After fainting, I lost all sense of time; it was the cold that roused me from unconsciousness.
A dull ache spread across my back, and each breath I took stabbed at my chest—I couldn't tell if my ribs were broken.
"You're awake," a voice said.
I lay on the ground and turned my head to see A Mole tidying her damp hair, her clothes as soaked as mine.
The sound of a river's flow reached my ears, and despite the sharp pain in my chest, I managed to ask, "Red Sister, did we survive?"
"Yeah, we must have lives as sturdy as old trees," she replied, without a hint of jest.
Struggling to rise, I winced as the movement sent a jolt of pain through my ribs.
"Easy there, I've checked your wounds. Your ribs aren't broken, just sprained," A Mole said, helping me to my feet.
Now that I had a moment, I surveyed our surroundings.
Before us flowed an underground river, and where A Mole and I stood could barely be called a shore, a small space less than two meters wide.
My backpack was gone, likely swept away by the river, but fortunately, A Mole's remained. Inside it, she had some biscuits for sustenance and emergency tools.
Leaning against a rock, I said to her, "Red Sister, thank you for saving my life. I can't swim. If it weren't for you, I would've drowned."
A Mole, seemingly oblivious to me, began to strip off her clothes.
I hastily averted my gaze.
"There's nothing to burn here, no way to start a fire. Save your thanks, and strip down to wring out your clothes or you'll get hypothermia," her voice reached me.
Seeing my hesitation, she shook her head and chuckled, "Old Lady, I've seen all sorts of big guns and cannons; you think I'm scared of a little chick like you? Hurry up and get on with it."
So, five minutes later, I stood in nothing but my boxer briefs, hands shielding my groin, refusing to strip any further despite her teasing. This was my last stand of defiance.
"Ah, forget it," A Mole sighed, wringing out my clothes without insisting that I remove my underwear.
Below us was a cave system, her walkie-talkie useless here, and without a satellite phone—Big Dipper's second communication satellite wasn't launched until '07—we couldn't contact Big Brother or Third Brother anytime soon.
Now, we could only rely on ourselves.
The biscuits from the backpack had soaked and expanded in the water, but we had to eat them to regain strength. The bloated biscuits were cold and crumbly, melting in the mouth like soup.
After resting for more than an hour and getting dressed, A Mole asked if I could walk. Clenching my teeth, I insisted I could. Together, we staggered along the narrow riverbank.
The underground river flowed from west to east, and we followed suit. The platform that resembled a reservoir was now out of sight, likely sunk to the riverbed.
Throughout our journey, I pondered deeply, yet in truth, I still couldn't understand. The memory of those thick bronze chains had left a profound impression on me.
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I knew one thing for certain: during the Western Zhou Period, the casting of bronze ware was done using the mould casting method. Lost-wax casting came much later. The bronze chain locks, interlocking tightly, had withstood two millennia unceasingly. In my understanding, it was simply impossible for the Western Zhou Period to produce such lengths of bronze chain locks due to the limitations of their craftsmanship.
As we walked on, the stream's current grew swifter, and the riverbank we were following became narrower. Initially, we could walk side by side, but as the path dwindled, fearing a slip into the water, A Mole and I switched to single file—she led, and I followed.
Thankfully, the high-quality waterproof flashlight we had purchased proved incredibly useful at that moment.
A cool breeze wafted towards us; I felt it.
This was a good sign. I believed that as long as we followed the underground river straight ahead, we would surely find an exit.
"Wait!" She suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Red Sister?"
"Cloud Peak, what is that?" She turned and shone the flashlight ahead.
The flashlight's beam was limited, and the distance made it hard to see clearly. I could only make out some blurry, round shadows that looked like spheres hanging from the cave ceiling.
"What's that?" I couldn't see clearly either.
"Be careful, let's go take a look," A Mole turned and cautioned me.
As we drew closer, this time I could see clearly...
It was some kind of elongated trapezoidal bronze ware...
In front of these pieces of bronze ware, many round clay balls were suspended by thinner copper lock chains, their purpose completely beyond my understanding.
A Mole looked up, frowning, and said, "Cloud Peak, do these... resemble chime bells?"
"Chime bells? Trapezoidal green copper chime bells?" I was taken aback.
Hearing her say that, the more I looked, the more they resembled them.
Ancient bronze ware came in many varieties, roughly four main types, with chime bells being just one of them. People in later periods categorized them as round chime bells, square chime bells, hat-shaped chime bells, trapezoidal chime bells, etc.
Why was such a large set of green copper chime bells hanging in the underground cavern beneath Moth Mountain? And what were those round clay balls in front of the chime bells used for?
People are always intrigued by the unknown when it comes to food.
"Let's knock one down and have a look," A Mole said, picking up a small stone from the ground.
She threw it with all her might, like aiming for fruit, but unfortunately, she missed on the first try.
Undeterred, she attempted a second throw, yet again failing to hit the round objects.
"Let me give it a try, Red Sister," I said, taking a small pebble from her hand.
I used to hunt birds with a slingshot as a kid, so I had a fairly good aim.
I hit the target on my first throw, and the round object swung back and forth like a pendulum, but didn't fall due to the lack of force.
This time, I put all my strength into it.
With a "plop," the Round Clay Ball fell into the river.
"You got it, Red Sister!"
A Mole gave me a sidelong glance.
As the fallen orb drifted towards the center of the Underground River, A Mole quickly shed her upper garment and, turning to me, said, "Wait here for me; I'm going to retrieve it."
Before I could utter a word of caution, she plunged into the river with a leap.
Two minutes passed, the water's surface was calm, and I hadn't seen a trace of her, nor of the object that had fallen.
"Red Sister!"
"Red Sister!" I shouted anxiously from the riverbank.
A round object was pushed by the water to my feet, but A Mole was nowhere to be seen... I was terrified, standing frozen, at a loss for what to do.
"Splash!" A person's torso burst forth from the water.
I breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it was A Mole.
After she swam to shore, her expression was a mix of light and shadow.
"Are you hurt, Red Sister? What happened?" I asked, concerned by her pallor.
She took a moment to catch her breath, then turned to me and said, "There's something underwater... I didn't get a clear look, but it seemed like a man-made Large Turntable."
"A what? A Large Turntable? What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Let's not talk about that now; let's see what this thing is first," she said, pointing at the spherical object by my feet.
"Oh, right, of course."
The thing was very hard, about the size of a football. It took me several hits with a sharp stone to crack a small fissure.
Like opening a coconut, I reached in, trying to pry the object apart.
I didn't succeed at first, but the crack widened, so I shone a flashlight inside for a quick look.
There was something white inside, and I reached in to touch it.
As I felt around, my expression changed.
It felt like my fingertips had brushed against two hollow sockets.
"What's wrong?" A Mole asked.
I hastily withdrew my hand and scooted back several paces on the ground, supporting myself with my hands.
"It's... a human head." (To be continued)
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