The Lost Tomb : Tibetan Sea Flower

Chapter 49: Linqia

After a long time spent probing the situation, the group felt that there didn't seem to be much danger, so they entered the tomb again and went to the edge of the passage.

The tunnel was very deep and strange, with the first part reinforced with blue-green bricks, and the next part merely loess [1], making it look like a grave robbers' tunnel.

"Look, all the places without bricks have shovel marks, which must have been dug by fellow grave robbers." Zhang Haike said as he listened closely. "The air is dead here. We should assume this is the starting point."

"Did they dig in from the outside?"

"I don't think so, but it's hard to say. I can't see the end and don't know where it leads to." Another person said, "With all due respect, this really isn't like a tomb. If this is a grave robbers' tunnel, how is there a mechanism over the hole that can be closed? It's impossible for anyone to dig directly into the tunnel opening of the burial chamber, so I definitely don't think this is a burial chamber."

"You don't think so?"

"It's not even a grave." He answered.

"What kind of place do you think it is, then?"

"It wasn't built by dead people, but by grave robbers."

"This is a linqia." The man continued.

Linqia was a term used for temporary underground rest stations set up when grave robbers found a tomb that was especially difficult to enter. They would hoard food and equipment inside and work underground for a long time.

Most linqia were crude like adobe houses, but if it was some super inaccessible tomb, or a very large fortress-type tomb, then the linqia would be very finely built. A linqia in this tomb meant that it may have taken five, six, or even a dozen years to rob.

If this was a linqia, then that would explain some things, but what about the things hanging above their heads?

"Lend me your shoulder." Zhang Haike called out, as he jumped up and stepped on his companion's shoulder, lighting a flare to see what was hanging on the ceiling.

This time he looked at the junction between the ceiling and the coffin, and then at something else hanging upside down nearby. His face changed, and he turned around and said seriously, "Everyone, this is really a linqia."

"How could a linqia look like this?" Another person asked.

"They had no choice but to make it like this," Zhang Haike said as he patted the ground: "I'm afraid there's a big guy under this room, which is very difficult to deal with."

"All the designs are because of the vibrations." Zhang Haike said, "This method of hanging things is very similar to a hammock hung on a ship. The sailors who sleep in the hammock won't flip over no matter how the ship bobs in the water, so they can have a good rest."

"In order to avoid the vibrations, was it worth it to hang these things so high up? It must not have been easy."

"If the vibrations were strong enough." Zhang Haike said, "If they were strong enough and frequent enough to cause this place to shake more than a dozen times a day, then the robbers needed a safe way to protect the goods they had just stolen."

"What about this mechanism, how do you explain it? Would you normally set up a mechanism at your own rest station?"

"I'm not sure, since we can't go to the past and ask what happened to the people who built this place. But I think this isn't a mechanism, but an alarm."