Chapter 701: The Crystal Corpse’s Secrets
“This…”
Meng Chao felt a chill run up his spine. He composed himself and continued to ask, “Then, when did this crystal-clear ancient intelligent life die?”
“We’ve considered many methods, but we’re unable to determine its age at the time of death without destroying the corpse. We can only roughly guess based on the surrounding items like swords, armor, runic machinery, and some traces of charring.”
Wu Haibo said, “We estimate that this crystal-clear corpse carried items from at least one hundred thousand to tens of millions of years ago.”
“From a hundred thousand to tens of millions of years ago?”
Meng Chao frowned. “Isn’t this span of time a little too large?”
“That’s right. The material foundation of the Other World is extremely unstable. Even the half-life of radiation is the same. Therefore, when we determine the age, it is even more blurry on this world than on Earth.”
Wu Haibo continued, “Speaking of which, the time span of this crystal corpse’s life is indeed far greater than anything we have excavated in the ancient ruins. It’s as if it gathered all the different materials from tens of millions of years to its side.
“In short, the crystal corpse died 100,000 years ago. At that time, the coastline, mountains, and rivers of the Eurasian continent on Earth were completely different from the way there were in the middle and late 21st century. When the crystal corpse was still alive, how could it have foreseen what Earth would look like in 100,000 years? Moreover, how could it know that the people of Earth would travel to the Other World and dig it out?”
Meng Chao fell into deep thought.
In Wu Haibo’s description, there were no ferocious and ugly monsters.
However, he still felt that the mystery behind the crystal corpse was a hundred times more bizarre and terrifying than any Apocalyptic Beasts or even gods from the Other World.
“Other than Earth, are there any other patterns on the metal plate drawn by the crystal corpse?” Meng Chao pondered for a long time, but his brain was still tangled with thorns. He shook his head and continued to ask.
“Yes. Next to Earth, there is a planet that is the same size as Earth. There are also continents and oceans drawn on it. Of course, the outline of the continents is not quite the same as that of Earth.”
Wu Haibo said, “However, since there is an ocean, it means that there is liquid water and an atmosphere. The ratio of the ocean to the land is also seven to three. The craters on the coastline are obviously continuously eroded by the waves. This means that the climate and tides are similar to that of Earth. We have good reasons to suspect that this is the Other World.
“Starting from Earth, there is also an arrow drawn that points to the Other World.
“Compared with the explosive amount of information left behind by this corpse and the words that are extremely difficult to decipher, this arrow is crude and immature to the extreme. Even elementary school students understand that it means that we have transmigrated from Earth to the Other World.
“The so-called ‘arrowhead’ comes from the ‘arrow’. Therefore, as long as our civilization evolves to the point where we can make bows and arrows and sharpen them, we will have the ability to understand this painting…”
Meng Chao muttered to himself and then asked impatiently, “Is there more? Are there more designs?”
“There are, but…”
Wu Haibo organized his words and drew a few circles in the void with his finger, “The entire metal panel seems to have been drawn by the other party with the last bit of his strength before he died. According to the sequence, the earth drawn is the most detailed. It can be magnified continuously with a microscope. The Other World is almost interesting, and the amount of information dropped by several orders of magnitude.
“After drawing the Other World, the other party seemed to realize that it was dying, and it could only speed up and make it crudely. Behind the Other World, it drew several circles in one breath and connected them with the same arrowhead. Finally, it pointed at a large circle that was many times larger than Earth and the Other World.
“The same arrowhead connected Earth, the Other World, and different circles, and it even pointed at a giant circle. What does it mean?”
Meng Chao thought quickly and speculated, “If the first arrowhead refers to the Earthlings’ transmigration to the Other World, does the subsequent arrowheads mean that our transmigration is not over yet and that we are going to travel to more worlds from the Other World?
“Then, what does the giant circle, which is many times larger than Earth and the Other World, mean?
“You must know that the size and mass of Earth are the gold standards for the birth of carbon-based intelligent life. Planets that are many times larger than the earth are only ‘giant planets’ with extremely high gravity. It is hard to imagine that carbon-based intelligent life and civilization will be born on the giant planets
“No, the final destination that the other party drew should not be a giant planet, but an existence that is ten thousand times larger than a giant planet. However, because the space on the metal panel is limited, it can not draw anymore. It can only try its best to draw a small part of the iceberg. Then, it drew many waves that were ejecting outward on the giant circle. In many ancient murals of Earth’s civilization, similar patterns often represented the sun or stars.”
Wu Haibo said, “As for the circles and arrowheads in front of us, your speculation is similar to that of the ancient ruins research center. We all agree that before this crystal-clear ancient lifeform died, it wanted to tell us that… future visitors from Earth, the Other World is definitely not the end. Our journey has just begun. Our mission is to keep transmigrating, and eventually…”
“Eventually transmigrating into a star?”Meng Chao was puzzled.
“Who knows? Perhaps, for life forms active in higher dimensions, the interior of a star would be a different scene?”
Wu Haibo said, “In short, the ancient ruins research center has set up two simultaneous projects based on this crystal corpse. One is to find a large number of remains of the ancient device with the corpse’s guidance, repair and replicate them, in order to master controllable transmigration technology, Project 101. The other is to study the corpse itself, in order to find out why it can predict the form of the earth hundreds of thousands of years later, Project 109.”
It turned out that both Project 101 and Project 109 originated from this mysterious and crystal-clear corpse at least 100,000 years ago.
No wonder Wu Haibo knew everything about the crystal corpse.
“Foresee… the future 100,000 years later?”
Meng Chao gently rubbed his temples and asked thoughtfully, “Did project 109 produce any results?”
“As far as I know, No.”
Wu Haibo slowly shook his head, “As one of the most expensive projects in the ancient ruins research center, Project 101 is still a long way from opening the portal between Earth and the Other World. However, we still have some practical results that can barely cope with the higher-ups and investors.
“However, Project 109 did not produce any theoretical breakthroughs, nor did it produce any results that could be used in actual combat. Instead, in the past seven to eight years, it has driven nearly a hundred researchers crazy.”
“What?”
Meng Chao’s pupils suddenly constricted. “Crazy?”
“Yes, crazy.”
Wu Haibo nodded and said, “To conduct research in such a godforsaken place like the ancient ruins, to go crazy, to have one’s spirit index plummet to zero, and to become a complete lunatic is our fate.
“However, the probability of the researchers of Project 109 collapsing is too high. It is so high that everyone is scared of it. No matter how generous the conditions are, no one is willing to join Project 109.
“Logically speaking, this crystal-clear corpse is one of the most complete objects that we have excavated in the depths of the ancient ruins. If we unlock its secrets, our civilization will be pushed forward for hundreds or even thousands of years. But on the eve of the explosion, there were only seven researchers left in the entire project 109 team, and all of them had become neurotic, depressed, anxious, and irritable. All kinds of negative emotions were extremely intense.
“During several routine tests of the spirit index, their mental state was on the verge of collapse. They should have stopped the research and sent them to treatment, but the team leader of Project 109 patted his chest and promised that they had made a breakthrough in their research and were about to solve the crystal corpse’s mystery. Their discovery might even change the future of Dragon City!”
“Change… the future of Dragon City?”
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes, and the strange fire in his eyes flickered.
“Although all the projects would say this when they robbed people of their money, robbed people of their research facilities, and asked for additional investment and extended the research period, that time, all the members of Project 109 were exuding the spirit of ‘if you don’t go crazy, you won’t survive’, which really scared everyone.”
Wu Haibo sighed repeatedly. “If we hadn’t believed their crazy words, perhaps we would have had a chance to stop the big catastrophic explosion.”
“Big explosion?”
Meng Chao could not help but ask, “What exactly happened in the big explosion two years ago? was everything in Project 109 destroyed? “No matter how many explosions and burns there were, there would always be debris left behind, right? “That crystal-clear corpse, as well as the metal panel that contains the patterns of earth and a huge amount of information, since it can withstand the erosion of hundreds of thousands of years, there’s no reason for nothing to be left behind!”
Wu Haibo looked at Meng Chao strangely and said, “Don’t get excited. You seem to be particularly interested in project 109?”
Meng Chao took a deep breath and said, “You make it sound so bizarre and mysterious. I can’t help but be interested!”
“That’s true. There are too many weird things happening in the depths of the ancient ruins. It’s not unusual for a researcher to suddenly turn into a ferocious dragon. However, the mysterious explosion of Project 109 is definitely qualified to be in the top three of the top ten mysterious events in the ancient ruins.”
Wu Haibo said, “You are right. Both the crystal corpse itself and the metal panel that it used to record information and draw patterns are made of materials that we can not analyze. The strength, hardness, and melting point of the materials are extremely high. Logically speaking, even a steel furnace with a temperature of thousands of degrees would not melt easily.
“But in the most bizarre of explosions, crystal carcasses and metal panels have inexplicably… disappeared.”