At the tunnel entrance the train was traveling through, the pursuing iron vines came to a halt at the opening.
The few, having somewhat nervously retracted their gazes, turned their attention back to the orange faces within the metal grid before them.
“It seems, can we go outside first? “
Though it was a question, Kevin immediately jumped out of the train, landing on the ground and looking up to survey the more brightly lit, vast cave.
Soon, they heard from the other side the sound of rocks crackling, swelling, and rapidly fissuring as they fell.
A wall section with a similar grid pattern emerged from beneath the collapsed rock shell.
“Chief? ” Pag looked towards Yang Zicang.
Yang Zicang turned his head to glance at the walls that were still only dimly lit by a few round lamps. “You get off too. And while you’re at it, lay down the railway track for me first. “
“Brother Horn, ” he called out, using the commoner’s friendly address for acquaintances in the Wutao language, “You follow Pag down there too. It seems this place doesn’t refuse our arrival. “
“Then let me prepare some materials for lighting the campfire. “
Captain Horne, who had been busy bending over, suddenly saw tears streaming from his solemnly open eyes, for some reason. Only then did he realize that a stirring sensation within him, unnoticed for several minutes, had been gathering into form.
Pulling open the latch of the iron door, the captain in the black uniform, with one arm clamped around some wood and two pieces of cut old tires, leapt down from the vehicle holding a bucket in the other hand, and jogged a few meters before emptying its contents onto the ground.
Pag, inside the iron door on the side where he got off, also followed him down.
With their appearance, the walls in the remaining two directions of the cave also echoed, trembling and shaking the ground, and then were filled with brightly lit orange lattice patterns, along with the faces hidden within them.
On the walls throughout the entire space, there emerged patches of orange-red luster, radiating like magma or molten iron, along with the transformed faces among them.
“Could these be some kind of tombstones? “
Kevin, standing besides Yang Zicang, murmured under his breath.
The two natives appeared even more at a loss and shaken.
“This feels quite unsettling, Chairman. Just where have we ended up? No longer even the face-vine demons dare to attack this place. “
It was at that very moment of speaking that suddenly, this multitude of human faces depicted by the molten slurry began to slowly change in unison. After a few breaths, they presented themselves as tens of thousands of new human visages against the backdrop of this rugged metal grid and crystalline wall, imbued with a heavy industrial aesthetic.
Yang Zicang, sensing something, opened his eyes wide and gasped, “Could these people be… “
“Look over there! ” Dàwèi, who had just ignited the flame, stood up and pointed towards those two-mile stretches of the molten crystal wall behind the group.
“It looks like the shapes of animals are inside! ” he shouted.
“How can that be! ” Jin·Kelaist’s vision couldn’t discern clearly, but from the solemn gaze of Sword Thirteen beside him, he was certain that Dàwèi wasn’t lying.
Within the crystal grids covering the entire wall, the shapes of various distinct creatures appeared one after another.
Represented like individual frames of a single projection, a wondrous variety of biological forms—mammals, reptiles, carnivorous beasts, migratory birds, and mollusks—unveiled themselves before the few who looked up from below, nearing the wall.
“Aren’t they… exactly the creatures that died beneath the Iron Vines? “
For a moment, everyone fell into silence.
Suddenly, Dàwèi shouted in rage, “What kind of joke is this! ” Crying out on the verge of collapse, he yelled, “Why must such things be left deep underground for us explorers who’ve barely made it this far! “
Saying this, he charged angrily forward, pressing both hands against the frame of a tilted, square grid crystal before him. Inside this angled lattice crystal was an animal resembling a field mouse. While within the diamond-shaped crystal beneath it lay the form of a small subtropical roe deer.
“Steady yourself, Mr. Horne. ” Berger said in a deep voice. “Perhaps we can still make new discoveries. “
“How could there be new discoveries. ” He turned, looking over with grief. “Isn’t this place we so arduously arrived at merely a showcase of their retro technology? “
“But… ” Yang Zicang stepped forward and exclaimed. “Maybe we can find some more ancient technologies here after all. “
Having just finished speaking, Yang Zicang’s mouth formed an ‘O’. The expressions of the few people around them shifted in unison.
The Phoenix-Perching Tree, in a phoenix shape, suddenly crashed down, its entirety plummeting to the ground.
Seeing their visages, Captain Horne turned his head and looked inside the crystal exuding a gentle orange glow.
Beside the biological image of the field mouse, a spiral pattern emerged, resembling a twisted ladder.
Then he took two steps back and surveyed entire wall from left to right, top to bottom. Similar spiral totems were appearing next to countless thousands of terrestrial creatures inside each diamond-shaped grid.
Not quite understanding, the Captain turned around. He realized that besides Khim Chlorister and Sword Thirteen, who was surveying the surroundings, every last one of the Fogfolk was utterly astounded.
Hoern continued to gaze at the wall, still not understanding what was so unusual about the ladder pattern.
“I understand now, ” Kevin murmured, “So that’s it. It wasn’t them that brought about the extinction of civilization. Rather, it was part of the plan the ancient civilization implemented to confront the apocalypse. “
“W-What the hell is this?! ” Hoern yelled.
“These are all DNA groups, ” Pag said, having become calm, so calm that his voice was nearly devoid of emotion. “With the DNA groups intact, there’s still hope for restoration. “
Among the group, Yang Zicang’s body gave an almost imperceptible, slight tremor.
He took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards the other end. “Well, now we all know the origin of the bizarre laws governing the apocalyptic nightmare. Everyone, quickly come and investigate the other areas, and see what else we can discover. “
On the diamond-shaped grid wall of the immense space, the faces of men and women, along with their corresponding genome fragments, flickered into view, only to shift and reveal the next set.
A few solitary figures roaming the spacious ground looked up towards the several waves of human silhouettes that had already emerged.
Kim Christ were made the campfire blaze a little brighter. The few of them and the Fire Phoenix gathered by the flames, quietly watching the firelight cast shadows upon their faces.
For the first time, he did not recite those verses—the past experiences of the Hellfire Sect used to aid in exorcism.
Yang Zicang watched the flames, feeling the small silver hexagram ring on his chest and the ring on his finger from which, strangely, not a single clear thought from Tata Mingqi had transmitted all along.
Yang Zicang let out a soft sigh, looked up at the humanoid statues here, and thought of some figures who had already left the world, feeling a sense of lament.
If their genomes had been collected here, it might be possible for them to be reborn in the future.
“How long did it take us to get down? ” he asked aloud.
Pag and the Captain both glanced at their wristwatches, but the Captain’s was already broken.
“It’s almost nine o’clock in a few minutes, ” Pag lowered his arm and said.
……
The fierce night wind swept across the land. Countless disaster shelter panel partitions and sheets of waterproof fabric had long lost their tied-down shapes in the gale, being blown away in patches.
“Hurry over here! “
In the darkness, figures moved with difficulty under only the faint moonlight, groping and grabbing others by the arms, stumbling towards a wooden cabin shaking on its side.
They had to reach flat ground where collapsing houses would not crush them, in order to ensure their safety as much as possible in this wind.
Suddenly, someone screamed and looked up, pointing to the heights, “Look! “
Amid the rumbling roar, an airship glowing with silver-white light drifted from several dozen meters above these people’s heads, dragging a coarse trembling rope as it veered off to one side.
Elsewhere outside the city, dense flames on the mountaintops struggled to stay erect, swaying fiercely against the wind.
Some rising flames leaped from one hillside to another, riding the wind. Originally, they could have quickly grown into a blazing inferno. But the chill carried by this gale was too severe, and the lush summer trees were not easy to ignite. Eroded by the fierce wind and low temperature, the flames on the hilltop, after igniting the underbrush, gradually faded away.
Zorro’s motorcycle sped up the slope. The two riders, shielded by their goggles, had a moment of concern when they saw, in the far distance, two entire mountains already engulfed in flames.
A’Ku raised his telescope and took a look. Many figures were magnified in the lens. He saw them wielding something like long brooms, beating at the edges of the flames. While controlling the direction of the spread, others were relighting some of the embers that had been extinguished.
“Must be the local volunteer corps from the distant city. “
Seeing the scene, they finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“Good thing. As long as there’s still heat, that’s fine, ” A’Ku said, putting away the telescope.
“We need to quickly find a place closer to this city’s edge, or we won’t have time to evacuate them. “
Little Red Horse veered the handlebars, and with a rapid hum, it surged toward another patch of dim, desolate wasteland.
……
Inside a room, amidst the quiet atmosphere, a person placed a wine bottle with ading-dongsound on a glossy lacquered table.
“You two have a couple sips too. Even if your robust bodies fear no cold, it’d still make you more comfortable, wouldn’t it? “
“Thank you, Lord Shalivan. However, it would be truly regrettable if we were to engage in group drinking at a time like this. “
“Oh? ” The well-dressed man started, sitting upright from his slouched position on the sofa, “Ah, you’re right. My apologies. I was only thinking about the body, not the people’s current state of mind. “
His fingers shifted, pushing against a bank card on the table, tapping it lightly.
“Mmm, truly an unbelievable disaster. “
The two elegantly attired Steffen people on the other side of the table looked at that peculiar card under Lord Shalivan’s fingertips.
One of the ladies present couldn’t help but take an extra look at the name inscribed on it.
‘Dwight Croft’s share, five million times…’ The rest of the text was blurry and reflected strangely, making it hard to read.
Suddenly, ding-dong, ding-dong.
The pendulum inside the clock hanging on the wall swayed, its chime sounding the hour.
Shalivan turned his head with an “Oh ” and let out a faint smile. “Hey, look at that. Before we knew it, it’s that time to say goodnight. “
……
“Nine o’clock. ” The gale over Haven’s Quake was beginning to subside just a little.
Outside, the street was pitch black. “Let’s begin. ” The man picked up a telescope and was the first to dash out.
Several figures in the room who had glanced at the time immediately used this lull in the wind to distribute the stacks of freshly printed leaflets, resembling missing-person notices, that were still in their hands.
“One to read, one to keep as backup. Now get out, quickly. “
“Yes. “
The few individuals took the papers and, clutching the specialized long-focus telescopes, ran out of the room.
Then, the man with the taut cheeks got up and glanced at the members dispersing outside. After closing the door, he turned to the remaining two in the room, still holding telescopes, and said, “We’re heading to the backyard. “
……
The smoke from the underground campfire swirled faintly, drifting through the air.
“Isn’t it a bit wrong to do this? ” Kevin, walking toward the front wall, muttered quietly, rubbing his nose.
“What’s wrong about it? Who knows how long it’ll be until anyone comes again. We’re just short of that bit of air. “
With that, Pague started sprinting to one side.
Kevin’s eyes widened in shock. “My god, is that a door? “
In the shadowy crevice between two panels of bright wall, a trace resembling a door emerged beneath some cracked, fallen rock layers. This subtle frame—easily missed by the naked eye, easily overlooked in the backlight due to light dispersion—was nearly invisible without getting close.
“Hey, I’ve got something over here! “
“We’re coming. “
The shouting echoed, with some reverberation, in the vast, hollow space.
By the time Yang Zicang and Kim Clyster, wearing his face mask, ran over from the fire, the rock shell at the door had already been completely smashed by Pague and the other person, revealing a metal door over two meters tall beneath it.
Beside it, there was even a password door lock, consisting of two rows of ten square keys with rounded edges.
However, the area was completely sunken. Next to it, there was a pull-down gate lever switch.
After the group examined it for a while, Yang Zicang touched the metal handle. Suddenly,Phoenix-Perching Treeshouted from the other side, “There’s a door here too. Could there be four identical mechanisms? “
“This one over here needs a password, ” Yang Zicang responded.
“Mine needs a password too, but there’s also a gate switch. I looked inside and it’s a purely mechanical structure. But I don’t have hands. Can one of you give it a try? “
“Might as well just use the one here. ” As he spoke, Yang Zicang pushed the gate lever switch up with a heavy clank, right in front of the others.
With a deep rumble, the stone door—sealed for untold years—sent dust cascading down from its cracks against the frame. It then slowly swung open to the side, revealing the passage beyond.
The crowd at the entrance saw that the walls of the corridor, as usual illuminated by clearer crystal orange light, were covered entirely with human faces.
On the ground, shimmering with a crystalline grid inside the passage, stood a slightly larger, carved stone tablet.
Its style was completely out of place here.
“It’s very old Wutao script, ” the major who had arrived at the spot said in a low voice.
Kim Christ had a hard time reading it but could manage to make out most of it. Yang Zicang, on the other hand, found it quite troublesome.
“I recognize these phrases, ” said Sword Thirteen, “I learned them early on, back when I first came here. “
The few of them acknowledged with a hum. His gaze fell upon the inscriptions on these stone tablets. After drawing a sharp breath, he spoke in a deep voice:
“This inscription, left by the investigation team that returned from deep within the earth, says that long ago, the world was met with an ice age of annihilation, and countless lives across the land were frozen to death. But at that time, iron vines that surged from the ground appeared, covering the sky and blotting out the sun, and they carried away the flesh and blood of those who had died in the sudden, bitter cold. “
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