Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Zhou Liangzhang tried to intervene, but was met with a sharp slap from the County Magistrate. "Get lost! I won't wade into this murky water!"
Once the sound of hooves faded away, the Mad Old Woman's spindle clattered to the ground. Lin Dahe picked it up and noticed that the wooden surface was engraved with a pattern identical to that on the County Magistrate's jade pendant. The system interface flickered wildly: [Key Character Connection Confirmed: County Magistrate is the former Household Officer, transferred from Chongzhen First Year.]
The One-Armed Veteran suddenly pulled Lin Dahe aside. "Watch the waterway!"
From deep within the tunnel came the sound of rushing water. The group rushed inside, only to find that the last layer of rock was cracking, and a cool mist was billowing out—an underground river! The Mad Old Woman's song was not nonsense; it contained a code that recorded the hydrological veins!
"It's open!" Cui Xiaoman cheered as she scooped up a pool of clear water, only to freeze in shock. "Why is there blood in this water?"
Lin Dahe leaned closer and indeed saw several strands of blood floating in the clear stream. Following the source, he spotted the Mad Old Woman quietly leaning against the rock wall, fresh blood seeping from her mouth and dripping into the water. In her hand, she clutched a half-bloodied copper plate—one that perfectly matched with the One-Armed Veteran's piece.
"Yan Zhou Wei... Relief Commissioner..." Old Soldier read aloud the combined title, tears glistening in his single eye. "She is the widow of the escort officer from back then!"
The Mad Old Woman's funeral was held on a morning filled with falling locust flowers. As the One-Armed Veteran placed the now-complete copper plate into her coffin, Lin Dahe noticed remnants of rock dust still lodged under her fingernails—evidence of three days and nights spent tirelessly digging.
"The Dragon King is angry!" Aunt Ma's sharp voice suddenly pierced through the mournful music. "Disturbing the dragon vein brings retribution!"
In the funeral procession, Aunt Wang stumbled slightly, nearly dropping the offerings she was carrying. Lin Dahe then realized that there were far fewer villagers than expected who had come to help.
After the ceremony concluded, he made his way to the village well and saw several women filling clay pots with the last few buckets of murky water. The water level had dropped three more fingers since yesterday, and new cracks covered the exposed parts of the well wall.
"Seventh Uncle." Lin Dahe stopped an elderly man leaning on a cane. "What happened to the people from Lizhuang? They promised to come help fix the water channel yesterday..."
Seventh Uncle thrust his cane heavily into the ground. "Zhou Liangzhang came by last night and said we angered the Dragon King by digging this well." The old man lowered his voice. "Seventeen people starved to death in Lizhuang during last year's drought; they believe these things..."
The countdown on Lin Dahe's system interface had reached [65:12:43], and less than a quarter of the underground waterway had been completed. He crouched at the edge of the well, running his fingers over those cracks—wait, these patterns seemed systematic?
He dashed home and retrieved half a sheet of rice paper he had hesitated to use before, making a rubbing of the well wall's patterns. Holding it up to the sunlight, he was astonished to find that the winding cracks bore a striking resemblance to those etched on the Mad Old Woman's spindle!
"This can't be natural..." Lin Dahe grabbed a bamboo tube and some cowhide and rushed back to the well.
The midday sun blazed down mercilessly. In front of dozens of villagers, Lin Dahe covered one end of the bamboo tube with cowhide and secured it tightly with twine to create a makeshift water pressure gauge. As he slowly submerged it into the well, he noticed that as water pressure pushed against it, the cowhide slightly caved in, producing a resonant "gurgle" from within.
"See that?" He pointed at the twine scale tied around the outside of the bamboo tube. "For every foot it drops, pressure decreases by three parts." He then gestured toward the west. "But in that newly dug exploratory pit over there, the water level is even higher than in this well!"
Comment 0 Comment Count