The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 102: Transaction

"Why do you think so?" Liang Wan looked at all of Black Glasses' various wounds with the naked eye whilst thinking, you're going to lose, not me. Examining wounds any time she saw someone had become a habit since she became a doctor.

"He was too close to the center of the explosion. In such a narrow space, such a powerful explosion would have hurt his internal organs." Black Glasses took a deep breath: "You should know better than me. Even if he isn't dead now, he won't last long. There's not going to be some kind of miracle."

Liang Wan sighed. She couldn't see Black Glasses' eyes behind the sunglasses, but she wondered if there was guilt there.

Dragging a high school student into such a situation... it was only natural for such a thing to happen. Even if there hadn't been such an explosion, there were thousands of other possibilities. It didn't even matter if today's children were different from those in the past; children were children after all.

"It's much harder to protect a person than to hurt them." Black Glasses looked at Su Wan's watch. "Li Cu... the kid's behavior is completely different compared to others. Wu Xie was finally lucky this time, but unfortunately, I'm to blame."

Liang Wan sighed. She didn't want to blame anyone. She was just an outsider, so there was no sense in saying anything. She sat back down and asked, "Why is he so important?"

Black Glasses looked around the room: "One of archaeology's most important core principle is that no one thinks what he sees is a hundred percent of the actual situation. All the clues point to 99.999999% of the truth, and all efforts are made to increase the number of nines after the decimal point, but no one dares to think they can reach a hundred. In the archaeological system of a thousand years ago, people proved and disproved it more by basing it on fifty percent."

Liang Wan looked at him and didn't know what he was trying to say, but she didn't dare interrupt.

"It wasn't until later that we found the snake. For the first time, we found traces of it in some relics along the Silk Road. These snakes were valuable commodities at that time. Judging from their skeletal features, they must have been tropical snakes living in the rainforest, suitable for the hot and humid environment. But there were a large number of these snake bones in various ancient cities along the Silk Road, which indicated that they were being circulated." Black Glasses continued: "It was very strange. The Silk Road was a very dangerous road where death and wealth alternated. Large-scale trade in living creatures wasn't suitable on this kind of road, and we found that was indeed the case. After looking at the chronological records, we found that snake trading on the Silk Road disappeared in the first ten years or so after the road was formed."

"At least, that's what the archaeologists think, but we don't agree." Black Glasses said. "It must have been a regional trade, because there were no such snakes at either end of the trade route. The snakes suddenly appeared on this trade route, indicating that their origin was somewhere along the Silk Road. At that time, an opportunity presented itself, and I followed a large group of people to investigate. The end result was a mess. Later, a senior helped me a lot, and I managed to get out alive. Fortunately, I brought a snake out."

This kind of snake had a pair of eyes like any other, but the scales on its forehead could be opened, and the reversed red and black vein-like scales looked like a pupil, giving the impression that the snake had a third eye. This third eye gave off a somewhat evil feeling, but the snake would die immediately if it was dug out.

The snake Black Glasses brought out from the snake marsh didn't have a third eye, but it did have a crest-like protrusion on its head. It was a product of breeding, and may have been a subspecies selected through hybridization or natural selection. Either way, the wild snake was black and very fierce.

This kind of snake's social system was very similar to ants, in that many of the young ones had no reproductive ability, and the fertile ones basically remained dormant in their nests.

"I took this snake to a friend because my predecessor said that it had a message, but my friend didn't understand it very well. He's a bit slow when it comes to doing anything." Black Glasses sighed: "He's also a stubborn person, and believed that the message must be on the snake. He tried to cut it open and was bitten. After being sent to the hospital, he woke up and became a whole different person. Turns out he received the message."

The snake's pheromone could convey very concrete messages, and it was at this time that he gradually started to understand the truth. A lot of things he had never understood before were also explained.

Compared with the whole crazy puzzle, this one hanging thread was of great significance, but he couldn't understand how he did it.

Black Glasses smoked his last cigarette and said, "Li Cu also has this ability."

Liang Wan had some concerns in her heart. There were still many things that hadn't been studied clearly about the vomeronasal organ [1], but his statement did have some merit. Speaking as a professional in this field, however, Liang Wan felt it was a little ridiculous to hear others talking non-stop.

"People who come to places like this will never know what happened here before. We're always left guessing. And the more complicated the situation is, the more possibilities we have to guess. But Li Cu can tell us what really happened here." Black Glasses said. "He can reconstruct the true story."

"Why do you want to know what happened here? Or, why didn't Boss Wu come here and play house with these snakes?"

"I can't tell you why." Black Glasses said, "Wu Xie didn't come here by himself because this snake's pheromones have side effects. Irreversible side effects."

"What side effects?"

"Character changes." Black Glasses said: "It may only take a few seconds to absorb these pheromones, but the effect it has on your brain lasts a very long time. It's tantamount to copying a memory— a whole experience— into your brain. A few seconds may feel like it's been ten or even a hundred years." Black Glasses looked at Liang Wan: "A thirty-year-old man suddenly becomes a hundred years old. What kind of changes do you think he's undergone?"

Liang Wan was somewhat surprised. "Is it really possible to be so long?"

Black Glasses said: "I'm afraid what he wants to do isn't based on those hundred years. We don't know what he did after that, but when I saw him later, I felt as if he'd lived for thousands of years. In short, he can no longer touch these things now. He's reached his limit."

"Li Cu now is the only hope." Black Glasses said: "It's a pity that he's going to die."

Liang Wan sighed. She was infected by this guy's state and felt a little sad as well. She knew a little bit about what they were fighting against, and what they were carrying. Although it had nothing to do with her purpose, it was still touching to see the man's pain.

"What can I do for you?" Liang Wan asked.

Black Glasses suddenly turned around and smiled: "I've been waiting for you to say that for a long time. Can you bring Li Cu back? Try to keep him going for another three days, and I can teach you how to get out of here."

"You can't do it yourself?"

Black Glasses smiled and stretched his hand out. Liang Wan saw something moving under skin and took a step back in fright.

They were the size of buttons, and densely packed right under the surface of his skin.

"It'll be very difficult if someone isn't here." He lowered his hand and threw his backpack to Liang Wan: "It's a fair deal. Do you accept it or not?"

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Note:

[1] It's also known as Jacobson's organ, and is basically part of your nose. It's a patch of sensory cells within the main nasal chamber that detects heavy moisture-borne odor particles.