We walked all the way into the middle of the cemetery, far away from the previous hillside path. The wind seemed to be a little lighter, but there were more and more dark clouds above our heads, covering the entire island. From time to time, there would be a few soft sounds.
There was thunder, but there was no lightning or rain.
When we reached a certain depth, we didn't dare to go any deeper. The surrounding area was obviously a lot darker, as if it was two different spaces from before. The difference was huge.
Mr. Mai quickly stopped and reminded us not to separate, let alone act without permission. He looked around again with a flashlight and said, "It seems there is nothing else here except the cemetery. It's too dark inside.
Let’s not go in. How did this cemetery come about?”
"It can be seen from this cemetery that this was definitely not a desert island before. It should be a place where people lived, and they lived for a long time. If they passed by here for a short period of time, so many people would never die, let alone
There won’t be so many tombstones, just dig a hole and that’s it.”
"I think there are two possibilities for why it has become so desolate and terrifying. One is that something big happened in the middle, which caused all the people living here to die. The other is that the life on this island is...
The disappearance of the source also led to their collective demise." Chang Shan once again pointed out the key points of the matter. His analysis was very reasonable, but it still lacked some key issues.
In fact, I also think so. The presence of a cemetery proves that someone must have lived here. Since there are people living here, the former island should have beautiful scenery, green mountains and green waters.
Even if the scenery is not beautiful, it will definitely not be as dead as it is now. It looks like an uninhabited ghost island with so many deadly creatures. Presumably these are changes that have occurred later.
"I agree with what Brother Changshan said, but I believe more in the first point. Something big must have happened here. You see, if you want to survive, you can make a living entirely by fishing. Since ancient times, this water source has relied on rainwater and rainwater.
We won't starve them all to death in one go, right? So I think the most likely possibility is that something big happened in the middle, but what happened? This is the key." Jiao Ba spoke in a serious tone, even though the sky
It was dark, but I still saw something wasn't right about his face.
"Who can live on this island? I really can't think of it, but there are so many graves that I can't explain," Jenny shook her head gently, looking very weak.
"The environment here should have changed later. It must not have been like this before." Li Xin looked around and said.
I thought for a moment and then said, "I guess...many people must have lived here before, and they have continued their family lineage on this island. It must have been at least several generations, or even more than ten generations. Judging from the current environment,
, they should have been dead for a long time.”
"If we talk about a few years or decades in a short period of time, this small island will never become like this. At least it can be seen that some people have survived, but this ghost place is full of dangers, and there are a lot of strange insects and flowers.
If you hadn't seen this cemetery, who would have thought that someone had survived on this desert island before? Moreover, the tombstones on the graves were badly damaged and the handwriting was unclear, which proves that time does not pass.
short."
"What Zhongyi said is right. This desert island has been abandoned for at least a hundred years. Now there is no sign of human existence at all. It's really strange. What kind of life could exist on this island? And
What caused their collective demise?" Chang Shan said word by word, his expression still very calm.
"War, only war, can cause large numbers of people to die. It may be internal conflicts, or it may be the invasion of outsiders." I looked at Chang Shan and said, only war can bring such destructive power.
.
"There are also diseases. Fatal diseases will also kill everyone." Jenny added, but she was right. If infectious fatal diseases occurred on this desert island, they might also die.
To perish collectively.
"The possibility of disease is unlikely. Even if there is a large number of deaths, it should be under control. I think the war Zhongyi mentioned is very likely. Eighty percent of it was completely eliminated because of the war." Li Xin said,
He even glanced at me.
"Whether it is caused by internal conflicts or external wars, what we need to know now is whether the people buried here belong to that era. This is the most important thing." Jiao Ba said the key to the matter.
, yes, if you want to understand the truth about this desert island, you must first find out the people buried here.
"Mr. Mai, what do you think?" What is this old guy thinking? He didn't say a word just now.
Mai Lao came back to his senses and said, "I was wondering, who buried them here?"
Yes, this is also very important. These graves could not have been dug by the dead themselves, right? Who did this? Someone has to bury them. If it was a fighting war, this place should be just a piece of land.
The bones should not have a grave, let alone a tombstone? ***, why is this matter so complicated?
"Brother Yi, is it possible... that he is that mysterious old man? If everyone on the island is dead, then why is he still alive?" Shunzi looked at me and asked.
"Shunzi, don't look at me. I can't answer your question. I don't even know who that old man is." I also want to know why all the people on the island are dead, but that shriveled old man is still alive.
"That mysterious old man is very important. On this desert island, there should be no one else except him. He is probably the tombkeeper to prevent outsiders from waiting to come to this island again. Based on this calculation
If so, the dangers we encountered before were probably due to him." Chang Shan once again told the key thing, that old man might really be a tomb keeper.
But I thought about it carefully, if this island has been abandoned for hundreds of years, then...how old is that old man? Oh my god, I don't dare to think about it. He can't be born in one fell swoop.
Guarding the tomb?
"What does that mysterious old man do? Is he a digger or a tombkeeper?" I asked, looking around.
"Most likely...both."
As soon as Jiao Ba finished speaking, the big man suddenly shouted, "Hey Mr. Mai, come and take a look at this."
The big man was looking at the tombstone in front of a grave, "What's wrong? What did you find?" A group of us walked over, and I squatted down and asked.
"Look at the words on the tombstone. It seems you can read it clearly." The big man pointed with his finger.
"Really? Get up and let me take a look." Jiao Ba pushed the big man away. He squatted down and looked carefully with a flashlight. There was indeed a word on the top of the tombstone that could be clearly read, but it was only
There is only one word, which is a clear word.
"Ming? What do you mean?" I turned to look at Jiao Ba.
Jiao Ba stared at the tombstone and carefully touched it with his hand, "Except for this word, the other words are no longer clear. What does this clear word mean?"
"Could it mean that it represents the Ming Dynasty?" If this is the case, then this is definitely the place we are looking for.
"Ming Dynasty? Well, it's not impossible. This Ming character is at the top of the tombstone. It is obviously the first character. So if we can infer from this, this possibility is very high. Maybe it really represents the Ming Dynasty.
." Jiao Ba nodded slowly and said.
"Yes, the people buried here are most likely from the Ming Dynasty." Chang Shan said behind me.
"I think so too. If they are really from the Ming Dynasty, this can explain the origin of that underwater cave and prove that it is a passage. The desert island we are now on is the next stop we are looking for.
"As Jiao Ba spoke, he stood up slowly and turned to look at Mr. Mai.
"Can't you? Why would people from the Ming Dynasty live on this island? This... this is a bit unrealistic." Mai Lao frowned, still not believing this.
"I think what Jiao Ba and Chang Shan said is very reasonable. Although this single character doesn't mean anything, judging from the handwriting on the tombstone, it is very likely that they are from the Ming Dynasty."
"It stands to reason that the Ming Dynasty was hundreds of years ago. These tombstones should have been blown away by wind and rain for a hundred years, but if someone takes care of them, they should still be able to stay, such as that mysterious old man.
, this large cemetery may be taken care of by him." Li Xin said something at the critical moment.
I thought about it carefully, but if he is really from the Ming Dynasty, what era is that mysterious old man from? If he is not from the Ming Dynasty, then why is he guarding this place? This is a little unreasonable. From that old man
Various signs indicate that he does not seem to have been forced or accidentally escaped here.
But if he is really from the Ming Dynasty, then who is he? How can an ordinary person live for hundreds of years? This is a bit ridiculous. Both inferences are obviously not perfect.
"Are you sure that the people buried here are from the Ming Dynasty?" I stood up and looked at the others and asked.
"Who can be sure about this? This is just our guess, but it should be like this 80% of the time. I always believe that our being able to land on this island is not an accident, let alone a coincidence. This is the progress of things." Although Chang Shan did not say that.
Decisive, but it also represented what he meant.
"I think the same thing as Chang Shan. Everything that happened since we arrived on this island is difficult to explain. Logically speaking, if it was really an accident, there is no reason why a desert island would have so many troubles. Just this large collection of graves.
It's enough to explain a lot of things." Jiao Ba said with a meaningful expression.
"Now we have to be sure. Just inferring is not enough. Also, if the people buried here are really people from the Ming Dynasty, how should we explain the mysterious old man? Could it be that he is also a person from the Ming Dynasty? It is possible for people to live like this
How long?" I asked the question I had been thinking about before.