59: Chapter 59 The Trajectory of Civilization

"This place can be confirmed as some kind of temple."

Entering a new space, Li Ming shone his flashlight around. "While I can't be sure if the Sirens made this, this mural... is it a world map?"

It looked like a massive world map, but the shape of the continents was undoubtedly that of a vast different world.

Unlike the world he was currently in, the land-to-sea ratio of this planet was close to 1:1, and the map Fujian had shown him didn't exist on this one at all.

"Is this another planet, or did our world once suffer some kind of supernatural disaster that destroyed the original landscape?"

A6 was inspecting the surroundings; she couldn't understand these things.

Vida was much the same; she could only be a quiet listener. As a pirate, she was still better at treasure hunting.

"A6, if you find anything else, mark it for me immediately." Li Ming turned and called out to A6 in the distance.

"Yes, Sir," A6 responded from afar.

Li Ming continued to examine the patterns at the edge of the map. The mural was quite complete and wasn't as incomprehensible as he had imagined.

A majestic figure holding a trident—this was almost certainly a suspected Sea God or a similar deity. Judging by the scale of the ruins, this shouldn't be a minor god in this world.

He took out his camera and snapped a photo—luckily, he had remembered to go back and take pictures of the previous section; now he might be able to piece them together.

"Did the Sea God change the world's terrain?" Li Ming rubbed his chin. "If there's a polytheistic system, the Sea God would surely have been stopped."

"Report." A6 called out from a distance. Li Ming looked over; A6's flashlight was pointing at another section of the wall.

The two of them followed her and looked at the new image.

"This is..." Li Ming pondered for a moment. The "Sea God" was fighting other unknown figures. "A war of the gods?"

After looking around carefully, "The fall of the gods, the rising sea, revenge against those who opposed him...?"

Li Ming scratched his head. "I don't get it. The only logical explanation is a collapse of the groundwater structure, causing all the water to surge to sea level, leading to a massive geological disaster."

Seeing the two girls looking at him, Li Ming gave them both a little pat. "Just a guess; the actual situation might be different from what I'm imagining. Is there any other information nearby?"

"Report: no further information found."

"Then let's keep going. A6, I'll have to trouble you again."

"Yes, Sir."

The group continued forward, and Li Ming suddenly glanced back.

Did the eyes of that Sea God statue just glow?

Looking closely, there was nothing.

Maybe it was just the light reflecting off the statue's eyes. Li Ming turned his head back and continued walking.

The statue's eyes flashed again.

——————

This was the next space.

"Is this... the main hall of a palace?"

High seats atop steps, stone pillars that might have once been magnificent but now lacked color, leaving only mottled traces.

The dome overhead seemed to be coated with some unknown fluorescent material, providing a faint light source that allowed them to see the interior of the palace.

"Vida, it's your turn."

"I... Oh, I see..." Vida suddenly understood what her Commander wanted to do.

When you find a place like this, you definitely have to look for treasure!

Curiosity temporarily overrode her fear of survival, and Vida and Li Ming began their treasure hunt.

A6 glanced back at them, remained silent for a long while, and then continued to check for potential threats in the area.

Li Ming circled behind the high platform seat. "Everyone look, there's a button here."

A6 ran over quickly, carefully checking the button for potential traps.

However, she clearly didn't find any danger. Li Ming and Vida discussed it and decided to press the button.

With a loud clatter, a sound came from behind them, startling the three of them so much they nearly opened fire.

Turning around, they saw a new space.

"Are we going in?" Li Ming asked as the three of them stared at each other.

"We've come this far." After a long silence, Li Ming spoke again, "Let's go in and look; maybe there's a new way out."

The group walked through the narrow secret door. Behind it was another long corridor; it was hard to imagine where such a large space came from.

"Report." After an unknown amount of time, A6 spoke again, "Suspicious target ahead."

Following her light, Li Ming also seemed to see a massive unknown object in the space ahead, though he couldn't tell what it was.

"Vida?" Li Ming looked back, and Vida understood his meaning. She pulled A6 behind her, aimed her pistol forward, and the three advanced cautiously.

It wasn't until they entered the space that the three confirmed it was a massive statue of the god.

"Hmm, a very... idealistic creation." Li Ming commented. The statue looked at least forty to fifty meters tall and seemed to be made of some kind of stone. It would be hard for anyone to make something like this without extreme religious fervor.

"But compared to the previous images, this one looks like a female, and the previous ones... also seemed mostly female?" Li Ming fell silent for a moment. "Could it be that this world is one giant galgame?"

Vida retorted, "Have you even played a galgame?"

"No."

Vida facepalmed. What was even going on?

Li Ming gave a sheepish grin and began to examine the statue.

From the feet at eye level to the top... is there no face?

Li Ming was puzzled and checked the surroundings. There was a door in a corner of the space, and A6 was checking it for danger.

After a while, A6 gave the 'all clear' signal.

"Let's go take a look."

As the three walked in, Li Ming realized these were stairs, and they seemed to lead upward.

Walking all the way up, they didn't find any traps, but they saw more life-sized statues of gods.

The one suspected to be the Sea God was among them. Li Ming could confirm that every deity seemed to be female. Why was that?

Reaching the end of the stairs, the group saw the exit of this space and a window looking into the chamber—directly facing the face of the massive statue outside.

That face had nothing on it; it looked like it had been deliberately destroyed.

Why would that be? The faces and bodies of the other life-sized statues were perfectly intact.

Could this be some kind of... Mother Goddess? A Ruler of the Gods or something?

"I'll have to re-study theology when I get back," Li Ming joked, though he actually had no intention of learning that stuff and definitely didn't want to.

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