Confucius once said that women and petty people are the most difficult to deal with.
That saying is truly not false at all. I kindly went to pull Bai Hanyan, but she repaid my kindness with hostility, like a dog biting its benefactor.
"What do you want to do?" she asked, looking at me with great caution. "Don't think that because it's pitch black, you can do as you please!"
I felt so helpless. Looking at her, I said, "I just don't want you to pull my clothes. This is the only one I have. If you tear it, what will I wear?"
As I spoke, I still felt annoyed. I glanced at her chest and said, "With your meager build, I wouldn't even look at you."
Bai Hanyan was furious and glared at me, "You!"
I stopped bothering with her and quickly followed.
I don't know how long we walked, but I was exhausted. Moreover, the confined space made it difficult for me to breathe properly.
"There's something ahead," Song Bing's voice rang out.
We all gathered around and found an open space ahead. In the middle of the clearing, something seemed to be placed.
The flashlight beam wasn't very clear, and the air was filled with dust particles obscuring our vision.
I shone the flashlight around and discovered that the space was very large, perhaps almost a thousand square meters. The surrounding walls were chiseled to be very smooth.
Clearly, this place was not naturally formed but was man-made. As for who made it, that was unknown.
"You go take a look," Wu Tingxiu said to Song Bing.
He took something out of his bag and walked towards the center with it in his hand.
"What is it?" Wu Tingxiu asked.
"It looks like a stone pedestal... but it's a bit different..."
Hearing this, Wu Tingxiu simply walked over herself. Seeing this, I glanced at Wang Yang, asking for his opinion.
He winked at me, indicating that we should go and see.
So, we all followed.
When we reached the center of the hall, I finally saw the object clearly.
Below was a huge base, on which sat a circular stone a ring smaller than the base. On the circular stone, there was a handle.
The object was circular, with a diameter of about four to five meters.
I felt like I had seen this thing somewhere before, but I couldn't recall it.
"Isn't this a grinding stone?" Wang Yang said.
Hearing him say that, it really was!
But what was being ground with such a large grinding stone?
"Ah!"
A scream startled me. Bai Hanyan suddenly grabbed my arm.
"What are you doing?" I asked irritably.
"There's... there's... someone!"
"Someone?!"
I was startled, and Wang Yang instinctively adopted a defensive posture.
Song Bing directly raised the object in his hand, shielding Wu Tingxiu, and vigilantly scanned the surroundings with his flashlight.
I swallowed and was a bit afraid to look around.
The three flashlight beams swept around.
"Where is the person?" Wu Tingxiu asked.
Bai Hanyan buried her head on my shoulder, her eyes tightly shut, pointing a finger towards the ground nearby.
Instantly, all three flashlight beams focused on where she pointed. We saw several skulls on the ground.
Honestly, seeing those skulls sent a chill down my spine.
Although I'm not timid, seeing something like that in this place would naturally make anyone feel uneasy.
I shone my flashlight elsewhere and found white bones scattered everywhere.
When we came in earlier, we hadn't noticed the ground, so we missed them.
Seeing these bones now made my scalp tingle.
What kind of place is this? Why are there so many dead people?
Have we stumbled into the centipedes' lair?
"What is this?" Wang Yang's flashlight beam landed on a ditch on the ground.
It was a long ditch, extending from the side of the giant grinding stone to a corner not far away. In that corner, there were several holes, each about tens of centimeters wide.
"Xiang Fei." Wu Tingxiu suddenly called me.
"What is it? Manager Wu?"
"Come here and look at this, what are these?"
I walked over, and Wu Tingxiu pointed to some characters on the grinding stone. I looked closely and frowned.
"This is..."
"What is it?" Wu Tingxiu asked.
"It seems to be Banpo pottery symbols," I replied.
"What are Banpo pottery symbols?"
I explained, "Banpo pottery symbols are a type of script from the Warring States period. Generally, these symbols are carved on pottery, rarely on stone, unless it's to record something special."
"Can you tell what it means?"
I shook my head. "No one has been able to decipher these symbols to this day. And these Banpo pottery symbols appeared even earlier than oracle bone script..."
"Earlier than oracle bone script?" Wang Yang leaned closer. "Doesn't that mean it's at least five or six thousand years old?"
"To be precise, it's over six thousand years old."
"Were there grinding stones six thousand years ago?"
"According to the Warring States period text 'Shi Zuo Pian,' the stone mill was invented by Lu Ban and is a product of the Neolithic Age," I said.
Wang Yang said, "Can you say something people can understand? Just tell me, were there grinding stones six thousand years ago?"
"Probably not," I replied. "Of course, it's also possible they haven't been discovered yet..."
"According to what you're saying, there are only two possibilities," Wang Yang said.
I looked at him curiously. "Which two possibilities?"
"First, this grinding stone is indeed over six thousand years old, and we have discovered it. Second, this grinding stone is not from over six thousand years ago, but was later carved with Banpo pottery symbols by people." Wang Yang analyzed.
I nodded, thinking he made a lot of sense.
"Then what do you think this grinding stone was used for?" Wu Tingxiu asked thoughtfully.
I instinctively said, "Grinding stones are naturally used for grinding things."
"Then what was this grinding stone used to grind? This grinding stone is not small, and besides..." Wu Tingxiu glanced at the white bones not far away.
I instantly understood what she was implying, and the thought of this possibility made me freeze.
This grinding stone was likely used to grind living people!
Thinking of this, goosebumps erupted all over my body!
Grinding living people with a stone mill?
Isn't this something from the eighteenth level of hell?
Could it be that we've arrived in hell?
While I was still pondering, Wu Tingxiu had already gone to examine the white bones.
That woman is really brave, without a word, she directly reached out to move the bones on the ground.
After a while, she stood up and said, "It seems my guess was correct. This grinding stone was indeed used to grind living people. Besides the skulls, these bones are all finely crushed fragments."