The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 574 Field Archaeology: I brought a house with me, do you want to live in it?
Behind Shen Le, there were two mountain ridges separating him, and there was indeed someone who was so anxious that he kept stamping his feet and was about to rush out.

The archaeological team that followed Shen Le stood on tiptoe and stretched their heads out.

Seeing Shen Le taking two steps at a time and running out of sight on the spot, looking like he had discovered something, the oldest teacher in charge immediately took a few steps forward.

Just as he was about to run up the mountain, his foot slipped and he almost fell on the hillside. The bearded guest grabbed him and said:
"Teacher Yu! Teacher Yu, please go slowly! Shen Le is not someone who would take action on his own. He will definitely send a message back! Let's go slowly! There's no rush!"

"Xiao Zhang, you don't know." Professor Yu shook off his hand, raised his head and looked at the top of the mountain, his eyes burning:
"We have always thought that there should be traces of Tang Dynasty garrisons in this area. Beacon towers, armories, and so on. However, we have not found them, and we have never found them..."

The professor is almost at retirement age. He has gray hair, a thin body, and a weather-beaten face. At first glance, he looks no different from a local old farmer.

Only when I looked back at the city and then at the surrounding mountains, the invisible momentum made me hold my breath and stand in awe:

"If only we had enough manpower and resources, we could search every inch of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, we don't have any clues now..."

"Then please wait a moment. This mountain is not easy to climb. It will be much easier if a local leads the way and takes us along the existing road..."

Professor Yu slowly stood up and sighed. The ruins discovered near Hotan include ancient cities, Buddhist temples, and temples.

However, what they wanted to find the most, the remains of the Tang Dynasty garrison, were so few, so few...

As he was sighing, the bearded man's phone vibrated and rang loudly. When he answered the call, Shen Le's embarrassed face immediately appeared on the screen:

"Uh... Teacher, I really didn't do anything. The fragments came out on their own..."

What nonsense is this?
What kind of bizarre reason is this?

The bearded man felt a tightness in his chest, and wanted to complain, but he didn't know how to complain. His arm tilted, and Professor Yu had already twisted his arm and stared at the screen:

"Just dig yourself out! Don't worry about it! Where are you? Take us there immediately!"

"Uh……"

Shen Le looked around and didn't know how to describe the question "where am I": there were no road signs or house numbers here.

He thought about it and slapped his head:
"Well, I'll stick a flag on the ground, and you guys fly the drone and confirm the location. Then I'll let Lao Huang bring you over - Lao Huang!"

"coming!"

The fat groundhog demon appeared out of nowhere, jumped vigorously, and put his head into the camera:

"Got it! I'll bring them here! I'm familiar with the roads in this area, I know how to walk, and I'll make sure I bring them here safely without them spraining their ankles!"

Shen Le smiled at him, nodded and waved. The groundhog demon suddenly dived to the ground, a puff of yellow smoke came out, and it immediately disappeared.

Shen Le was startled, and quickly moved to the upwind direction. He fanned his nose with his hand, and only felt relieved when he was sure there was no bad smell.

Thank God, groundhogs are not yellow-skinned and don’t smell bad, otherwise, I would have lost this outfit!

Even if the cleaning technique could clean it up, he didn't want it!

Looking back, the valley where the vehicle was parked was about two or three hills away - it would take several hours to get up there on foot.

Shen Le was in no hurry to dig. He first took out a red flag from his bag, tied it to the pole of his trekking pole, and stuck it into the ground.
Then raise your phone and take a video from all directions, then take a circle of photos. The metal block emerging from the ground must be included, as well as the surrounding environment.

I just regret that there is no top-down shot of the entire mountain area. However, since the team brought a drone, there must be no shortage of such photos...

He finished filming in one go, packed up the videos and photos, and sent them to Qiu Ran Ke. His hand loosened, and the phone naturally hung down from the wristband. He took out his notebook and started to sketch:

The direction of the mountains, the streams below, where the mountains are steep and where they are gentle, where there is more or less a road, and where there is no hope for cars or horses, and people can only barely pass...

After drawing it once, I had a rough idea of the surrounding terrain, so I found a clean, flat stone, sat down and closed my eyes. I expanded my mental power and silently felt the power of the earth:

Just a simple meditation, and endless spiritual energy immediately surged in. The Hotan area was originally located at the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain. The mining area concentrated the essence of heaven and earth and was directly related to the Kunlun spiritual vein;
As Shen Le's mental power slightly expanded, the spiritual energy of this place was immediately disturbed and rushed towards Shen Le.

Before Shen Le could even breathe, the copper sheet had already lighted up slightly, and he began to gulp down the spiritual energy like a glutton:
"Xiao Zhang, am I presbyopic?" Professor Yu stared at the image on the drone screen and asked blankly:
"Why does Xiao Shen... have a halo on his body?"

“Maybe there’s something wrong with the drone’s imaging?” The bearded guest didn’t quite believe it, but he didn’t dare to point out that the old professor’s eyes were beginning to be presbyopic, so he could only try his best to pass the blame:
"You know, cameras are different from human eyes. If the angle is right, the aperture and shutter speed are appropriate, it is easy to draw a circle of light on a person..."

"Well, maybe." Professor Yu knew that this was probably not the case, but he didn't intend to investigate further. He looked around, tightened the straps of his backpack, and took a deep breath:
"Let's see how to get there. From the photos Shen Le sent, there's obviously something there. We have to get there quickly..."

"Follow me!" A spirited voice rang out from the corner of the valley not far away. Old Huang took two steps at a time and walked around the corner:

"I know this place well! I'll lead you! There's a small path that's hard to walk on, but it's still a path that leads up the mountain!"

Professor Yu did not suspect anything and immediately walked towards him. A figure moved in front of him, and two guys from the Special Affairs Bureau quickly walked over and stopped the groundhog:

"Old Huang, what I'm saying is, next time you come here using the earth tunnel, stay away from the crowd." A young man holding a long pole probe lowered his voice and spoke quickly:
"It almost scared ordinary people! It would have been a violation of quarantine regulations if it had scared them!"

"I know, I know! Didn't I just appear from behind the corner on purpose?" Old Huang waved his hand nonchalantly.

Turning his head, he saw a young man in the archaeological team in the distance, staring at him with his eyes wide open, his lips trembling:

"Monster...monster..."

"Where is the monster?" A young girl beside him leaned over to put her backpack on her shoulder, pressed her hat, and pressed down the wrist strap of her hiking pole firmly:
"You're seeing things, right? That's Old Huang! Our guide! Hurry up, the boss has already set off!"

"But he..." He clearly came out from underground! I saw it! The young man shivered again, but he could not resist the urging of his junior sister and could only keep up with the team.

Fortunately, he didn't have to get too close to the monster. Old Huang took the lead and walked at the front of the team. A young man from the Special Affairs Bureau followed behind him, and then Professor Yu and Professor Zhang who was repairing armor.
Next, it was their archaeological team and the personnel sent by the Special Affairs Bureau, a mixed group of people, intertwined together.

Two guys with guns on their backs got off the support vehicle and walked at the end to finish off the team. This area is close to the mining area, and the road is really difficult to walk on:

It cannot be said that there is no vegetation, but the little green that is there is crawling on the hillside, clinging tightly to the little soil. It is frightening to look at, and you always feel that you will slip if you step on it;
The places without green are just large tracts of rock with cracks all over them. It seems that if you give them a pickaxe, they will collapse with a loud noise.

Even if you don't touch it, the road-like area below is made up of large stones stacked on top of small stones, and gravel piled on top of gravel. If you don't step firmly, you'll be caught by the stones and flow away...

"This way, this way." Old Huang walked as if he were walking on flat ground. While leading the way, he could also run back and forth in the team, helping this professor and that professor:
"Watch your step - hey, be careful, step firmly here, insert the trekking pole into the crack of the rock, make sure it is not shaking before you exert force..."

Several students were stumbling and sighing. When they looked up, the old professor had already walked to the front and turned back to shout at them:
"Hurry up! Hurry up! If we all walk like this, it will be dark before we reach our destination, and we will have to retreat again! - Then why are we here today?!"

"Oh, teacher, we really don't dare to walk fast! - Ouch!"

A distraction, falling directly to the ground...

"Hey, Old Yu, don't be too harsh on them. New students really have no experience, they will be fine once they get used to it." Another professor in the team walked slowly and steadily with two canes in hand:
"Thinking back to when we first started field archaeology, weren't we also scolded by our instructors every day?"

"Old Zhao, you are kidding! We were not so unwilling to endure hardship back then!"

"Don't be like this, don't be like this." Professor Zhao smiled leisurely:
"When we were poor, students had to endure hardships. Now everyone is rich, but students still have to endure hardships. Isn't the economic development in vain?"

"..."

Professor Yu turned his head silently. He followed the young man from the Special Affairs Bureau, stepping on the stone slope that others had walked on before, and tried to go up.

The hillside was not very high, and the climb was only about 200 to 300 meters. However, the altitude was high and it was difficult to walk. After climbing to the top of the hill, a group of people were out of breath and had to sit down to rest.

Professor Yu watched the video sent by Shen Le again, tried to stand up, and continued to move forward with difficulty. With this step, he suddenly felt that his feet were completely different:
The ground still looked like gravel, but it was much more solid and no longer slippery;

The downward slope is still steep, but as we walk down step by step, we feel an inexplicable supporting force that makes the walk smoother;
If he walked faster, the earth seemed to ripple spontaneously, as if it had turned into waves, lifting him to the top of the waves and surrounding him as he moved forward.

He felt that he had walked to the foot of the mountain without much effort. He took a few hundred steps and reached the next hilltop without blushing or panting.
"What's going on? Is there anything weird here?" Professor Yu felt a little uneasy. He looked up at the sun, then at the guy from the Special Affairs Bureau beside him, before he comforted himself and continued walking.

Old Huang was even more energetic, running in front and behind the team, so fast that he left a yellow shadow:
"Go! Go faster! We'll be there soon!"

The fluctuations of the surrounding ground energy were thick and gentle. It must be Mr. Shen who was casting a spell to help these ordinary people come over - what a strong magic power!

But it is true that a master like him could easily carve out a couch that could calm the mind and concentrate the spirit so well. How could he not have such magical power?

The group of people meandered along the path and finally climbed to the ridge where Shen Le was. As soon as they stood firm, they saw Shen Le open his eyes and walked over quickly:
"Professors, you are finally here! - Look, the largest part of the reactive metal piece is on the opposite hill..." What?
Another mountain to climb?!
As soon as Shen Le stood up, he felt his feet slipping and heavy again. The young students who needed to climb up step by step felt their knees weaken and they almost fell down...

Professor Yu did not find the hard work or the fatigue unbearable. He narrowed his eyes, carefully observed the direction pointed by Shen Le, and looked around. After a long while, he nodded gently:

"This place is definitely worth a look. Although it has been severely eroded, traces of the beacon tower can still be vaguely seen.

Come, the rest of you spread out, centering on the mountain top in front, and search the entire mountaintop..."

"What? You're looking for such a large area?!"

The students cried out in unison. Professor Yu narrowed his eyes and frowned:
"What are you shouting? This area is already small! You know, this place is close to the Keriya Pass, which is the traditional main road from Tubo to Khotan!
——In the summer, the melting of glaciers may form a short window of passage, and the freezing in the winter is also conducive to surprise attacks. It is reasonable to set up a beacon in this place for early warning! Go quickly! "

The students wailed and dispersed. Two by two, with the mountaintop as the center, one group on each side, scanning with metal detectors, taking photos, and visually observing.

Shen Le stretched his neck to watch them go away, and asked curiously:
"Professor, how come this looks like a beacon? I can't tell at all!"

"Oh, the stones here show signs of being trimmed." Professor Yu responded to his inquiries in a friendly manner and patiently gave instructions.

He took a step forward, and Shen Le quickly came to his side and gently supported him under his elbow. Professor Yu felt the wind under his armpit, and his steps suddenly became much lighter. Without any effort, he reached the top of the mountain:

"Look, the lines here, the lines here, the lines here - these are not the normal broken textures of local stones. Someone must have chiseled the stones to build a building..."

Shen Le looked carefully, seriously, and tried hard to look. After thousands of years of wind and rain, ice and snow, the stones had been broken into pieces.

This is not the Egyptian pyramids, nor the ruins of a Greek temple, nor even the Stone Drum Inscriptions on Mount Tai. His eyes were about to pop out of their sockets, as there could hardly be any traces of human processing.

The old professor's eyes can probably automatically modify the stone lines he sees, outlining their former shapes;

Unfortunately, he really doesn't have the Photoshop skills, nor does he have a pair of eyes that can see through time...

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter if you can't see it."

The old professor looked at him with a smile and said in a gentle voice:

“These kinds of things come naturally after following them around a lot and visiting a lot of archaeological sites.

We have been here for most of our lives. When we first started, we couldn’t see anything. Our instructor said we were like half-blind people…”

I... I'm probably completely blind. Shen Le sighed, closed his eyes silently, and began to use his mental power to explore the rocks in front of him.

A huge and heavy rock lay tilted in front of him, its surface covered with cracks and full of traces of wind and rain.

Going deeper along the cracks, you can feel the texture inside the rock, layer by layer, crisscrossing. Some cracks are wide, some are small, some are deep, and some are shallow...

There are gaps... huh?

He thought he knew! This straight line did not follow the rock texture, but broke where it should not have broken.

After a closer look, the fractured part was not as smooth as a mirror, but had tiny cracks scattered around it. Like it was left by someone chiseling it?

So that's how it is. It turns out that this section of line is really man-made. Shen Le was invigorated and felt along the crack inch by inch. Turning and turning again, he found a man-made plane.

I dispersed my mental energy according to this standard and searched around, and found five or six cracked boulders.

Putting them all together, although they can't form a house, they can barely form a corner of a stone room...

"I know, it's right here." Shen Le closed his eyes slightly, walked quickly along the line he sensed, and stood back in his original position.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Professor Yu staring at him with a look of surprise and worry, his hands open, as if ready to hold him up at any time to prevent him from rolling down the hill:

"Xiao Shen, the mountain is so steep, don't walk with your eyes closed next time!"

Shen Le smiled and nodded. He helped Professor Yu around, watching the old professor snapping photos, and then took out a stack of labels from his bag and stuck them on the stones one by one.
After waiting for him to finish, he pulled him to a nearby mountain trail and pointed carefully at the ground:
"That... this piece of metal, it really appeared on its own..."

The old professor squatted down, put his hands on the ground, and almost put his eyes close to the metal plate to look at it.

He looked carefully for a long time, took a lot of photos, and then drew lines, erected poles, pulled ropes, and started digging.

He picked up a few stones, took a photo, picked up a few more stones, and took another photo. Gradually, when most of the metal pieces were exposed, the old professor sighed and shook his head:

"It really appeared on its own..."

"Don't touch it!"

"Don't touch it!"

Two guys from the Special Affairs Bureau rushed over at the same time. One of them blocked the old professor, took out a paper talisman, tore off the adhesive on the back, and "slapped" it on the old man;

The other one stretched out a long probe and shook it on the metal sheet. There were two soft beeps, and the young man looked down and immediately breathed a sigh of relief:

"It's less than three digits, which is not bad. -- Professor Yu, this is really not something you can touch. When we do archaeology, academic research is indeed important, but life safety is also important, right?"

Professor Yu looked reluctant, but could only nod silently. Shen Le quickly stepped forward, picked up the metal pieces, put them into the bag, sealed them, put labels on them, and stuffed them into the backpack.

Then, he squatted down and searched, trying to find other objects related to the metal sheet, while whispering:
"Professor, don't worry. Since there are traces of human presence in this area, there must be more than just a few fragments.

I'll take what I want, and I can ask for your guidance during the restoration process later - at least I can take photos for you to see. Besides that, aren't all the things here that don't have spirits yours?"

His hands flew, constantly moving away stones, and then he picked up a broken piece of metal and a black string. While picking up, he asked:

"Professor, I remember that in the Central Plains, by looking at the era of the soil layer, one can roughly determine the age of the unearthed cultural relics. Is there such a soil layer in the Hotan area? How do we know?"

Professor Yu glanced at Shen Le with a half-smile. His lips moved, and Shen Le guessed that he was probably saying "After all, he is a professional in cultural relic restoration", but there was no evidence;
After a pause, the professor said:
"Archaeological stratigraphy looks at the various cultural deposits formed by human activities. Hotan is a dry and windy place, and human activities are often interrupted by the changes in oases..."

Shen Le uttered an "Ah" and raised his hand to pat his forehead. He was so stupid. There were few people living here, and they moved away frequently. When people left, the wind and sand covered the living environment.

Moreover, abandoned ancient cities are basically not inhabited by people. How could they form layers of cultural strata like those in the Central Plains?
“So when we were doing archaeological work, we basically saw a layer of quicksand, and when we dug it up we found the ruins.

Sometimes, there is a layer of quicksand, a layer of silt below, and below that is a ruin, such as the ruins of the Prukdun Buddhist Temple in Damagou.”

The old professor spoke leisurely, reciting all the treasures:

"Over there, there are sand dunes that are 3.3 meters thick at the thickest and 2.2 meters thin at the thinnest. Below that is a 20-30 centimeter layer of sandy silt. Going further down, you can dig out walls, wooden pillars, and Buddha statues..."

His voice was distant, as if he was lost in memories. Shen Le pricked up his ears to listen, while trying to explore the pile of rocks. He found the last thing and stood up:

"I understand. Professor, please wait a moment. I will bring back all the metal pieces I need, and then I will help you dig this ruins!"

Following his own intuition, he quickly circled around the top of the mountain, with brisk steps, taking photos, picking up things, marking places, and then moving on to the next place, passing by like a gust of wind.

When we finished the walk, there were some spots that the professors and students of the archaeological team had not even arrived at yet...

"Ah... Professor, how long will it take us to dig this..."

As the sun was setting, the students who had climbed up desperately gathered around the professor with grim looks on their faces.

Shen Le planted a small flag at each location where a piece of metal was unearthed. There were dozens of flags scattered all over the place.
It would take more than ten days or half a month to dig all these places. It's so late now. If we set out now and climb to where the car is, it will probably be dark...

You can’t afford to get hurt doing field archaeology!

"that……"

Because he was carrying a lot of armor plates, the spiritual power fluctuations on his body were too high, and Shen Le, who was stopped outside the crowd, raised his hand silently:
"I brought a house here, do you want to live in it?"

(End of this chapter)