As we pondered, we had already arrived at the base of the statue. The water flow was becoming increasingly rapid, and we saw the swampy water swirling chaotically beneath the tree roots. We couldn’t see what was below, and Panzi warned us to be careful, saying that there might be gaps in the ruins beneath the mud leading underground, much like a well opening.

The胖子 (Fatty) wasn’t paying attention at all; all his focus was drawn to the stone sculpture nearby, with the mining lamp sliding back and forth over it.

In the focused light, I saw more details. The stone sculpture seemed to be carved from a single massive rock, and many parts were already damaged and cracked. The thick layer of moss covering it made it appear even more bizarre and ugly. Looking at it up close, I couldn’t even discern what the overall carving represented.

After glancing a few times, the胖子 directed the light underwater. The statue was almost enveloped between two enormous dragon’s brain incense trees, and the part submerged in the swamp was completely wrapped in tree roots. I could also see some strange shadows in the deeper parts of the water, taking on irregular shapes, huddled within the roots. I couldn’t tell if they were part of the stone sculpture.

The胖子 stared for a long time but couldn’t make out what they were. I found it strange that the surrounding tree roots were illuminated so clearly by the mining lamp, while those things were just shadows. When we shone the light again, we suddenly realized that they weren’t shadows at all, but rather hollow spaces.

Moreover, judging by the direction in which the floating debris on the tree roots was moving, it appeared that the water was flowing into this black hole. Indeed, as Panzi had said, there were gaps beneath the statue leading underground.

Initially, I thought we might see something strange and wonderful, but now I felt utterly disappointed. Panzi urged us to continue, and we had no choice but to press on.

The胖子 wasn’t very satisfied; as he waved the mining lamp back to look, he muttered to himself, “Where does this water flow to? Could it be that the ancient city is hollow underneath?”

I replied, “Not necessarily. This could be part of the city’s ancient drainage system. Some underground water channels might still be in use, leading to such phenomena.”

The胖子 then asked, “But where do these drainage channels lead to? This is a low-lying area, and if it gets any lower, there would be nowhere for the water to flow.”

I thought for a moment. Generally, urban drainage systems have outlets that lead to nearby rivers or lakes, eventually draining into the sea. In ancient western cities like this one, there are no large surface lakes or rivers nearby, but there must be underground rivers flowing around. So logically, this drainage system should lead to those underground rivers. However, the fact is that the region receives very little rainfall, and water here is extremely precious, making it unlikely that such a luxurious “drainage” system would be necessary. In investigations of Loulan and nearby ruins, the so-called drainage systems are typically surface drainage that leads into wells. The presence of underground drainage here is indeed quite strange.

Therefore, I felt that this drainage system either led to the underground rivers or that there were water storage wells or pools scattered throughout the ancient city underground. All this water might be flowing into those deep wells, being stored away, and these wells could be interconnected underground like the Karez wells in Turpan, where one well automatically transfers water to another when full, until all the wells are filled with water.

The hollow beneath this statue might be the wellhead from that time, which is quite possible. Just now, we saw the stone tower, and the fat guy said he heard water sounds below, which might also be the sound of underground water diversion tunnels.

“This is really digging deep and accumulating grain; it seems Chairman Mao’s thoughts also come from ancient wisdom. Our West Queen Mother is indeed not to be underestimated,” the fat guy said.

Panzi replied, “But the rainfall here is so scarce, with only one heavy rain every few years. Such a massive project could take hundreds of years to complete. Is it even useful?”

“From a short-term perspective, it might not be worth it, but in the Western Regions, having water can mean claiming kingship. Loulan, known as a great power in the Western Regions, only had a few thousand soldiers. The terrain here is peculiar; if there is a large amount of stored water, even a small state can hold its ground. Look at the situation here; this oasis must have formed because of that. Trees can retain water, and water can nourish trees. Clearly, the West Queen Mother was a person of great foresight.”

Originally, the geographic position of the ancient city of the West Queen Mother was extremely low-lying, and such a setup could even draw in limited underground water from the Gobi Desert. However, if my thinking is correct, we have been here for several days, and in such a long time, these wells are still draining, indicating that they have not yet filled up. Just how deep are these wells and passages below?

Panzi thought for a moment and nodded, “That makes sense, but everything has its pros and cons. If a war breaks out and someone sneaks into the city to spread disease with poison, wouldn’t that spell disaster for everyone?”

I said, “There definitely won’t be many wellheads. I think only the West Queen Mother’s palace and the homes of the powerful might have wellheads; the common people probably use the public wells we just saw. These places must be heavily guarded. We’ve seen ancient costume dramas; poisoning may seem easy, but it’s actually quite difficult to execute. After all, the wellheads are deep, and even the most potent poison, once diluted, might not even kill E. coli.”

At this point, the fat guy paused, seemingly lost in thought, and suddenly said, “Damn, so these wellheads must be interconnected. That means we can access the West Queen Mother’s palace through the wellheads.”

I agreed, but added, “That’s true, but we’re not fish, and the underground tunnels must be crisscrossed like a maze. Even if you had the best diving equipment, you might not come out alive. What if the passages down there are only as wide as a bowl? That would be even more troublesome.”

The fat guy cursed, “Are you mocking me? What does my being a bit overweight have to do with you?”

I replied, “Come on, I’m not mocking you. I’m not even thin enough to fit through a bowl.”

“I don’t think so,” the fat guy said. “When we were working on the frontier, we learned in basic courses that when digging ditches for irrigation, the width should be determined by the water flow. If there’s this much rain, would a passage the size of a bowl be sufficient? Xiao Wu, can’t you calculate these things?”

When I studied architecture, we covered these issues, but now that I need to use that knowledge, it’s completely useless. After pondering for a few seconds, I had to give up and said, “I can’t think of it right now. I’ll think it over carefully when I get a chance to rest.”

Panzi said, “Alright, Third Young Master, you two stop pondering over these things. Let’s hurry up. Even if we calculate it out, the subway is too wide for us to get down. Right now, the most important thing is to get to Third Young Master as quickly as possible.”

I thought about it and nodded, immediately focusing my mind away from those thoughts. Just then, we suddenly heard a branch snap behind us in the woods, and it seemed like there were continuous sounds of tree crowns shaking and leaves rustling, as if something was moving through the dense bushes.

As we had come through the woods, there had been almost no sounds at all, so this sudden noise startled us all. We stopped and turned back to look.

The tree crowns were thick, and apart from that huge stone sculpture of a human-faced bird, we could see nothing clearly. The noise gradually subsided as well. The forest quickly returned to that suffocating silence.

We exchanged glances; this kind of noise definitely couldn’t have come from something small. It seemed that there was indeed something in this forest.

Panzi raised his gun, signaling us to prepare our weapons, to keep quiet, and to leave quickly. We nodded, not daring to delay any longer, and started to observe the surroundings more attentively as we quickened our pace.

After just a couple of steps, Fatty suddenly exclaimed, “Wait!”

We asked him what was wrong, and he turned back, pointing at the human-faced bird statue behind us, asking, “Which way was its face facing just now?”

We looked at the stone sculpture and realized that at some point, the face had turned to face us, its expressionless, moss-covered, grotesque face staring directly at us. Half of it was obscured by the trees, making it look like some unknown creature hiding behind the trees, peeking at us.