Chapter 228 "Dungeon"
"What did you find?" Others immediately gathered around.
"Look at the traces carved by someone on the cave wall." Sun Hang said, "It looks like a cross."
Just as he said, there was a cross mark about half a meter deep and in the middle of the cave entrance.
This notch seems to have been carved bit by bit with some kind of metal tool. The thickness is very uniform. Both the vertical and horizontal strokes are one finger wide and about two millimeters deep. The upper and left sides of the cross are The three ends are similar in length, only the lower end is longer.
"Isn't this the symbol of a cross?" Wang Xiyi said immediately, "The cross is Cave No. 13... This seems to have some special religious significance, right?"
Yang Lian numbered the cave entrances in order. Counting from the first cave entrance, this cave entrance happened to be the thirteenth.
"Secret underground religious ruins?" Zhulong showed a rather interested expression, "Hmm, interesting."
"The cross and the number thirteen...should have something to do with Christianity, right?" Yang Lian said, "I remember that Christianity was widely popular in Shuzhou in the early years, and it was also one of the main activity areas of Western missionaries in Xiazhou. …”
Yang Qi continued: "But later, with the large-scale appearance of strange things, many church organizations began to change their tastes, and a large number of cult organizations were spawned based on this... After that, the federal government began to control the territory of Xiazhou Many restrictions were placed on religious organizations and activities, and a large number of churches were disbanded and churches and temples were demolished. Only a few were preserved as tourist attractions and historical relics."
"It's normal to become a cult. After all, no one knows whether God exists, but those weird things with various magical powers do exist." Sun Hang, who has dealt with cults, said, "Even Tai Sui is so weak. There are many people who worship monsters who can only hide and secretly spread their faith, not to mention those super monsters that can easily destroy a country.”
The entrance to Cave No. 13 is about 1.5 meters high from the ground, and there is no strong point for climbing on the cave wall. Yang Qi tried twice and failed to climb up.
"Pull me up." Yang Qi said angrily to Sun Hang - this guy just watched her slide down the edge of the hole twice, and he didn't know how to take the initiative to reach out and give her a hand.
"Oh." Sun Hang grabbed Yang Qi's wrist, lifted her up, and teased, "I was wondering why you were rubbing against the rock wall. So you wanted to climb up?"
"You did it on purpose." Yang Qi glared at him, but did not pursue the matter further. Instead, she took out her device and took a dozen photos of the cross marks on the wall.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Qi took out a steel needle from the tool bag she carried with her and carefully picked at the notch a few times.
The dust caked on the surface panel fell off, revealing a small patch of dark red traces.
"Is this...blood stain?" Yang Lian said in shock.
"No, the blood stains can't be so chewed up on the rocks, nor can they remain for such a long time." Yang Qi said softly, "It should be some kind of dye."
"Would you like to go deep into this cave to explore?" Sun Hang suggested, "Since there is a cross symbol at the entrance of this cave, I think this should be a rather special place."
"I'll call back the drones that surveyed other caves first..." Just as Yang Qi said this, the drone operating terminal hanging on her waist made a beeping sound.
This means that the drones sent to survey other caves finally made new discoveries.
Yang Qi immediately picked up the operating terminal and opened the folding screen.
The one that sent out the prompt message was the snake-shaped drone that first started surveying Cave No. 1 and had the deepest survey depth.
The numbers in the lower right corner of the screen showed that the drone had penetrated 160 meters into the cave, and a largely well-preserved humanoid skeleton was found on the side of the cave wall.
"Human skeletons?" Yang Lian also crawled into the hole, leaned next to her sister, and exclaimed as she stared at the picture sent back by the drone.
"There seems to be something wrong..." Yang Qi switched the drone's operating mode from automatic to manual, gently pushed the joystick, and constantly adjusted the position and angle of the drone and camera.
"They are not normal human skeletons." As those pictures from different angles appeared on the screen, Yang Qi came to the conclusion, "There are a lot of distortion marks on the sternum and ribs, and the number of vertebrae... thirty-nine, forty, Forty-one... This skeleton has a total of forty-one vertebrae, seven more than normal humans..."
"Deformed children?" Ye Xuan narrowed her eyes slightly, "Or...infected people?"
"I prefer the latter." Yang Qi murmured, "The data on the skeleton have been recorded. Now I will send the data back to the research institute. The computer can draw a recovery map of the deceased in half a minute."
"The rusty iron ring on the wrist..." Yang Qi pointed to one of the photos sent back by the drone, "It looks like a shackle. Sister, look, there are many more in the corner. Broken chain link..."
"I saw it." Yang Qi nodded and pushed the drone's lens upward little by little.
Sure enough, about fifty centimeters above the ground, there were two rusty iron rings embedded in the wall, with a small section of broken chain attached to the iron rings.
Judging from the break of the chain, it seemed to be broken by force.
"This man was handcuffed to the cave wall." Yang Lian showed a thoughtful look on his face, "Is it...a prisoner?"
"Could these caves be underground prisons left over from the old days and specially used to imprison infected people?" Wang Xiyi turned to look at the other caves, "But if they are prisons, why are they related to religion?"
"Old Wang, you don't know this..." Sun Hang said with a smile, "Church dungeons in Europe in the Middle Ages were standard facilities... Once religion becomes a tool to obtain wealth and power, it can no longer be used. There is no way to wash away the blood and filth stained on my body..."
"Is there such a thing?" Wang Xiyi said slightly surprised, "Then you mean, this place is the dungeon of a certain church?"
"Has there ever been a church on the ground in this place?" Zhulong also asked, "Can you check the past records?"
"I checked it when I was in the car. The records can be traced back to ninety years ago. At that time, this area was all wasteland. During the 'Shuzhou Development Movement' seventy years ago, it was reclaimed into farmland. Sixteen years later, due to urban planning adjustments, this area was included in the urban area of Tianfucheng, and the fields were converted into a community for resettlement of demolished households. Nine years ago, the area was converted into a resettlement community. To demolish it, Tianfu Real Estate Group won the bidding and bought the land, preparing to develop it into a high-end residential community... But they unfortunately encountered the fall of eternal night, the entire Shuzhou real estate market collapsed, and the Tianfu City Management Committee offered half the price at the front end We bought this land back to build the Tianshu Tower Comprehensive Talent Training Base," Yang Qiyu said quickly.
"In other words, even if there is a church, it was only ninety years ago?" Wang Xiyi smacked her lips, "Tsk, there shouldn't be many people who remember such old almanacs still alive, right?"
"Ninety years ago, this was a wasteland." Yang Lian shook his head, "Who would build a church in the wilderness..." "Cult organizations that don't want to attract official attention will build churches in hidden suburbs..." Yang Qi He said that although many cult sects have adopted the policy of "hiding in the city", some larger cult organizations that need sufficient venues for activities will still build their strongholds in the countryside away from human habitations.
A cult case was uncovered in Tianfu City in the early years. The main base of activities of those cultists was an old-era bunker built in the deep mountains and old forests.
"Other drones have also sent back news." Yang Qi said, "There are similar skeletons in these caves. I am recording the data one by one... The restoration map has been sent."
In this restoration map jointly drawn by experts in artificial intelligence and human anatomy, it is a humanoid creature with short limbs and a slender body - it looks like a waist and ribs that have been nearly doubled. , a dog with no hair, no tail, and human limbs. The huge head with some uncoordinated proportions rests on the neck that is a little too long. There are no unnecessary details in the dark eye sockets, making the picture The creatures on it look a little scary.
"This must be an infected person..." Yang Lian insisted, "Deformed babies are not so deformed... unless they are babies born to pregnant women who bathe in nuclear wastewater every day."
"The drone collected some bone fragment specimens. Ah Lian, I will ask you to bring these specimens to the ground later and send them back to the institute as soon as possible." Yang Qi said, "Although these specimens may not be detectable But after all, this is the only clue we can get.”
"Yeah." Yang Lian nodded.
The drone in Cave No. 1 quickly returned to the main tunnel with the bone fragments. Yang Qi first scanned the bone fragments with the equipment, and then sealed all the bone fragments in a thick specimen bag. Passed it to Yang Lian.
"Based on the half-life of the carbon element inside the specimen, this skeleton is about 120 to 140 years old. The gender of the deceased is male, and no residual monster meme has been detected."
"In other words, the meme fragments remaining on the cave wall did not come from this infected person." After Yang Lian finished speaking, he suddenly realized a problem - he seemed to have said nonsense.
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"Send the specimens back first. The equipment in the institute is more accurate," Yang Qi said.
"Sister, I suddenly feel that you just want to get me away, right." Yang Lian took a few steps towards the big pit with the specimen bag, then suddenly turned around and said.
"It's too dangerous here. Although there are three hunters and one person with qualified equipment, they may not be able to guarantee everyone's personal safety." Yang Qi said bluntly, "If possible, I even hope that you, Ye Xuan, will do the same. Get out of here.”
"What about you?" Ye Xuan glanced at her, "Don't you also need someone to protect you?"
"But at least one researcher must stay." Yang Qi said without hesitation, "Among the people on site, I am the most qualified one."
Yang Lian hesitated several times, and finally bit her lip hard and shouted to Sun Hang: "Sun Hang, I'm asking you to...protect my sister!"
"I will protect Director Yang even if you don't tell me." Sun Hang smiled, "Just go with peace of mind."
"Hey, the conversation between the two of you sounds like you are asking for help before you die." Wang Xiyi suddenly laughed, "It may be overwhelming to protect three people, but it is more than enough to protect only one person. Is Yang Qi right? Wrong, take advantage of this opportunity, you two should return to the ground quickly.”
"No, I want to stay." Ye Xuan shook her head firmly, "This is my job."
"Aren't you afraid of death?" Sun Hang glanced at her.
"Don't be afraid." Ye Xuan said.
"Here, this is for you." Sun Hang suddenly threw something to Ye Xuan.
Ye Xuan caught it and saw that it was a small ball made of hyphae. The mycelium as thick as bean sprouts seemed to be alive, still wriggling on its own - holding such a thing in the palm of her hand. , can't help but make people feel a little numb.
"What is this?"
"Taisui meme." Sun Hang said, "If you are fatally injured, swallow this thing before you die, and it will quickly repair your damaged body parts...except for the brain. Of course, if the brain is damaged If you attack, you probably won’t have a chance to swallow it.”
"The price is... being infected?" Ye Xuan glanced at Sun Hang and carefully put away the ball of hyphae.
"Well, but the Tai Sui meme is relatively stable, and you shouldn't turn into a monster or a corpse." Sun Hang said, "You should know Song Yarong from the research institute, she is an example."
"Okay...thank you." Ye Xuan nodded.
After sending Yang Lian away, Yang Qi adjusted the snake-shaped drone that came back and put it into Cave No. 13.
Then came a slightly long wait.
The drone crawled for nearly three kilometers in Cave No. 13. After turning many corners, it finally emerged from another exit and returned to the main tunnel again.
The other drones have also reached the end point - except for Cave No. 13, the end points of other caves are dead ends. Except for dozens of skeletons with varying degrees of deformity, the drones have no more Others were discovered.
According to the movement route of the drone that surveyed Cave No. 13, the exit connecting the main tunnel is about one kilometer away from Sun Hang and the others, and there is also an inscription on the cave wall at the exit. Cross symbol.
It’s just that the symbol of the cross is upside down.
"Reverse cross? Symbol of Satan and the devil..." Zhulong said, looking at the picture transmitted back by the drone, "Things are getting more and more interesting..."
"Speaking of which, there are no bones in this cave, and both ends are connected to the main tunnel... There are special marks at the entrance of the cave..." Sun Hang suddenly interjected, "Could this be an escape passage?"
"Why do you think so?" Yang Qi turned to look at him.
"If this is a dungeon, and each cave is equivalent to a cell, then this may be a passage dug for the purpose of escaping... Along this passage, one can bypass the guards patrolling the main tunnel. ." Sun Hang said, "How about it, does it sound reasonable?"
(End of chapter)