Wei Dong, Shao Ling, Hua Jiqiu, and Gu Qingqing were responsible for organizing the photos taken the previous night in order on the laptop—luckily, most of the laptop's functions were still working.
The symbols displayed on the computer were still strange. After staring at the screen for a long time, Shao Ling finally spoke up: "Perhaps because I work with words, I feel that these symbols, besides resembling images of shamanic prayers, also resemble some kind of writing. Look, this symbol that folds the limbs and torso into a 'ぴ' shape has appeared more than once. Perhaps it functions like a commonly used character, frequently appearing in different sentences."
"In that case, these symbols can also be considered pictographs in some sense," Qin Ci said.
Shao Ling nodded: "This is an inevitable stage in the development of writing. But judging from the structure, style, and system of rules of these symbols, they are completely different from oracle bone script and the writing system we know. I have reason to suspect that this writing belongs to another culture, or even another civilization, or even another world—therefore, it can be inferred that these symbols/writings are a kind of communication symbol from another field."
Upon hearing this, Wu You suddenly slapped his forehead: "Now that you mention it, Mr. Shao, I suddenly remembered something I overheard my great-grandmother chatting with other colleagues.
She said that when she was young, she and her master went to cleanse a person who was possessed by an evil spirit. The person seemed to be possessed by something very bad. When her master was performing the ritual, she 'talked' to the thing on the person's body, asking what it wanted to do."
"But that thing seemed not to understand, it kept yelling and screaming. Then it bit its finger and struggled to write a few words on the wall with its blood. When my great-grandmother's master saw this, he turned around and left with her, refusing to help the person cleanse themselves of the impurity. As a result, the person died not long after, and I heard that its death was particularly gruesome.
"Everyone asked my great-grandmother why her master didn't help the person back then. My great-grandmother said that she had asked her master the reason at that time, and her master said it was because the words that person wrote on the wall with blood did not belong to our world."
"Her master meant that the script was extremely terrifying. If she saw it, she shouldn't try to read it, much less try to imitate it. She should immediately stay away from it, absolutely avoid getting involved with it, do anything related to it, and even avoid constantly thinking about it. He even forced my great-grandmother to quickly forget the shape of those characters.
"My great-grandmother hadn't actually looked closely. She was young then, just starting out, and was already terrified by the person's terrifying and eerie appearance. She had no interest in looking at those characters, and that was the end of that matter. But she was also very curious, so she asked her master what those characters were.
"Her master said that the script wasn't created by humans and had different attributes and functions from human script. Human script is used for recording and communication, while that script, in addition to communication, also possesses some powerful forces—this is a translation, the original words weren't exactly like that, but that's the main idea.
"As for what kind of power it was, even her master didn't know. He only said that this kind of thing was told to him by his master's master, who in turn heard it from an even higher master, a grandmaster."
"But their lineage has passed down information about the shape and meaning of this script, without any details. They just say that if you see symbols that look like…like dead people, don't pay any attention to them, because that's ghost script."
The word "ghost script" sent a shiver down several people's spines.
"That makes sense," Ke Xun pointed to the screen. "These symbols look just like dead people, so it's very likely ghost script, the script of another world."
Mu Yiran nodded. "Then we can speculate that ancient wizards possessed some of the ghost script, using it in conjunction with rituals to communicate with another world."
"In that case, that rocky platform is likely a platform used for sacrifices or witchcraft," Zhu Haowen said.
"In that case…Xiao Mu, Xiao Ke, if you climb up there tonight, will it be dangerous?" Hua Jiqiu asked worriedly.
"We came here precisely because of the danger," Ke Xun said calmly. "Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, we still venture into the tiger's den. It's not that we want to do it, but that we have no choice. Don't worry, Old Man Hua, I think as long as it's not all thirteen of us going up together, we shouldn't trigger anything strange."
Having discussed this to this point, with no new developments and no way to change tonight's course of action, everyone put things aside for the time being. Some washed up, some prepared breakfast, and some found places to relieve themselves, making the camp quite lively.
After breakfast, everyone, who hadn't slept all night, went back to their tents to rest, leaving two people to stand guard.
In the afternoon, the well-rested group got up and gathered again in the large tent.
"Let's arrange tonight's operation," Mu Yiran began, and everyone quickly quieted down to listen to him. "Ke Xun and I will be responsible for climbing the rock platform to investigate, but before that, Luo Jin, I remember you brought a drone?"
"Yes, brother-in-law, but when my buddies and I came here before, we used it once, and all the drones malfunctioned and never came back after entering the canyon," Luo Jin said.
"We'll try it in a bit," Mu Yiran said. "If the remote control fails, we'll try to get the camera directly onto the platform. I have a telescopic boom in the trunk, but it will take some effort and isn't as convenient and flexible as a drone."
Everyone silently watched him, and Ke Xun said something fair: "Your Japanese name must be Doraemon."
There's everything in the trunk.
You might even be able to pull out a rocket launcher or a depth charge.
"What's the Doraemon reference?" Mu Yiran asked him seriously.
Everyone: "…"
…They forgot that the boss's blind spot is anime.
"Luo Jin will come test the drone's performance in a bit," the boss continued, "and I'll tutor Ke Xun on rock climbing techniques.
Wei Dong, Shao Ling, Sister Cen, and Director Hua, the four of you will continue to study these 'ghostly scripts,' focusing on both images and text, striving for a breakthrough.
The remaining six of you, I have some surveillance camera equipment in the trunk. Hao Wen, lead the team and set up these devices around the locations where the rock platforms appear. Tonight, we'll try to film how the rock platforms appear and disappear, hoping it will help our next move."
Everyone responded in unison and immediately split up to work.
The drone Luo Jin brought was indeed unusable; the underground magnetic field seemed to interfere more with wireless devices, while standalone functions like mobile phones and computers still worked.
Mu Yiran, Ke Xun, and Luo Yi took out the telescopic pole, fixed a high-definition camera to the end, and extended the pole to its maximum length. However, this was still insufficient to reach the top of the rock platform, so they added several sections of threaded steel pipe. It was barely usable, but it probably wouldn't be able to capture a complete view of the entire top of the platform; they could only roughly observe if anything else was there.
After settling this part, Mu Yiran went to teach Ke Xun the basics of rock climbing. Although Ke Xun had grasped some techniques from the "Animal World" painting, the rocks here were higher, the rock face more complex, and considering the extremely brittle surface of the rock, making it very easy for it to collapse, the requirements for climbers were much higher.
"I have a ladder in the trunk," Mu Yiran told Ke Xun.
"..." Ke Xun was now used to phrases like "I have..." and calmly listened as Mu Yiran continued.
"We'll drive the car to the rock face first, then put the ladder on the roof to shorten our climbing distance," Doraemon said. "Besides the section of the rock face that we have to climb manually, we also need to carry some heavy equipment: flashlights, weapons, cameras, and ropes. So it will be even more difficult. If you can't keep going, I won't allow you to force yourself. You have to go back to where you started. Do you understand?"
"Hey, speaking of ropes," Ke Xun tried to gloss over the point, "I have an idea…"
"Do you understand?" The boss reached behind his neck, firmly holding the back of his head, preventing him from changing the subject. He looked directly into his eyes, demanding a definite answer.
"Okay, I promise you." Ke Xun said helplessly, "You don't want me to be in danger, but I don't want you to go on risks alone either. Our love isn't fair. I feel wronged, I want to cry, and I need a kiss from the boss to make me feel better."
Mu Yiran pressed his dog head towards himself, kissed him on the lips, ignoring Luo Yiran's shouts of "Oh, this is not suitable for children!" and his eagerness to watch. He pressed his forehead against Ke Xun's forehead, nose to nose, and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, I won't do anything dangerous. I know you'll be sad."
Ke Xun's eyes welled up with tears, and he wrapped his arms around him, kissing him hard.
For the first time, he thought... two men kissing was quite pleasing to the eye. Luo Yiran was thinking this when a hand reached out and grabbed his ear, then dragged him away. "Come and help." Fang Fei didn't even bother to look at the two lovebirds showing off their affection in public. Setting up surveillance cameras, a task that required a lot of skill and patience, was giving everyone except Zhu Haowen a headache.
"…Speaking of ropes," Ke Xun put his arm around Mu Yiran's waist and took a few steps forward, pressing him against the car body. However, there was nothing else he could do but continue the previous topic. "I think tonight we could put a long rope where the rock platform will appear, stretch it straight, so both ends will be outside the platform's reach. When the platform appears, it might lift the rope up, leaving the middle section on top, with the ends hanging down. This would save us a lot of trouble; we could just pull on the rope to get up. What do you think?"
Mu Yiran nodded: "That's a good idea. If the platform rises from the ground, this method might work."
After half an afternoon of effort, the monitoring system was finally set up. There were two cameras on each of the four sides of the platform, and all the footage captured by the cameras could be transmitted in real time to the computers they were connected to.
After several successful tests, the installation team breathed a sigh of relief. Li Xiaochun went to prepare dinner, with Wu You and Gu Qingqing assisting him.
Inside the tent, the four people studying the symbols remained silent. Mu Yiran and Ke Xun went in to check and found the other three intently focused on the screen around Wei Dong and his computer.
"Any discoveries?" Ke Xun asked, walking over to look at the screen with him.
They saw Wei Dong using the mouse to manipulate several processed symbols, moving them around in the drawing software.
"I've processed these symbols by noise reduction, sharpening, and restoration, extracting the most basic lines," Wei Dong said to Ke Xun and Mu Yiran as he worked. "Originally, it was to make them look clearer, but then we suddenly thought, could these symbols be pieced together like the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' illustrations on our bone marrow to form a real picture? So we wanted to try it out. And the result of the experiment," Wei Dong said, leaning to the side and turning to look at Ke Xun and Mu Yiran, "—they really can be pieced together into a picture."
Ke Xun's eyes lit up, and he quickly looked at the image on the screen: "What is it?"
"We don't know yet," Wei Dong shook his head. "The picture is incomplete. We've only pieced together a few scattered parts. We've only cleared out the symbols around the bottom of the rocky mountain. We haven't cleared out the parts that are out of reach. I'm thinking we'll probably have to clear out all the symbols on the entire rock face to make a complete picture."
"We suspect," Shao Ling said, looking at Mu Yiran, "that the symbols on this rock face form a diagram that is the original *Classic of Mountains and Seas* diagram lost in the vast river of history."
"The versions of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* diagrams we know today were all added to by later generations after the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties," Hua Jiqiu nodded in agreement. "In this long period of change, some original content was misinterpreted, distorted, and altered. Therefore, later versions of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* diagrams have long since changed in content and flavor. We have no way of knowing how much of the original content remains. If the symbols on this rock face truly represent the lost part of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* diagram, then it must be the most authentic and original version."
"Does the pattern formed by these symbols overlap with the diagrams on our bones?" Mu Yiran asked with extreme care and keen observation.
"No," Wei Dong shook his head, "but we all think the art styles are similar."
"Have you ever tried dissecting our bone structure charts into 'ghost script'?" Ke Xun suddenly asked.
Author's Note:
Ke Xun: Yi Ran has everything in the trunk, his Japanese name should be Doraemon.
Yi Ran: What's the Doraemon reference?
Luo Yi: But judging from my brother-in-law's knowledge and reasoning ability, he should be called Detective Ke Ran.
Yi Ran: What's the Ke Ran reference?
Wei Dong: The boss is handsome and rich, a true high-value man, I think he should be called Tuxedo Fake Yi Ran.
Yi Ran: Tuxedo Fake Yi Ran is…
Wu You: Brother Mu has a cold and aloof temperament, I think he should be called Rukawa Mu!
Yi Ran: Rukawa Mu is…
Hao Wen: I think he's more like Kurama, um, Kurama Mu.
Yi Ran: …
Qin Ci: I think he looks like Shaka from Saint Seiya, Shaka Mu.
Shao Ling: Hehe, he should be Yagami Ichiro.
Hua Die: Xiao Mu's intelligence is a lot like Ikkyu-san's.
Qing Qing: Kuchiki Byakuya.
Yue Cen: Smurf Brainy.
Fang Fei: Fujiwara Sai.
Xiao Chun: Leader Kuroro!
Yi Ran: ...
Yi Ran: ...Not very happy.