281: Chapter 281: Atlantis, the Enemy from the Egyptian Temple

"It's here, it's here! Finally, the stream is live!"

"I waited all day yesterday, do you know how I got through it?"

"Does Atlantis really exist?"

"Xiaoyu's brother is going to talk about Atlantis; I'm genuinely interested in this!"

"I remember Plato said it seemed to have sunk into the sea."

"Sunflower seeds and cola, front-row seat is ready."

"..."

Countless comments flooded the screen.

His livestream occupied the nightlife of nearly twenty million people; not watching for a day made them feel uncomfortable!

Kyoto, Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming sneered, "Atlantis? To think he's actually bringing up a legendary, fictional nation—this guy really dares to say anything. I want to see what tricks you're pulling tonight!"

Jin Xianmeng looked at the big screen with a very serious expression and mused, "If you strip away the mythical elements from the Atlantis in Plato's writings, the core information that remains is actually quite clear: it was an ancient civilization that sank to the ocean floor overnight due to a massive disaster."

"The key is the timeline: 12,000 years ago."

Zheng Ming asked curiously, "What about 12,000 years ago?"

Jin Xianmeng glanced at him. "12,000 years ago was when the last glacial period ended, and global sea levels rose by over a hundred meters."

"If there really was an island civilization back then, it could certainly have been submerged, and once submerged, it would be very difficult to find again."

"That's just like the [Global Flood Caused by Lunar and Earth Tides] from the recording of Xiaoyu's brother that you showed me earlier!"

Gusu High School, Principal's office.

Principal Fu had just finished setting up the school's winter break plans; he was one of those who still came to work during the winter break, or rather, one of those who came to watch the livestream.

It was still Old Wang, Xiao Wang, and the astronomy teacher, Ren Xiaoyao.

They had decided to spend the New Year together, simply because they didn't want to miss the special New Year's program.

On the projection was the perspective of the hidden camera filming Jiang Zhe.

A flash of keen insight sparkled in Old Wang's eyes. "Atlantis, this is interesting."

Teacher Xiao Wang also became interested. "Uncle Wang, have you researched this?"

Old Wang nodded. "I've researched it a little. It's a very controversial topic. Whether it's a real ancient civilization or an allegory made up by Plato, let's wait and see."

Ren Xiaoyao said, "I personally think it's more of an allegorical story than reality; otherwise, we would have found evidence of Atlantis long ago."

Principal Fu nodded slightly.

Kyoto, University of History faculty housing.

The floor heating in the living room had been turned on, and the four old friends were sitting on the floor playing Zha Jinhua.

Just before the stream was about to start, the four of them got up from the floor and sat back on the sofa.

Upon hearing "Atlantis," Professor Chen Runzhi immediately found *Dialogues* from the bookshelf behind him; it was a yellowed book.

"Found it." Professor Chen Runzhi spoke slowly. "Nine thousand years before Solon, the Athenians established a great city-state with strict laws and a powerful military."

"At the same time, on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules, there was a huge island, larger than Asia and Libya combined, where there was a powerful kingdom named Atlantis."

"The kings of Atlantis held dominion over the entire island, and their power extended to other islands and parts of the continent."

"But later, they gradually became arrogant and greedy, wanting to conquer the whole world."

"The Athenians led the resistance and eventually defeated them."

"However, right at that time, violent earthquakes and floods occurred, and within a day and a night, the island of Atlantis sank to the ocean floor and disappeared forever."

Professor Chen Runzhi closed the book and looked at the other three. "This is what Jiang Zhe is talking about tonight."

Qian Mingyi couldn't help but ask, "The Pillars of Hercules, I remember that being the Strait of Gibraltar?"

"Yes, it is the Strait of Gibraltar." Professor Chen Runzhi nodded. "According to Plato, Atlantis should be outside the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Atlantic Ocean."

Professor Liu Guangyi said, "I remember the USA sent an expedition team last century to look for Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean; they found a few underwater structures, but the dates didn't match, and neither did the scale. Some might have been naturally formed underwater mountain ranges."

Qian Mingyi looked at Old Liu and Old Chen. "In other words, up to now, there is no solid evidence proving that Atlantis exists?"

Professor Chen Runzhi shook his head. "None. In that case, tonight is a challenge for Jiang Zhe; it's going to be a bit difficult."

Huaqing University, Physics Department faculty dormitory.

Jiang Zhe began to appear on the big screen in the living room.

Ouyang Baili, Professor Wu Ming, Guan Jingming, and Li Mo immediately stopped chatting and focused their attention on the lesson.

Inside the big screen, in the living room.

Warm yellow light spilled onto the sofa, and the light and shadows from the LCD TV flickered back and forth.

Xiao Yu asked curiously, "Brother, I remember this topic about Atlantis has been hot for over a hundred years, but it seems like it hasn't been found yet."

"Yes, at least it hasn't been found yet." Jiang Zhe nodded. "But, Xiao Yu, why don't we make a hypothesis first? Assume Atlantis really did exist; perhaps it could explain all the unsolved technological mysteries in the world, such as some technologies that don't fit that era!"

This one sentence instantly piqued the curiosity of Xiao Yu and countless viewers.

Xiao Yu's eyes gradually sharpened. She knew that in rumors, Atlantis was a highly developed society, possessing technology that even far surpassed modern times!

But whether it was fantasy or reality, could her brother really get it right?

She was truly worried that her brother would ruin his reputation!

Soon, she came back to her senses and asked a question, "I remember this first appeared in *Dialogues*; it was an ideal state described by Plato. What I want to ask is, where did Plato hear this story from? Could Atlantis be fake? Is it a literary fantasy? Is it possible that Atlantis doesn't exist at all?"

Jiang Zhe was stunned; he hadn't expected Xiao Yu to ask that. He had just been wondering how to segue into Atlantis.

"Great question!"

He said with an approving look:

"Plato wrote it very clearly in *Timaeus*. He heard this story from his great-grandfather, his great-grandfather heard it from Solon, and Solon heard it from the Egyptian priests."

"Egyptian priests?"

"Yes, Solon was a famous Athenian statesman and poet, likely from the sixth century BC."

"When he traveled to Egypt, he met some priests. Those Egyptian priests told him that the Egyptian temples preserved extremely ancient records, documenting a civilization even older than Egypt: the Athenians."

"Wait!" Xiao Yu was puzzled. "Athenians? Aren't we talking about Atlantis?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head slightly. "This story has two threads."

"The priests said that 9,000 years ago, the Athenians established a great city-state, and they defeated the invading Atlantean army."

"Later, a natural disaster occurred, and the Athenian city-state was destroyed, but Atlantis sank more completely and disappeared from the world entirely."

"So, the origin of Atlantis is—"

"Egyptian temple records of the war between Athens and Atlantis → Egyptian priests → Solon → Plato → *Dialogues*."

"That is how Atlantis came to be."

Hearing the timeline Jiang Zhe laid out, those viewers who had mistakenly thought Atlantis was fictional laughed at themselves.

Many of them had thought Atlantis was a civilization from a fictional literary work; they hadn't expected that Atlantis originally came from the records of the war between Athens and Atlantis in the Egyptian temples!

Thus, Atlantis was real, not virtual!

Inside the big screen, Jiang Zhe continued to narrate: "Xiao Yu, did you notice a key point in time? 9,000 years ago."

Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes narrowed as she quickly did the calculation in her mind: "Solon was from the 6th century BC. And 9,000 years ago would be around 9,600 BC, plus the 2,000-plus years from the 6th century BC to the present day, 2026..."

As she reached that point in her calculation, she suddenly looked up. "No way, Brother, the disappearance of Atlantis is exactly 12,000 years ago from today?"

"That's right!" Jiang Zhe grinned and nodded slightly.

"This..."

Xiao Yu was completely stunned for a moment; 12,000 years ago—this number was too familiar to her.

The Great Flood her brother had talked about before was exactly 12,000 years ago.

Jiang Zhe watched her expression and knew she had figured it out. "Do you understand now? The timeline Plato recorded completely overlaps with the timeline of the Great Flood in global myths."

Then he held up two fingers.

"Either this is just a shocking coincidence."

"Or Atlantis is not a fictional ancient super-civilization made up by Plato at all, and what Plato recorded is actually true!"

"Before the Great Flood, this civilization really did exist!"