Black Silk Female Police Detective Exorcist

"3%..."

Professor Zhang Ji frowned.

The probability does seem low, but if the lakebed is breached and water overflows, apart from extraordinary individuals like Qin Huanyu and Zhang Ji, no one else at the archaeological site will survive.

For such an outcome, the probability is still too high.

Is there a way to improve this?

Professor Zhang Ji tentatively asked:

"With your abilities, Officer Qin, you should be able to quickly design a perfect solution with an accident rate that is infinitely close to 0, right?"

"Let me think about it..."

Qin Huanyu's eyes lit up for a moment, then she gently shook her head:

"It won't work... There are too many uncontrollable variables in this kind of excavation work. No matter how we improve the excavation plan according to this approach, the accident rate will not be lower than 1%."

"This……"

Professor Zhang Ji hesitated for a moment, then quickly regained his resolve:

“It doesn’t matter. Archaeological work is inherently risky. Personally, I can accept any archaeological plan with a risk rate of no more than 20%... My main concern is my students. I really don’t want to see them anymore... Sigh.”

After speaking, Professor Zhang Ji glanced at the graduate students who had remained composed throughout the meal:

"Officer Qin should have noticed, right? Compared to the time in Redwood Town, our archaeological team has two new faces today."

"Yes."

Qin Huanyu nodded, then suddenly realized something, her expression turning serious:

"Could it be that they...? I thought they had graduated."

"...They all collapsed during their last archaeological work before graduation."

Professor Zhang Ji gave a bitter smile, his expression tinged with sadness:

"Although I have long been used to this kind of separation of life and death, it is still very sad to see them lose their lives."

"……Why."

Qin Huanyu also sighed, unsure how to comfort her.

In this world with extraordinary powers, archaeology is indeed a very dangerous job, much like the female knights exploring dungeons in fantasy worlds, who could lose their lives at any time in the face of traps and monster attacks.

"Let me think about it some more..."

What Qin Huanyu could do, of course, was to further optimize the plan to minimize the potential dangers of the archaeological work.

However, she had previously deduced that the mining process itself was difficult to optimize further due to too many variables, making it impossible to control the accident rate below 1% in advance.

So Qin Huanyu changed her approach and began to deduce what preparations she had made in advance to ensure the survival of the entire archaeological team should the lake bottom be breached and the water overflow.

This time she quickly came up with a solution:

"Perhaps we can do this... slow down the excavation plan a little, and reinforce the tunnels with steel bars and metal plates after each section of the underground archaeological tunnel is dug out. Also, all members of the archaeological team should carry diving masks and spare oxygen when working underground."

"In this way, even if the archaeological tunnel unfortunately breaks through the lakebed and causes the lake water to back up, the reinforced tunnel will not be easily washed away by the lake water, and the archaeological team members who carry diving masks and oxygen can survive in the water for a considerable period of time... As long as they are not drowned immediately, the probability of being rescued will be very high."

After all, Nanhu City is Bai Ling's territory. As long as she can arrive in time to carry out the rescue, it would be difficult for a mere lake to drown someone.

"...It's not about reducing the accident rate to near zero, but about making emergency preparations in advance based on the premise that an accident is bound to happen... Hmm, that works too."

Professor Zhang Yi pondered for a moment, then readily nodded:

"Then let's do it your way, Officer Qin."

Chapter 187 The Foolish Witch's Great Opportunity

Professor Zhang Yi's archaeological team remained as dedicated to their work as ever. Upon arriving in Nanhu City, they refused to take a day off to explore the area and immediately began working.

Seeing this, Qin Huanyu couldn't slack off, so she led a squad of armed police officers to protect the archaeological team, just like last time.

About 200 meters from the shore of Nanhu Lake, a place was quickly surrounded by metal fences commonly used in construction projects, and various construction vehicles drove in.

In theory, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are the most efficient way to dig tunnels underground. However, TBMs can easily damage ancient sites during excavation, so only ordinary excavators can be used. In fact, when the area is close to the estimated range of the ancient city ruins, the archaeological team still needs to excavate manually.

This method of excavation is very stable, but the progress is slow. It is estimated that it will take at least 5 days for the archaeological team to truly enter the area of ​​the ancient city ruins.

The rest of the archaeological team can visit the library in Nanhu City or the surrounding villages, interview people who have lived there for generations, and gather information that may be helpful to the archaeological work.

Qin Huanyu, however, was not an option. As the person in charge of security for the archaeological work, she had to stay on site.

However, Qin Huanyu didn't have much to do in the early stages of the work site; it was just ordinary excavation work. The site was very dusty, and everyone was covered in dust every day.

Even Qin Huanyu, who loves beauty above all else, hasn't dressed up much these past few days, wearing a very durable work uniform and a small yellow hat every day.

A week later, with the three engineering teams working day and night in shifts, the passage leading to the bottom of Nanhu Lake was finally almost completed. The passage was also reinforced with steel bars and metal plates according to Qin Huanyu's plan to ensure that even if the lake bottom was flooded by the lake water, the passage would not easily collapse.

Next comes the crucial part of the work. To avoid damaging the valuable ancient city ruins, the excavation cannot use any machinery or ordinary construction teams. Professor Zhang Ji needs to personally lead his archaeological team members to dig bit by bit with hoes and shovels.

The construction team was only responsible for reinforcing the passage with steel bars and metal plates after the archaeological team dug it out. Qin Huanyu, on the other hand, led the armed police to protect the archaeological team and deal with the various traps or inhuman beings that would appear in most archaeological work.

The progress of this work is relatively slow; digging more than 30 meters a day is considered a major success.

Perhaps because the archaeological target this time was the ruins of an ancient city rather than an ancient tomb, Qin Huanyu focused intently on protecting the archaeological team for several days without encountering any danger... None of the zombies, strange insects, giant rats, and mechanical beasts that are often encountered when exploring ancient tombs appeared.

"Professor, Professor! I've made some progress!"

With a graduate student's excited shout, the archaeological work, which had been going on for almost a month, finally yielded a discovery.

Wearing armor, Qin Huanyu was the first to rush over, not only stopping some of the other members of the archaeological team who were eager to get closer, but also pulling the graduate student who had made the discovery behind her, while using the Mathematical Magic Eye and the Spirit Element Detector to examine the site.

The newly unearthed so-called discovery appears to be the foundation of an ancient building. Even though thousands of years have passed, it is still clear that it is a processed stone brick, with some patterns faintly visible on the surface.

The physical parameters of the stone bricks are all normal, the concentration of the spiritual element is within the safe range, and there are no abnormalities in the surrounding area, so it can be basically confirmed that it is safe.

Qin Huanyu breathed a slight sigh of relief and winked at Professor Zhang Ji, signaling that he could come over to carry out the archaeological work.

"...Yes, it is indeed an ancient site from the era of the struggle between the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. I have seen stone paintings of this style in ancient tombs from that era."

Professor Zhang Ji, as expected of an authority in the field of archaeology, examined the specimens carefully with a magnifying glass for only a short time before making a confident judgment, his tone excited:

"Although there were many extraordinary individuals in that era, productivity was still quite backward. A city that could build houses with these kinds of stone bricks must have been a major city at the time! We're going to have a big haul this time!"

Sure enough, for the next month or so, the archaeological team made discoveries every day.

They discovered the remains of the ancient city wall, which, unlike the later square city walls, was basically oval in shape.

The city was not large in area, and the distance from the city center to the farthest city wall was no more than a kilometer. It was smaller than a city block by today's standards, but it was definitely a large city in that era.

These days, the archaeological team is not only making new discoveries every day, but their work is also going incredibly smoothly. The soil at the bottom of the lake has not been flooded by any accidents, and there are no wandering ghosts or other supernatural beings in the ancient city ruins. Qin Huanyu and the armed police are just like slackers on site every day.

Today, the archaeological team has finally unearthed the center of the ancient city ruins, where the city's rulers once lived. They discovered not only ancestral halls used for ancestor worship, but also altars where ancient supernatural beings performed rituals to ensure the city's favorable weather.

These places are where extraordinary beings are likely to appear. Even though Qin Huanyu had been safe for more than a month, she did not let her guard down and carefully inspected the ancestral hall and altar.

There are no ghosts in the ancestral hall... Perhaps there were in the past, but now that the city has been destroyed for thousands of years, their spirits have probably long since vanished.

The concentration of spiritual energy at the altar exceeded the safety limit, but after careful inspection, Qin Huanyu found that there was no danger at the altar. The excessively high concentration of spiritual energy was a characteristic of the altar itself; a relatively intact ancient magic array and clearer murals were also preserved there.

The content of this mural is much easier to understand. It depicts a sacrificial ceremony where the city's residents offered wine and food to a mythical beast to pray for favorable weather and abundant harvests.

The enshrined beast looked quite strange. At first glance, Qin Huanyu thought it was a dragon, but after a closer look, she realized it was not a dragon at all.

This strange beast did not have the scales of a dragon, nor did it have dragon horns on its head. It looked more like a large loach with a snake's head, but it also had a pair of bird wings.

"This... looks like a feathered serpent?"

Professor Zhang Ji, himself a superhuman, was highly skilled and daring. He followed Qin Huanyu, observing the altar as well, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement:

"Among the ancient lost civilizations in the central part of White Eagle Continent, there is a culture of feathered serpent worship, and many artifacts related to feathered serpents have been unearthed there. I never imagined that our ancient Holy Zhou Kingdom also had cities that worshipped the feathered serpent god. Once this discovery is confirmed and announced, it will definitely shock the world!"

"So it was the feathered serpent."

Professor Zhang Ji's words reminded Qin Huanyu of what had happened.

In the ancient lost civilization of central White Eagle Continent, the feathered serpent god was the god of harvest who brought the rainy season. It was reasonable to offer sacrifices to it and pray for favorable weather. Its function was actually similar to that of the dragon god worshipped in the ancient Holy Zhou Kingdom.

This was indeed a major discovery. After Qin Huanyu confirmed that the altar was not dangerous, the rest of the archaeological team came to the altar, excitedly looking around and taking pictures.

In the following days, the archaeological team conducted a detailed exploration and excavation of the center of the ancient city ruins, and discovered many more valuable cultural relics.

This city is indeed a city that worships feathered serpents, at least the ruling class does. On the ancient pottery, bronzes and jades that are constantly being unearthed in the city center, you can often see exquisitely carved feathered serpent images, which seems to be a trend at the time.

The season has now entered deep winter, and in just over 20 days, it will be the Spring Festival, the grandest festival in the Holy Zhou Kingdom since ancient times.

Many people are starting to prepare for the holiday, but the archaeological team seems to have already decided to stay at the archaeological site for the holiday, showing no intention of going back to rest.

Qin Huanyu felt rather helpless, but since it was her duty, she could only work overtime with him.

Just as Qin Huanyu was preparing to spend the New Year in the ancient city ruins, an order from the top leadership of the 404 Investigation Bureau changed her plans.

The Bureau of Investigation's top brass directly ordered Bai Ling to temporarily halt her investigation into the 'mastermind' and take over Qin Huanyu's duties, taking charge of the archaeological team's security. Qin Huanyu, on the other hand, triggered her duties as a special inspector; a Class B case required her urgent handling... It wasn't that the other inspectors didn't have time, but rather that among the available inspectors, only she could handle this case.

Sitting on the plane to her destination, Qin Huanyu quickly browsed through the case files.

The case took place in Qingzhou, and the local investigator in charge was a familiar face – the foolish witch Yuan Baixue. It was she who requested support from the investigation bureau and specifically requested Qin Huanyu's assistance in the application report.

This was not because of their personal relationship. In fact, after reviewing the case files, Qin Huanyu felt that it was the most suitable person for her to take on the case.

The initial incident occurred about a week ago when Qingzhou Prefecture was suddenly hit by severe convective weather, with an intensity similar to that of a typhoon. The strong winds and heavy rain ravaged the city, causing considerable damage, and a very small number of unfortunate people were injured or killed.

In summer, it's not a big deal, since Qingzhou is not far from the sea and experiences typhoons every year, so everyone is used to it.

The problem is, this is winter, deep winter, how could there suddenly be strong convective weather with the intensity of a typhoon, even accompanied by thunderstorms? This is truly a winter thunderstorm.

The local residents suffered losses because it was the wrong season and they were caught off guard. Normally, the locals here are not afraid of typhoons.

Moreover, the torrential rain caused by this severe convective weather has not only lasted for a day or two, but has continued for more than a week and is still not over. The total rainfall has exceeded 700 mm. Currently, the city of Qingzhou is severely flooded, many underground parking lots in residential areas have been flooded, more than 5 cars have been submerged and totaled, and the property losses are heavy.

Meanwhile, in other areas near Qingzhou City, the weather has also been unusual these past few days. The temperature is very high and the air is dry. Although it is the middle of winter, it is hotter and drier than the height of summer. People wearing short skirts and shorts have reappeared on the streets.

This is obviously abnormal.

The day after the unusual severe convective weather occurred in Qingzhou City, Yuan Baixue, a local investigator, began to investigate the matter.

Although Yuan Baixue was not very bright and was tricked and played by other shrine maidens while training in Sakura Province, she still had a high talent for magic and learned the true skills of a shrine maiden at the Sakura Province Shrine.

For example, sensing the earth's veins and the flow of nature.

Using this ability, Yuan Baixue discovered the source of the anomaly in just half a day. In her perception, it was as obvious as a malignant tumor on a human body.

The source of the anomaly was located about 1500 meters in the sky north of Qingzhou City. It was a storm cloud with a diameter of more than 300 meters, and it was also the place with the worst climate, with gales and thunderstorms that never stopped.

There is also an extremely high concentration of spiritual energy there, which is definitely an extraordinary phenomenon.

Upon discovering the unusual storm cloud, Yuan Baixue did not immediately request assistance, but instead tried to resolve the situation herself... She was too eager to make a name for herself.

In order to uncover the secrets of the storm cloud, Yuan Baixue contacted the local garrison in Qingzhou, hoping to get help from the air force, since she herself could not fly.

The military has a duty to fully assist investigators in resolving extraordinary disasters, and the local garrison in Qingzhou would certainly not refuse Yuan Baixue's request and would provide full assistance.

They first sent out several drones to try to get closer to the storm cloud cluster, but failed. The wind speed near the cloud cluster was too high and there were thunderstorms, and the small drones simply couldn't withstand the pressure.

There was no other way, so the Qingzhou garrison deployed its most advanced manned fighter jets. These jets can carry out combat missions normally in the worst weather conditions and are supposed to be unafraid of strong winds and thunderstorms.

However, storms involving extraordinary powers are far more powerful than ordinary storms in nature.

Even the most advanced fighter jets failed.

After losing two of the most advanced fighter jets and two outstanding pilots, Yuan Baixue finally realized his mistake.

She was just a bit foolish and greedy for credit, but she was still a kind person. She felt very sad and remorseful for the two pilots who sacrificed their lives, and she wrote the application for support almost entirely while crying.

"..."

After reviewing the case files, Qin Huanyu frowned, sensing that something was amiss.

Yuan Baixue's behavior was logically sound and consistent with her personality, but Qin Huanyu just felt something was off.

At the very least, Yuan Baixue still has some clues that she hasn't reported, and this is likely the main reason why she specifically requested Qin Huanyu to provide support.

The weather in Qingzhou City is still very bad, and the military plane carrying Qin Huanyu does not dare to get close, so it lands at another airport more than 150 kilometers away from Qingzhou City.

After getting off the plane, Qin Huanyu boarded the car sent by Qingzhou to pick her up and sped at nearly 200 kilometers per hour for the entire journey, finally arriving in Qingzhou City.

Very miserable.

This was Qin Huanyu's first impression upon entering Qingzhou City.

The situation is even more serious than described in the documents. A week of continuous torrential rain has left no land above water in Qingzhou City. In most places, the water is waist-deep, and in a few low-lying areas, the water depth is close to 3 meters. The first floors of residential buildings have been flooded.

The entire city has now come to a complete standstill. People are staying at home to avoid the rain, and all supplies are being transported by soldiers in speedboats.

If this torrential rain continues, it's not impossible that Qingzhou City will be completely destroyed.