allonlinenovel Chapter 350: What surprises are you hiding from me?
Chapter 350: What surprises are you hiding from me?
"Do you still remember the corpses of the people buried in the Hundred Bone Pits? What color were their bones?"
Lin Lezhi's words reminded everyone of the horrifying scene when the corpse was dug up that day. After thinking about it for a moment, Qingchuan frowned slightly and said uncertainly, "It should be ochre red."
"What about the crack behind the statue?"
Lin Lezhi turned to look at Xiao Yihuo and asked.
That night, Xiao Yihuo asked himself if he had rubbed the statue because he was itchy, which meant that he also noticed the color of the cracks in the statue.
"It's also ochre."
Guan Ziheng was puzzled: "Just because they are all the same color, does that prove the connection?"
"Of course." Lin Lezhi responded with a firm look in his eyes, and then explained in an orderly manner: "If you want to smelt iron without being discovered, you naturally have to choose a place with few people. The iron smelting process requires a lot of water, so lake islands and canyons that are often covered by fog are the best choices. However, there is one thing that is very troublesome."
Guan Ziheng: "What?"
"The waste from iron smelting can't be left piled up in the basement forever, nor should it be discharged into the river. Not only would that pollute the water source, but the ironware would also turn a reddish-brown color when exposed to air, which would be very noticeable. Therefore, the best solution is to find a place on the lake island to bury it."
Qingchuan pondered for a moment, then said with a serious expression, "Is the Hundred Bone Pit the place where waste is buried?"
"Yes," Lin Lezhi nodded in affirmation. "The waste generated during iron smelting, discharged into the water, will seriously pollute the water source, and the soil is no exception. That's why the vegetation around the Hundred Bone Pit has withered, leaving large areas of empty land. Day after day, it changes the surrounding soil, turning it red. Even if the waste is removed and there are proper solutions, the soil cannot be restored to its original state in a short period of time. Therefore, when Guo Yong and his team quickly and conveniently buried the remains of the people of Huaifeng Village there, the people's bones were contaminated by the soil and turned reddish-brown."
When Lin Lezhi said this, Xiao Yihuo vaguely sensed that something was wrong and said, "So, the riddle is correct."
Following Xiao Yihuo's words, Lin Lezhi's gaze towards Xiao Yihuo froze slightly, with a complex and hidden emotion that was not easily detected intertwined in his eyes.
He suppressed the emotion in his eyes and said, "That's right. Wherever you seek, it's hidden in the earth, where gold shines. Gold has never referred to just gold and jewelry, but a general term for gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin. And the five elements of life and death can all be found in earthen temples. Gold, wood, water, fire, and earth correspond to west, northeast, south, and center. The stove in the south represents fire, the well in the north represents water, and the direction facing the temple gate is east. Similarly, earth and gold are the center and gold. While clay statues represent the center, there's nothing gold on the west side of earthen temples."
"So, combining the riddle, 'gold is hidden in the earth', means the answer is hidden in the statue in the temple."
Lin Lezhi nodded and said, "Hmm," then sighed softly. "I think the people who lived in Huaifeng Village back then didn't want to destroy their idols when they left, so they sealed them under clay. They came up with this riddle to guide future generations to find their whereabouts."
Lin Lezhi looked at the coffins around him with a mixture of regret and helplessness in his eyes. "It's a pity that the people in the canyon are long gone. The temple has been in disrepair for a long time, and cracks have appeared on the stone statues. The treasure hidden within has been exposed to wind, rain and sun, and reddish-brown traces have leaked out from the cracks in the clay. So, with a basic understanding of the Five Elements and the properties of copper and iron, you can deduce it. There's no need to solve any riddles at all."
Lin Lezhi recalled the look that flashed across Hong Mingxu's face that night. After a brief pause, his eyes betrayed no emotion. He spoke in a low voice, "I think Hong Mingxu must have figured out that the answer to the riddle was within the statue. But he was overconfident at the time and didn't want anyone else to discover the treasure. He also wanted to buy time, waiting for everyone to be poisoned, so he pretended to be deceived by me and let me talk so much nonsense. However, even if he knew where the treasure was, without a clear route, he wouldn't have found it."
"It sounds complicated. But I understand. The real treasure here is ores like copper and iron." Liu Yunhe looked around and scratched his head in confusion. "But... I don't see any mines around here."
Hearing this, Lin Lezhi looked at Liu Yunhe and said patiently, "Do you remember the water jade we saw in the cave when we came here?"
"I remember." Liu Yunhe still remembered the surprise he felt when he first saw it. "Because the surface of water jade is crystal clear, the fluorite that grows with it will change its internal color. Seeing red water jade was quite strange."
"That's the mine."
"I see." Liu Yunhe nodded in confusion, then realized what Lin Lezhi said and said in shock, "What?! That volcano is a mine."
Lin Lezhi nodded and said, "Yes. The rock walls of the volcanic cave have traces of flowing rivers. The black is tinged with a hint of dark red and has a subtle luster. If my inference is correct, there must be a red copper and iron ore cave formed by volcanic activity over time."
Liu Yunhe: "Red...copper and iron mine cave?"
Lin Lezhi walked around the tree and headed for the nearest lamp. "Common copperware usually appears bright gold on the surface, but just now, when I scraped off the lacquer, I saw that the inside is black with a hint of dark red. Ironware made from cuprite also tends to have this color. They coat all the utensils with lacquer not only to protect the contents from damage from exposure to air, but also to conceal this."
As he spoke, Lin Lezhi walked to a lamp and stood in front of it. He used the knife in his hand to gently scrape off the paint on the lamp. His eyes became deeper as the paint on the lamp was scraped off.
Seeing this, everyone followed.
really.
Beneath the paint film of the lamp, it appears black and red.
Guan Ziheng said with amazement, "It seems that these copper and iron tools really came from red copper iron ore."
As he spoke, Guan Ziheng looked at Lin Lezhi, his eyes full of curiosity, admiration, and appreciation. "I didn't expect you to know all this, Lezhi. It's okay to have concealed your identity before, but I don't know what other surprises you have. I thought you really only knew how to write...!" The notebook...
If it weren't for Lin Lezhi's warning and panic-filled look, Guan Ziheng almost forgot that this was already known to everyone. In his excitement, he almost blurted it out and confirmed in public the fact that Lin Lezhi was Wuyouke.
However, Liu Yunhe was still keenly aware of something, and a hint of inquiry quickly rose in his eyes. He asked Guan Ziheng, but his eyes were fixed on Lin Lezhi: "What did he write?"