Chapter 2: The Seven-Star Crystal Goat Head

  Liu Yi searched online for a while, but it was in vain. There was no information about this unit on the internet at all.

  He had a mind to go to Xining City in Qinghai, but the most urgent thing in front of him was to find Professor Zhou Tao to unlock the secret of the crystal sheep head.

  Professor Zhou Tao is Liu Yi's mentor in the history department at Shandong University, a renowned professor who enjoys special allowances from the State Council and has extensive knowledge of ancient and modern times. He has conducted in-depth research on ancient culture and mysticism. If even his own mentor does not know the origin of this crystal sheep head, it is estimated that there are only a few people in the world who know.

  He decided to go to the mentor's home for a run. So he and Malacca left the store, bought some supplements on the road, and rushed to the Shandong University faculty dormitory where Professor Zhou Tao lived.

  It's been some time since he last visited his supervisor, so he might as well take this opportunity to pay a visit.

  Arriving at Professor Zhou Tao's home, his wife saw Liu Yi and was delighted. She took the things from his hands while smiling: "It's been some time since you've come, child."

  Liu Yi asked at the door while changing his slippers: "Is the teacher at home?"

  "He's off to attend another one of his useless academic conferences, running around all day. Even after retirement, he can't stay still!" The teacher's wife said discontentedly: "You should advise him too, at his age, isn't it good enough to just stay home and play chess, take a walk, or dance in the square?"

  She seemed to be complaining, but her words were full of deep concern.

  Liu Yi heard his teacher's wife say this and smiled: "Where did the master go? When will he come back?"

  "The 'Ancient Qiang Culture' academic seminar organized by the Xining Municipal Government of Qinghai. As for when I'll be back, that's unknown."

  "Qinghai, Qinghai, again Qinghai!" Liu Yi muttered to himself.

  "Bing Bing, come out and greet the guests!" The mistress of the house shouted towards the inner room, while walking towards the cupboard to put down the snacks. Then she said to Liu Yi at the door: "You all come in and sit down, it's almost time for dinner, stay and have a meal, I'll go cook!"

  Liu Yi immediately took off the slippers he had just changed into and hastily put on his own shoes, calling out: "Auntie, we won't have dinner today, let's come another day!"

  He finished speaking and didn't wait for his teacher's wife to respond, pushing Ma Liucao out of the door in a hurry.

  "...you child..." came a complaining voice from behind, belonging to his teacher's wife.

  At the beginning of this year, Liu Yi took a small dinosaur fossil collected by his mentor's daughter Zhou Bingbing and used it to hit sparrows outside the window in boredom. He never found it again. Zhou Bingbing has been resentful about this matter ever since. Every time she sees him, she speaks coldly and insults him, making him lose face.

  Liu Yi as a man could not argue with a woman, so he had to hold back and listen silently. Being scolded by a woman was very humiliating, so it's better to escape early.

  Out of the Shan Da faculty dormitory, Liu Yi thought: "I don't know when my supervisor will be back from this meeting, I might as well take a trip to Qinghai myself and visit that mysterious courier company along the way."

  He made a decision and took immediate action, that's his style. So he called Ctrip to book a flight to Xining at 7:00 pm the same night, and the two of them simply had a bowl of wontons on the side of the road as dinner before taking a taxi to Jinan Yaoqiang Airport, arriving in Xining City at 9:55 that night.

  On that day, Liu Yi did not go to find Professor Zhou Tao, but instead took a taxi with Ma Liujia to rush to No. 5 Wuyou Street, Xining City.

  This address is in Malacca before flying to Qinghai, let friends inquire about the mysterious express company's business registration address.

  The taxi had just turned into Wuyou Street when they saw a two-story building with thick smoke billowing out, flames shooting up to the sky, and firefighters working hard to put out the fire. The crowd of onlookers had blocked the intersection, so the two people got out of the taxi.

  Liu Yi asked a woman for directions: "Excuse me, how do I get to Wu You Street No. 5?"

  The woman looked at him and pointed to the building with flames shooting into the sky, saying: "Still looking for a ball? It's been burned to ashes. How miserable! Not one person inside escaped, they all died!"

  After hearing what the woman said, Liu Yi's heart skipped a beat and he felt an ominous premonition, as if there was a force behind his back that was doing the same thing as his father.

  He felt as if he had fallen into a thick fog, with everything around him being white and blurry, unable to find any direction to move forward.

  The two of them exchanged a glance, both with a bewildered expression. It was too coincidental that something like this happened as soon as they got off the plane and arrived here. Could it be that someone was following them?

  Liu Yi thought of this and couldn't help but clench the mountaineering bag in his hand. Perhaps the other party was here for the "Crystal Sheep's Head". He whispered to Malacca: "Let's find a small shop to stay first!"

  Malacca nodded and hailed another taxi on the side of the road, then went to a nearby chain hotel to stay.

  On the road, they kept observing from the rearview mirror to see if anyone was following them. They didn't find any suspicious vehicles. If there were any suspicious vehicles, they would certainly not escape Ma Liuji's eyes. As a detective, he was not to be underestimated.

  After settling in, Liu Yi called Professor Zhou Tao to arrange a meeting time and place for the next day. After the phone was answered, they exchanged pleasantries before Professor Zhou asked him what brought him to Qinghai?

  Liu Yi simply mentioned the crystal sheep's head, who would have thought that Professor Zhou Tao was greatly excited on the other end of the phone, asked clearly which hotel they were staying at, said "wait for me", and then hung up.

  The mentor's performance on the phone made Liu Yi feel that his decision to come to Qinghai this time was correct, and it seemed that Professor Zhou Tao must have known the origin of the crystal sheep head.

  While waiting for Professor Zhou Tao to arrive, Liu Yi received a call from the Minjing Police Station of Hero Mountain in Jinan. The police officer on the phone told him that his store had been broken into at night and asked if he was in Jinan, telling him to hurry back to the store if he was.

  When he heard the news, Liu Yi was no longer shocked. Compared to receiving his father's package and the mysterious express company being set on fire, the small shop being robbed was not worth mentioning.

  He thanked the police officer over the phone and told him that he was currently on a business trip outside and couldn't rush back, asking the police to let the owner of the neighboring store handle the aftermath.

  "Could it be those people from No. 5 Wuyou Street who did it?" asked Malacca.

  Liu Yi nodded and said thoughtfully, "It's very likely. Coincidentally, a thief appeared today, probably for the crystal sheep head in our hands. It seems that there is indeed an unknown force behind us. This is really not good!"

  "This at least shows that the other party does not know we have come to Qinghai. If they knew, they would naturally not go to the trouble of stealing from the store!" Ma Liuji said with a carefree attitude: "I'm afraid of nothing, let's take on two and beat them up, I haven't exercised my muscles in many years, and my skin is still itching!"

  Liu Yi was just about to speak when a hurried knocking sound came from outside the door.

  ……

  Professor Zhou Tao rushed in, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw the crystal sheep's head on the bed. He ignored Liu Yi and the others, picked up the crystal sheep's head with both hands, held it high under the lamp, examined it repeatedly, then shouted loudly: "It's correct! This is the Seven-Star Crystal Sheep's Head!"

  As he shouted, Liu Yi saw the professor's hands shaking violently, apparently in a state of extreme agitation. The crystal sheep's head was swaying precariously in his hand, on the verge of falling.

  Liu Yi rushed up with one arrow step, took the sheep's head from the professor's hand, supported his mentor to sit down, and stroked his back, saying: "Don't be excited!"

  Professor Zhou also realized his loss of composure, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes, smiling faintly: "You don't know the origin of this Seven-Star Crystal Sheep's Head, so you won't be as excited as I am!"

  Liu Yi didn't know that this ordinary crystal sheep head, when it came to the professor's place, became a "Seven-Star Crystal Sheep Head". He curiously asked: "Before, we also carefully observed this crystal sheep head and didn't find any Big Dipper inside!"

  The professor smiled mysteriously, picked up the crystal sheep's head, and solemnly placed it on the bedside table. He then sat down on the floor with a thud and pointed to the several horizontal lines inside the crystal: "Crystal is a rare mineral, mainly composed of silicon dioxide, known as water jade or water essence by ancient people. In the process of natural crystal formation, there are usually some impurities like cotton-like or horizontal lines. Like this crystal sheep's head, the few horizontal lines inside are connected together, just like the Big Dipper after connecting the lines, which is extremely rare."

  If it weren't for Professor Zhou Tao's hint, Liu Yi and Malacca wouldn't have noticed that the shape formed by those few horizontal stripes was actually the Big Dipper. After his hint, it really was the case.

  Although the two people are ignorant of crystal, they also understand one thing. Even if it is an ordinary stone, if it is naturally formed into a Buddha shape or animal shape, it has collection value. Let alone this crystal sheep head with seven-star horizontal stripes inside.

  Malacca smiled and asked on the side: "This so-called Seven Star Crystal Sheep Head must be worth a lot of money, right?"

  Professor Zhou Tao looked at him and smiled:

  Other crystals can be measured with money, but this seven-star crystal sheep head cannot be bought with money. The cultural value it embodies is beyond your imagination!

  The origin of crystal culture dates back to 770,000 years ago when ancient Peking Man learned to use hard crystal to make cutting tools for cutting meat and animal hides. At that time, it was used as a single tool. Later, with the rise of nature worship, people discovered that crystals could refract sunlight into various colors, just like rainbows.

  At that time, they thought the rainbow in the sky was a bridge to communicate with the sun god. So they believed that crystal produced all kinds of colors and must have the same effect as the seven-color rainbow, which is also a bridge to communicate with the sun god. They collected crystals and carved them into the shape of their tribe's totem, passing it down from generation to generation.

  Crystal skulls are typically owned by the high priests of tribes, used for divination and prayer, which further increases the mystery of crystals. Like the Mayans have a legend about thirteen crystal skulls, it is said that these crystal skulls can speak and sing, hiding information about human origins and death, helping humans to unlock the mysteries of cosmic life.

  Of course, these are legends, and so far no one has collected all the so-called thirteen crystal skulls. And now this seven-star crystal sheep head we have is also very legendary. It can be traced back to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period...

  Hearing what the professor said, Liu Yi was shocked beyond measure.

  If this crystal sheep's head is really from such a distant era, what was Father searching for?

  It's absolutely not as simple as finding some treasure as one wishes!