Chapter 1 The sound

　　Jiang Yongguang's unbridled laughter echoed in the empty, dark cavern, making the atmosphere even more eerie and inexplicable.

　　The timid Xiao Liang couldn't help but cover her ears and shout, "Officer Jiang, could you please stop laughing? It's kind of creepy..."

　　The other Xiaoling Guards couldn't help but question:

　　"Da Yong, what are you laughing at?"

　　"What's wrong with you?"

　　"What's going on? Say something!"

　　"..."

　　I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer. I walked over to Jiang Yongguang's position and took a look. When my eyes scanned over, I finally understood why he was laughing so hard.

　　The bronze statue on the right hadn't disappeared into thin air. Instead, for some unknown reason, it had suddenly shattered into a pile of scrap metal, scattered on the ground, giving the illusion of a sudden disappearance.

　　As for the metallic rumbling sound that had been echoing behind us, it was the sound of the bronze statue's fragments falling to the ground.

　　At this moment, Jiang Yongguang finally stopped laughing and said to everyone, "What do you mean the bronze statue is alive and wants to kill us... That's nonsense. Come and see for yourselves. The bronze statue broke apart on its own."

　　Everyone gathered around, finally understanding the truth.

　　The timid Xiao Liang also breathed a sigh of relief, her expression becoming much more relaxed.

　　However, seeing such a magnificent and exquisite cultural relic suddenly shatter into a pile of scrap metal, she couldn't help but reveal a look of heartache, regretting, "This bronze statue was perfectly fine. How could it just break like that? None of us touched it. How did it shatter like this?"

　　Jiang Yongguang smiled and asked Xiao Liang, "Have you ever heard of an archaeological term: 'Dry for a thousand years, wet for ten thousand, neither dry nor wet for half a year'?"

　　Xiao Liang shook her head blankly, "I've never heard of it."

　　I hadn't heard this saying either, and I subconsciously asked, "What does that mean?"

　　Jiang Yongguang said, "It's very simple, just the literal meaning. If cultural relics are preserved in a dry environment, they can be stored for a thousand years. If they are preserved in a sealed water environment, they can be stored for ten thousand years. But if it is an environment with alternating wet and dry conditions, then they can only be preserved for half a year at most."

　　At this moment, Uncle Mei sneered and said, "What archaeological term? I think it's just a saying for tomb robbers."

　　Jiang Yongguang's expression was awkward. After hesitating for a moment, he finally admitted, "This saying was indeed summarized by tomb robbers at the beginning. Ancient tombs can be roughly divided into two types. One is a completely dry tomb, which the Southern tomb raiders call a *huo dongzi* (fire cave), and the other is a water tomb, commonly known as a *shui dongzi* (water cave). Cultural relics in *shui dongzi* are often better preserved than those in *huo dongzi*..."

　　However, at this point, Uncle Mei narrowed his eyes and questioned, "Are you sure about that? I heard that tomb raiders love to raid *huo dongzi* and don't like to raid *shui dongzi*?"

　　Jiang Yongguang smiled and said, "This involves the preservation of cultural relics. Cultural relics in a water environment can indeed be better preserved, and even after thousands of years, they can still look brand new, because the water environment naturally seals the cultural relics, preventing them from being exposed to the air and oxidized. However, once cultural relics in the water are taken out of the water, they must be carefully preserved immediately. Otherwise, once they come into contact with the air and lose the buoyancy of the water, these cultural relics will become extremely fragile and may even collapse on their own without being touched..."

　　Hearing this, I immediately understood and pointed to the pile of bronze fragments at my feet, asking:

　　"So, this bronze statue must have been preserved in a sealed water environment before. Now that the water level has dropped, it has emerged from the water, lost the buoyancy of the water, and come into contact with the air, so it automatically collapsed and shattered?"

　　Jiang Yongguang nodded, "It looks like that's the case."

　　Then he said to Uncle Mei, "Tomb raiders don't have enough time to preserve the cultural relics in *shui dongzi*. The cultural relics taken out of *shui dongzi* are basically damaged on the spot and can only be repaired later. In this way, the integrity of the cultural relics themselves is destroyed, and their artistic value is greatly reduced, making it difficult to sell them at a high price. Therefore, tomb raiders don't like *shui dongzi* and prefer *huo dongzi*."

　　Uncle Mei nodded slowly after hearing this.

　　Jiang Yongguang added, "But even so, tomb raiders will not let go of *shui dongzi* when they encounter them. They don't care whether the cultural relics will be damaged, because even if they dig out fragments of cultural relics, they can still make a fortune."

　　Hearing this, Xiao Liang said with resentment, "So many precious cultural relics have been destroyed by this group of tomb robbers!"

　　Jiang Yongguang sighed, "Yes. Especially since most *shui dongzi* themselves are sealed water environments, but once they are looted, they become neither dry nor wet—neither dry nor wet for half a year. Even if the remaining cultural relics in the ancient tomb are not stolen by the tomb raiders, they will be quickly destroyed within a short period of time."

　　"No wonder you Xiaoling Guards hate tomb robbers so much," Xiao Liang said quietly.

　　Jiang Yongguang shook his head and said, "The reason why we hate tomb raiders is not just this. The threat they pose to historical relics and even the entire Chinese civilization is much more serious than this. I will slowly explain it to you when I have time..."

　　Then he pointed to the back of the bronze giant door and said, "From the current point of view, this ancient tomb was most likely in a completely sealed water environment at the beginning. After the tomb raiders went underwater and made holes, the sealed environment was destroyed, the water level dropped, and the ancient tomb was exposed. We must locate the ancient tomb as soon as possible and notify the relevant departments to carry out rescue excavations."

　　The other Xiaoling Guards also immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. Without hesitation, they successively drilled into the ancient tomb along the gap in the bronze giant door.

　　I followed closely behind them, drilling into the bronze giant door. But whether it was because I had consumed too much physical strength during this period of time or because the oxygen in the underground cave was relatively thin, I suddenly felt dizzy and weak in my legs the moment I stepped into the ancient tomb.

　　Xiao Liang, who was walking in front of me, obviously had the same reaction. Her body swayed, and she almost fell to the ground.

　　I quickly reached out to support her and asked in a low voice, "Are you okay?"

　　Xiao Liang smiled apologetically at me and said, "I may be a little hypoxic. I felt a little dizzy just now, and I was seeing stars."

　　I said that I had the same reaction. Could it really be that there wasn't enough oxygen in the ancient tomb?

　　Out of vigilance, I quickly stopped Jiang Yongguang and reminded him, "Xiao Liang and I were a little hypoxic just now. This ancient tomb is getting deeper and deeper. Could it be that there is no oxygen inside?"

　　Xiao Liang also added, "And these kinds of underground caves are very likely to have toxic gases, right?"

　　Jiang Yongguang smiled and took out a black instrument similar to an old man's mobile phone from his backpack, saying, "You don't have to worry about this. I have prepared an air composition detector here. If the oxygen content is really insufficient or there are toxic gases, it can be detected."

　　The other Xiaoling Guards also comforted us, "Don't worry, it's not our first time going to a tomb. We have these preparations."

　　Xiao Liang and I were relieved and stopped to wait for Jiang Yongguang to detect the air composition.

　　The others also rested in place for the time being and stopped moving forward. The ancient tomb suddenly became as silent as death.

　　However, when the surroundings became quiet, even the slightest sound could be heard very clearly. At first, I only heard the "di di di" sound of the air composition detector in Jiang Yongguang's hand, but suddenly at one moment, I faintly heard in my mind, as if coming from the depths of the ancient tomb, a whispering murmur...