Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Seeing the cross-like structure gave an unsettling feeling. In front of these Yurts, there stood a tombstone shaped like a cross. It was unclear whether this was a local custom or something else entirely; if it were the case, there must be more to it.
They slowly came to a stop, carefully examining the inscriptions above. It resembled ancient Sanskrit, but that script had long been lost to time. They wondered how such a place could have remnants of Indian writing. Their Translation Machine could translate the text, so they pointed it upward to scan the inscriptions.
Upon analysis, they indeed discovered that the language was a form of Sanskrit, perhaps even older than what they had anticipated. The languages of contemporary human civilization were divided into two categories: pure English and Mandarin. Other languages had fragmented long ago during ancient battles.
Translating all the text above wasn't particularly difficult, but when they used the Translation Machine, errors occurred. The machine recorded languages from around the world, including very ancient ones, but it couldn't translate languages from the distant five great civilizations.
"It seems like it really can't translate anymore. Is it broken?" someone suggested.
The others looked incredulously at the language displayed on the Translation Machine, unable to decipher it. The output was nothing but garbled text. Whether this garbled text could be effectively translated later remained uncertain. For now, their task was to translate each inscription on these crosses, which might help them avoid some complications.
If that were true, they might forget their original purpose for coming here. "By the way, where's Ross? He seemed to be the first one down here. Did he see something and get discovered?"
"He shouldn't have; with his abilities, even if he was found out later, he could manage to evade capture for a while," someone replied. "However, all his clues led us here. Speaking of which, does the strategy guide have any details about this place? I think our predecessors must have known about this location earlier than we did and left some traces."
The two had just run with all their strength to reach this point, and now it seemed they were about to find themselves in a precarious situation. Everything around them was unfamiliar, and there were not only forgotten texts on these crosses but also many unknown symbols—details they couldn't comprehend.
Fortunately, they had managed to translate some of it using the Translation Machine, so there wasn't much difference in their situation. They could take all this data back for decryption using a smart computer. The Translation Machine was essentially a stripped-down version of a smart computer; its translations lacked significant accuracy.
Thus, translating back home would yield more comprehensive results; it wouldn't be filled with garbled data like what they had now—if that were the case, they wouldn't have any regrets.
Now the question arose: where had Ross gone? Judging by the footprints on the ground, he had indeed vanished from here. They looked around but found no other shoe prints left behind. This indicated he must still be in this area; if that were true, these Yurts seemed quite suspicious.
"Predecessors, this cluster of Yurts is an ancient site left behind after warriors experienced a large-scale battle. There’s nothing particularly special about this site; it's just..."
"Hmm? Just what?" Duan Shuai asked curiously before continuing, "An archaeological site? If that's the case, it really does resemble one. But what are you implying? Did the strategy guide make an error?"
"No, it's just that some aspects are still quite suspicious," another replied. "They discovered primitive inhabitants here who could forge ceramics and smelt alchemical materials by refining rare metals from flames. That metal is currently used in wealthy cancer treatments in medicine; I initially thought it was alchemical arts."
"But given this race's intelligence level seems insufficient for basic alchemical practices, they only managed to smelt precious metals. However, looking at the current situation—all these crosses—there's nothing in the text that hints at anything resembling these crosses."
"So I believe that over these years, there has been some other connection formed or an unexpected gap has emerged. But that shouldn't be possible; if other teams came here for investigation and found discrepancies, at least they would report them. Any anomalies in this strategy guide should have been corrected as well. Yet I carefully checked through it and found no areas for modification."
"Nothing suspicious at all? That's truly strange," Duan Shuai muttered beside him.
"Alright, let's look around. Everyone stay alert, and if you see anything, use the signal flare. Understood?" Freyr spoke up, his tone slightly unusual. Continuing to dwell on it would be pointless, so he quickly stored the strategy book in his ring.
The others glanced at him, appearing somewhat helpless, and then dispersed to search for other clues.
Freyr soon found himself in a particular area that looked quite vibrant—a Yurt tent. After searching the vicinity, he didn’t find any suspicious clues, but he felt an odd sensation as if someone was watching him.
After more than ten minutes, the area of the Yurt was only about five or six hundred meters wide. They hadn’t discovered anything else; no meaningful clues were present, which struck them as very strange. Given the size of the place, they realized there was one area none of them had checked—perhaps out of respect for someone else's home.
Moreover, others' homes were sacred and inviolable. Placing a cross in another location might not have a special reason; it could simply be a local custom or rule. Violating their customs could lead to dire consequences. If someone truly lived here, they might even want to ask these people how to navigate through shortcuts.
If there were indeed shortcuts, causing destruction here would likely ensure that no one would be willing to share that information with them.
In other words, Ross's trail had vanished and was likely uniquely connected to this Yurt tent. According to the strategy book's explanations, there were almost no excessive tasks here; even if there were, they shouldn’t trust it. This indicated that everyone had their own thoughts on the matter.
He didn’t know what his predecessors had intended to convey, but everything shown in the strategy indicated there were too many areas needing correction. The scene looked like it had been ravaged; the degree of desolation and those crosses resembled tombstones with inscriptions akin to epitaphs.
If that were true, then there was nothing wrong with it.
The others continued forward, engaged in lively discussion about how to find Ross inside. They felt that shouting wouldn’t be inappropriate since their goal was simply to locate Ross’s whereabouts.
"Then this is the only place we haven't searched?" Freyr pointed to a specific area. The others followed his gesture and looked over; their expressions changed slightly upon realizing that the direction he indicated led to some rather eerie-looking Yurt tents.
If that was the case, they felt there might indeed be an issue; there were no other clues around—only the tents remained unexplored. All leads seemed to vanish upon reaching this point. The three buttons they had picked up earlier now felt very strange in their hands; they didn’t seem like plastic buttons but rather high-quality metal ones cleverly disguised in color.
Looking at it this way felt quite odd. Three buttons—he surveyed the environment again and noticed that the Yurts appeared increasingly suspicious. Gradually, they all moved toward these Yurt tents. Although they were tents, they still had doors—strangely crafted wooden doors.
Pushing open one of the wooden doors revealed a vast interior space. From outside, it appeared only two meters wide, yet inside it was astonishingly large. Looking down further revealed a deep pit that seemed bottomless; if they were to descend from here, no one knew how long it would take.
No one could tell how long it would take; they stepped back outside and proceeded to check another tent. They entered a larger tent but found its environment nearly identical to the first one.
The depth of the pit remained unmeasurable. Upon witnessing such a sight, panic surged through them momentarily as they quickly split up to search again before regrouping in an open area outside.
"Did anyone find anything? Let’s exchange information," Freyr suddenly spoke up but frowned slightly upon counting heads—something felt off; one person seemed missing. Where was Duan Shuai? How could he have vanished at such a moment? Freyr pondered anxiously within himself.
Now there was only one person left, Xiong Tai, who stood there panting. He scratched the back of his head and said, "I checked the other tents and didn't notice anything unusual. If that's the case, the other tents should have a similar layout. The space inside is much larger than outside, and there’s a very deep hole with a rope ladder next to it. That must be a tool for them to get down."
Freyr recalled the situation he had seen earlier and continued, "You're right. Where did Duan Shuai go? How could he just disappear in the blink of an eye?"
Just then, another tent suddenly shook, and a figure emerged from inside, holding large clothes, a backpack, and a pair of shoes. It seemed like he had gone inside to get something, but why was he taking someone else's belongings? Wasn't that illegal?
Thinking this, the two of them quickly approached to take a look. Freyr slapped the man on the forehead and said, "Hey, hey, hey! What’s going on here? You’re taking other people's things; that’s really unethical. Put them back! If the natives find out their stuff has been stolen, they’ll immediately suspect you."
"Uh, no. Although I thought it was a bit strange at first, if you take a closer look at these clothes, aren’t they identical to what we’re wearing? And these shoes are exactly like ours. We even marked them secretly for Commander at this spot; we noted that these shoes are definitely Ross's. So this person must have run into some trouble."
Freyr felt a sting on his forehead; why were they encountering problems again? It seemed like no matter where they went, there were issues. This was really exhausting. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued, "You came from that direction, right? So these clothes must have been found over there. I think the problem lies there. If my guess is correct, those original native residents must have perished in the tribal conflict, and those crosses are marks left by the new tribe's Chieftain as signs of invasion."
"Invasion?"
The two looked at Freyr in confusion. Duan Shuai already had some thoughts brewing in his mind.
He remained calm and just wanted to hear more from Freyr: "That tent is their settlement, and the hole below indicates that they used the ruins to cover up some truths. They might have sent Ross down there to serve as a slave or food source. Of course, it’s also possible he was offered as a marriage gift to the chief's daughter among the natives."
"If that’s the case," Xiong Tai suddenly interrupted Freyr's explanation with an incredulous reason, "then isn’t he just a pawn? I think we can just leave him be; let’s go."
Comment 0 Comment Count