Original War

Chapter 1 Wedges

Shao Xuan sat on the modified bus and looked at the rolling mountains outside the window. Just after the summer solstice, the mountains are full of vigorous greenery. After living in the city for a long time, I see such a landscape, and my mood is much better because of the bad career. Originally, Shao Xuan planned to ask a few friends to go out and relax. He didn’t expect to meet Shi Qi, a fellow and old classmate who studied archaeology, and was taken to go to archaeology together.

This trip is going to a relatively small mountain village. It is said that something from the Stone Age has been discovered there. A group of people have already passed by, and now this is the second group.

Shao Xuan listened to this old classmate from primitive skulls to stone utensils to rock murals, and he also took out a few pictures to explain in detail. Those who do research are just like that. It’s rare to pull them out when they get in. Although Shao Xuan doesn’t I understand, but I still listen very Giving face.

The papers are all petroglyphs discovered by some previous archaeological studies. Shao Xuan looked at it and felt that he hadn’t painted as well as his nephew and niece who went to kindergarten.

The lines of the drawings are relatively simple, and it can be roughly seen that some people are hunting with tools, and there are also some drawings of various animals. I don’t know what the rest are.

“This is a painted sheep? But this sheep is too big.” Shao Xuan pointed to a picture.

The picture on the picture shows a sheep with long and huge curved horns, and there is a person holding a bow and arrow next to it, but the proportions seem to be abnormal, and the head of the person reaches the back of the sheep. The following pictures are the same. The rabbit has a lion-like body proportion, and the picture on the left is riding a horse, and the tail of the horse is drawn too short.

Of course, not every picture has the same proportions. The rock murals of different periods found in different provinces, cities and regions have different styles. There are some proportions that are close to reality behind, and a group of people can be seen on the picture. Hunt with the dog.

Turning back again, there are a few color-printed pictures, which can be seen more clearly.

“Oh, this picture is even more exaggerated. The antlers are too big, and this person, the person in the picture just now came to the back of the sheep, the person in this picture is actually only a little taller than the deer legs… and right What’s in the lower corner, an eight-legged crocodile?” Shao Xuan couldn’t appreciate the primitive painting style.

“Primitive humans may not pay much attention to this aspect.” Shi Qi explained.

“So you mean that when primitive humans painted, they didn’t use “realism” in terms of proportions, but used exaggerated techniques?” Shao Xuan asked.

“It should be,” Shi Qi scratched his head: “After all, humans in that period were not particular about aesthetics. It may be purely a symbolic meaning, just like a researcher who speculated when he was studying rock paintings somewhere. The human beings painted these hunting paintings on the cave walls or on the rocks. It may just be that the hunting warriors have a look before the tribal hunt. There is a spectrum in their hearts, and there may also be some rituals that we don’t know. Especially those rock paintings painted by’Witch’.””Witch…” Shao Xuannao made up the image of an old god stick with a very different dress.

“Hey, what is your expression, let me tell you, the status of the’witch’ in the human community at that time may not be low, on the contrary, it may be quite high.”

“I know, God stick.” Shao Xuan nodded.

Shi Qi posed his finger and brought a folder with some scanned copies of pictures in it. Pointing to some pictures and words on it, he said to Shao Xuan: “If the totem consciousness expresses the personification of nature by man, It expresses the collective unity of oneself, so the concept of witchcraft expresses the simulacrum of human beings. The profession of’witcher’ actually appeared as early as the Stone Age…”

There, Shi Qi talked about the research progress of the profession of “witch” from ancient times to the present, and the professional vocabulary even quoted the classics, which made Shao Xuan’s brain hurt.

Shao Xuan didn’t know much about this aspect, nor was he interested in it. Had it not been for such a fellow and old classmate who studied archaeology, Shao Xuan would not have known it at all. He used to hear about archaeology and he would directly think of the valuable ones. Antiques, but Shi Qi’s research direction is really more antique than antiques, so not many people are interested in it. A few days ago, I listened to the discussion on the radio to discuss whether the “Darwinian theory of species evolution” is correct or the “species creation hypothesis of aliens” is correct? Shao Xuan was just idle and ran into Listening. After listening, he put it there and didn’t think about it anymore.

On the contrary, Shao Xuan knew that this young man was very interested in ancient humans. When he was in middle school, he often discussed with people the few ancient human remains that were excavated but mysteriously disappeared in modern history.

“You don’t understand professionally, just talk something simple. Here!” Shi Qi clicked on a picture with his finger and pointed to a place on the picture: “‘Witch’ is mentioned in inscriptions and inscriptions, but Is such that.”

Shao Xuan looked at the place Shi Qi was pointing at. It was a symbol, which looked like two “工” characters criss-crossed.

“Some ancient pottery clam-carved human heads have been unearthed with this kind of duplex symbol. Speaking of which, witches also involve hunting, praying, and rescue. From a certain point of view,’witches’ can It’s a scientist at that time. But these are all speculations. Even some records in ancient times may not be true. After all, people at that time liked to exaggerate. Isn’t there a saying, “History never has the truth”, and archaeology is nothing but archaeology. It’s digging out some corners. As for the real situation, who knows.”

“The cave discovered this time is also related to the’witch’. It is the last few pictures you saw, the first batch of rock paintings passed back by people in the past, and the double symbol was also found in the cave, so it is speculated that it may It was the cave dwelling of a certain’witch’. Last month, there was a short-term earthquake in the place where the village was located. It was probably because of this that the cave was exposed. No one has ever heard of it before.”

Having said that, Shi Qi closed the folder and looked around carefully. Seeing that the instructor and other brothers were not paying attention, he lowered his voice and said mysteriously to Shao Xuan: “I heard that the first person discovered the hole. He was a child, and according to the news from a junior over there, the child who found the cave saw a strange watermelon-sized bug crawling out of the stone on the wall of his yard. The worm disappeared in the cave, and the child went back and told the adult that he found the cave.”

“The watermelon bug?” Shao Xuan found it absurd. Anyone who heard this for the first time would think it was too fake. “That kid lied?”

Shi Qi shook his head, “What’s more strange is that according to the first group of people in the past, there are fossils of ancient creatures in the stones used to build the courtyard wall.” Shi Qi paused and rubbed his arms. Goosebumps, continued: “The stone where the watermelon bug emerged from the kid who found the cave pointed to people. There are fossils of ancient creatures, but they are not complete. They are only part of the incompleteness. However, according to the speculation of professionals , If that creature is still alive, it may indeed be as big as a watermelon, and it looks not far from what the kid described.”

“…It sounds mysterious, but only the kid saw it, didn’t others see a bug crawling out of his wall?” Shao Xuan was a little interested.

Shi Qi shook his head, “I don’t know, I’ll ask again when it’s over, it’s almost there anyway.”

By the time the group arrived at the destination, it was already eleven o’clock at noon. Shao Xuan followed Shi Qi and they had a simple lunch, and then returned to the bus.

Shi Qi and the others couldn’t wait. They didn’t rest after eating, and they planned to start work.

Things to pay attention to here Shi Qi told Shao Xuan a long time ago, what things can’t be touched, where can’t go, and who to look for when something happens, Shao Xuan knows what to do.

“I’ll tell you when the work is finished today. You can take a stroll by yourself. This place is beautiful, with green hills, blue sky and clear water. After a long stay in a smog city, you come out to wash your lungs.”

Speaking of Shi Qi, he took the tool and waited to follow his mentor. Shao Xuan couldn’t follow over there, and he didn’t have much interest in following.

Shao Xuan was the only one left in the car, and it was quite quiet as soon as the doors and windows were closed. Shao Xuan hasn’t slept well these days. Just listen to Shi Qi’s narration on the way, and now he feels sleepy when he calms down.

When I woke up again, it was already more than two o’clock in the afternoon. Shao Xuanzheng was planning to go out for a walk. When Shi Qi in work clothes came over, he got in the car and got a document.

However, before getting out of the car, Shi Qi took out an egg-sized stone from his pocket and threw it to Shao Xuan: “I picked it up in the cave and brought it over if others didn’t care. It shouldn’t be an important thing. Here you are, this stone is in that hole anyway. It looks very smooth. Maybe who threw it there, as a memorial for you.”

This stone is near the entrance of the cave, some distance from the core of the cave. The stone is obviously different from other excavated objects, and there is no mark. So the first group of people who came here focused on the stone age ” “Antiques” and rock paintings, no one cared about the stone near the entrance of the cave. Shi Qi looked at it for fun at the time and picked it up and put it in his pocket.

After receiving the thrown stone, Shao Xuan took it in his hand and looked at it carefully. It felt no different from other stones. It was dark green, egg-shaped, and the surface was fairly smooth, as if it had been polished deliberately. Meaning, even if it’s not an “antique”, it’s good to hold it for fun, as an ornament.

Shao Xuan didn’t care either. After playing with it for a while, I always felt that the stone was not hot. I was shaking hands for ten minutes, and it was still chilly. After thinking about it, Shao Xuan took out a lighter and burned it with fire. The stone, logically speaking, the place where it touches the flame should be hot, but the fact is that it is still as cool as before after being burned.

Sweeping around, Shao Xuan took a fruit knife on the table and put a piece of paper on it, planning to scrape a little bit of debris from the stone with the knife and take it to the archeological vehicle for help. However, Shao Xuan took the knife and scratched the stone, but there were no traces on the stone, and there was no trace of it with the tip drill.

The fire doesn’t get hot, the knife doesn’t scratch… It’s a strange stone.

Shao Xuan took the stone and got out of the car, planning to let Shi Qi take a closer look later.

The parking place is very close to the village, but the road ahead is not easy.

Some of the villagers in the village went to work, and when they were a little idle, they went to the newly discovered cave to watch the excitement. Therefore, when Shao Xuan entered the village, he saw only three or two people walking around.

There is a two-meter-high stone-earth wall outside the village. I heard that it was built decades ago to guard against wild beasts. The stones came from the mountains. However, in recent years, no large beasts have been seen around, and no one cares about them anymore. Stone wall.

At a glance, I can see the big stones on the stone soil wall, which are old, with a sense of bleakness.

Shao Xuan was playing with rocks in his hands and staring at them. Hearing that paleontological fossils have been found on the stones on these stone soil walls, Shao Xuan remembered the “watermelon-big bug” incident mentioned by Shi Qi.

When he was about to look away, Shao Xuan suddenly found something like a snake on the stone wall, still squirming, the water tank was thick and thin, and the scaly pattern was glowing with cold light, but it made Shao Xuan feel a few meters away. The chill of the thighs made Shao Xuan almost jump up. Only when Shao Xuan blinked and looked again, he found that there was nothing. The stone earth wall was still the broken stone earth wall that had been drenched in the sun and rain for a long time.

Hallucinations?

Shao Xuan looked at other parts of the stone-earth wall, and then his sight fell on a gap in the stone-earth wall. There was a large stone left after the stone-earth wall collapsed. The smaller ones were taken by the villagers. I picked it up and built my own wall, but the larger ones stay here. At this moment, Shao Xuan saw a turquoise seedling emerging from the stone. The seedling quickly pulled out leaves and grew taller, and at the same time several vines spread out to the surroundings. The gap that was originally more than three meters long was blocked by those vines and branches in the blink of an eye, and there seemed to be a fragrance of plants permeating the nose.

Shao Xuan took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and when he looked over again, he found that the vine branches had disappeared, the stone soil wall remained, and the bare big rock on the ground.

Perceiving some movement in his hand, Shao Xuan looked down at the hand holding the stone.

The stone that was not burned by the fire and the knife could not scratch, instantly weathered into sand, and fell from Shao Xuan’s fingers.

When the last grain of sand fell, Shao Xuan’s vision was dark.