The more experiments Shen Le conducted, the more enormous the problem seemed.
The condition of this lacquered box exceeded even his most pessimistic initial estimates. He had originally thought that since the box could be lifted intact from the soil by his spiritual power and stand steadily inside the Storage Box, it ought to have been in fairly good condition.
Yet everything he saw under the microscope told him that this lacquered box was in far worse shape than he had estimated—much worse!
The degree of decay in the Wood Base was simply shocking.
Under the microscope, the wood cell walls, which should have been dense and solid, had collapsed and fractured across large areas. It was like a bridge that had once been sturdy, its deck shattered, leaving behind only threadlike cables.
Shen Le did not need to look closely to know that the cellulose and hemicellulose in the wood had severely degraded, leaving only a fragile, sponge-like skeleton that barely maintained its shape.
A press of the finger would squeeze out water. That was because the pores inside the Wood Base were almost completely filled with water; having lost their structural support, they relied entirely on liquid tension to maintain their "shape."
Ordinarily, a lacquerware piece in such poor condition had to be wrapped in water-containing foam plastic or damp cloth as soon as it was excavated, sealed inside a plastic bag, and then packed into a box.
The gaps inside the box had to be tightly filled with water-containing foam plastic or cotton to prevent any vibration.
After being sent to a restoration laboratory, it had to be immersed in an ethanol-water solution, preserved in a sealed container, and kept somewhere cool and shaded pending treatment. Only then could it be kept from falling apart or simply