#494 - Chapter 494: There is Actually No Weapon
November 26, 2056.
Accompanied by Dai Zheng and 12 special operations soldiers, Dongfang Chen arrived at the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, located more than 20 kilometers east of Chang'an City.
He had visited this place before the virus outbreak.
But at that time, he was just a tourist, an outsider.
They first arrived at the Terracotta Army pits, located 1.5 kilometers east of the mausoleum.
The weather was cold, and with continuous heavy snow, the estimated snow thickness here had reached 3 meters.
Looking around, it was a vast expanse of white, and nothing could be seen.
The entire Terracotta Army exhibition hall was completely covered, with only the raised snowdrifts indicating that this was the place he was looking for.
"Begin!" Dongfang Chen ordered.
"Yes!" Dai Zheng acknowledged the order.
A large number of robots swarmed out of the warship.
Their mission was: to clear the snow.
Tens of thousands of robots worked day and night for a full day and night, finally clearing all the snow around the exhibition hall.
Dongfang Chen walked into the exhibition hall, his body trembling.
Because it had been unattended for a long time, and even served as a territory for zombies for a period of time, the exhibition hall was in a chaotic state.
Black and red blood stains, as well as brownish-yellow unidentified viscous liquids, remained on the walls and ground.
He walked step by step towards the terracotta pits.
The terracotta warriors in the pits still stood there quietly, as if time had stopped.
For some reason, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, his eyes were a little moist, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.
He clenched his hands into fists, took a deep breath, and ordered:
"Lower the equipment."
"Yes!" Dai Zheng gestured.
Several special operations soldiers carried over a box, secured it with ropes, and then lowered it down.
After the box reached the bottom, two special operations soldiers jumped down.
One person observed the surroundings, while the other squatted down, untied the ropes, and opened the box.
After completing the operation, he stood up and gave an OK sign to the top.
"Come up!" Dai Zheng nodded and ordered.
The two soldiers jumped up directly from below.
"Xiaolin, start scanning," Dongfang Chen ordered through his digital eye.
"Okay, Commander."
Ten minutes later.
"Commander, the scan is complete. These are a batch of pottery terracotta warriors, estimated to have been made over 2000 years ago," Xiaolin reported.
"Are there any other discoveries?" Dongfang Chen asked.
"These terracotta warriors have traces of being repaired," Xiaolin replied.
"Anything else?"
"That's all," Xiaolin replied.
"Have these terracotta warriors been activated before?" Dongfang Chen asked.
"Commander, these terracotta figures are just decorations and not mechanical structures," Xiaolin replied.
Dongfang Chen frowned, this was not the answer he wanted.
Since the Mayan memories contained records of Qin Shi Huang creating soldiers from earth, these terracotta warriors could not possibly be dead.
Something must be wrong.
"Commander, I've never understood this. These terracotta warriors clearly held weapons, but where did their weapons go?" Dai Zheng asked from the side.
"There are many theories about this. Some say they rotted away due to the passage of time, others say they were stolen by Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu at the time. There are other theories as well, all kinds of them. But these are all speculations, and there is no concrete evidence," Dongfang Chen explained.
"Which one do you lean towards?" Dai Zheng asked.
"The theory of weapon rotting is definitely untenable. The bronze chariots and horses are still there, so why would only the weapons rot away?"
"The theory of tomb raiding is even more untenable. What kind of person was Xiang Yu? How could he do such petty thievery? You could say he smashed, looted, and burned, but he definitely couldn't do something like stealing," Dongfang Chen replied.
"Moreover, it is said that he led 300,000 people to raid the tomb, which is even more ridiculous. Did Xiang Yu not care about face? If hundreds of thousands of people raided the tomb together, it would have been known to everyone. The Records of the Grand Historian would not only have eight simple words: 'Burned the Qin palaces, took its treasures.'"
"So, I actually don't know where their weapons went," Dongfang Chen said with a smile.
"Commander, is there a possibility that they didn't have weapons at all?" Dai Zheng asked casually.
"How could that be? If they didn't have weapons, why are their hands in a grasping shape..." Dongfang Chen said halfway, then suddenly stopped.
"Commander, what's wrong?" Dai Zheng asked, thinking he had said something wrong when he saw him stunned.
"Depart, go to the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum!" Dongfang Chen didn't explain, turned around and left.
Dai Zheng didn't hesitate, quickly ordered the special operations soldiers to pack up and follow.
The Terracotta Army exhibition hall was only a little over a kilometer away from the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, but the snow was deep, so they could only travel by aircraft.
Soon, they cleared a 10-meter square area on the north side of the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum and placed the detector.
"Xiaolin, order the Queen Bee to use this as the center to conduct a comprehensive exploration of the underground area within a 1.5-kilometer radius," Dongfang Chen ordered.
