stone chamber, and the image presented by the night vision goggles in front of her allowed her to discover a night viper curled up there.
Night vipers are small to medium-sized venomous snakes, the cowards among venomous snakes, and usually run away when they encounter danger.
Xu Ying, fearing to frighten the night viper, patted his shoulder bag and said, "Wang Er, go ask this night viper if it knows how to get out of this astronomy room."
King Cobra No. 2 poked its head out of the satchel, twisted its body, and suddenly rushed in front of Night Viper, forcing Night Viper into a corner.
It bared its teeth and said: [Hey, kid!]
[You've been here for so long, do you know how to operate the mechanism here?]
The night viper trembled like a poor little thing being bullied.
Xu Ying knocked Wang Er on the head and said, "What are you doing? Be polite when asking for help."
With the threat from the king cobra, the night viper surrendered immediately.
Xu Ying listened to the viper's trembling hiss and turned to the others, saying, "It said tomb robbers have been here. Let's see what they did."
The Night Viper twisted its body and turned its head towards several specific gems in the star map.
Xu Ying pressed the buttons one by one according to the instructions. The stone pillar made a dull roar and began to rotate slowly.
There was a sound of walls moving in the distance.
A moment later, Professor Mo and Lou Yiqun were surprised to find that the maze had returned to its original state and hurried to catch up with the team.
"That's amazing!" Professor Mo exclaimed. "This Station Master Xu is incredibly efficient in our work!"
Lou Yiqun had an awkward smile on his face and echoed Professor Mo's words, "Yes."
He was led by Xu Ying the entire time, and his knowledge was of no use at all. He recalled what he had said before going to the tomb, and a wry smile appeared on his face, his eyes reddening unconsciously.
Xu Ying carefully put the night viper back to its original place. Suddenly, the king cobra on her wrist twisted violently and pointed deep into the tunnel.
Not long after they entered the tomb passage, Xu Ying, who had a keen sense of hearing, suddenly grabbed Qi Xiao's arm and said, "Listen!"
A faint whimpering sound came from deep within the tomb passage, like a woman sobbing, or like the wind sobbing.
Lou Yiqun's face was pale and the searchlight in his hand was shaking slightly.
"Is it a ghost crying?"
Lou Yiqun's voice trembled.
Qi Xiao suddenly squatted down and pulled out a bronze dagger from his boot.
There was a crisp metallic friction sound when the dagger was unsheathed, and the whimpering sound suddenly disappeared.
"It's not a ghost." Qi Xiao tapped the tomb wall with his dagger. "This is a 'wind-sounding brick', an anti-theft mechanism designed by Han Dynasty craftsmen."
He pointed to the almost invisible holes in the wall and said, "When air flows through these holes, human voices are produced."
Professor Mo took a closer look and suddenly realized, "It's just like the principle of a clay xun!"
"I've only seen it in literature before, but this is the first time I've seen it. The wisdom of the ancients is truly amazing."
Qi Xiao nodded: "This sound can disrupt people's sense of direction."
He gestured for everyone to look at the ground, "Pay attention to the footprints of the tomb robbers. They circled here three times."
Xu Ying couldn't help but be curious: "Then why did these disturbing sounds disappear as soon as Qi Xiao pulled out the bronze dagger?"
At first glance, it looks like a bronze artifact has suppressed the howling of ghosts and wolves, which is quite mysterious.
Professor Mo pushed up his glasses and explained, "This is the principle of sound wave interference in modern physics."
"The high-frequency metallic friction of the bronze dagger as it was unsheathed interfered destructively with these low-frequency whimpering sounds."
"The peaks and valleys of the two sound waves cancel each other out, creating a momentary acoustic cancellation effect."
Therefore, it is not the metaphysical effect of the bronze artifact to ward off evil spirits and suppress the cries of ghosts, but the physical checks and balances.
"This sound-absorbing effect can last for three to five minutes in the enclosed space of the tomb passage until the vibrations of the bronze vessels decay."
"Han Dynasty craftsmen were also physics experts, and they had a very sophisticated understanding of acoustics."
After hearing what Professor Mo said, Xu Ying got goosebumps and instantly felt the charm of archaeology.
The light of wisdom from the ancients thousands of years ago shines on her thousands of years later.
At this moment, the king cobra on Xu Ying's wrist sniffed: "There's a scent of fresh human blood here. The thief you're looking for is not far ahead."
"The tomb robbers are just ahead!" Xu Ying whispered. "My snake smells fresh blood, as well as metal and gunpowder."
The team immediately went on alert.
After turning a few corners, a stone door that had been violently pried open appeared before our eyes.
Inside was a spacious tomb chamber. The exquisite murals on the walls had been blackened by smoke, and the lid of the central sarcophagus had been opened and leaned to one side.
"Oh my God!" Professor Mo rushed into the tomb and saw the scene inside. He felt dizzy. "They... They looted the main tomb!"
The tomb was in a mess, with all the burial objects swept away, leaving only a few broken pottery jars and scattered fabric fragments.
There were several modern backpacks piled in the corner, obviously left by tomb robbers.
Chen Su checked his backpack: "Food, water, tools, and this."
He lifted a small cloth bag and poured out a few gold coins and a jade disk engraved with Jingjue characters.
"At least a million-dollar artifact," Professor Mo knelt on the ground in grief. "The rest must have been taken away by them."
Xu Ying squatted down, and several spiders moved quickly on the floor of the tomb.
After a moment, she pointed to a hidden passage on the other side of the tomb. "They left here, no more than ten minutes ago. Someone is injured, and the blood is still fresh."
Qi Xiao checked the passage: "This is the craftsman's passage, leading directly to the ground."
"We have to catch up with them!" Chen Su clenched his pistol.
(End of this chapter)
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