179: Chapter 179 Remnants of Civilization, Fragments of the Nine Cauldrons, and the Interrupted Legacy

In terms of scale, the Civilization Research Institute was even much larger than The Stars' teaching district.

Moreover, there were no scattered building complexes; there was only a super fortress enveloped by a massive energy shield.

After coming out of Professor Xu Bo's exclusive laboratory, Shen Xinghe took Chen Mo to visit many public areas.

There were dedicated lounge areas, independent quiet rooms, and temporary laboratories that even ordinary researchers could apply for.

Of course, none of these were actually Shen Xinghe's main purpose.

"Identity verification in progress... Verification passed! Please enter."

After touring the outer areas of the institute, Shen Xinghe finally brought Chen Mo into the core area, which only official researchers were qualified to enter.

Chen Mo had also long since taken out his identity nameplate, smoothly passing the inspection of the first mechanical gate.

*Clack!*

A soft sound of mechanical retraction came, and Chen Mo looked up, his pupils contracting slightly.

"S-1!"

"It is indeed an S-1 tech-side weapon," Shen Xinghe explained with a smile.

"This is only the defense mechanism deployed on the first floor of the core area. The second floor and the third floor, which only professor-level figures can enter, are the truly terrifying ones. Of course, as mere Level 3 researchers, we don't have the clearance to go up there either."

In the Main World Federation, technological weapons and extraordinary alloys have strict Rank classifications.

S, A, B, C!

Rank S corresponds to a Main God, while S-1 represents a weapon whose power can rival the Peak strike of a First-Turn Main God.

Although these technological weapons lacked the control of a mechanical-type deity and thus did not have Law bonuses, their pure, raw energy output was still enough to leave 99% of True Gods waiting for death in despair.

"So what exactly is in the core area that requires such protection?"

Walking through the mechanical gate, Chen Mo couldn't help but look inside curiously, only to see 'junk' wrapped in invisible force fields.

Indeed, it was junk.

Looking around, tens of thousands of fragmented 'civilization relics' floated in the hall of the core area's first floor, among which were many Spirit Treasures and Magical Artifacts from the Primordial Era.

These treasures, which most people would consider once-in-a-lifetime finds, were treated like 'exhibits' by the Civilization Research Institute, put on display in the core area's hall just to show off.

"Haha, surprised, aren't you?" Shen Xinghe said with a smile, a trace of emotion flashing in his eyes.

"A little."

Chen Mo spoke honestly.

He knew that with The Stars' heritage, the Civilization Research Institute under its banner would definitely have deep foundations, but he hadn't expected it to be this ridiculous.

"To be honest, when I first entered the core area, I was even more surprised than you."

Shen Xinghe spoke with deep emotion, raising his hand to draw a damaged 'Spiritual Artifact' enveloped in a force field over to him.

"Give it a try and test your luck."

Shen Xinghe looked at Chen Mo with a grin, then reached his right hand into the force field that was still active.

"We can touch them?"

Chen Mo's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Of course we can touch them. Isn't that exactly what our Civilization Research Institute does?"

Shen Xinghe gave Chen Mo a strange look and continued,

"Give it a try. Back then, I spent several days touching every single one of these tens of thousands of 'defective goods.' Who knows, maybe this one is 'destined' for you."

Looking at Shen Xinghe's expectant gaze, Chen Mo felt a bit amused.

He of course understood what Shen Xinghe meant.

For any civilization researcher, extracting value from relics was no easy task.

Aside from requiring a sufficient reserve of knowledge, it also depended on a bit of luck.

Civilization Phantoms!

An academic term related to civilization research.

To explain it in layman's terms, it referred to the 'historical images' recorded when a civilization relic was first formed.

Chen Mo was actually quite familiar with this.

Because the so-called 'Inheritance Illusion' in his panel actually brought him into these 'Civilization Phantomss'.

Therefore, whether one could 'resonate' with a relic to view these 'Civilization Phantomss' often became the key to researching them.

But as it turned out, the probability of resonance was actually extremely small.

Take Shen Xinghe himself: back then, he had touched all of these defective goods, yet he only resonated with seven or eight of them.

And that was the result of his own knowledge reserve being far superior to that of ordinary researchers.

For most newly promoted official researchers, being able to resonate with two or three items out of these tens of thousands of relics was already considered a passing grade.

"Then I'll... give it a try."

Chen Mo feigned excitement, raising his hand and reaching toward the force field enveloping the relic.

The moment he touched the force field, he could clearly feel a repulsive force, but it wasn't strong; a little effort was enough to penetrate it.

Chen Mo understood that the purpose of this force field was not for protection, but to prevent the relic's own power from continuing to dissipate over time, and to stop anyone from directly taking these 'defective goods' away.

Indeed, even these defective goods, which the institute deemed to have little research value, could not be taken out of the core area at will.

A damaged relic was still a relic. The Stars' Civilization Research Institute had paid a considerable price to collect so many damaged relics.

Chen Mo didn't mind this. With his status as an official researcher, it would be easy to obtain research application permits for these defective goods, with the cost being merely a symbolic amount of academic credits.

"Good luck."

Shen Xinghe had an expression of waiting to see a good show, clearly expecting Chen Mo to hit a wall, and then...

*Buzz!*

Along with a buzz at the Soul level, a wave of energy that felt both familiar and somewhat foreign to Shen Xinghe suddenly surged.

It was familiar because Shen Xinghe had experienced it himself.

It was foreign because that was already more than a decade ago.

Indeed, Shen Xinghe himself hadn't 'resonated' with any civilization relic for over ten years.

"This..."

At this moment, Shen Xinghe's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He stared fixedly at the bronze fragment already gripped in Chen Mo's hand, which was emitting a faint glow.

On the other hand, Chen Mo had already closed his eyes with calm composure.

"Ding, you are receiving a Legacy."

Legacy Name: nine cauldrons fragment {Rank 1 Spiritual Artifact}

Status: Extremely Fragmented {This will greatly affect the quality and duration of the Inheritance Illusion. Do you wish to initiate the Legacy?}

"?"

"No!"

Chen Mo chose to decline without the slightest hesitation.

There were two reasons. One was that the 'quality' of this relic was indeed too poor.

However, this was only normal.

Why was the Civilization Research Institute so eager for the 'White Bone Dharma Image' discovered in the Black Bone Civilization? Wasn't it because they saw that it was a 'high-quality' Primordial Era relic?

Generally speaking, the more ancient a Legacy and the better preserved it was, the greater its origin and value.

The White Bone Dharma Image met both conditions, so its value was naturally the highest among relics of the same grade.

As for the second reason, Chen Mo did not want to enter the Inheritance Illusion in such an environment.

It wasn't that he was afraid Shen Xinghe would notice something, but standing in this hall was simply a bit too conspicuous.

"Why did you back out?"

Shen Xinghe's voice suddenly pitched up several octaves as he stared in disbelief at Chen Mo, who had opened his eyes again.

"I..."

Just as Chen Mo was about to speak, Shen Xinghe grabbed his wrist and kept pushing it back toward the nine cauldrons fragment.

But this time, no glow appeared, and there was not the slightest abnormality around them.

"Dammit!"

Shen Xinghe couldn't help but curse inwardly, then looked at Chen Mo.

"Why didn't you keep going? Do you have any idea how rare this opportunity is?"

Chen Mo was speechless.

After a brief hesitation, he reached out and gripped the bronze fragment once more.

*Buzz!*

Shen Xinghe:

"

"..."