434: The level is very high, seven days apart, I met the statue again (4k two-in-one)

Three minutes later.

Lin Yang and Que Tian both showed satisfied smiles.

Just now, at Que Tian's initiative, Lin Yang and he exchanged some confidential information.

Lin Yang had originally been thinking of exchanging top-secret data with Que Tian from the start.

He just hadn't found a suitable opportunity to bring it up.

But when Que Tian took the initiative to suggest it, Lin Yang naturally exchanged the secret document content with him without hesitation.

He had to admit, he really had guessed correctly.

The Taixuan Ancient Dynasty had indeed explored the Unknown Space independently.

Moreover, it had explored it alone many times, discovering things that the Human Alliance had not.

Now, after the exchange, Lin Yang understood even more about the Unknown Space.

After reading the content exchanged from Lin Yang, Que Tian slowly said, "Team Leader, combining the intelligence you and I each possess, we can conclude that this gilded Stone Statue carries some unknown dangers, and may not be as completely harmless as an ordinary Stone Statue."

"Mm," Lin Yang nodded.

The secret data from the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty that Que Tian gave him indicated that the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty's exploration team had once encountered a Stone Statue with a special mark on its forehead.

At the time, the people of the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty didn't pay much attention, but that Stone Statue was a little different from other statues; it wasn't stationary, but kept following the people of the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty as they moved.

Of course, it wasn't that the Stone Statue itself grew legs and moved, but rather that every so often, the Stone Statue with the special mark would appear next to the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty's exploration team.

It followed them for almost two months, only disappearing after the people of the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty encountered another wave of unknown danger and were forced to withdraw from the Unknown Space.

This was the only time the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty encountered such an eerie Stone Statue with a special mark.

Afterward, the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty's people judged that Stone Statues with such special marks might pose a certain danger.

However, since they had only encountered it once and lacked more supporting data, they couldn't fully determine what kind of danger this special Stone Statue possessed.

They merely warned that if encountered, extra caution was needed.

As for statues with carvings, the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty had never encountered any.

"According to your Taixuan Ancient Dynasty's exploration experience, statues were later categorized into two types: ordinary statues without any special marks, and special statues with marks. As for this carved statue we're seeing now, let's temporarily classify it as a third type of special statue," Lin Yang said.

"Understood, that makes for easier classification," Que Tian nodded.

Lin Yang continued:

"Ordinary statues, as recorded by both the Alien Management Bureau and your Taixuan Ancient Dynasty, are completely harmless. If encountered, simply bypass them."

"As for the marked statue, it moves intermittently, but only appears and follows intermittently, without causing other dangers."

"Now, this carved statue might also possess unknown dangers. We need to vote on whether to continue investigating the entire statue or leave directly."

Although he was the team leader, situations like exploring new discoveries usually came with a substantial extra reward for contribution.

However, their primary mission this time was to investigate the Mingye Clan, not to explore the Unknown Space, so whether to continue a full investigation of this statue needed to be decided by vote.

This, after all, involved everyone's personal interests, and he couldn't make a unilateral decision.

This wasn't a situation where he needed to make an immediate decision in an emergency.

Even though they had already seen the statue's chest, it was only from the front. A full investigation would require exploring the back as well.

This would increase the possibility of encountering unknown dangers.

"I vote to continue investigating this statue," Que Tian was the first to state his position.

"I also vote to continue investigating," Yuan Hao said, "To be honest, it's uncertain whether we'll coincidentally discover the Mingye Clan this time, but the appearance of this statue is a concrete new discovery. Whether for the sake of contribution or otherwise, I believe it's necessary to continue a full investigation."

"Then I also vote to continue investigating," Cai Fei nodded, agreeing with Yuan Hao.

Hearing this, Lin Yang looked at Ding Hui.

Three votes had already been cast to continue the investigation. Following the principle of the majority rules, they should continue, but Ding Hui's feelings couldn't be completely ignored.

Ding Hui waved his hand casually and said, "Since everyone wants to continue exploring, then let's continue. I'm fine with whatever."

"Alright, then let's continue exploring." Lin Yang himself actually wanted to continue the investigation.

This was a new statue!

Afterward, while the Vermilion Bird battleship continued to investigate the statue, Lin Yang began to organize the statue's data and transmit it to the Alien Management Bureau.

In the Unknown Space, as long as they didn't enter special ruins, they could still maintain contact with the Ten Thousand Universes.

However, the time for information transmission back and forth would be very long.

Instant communication was not possible.

Therefore, he chose to decide whether to continue the investigation by voting.

If he were to report to Song Qingfeng first, waiting for Song Qingfeng's reply and instructions would take a very long time.

This was also one of the peculiarities of the Unknown Space.

There were always some places that were not easily understood.

Soon, the Vermilion Bird investigated the statue's head.

The gilding on the head was even more mottled, almost completely worn off.

The enormous head was so large that the battleship's cameras couldn't even capture it completely in one shot.

"This is too big, even the lower lip alone could accommodate several large planets."

Looking at the continuously transmitted photos, Cai Fei and the others exclaimed one after another.

Lin Yang, on the other hand, muttered to himself.

This carving somewhat resembled a Buddhist statue on Blue Star, but not entirely.

Anyway, it gave him a very strange feeling.

"Oh, the statue's eyes don't seem to be completely closed."

When the camera focused on the statue's eyes, Que Tian couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation.

"They seem to be slightly ajar," Lin Yang said after taking a look.

All the statues encountered by the Alien Management Bureau and the Taixuan Ancient Dynasty before, whether humanoid, animalistic, or other shapes, if they had eyes, their eyes were always completely closed.

No exceptions!

But this statue's eyes were slightly ajar.

Although not very obvious, it was still discernible that they were indeed not completely closed.

"Vermilion Bird, take more detailed pictures and video recordings of the statue's eyes for preservation."

Lin Yang instructed the battleship's intelligent System to capture more data on the statue's eyes.

Subsequently, the front of the statue was fully investigated.

"Besides the 'zhen' character on the chest and the slightly ajar eyes, no other special features have been found on the front for now."

"Now, to the back of the statue!"

Lin Yang organized the data from the front of the statue and turned the Vermilion Bird battleship to enter the back of the statue.

This time, the investigation would proceed from top to bottom.

At the same time, Lin Yang silently asked the System: "System, do you know the origin of this statue?"

As he encountered more new things and secrets in the Ten Thousand Universes, the System also needed to unlock corresponding information modules to answer him.

But he currently didn't have enough national treasure value to support the System's upgrade.

So Lin Yang only asked when he remembered, and didn't ask when he didn't.

Because if he truly encountered something particularly special or extremely dangerous, the System would still proactively issue a warning to him.

"Apologies, Host, System has not yet unlocked the corresponding information module for this Unknown Space region."

"The information module level for this Unknown Space region is extremely high. If loaded, a separate module loading upgrade will be required, during which System will enter hibernation, and the duration of this hibernation upgrade cannot be estimated. Would you like to start loading the upgrade immediately?"

The System's answer was also as Lin Yang expected; it indeed hadn't unlocked the corresponding module yet.

However, what slightly exceeded Lin Yang's expectations was that loading the corresponding information module for the Unknown Space region actually required a separate upgrade, which made him say:

"Is this place very special?"

"Yes, Host. From the perspective of information module level, this area is indeed quite advanced and special, ranking in the first sequence among all of System's information modules. It's possible that after loading, obtaining detailed information will still require Host to spend national treasure value to unlock the specific data of corresponding objects."

"...Then let's not load it for now." Lin Yang was speechless.

After loading the information module, he would still have to spend national treasure value to unlock the information, so there was no need to load it for now.

Although the System said it 'might' be needed, based on his understanding of the System, using the word 'might' basically meant it was 100% certain.

And his national treasure value was not much at the moment, so even if it was loaded, he definitely wouldn't be able to pay for unlocking the data.

Moreover, the information module level of this Unknown Space was so high!

The System also couldn't estimate the time required for the upgrade, so based on his limited past experience, this hibernation upgrade might not even be enough for several years.

At this critical juncture, there was no need to let the System hibernate for an upgrade.

Many things about the Mingye Clan still needed to be asked of the System.

Anyway, even if it didn't upgrade and didn't load the complete information module for now, the System could still provide warnings if extremely special dangers were encountered.

Just maintain the status quo for now.

The System fell silent.

Lin Yang didn't ask anything further.

As for letting the System scan and detect the Unknown Space to locate the Mingye Clan... he didn't even mention it.

Just scanning and detecting special areas within the Ten Thousand Universes required an astronomical amount of national treasure value, let alone here.

His meager national treasure value probably wouldn't even be enough to pay for one second of scanning the Unknown Space region.

So there was no need to even open his mouth, lest the System accuse him of being poor again.

"Passive income alone is still far from enough. After this mission, I still need to proactively earn more national treasure value," Lin Yang sighed silently.

The battleship's investigation of the statue's back continued.

However, the back had no special features whatsoever.

A few days later, the investigation of the statue's back also concluded.

Lin Yang calculated that it had taken almost a week in total, from start to finish.

This was enough to show how enormous the statue was!

The Vermilion Bird was a Class Nine battleship; although its speed was slow here, it still proved the immense size of the statue!

"It's truly unimaginable what kind of masterful craftsmanship and power could carve such a colossal statue."

Cai Fei exclaimed again.

Compared to the entity that carved the statue, they were simply too small, too insignificant to mention.

"Let's go. According to our original route and plan, let's continue exploring this area."

Lin Yang didn't say much, and once again had the Vermilion Bird resume its original route for investigation.

For seven consecutive days, everything went smoothly.

"It seems that statue should also be without any danger," Que Tian said.

The marked statue recorded by their Taixuan Ancient Dynasty would appear next to the exploration team every few days.

The interval never exceeded seven days.

But now seven days had passed, and the statue with the 'zhen' character on its chest that they had seen before hadn't reappeared, which led him to make a preliminary judgment.

However... no sooner had Que Tian finished speaking than Cai Fei's face suddenly changed drastically. He pointed in front of the battleship in shock and exclaimed:

"That, that's not..."

Following Cai Fei's exclamation, Lin Yang and the others subconsciously looked.

Then, everyone's faces also changed instantly.

They saw that another statue had appeared in front of the battleship.

And this statue, like the one they encountered last time, first presented its toes.

A... mottled gilded toe.

"This, is this the same statue from seven days ago?!"

Lin Yang's pupils contracted. He immediately ordered the Vermilion Bird to accelerate towards the statue's chest!

The mottled gilded Stone Statue, they had encountered it for the first time seven days ago.

This one now was exactly the same!

"I hope this is another new mottled gilded Stone Statue, and not the previous one..." Cai Fei recovered his senses and began to pray.

Lin Yang didn't speak; his heart was equally tense.

If it was another new gilded Stone Statue, that would be fine, it would just mean there were other gilded Stone Statues in this area.

But if it still had that 'zhen' character... "I hope it's not the one from seven days ago," Que Tian's eyes were cold, staring at the screen without blinking.

However... hope was beautiful.

Reality was cruel.

When the battleship arrived at the statue's chest, the large ancient 'zhen' character once again came into view, shattering everyone's hopes.

"The exact same 'zhen' character!"

Lin Yang's heart sank. He pulled up the previously taken footage and began to compare.

"Even the detailed patterns are exactly the same, not off by a single bit. It doesn't seem like a replica of another finished product; it should be the same one."

The comparison results were not optimistic.

"Let's check the eyes again!"

Que Tian was also extremely solemn.

Soon, the battleship once again reached the statue's eyes.

Still the exact same slight opening!

"The texture and angle are also the same as before, not off by a single bit!"

After comparing the details of the eyes again, Lin Yang fell silent, staring solemnly at the statue outside the viewport.

Que Tian was also silent.

"What do we do now?" Cai Fei was a little anxious.

"Let's bypass it again for now."

Lin Yang gazed deeply at the statue outside the viewport, then decisively ordered the Vermilion Bird to leave immediately.

Soon, the statue once again disappeared into the boundless darkness.

The atmosphere inside the battleship was not as relaxed as when they had left last time.

"Let's wait another seven days and see if we encounter this statue again!"

Lin Yang took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over Que Tian and the other three, and said faintly:

"If we encounter it again after seven days, then we might have to start thinking about how to escape."

"I hope our luck isn't that bad."

The few people looked at each other in silence.

Time flew, and another seven days passed.

When the time came to the point when they had re-encountered the statue last time, Lin Yang and the others all stared unblinkingly at the front of the battleship.

"Last time, we re-encountered the statue at exactly 6 PM, and we completely moved away from the statue at 6:15 PM. Now, we'll see in fifteen minutes."

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