Tomb raiding: It all started with shocking the archaeological team.

"This black smoke is toxic; inhaling too much of it can lead to evil spirits entering the body."

Chen Yibai's voice suddenly rang out from behind everyone.

It seems that Chen Yibai had anticipated all of this, so he had already kept his distance beforehand.

As they spoke, the corpse, billowing black smoke, seemed to be burning and melting, making a hissing sound, and the air was filled with the stench of rotting flesh.

Everyone was already quite startled by this bizarre and horrifying scene.

Then, upon hearing Chen Yibai say that the black smoke was poisonous, they all held their breath, pinched their noses, and hurriedly retreated to the surroundings.

Even Yan Wanlei, who had been a staunch believer in science, retreated several meters upon seeing this.

In an instant, the corpse on the ground was burned to ashes with a hissing sound, and then a gust of wind from the mountains blew it away completely, leaving not a trace.

I was originally planning to take the body back for scientific research.

Now it's become another unsolved scientific mystery.

"Mr. Chen, what's going on?"

After the stench dissipated, Wang Haichuan immediately walked to Chen Yibai's side and asked in astonishment.

Chen Yibai didn't answer directly. Instead, he smiled and looked at Wang Haichuan, keeping him in suspense, and asked in return, "Professor Wang, I have two versions of the explanation: a metaphysical version and a scientific version. Which one would you like to hear?"

"what?"

Wang Haichuan grinned, "You're giving me a hard time, kid!"

If I wanted to hear the 'science version,' would I need to ask you?

But if we just listen to the 'mystical version', wouldn't that make Captain Yan lose face?

Then let's just listen to both versions.

"Shall we hear the scientific version first?" Wang Haichuan asked with an awkward smile.

Chen Yibai grinned: "It's the principle of oxidation! Just like the newly unearthed colorful terracotta warriors, which oxidize due to temperature differences when exposed to air..."

As an archaeology expert and professor, how could Wang Haichuan not understand oxidation?

From a scientific perspective, the rapid decomposition of freshly unearthed corpses upon exposure to air is indeed due to oxidation.

But it was burned to ashes in the blink of an eye, which is seriously inconsistent with the oxidation process!

"What about the metaphysical version?" Wang Haichuan immediately asked.

Chen Yibai pointed to the sky: "See the sunlight peeking through the gaps in the dispersed dark clouds? This is called the clash of Yin and Yang energies. The corpse did not decompose because of the excessive Yin energy, but once it is exposed to sunlight, the Yang energy of heaven and earth will be strong, and it will burn the corpse to ashes without leaving a trace!"

hiss!

After hearing Chen Yibai's 'mystical' explanation, everyone looked up at the sky.

Everyone's attention was focused on the corpse, and they didn't notice that a ray of sunlight shone through a crack in the dark clouds overhead.

Compared to the 'scientific version' of the oxidation principle explanation, this 'mystical version' explanation seems more convincing!

The excessive yin energy prevented the corpse from decaying, but it was immediately burned to ashes upon exposure to sunlight. Logically, this makes no sense whatsoever.

That's how it's portrayed on TV.

Even Yan Wanlei remained silent after hearing Chen Yibai's 'metaphysical version' explanation, completely unable to refute it. At the same time, his expression was peculiar, as if the scales of his inner adherence to science were beginning to slowly tip at this moment...

Is metaphysics truly the end of science?

"Mr. Chen, you just said that the yin energy down here is heavy and there is danger..."

Wang Haichuan turned back and remembered what Chen Yibai had just said.

Chen Yibai, of course, knew what Wang Haichuan meant, and simply shrugged and chuckled, "If there's danger, then let's deal with the risk. If there wasn't any risk, Professor Wang, you wouldn't have hired me as a consultant, would you?"

That's absolutely right.

Although Yan Wanlei felt that Chen Yibai was showing off, the most fatal thing was that he was completely powerless to refute it!

"Alright, it's nothing serious, let's keep digging!"

Chen Yibai waved his hand, signaling Qiu Jing and the others to continue digging.

Qiu Jing glanced at Yan Wanlei. Chen Yibai's words didn't count; she had to follow Captain Yan Wanlei's orders throughout the entire process.

Seeing Yan Wanlei nod slightly, Qiu Jing and the others continued to dig down with their entrenching tools.

Chen Yibai then took out three incense sticks, lit them, and stuck them in the ground.

This is a rule for tomb raiders: encountering the corpse of a fellow tomb raider in the tomb is considered extremely unlucky. They need to light three sticks of incense to send their companion on their way and ward off the bad luck.

The weather in the mountains is always unpredictable. Just a moment ago, there was a sudden gust of wind and thunder, but it only thundered and didn't rain. Now the sky is gradually clearing up again.

The work continued until the afternoon, with the special operations team working in shifts. The pit was dug to a depth of nearly five meters until they encountered a huge rock at the bottom of the pit, at which point they were forced to stop.

"Captain, there's a huge rock down there, we can't dig it out!"

Qiu Jing shouted loudly upwards.

Chen Yibai descended the rope ladder to the bottom of the pit and used an entrenching tool to dig away the soil on the surface of the stone to examine it. The stone had obvious traces of artificial chiseling, so it could be confirmed with 100% certainty that it was the stone used to seal the entrance to the ancient tomb cave.

"Mr. Chen, how is it?"

After Chen Yibai came up, Wang Haichuan hurriedly inquired about the situation below.

Chen Yibai patted the dirt off his hands: "Found it, this is it! That piece below is the stone that sealed the entrance to the ancient tomb, it's huge!"

The "very big" that Chen Yibai mentioned was indeed very big. The edges of the rocks were not visible inside the two-meter-diameter pit, and it must weigh at least tens of tons.

"Then what should we do? Should we call in an excavator to go up the mountain again?"

Wang Haichuan frowned. Even if an excavator came in, moving these tens of tons of boulder wouldn't be so easy.

"Why call it an excavator? Just blow it up!"

Chen Yibai sat down and lit a cigarette, glancing at Yan Wanlei as he spoke.

This special operations team is equipped with Type 95 rifles, so it's normal for them to carry a few grenades as well, right?

If you don't have it, go back and get it; that's much more efficient than going back to call an excavator.

But this is archaeology!

Even tomb raiders who use explosives will be cursed for their ancestors for eighteen generations.

Using explosives in archaeology sounds absurd.

But Wang Haichuan thought about it again. It was just an ordinary sealing stone, not a tomb door, and it didn't have any archaeological value. Special cases can be treated specially, so he looked at Yan Wanlei.

Although he didn't say anything, Yan Wanlei immediately understood what Wang Haichuan meant.

Anyway, Wang Haichuan was the chief commander of the archaeological team, so we did whatever he told us to do.

"Little Tiger, clear the area, prepare for the explosion!"

Yan Wanlei turned to look at Xiao Hu and said.

"It's the captain!"

Xiao Hu immediately responded and took out a grenade from his ammunition backpack.

Everyone retreated about ten meters away, crawled on the ground, and covered their ears with their hands.

Bang!Bang!Bang!

Three deafening explosions rang out from within Qishan Mountain, startling flocks of birds into flight. Even Chen Yibai, lying on the ground, felt a strong tremor; the explosive effect of these grenades was far more powerful than that of gunpowder.

"Captain, it's connected...it's connected..."

After three consecutive explosions, Xiao Hu went to check the situation inside the pit, then turned around and shouted.

Everyone immediately got up and surrounded them.

Just as Chen Yibai said, the huge rock at the bottom of the pit was specifically used to block the cave entrance.

After the boulder was blasted, a dark cave entrance appeared at the bottom of the crater. The entrance was not very wide, only a little over two meters in diameter, and a cold, damp air wafted out from below, mixed with a strong musty smell.

Yan Wanlei took out a powerful flashlight and shone it into the cave. He couldn't see the bottom, so it must be at least several tens of meters deep, and probably even more.

Wang Haichuan then looked at Chen Yibai again.

It seems they are waiting for Chen Yibai's arrangements.

"Get all the equipment and supplies ready first. I'll lead the way, and you guys follow behind!"

Chen Yibai looked at everyone and said.

Half an hour later, everything was ready. Each member of the special operations team carried a supply backpack containing emergency equipment, medicine, and enough compressed rations to last each person for fifteen days.

After checking again, Chen Yibai, wearing a powerful headlamp and professional climbing zipline gear, was the first to go down, followed closely by the others.