Tomb Raiders Codex

Chapter 455 Suicide
"What's going on?" Zhang Wen stared at the groundwater under us with a look of surprise.Know-it-all said: "There are air bubbles, it may be a floor drain, or it may be... groundwater backflow, hiss, I hope it's not the latter." , In almost a few seconds, this place will be flooded with water, drowning us all here.

After saying this, there were more and more bubbles, Zhuan Rui said in a deep voice, "Hurry up, retreat, pay attention to regulating your breathing, there will be a 'Baotu Spring' here at any time." The Baotu Spring he mentioned is not the same as Baotu Spring in Jinan The thing is, the Baotu Spring referred to here is a phenomenon of groundwater regurgitation. It is often due to the change of underground pressure that the groundwater bursts out in an instant.

There is a fish fountain in Hebei, which refers to a spring that is usually dry, but at a certain time, it will suddenly spurt out a large amount of water. Along with the spring water, there are also a large number of fish, which has always attracted many people. Puzzled, the ancients were amazed and thought it was a gift from the fish god in the spring. Therefore, in ancient times, the local villagers would hold activities to worship Yusheng.In modern times, some geologists speculate that the Baotu Spring formed by ground pressure may be at work, because there are also fish living in the groundwater. Going out is not impossible.

Of course, Baotu Spring looks spectacular from a distance, but if you are on the spring, it will be miserable, basically there are only two results.One: drowning; two: the upward impact of the Baotu Spring can shatter a person's brains, and they can die instantly.

In short, this situation is definitely not a good thing for us.

Everyone quickly retreated, and there were more and more water bubbles, as if boiling, but at this moment, I found that the water level did not rise, but fell.

Isn't it the Baotu Spring, but the floor drain?

As the water level became lower and lower, everyone stopped their retreat postures and breathed a sigh of relief.At this time, I saw that the totem stone pillar, which was only half left, suddenly made a creaking sound. As the water level dropped, the entire stone pillar also began to sink. At the same time, a large stone pillar quickly formed around the stone pillar. Declare me, it won't take a moment for this place to be completely drained of water.

At this time, a strange scene appeared in front of everyone. The totem pole in the center had disappeared, and instead, it was a square entrance, which was swarthy. The previous water was obviously sucked in by this entrance. The pillar must have fallen into the hole, too.

Tofu hissed, and said, "Unexpectedly, there is a hole under this pillar." Then, he lay down on the ground and stretched his probe down to look.The square hole can only hold one person, so the rest of us can't see clearly what's going on below for a while.Tofu looked at it with the searchlight for a long time, but there was no movement. I patted him and said, "Have you seen it clearly? Then what's below?"

Tofu didn't retract his head, and said in an uncertain tone: "Ladder, there are still many people walking, am I dazzled?"

ladder?There are many people?

Hearing this, I grabbed Tofu by the collar and pulled him up, saying: "What nonsense, you can forget about ladders, why are there so many people?"

Tofu also had the expression of eating a fly, scratched his head, and said, "If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself."

So I lay down at the entrance of the cave, poked my head down, and looked down with the searchlight on.

Only then did I realize that there was a very large space under the stone room, and the searchlights couldn't find the end at all, and the surrounding area was completely dark.The only thing that can be seen is a wide stone step about 30 meters high from us.

The stone steps and the stone steps we came down are definitely not of the same grade. The stone steps below are white, neatly shaped, wide, extending down layer by layer, with no end in sight, and no end in sight. It appeared in this deep underground world, and it was simply magnificent and suffocating.The stone steps are suspended in the air as a whole, and the thick supporting pillars below can be seen extending into the deeper darkness, and there is a dark void on both sides of the stone steps.

For a moment, I even wondered if what I saw was an illusion.

As for the people that Tofu mentioned, I didn't see them at first, but after a while, I found that from the end of the searchlight, there were figures walking slowly one by one. Yes, they were indeed human beings, not yellow tigers or the like. thing.They were wearing clothes, and although their facial expressions could not be seen clearly, their actions were no different from those of living people.

For a moment, I felt that my throat was a little tight, and I couldn't speak at all, but Zhong Gong and others outside began to urge me: "What did you see, why don't you speak?"

What should I say at this moment?
Should I tell them that I saw a group of people living underground?
Those people didn't seem to notice my 'peeping' at all, they came from the darkness, walked up the magnificent stone steps step by step, and finally left my sight slowly.Only then did I straighten up.Tofu showed a look, look, I just said that I didn't lie, and asked me: "Do you believe me now?"

I nodded, and said to Zhuan Rui and the others: "There are indeed people down there, but I don't think it's possible. They shouldn't be living people."

Soon, the rest of the people also went to look at the entrance of the cave one by one. After a while, we looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a while, and finally we could only look at Zhuanrui.Zhuan Rui looked around at the completely exposed divine texts, pondered, and asked Zhang Wen how much was left to be photographed. Zhang Wen gestured and said that there was still a part below the water surface and a small area above it.

So Zhuanrui said: "Turn them down by hand, and then go down and have a look after you're done." He pointed to the square entrance.

Everyone's trousers and clothes were soaked, so they wrung out their clothes and trousers, put them on the side of the lit solid fuel, and ate and drank to replenish their strength.Rubbing is a delicate job, and it takes at least three hours. During this time, everyone will pass through the entrance from time to time to observe the 'world' below. Soon, we discovered an astonishing phenomenon.

There was a steady stream of those people. They came from the darkness below the stone steps and headed towards the top of the stone steps, but none came down from above.

where did they go

Are these zongzi?But, here, why are there so many zongzi?
None of us can explain these questions, this strange scene, and we can only keep it in our hearts for a while.After everyone finished eating and drinking, they closed their eyes and took a nap for two hours. The rubbing work on Zhang Wen's side was also completed. Zhuan Rui packed a thick stack of drawings in a waterproof bag and pressed them in the inner layer of the equipment bag.

Immediately afterwards, we took out the rope, fixed the rope with an iron chisel above the hole, and began to go down the rope.Of course, this time we made all the preparations, and we might be attacked by those suspected zongzi. While we were wearing gas masks, we exposed the buffalo horns.Gas masks can effectively block human breath, and buffalo horns are said to have the effect of hiding yang energy. The combination of these two will not be noticed by ordinary zongzi. '

Everyone descended to the stone steps one by one. A batch of zongzi had just passed by at this moment, so the stone steps were empty, only a few of us, and the place was unknown. The searchlight still couldn't reach the head and tail, and the light was directed downwards , the stone steps spread away, giving people a feeling of dizziness.

Tofu exclaimed, "What is this place used for?"

At this moment, at the end of the light, another batch of zongzi appeared. After a closer look, I found that these zongzi were wearing masks, and the clothes they wore were even more strange, similar to the ones I saw on the reliefs. , It seems to be wrapped in a piece of cloth.These things were just as we expected, as if they didn't notice us, they walked up the steps at an unhurried pace.

I wondered in my heart: what is above this step?What is under this step?Why do groups of 'people' go up from below one after another, but no one ever comes down?While thinking about it, I looked at the corpse fairy, and found that it stood motionless beside the tofu, and did not respond to everything around it. It seemed that these zongzi were not enough to arouse its appetite.

But at this time, Zhuan Rui's next order coincided with mine.Everyone didn't dare to make a sound, fearing to alarm those zongzi, so they could only communicate with gestures.Zhuan Rui pointed to the top of the stone steps and motioned for us to follow up. It seemed like what I thought, and he wanted to find out where the top of the stone steps attracted so many zongzi.

Everyone lightly followed these zongzi not far away, and went up the stone steps.

The stone steps are very long, and the surroundings are dead silent. Even the sound of our breathing is suppressed to the point where it almost disappears because of the gas masks.

At this moment, the end of the stone steps came suddenly, and there was a big platform at the end. On the platform, there was something like a sarcophagus. Besides, there were a few zongzi standing there.

Just when I was wondering why the number of zongzi was so small, those zongzi suddenly stood on the edge of the stone steps, jumped down suddenly, and fell into the darkness very quickly.

The scalps of everyone watching this scene were numb, and at the same time, they finally understood why no zongzi walked back, because...they all jumped down after climbing to the highest point of the stone steps...

Tofu gulped down his saliva, made a loud noise, and stammered, "These zongzi are, are they committing suicide?"

(End of this chapter)