The Reason
Good grief, was this the legendary national treasure?
Li Bai was a little dumbfounded as he listened.
But opening a treasure site by laying explosives, bringing in heavy machinery, then laying more explosives after the machinery was done—repeating the process over and over—would make even the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor buckle if they didn't care about the details.
So here was the question: was it really necessary to make such a big production of it?
They'd even brought in Qingyao Demoness. It was practically like using a nuclear weapon to dig a pond. If you didn't mind making a huge commotion, you could certainly dig a big pond quickly and efficiently that way. The Russians had done just that back in the day: simple, crude, no explanations needed.
"Wait. It's just a treasure they're digging up. Is there something special about it?"
Before Li Bai could speak, Comrade Lu Sanhu, "Uncle Biao of Shuangyashan, Wujiang," beat him to the question.
Before setting out, Ye Tong from the Humanity Department at Institute 507 had sent them an invitation, but hadn't explained the mission in detail. She had only emphasized the rules of confidentiality. Now was the perfect time to ask. They'd better not miss their chance, or they'd have to wait until they arrived, still completely in the dark, to find out.
"The situation is complicated, but it's also not complicated. It's simple, but not simple either. Our people found a snake pit inside the treasure site, so we need Doctor Li's Snake King to keep the snakes in check and let our people pass through safely and retrieve everything inside."
At last, Ye Tong from Institute 507 stopped keeping things under wraps and explained the situation.
"A snake pit? Full of snakes?"
Little Tusi of Centipede