Chapter 645: Chapter 613: Horizontal 7 Vertical 8_1
Zhou Ning noted the size of the water flow, and everyone was somewhat taken aback. How to put it, at best, it could submerge an adult’s ankles; this was a far cry from a ditch that could be five to six meters wide.
Mr. Zhao coughed and looked at the trench over a meter deep. After all, there were broken stones on the edge, making it possible to climb down.
"This flow of water would fit in tap water pipes, two four-inch pipes would have ample room to spare. Elder Feng, is this an underground river?"
"Yes, there’s perennial snow cover up there. Depending on the weather, the degree of snowmelt varies, causing the natural formation of different amounts of water. It’s already mid-October. It might still be scorching hot in your cities, but here, do you know how large the temperature difference is between morning and evening?
You probably learned in geography class, for every hundred meters elevation increases, the temperature drops by 0.6 degrees Celsius. The elevation of Ganzhou City at ground level is 1483 meters, and the height of the highest peak reaches 3633 meters. This year, there were only a couple of dozen days of high temperatures during the summer, and there hasn’t been much rainfall, so the scarcity of water is related to this as well."
Mr. Zhao realized it suddenly.
"So, what you’re saying is, although the water flow seems small now, during wet years, this wide trench might be entirely filled with water, and it could be very turbulent, right?"
"Exactly, that’s the point. There are several rivers around here. From what we can see now, apart from the cave entrance we came through, there should be at least two more exits, one for water and one opposite to the cave entrance. Feel it – the wind is blowing from the opposite side."
"Felt it, the wind is quite strong. Then let’s not hesitate anymore. We’ve been groping around in this cave for almost two hours. Since we suspect it’s an exit, let’s test them one by one."
Elder Feng extended his hand and stopped Mr. Zhao’s movements. Mr. Cui and Guan Jian had already called over their people, who followed them jumping down into the trench to climb across to the other side.
"We don’t need to rush into the three caves. We’ve brought detection equipment and now’s the time to use it."
Zhou Ning did not show off. This wasn’t his area of expertise. The reason he followed was that he had to take a look, and to appease Fang Dongsheng. He was like a startled bird, pressed down from above, being urged to advance the case. After all, everyone knew the frustration of being caught between opposing forces.
Taking a drink of water and resting a bit, Zhou Ning distinctly felt that the temperature inside the cave was much lower than outside. He was already shivering. Walking didn’t feel bad, but once he stopped, he felt the temperature difference.
Standing up, he noticed Elder Feng and the others were examining the machinery. Moving closer, he saw the imaging on the screen showing a clear distribution of orange-yellow patches, but he couldn’t understand what they meant. Elder Feng waved his hand dismissively.
"We’ve checked two trap caves. Don’t even talk about their traps; they haven’t been triggered at all. Let’s go. There’s only one exit left for us to check out."
Zhou Ning nodded and followed Elder Feng’s pace. Mr. Zhao was taking care of Zhu Xingxing and the rest, closely following them. They bypassed the square-shaped cave entrances in the middle and on the right, moving towards an inconspicuous cave entrance on the west side.
They cleared the broken stones as they walked, and after a few dozen meters, the width inside the cave noticeably increased. The ground had more remnants of wood, and just as Zhou Ning thought they had reached the southern exit and crossed through the mountain, Zhu Xingxing let out a cry of astonishment.
Zhou Ning looked over instinctively, seeing Zhu Xingxing tripping over the stones beside her. Mr. Zhao helped her up as she pointed at a slightly illuminated spot inside the cave, slapping away Mr. Zhao’s hand.
"Don’t be in a hurry to help me up. Look at the cave entrance by the stones, it looks like a lot of people are sitting there?"
Mr. Zhao shrank his neck. They were at the vanguard of the team; how could anyone be faster than them?
Therefore, there was only one answer: there were bodies here. Zhou Ning hadn’t arrived yet, and he didn’t have the courage to check it out by himself. Yet, even though Zhu Xingxing was shivering with fear, she clung to his shoulder, sneakily peeking in that direction.
"Zhu Xingxing, will you shut up? Your shouting has made one of my ears go deaf."
Zhu Xingxing quickly shut her mouth and, seeing Mr. Zhao’s face turn somewhat pale, realized she might have gone too far. She poked Mr. Zhao’s chest with her finger and buried her head in his chin.
"I’m wrong, I’m scared of Zhao Xinli!" she said.
Zhou Ning glanced at the two of them and, even in such a circumstance, in such an environment, they couldn’t stop showing their affection. True to form as joyful people, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but cough softly as a reminder.
"I get it, you two, if you’re scared, stay back, and don’t say it out loud. If this were Qindao, you could do whatever you want, but this is Ganzhou, so could you not lose face, please? There’s a whole crowd watching. Do you really want to put on a live performance or what?"
Zhu Xingxing quickly got up and kept her mouth shut, not daring to say anything more. She feared Zhou Ning, as she had been learning by his side in the technical department, and he was both a mentor and a friend to her. She felt a bit too much in reflection.
Mr. Zhao coughed and gestured towards Guan Jian, who quickly approached.
"What’s the matter, Mr. Zhao?"
"Buddy, let’s find two tall guys to hold the lights. A body was discovered up ahead. Elder Feng and Zhou Ning need to have a look first, to establish the time of death. If it falls under the category of archaeology, then Elder Feng can handle it directly; if it’s criminal investigation, then we’ll have to get to work."
Guan Jian was very obedient to Mr. Zhao, after all, because he did not recognize Zhou Ning’s identity when entering the cave, he was harshly reprimanded by Fang Dongsheng. Even thinking about it now made him shudder.
If it hadn’t been for Zhao Xinli smoothing things over at the time, there might have been a conflict the first time he arrived on the scene. Let alone investigating this case, even the Qindao support program might have gone down the drain.
So, at this moment, without a second thought, Guan Jian called out to the others:
"All personnel, stand by for now. Those with powerful flashlights, send three over here to light the way for Elder Feng and Director Zhou, and the rest of you... keep your mouths shut tight."
The shouting did indeed have an effect. Two police officers came over, handed Guan Jian a powerful flashlight, and the three of them stood behind Zhao Xinli, holding the flashlights to illuminate the stones nearby.
With the area lit up, Zhou Ning saw that next to a pile of large rocks, there were indeed many ’people’ lying in disarray. But on closer inspection, they looked very much like animals, because they were draped with large swaths of animal fur that, either due to special treatment or because there was something else inside, had not decayed.
As for their faces, and the legs and arms that were exposed, they had all turned to bone.
Zhou Ning and Elder Feng walked closer, and Elder Feng examined the objects scattered around the corpses with a magnifying glass. There were dark silver flasks, several yellow stones of different sizes, and a few curved knives.
These knives were without sheaths, some had their tips broken off, and others had jagged, curled edges on the blade.
Zhou Ning squatted down, and there was a square box at his feet, the top wide open. It was hard to say if it was made of leather or something else, but it had patterns on the surface and was inlaid with stones, and at first glance, it looked very exquisite. But what it was, Zhou Ning didn’t know.
Elder Feng took a look and quickly said,
"This is a ’gāo jiàn’, also called ’sada’ in Mongolian. It’s a case for holding arrows. However, this one seems to be of high quality. Seems like the person who owned this had a very high status. The patterns are of a qilin. This design requires careful study, but it looks like it combines features from both Mongolian and Ming Dynasty styles, and that’s quite interesting."
Mr. Zhao grew impatient.
"What do you mean ’quite interesting’?"
