Chapter 78 The Statue

"The reason we kept it was because someone suspected it was an antique. But later, after it was placed in the port, the mutated beasts wouldn't come near it… so we built a simple warehouse to cover it up," the middle-aged man said. Most of the information in his words was useless, but one thing caught his attention.

That was the fact that the mutated beasts were unwilling to approach the area where the statue was located.

Mutated beasts were the product of failed evolution, violent and ferocious, retaining very little reason. They wouldn't easily retreat even when faced with human firearms, but they were unwilling to approach this statue.

What exactly made the mutated beasts avoid this statue?

Was it disgust?

Or fear?

"Could this thing be related to the No. 098 crystal?" Li Tianran's brain began to frantically filter information, connecting any potentially related data.

The No. 098 crystal was essential for manufacturing neutralizing agents. It had the effect of suppressing the high-strength genes of evolutionaries, and its formation was due to the long-term changes in some biological remains…

Coupled with the image of the strange statue in front of him, which didn't appear in human biology textbooks, it was possible that it lived in an era too distant, perhaps a creature from the previous epoch, which was why it hadn't been discovered by humans of this epoch.

"Could the carving on this statue be an evolutionary creature from tens of millions of years ago?" Li Tianran raised his eyebrows. He thought of a possibility, and his heart pounded.

He opened the system interface, looking at the blood-red text at the top.

"The Fourth Era of Destruction is coming, and some ancient, dormant… will awaken."

Li Tianran looked at the blood-red text on the system interface and, combined with the strange feeling the statue had given him earlier, felt that there was some connection between them.

"Data Eye."

Li Tianran was silent for a moment, then turned his gaze to the statue again. This time, he wanted to use his Data Eye ability to analyze its structure.

"A strange statue.

Age: 153 million years ago.

Description: This is an ancient statue, possibly from the previous era."

The information provided by the Data Eye was also scarce. Li Tianran was silent for a moment, then walked inside again. He gently knocked off a piece of gravel with a hammer, crushed it with two fingers, and found that its material was very special, not like simple stone, but more like a fossil formed from flesh and blood.

Could there be a demon sleeping inside this statue?

"Load it onto the ship and take it back," Li Tianran thought for a moment. Regardless of whether the statue was related to the Fourth Era of Destruction, the system clearly stated that the dormant "things" would only awaken when the Fourth Era of Destruction arrived. Even if there was an ancient monster hidden in the statue, there shouldn't be any problems in the short term.

Several hours later, the beast nest had been swept clean. Li Tianran and the pioneer warriors sat in the cockpit of the fighter jet, roaring away.

The beast nest below had become a ruin, with smoke billowing in the air, devoid of any life…

…

The return journey was a little slower. When Li Tianran and the others returned to Raging Breath Island, it was already the next morning.

Concerned about being tracked by the European Union, Li Tianran took a detour on the way back, until the helicopter's fuel was almost exhausted before heading home.

The helicopter landed, and Li Tianran retrieved the fully loaded freighters at the port of Raging Breath Island.

A large amount of resources was transported to the interior of the farm. Li Tianran called Qin Yiming over and asked him to immediately produce a construction report. He wanted to complete all the facilities on Raging Breath Island in the shortest possible time.

With these resources, Li Tianran could also completely transform the northern district, which had only been partially renovated before, turning Raging Breath Island into a military base.

"This is a very rich harvest!" Qin Yiming said, patting his chest as he watched the various resources being continuously transported down. "Don't worry, with these things, I guarantee that Raging Breath Island's military strength will reach its peak within a month."

"If all these materials are made into missiles, every country in the world will have to take us seriously!"

"And I heard that Lan Ning's nuclear weapon encryption program is nearing completion. As soon as it's finished, we can start testing…"

Qin Yiming took a deep breath and looked at Li Tianran. "Boss, we're really going to be awesome!"

A smile also appeared on the corner of Li Tianran's mouth. Qin Yiming was right. With the addition of these materials, they would soon be able to stand proudly in this chaotic world.

The manufacturing methods of traditional weapons, relying on the memory reading function of the intelligent brain and the information Li Tianran had obtained from the Qing Turtle's owner's brain, were no secret at all. What he had been lacking was raw materials. Now that the raw materials had been replenished, Raging Breath Island would usher in a peak period of rapid development.

Everyone in the farm also gathered around, rejoicing in the harvest.

At this moment, the statue was moved down. Li Tianran suddenly seemed to think of something, turned to the crowd, and said, "Look at that statue. Do you feel anything special?"

Hearing this, everyone turned their attention to the statue.

"Who carved this statue? Why does it feel so lifelike? I feel like there's a terrifying creature staring at me… It's really unsettling." Tang Su felt a little unnatural and took half a step back. Li Tianran noticed a layer of fine goosebumps on her white neck.

"It's like a strange beast king, but it has a different kind of feeling than a beast king…" Yuan Wen frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "I remember, it's like walking into a temple or Taoist temple and seeing those Buddha statues and statues of gods. You can't help but not dare to breathe loudly, there's a kind of… awe that wells up from the bottom of your heart."

Ding Lu didn't speak, but Li Tianran also noticed that his gaze quickly shifted away after only glancing at the statue.

It seemed that this wasn't an illusion. This statue really had a magical power that made even powerful evolutionaries feel a great sense of oppression.

Li Tianran sighed and turned to look at Hanhan, who had been standing beside him silently, staring straight at the statue as if she was stunned.

"What's wrong?" Li Tianran's heart skipped a beat. This statue was too strange. He thought Hanhan was scared and wanted to reach out and cover her eyes.

"This statue…" Hanhan gasped and her pupils constricted.

"Did you find anything?" Li Tianran asked quickly.

"This statue is so ugly." Hanhan curled her lips and put on a look of disgust. "It's so ugly!"

"You're not afraid?"

Hanhan rolled her eyes. "What's there to be afraid of about a broken stone? I get annoyed just looking at its ugly, snarling face!"

Li Tianran was stunned.

At this moment, whether it was due to age and severe weathering, or internal damage during transportation, just after Hanhan said those words, the statue actually began to crack, with spider web-like cracks crisscrossing and bursting open.

The statue turned into rubble on the ground.

Seeing this scene, Hanhan immediately put her hands on her hips and laughed loudly, looking high-spirited and scanning the crowd in front of her with a contemptuous gaze:

"See? Even the statue is afraid of me! You've seen how awesome I am, right?"

Li Tianran ignored her, squatted on the ground, picked up a fragment of the statue, wondering what he was thinking, and turned to look at Hanhan with a very complicated expression…