Tomb raiding: following the plot while tearing up the script

(This section about Zhangjia Ancient Building contains a lot of personal interpretations, so please just enjoy it for fun.)

Walking in water feels amazing. Your body is carried lightly by the current, and you can leap a great distance with a light, airy feeling, as if you are in a weightless world.

With a light step, I used the stairs to gain leverage and gracefully ascended to the second floor.

An empty wooden attic came into view.

Perhaps they were too confident in the bronze bell array on the first floor, because the space above the second floor was completely empty. Apart from some parts that were present from the beginning of the building and some abandoned decorations, the rest of the place was empty.

It's clear that the place was emptied out long before it was abandoned.

They arrived at the top floor without any obstacles, and there they finally saw something different.

At the very center of the rooftop space is a black stone platform carved with intricate patterns.

The stone platform is covered with dense and intricate engravings, and the complex and mysterious star map on the platform seems to add a touch of strangeness to this ancient family.

Zhang Qiling reached out and stroked the star map engravings on the black stone platform, his two unusually long fingers carefully sensing something.

Suddenly, a spot that looked no different from the rest of the stone platform was dented by his pressing, triggering a mechanism that hadn't been activated for who knows how long.

A dense layer of bubbles rose above the stone platform, as if a space that had been sealed for many years had been opened, and the air inside quickly rose until it disappeared.

The stone platform, which originally appeared to be without any gaps, opened from the middle. With the silent rotation of the mechanism, a space that could roughly fit a coffin gradually appeared.

The coffin inside had been taken away, leaving only this empty stone platform.

………………

With the moon high in the sky, Zhang Tata, still sitting by the campfire, stared intently at the still, motionless lake. The lights had been out for quite some time, yet there was still no movement.

It's been several hours already, and these people haven't brought any equipment. How have they managed to stay at the bottom of the lake for so long?

If the lights hadn't been constantly moving, he would have dragged those carefree guys into the water to rescue the person.

The guys who were judged by Zhang Tata to be carefree were, to be honest, incredibly tough nerves.

So what if they were underwater for a few hours? What's the big deal? They've seen men fly on swords before, this is nothing to them!

Whom do you look down on?

Even if their family head, young master, and several other gentlemen came up with a magnificent fishtail later, they wouldn't be surprised at all.

The sound of splashing water filled the air, and Zhang Tata, whose eyes had never left the lake, was the first to spot the group of people who had suddenly appeared.

The people who had just come out of the water were completely dry, showing no signs of having spent several hours underwater. They looked no different from those who had just come back from a walk.

"Hey, still awake?" Hei Xiazi ruffled his hair, looking at the large crowd that had gathered around him.

We didn't notice it while at the bottom of the lake, but they've been down there for so long. Hmm, they're really something else.

Su Li rubbed her eyes and then her stomach, torn between getting a late-night snack or snuggling into her warm bed.

this late……

I need to eat something, otherwise I'll wake up hungry in the middle of the night, which would be really uncomfortable.

After a sound sleep until the afternoon of the next day, Zuli groggily crawled out of her sleeping bag and came out to look for food, drawn by the aroma.

His empty stomach kept rumbling. Luckily, he had made a big bowl of dumpling soup before bed last night, otherwise he probably would have been so hungry that he would have eaten Wuxie, who was lying next to him, in the middle of the night.

Hmm... I wonder what Wu Xiaogou tastes like when he gnaws on it, that would make those strange creatures drool so much...

"Come over quickly when Little Ali wakes up. The blind man just made some mutton soup, it's incredibly delicious."

Standing by the bubbling iron pot, Hei Xiazi spotted Su Li, who had just crawled out of the tent, through the hazy steam.

The slightly disheveled sapling, with a dazed look, responded to Black Bear's call while tying its hair.

It wasn't until she drank a mouthful of delicious mutton soup that Su Li regained some of her senses.

"where are they?"

Why is the blind man the only one in the camp?

"The mute and Wuxie went into the water to retrieve the remains of the previous exploration team, Hua'erye and Xiaopangzi took their men to the next base, and Xiao Zhang took the lynx into the mountains to hunt."

The "next-door base" likely refers to the military base they used when they came to retrieve the Black Gold Ancient Blade last time, which was also the place he chose to be one of the key points of the great formation.

Su Li held her bowl and drank the soup in silence. Hei Xiazi cooked a large bowl of noodles for the child in the boiling hot soup, with a thick layer of meat on top of the chewy noodles, and then sprinkled with chopped green onions.

简单美味还填肚子，完美?0?0(?0?7?0?7)?0?6

It wasn't until Su Li had almost finished slurping up a bowl of noodles that the two people who had been scavenging at the bottom of the lake finally surfaced.

A huge waterproof tarpaulin was laid on the ground, and rows of white skeletons were placed on it. Su Li came over with a bowl and watched Zhang Qiling put the scattered skeletons back in their places one by one.

"With so many people, how does the young man know which bone belongs to whom?"

Wu Xie scratched his head; he couldn't tell the difference anyway.

Black Bear pushed up his glasses and came closer with a grin.

"You wouldn't understand, would you? Everyone's bone structure, density, and weight are different. For example...blah blah blah...and then...blah blah blah...Although it can't be 100%...blah blah blah..."

Black Bear's Forensic Mini-Lecture Series is now open!

Are you still bothered by having too many broken pieces?

Are you still troubled by the idea that we are intertwined?

Heixiazi Classroom, your dream home!!!

Unfortunately, the only two students had absolutely no talent for this. Before they had even finished listening to the theoretical knowledge, their eyes were already ringing with sweat.

"The blind man is here to help."

Zhang Qiling's voice was like heavenly music, descending from the sky to save the two elementary school underachievers who were forced to absorb forensic knowledge. Su Li and Wu Xie took a step back in unison, their meaning couldn't be clearer.

Black Bear: Sigh... you mute~ you really can't live without me, you blind man~~~

amount……

Su Li and Wu Xie exchanged a glance, then slipped away...

It wasn't until the sun was setting that Xie Yuchen, Wang Pangzi, and Zhang Tata returned to the camp together.

The road from the neighboring base is in the mountains. The guys who accompanied Su Li and Hei Xiazi last time are also in the group, so they know the way well.

I met up with Qin Ye at the base to confirm their departure time and Jude Kao's movements. I stuffed a bunch of the latest models of... well, you know, into our space, and also equipped the guys with some...

Dear experts: This is love from the masters~~~

When I came back, I ran into Zhang Tata, who was returning with a full load of goods.