I mumbled the poem to myself, memorizing it. Damn it, another riddle to solve?
But what was this parchment all about? The killer wouldn't be that careless, would he?
An idea struck me then. Luckily, the reporters had dispersed for the moment, allowing us to act without hindrance.
Alright, I took the parchment. Even though I had it recorded, I couldn't bear to leave it behind. As I walked away, my colleagues from the technical forensics department called out to me, but I paid them no mind, expertly flicking a half-smoked cigarette butt into the trash can.
The guy behind me let out a surprised gasp and quickly picked up the butt, trying to imitate me a few times. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't succeed.
He muttered behind me, "Team Leader He is truly a divine being..."
I gathered He Xin, Gao Mingqiang, Xia Hou, Xiao Yuande, Zhang Keying, and Liu Yuning, planning to search the underground level of the Huagui Village ancestral hall again.
I had a strong feeling the killer was still searching for the treasure, so there was a high probability we'd encounter him here.
Everyone was always receptive to my commands. When we arrived, we discovered that the floor of the ancestral hall had been tampered with. Liu Yuning's lips twitched, her brows furrowing into a curve: "It seems he has indeed been here!"
"Quickly, go down. Everyone be alert!"
"Understood!"
I gave the order, and the others descended one by one. The special forces team wasn't with us this time. After the previous incident, I figured the guy wouldn't dare linger in the underground level if we weren't there to confront him.
This time, we had to be as discreet as possible, and not too many people. Just us was enough.
As we went down, through the familiar stairs and corridors, we quickly reached the end of the underground level. After exiting the forest, we began to decipher the riddle: "Li Tang's Central Plains gold, blessings bestowed, Rabbit's den three turns."
If I wasn't mistaken, this treasure should date back to the prosperous Li Tang dynasty. Central Plains, also known as Huaxia, Zhongtu, or Zhongzhou, referred to the region in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, centered around the Luoyang to Kaifeng area. In a narrow sense, it referred to present-day Henan Province. When contrasted with foreign peoples, the Central Plains broadly referred to China. Human activity in the Central Plains region could be traced back to the era of Youchao. Central Plains, originally meaning "the plain at the center of the world," later evolved to refer to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
Next, "blessings bestowed" likely represented the Li Tang's primary revenue, symbolized by the gold of the Central Plains. As for "Rabbit's den three turns," the direction indicated by [Mao Rabbit] is East. So, what about three turns?
Liu Yuning and I exchanged glances. She quickly said, "Turning east three times would be west, wouldn't it? We should go west!"
"Don't rush. This forest is probably tricky too. Haven't you noticed, the fog wasn't this thick when we first arrived?"
"That's right. Fortunately, we wore our anti-gas gear this time. Otherwise, we'd have ended up like we did the first time we came to the underground level," Liu Yuning said.
Everyone tightened their clothes and secured their gas masks. Xia Hou then said, "I agree with Captain Liu. Look, although the east has a wide road, it doesn't look like a hidden place at all. Would a treasure be displayed so obviously?"
I nodded. "Then we'll go west!" I actually suspected this was a trap set by the killer. I even thought he wrote that poem. But it was also an opportunity for us to get closer to him.
Damn you! I'm coming for you! I will definitely arrest you myself!
Perhaps our direction was correct, because after some distance, we saw the terrain ahead become rugged. This should be what the poem referred to as "the forest floor overturned." Then came "gaps where one must stop." What did that mean? Going by the literal meaning, did it mean we should stop whenever we encountered a gap?
Everyone's gaze turned somewhat strange, seemingly puzzled by this question. But Zhang Keying spoke up the next second: "'Gap' has the meaning of a plank road in ancient times. Therefore, the true meaning here is to stop when encountering a plank road!"
"That's right, that's exactly it. Because plank roads could only be built in such places. A plank road originally referred to a path built along cliffs. Also known as a gallery road or double-deck road. The elevated passageways between tall buildings in ancient China were also called plank roads," I replied.
At that moment, Liu Yuning suddenly looked up and pointed to a spot not far away, saying, "Found it! Everyone, look!"
We all simultaneously looked in the direction she indicated. As we saw a long wooden bridge spanning the mountains on both sides not far away, I noticed a huge gap below it. It seemed that was the plank road mentioned in the poem.
When we reached its base, the path indeed ended. The next line of the poem was "between the sun's slanted rays." According to the orientation of this place, we couldn't find such a spot.
Everyone dispersed, searching almost every corner of the vicinity, but to no avail.
We returned to the area beneath the middle of the plank road and gathered together to study it again.
Everyone rested their cheeks on their hands, deep in thought. Meanwhile, Gao Mingqiang seemed to be looking down at the bottom of his wheelchair.
He suddenly said, "There's a strange line on this concrete floor!"
I and the others immediately looked down. Indeed, we found a winding line. Within the line, we could see a golden hue. The middle seemed to have been deliberately divided, allowing us to see quite a bit of yellowed straw on both sides.
Nothing seemed to grow in the middle. I squatted down and used my finger to get some of it. It turned out to be some kind of paint, emitting a strong metallic odor that made my nose involuntarily twitch.
Gao Mingqiang bypassed me and followed the golden line to the side of the plank road. Then, inexplicably, his wheelchair suddenly produced a drill, which he held in his hand.
We all gathered around him simultaneously.
"Nice one, Mingqiang, your wheelchair is equipped with tools now!"
"Of course. Otherwise, what do you think those boxes behind and underneath are for? Decorations?" Gao Mingqiang retorted irritably. Soon, the wall was drilled open. "This place has been disturbed, otherwise it wouldn't be so easy to drill through now!"
"That's good. Never mind that, let's hurry!" I ordered. Then we entered the cave. Below the plank road, there was indeed a cave. The last line of the poem followed: "With a sword to take the world, vegetation reborn, the nation prosperous and flourishing."
We searched everywhere for the legendary sword, taking the poem literally. Xia Hou then said, "If we find the treasure, what do we do? Just leave it like this?"