Alas, I really hate myself for not following him. I don't even know what happened. A healthy and alive person is gone.
Yi Fan did this countless times when he was a child, so he was familiar with the route. The two of them were both young and strong, so they hurried up the hillside behind the village. It was early spring, and the road was lined with crops such as wheat and rapeseed. It was green everywhere.Yi Fan had not seen him for a long time, and it was a different experience to appreciate it.
There were also many villagers working in the fields, squatting or standing, and they were particularly eye-catching in the endless tender green. The village was not big, and most of the people in the village knew each other. Yi Fan had not been home for a long time, so he greeted the elders in the village one by one from a distance.
There was a fairly flat field on the slope, and half a mile ahead, he entered a dense forest full of locust trees. At this time of year, the leaves are gradually growing out, but they have not yet fully grown. They are so tender that the whole forest is dyed light green, which is the scene of early spring full of vitality. Yi Fan pulled the cart and walked among them. He saw that the green grass under the tree also emerged from the soil. It was just a very tender grass seedling.
The two walked along the winding path in the forest for 20 minutes and were blocked by a high cliff. Yi Fan said: "We are here."
A Lai looked up and exclaimed. He saw that this high cliff was made up of fine, clear yellow soil layers. It was rare to see such a high cliff without any impurities even in the Loess Plateau. There were still some dead wild grass branches growing on the top of the cliff. As early spring approached, the grass roots were already glowing with green life.
Yi Fan grew up here since he was a child and knew that this high cliff was only one side of the mountain. The mountain was roughly a cube with a side length of about 500 meters. It is actually quite abnormal to form such a regular square shape by natural forces. It seems a bit like it was done by humans. However, this place is geographically remote and there is no modern large-scale machinery. The human body is absolutely incapable of doing this, and there is no need to do this. How this mountain was formed is a wonder. The side of the mountain facing Yi Fan has been dug into thousands of holes. This is because the villagers have been taking soil here for many years.
There is very little loess in this area, only on this mountain. The surrounding mountains are all sandy and rocky. As for the soil in the fields outside, it is black. Obviously, the soil of this mountain is very different from the surrounding geology, which seems very abnormal. Yi Fan told this to A Lai, and A Lai said in surprise: "This square loess mountain is strange." Yi Fan smiled and said: "It is not uncommon to have loess on the Loess Plateau, but this piece behind our village is very special. It is completely different from the surrounding geology. I have carefully investigated it. There is even a clear dividing line around it. There is sand on one side and loess on the other side. There is absolutely no transitional component. From a geological point of view, it is impossible for such a situation to occur. This is really a strange thing. I looked through a lot of geological data during school, but I couldn't find a reasonable explanation. The reason why I chose geology as my major was because of this thing that has been puzzling me since I was a child."
A Lai smiled and said: "Could it be like a meteorite, flying from the sky?"
Yi Fan said: "This huge piece of soil is not as simple as you think. I have carefully measured it. It is a nearly perfect cube. The cliff in front of us is actually just one of its faces. If it is an alien object, how can it maintain such a regular shape with the huge inertia when it hits the earth? Even if it resists air friction, with the soft texture of loess, it is probably burned beyond recognition."
A Lai was surprised: "This is really beyond human control. Could it be that it was really moved by gods?"
Yi Fan laughed and said: "It's the 21st century now. Why are you still full of ghosts and gods? You have to believe in science. One day I will solve this problem. In fact, we think it is mysterious and unpredictable simply because we don't understand it. If one day we understand the inside story, maybe we will think it's nothing... Well, let's not talk about these things. Let's get to work." He walked to the wooden cart, looked into the carriage, and exclaimed: "Oh, we rushed here in a hurry and didn't even take a shovel. Now, how to get the soil. "
A Lai complained: "That's it, I can't go back again." He turned his head and looked around, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He went into the caves that were created by years of digging, picked up a piece of loess as big as a washbasin, threw it out and shouted:"Haha, you don't need a shovel, there are a lot of leftovers here, come and get it." Yi Fan went in and saw that there were indeed a few huge pieces of loess at the bottom of the cave. Although it was a little less, he would look for it somewhere else later, and maybe he could get enough for a car.
The two of them moved the pieces of loess into the car one by one. Yi Fan looked into the car and saw that it was less than half a car. It was equivalent to coming here in vain to pull so little back. He said: "Too little, let's go to the forest to find a few tree trunks as crowbars and pry some more."
The forest was full of thorny acacia trees, but they were not tall, because this was a shallow mountain, and people cut down trees all year round. The two picked two trees as thick as arms, carefully removed the thorns, and broke them off into two one-meter-long crowbars with one end slanted and pointed.
Crowbars are naturally not as easy to use as shovels, so they can only find cracks of various sizes on the cliff wall and pry them in. The fat black man was sweating from the tossing and turning, but seeing Yi Fan working hard, he was too embarrassed to complain, so he just gritted his teeth and persevered. Yi Fan asked him to rest for a while, but he refused.
Not long after, the fat black man couldn't hold on any longer, so he sneaked into the cave. He thought to himself, I'll take a break after I get one more piece, that's enough, and looked around, and saw that a piece seemed to be very loose, so he mustered up his courage, raised the big stick, and smashed it hard.
The piece of loess became more and more loose, and finally fell to the ground with a snap, breaking into several pieces. There was a fist-sized hole in the groove where the loess fell on the cliff. The fat black man said happily: "God really helps me." He put the crowbar in and used the lever principle to pry up, pry down, pry left, pry right. The loess fell down in pieces. In a short while, a large pile was made.
The pounding only made the cave filled with yellow smoke. The black fat man became a yellow fat man, and the big boss became a migrant worker. However, he was happy in his heart and ignored all these. He shouted to the outside of the cave: "Yifan, stop it, that's enough. I have a lot here. Come in and pick it up."
Yifan ran in and saw the yellow soil all over the ground. He said happily: "Alai, you are really amazing. You have so much. I really didn't see it before. You are a farmer. You said you are a boss! Hey, you pried a big hole." It turned out that the fist-sized hole had turned into a black hole as big as a washbasin after he pried it.
The yellow fat man turned his head and looked at the cliff wall. He was surprised and said: "Oh, it's true. I didn't notice it. What? Is it strange to have a big hole?"
Yifan didn't answer. He walked to the cave entrance, supported the cliff wall with both hands, and looked inside. It was dark and he couldn't see anything. He picked up the crowbar and dug and pried. Fatty Huang also came to help. More loess was dug down. After a while, the hole was big enough for one person to go in.
A Lai shouted excitedly: "Yi Fan! Did we dig up some treasure? Hahaha, hahaha, we are rich." He threw the crowbar on the ground and crawled and rolled to get in, fearing that Yi Fan would get ahead of him.
Yi Fan hurriedly grabbed him and said, "No, you must not go in now. It has not been ventilated for many years. Let's wait until the foul air inside is gone. Besides, it is hard to predict whether it will be a blessing or a disaster inside. Safety precautions must be taken." At this point, he couldn't help but feel angry and amused: "At the very least, you have to make two torches first. It's dark inside, and you can't see the treasure. There are only two of us here. If there is a good thing, you are afraid that you will not have a share?" Fatty Huang immediately realized: "Yes, yes, you are right. You see, I don't care about anything when I am anxious."
There were only dead grass and dry branches around here. Two simple torches were made while talking.
A Lai also brought a lighter, lit it, and went in first. Yi Fan followed behind. Although Yi Fan had been comforting Fatty just now, he had no idea what was inside. This was the place where their ancestors in the village had dug the earth for generations, and there had never been any abnormality before. After entering, the two felt a chill all over their bodies, and the air was also chilly. They did not dare to neglect it, and stopped at the entrance of the cave for a few minutes to confirm that there was nothing unusual before heading inside. The cave was still not big, and the two had to crouch down to get in, and they had to lie down to pass through the lower part. The road was winding and endless, and after walking for 30 meters, it suddenly became clear and they came to a huge cave. The torch light was as small as a bean, only illuminating three inches under their feet, and the farther away was all pitch black, and it was unknown how big it was.
Yi Fan thought: "Getting lost here is no joke." He immediately told A Lai to explore along the cave wall first. Even if they got lost inside, they could find their way back along the wall. When the two turned around, the firelight shone on the smooth cave wall, and the words on the wall were revealed. The entire mountain wall was densely covered with words, all written in bright gold. There was no idle place wherever they looked. At this time, the texture of the cliff was no longer loess, but a dark green material, which looked like some kind of metal. What kind of metal it was, the two could not say. The two were very happy to see this. They thought that it would be easy to deal with if there were words, and they could always figure out the whole story. But after a while of looking at it, the two looked at each other in amazement. They didn't recognize any of these words.
Each one was like a tadpole, winding and crisscrossing, which was even more difficult to understand than the most complicated words in the world. A Lai was just ignoring it, but when he saw Yi Fan looking at the words for a while, he couldn't help asking, "How about it, do you know these words?"
Yi Fan didn't answer, and after a long pause, he said, "I don't know them either! But these traces are not so much words as extremely complex patterns carved according to certain rules. If I were to say what they are, I think they are similar to the circuit boards we often see."
The two walked in and looked around. The walls were full of these things, so dense that people were overwhelmed. There was nothing else. After about half an hour, the two walked around the cave wall and returned to the entrance. They knew that the cave was round and there was no other exit.
The fat man was a little angry, Yi Fan smiled and said: "Maybe there are some good things in the middle." He took his hand and went to the center together. The two had just found out that there was no potential threat, so they were much bolder at this moment. Not far ahead, they were blocked by a large tripod. Behind the tripod was an altar full of ancient meaning.
A Lai cheered and jumped to the side of the tripod, saying happily: "I'm rich, this is a big treasure, I don't know how much it can be sold for." After saying that, with a "snap", the big hand like a palm fan slapped the tripod vigorously, just like slapping a dog at home, and there was no fear of blaspheming this sacred object. The empty tripod made a buzzing sound, which sounded like thunder in this empty environment.
Yi Fan was also overjoyed. He looked at the big tripod carefully. He saw that the tripod was made of bronze. It was covered with a thick layer of green rust over the years. The body of the tripod was engraved with strange beasts, clouds, and patterns. The three legs of the tripod were three mighty and domineering coiled dragons. The giant claws lifted the body of the tripod upwards, and the dragon's mouth opened wide, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs, as if ready to rush out and bite someone at any time.
The whole giant tripod was ancient and full of a sense of solemnity with a wild atmosphere. Yi Fan looked at it for a long time and sighed: "We are the hometown of ancient bronze ware, and there is no shortage of antiques, but I have never seen such a strange thing before. Looking at the appearance of this tripod, it is heavy and simple. It must be an extremely ancient treasure. Once it comes out, it will shock the whole country. Haha, you want to sell it for money, that's a capital crime."
A Lai laughed: "I just said it casually, but you took it seriously."
This big tripod is probably at least thousands of years old, but it is still intact, but there are some copper rust green spots on the surface. This place is the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, with little rain all year round, dry and cool, suitable for storage. This thing is so well preserved, of course, the suitable environment has contributed to it, but it is probably more because this thing is unique and the material is very unusual, which cannot be guessed by common sense. The two couldn't help but admire it again. Behind the big tripod is an altar, which is made of basalt and is carved with fine patterns, auspicious clouds, and strange beasts. It is also an ancient and fragrant treasure. The two praised it as soon as they saw it.
In the center of the altar, there is a Tai Chi double fish picture, which is clearly black and white, and seems to be carved directly on the altar. There is something strange about it. The altar has been a place for offerings since ancient times.
Is this Tai Chi picture a sacrifice?
Then who is it offered to?
Who is the sacrificer?