The original repairer

The snow mountain climb was about five kilometers long. The climbing route had been opened along the way and safety measures were in place. It took the expedition team a whole day to climb to the camp.

The altitude here is more than 5,000 meters. The low pressure on the plateau makes breathing uncomfortable, accompanied by dizziness caused by slight hypoxia.

The place where the expedition team was going was a few hundred meters away from the camp, on an east-facing cliff.

The exact location is in the middle of the cliff.

Last month's avalanche exposed the cliff, in which there is a cave, about a hundred meters from the top of the cliff.

After the cliff cave was exposed, three adventure enthusiasts slid down from the top of the cliff and entered the cave.

The entrance of the cave is about three meters wide and about thirty meters deep. There is a stone pillar about one meter high with ancient characters engraved on it. There is a half-meter step over the stone pillar. Going up the step is a platform the size of a football field.

Looking up from the bottom of the steps, you can see that the steps are connected to a platform, and you can see a stone door opposite the platform.

After entering the platform from the stairs, the person at the bottom of the stairs found that the person entering the platform disappeared at the platform entrance. He took a step back and reappeared on the stairs.

Those who went up to the platform found that they had entered a stone chamber with two cave entrances on the left and right. There was a faint light on the cave walls. Looking into the cave entrances, the cave was dark and long.

The three people found it so magical that they walked into the entrance of the stone chamber out of curiosity. It was like entering an ice cave, with ice walls on both sides, and a cold texture to the touch. There were forks in the road after walking a few meters, some of which were three-way forks, and some were two-way forks. The three people tried for two days, but they could not reach the stone gate on the opposite side. At most, they would walk to seven forks, and then they would walk out of another cave entrance and come to the stone chamber.

Behind the steps, all electronic equipment could not function properly, and even the old film camera could only produce a black and white picture of snowflakes.

The expedition team consists of 76 people, including 35 support and logistics personnel, 5 adventure experts, 10 archaeology experts, 7 ancient Chinese experts, 7 technicians of various equipment, and 12 organizers.

The cave passage was narrow, so the expedition team was divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 22 people, including a medical officer, three adventurers, five archaeological experts, six organizers, three classical Chinese translators, and four equipment personnel. Shi Chen was assigned to the second group, which had one less person than the first, but a similar personnel structure.

The first group went down to the cave at 8:30 in the morning and came back around noon. The second group went down at around 1:00 in the afternoon and came back around 6:00 in the afternoon. In the evening, the two groups studied and discussed together.

At 1:30 p.m., the second group of team members followed the rope ladder down to the cliff cave. The 30-meter-long passage in the cave was illuminated by six lights, and the stone piers and steps were illuminated by lights from three different directions.

Explorers and several organizers entered the platform, medical staff and equipment maintainers watched at the entrance of the cave, and archaeological experts and ancient literature scholars gathered around the stone pillars and steps to study them.

An hour had passed when several old experts and scholars left the stone pillar and steps. Only then did Shi Chen approach the stone pillar to look at the ancient characters on it.

The light was very bright, and the ancient characters carved on the stone pillars could be seen clearly.

Three big words: maze array.

Silent and mysterious.

Three times three, nine times seven, one time seven. In the middle of the full moon, the gate of the mansion opens.

Shi Chen only took a glance at the stone pillar and found that he could understand the words engraved on it.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the second group came out of the cliff cave. After dinner, everyone entered the big tent together. There was a simple table in the middle of the tent, on which were placed photos taken in the cliff cave, mainly of stone pillars and stone platforms.

More than a dozen experts and scholars had no idea what to do. Looking at the group of people gathered in the middle, Shi Chen sat on a chair beside the tent and did not express his opinion. He was not qualified to speak in such an occasion.

Professor Lu communicated with Shi Chen several times, but Shi Chen just said that he didn't understand.

Last year, Professor Lu was still an associate professor. He published a research report on ancient Chinese literature in National Geographic magazine, which caused a sensation in the archaeological circles of various countries. After that, he spent most of the next six months giving lectures in various countries and was promoted to professor after returning to China.

Shi Chen knew that Professor Lu was trying to get a free pass again. Last year's research report was Shi Chen's graduation thesis, and aside from the name change, nothing else had changed, not even the punctuation.

The sky on the plateau was still bright at nine o'clock in the evening. Shi Chen came out of the tent, looked at the bright sky, and walked back to his rest tent.

Lying on the camp bed, I closed my eyes and thought about the words on the stone pillar today: Three threes and nine, seven sevens and one. In the full moon, the gate of the mansion opens.

I don't know what the first sentence means, but the second sentence should be that the cave door will only open when the moon is full.

A cave? Could there really be immortals? Or ancient cultivators? To find out, we must ascend the platform and navigate the maze.

Based on the translation research over the past few months and the current closed project research, Shi Chen is very sure that this team is studying things like immortals.

Only immortals have the ability to set up the formation in front of the cave.

In the past few months, the texts, pictures and other images translated for Shi Chen were only a small part, but the content of this small part was indeed the key to the establishment of the entire research project.

With the support of group bosses, aristocratic families, ample funds, and connections all over the world, no matter what happens, there will be results soon.

Faced with the secret of prolonging life, no one can remain unmoved.

There are legends about immortals in ancient times, who are hundreds of years old.

After eight days of research, progress was slow. The only breakthrough came the day before yesterday when an ancient Chinese text expert deciphered two characters on the stone pillar: "三三". The organizers awarded them 60,000 yuan that day, which gave the entire team a boost of enthusiasm.

Shi Chen checked the calendar and saw that tomorrow was the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, which was also the full moon.

According to the stone pillar, the cave door will open when the full moon is in the sky. I will go up to the platform to try it out tomorrow night.

The platform is open to all team members. To access the platform, you only need to record the personnel and time.

Go up the steps to the platform, enter the stone chamber entrance, walk forward three steps, and the surrounding environment will change. Some become meter-wide cave tunnels, some become meter-wide holes in the wall, and some are thorny paths with thorns on both sides.

After taking three steps, you turn around and look back, and the scene becomes the same as before. You walk back, and there is only one road. After seven steps, you find a cave in front of you, which leads to the cave of the stone chamber on the platform.

After entering the cave, continue walking forward. After three steps, a fork in the road will appear. It is a double fork. If you choose left or right, another double fork will appear after the third step. After three double forks, choose left or right, and a three-way fork will appear. Choose the intersection and go in. After three steps, a double fork will appear. This will continue until the seventh three-way fork appears. At this time, no matter which road you choose, after three steps, a cave will appear in front of you, which is the cave that leads back to the starting point of the platform.

The weather tonight is pretty good, with clear skies. At around ten o'clock in the evening, the sun can still shine on the camp and the moon is hanging in the sky.

Shi Chen went up to the platform and tried to solve the maze for an hour. He came down the stairs but still couldn't get through.

After returning to the camp, Shi Chen translated the sentence before the ancient character and gave it to Professor Lu.

Professor Lu notified the expedition members to hold a meeting and announced the translation of the previous sentence: Three times three, nine times seven, one times seven.

Shi Chen didn't compete for Professor Lu's fame or fortune. He transferred the entire 100,000 yuan reward from the organizers to Shi Chen. According to Professor Lu, if Shi Chen reported his translation results, he would only receive half the reward. If Professor Lu reported his translation results, the reward would be much greater. He sought fame, while Shi Chen received the profit.

There are translations of ancient Chinese texts, and many people have started new attempts to crack them on the platform.

After a night's rest, Shi Chen got up in the morning and applied to borrow the camp's external communication equipment. Under the supervision of the organizer, he transferred the 100,000 yuan he had just received to his parents' card. He also made a phone call to explain the source of the money and that he could not communicate frequently. He would have to wait for several months until the project was completed before returning to the city.

In the afternoon, Shi Chen and his team entered the cliff cave as usual. He pretended to study the stone pillars, trying to decipher the secrets of the ancient text. On the platform, many team members came in and out, all trying to solve the maze. The organizers had issued a reward yesterday, offering a reward of five million yuan for solving the maze platform.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Shi Chen stood on the steps. He had tried to crack the maze many times, but had not succeeded. If the second half of the sentence was translated correctly, it should mean that the moon was full tonight and the stone gate opposite would open. However, he had not cracked the platform maze and could not reach the stone gate opposite.

At half past ten, many people had already returned to the camp, and the person in charge of registration had just changed shifts. Shi Chen came to the steps and looked at his wrist, which was the mechanical watch distributed by the team. There was still half an hour until midnight, and the moon in the sky would soon be at its highest point in the sky.

Shi Chen thought, maybe the way he was walking was wrong. He should walk from the back, according to the formula, first seven steps, and then three steps, three steps, and nine steps according to the first half of the formula.

Ten minutes later, Shi Chen appeared in the stone chamber, but still failed to solve the platform maze.

Otherwise, try walking backwards.

Shi Chen entered the stone cave, turned around and walked back seven steps, then took one step forward. A three-way fork appeared in front of him.

According to the translation, if you take seven steps back and then one step forward, there will be a fork in the road. Choose the fork and repeat the cycle.

So, does the number 339 represent the number of times a fork in the road appears? Does it mean you have to make three choices at a fork in the road?

Shi Chen followed his plan and took seven steps back for the third time. He took one step forward and turned around. There was a stone wall in front of him, about one meter away from where he was standing. There was no fork in the road and there was only one passage behind him.

After thinking for a few minutes, Shi Chen closed his eyes and jumped towards the stone wall.

There was no dull thud of hitting the wall. I opened my eyes and saw a three-meter-high stone door ten meters away.

There are two door knockers on the stone gate, and three ancient characters are engraved on the stone tablet above it.

Shi Chen recognized the meaning of the ancient characters on the stone tablet at a glance: Shangyue Mansion.

There are no carved images of dragons and phoenixes, nor images of mountains, rivers, birds or animals. The stone gate and stone plaque emit a faint glow, just like the legendary immortal cave.

click!

There was a sound from inside the stone gate.

Shi Chen walked to the stone gate in two or three steps, grabbed the door knocker and pulled it outwards.

No pull!

I tightly grasped a stone ring with both hands and used all my strength, ah!

Still no pull.

Shi Chen, feeling somewhat exhausted, sat down on the stone slab in front of the door, leaning his back against it to rest. The stone door slowly opened backwards.

I am!

A hundred thousand horses were galloping through Shi Chen's mind.

This door knocker is not designed to pull the door open.

Shi Chen pushed open the stone door and slowly walked in. It was quiet and dim, with a stone chamber, a stone house, a stone pavilion, and a stone platform all visible at a glance.

However, at this moment, an expedition member happened to be standing on the steps and saw Shi Chen pushing the door open and entering from the opposite side of the platform.