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墨書 Inktalez
Although they had partially reverted to their ancestral traits, their eyes were exceptionally bright, shining like beacons in this pitch-black place. It was as if they were walking under the bright midday sun.
She disliked light sources, so to facilitate our communication, I had not turned on my flashlight throughout our journey. With her night-vision abilities guiding us, I had no need to worry about such things. Now that we had arrived at our destination, curiosity about what their tribe looked like prompted me to switch on the flashlight.
The moment I did, my heart tightened.
Before us, about twenty to thirty meters away, lay a cluster of dilapidated buildings that resembled a refugee camp in Africa—ruined and clearly hastily rebuilt after being destroyed. The Serpent Women lived in unimaginable misery, beyond words to describe!
Even more horrifying was the sight at the entrance of the tribe: a vast expanse of corpses laid out in rows, densely packed together. When the flashlight beam swept over them, it revealed a dark mass that was utterly shocking.
“What is this...?”
My eyelids twitched violently as I turned to glance at her, only to find her face filled with sorrow. She even gently turned away, seemingly unwilling to look at the scene.
“Let’s go into the tribe,” she said softly with a sigh as she moved forward. “This is the result of the demons who have recently come here. They have slaughtered countless members of my tribe, and we haven’t been able to dispose of the bodies for a long time. We can only leave them here for now.”
Why not burn them?
The question almost slipped out of my mouth but stopped short when I realized how foolish it would sound. I swallowed it back down.
They feared fire and light!
Not to mention the environment here; being underground meant poor ventilation. If a fire were lit, thick smoke would billow up—how long would it take to disperse? There was a real danger that it wouldn’t clear out at all and could end up suffocating them all!
She seemed to guess what I was thinking, turning her head to glance at me before saying, "Our people drag the bodies into the sea and offer them as sacrifices to the Sea God. We rely on hunting the creatures of the ocean for our survival, and when we die, we should return our bodies to nature, giving them back to the sea."
I nodded, indicating that I understood. This was likely a form of reverence and awe for their environment, or perhaps gratitude; compared to this, humanity seemed to fall short.
As we walked toward the tribe, she appeared to open up more and shared many things with me.
For instance, she spoke about the characteristics of their clan.
Throughout the long years, they had evolved in ways that allowed them to adapt to their environment. To combat the giant beasts of the sea, they possessed strength far beyond that of humans, especially in their arm strength. Additionally, their lifespans extended over three hundred years, all of which aided their survival in the treacherous depths of the ocean. However, nature is fair!
The advantages they gained came at a clear cost: their reproductive capabilities! The poorer their ability to reproduce, the more vulnerable their clan became.
For example, the National Treasure Panda has particularly low fertility.
The phrase "Yin-Yang Balance" cannot always be applied in certain situations. As Matthew Effect puts it, in the way of yin and yang, loss compensates for abundance; this seemingly unreasonable setup can be understood by looking at the issue of wealth disparity in human society.
It seems these two groups were truly ruthless!
Sauron's actions were somewhat understandable; after all, it was not human. But what organization was behind the later group that acted even more mercilessly? Most of the Serpent Women were shot dead, with only a small number torn apart alive!
Her clan had reached a precarious point; they could no longer withstand any further turmoil! Perhaps realizing this, she chose to abandon her attack on us and opted for the most humiliating way to resolve conflict.
After hearing her words, I felt a pang of sympathy as we entered the tribe.
Due to the numerous corpses around, a strong smell of blood permeated the air. The atmosphere was foul; as soon as I stepped inside, I frowned. Thankfully it was underwater; if we were on land, those bodies would rot away quickly, leading to an outbreak of disease!
I hope she can deal with these corpses soon!
At this moment, Zhengyang and the others had mostly lowered their guard and began to approach her. Under her lead, our group traversed the tribe and headed straight for her Homeland. As we passed through, the Serpent Women in the tribe looked at us with unfriendly gazes, hissing at us.
In nature, a snake's hiss signifies hostility, which was understandable. If it weren't for her accompanying us, I estimated that those Serpent Women would have rushed over and torn us apart!
This settlement wasn't large; crossing it took about seven or eight miles. We didn't linger here and left the area. After walking for nearly twenty to thirty minutes, we finally reached the end of this Underground World. The space that had been excavated was now very narrow, leaving only a passageway about three to four meters wide and over a meter high. We walked less than a hundred meters down the Passageway when she finally stopped, leaning forward on the ground and continuously bowing in worship.
"There are indeed murals on both sides!"
Bald Qiang opened his flashlight and shone it ahead. Before us was a long, seemingly endless Passageway; at least, the beam from our powerful flashlight couldn't reach its end. The earthen walls on both sides of the Passageway were densely covered with carvings, clearly depicting the history of Atlantis.
Although nine thousand years had passed, these murals were remarkably well-preserved. The beginning of the mural was not far from where we stood and extended deep into the Passageway!
As for the start of this mural, it contained just one phrase—one line of text!
This was the only line of written description I could see among the murals, inscribed in Cursed Script on the earthen wall. The engravings were particularly deep, indicating that the craftsman had been very excited while carving these words, applying great force!
Zhengyang and the others also noticed this solitary string of text in the murals and gathered around. Big Mouth Lee joined them and said, "It's my turn to perform again. What does this say?"
I shot a glare at Big Mouth Lee; he always had that annoying expression!
To be honest, I found this sentence somewhat difficult to understand as it contained two abandoned roots from Cursed Script. I hesitated for a moment before saying, "The end of civilization is destruction and death."
"How ominous!"
Bald Qiang curled his lip and disdainfully said, "Humans create civilization to live better, so how can it be about destruction and death?"
I let out a bitter laugh, realizing that I would probably never understand the mindset of the Atlanteans when they wrote that line.
"I think you should stop focusing on the history of Atlantis!"
At that moment, for some reason, Wan sighed softly beside us. She squatted down and stared at the corner of the earthen wall across from us, suddenly raising her voice a few decibels, "Brother Xia, that phrase has appeared again!"
The atmosphere was such that her sigh indicated something had struck a chord within her. For someone who seemed outwardly cheerful, she actually harbored many vulnerabilities inside. The hatred from her lost country must always linger in her heart; even time had not erased that trace of sorrow.
The writing was familiar, identical to what we had seen before entering this Underground World. It was clearly penned by the same hand!
Who left this writing? Who were they trying to remind? What did they know?
Whoever left this message!
Who could it be?
My mind was filled with questions.
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