“Oh? Is it really that magical? I never thought that this Yellow Turban rebel Zhang Jiao would be such a fool. Doesn’t he know that Emperor Qin Shi Huang once desperately sought immortality, yet still died in the end?”
Fan Debiao, pretending to be well-educated, sighed and commented.
Liu Dashao didn’t say much in response. He simply looked at Huangshitou and asked, “Huangshitou, do you have anything else valuable left? Something similar to that treasure given to you by that old Taoist priest before?”
Huangshitou thought carefully for a moment, then shook his head, “No, really nothing left.”
Liu Dashao nodded. Just now, he had indeed hoped to squeeze something out of this rustic guy. But now it seemed he was somewhat disappointed.
“By the way, Fan Debiao, what was going on with that big stone you guys unearthed today?” Suddenly recalling the stone from earlier in the day, Liu Dashao curiously asked.
“Well, honestly, I don’t know either. At first, it was just about the size of a pot, so no one paid attention. But as we kept digging, it grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of a house. We really don’t know how that happened.”
Liu Dashao nodded thoughtfully, “Hmm, this matter seems suspicious. How could there be such a huge stone inside a mountain? If I’m not mistaken, this stone might contain gemstone components.”
“Gemstone components?!” Fan Debiao and the others’ eyes immediately widened, even larger than donkey eyes. He stared at Liu Dashao and asked curiously, “What exactly do you mean? Why do you say it might contain gemstone? If it really is gemstone, we should start working right away! Damn it, I’ll tear that stone apart myself!”
“Calm down! I didn’t say for sure it’s gemstone. Have any of you ever seen such a huge gemstone? What I meant was that seeing such a massive stone reminded me of a legend,” Liu Dashao explained.
“Oh, what legend? Please tell us, Master Liu?” Fan Debiao asked curiously again.
“Well, there’s a legend that during the chaotic primordial times of the universe, before the world was formed, Pangu emerged from an egg and created the heavens and the earth. It’s said that there was another egg existing at the same time as Pangu, though we don’t know exactly what kind of egg it was…”
Before Liu Dashao could finish, Su Yougui interrupted, “Not chicken eggs, right? Actually, fried eggs are the most nutritious…” At the mention of eggs, Master Su, the cook, began drooling instantly.
“You damn bastard, shut up! Listen to Master Liu finish what he’s saying!” Fan Debiao scolded Su Yougui, who then reluctantly closed his mouth.
“It’s said that this egg was originally supposed to break apart together with Pangu and become part of the universe. But for some reason, it didn’t crack. Eventually, it was buried by mountains and rivers. Over time, it turned into a giant gemstone… However, whether this is true or not, I really don’t know. Later, people named this mysterious stone, which no one had ever seen, the Pangu Stone,” Liu Dashao explained.
Everyone was deeply moved, realizing this stone was connected to the legendary Pangu Stone. How incredible…
They were still waiting eagerly for Liu Dashao to continue, but he just shut his mouth and said nothing more.
Looking at Liu Dashao, Su Yougui urged, “Go on, tell us! Is this Pangu Stone the same one we’ve encountered now?”
“Damn it, if I knew that, I’d have dug up the stone already. Do you think you’d still have a chance? Let’s talk about this stone tomorrow. This matter is really quite complicated,” Liu Dashao glanced at the wall clock. “It’s getting late, already past ten. Let’s go to sleep.”
Reluctantly, Fan Debiao left the room.
The next day, Fan Debiao got up early and came to Liu Dashao’s room, “Master Liu, Master Liu, we’ve reassigned the tasks today. You’ll be in charge of digging up that big stone.”
Liu Dashao opened his eyes, looked around the still dim room, stretched lazily, and asked, “What? You want me to dig up that big stone?”
Fan Debiao smiled, “Master Liu, we’re counting on you. If you can uncover the secret of that stone, it would be a contribution to socialism, right? Hehe, under the premise of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, a talent like you naturally belongs on the front line. I’ll join you there today.”
Liu Dashao looked at Fan Debiao. Sure enough, Fan had changed into an old-fashioned outfit, which Liu recognized immediately as belonging to Su Yougui. What a pity for Su, who was still in bed searching desperately for his clothes.
Liu Dashao then said, “Alright then, let’s get going. Time waits for no one.” With that, he got dressed and led the group to the site.
As they arrived, distant cursing could be heard from Su Yougui: “Damn it! Which bastard stole my clothes!” But after cursing for a while, only his own echo responded.
Looking at the house-sized stone, Liu Dashao couldn’t help but admire it. Although large stones were not uncommon on mountains, those were usually just resting on top of the mountains. There were hardly any buried deep beneath the mountains. Even if there were, they wouldn’t be crushed like this.
Liu Dashao took a hammer from Hu Beikang and gave the stone a hard strike. A metallic reverberation echoed violently, almost deafening Liu Dashao. He was stunned, staring at the stone that had produced such a metallic sound.
“But yesterday, this stone didn’t make such a sound. Why does it sound like this today?” Hu Beikang said in astonishment, staring intently at the stone. “What’s going on here?”
The others were also puzzled. The sound was indeed strange—why did it sound metallic?
“It’s definitely not that simple,” he thought, looking blankly at the others. But no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t figure it out.
Before they knew it, night had fallen again. The entire day, Liu Dashao had tried every method he could think of, even using the Kui Xing Ti Dou technique from the Zhengyi sect’s talismans. But in the end, all he had to show for it were numerous wounds on his feet and nothing else.
Helplessly, they returned to their dormitory, planning to continue their investigation the next day.
But the next day, when they returned to the site, they found the stone was glowing faintly. This unexpected glow intrigued everyone. How could a stone emit light?
Some brave souls approached to examine the stone, but as soon as they got close, the weak glow blinded them, forcing them to retreat. Even Liu Dashao tried to get near, but ultimately had to give up.
Liu Dashao then said to Fan Debiao, “This stone is very suspicious. Let’s not report it to the authorities for now. Otherwise, they might accuse us of promoting superstition and put us on public trial. That would be terrible.”
Fan Debiao nodded. He didn’t want the authorities to take the strange stone away either. Otherwise, all their efforts would be in vain.
However, on the third day, things finally changed. When they came out to check, they suddenly noticed a small crack on the big stone. The crack was pitch black, and they couldn’t see what was inside. Around the crack, there was another source—a yellow, almost transparent spring—and the crack ran straight through this yellow semi-transparent circle.
From a distance, it looked exactly like a cat’s eye.
Liu Dashao was deeply shocked. This cat’s eye looked strangely familiar. Could it be related to the cat’s eye he had taken from Yang Baosan’s house?
His heart was in turmoil.
“Master Liu! Master Liu!” At that moment, his good friend Tian Guoqiang rushed up from the back of the construction team and said to Liu Dashao, “Master Liu, something terrible has happened at Yang Baosan’s house.”
Just when Liu Dashao was thinking about Yang Baosan, Tian Guoqiang suddenly said something had happened at his house. What a coincidence.
“Calm down, Tian Guoqiang. Tell me slowly,” Liu Dashao asked.
“Yang Baosan usually takes a walk by the river on the east side of the village every morning. But this morning, his body was found discarded by the riverside. We don’t know who did it. When we examined the body, all of Yang’s flesh was rotten. On his chest, there were various carvings. It was terrifying…” Tian Guoqiang spoke while panting, as if the sight had left him breathless.
“What? Were there cat’s eyes on his chest? Quickly look! Is it the same cat’s eye?” Liu Dashao hurriedly pointed to the cat’s eye on the hilltop for Tian Guoqiang to see.
Tian Guoqiang yelled, “Oh my God!” and squatted on the ground, “What the hell are you guys doing? Why carve a cat’s eye up here? Is it beautiful?”
Liu Dashao quickly explained, “It’s not us who carved it. This stone naturally grew here. No one knows how many years it has been growing. By the way, where is Yang Baosan’s body now?”
Liu Dashao asked curiously. It wasn’t that he feared Yang’s spirit would haunt him, but he was afraid that Yang might have turned into a zombie seeking revenge for not warning him about his impending death.
He probably resents me for not telling him his life was in danger.
People don’t know anything before they die, but they understand everything after death.
Tian Guoqiang replied, “Yang Baosan’s body is still in the village’s charity hall, guarded by his mother. His wife eloped with a man from our village the afternoon Yang had his accident, leaving behind only a boy. The poor boy lives with his grandmother now,” Tian Guoqiang said, showing some sympathy.
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