"I didn’t expect it to be Maomu University handling this archaeological excavation."
After entering the camp, Feng Yuan looked at the busy staff with surprise and asked, "Why can he recognize that the other party belongs to Maomu University? The logo of Maomu University was embroidered on the clothes of those people. Seeing them wearing clothes which are easy to move in and offer some protection, Qi Chen glanced at his casual attire, and wondered,
"Should we... change into different clothes?"
"No need, you’re not going to slowly clear those things away. Why change?"
Feng Yuan said without hesitation, "In terms of protection, what could be stronger than the Spirit Beast’s ultimate moves? It’s just that, normally, the protection of a Spirit Beast would interfere with their work, which is why they wear clothes to prevent minor nuisances like scratches."
"Who are you?"
At that moment, a female student came over and looked at Feng Yuan and his companions with some confusion. Unlike the others, the clothes worn by the staff from their own school all had the school emblem, making it easier for them to identify each other. As for the protective guard team? Not to mention that they wear uniforms, both their temperament and movements were off.
The guards showed no interest in their archaeological research at all, and the Special Duty Team only helped them with identity verification at the entrance. When no one was entering or leaving, they preferred to close their eyes and rest.
"Didn’t they tell you?"
Feng Yuan took out his credentials and waved them, then suddenly turned to look at Qi Chen. He only then remembered that the other party might not have the equipment to check special certifications. Without that equipment, there’s no way to verify his special credentials.
Handing over his credentials, Qi Chen briefly explained their situation. Upon looking at Qi Chen’s credentials, the female student nodded her head and said with a bright smile,
"So it’s you guys. I didn’t expect you to come so early. My teacher thought you would arrive a bit later, considering you’ve just graduated—it’s prime time for sleeping in~"
Seeing that the female student didn’t seem to mind their arrival, Qi Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He was somewhat worried that the people here would find their visit bothersome. Shaking his head, Feng Yuan said,
"After all, this ruin is quite special. It’s better to clear it up early and breathe a sigh of relief sooner."
"There’s a problem with the ruin?"
The female student looked at Feng Yuan with some confusion. Although she didn’t know among the three of them who was the remarkable Feng Yuan, she had seen Qi Chen’s credentials, and the name wasn’t Feng Yuan. That name should belong to a male, leaving only him as the possibility.
If he said there was a problem with the ruin, then there might really be trouble. After all, his abilities had been proven. Even though they did not know much about the specifics, they were aware that his knowledge about Ancient Ruins was more profound than theirs. Not to mention anything else, there were said to be two Divine Beasts accompanying him; when it comes to matters involving history, those Divine Beasts always knew much more than ordinary people.
"A bit, yes. Have you checked the construction time of the underground waterways?"
Feng Yuan said after giving the female student a look. Recollecting for a moment, the girl furrowed her brows slightly and stated,
"Apart from the new underground waterways constructed in modern times, there has always been controversy over the construction time of the ancient ones, and there isn’t a definitive conclusion."
This kind of information isn’t easy to validate because, after all, they aren’t Spirit Beasts from an age like Lorraine Tower who can look into the past. However, they have found evidence in the ancient underground waterways suggesting they could be from different historical periods, and that was intriguing. If it turned out that the ancient underground waterways were built in collaboration by different dynasties during different times, what would be their motive?
Moreover, no clear splicing traces have been found in the existing ancient underground waterways. Although some parts showed signs of extensions, those traces were not obvious and didn’t seem like two entirely different people had designed them—at least, not in terms of layout and structure.
"The entire ancient underground water system involves many dynasties. During their respective eras, they repaired and expanded the old waterways and, coincidentally, all chose to conceal the Ancient Ruins below. What do you think that situation might imply?"
Feng Yuan didn’t explain too much, simply bringing the matter up. He believed the other party would understand. Stunned for a moment, the female student looked at Feng Yuan with a shocked expression and exclaimed,
"A collaboration that spans across time? How on earth was that achieved?!"
She wasn’t very doubtful about the correctness of Feng Yuan’s words; as long as he wasn’t deliberately deceiving them, he indeed had a clearer understanding of the truth about these matters than they did. Moreover, this could also explain why they found construction evidence from different dynasties—the thing was that it had been built alternatively by different dynasties all along.
Furthermore, due to repairs, it wasn’t easy to notice any stark contrast between the new and the old, not to mention that ancient underground waterways were still quite distant from modern times. Time could easily smooth over those inconsistencies.
"I don’t know, that’s why I’m very curious about the actual situation of the Ancient Ruins here."
Feng Yuan shook his head, stating that he indeed did not know what the Ancient Ruins here were like, after all, some information was not that easy to find. Not to mention near the specified time zone in the records, information from that period had been completely disrupted. Lacking keywords, it was really difficult for Feng Yuan to find the specific information he wanted.
"So... How about you come down with me now?"
The girl hesitated for a moment before suggesting, hearing Feng Yuan’s explanation, she grew quite worried about the teachers and classmates still in the ruins. There was no helping it; secrets that had been hidden through a collaboration of multiple dynasties tend to be complex. They had thought it was simply an ordinary archaeological excavation of the ruins, never expecting to ’hit the jackpot’ this time.
"Of course, there’s nothing much to see up here anyway."
Shrugging his shoulders, Feng Yuan said he was indeed very interested in the ruins below. Otherwise, he would not have gotten up early today. Qi Chen finally understood why Feng Yuan was acting so out of the ordinary today. However... Were the ruins really safe? Hesitating for a moment, Qi Chen lightly patted Feng Yuan’s shoulder and asked,
"These ruins... They wouldn’t undergo some strange transformation like the Emerald Ruins, would they?"
"No, these ruins are not otherworldly relics, nor do they have strong energy reactions. Besides, even if there was something, protecting Maomu City wouldn’t be too much of an issue."
Seeing Feng Yuan’s unconcerned demeanor, Qi Chen didn’t know whether to believe him or not. But after thinking about it, realizing he didn’t have a better solution, Qi Chen could only suppress his concerns.
"What are otherworldly relics?"
Dou Yanlan found Feng Yuan’s term to be rather unusual. Had it been before, she might have thought it referred to a normal type of ruin. But having experienced so many things following Feng Yuan, she began to suspect that it probably pertained to something from outside this world. However, weren’t enemies from outside this world supposed to attack in biological form? Why...
Seeing Feng Yuan didn’t answer, Dou Yanlan glanced at the girl beside her, understanding something and didn’t press further. After a while, Feng Yuan said,
"That thing, ah..."
"If it’s not suitable, there’s no need to explain it here."
Realizing Feng Yuan was about to say something, Dou Yanlan hurriedly interrupted. She was very aware that some things were indeed not suitable for ordinary people to be involved with. Not sure if that was what Feng Yuan intended to discuss, she couldn’t help but verbalize a reminder.
"There’s nothing inappropriate. Otherworldly relics refer to relics from outside our world that have descended here. They should know about it too."
Nodding in agreement, the girl said,
"That’s right, although we’ve been specifically cautioned not to publicize this widely, we are indeed aware of it."
It wasn’t surprising—if they didn’t know what otherworldly relics were, it would be troublesome if they mistakenly treated one as a normal ruin during their archaeological work. After all, aside from the Emerald Ruins, which was very well-hidden and came with weapons, many otherworldly relics were inherently dangerous.
"Otherworldly relics are remnants from outside our world, which originated as space debris with complex histories. Most of the time, they are vestiges of shattered worlds that have been devoured by our own. But some are intentionally disguised as space debris as baits."
Although Feng Yuan did not elaborate, everyone understood that the Emerald Ruins most likely belonged to the second type, otherwise such events wouldn’t have occurred at the time. Agunas seemed to recall something and turned to Feng Yuan, asking,
"I inquired Drudgeon about it. The cultural style of the Emerald Ruins doesn’t belong to any of the three worlds that are currently at war with us. Could it be that...?"

Comments

Loading...