Chapter 14: The Unreliable Network

Page 1 of 3

Still, Xu Chen felt that Grandpa Yang had always treated him well. This internship group assignment in particular had paved the way for both his remaining university years and his future career.

All Grandpa Yang wanted was for him to look into the two characters “Taihao.” Perhaps he thought Xu Chen had made considerable achievements in the History Department and wanted to learn a little more himself, yet did not think it worthwhile to trouble his old colleagues.

Of course, it was also possible that Xu Chen had offended his colleagues in the History Department by changing majors.

The more he thought about it, the more Xu Chen felt that his sins were grave indeed. He had no choice but to do the work for Grandpa Yang—and not merely do it, but do it beautifully.

He opened his browser and began searching.

After all, there was only one meaning to the name Taihao: it was simply a name. No matter how he searched, he could not possibly get the wrong result.

Then Xu Chen discovered…

He could not find a single thing.

Xu Chen exploded at once.

Perhaps people had heard of Taihao and found the name vaguely familiar without knowing exactly who it referred to. But change those two characters to Fuxi, and every Chinese person ought to know him. He was the cultural ancestor of the Chinese people, one of the Three Sovereigns, and the founder of the Eight Trigrams and Taiji.

The Book of Changes says: “In ancient times, Bao Xi ruled the world. Looking upward, he observed the patterns in the heavens; looking downward, he observed the forms of the earth. He studied the markings of birds and beasts and the suitability of the land. Drawing near, he took inspiration from his own body; looking farther, he took inspiration from all things. Thus he first created the Eight Trigrams.”

In plain language, this meant that in the ancient age, Fuxi ruled over the world. He looked up to observe the celestial phenomena, bent down to study the terrain, examined the patterns of birds and beasts and the plants growing upon the earth, took what was near from the human body and what was far from the myriad things, and thus began creating the Eight Trigrams.

It referred to the creation of the Eight Trigrams.

He had also created the Chinese totem of the dragon, from which came the saying that the Chinese are descendants of the dragon.

He had created writing to replace the old method of recording events by tying knots.

He had established the institutions of marriage and surnames, taught people to fish, hunt, and domesticate animals, and invented the qin, se, and clay ocarinas.

It could be said that without Taihao, the Chinese people might never have come into being. If they did not acknowledge Taihao, they would no longer be the Chinese people. And if they forgot Taihao, what meaning would there be in their existence?

Unwilling to accept it, Xu Chen tried searching other keywords, such as Fuxi and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, yet still returned empty-handed. After a round of testing, he discovered that this was apparently still an unsolved mystery in the modern history of this world.

Who, exactly, were the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors?

Xu Chen was genuinely astonished. He had studied this planet’s modern history. The preservation of cultural relics was far better than in his previous life; there was absolutely no chance that this was the result of some accidental omission.

Besides, if the cultural relics here were in worse condition than those in his previous life, then any genuine omission would mean they had been lost forever.

Even if the relics could not be trusted, surely there had to be old people who knew the stories of the past. Could it be that no one had recorded even those? Xu Chen suddenly felt that perhaps the historians had not been unfairly criticized after all.

Page 1 of 3

At the very least, their predecessors had been utterly unreliable.

Direct searches yielded nothing, but Xu Chen had already found a direction to pursue: the historical sacrificial ceremonies and the tomb associated with them. If he remembered correctly, the Tomb of Taihao was located in Huaiyang, Henan. He only needed to find the corresponding place on a map.

Xu Chen searched through the maps, relying on his memory to locate it. Then he discovered that not only was there no Tomb of Taihao, there was not even any urban development in that area. It was nothing but a barren mountain.

He searched through historical records and found that the errors and omissions were so severe that there was practically nothing worth looking at.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Xu Chen searched for the founder of the Eight Trigrams and Taiji. On the chaotic internet, every kind of absurd answer appeared—except the right one. Some even claimed that it had come from Korea, which made Xu Chen’s eyes redden with fury.

It was utterly ridiculous.

The more Xu Chen searched, the angrier he became, and the angrier he became, the more he searched. His temper grew so fierce that even Song Tian, who was playing games beside him, instinctively turned the volume down considerably.

Then Xu Chen sprang to his feet, made a call, and summoned reinforcements.

“Old bastard, I need to borrow two people from you. Yes, two students from the Archaeology Department—any two will do. Have them bring their tools. Surely I have enough standing for that, don’t I?”

“Yes, yes. Why do you care so much? I’m just asking whether you’re lending them to me.”

“All right, I’ll tell you. I saw it mentioned in an ancient document—a tomb.”

“Please, I’m begging you. Say yes.”

After speaking, Xu Chen hung up with an expressionless face.

He stared at the records of the grand ceremonies held to worship the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors throughout the various dynasties. Although the records were seriously incomplete, they were sufficient to infer the existence of the Tomb of Taihao.

And what he intended to do was confirm its location.

He wanted to see whether the Tomb of Taihao could somehow have been moved to another place.

It had to be said that the History Department worked quickly. Before long, they had come to pick Xu Chen up in a Wuling minivan—a battle-scarred old vehicle. Inside, in addition to two senior students dressed like fully equipped laborers, there was even an old professor.

The old professor was dressed like a laborer as well. If he had been sent into the fields, he would have looked exactly like an old farmer. Every one of these people had genuinely worked underground before.

“You’re Xu Chen, right? I’m Ding Xiangdong, a professor of archaeology. These two are my students. The tall one with glasses is Ma Yuelong, and the shorter one is Li Ze.”

The two senior students greeted Xu Chen warmly.

Page 2 of 3

“Hello.”

“All right, then. The others told me to go with you and dig something up. These two are my prized students, so I specifically called them out to assist you,” Professor Ding said with a smile.

“I spent some time in the History Department myself. The higher-ups won’t give you any major projects, and you look down on the minor ones. You archaeologists are practically idle enough to die of boredom, on the verge of unemployment. Of course you’ll rush over at the slightest hint of activity,” Xu Chen said disdainfully.

Professor Ding’s smile immediately turned bitter. “Ah, life isn’t easy for us in archaeology. But we haven’t let our skills decline. We’ve kept practicing all along. We’re certainly no worse than the students from the other departments.”

Ma Yuelong, who was in the driver’s seat, grew tense as well and watched Xu Chen in silence.

“All right, it’s not as though I’m refusing to give you work. I’m part of this academy too, after all. I trust my own people more.”

Only then did Professor Ding and his students let out a sigh of relief.

“You haven’t told anyone else, have you?”

“No, only you. I’m merely going to see whether the tomb actually exists. That’s what the documents say, but nothing has been confirmed yet.” Xu Chen glanced toward the back of the minivan. The rear seats had been removed specifically to haul various tools, and because the equipment was used so often, grains of dirt were scattered across the floor.

They really did practice frequently. They had not allowed their craft to deteriorate.

“Let me take a look at your equipment. There’s no problem with it, right?”

Professor Ding hesitated only briefly before nodding. “No problem.”

Xu Chen opened the bags and began searching. He had a specific purpose in mind. Suddenly, he picked up a shovel whose blade had been rolled into a cylindrical shape and held it up.

“What is this?”

Professor Ding rubbed his eyes and examined it. “This? It’s a Luoyang shovel. It’s used to dig and examine soil deep underground.”

That was exactly what Xu Chen wanted. He knew perfectly well what a Luoyang shovel was.

“Then let me ask you: what does ‘Luoyang’ mean in ‘Luoyang shovel’?”

Professor Ding shook his head.

“Could it be some kind of metaphor? For example, a shovel used when the sun goes down? Tomb robbery was a serious crime in ancient times, so people would not dare rob tombs during the day and could only do it at night.”

What the hell did “a shovel used when the sun goes down” mean? Xu Chen was almost laughing from exasperation, while at the same time sensing that something was not quite right.

For now, however, the urgent matter was to visit the Tomb of Taihao. He returned the Luoyang shovel to its place, took out his phone, and shared the location.

Page 3 of 3