Unexpectedly, old man An Liman suddenly changed his mind, shook his head like a divination drum, and refused to enter the ruins of the ancient city of Jingjue. He said that the death of his companions in the desert was an ominous sign, not to mention
Hao Aiguo was bitten to death by a venomous snake, the messenger of the devil. The appearance of a venomous snake with black tumors on its head shows that the legend that Hu Da abandoned this desert to the devil is true.
An Liman had a strong religious consciousness, and without Hu Da's shelter, he would not go even if we killed him. We had no choice but to rearrange our arrangements and let him set up camp at the mountain pass to take care of the camels and assets.
I originally wanted the fat man to stay and keep an eye on him. If the old man ran away and left us here, it wouldn't matter if he ran away. Without the camel, we would have to drive No. 11 all the way back. How far can we drive in the desert?
Hard to say.
Then I thought about it, An Liman probably wouldn't have escaped alone, after all, he had come all the way to this point, not to mention that he had not yet received his salary as a guide. It was not a small amount, and it would be enough for him to have enough food and clothing for the rest of his life.
However, I suffered many losses because of my carelessness. At this time, I had to be more cautious, so I took old man An Liman's hand and asked: Old man, how does Hu punish those who lie and betray their trust?
An Liman said: Well, this will turn his family's money into sand, and even his salt will turn into sand. In the end, he will starve to death, just like dying in the black desert.
After death, you will go to the hot sand hell and suffer 1,800 kinds of torture.
Seeing that he said it solemnly, I felt relieved. People with strong religious beliefs have an advantage. They are afraid of suffering after death, so they dare not do anything that is too disrespectful to heaven and conscience.
There are only seven people entering the ancient city now. Among them is Ye Yixin, who is unconscious. Chu Jian is carrying her. The remaining five people have to carry some equipment and weapons, plus food and water bottles. Each person has to carry a heavy load.
Not too small.
There is a famous saying in the army: A soldier, not a soldier, carries forty kilograms on his body. That means that when officers and soldiers in the army are marching, they carry at least forty kilograms of equipment on their bodies. Some of them have to carry machine guns, flamethrowers or counterattack weapons.
Infantry heavy weapons such as tanks and equipment are even heavier.
I have been in the field army for ten years and carried a lot of equipment on my back. I didn't think anything of it, but Professor Chen and the others couldn't bear it. In the end, they had to pack as lightly as possible and entered our final destination, the ancient city of Jingjue.
The distance from the mountain pass to the ancient city is very short, and we arrived in front of the city gate in just one meal. The city gate collapsed long ago, and the ditch in front of the city was filled with yellow sand. We entered the city through the broken part of the city wall.
There was a dead silence in the surrounding ruins.
The difference between this and what I had imagined was huge, and I couldn't help but be disappointed. The streets and houses in the city were either collapsed or dilapidated. From a distance, they looked okay and quite impressive. But when I got closer and looked inside, there was nothing.
It was all sand, rotten wood, and broken stones. There was no gold or silver.
Only a few huge wooden pillars and beams that were in dilapidated condition, with their vermilion paint already peeling off, could still give a glimpse of the luxurious atmosphere of the city in the past.
We wanted to go into a few shabby houses at the gate of the city to have a look, but found that although most of the shabby houses were exposed to the desert, the yellow sand in the houses was piled up to the roof.
Legend has it that this city was once destroyed by war, and the coalition forces invaded the palace. When the battle was coming to an end, a black sandstorm buried the Jingjue Kingdom and the resident troops in the city indiscriminately in the depths of the yellow sand. Until ten
In the ninth century, the movement of the desert brought it back to light.
From what we saw at the scene, it was basically consistent with the legend, except that no mummy was seen, and they must have been buried in the sand.
I looked at it indifferently, but Professor Chen and the others seemed to be interested in everything in the ancient city. They could even look at a broken wall for a long time.
I had to remind them that little girl Ye Yixin is still sick. Saving people is the most important thing. It seems that the residential areas in the city have been filled with yellow sand. There is not even a well to be found. We might as well go to the palace and take a look.
, there might be a water source there.
Professor Chen slapped his head: I'm confused. It's important to save Xiaoye. Let's go to the palace quickly. The kingdoms in this desert are built near underground rivers close to the ground. Some underground palaces have rivers passing through them. Palaces are usually there.
The middle of the city.
Everyone was looking for direction among the ruins and heading to the middle of the ancient city. The fat man said to me: Old Hu, do you know what I want to eat most now? I want to eat honeydew melon and horse grapes most. A piece of watermelon will do, too.
The more I talked, the thirstier I became, and my throat started to smoke. When I found the underground river, I had to jump in and take a bath.
I said to the fat man: This exquisite queen lived a very luxurious life. She must have often enjoyed ice-cold watermelon soaked in the cold underground river. However, even if the watermelon is preserved to this day, it will probably become a watermelon stone, and the grapes may also become raisins.
.
The fat man complained: This fucking useless place, I really can’t imagine that there were people living in it before. Don’t give me 20,000 beautiful girls next time. The mountains of gold and silver are too much for my money. I won’t go into the desert anymore. In this world
Among the ways to die, the most uncomfortable one is definitely to die of thirst.
When I talk about death, I think of Hao Aiguo, who was bitten to death by that strange snake. Although he died quickly, he didn't know how painful it was when he died. The snake looked strange, with a black tumor on his head, and it was full of blood.
Blackwater can fly up and hurt people when cut into two pieces. I have never seen such a snake, and I wonder if there is one in this city.
The seven of us found our way through the ruins. We took a detour when we encountered collapsed areas. After walking for a long time, we arrived at the middle of the ancient city. The streets here are quite wide. Although the yellow sand is everywhere, the pattern of the streets can still be seen.
Gotta come out.
However, except for the sloping black tower, there are no other large buildings nearby. Let alone the palace, there are not even any decent private houses. They are all weathered earth walls.
Professor Chen said that the palace here may be built underground, and there is too much sand in the city. Let's go to the black tower and watch from a height to see if we can find the entrance to the underground palace.
The base under the tower and most of the arched stone door are buried in the sand. This black tower is entirely carved from the big stones of Zagrama Mountain. It is six stories high, slightly tilted, but still very solid. Except for the architecture
The material is very rare. There is a black olive-shaped stone ball at the highest point of the top of the tower.
Professor Chen put on his reading glasses, raised his head and looked at it for a long time, and then looked at it with a telescope. While looking at it, he said to himself: That's right, why didn't I think of that before.
I wanted to ask him what he didn't expect, but Professor Chen ducked down and got into the tower door. He seemed eager to confirm something, so we quickly followed behind.
The walls of the tower are densely carved with strange ghost cave inscriptions. There is a black stone statue on each floor. The first floor is a stone sheep, which is nothing special.
On the second floor, there is a stone statue, about the size of an ordinary person, with a high nose and deep eyes, half-kneeling in the tower. The third floor turned out to be the giant-eyed stone statue that we saw in an unknown town when we were hiding from a sandstorm.
Professor Chen stopped on the third floor of the black tower and said to us: It seems that my guess is correct. The source of the giant-eyed stone statues unearthed in various places is the country of Jingjue, and the material is the black stone of Nazargram.
Satipeng asked: Professor, what is this tower used for? Why is there a statue on each floor?
Professor Chen said: I speculate that this black tower is used to show the status of the Guidong clan. The stone statues on each floor represent different levels. The first floor is livestock. If I guessed correctly, there should be another floor underground where the hells are placed.
The hungry ghosts in the tower. On the second floor are ordinary people, including all the barbarians in the Western Regions. Their status is only higher than that of cattle and sheep, and they are equivalent to slaves. The third floor is the figure with giant eyes. I just looked at it. The one on the top of the tower
The stone ball is in the shape of an eye, and the giant-eyed stone man and eye-shaped totem represent this nation's worship of eyes. Let's go up and see what has a higher status in Jingjue Country.
The fat man said: Even a person of my level can guess this. I bet it must be the statue of the Queen. He rushed to the fourth floor first.
I followed closely behind and went up to take a look. To my surprise, the stone statue in this layer had a snake body and a human head. It had thick limbs, the hind limbs were animal-shaped, the forelimbs were human-shaped, holding a sharp sword and shield, and the head was a male.
The face is ferocious, with glaring eyes, like the glaring golden steel in the inland temples. The stone statue also has a black ball on the back of its head, just like the strange snake in the Zagrama Mountains.
At this time, Professor Chen and others also came up. When they saw this strange-looking stone statue, they were amazed: This seems to be the patron saint of the kingdom. There is also a black ball in the shape of an eye on its head. It seems that the ghost cave people really believe in eyes.
It is the source of all power. The status of the patron saint is still under the queen. It seems that Queen Jingjue has indeed been deified. Let's go to the fifth floor to see if it is the statue of the queen. Book Alliance