Chapter 427 Monument and Bronze Gate
Everyone slowly groped into the depths of the city's ruins in the darkness.
Judging from the terrain and the distribution of building debris, this has reached the area due north of the center. Captains Chen Lun and Hamilton each issued orders to one or two groups of team members to search for any remaining information about the ruins.
Ten minutes later.
"Captain Hamilton! We found half a stone monument!"
A young male member of the second team came to the meeting point and said to the captain.
Under the dim light, Chen Lun and Hamilton looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
"Where? Take us there."
Hamilton said in a deep voice.
"Yes, captain, please come with me!"
This team member led the way, followed closely by Chen Lun and Hamilton.
After turning around in the dark, Chen Lun felt that the surrounding environment seemed to become more spacious, because he walked for a long time without encountering any building debris.
"This seems to be another square."
Hamilton said softly.
"Well, it is very similar to the area where we fought just now. This symmetrical planning and design reminds me of the human city-states in the Second Era."
Chen Lun thought of something and said slowly.
Hamilton and the other team members were a little surprised. They didn't expect Captain Jack to be so knowledgeable and even know such long-standing secrets.
Chen Lun secretly lamented that this was just some information he dug out while completing side quests in his previous life.
Soon, everyone came to the half stone tablet mentioned by Hamilton's subordinates.
This stone tablet stands in the center of the square. The base is a trapezoidal cylindrical stone pier. It is polished very smooth and carries a square stone tablet. However, due to its age and some unknown factors, this stone tablet is missing a large piece. Only one third of the base is left.
"Leia, come and see, what is engraved on this monument?"
Hamilton immediately called the previous female player.
The latter hurriedly stepped forward and carefully examined the strange tadpole-shaped characters on it under the light of a light spot the size of a grain of rice. At the same time, she stretched out her fingers to gently touch the indentation to confirm its original appearance.
"...The Yanita royal family finally succeeded in communicating with the stars. The king and his descendants gained the extraordinary power of races such as elves, giants, monsters, and dragons. The kingdom is about to rise, and humans are no longer slaves and inferior races... The great God 'Lord of Destiny' ', 'World Tree', 'Star of Enlightenment', 'Dragon of Light' and 'King of Giants', please forgive us for being greedy and believing in the new gods from the starry sky. The sun, moon and stars shine so that mankind can Shining..."
The female team member Leia struggled to translate the words. She raised her head and looked at the people around her, and whispered:
"This is probably the content. Some characters are too blurry and I can't recognize them clearly..."
"That's it, Leia, thank you for your hard work."
Hamilton nodded appreciatively towards the other party and whispered.
Leia smiled slightly and retreated into the group.
At this time, Hamilton turned to look at Chen Lun again, casting a questioning look:
"What do you think, Jack?"
"Through the inscriptions on the monument, I can probably confirm the age of the ruins..."
Chen Lun looked thoughtful and spoke slowly.
"This should be the hundreds of years of transition between the second era, the 'Fairy Tale Era', and the third era, the 'Starry Sky Era'."
Under the dim light, he noticed some doubts on everyone's faces, so he chuckled and explained:
"Actually, I don't know much, but according to legend, during the 'Fairy Tale Era', it was difficult for humans to survive on this continent, because extraordinary people had not yet appeared at that time, and all kinds of extraordinary creatures were rampant. Even if humans established kingdoms, they were united. , and it is difficult to withstand frequent attacks... This The content recorded on this monument should be the period just beginning of the 'Starry Sky Era', that is, the period when the beliefs of the Sun God, Moon God, and Star God were born. They gave human beings extraordinary power, allowing human beings to survive in extremely harsh conditions. Survive the environment.”
Everyone frowned slightly and looked at each other.
"Did the beliefs of the three religions of the sun, moon and stars originate in the third era?"
Hamilton mused.
Chen Lun continued to speak at this time:
"But I didn't expect that humans in the ancient era would have believed in gods of fate, nature, and magic early... They are far older than we imagined."
"The 'Lord of Destiny', 'World Tree' and 'Star of Enlightenment' recorded on the monument..."
Hamilton muttered.
"What about the 'Dragon of Light' and the 'King of Giants'?"
"I don't know, I've never heard of these two gods."
Chen Lun shook his head.
Hamilton discussed with the team members for a while, then he raised his head and said to Chen Lun:
"Unfortunately, although this information is valuable, it does not contribute to our investigation mission... So far, there are still no clues about the source of the pollution."
"Keep going deeper, you will always find the answer."
Chen Lun comforted him.
Unexpectedly, Hamilton sighed and shook his head slightly.
"I plan to lead the team back first and report the situation to the presiding judge... The danger in the dark world is far beyond imagination. Not only did the second group sacrifice two members, but the remaining people are also quite tired..."
He raised his head and patted Chen Lun on the shoulder, with a rare smile on his cold face:
"Thank you again, Jack. I believe you can go further than us, or even other investigation teams, to find the source and truth of the pollution... The empire's mission will be left to you first."
Chen Lun was slightly startled at first, then nodded.
Hamilton did not stay any longer. He greeted the team members and chose to return to the third level of the spiritual world, and then returned to the living world along the original path.
The dark world cannot be directly connected to the real world, which is one of the reasons why it is included in the forbidden areas of the mysterious realm. Because once encountering an irresistible danger, there will be no retreat.
After Hamilton and others left, Chen Lun also led the team to continue on the road.
The darkness was boundless, and everyone seemed to be integrated into the environment, moving forward silently.
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*
Time flies and three days have passed.
In three days, seven members of the investigation team followed the lead of Captain Jack and traveled through the dark world. They were attacked by Didak bugs more than ten times. In the most dangerous one, everyone almost faced the annihilation of the group. Danger.
At that time, they were blocked by forty or fifty bug-men in a small hole. If Captain Jack hadn't stepped forward and transformed into a knight in pale armor, he would have blown away all the bug-men in front of him and led everyone to escape. God, the consequences are disastrous.
At this moment.
Everyone has arrived at the top of a steep slope that resembles a mountain.
Under the weak light, a huge square bronze door stood here, about thirty meters high, and the front volume was equivalent to a high-rise building.
It only has a door frame in appearance, which is carved with various strange animal and plant patterns, as well as some difficult-to-recognize characters. In the middle is a deep darkness twisted like a whirlpool, and black mist is constantly floating out of it, not even light can penetrate.
"What a stunning spectacle...who could have built this?"
Rahn looked up at the bronze door in front of him and exclaimed in wonder.
"Maybe it's not man-made."
Wells said solemnly.
When the others heard this, their hearts trembled.
Is it the civilization of other races in the ancient era? Or... was it done by gods?
I don’t know…
The truth of all this is unknown and has long been covered up by the passage of time.
Chen Lun stood quietly aside, looking at the straight bronze door, and sighed secretly. Following the guidance of divination and referring to the contents of Mr. Byers's handbook, he finally arrived at the door.
As long as you walk in here, you can enter the deeper space of the dark world.
However, he was not prepared to do so at the moment.
Because the team members have been exhausted physically and mentally after these three days of exploration, and the deep space behind the door will only be more dangerous. What they need now is to rest rather than rush into it.
And there's another reason.
‘Mr. Byers said in the note that there is a special area near the first gate, from which one can directly return to the present world... However, it will lead to the underground of the Sun Continent. ’
Chen Lun thought to himself.
He planned to go and explore alone, maybe he could find something.
"Captain?"
Rahn whispered carefully.
Chen Lun came back to his senses and nodded towards him.
Just now, the team members were asking him about his next action, and Chen Lun heard it through [Dual Purpose].
"I plan not to go in-depth for the time being, and all members of the investigation team will return to the living world to rest for two days."
He said slowly.
"Captain..."
Rahn and others were surprised.
Although they were tired and understood the captain's intentions, going back now meant that all their efforts in the past days would be wasted... and they would have to start from scratch again the next time they returned to the spirit world.
"We can still hold on, captain, let's move on."
Wells also spoke up.
Everyone was unwilling to give up and tried to persuade the captain.
Chen Lun looked at the nervous expressions of the team members and couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.
"Don't worry, after everyone has finished resting, I can take you back to this door in a short time..."
As he spoke, he took out the second spiritual anchor and threw it on the ground.
Boom!
The palm-sized metal anchor smashed into the sandy ground, leaving only a section of the handle exposed.
"Don't forget, I am a transcendent of the Destiny Faction. According to the coordinates of the anchor, I can directly use the sequence ability to teleport the team here."
Chen Lun said.
When everyone heard this, they immediately showed happy expressions.
Previously, because of the captain's terrifying strength, they subconsciously ignored the faction to which he belonged. Now that they think about it... Captain Jack is not only powerful, but also quite suitable for leading a team to participate in such an exploration operation.
The ability to teleport over long distances is perfect in an environment like the dark world!
"Lahn, when you go back, record the progress and situation of our team, and then summarize it and submit it to Chief McCallion."
Chen Lun gave an order.
"No problem, Captain!"
Rahn quickly nodded in agreement.
"Yeah."
Chen Lun smiled.
"Go back."
"Yes, Captain!"
This time, everyone no longer resisted, but readily agreed.
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All members of the investigation team returned to the present world along the original path.
However, after Chen Lun gave some instructions to the team members, he quietly avoided everyone's sight, returned to the dark world alone, and used the cloud to leap back to the bronze gate.
‘It should be nearby, let’s look for it. ’
He tentatively explored around the bronze door.
After spending more than an hour, Chen Lun finally found something unusual more than a thousand meters northwest of the Bronze Gate. It was a slightly sunken circular stone platform, two circles surrounded by countless small pebbles.
Chen Lun tried to step onto the platform, and suddenly he had a feeling.
It is a connection with the present world!
Previously, I could not feel the breath of the real world in any area of the dark world... Starting from the third level of the spiritual world, the outline of the real world completely disappeared from the horizon, which meant that the two worlds were far apart. Logically speaking, it was impossible. Direct connection from the dark world to the present world.
‘But what exactly is a platform? Is it a ritual formation? You can actually return directly to the present world...'
Chen Lun took a deep breath.
He feels that there are too many secrets in the dark world, but the truth is difficult to find.
The next second.
Chen Lun disappeared from the platform.
Buzz!
A strong pulling force hit Chen Lun's body, and in just a few seconds, he felt some tearing pain in his body. This surprised Chen Lun somewhat. After all, his physical fitness had already exceeded the limit of ordinary sequence five.
Open your eyes again.
Chen Lun found himself in a huge cave. There was a cave entrance not far away, and dim sunlight was emitting from the outside.
‘This is the underground world recorded in the manuscript? Why is there sunshine...? ’
He was very confused.
Chen Lun walked out of the cave slowly. After seeing the scene outside, his face changed slightly and his pupils shrank.
Because he saw a dark red star floating in the sky, like the setting sun, and like the sun entering its old age, emitting a dim blood-colored light when it was dying.
The cave was extremely huge. If it were not blocked by the rock walls and domes, Chen Lun might have mistaken it for a rocky plain.
There are mushrooms of different sizes and shapes growing on the ground, including umbrella-shaped, spherical, lace-shaped and irregular ones. The ones are as small as fingers, but the big ones exceed the size of ordinary buildings.
Under the dim light, this "mushroom forest" sways without wind.
The scene in front of him was both spectacular and strangely beautiful, and Chen Lun was quite shocked.
'How on earth were these born...and what is that huge dark red ball of light? ’
Chen Lun wanted to fly up from the sky to check, but as soon as the idea was born, his spiritual intuition started to warn him like crazy. He had to give up the idea and became even more wary.
After standing there and observing for more than ten minutes, he finally took a step forward and walked into the mushroom forest. But before he walked too far, he suddenly stopped.
'Um? Someone...’
Chen Lun frowned slightly and stood there staring ahead.
Not a moment later, a petite figure bent over sneaked into his line of sight. It was a young woman with burgundy hair tied into a ponytail, and a simple cotton and linen coat. She looked alert, looking left and right, and was carrying a large and shriveled bag, not knowing what she wanted.
When she saw Chen Lun, the woman was startled at first, but then her surprise turned into joy, and she couldn't help blurting out:
"M... man?! How can there be a man here!"
Her bright eyes burst with extreme desire and excitement.
But the next second, she turned around and ran away.
Chen Lun watched the other party's actions quietly, but still stood there, unmoved.
Because in his perception, the young woman did not "escape", but hid behind the giant mushrooms around her and looked at him secretly.
That look... is like a hunter's when hunting!
(End of chapter)