Yan Shouyi and Taohua Ying strolled around the streets of the inner city but found nothing amiss.
They then returned to the inner city gate.
Wang Sihua was trying to contact support via walkie-talkie, but it was clearly a futile effort.
Everyone rested briefly and accepted reality.
Li Yang, with two wads of paper soaked in nosebleed stuffed in his nostrils, said nasally, "There's wind in the imperial tomb, which means there's airflow. There must be other exits."
Liang Yinqiu nodded, "That's well put."
Seeing that everyone hadn't lost their confidence, Yan Shouyi breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that the experts were all present and no immediate danger had occurred, Yan Shouyi asked everyone to adjust their state and ideally find a way to wake the experts up, thereby reducing everyone's burden.
At this moment, Liang Yinqiu, Xia Qi, and Li Yang, having recovered, decided to inspect the inner city of the imperial tomb and take some photos for record.
The outer city had already been visited by tomb robbers, but this inner city likely had not, and everything remained as it was two thousand years ago. For the archaeological community, this was an absolute bombshell. Any single dwelling could contain enough artifacts for experts to study for an entire year.
Since Yan Shouyi had already taken a stroll earlier and there was no immediate danger, he merely sent Yan Gui to escort the three and instructed them not to wander far, only to stay within his line of sight.
The three agreed and entered the nearest residence to the inner city gate, beginning their examination.
Yan Shouyi leaned against the city gate and sat down. Lin Zitong took out a bottle of water from the brocade pouch made by Zhu Huansi and handed it to Yan Shouyi.
Just as Yan Shouyi was about to drink, he suddenly remembered something, screwed the cap back on, and called Lin Zitong and Taohua Ying to his side.
"What's wrong?" Lin Zitong asked, confused.
"The iron chain that opened the inner city gate had a wooden box locked onto it," Yan Shouyi said, having found the wooden box. "What could be inside here?"
To be hidden in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and bound to the mechanism of the inner city gate, anyone with common sense would know that whatever was inside was not ordinary.
The wooden box was slightly larger than a basketball. Yan Shouyi had to use both hands to hold it. It was carved with many ancient mythical beasts and was exquisitely crafted.
However, in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, which was fraught with danger, this exquisite box was like Pandora's Box. No one knew what was inside, and opening it might bring endless trouble.
"Let me sense it."
Lin Zitong placed her hand on the wooden box. The Soul Summoning Bell rang with a ding-ding-ding sound. The Shu Ling Snake also woke up and circled the wooden box a few times before finally crawling into a gap in the box.
A moment later, the Shu Ling Snake returned. Lin Zitong also opened her eyes and said with surprise on her face:
"Inside... is a piece of wood."
"Wood?"
"To be precise, it's Lu Ban Yin wood."
This answer made Yan Shouyi's jaw drop in astonishment.
The Lu Ban lineage originated in the Warring States period, much earlier than the Qin Dynasty.
However, the existence of Lu Ban Yin wood in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was truly unbelievable to Yan Shouyi.
Lin Zitong said, "When Qin Shi Huang built his mausoleum, he must have hired countless skilled craftsmen. Perhaps there were descendants of Lu Ban among them. Moreover, the mechanism of the inner city gate is ingenious; it might even be the work of a Lu Ban descendant. So, it doesn't seem particularly strange for Lu Ban Yin wood to appear here."
"You do have a point."
Yan Shouyi fell silent for a moment, contemplating whether to open the wooden box and see the Yin wood with his own eyes.
Yin wood was usually used to lock souls. For example, the three yuan resided in wooden birds carved from Yin wood.
Therefore, it was highly probable that there was a soul within this piece of Yin wood.
Whose could it be?
The great villain of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Gao?
Or perhaps Li Si?
Could it be the great general Meng Tian who had attacked the Xiongnu to the north?
Yan Shouyi thought of several famous figures from the Qin Dynasty, even Princess Yushou from the drama "The Myth."
However, Princess Yushou was not a real historical figure. And even if such a person existed, she should be accompanying Qin Shi Huang in the main hall, not hanging at the inner city gate.
After much deliberation, Yan Shouyi decided to open the wooden box.
After all, they were already trapped in the imperial tomb, and if they couldn't find any clues, they would create them!
So, Yan Shouyi asked Lin Zitong and Taohua Ying to be prepared, as he was about to open the wooden box.
Just then, Yan Shouyi heard Xia Qi calling him.
He paused his action of opening the box, frowned, and walked towards the sound.
In a residence within the inner city, Liang Yinqiu and the other two had made a discovery.
They had visited three residences and found that each one contained different items.
Some were filled with countless coffins.
Others contained many spirit tablets.
And the one in front of them was filled entirely with various paper figures.
Liang Yinqiu found it incredible that these paper figures could survive for a thousand years without decay. What kind of technology was used?
As they were studying them, Yan Shouyi and the others, who had arrived hearing the calls, saw this scene and their faces changed drastically.
"Coffins, spirit tablets, paper figures..."
Lin Zitong couldn't help but exclaim, "Don't these correspond to zombies, evil spirits, and vengeful spirits?!"
Yan Shouyi's expression was also very grim. He thought even further.
Ordinary people believed that the defenses of ancient tombs were merely some mechanisms and traps.
But the status of Qin Shi Huang was different. He sought immortality in his lifetime and would certainly not tolerate anyone trespassing into his imperial tomb after death. Therefore, he would employ the most insidious methods to kill tomb robbers!
Combining the zombies and蛊蟲 encountered in the outer city, Yan Shouyi had a bold hypothesis!
The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was built by folk cults!
Gu technique, corpse driving, paper figure crafting... and the Lu Ban Yin wood he had just discovered, weren't these the skills of folk cults!
"Professor Liang!"
Yan Shouyi immediately said, "We should leave!"
But Liang Yinqiu had just made a new discovery and couldn't give up so easily. Her legs seemed nailed to the ground as she continuously took photos with her camera, saying, "Give me a few more minutes. These are precious materials. Perhaps these paper figures will disappear once others enter the tomb."
The now unsightly Terracotta Army, when first excavated, was actually colored. It was precisely because the archaeological techniques at the time were not advanced enough that the terracotta figures lost their color, becoming a regret for the archaeological community.
Liang Yinqiu was worried that these paper figures would suffer the same fate as the Terracotta Army, which was why she wanted to take more photos as precious recorded material.
But Yan Shouyi already had a bad premonition. He commanded, "Move with me immediately! Hua Ying, take them away!"
As soon as he finished speaking—
Dong—dong dong—dong dong—
Several muffled thuds echoed across the entire imperial tomb!
The next second, the paper figures in Liang Yinqiu's camera lens suddenly rolled their eyes and stared fixedly at Liang Yinqiu!