The long stone staircase stretched all the way up.
Gu Jun and Yu Chi rested at the entrance for a long time before they slowly made their way up. They paid attention to their stamina and mental power. Compared to the 'first time' they climbed this staircase, this time it took them several times longer. However, when they reached the top, neither of them was out of breath even though their knees were slightly sore.
"Captain Gu, is anything wrong?" Yu Chi asked. His eyes were glued to the front. He was awed by the towering stone pillars and the majestic dome.
"No, everything is normal." Gu Jun was responsible for keeping an eye on the back but he would occasionally turn his head to look ahead. Yu Chi did not notice that.
Gu Jun kept his eyes on the shadow of the witch. She did not show herself. Perhaps she was unable to show herself or this was another conspiracy. He thought about many things along the way but they were like a tangled ball of string that he could not sort out.
"There is a door over there." Yu Chi said, "I see some bookshelves inside … Captain Gu, this appears to be the place you've been to in your illusion."
"I feel the same way. Let's continue to move back to back." Gu Jun could only maintain this stance for now.
The two slowly moved towards the door in the spacious hall. When they passed the stone pillars, they were within arm's reach. They studied them closely. The intricate carvings, patterns and inscriptions on the stone surface challenged the limits of their imagination. They carried their thoughts deeper and further into the unknown.
However, unlike the statues from the R'yleh Cult and Land of Mu that would cause mental distortion and loss of consciousness, they were still conscious.
This feeling was similar to coming into contact with the Ancient Seal. They appeared to be from the same company, Pnakotic Technology.
When they reached the door, Yu Chi studied it carefully. There was no sign of a seal or barrier. He used the shovel to poke forward and it was confirmed they could pass through the door. "Captain Gu, I'll go in first. You act according to the situation."
Gu Jun nodded. His heart tensed because in his previous two experiences, nothing like this had happened.
He wondered if Captain Yu would be sliced into 8 pieces by an invisible laser once he stepped into the door.
"Captain Yu, why don't you stretch out one of your hands first?"
"You have a point …" Yu Chi understood his intention. His moustache tightened as he slowly reached Fei Li's left hand into the door … Yu Chi sighed in relief. Everything was fine. He took another step forward and crossed the smooth door into the living room. Everything was still fine.
Looking around, all he could see were similarly huge bookshelves.
The bookshelves were made of a kind of black wood, and they were arranged in rows. Some of them were so high that they reached the dome, and they seemed to be the pillars of the building. The bookshelves were filled with large, exquisite books. The spines of the books were printed with strange hieroglyphs, just like the inscription on the stone. This was a civilization that used hieroglyphs.
"Ah …" Yu Chi gasped. If he didn't force himself to calm down, he would've lost his mind.
To archaeologists, this place was the most fatal temptation in the world. Money and beautiful women were nothing compared to it.
Just thinking about how much information was contained in those books, which came from a lost civilization and an unknown space-time made it hard for him to control his emotions.
"Captain Yu, what's wrong?" Gu Jun asked. When he heard that painful cry, he was startled.
"I'm fine, I'm just excited …"
Gu Jun observed for a while longer. After confirming that Yu Chi was fine, he walked past the door.
Even though Yu Chi was leading the way, Gu Jun moved even more carefully, paying special attention to the shadows behind him. Once he passed the door, he realized the shadows on the octagonal stone floor had disappeared. His, the witch's and Yu Chi's shadows were nowhere to be seen. Was this … due to the illumination?
He knew what a shadowless lamp was.
Gu Jun looked around. Other than the large bookshelves, there were some large podiums with glowing crystal balls placed on them. They did not create any shadows.
Gu Jun knew that just because the shadow was not reflected did not mean it did not exist.
Did the witch follow him in? Could she follow him in?
"These books are so thick, each one of them could crush us to death …" Yu Chi started to worry. "How are we supposed to read them?"
The books were meant to be read, they could not be read just by pressing their palms on them. Some of the podiums were obviously reading tables. There were open books, papers and writing tools scattered on the podiums but there were no chairs.
For such a large reading table, the creature who used it had to be huge, probably 3 to 4 metres tall.
Furthermore, the civilization seemed to have left in a hurry. They did not even clean up the podiums before they left.
Gu Jun believed they had left and not died or were murdered because the place was not messy and there were no signs of battle.
However, that was just a guess, this place could not be predicted with common sense.
"Captain Yu, I don't see any shadows on the ground." Gu Jun decided to give it a try. "Why don't you turn around to look?"
Once he said that, Yu Chi noticed. He too did not see any shadows. This alerted him.
These books were a real temptation, and with every temptation came danger.
At the same time, Gu Jun's heart relaxed. The witch did not appear and Yu Chi could not sense her presence. However, he still did not know how to explain this situation.
They decided not to touch anything here for the time being. The bookshelves, the pedestals, the stone artifacts, and so on. Their priority was to find the location that Gu Jun was at in the illusion. In the illusion, he was at the aisle between two rows of bookshelves and there was another pedestal before him.
The two walked forward and realized the place was strangely large. Even the grandest stone building of human civilization was small compared to this.
They walked in a straight line for half an hour. Based on their walking speed, that was about 3 kilometers but they were still walking between the black wooden bookshelves.
One could imagine the size of this library was not something a human library or a stadium could compare to.
After walking for a while, Gu Jun's eyes suddenly narrowed. Finally, he saw the giant stone platform. On top of it, there was a machine made from glass tubes, metal rods, and various unknown materials. Even though the design was strange, it looked like some kind of cabin, but the size was too large.
Even if the strongest human giant were to lie down inside, he would feel that it was empty inside.
It was suitable for a 3 to 4 metre tall body, which matched the size of the reading podium.
"This is it …" Gu Jun said darkly, "This place is familiar, I was standing right in front of this place …"
This feeling was very strange. He didn't know if he was in the past, present, or future. This was the first time he had arrived here.
"Those machines?" Yu Chi mumbled. Another wave of enthusiasm washed over him. The books were mesmerizing, so were the machines.
'Can they still move? What kind of power do they use? What are they used for? '
Both Gu Jun and Yu Chi had a feeling that the mysterious signal told them to find Pnakotus City and to get here, it was to use these machines.
"Captain Yu, this time it's my turn to walk in front." Gu Jun said as he slowly walked towards the podium at the very front. "If there's anything, just say the word."
Yu Chi stood guard at the back. Gu Jun got closer and closer to the podium. Perhaps it was a psychological effect but his head started to throb.
At the time, the blurry shadow had appeared between the books and next to the podium …
Gu Jun remembered the shadow was large and tall. It was hard to tell whether it was humanoid or something else but here, he could not see the shadow.
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