Trickster Hunter

Chapter 230 Phoenix Factory

"Are these nail flakes just modern industrial imitations that cost a few cents a piece?" Wang Xiyi looked at the nail flakes in the specimen bag with some surprise, "I thought these were excavated cultural relics..."

"If you don't believe it, I can help you find an expert to identify it." Zhulong said and took out his mobile phone.

"Experts? Could they be those shady traders in the Chunming City Antique Market?" Sun Hang teased.

"That's not the case. The person I found is a serious expert—Professor Du from the History Department of Chunming University, one of the best in the field of archeology in Xiazhou." Zhulong said while taking several pictures. took a picture and dialed a number.

"Hello, Professor Du? It's me, the hunter from Tianshu Tower, Zhulong."

"I know it's you who fucked your uncle. I'm very busy today. If you have something to say, talk it out quickly!" Zhulong set the phone to speakerphone so that Sun Hang and the others could also hear Professor Du. sound.

Professor Du's voice sounded quite young, but it didn't have the seriousness of an old professor at all, and his swear words in the Chunming City dialect were so slippery.

However, this also proves from the side that the personal relationship between Professor Du and Zhulong is quite good.

"There are some armor plates made in the Han Dynasty. I need your help to identify them." Zhulong said with a smile, "I have sent the photos to your mailbox."

"I know about Professor Du." Yang Qi whispered to Sun Hang. "He is indeed an authority in the field of archeology. When I wrote my thesis, many of the reference materials came from his writing."

"A piece of armor from the Han Dynasty? Can you tell its authenticity? I don't believe it!" Professor Du scolded him, but a series of clicks of the mouse came from the other end of the phone, "You are doing the right thing, you are definitely doing it again. What kind of bet have I made with someone to amuse my old bones!"

"Doesn't this make you appear to be the authoritative person?" Faced with the old professor's complaint, Zhulong responded in a good voice.

"I won't do anything..."

Before the word "example" came out of his mouth, Professor Du's voice suddenly paused. After a few seconds, he spoke again. His tone changed from the previous laughter and scolding among friends, and instantly became extremely serious. stand up.

"Where did you get this armor plate?"

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this thing?" Zhulong also put away his teasing expression and said seriously.

"Tell me the truth, is this thing a weird thing?" Professor Du asked.

"Hey, you really have a sharp eye." Zhulong responded quickly, "This piece of armor is indeed a strange thing, but I have to ask you to explain its specific origin."

"This thing... is said to be an imitation, but in fact it is quite a few years old." Professor Du said slowly, "In the early years... how old is it exactly? At that time, there were still many countries left on the earth. Before those white-skinned people across the Pacific fled to us, there was a group of counterfeiters in Chang'an who specialized in imitating cultural relics from the Qin and Han Dynasties."

Professor Du paused for a few seconds, and could vaguely hear the flipping of pages on the other end of the phone and the slight collision of tea cup lids. After taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat, he continued: "Among these counterfeiting gangs, there is one with the past The gang with the label 'Phoenix' can almost fake the cultural relics they produce. In their circle, this gang is called the 'Phoenix Factory', and the fake cultural relics produced by the 'Phoenix Factory' are also on the counterfeit market. The batch that sold for the highest price.”

"Then these armor pieces come from the 'Phoenix Factory'?" Zhulong asked immediately.

"The Han Dynasty armor plates copied by Phoenix Factory have a very distinctive feature - in order to make the brand new armor plates look like cultural relics that have been buried in the soil for thousands of years, the counterfeiters will use files to polish the edges of the armor plates, and then It is aged by passing it through various acid and alkali solutions... This aging method is hard to tell if it is genuine at first glance, but as time goes by, when the nails begin to rust naturally, these artificially aged nails are revealed. The traces will appear very abrupt," Professor Du said.

"I remember that all the imitation antiques are aged. Is there any difference in the Phoenix Factory's distressing methods?"

"There is no difference, but in order to be able to 'identify' their 'work' among the many imitations at a glance, the members of this counterfeiting gang will deliberately leave three vertical and one horizontal scratches when polishing the edge of the nail plate, just like It looks like the word "thirty", but the scratch is very subtle and difficult to notice without a magnifying glass."

"There really are..." Yang Qi looked at the nail plates in the specimen bag and said, "This one has it, this one also has it..."

"However... if they are just an ordinary counterfeiting gang, then forget it..." Professor Du sighed and continued, "I also forgot how many years ago it was... Anyway, at that time, the Chang'an City Management Committee launched After a large-scale crackdown on the manufacture and sale of fake antiques and cultural relics, the Phoenix Factory disappeared... But in the second year after they disappeared, all the fake antiques and cultural relics produced by them had changed. Became a monster!"

"Is there such a thing?" A look of surprise flashed in Zhulong's eyes, "How come I haven't heard of it?"

"Because the situation was complicated, the federal government blocked the spread of the news to the greatest extent." Professor Du said, "Most of the fake antiques produced by the Phoenix Factory were collected and destroyed, and the remaining few 'samples' were stored in the Tianshu Tower. If you have time next time, you can ask the old guys in the tower. They should still remember this matter."

"Then these armor pieces..."

"You didn't take these armor pieces out of the Tianshu Tower?" Professor Du asked.

"No."

"I just know that the Phoenix Factory produced so many fake antiques in those years, and there must be some fish that slipped through the net among the people... Since you can find this thing, it's good to avoid it from being spread outside and causing trouble to the world." Professor Du's tone slowed down a little, "Speaking of which, where did you find these armor pieces?"

"In an underground ruins in Tianfu City." Zhulong told the truth.

"Tianfu City? Underground ruins?" Professor Du was stunned. "Why haven't I heard of any underground ruins in Tianfu City? Are there any new archaeological discoveries?"

"I'm afraid this matter has nothing to do with archaeology..." Zhulong said, "By the way, please keep this matter confidential and don't spread it. In addition, I need the most complete and detailed information about this Phoenix Factory. Please send it to me after you have sorted it out... As for the labor fee, Tianshu Tower will transfer it to you later."

"Why are you talking to me about money! Do I need that little money?" Professor Du said angrily, "Don't worry, I will get things done for you. I know what to say and what not to say... Since it is related to strange things, there is no small matter... If there is nothing else, I will go to sort out the relevant information for you now."

"Okay, then I'll trouble you." Zhulong said respectfully, and then the other end of the phone came with a busy tone. "Phoenix Factory..." Ye Xuan said thoughtfully, "I seem to have heard of this... It should be something that happened during my grandfather's generation."

"All the fake antiques made by this counterfeiting gang have turned into strange things... Then there is a high probability that there is a 'source of infection' in this gang." Yang Qi analyzed, "I even suspect that they make fake antiques not for monetary gain, but to spread these fake antiques that will turn into strange things after a period of time..."

"Thinking about it this way, don't you think that this 'Phoenix Factory' is not like a counterfeiting gang, but more like a cult organization... Don't you think so?" Sun Hang continued.

"You don't mean to say that the Phoenix Factory fled to Tianfu City after disappearing in Chang'an?" Yang Qi took a deep breath, "And this place is their secret base in Tianfu City?"

"It's very likely." Sun Hang nodded, "But it depends on the information from Professor Du... I just don't know if anyone from the Phoenix Factory was arrested in the anti-counterfeiting activities that year..."

"Even if someone was arrested, you would hardly find any clues in their transcripts." Zhulong sighed, "There were too many counterfeiting gangs operating in Chang'an City back then, and the crime of counterfeiting antiques and cultural relics was not very serious. At most, you would be fined and imprisoned for a few months... The sentence was rarely more than one year. By the time those fake antiques all turned into weird things, the arrested people would have been released from prison."

"What should we do now?" Wang Xiyi said, "Should we wait for the information from the old professor, or continue to move forward?"

"Let's keep going." Zhulong said, "Those materials are old accounts, and many of them are still Recorded in the form of paper documents, it would take at least half a day to sort them out... I always have a premonition that since this underground ruins has reappeared, we should hurry up to search it, otherwise something might happen... I don't know why I have this premonition. It may be irresponsible to say so, but in previous actions, my intuition has always been very accurate. "

"I have this feeling too." Wang Xiyi nodded, "I always feel that if we continue to delay time, something will escape."

"In that case, let's move on." Yang Qi rolled up the specimen bag containing the armor scales and put it away. She subconsciously wanted to reach out and pat Sun Hang on the back, but her hand froze in place just after she stretched it out - she looked at Sun Hang, then at Wang Xiyi next to her, and finally took her hand back and said, "Let's go."

The crowd continued to move forward along the main tunnel. Not far after passing the place where the battle just happened, Sun Hang once again felt a very faint breath of strange things.

This time, the source of the strange smell was a long-burning lamp embedded in the tunnel wall. The lamp was made of bronze, and the lamp base was a kneeling figurine, with bent feet buried in the rock. The hands above the head held the plate for lamp oil, and a little flame the size of a grain of rice flickered gently on the edge of the oil plate.

"Eternal lamp..." Sun Hang glanced at Zhulong from the corner of his eye and said in a half-joking tone, "It is said that the oil used in the long-burning lamp in ancient times was Zhulong's oil... How about it, do you smell a 'familiar' smell?"

"Using the oil of Zhulong to make everlasting lamps is a story from ancient times. The shape of this lamp should be from the Qin Dynasty. There were no stories of hunting Zhulong during the Qin Dynasty." Zhulong said, "The ones over there in Chang'an City In the tombs of emperors of the Qin Dynasty, the lamp oil used for the ever-lasting lamps was solidified whale oil... But even whale oil is only slightly more durable than ordinary lamp oil, and it cannot actually make it last forever. "

"There's only one reason why this light can stay on." Ye Xuan pulled the pistol's sleeve, "It's a trick."

"Can you tell if this is a real cultural relic of the Qin Dynasty or an imitation?" Sun Hang asked Zhulong, "Do you need to get closer?"

"No need, you can tell at a glance that it is an imitation...even the imitation is just the style, not the standard shape." Zhulong shook his head and said, "This type of figurine lamp has been unearthed without exception. The lamp is a standing lamp, and wall lamps like this have never been seen before.”

"Sun Hang, don't you think the posture of this figurine looks awkward?" Wang Xiyi squinted at the lamp and murmured, "Its limbs seem a little twisted, and the body proportions are strange..."

"The proportions of the human body in the handicrafts should be exaggerated..." Yang Qi suddenly changed the subject, "Strange, I also think this human figurine is weird... Could it be because I know in my heart that it is a weird thing, so I have some preconceived ideas. idea?”

"There's nothing to prejudge. Weirdness is just weird." Sun Hang said, "Because this figurine was not copied from a normal human being, but from an infected person... Judging from its posture, there is a high probability that it is an infected person who is being tortured. "

"Hiss... when you say that, it seems that you really feel like this!" Yang Qi's eyes lit up, "My feet were built into the wall, and I had to maintain a kneeling position, and my hands were nailed to the ground by copper nails. On the oil plate, you can never put it down... Just thinking about it is a torture that can send chills down your spine... But I am a little curious, do figurines like this have any symbolic meaning, or do they serve a purpose? A function of punishment and intimidation?”

"The hands were nailed to the oil pan... If I remember correctly, the Christian saint was also nailed to the cross with both hands, right? This is connected to the cross mark in Cave No. 13!" Sun Hang snapped his fingers and said, "Hey, I'm a fucking genius."

"Isn't this... a bit too far-fetched?" Ye Xuan glanced at him and questioned.

"It's not far-fetched at all." Zhulong suddenly said, "Professor Du sent some of the compiled information over first. During the anti-counterfeiting operation that year, six people from the Phoenix Factory were arrested... According to the interrogation content, All six of them are believers in Christianity.”