"This is …"
Meng Chao felt a chill crawl up his spine. He calmed himself down and continued asking, "Then, when did this crystalline ancient intelligent lifeform die?"
"We've thought of a lot of methods, but we can't figure out when it died without destroying the carcass. We can only make general guesses based on the items around it, such as the weapons, armor, runic symbol machines, and some charred marks," Wu Haibo said.
"We're guessing that the items this crystalline carcass brought with it came from at least one hundred thousand years to tens of millions of years ago."
"One hundred thousand years to tens of millions of years ago?"
Meng Chao frowned. "Isn't that a little too much time span?"
"That's right. The material foundation in the Other World is really unstable. Even the radioactive half-life is the same. That's why it's even more unclear when we're trying to determine the age of the carcass compared to Earth," Wu Haibo continued.
Wu Haibo continued, "Speaking of which, the personal items of this' crystal corpse 'are indeed much older than all the items we've excavated in the primordial ruins. It's as if it's gathered all the different materials from tens of millions of years ago and gathered them around itself.
"In any case, the latest time the crystal carcass died was one hundred thousand years ago. At that time, the coastline, mountains, and rivers of Eurasia on Earth were completely different from the middle and later stages of the twenty-first century. When the crystal carcass was still alive, how could it have predicted what Earth would look like one hundred thousand years later? How could it have known that Earthlings would transmigrate to the Other World and dig it out?"
Meng Chao sank into deep thought.
Wu Haibo's description did not mention any ferocious and ugly monsters.
But he still felt that the secret hidden behind the crystal carcass was much stranger and more terrifying than Apocalyptic Beasts or the extraordinary beings of the Other World.
"Aside from Earth, are there any other pictures on the metal plate drawn by the crystal carcass?" Meng Chao thought about it for a long time, but his mind was still filled with thorns. He shook his head and continued asking.
"Yes. There's a planet about the same size as Earth beside Earth. There are also continents and oceans on it. Of course, the outline of the continents is different from Earth's," Wu Haibo said.
Wu Haibo said. "However, since there's a sea, it means that there's liquid water and an atmosphere. The ratio of the sea to the land is about the same as on Earth. It's seven to three. The shorelines are full of holes, and it's clear that they've been continuously eroded by the waves. This means that the climate and tides are about the same as on Earth. We have sufficient reason to suspect that this is the Other World.
"From Earth, an arrow pointing to the Other World was drawn.
"Compared to the other words left behind by the carcass that contained an explosive amount of information and were extremely difficult to decipher, this arrowhead is extremely simple and immature. Even elementary school students can understand that it means that we have transmigrated from Earth to the Other World."
"The so-called 'arrowhead' originates from 'arrow'. Therefore, as long as our civilization evolves to the point where we can manufacture bows and sharpen arrows, we will be able to understand this painting …"
Then, he asked eagerly, "Are there more? Are there more diagrams?"
"There are more, but …"
Wu Haibo organized his words and used his finger to draw a few circles in the air before he said, "The entire metal panel looks like it was drawn with the last of its strength before it died. Based on the sequence, the Earth it drew is the most detailed, and it can be zoomed in continuously with a microscope. The Other World is the only thing lacking. The amount of information is reduced by several orders of magnitude.
"When it finished drawing the Other World, the person seemed to have realized that it did not have long to live, so it could only speed up and draw crudely. It drew a few circles behind the Other World in one go, and it even used the same arrowhead to connect the circles together. In the end, it pointed to a huge circle that was much larger than Earth and the Other World."
"The same arrowhead connected Earth, the Other World, and different circles. It even pointed to a huge circle. What does that mean?"
Meng Chao's mind raced, and he made a guess. "If the first arrowhead pointed to Earthlings transmigrating to the Other World, then could the series of arrowheads at the back mean that our transmigration journey hasn't ended, and we still have to transmigrate to more worlds?
"Then, what's the meaning of the huge circle that is much larger than Earth and the Other World?
"You have to understand that Earth's size and mass is the golden standard for the birth of carbon-based intelligent lifeforms. Planets that are much larger than Earth only have giant planets with incredibly high gravity. It's hard to imagine that carbon-based intelligent lifeforms and civilizations can be born on giant planets."
"No, the final destination the person drew shouldn't be a giant planet, but an existence that is ten thousand times larger than a giant planet. However, due to the limited space in the metal panel, it couldn't draw it. It could only shrink it and draw the tip of the iceberg. Then, it drew a lot of rippling lines on the huge circle. Many of the ancient murals on Earth usually have similar pictures that represent suns or stars," Wu Haibo said.
"As for the circles and arrowheads in front of us, your guess is about the same as that of the ruins research center. We all believe that before the crystalline ancient lifeform died, it wanted to tell us … future visitors from Earth that the Other World isn't the end. Our journey has just begun. Our mission is to continue transmigrating, and in the end —"
"In the end, transmigrate to a star?" Meng Chao could not understand it.
"Who knows? Perhaps to life forms that are active in higher dimensions, the interior of a star is a different sight," Wu Haibo said.
"In any case, based on this crystal carcass, the ruins research center set up two projects at the same time. One of them is Project 101, which is based on the carcass's guidance to search for a large number of the remains of ancient devices to repair and duplicate them so that they can master controllable transmigration technology. The other is Project 109, which is to research the carcass itself and understand how it managed to predict the state of Earth hundreds of thousands of years later."
In truth, Project 101 and Project 109 came from this mysterious, crystalline carcass that was at least one hundred thousand years old.
It was no wonder then why Wu Haibo knew about the crystal carcass so well.
"Can it … see the future one hundred thousand years later?"
Meng Chao rubbed his temples and asked with a contemplative expression, "Did Project 109 achieve any results?"
"Based on what I know, no."
Wu Haibo shook his head slowly. "As one of the projects that burned the most money in the ruins research center, Project 101 might have been far from opening the transmigration door between Earth and the Other World, but at the very least, we had some very practical results that allowed us to deal with the higher-ups and investors.
"But not only did Project 109 not produce any theoretical breakthroughs, it didn't produce any results that could be used in real battles either. Instead, during the past eight years, it drove nearly one hundred researchers mad."
"What?"
Meng Chao's pupils shrank swiftly. "Mad?"
"Yes, mad."
Wu Haibo nodded. "Doing research in a place as stupid as the ancient ruins leads to spirit energy deviation. Our mental strength indices plummet or even drop to zero, and we end up as complete lunatics. This has always been our destiny.
"But the rate at which the researchers of Project 109 go mad is just too high. It's so high that everyone is intimidated by it. No matter how great the conditions are, no one is willing to join Project 109.
"Logically speaking, this crystalline carcass is one of the most complete items we dug out from the ancient ruins. If we unravel its secrets, it will definitely push our civilization forward by hundreds or even thousands of years. But before the explosion, there were only seven researchers left in Project 109, and all of them were neurotic. They were depressed, anxious, violent, and all sorts of negative emotions were incredibly great.
"During a few routine mental strength index tests, their minds were on the verge of breaking down. We should have forcefully stopped the research and sent them for treatment, but the leader of Project 109 slapped his chest and promised us that their research had reached a breakthrough, and they were about to crack the secrets of the crystal carcass. In fact, their discoveries might even change the future of Dragon City!"
"Change … Dragon City's future?"
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes, and Kindling danced nonstop in them.
"Even though all the projects say this when they're fighting for money, manpower, and time to use their research facilities, as well as asking for more investment and extending the research period, all the members of Project 109 exuded such determination that they could only survive if they weren't mad, and it really shocked everyone."
Wu Haibo sighed. "If we hadn't believed in their crazy words so easily, perhaps we would have had a chance to stop that catastrophic explosion."
"Explosion?"
Meng Chao could not help but ask. "What was going on with the explosion two years ago? Was everything in Project 109 destroyed? No matter how much it exploded and burned, there should have been some remains left, right? The crystalline carcass and the metal panel with the picture of Earth and a large amount of information could withstand the corrosion of hundreds of thousands of years. There's no way that nothing would be left behind! "
Wu Haibo cast Meng Chao a strange glance. "Don't get worked up. You seem to be really interested in Project 109."
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath and said, "You're making it sound so strange and mysterious. It's impossible for me not to be interested!"
"That's true. There are too many strange things that happen in the ancient ruins, so much so that it wouldn't be strange for a researcher to suddenly turn into a ferocious dragon. But the strange explosion in Project 109 is definitely one of the top three mysterious things in the ancient ruins," Wu Haibo said.
"You're right. Regardless of whether it's the crystal carcass itself or the metal panel used to record information and draw the picture, they're all made of a material we can't analyze. This material's strength, hardness, and melting point are really high. Logically speaking, even if it's thrown into a furnace that's thousands of degrees hot, it won't melt easily.
"But during this incredibly strange explosion, the crystal carcass and the metal panel … disappeared for no reason at all," Wu Haibo said.
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