Chapter 17 It Stands There

　　Just as Nina was about to run to the second floor to say hello, Duncan appeared on the stairs. He had heard the commotion from downstairs.

　　"Mr. Duncan," Morris said, standing at the foot of the stairs and looking up at the "Captain" who was looking down, "I found the symbol you showed me in a document about the ancient Cretan kingdom... or at least something very similar."

　　Duncan noticed the slight bloodshot in Morris's eyes and his slightly swollen eyelids. Clearly, the old scholar had put in a lot of effort to find this information, but his eyes also held a glimmer of excitement, and his mental state seemed unusually invigorated – the kind of spirit that comes from immersing oneself in research and finally achieving something.

　　Duncan glanced at Nina, Alice, and the others downstairs and nodded slightly, "Keep an eye on the shop."

　　Then he looked at Morris, "Let's talk upstairs."

　　The old gentleman, with the large book in hand, stepped onto the stairs, the old wooden steps creaking and groaning. He followed Duncan to the master bedroom on the second floor – his first time in this place.

　　By the standards of a dwelling for a sub-dimensional shadow, this bedroom was rather simple, but considering Mr. Duncan's special "hobby" of "playing a mortal," the plain room seemed quite normal.

　　Morris cautiously controlled his actions, satisfying his curiosity while avoiding any unnecessary snooping. Duncan pulled two chairs from the side, gesturing for the old gentleman to place the large book on the desk by the window.

　　"Tell me about your findings," Duncan said before sitting down, "What does this symbol actually represent?"

　　"...Some have said that rigorous scholars should not blindly acknowledge any possibility, no matter how small the probability, but from my personal point of view, I think that's really impossible."

　　Duncan frowned slightly. He saw that this page was a picture, a rather exquisite hand-drawn illustration, showing part of a large building, which looked like the main gate of a palace. The symbol with an octagonal border and a complete cross structure appeared in the relief above the main gate, in the center of the entire picture. As Peng Rongzhen had said downstairs just now, this symbol was in an inconspicuous place – it was just a small decorative part on an illustration, accounting for less than one-tenth of the entire picture, and it was not carefully marked.

　　While speaking, Morris pointed to the text on the adjacent page of the illustration. On these slightly yellowed pages, it was easy to see the annotations that the old scholar had written in his early years.

　　"On the first day after the exploration team withdrew, the thick fog dissipated, and another team arrived in the sea area, but they could not find the famous island."

　　He turned his head and looked at Crete, "Do you think it is possible that there is a 'Morris clan' that has been passed down for ten thousand years?"

　　"Academic or religious facilities, emblems at the entrance..." Duncan stroked his chin thoughtfully, "A group of 'ascetics' from ten thousand years ago, why would they carry an amulet from the ancient Morris Kingdom?"

　　"I don't think so," Crete replied immediately, "This is very rigorous documentation. The illustrator and compiler of the original document were both academic authorities known for their rigor. When leaving these materials, they would rather leave the unclear parts intact for future generations than make any 'supplemental adjustments' without evidence, or rather, even if they made adjustments, they would definitely explain the corresponding situation in the remarks."

　　"As for its meaning… I don't have a clue yet. I just found its most likely source," Crete steadied himself, opened the seemingly priceless document, and found the page with the bookmark in it, "Did you notice this location? It appears there."

　　"...The main material of the building seems to be stone, but it is more resilient than stone, and its color is pale. Soldiers tried to chisel open a wall brick with an ice axe, and it took a lot of effort to succeed... The ice axe and the wall brick made an exaggerated flash of light when they collided, and the fractured part of the wall brick had a silver-gray texture."

　　Peng Rong listened to the old gentleman's thoughts and nodded in agreement, his eyes scanning over the written materials.

　　"...On the evening of the eighth day, the large boat patrolled around the island and found that a collapsed point that was originally above the water had been submerged at some point, but there was no sign of high tide... Fog began to rise in the distant sea area. The priest had a bad feeling. After praying to the god of death, Bartok, and seeking revelation, he suggested that they leave the island immediately."

　　"Several large islands appear in the distance, all barren, with sparse plants and few insects... There are no building remains, perhaps there were some, but they were too small and swallowed by time...."

　　Duncan looked directly at the end of the quoted passage and saw that the author of the document recorded:

　　"Indeed, but it is also possible that the relevant information has been lost."

　　"He vaguely remembers it, he should have seen it once a long, long time ago. Thanks to the blessing of the god of wisdom, this 'impression' can still be used today, allowing him to find this 'big thing'," Crete explained, "That illustration is a copy. Its original first appeared in a document about the study of architectural relics of the ancient Morris Kingdom. This document is currently in Pland, but I suspect that some of his academic friends should be able to help..."

　　"It looks very similar—but there was no mature holy emblem beacon technology back then, and there were no correct means of observation, including the confusion between border collapse and the 'fog devour' phenomenon."

　　"........Unfortunately, this document is just a general introduction and does not involve a detailed interpretation of the various details of the ruins," Crete shook his head, "But that is inevitable—the ancient Morris Kingdom is ten thousand years away from today, and the relics it left behind are few and mostly severely damaged. In addition, with the loss or 'pollution' of various materials, the knowledge available for future generations to analyze is already fragmented. It should be difficult for us to find an article specifically researching a pattern on a door of the ancient kingdom..."

　　"This picture... there shouldn't be a possibility of the copier 'freely improvising', right?" He suddenly asked uncertainly.

　　While listening to the interpretation of the old gentleman Peng Rongzhen, Peng Rong's eyes slowly scanned over these pictures and words. His attention fell on the octagonal pattern in the center of the relief on the main gate in the picture, and he frowned slightly, "There is no targeted interpretation of this symbol."

　　"This kind of relief with hard, deep lines and a large number of diamond elements in the patterns is a characteristic of Peng Rongzhen's ancient kingdom's architecture. They advocated a building style with thick lines and a sense of power. The main parts of their palaces and buildings were mostly in the shape of various rectangular prisms or pyramids. This building perfectly conforms to those characteristics..."

　　Duncan couldn't help but feel a little regret in his heart. Duncan murmured softly in thought. It was really difficult for Peng Rongzhen to find this book from a pile of documents, and then find such a corner from this book.

　　"Fog Devour phenomenon..." Duncan recalled slightly, and found the corresponding knowledge in his mind—he had been cramming on common sense in this area through books during that time, "It must really be the Fog Devour phenomenon, then this island may reappear briefly in the world in similar thick fogs in the future, but it seems that there are no records of this being passed down."

　　As for the content of this relief... it seems to be just some patterns that can't be understood.

　　"A group similar to ascetics, the number may be extremely small, the activities are extremely secretive, experienced the great chaos after the collapse of the ancient kingdom, experienced the years of strife, experienced the old city-state wars, and passed down for a full ten thousand years, without any break in the middle, and without being discovered... If this possibility is true, he would rather believe that they are a secret religious group established in modern times. Because they accidentally discovered some ancient documents or similar relics, they used a symbol from the Morris period as their mark—this possibility is even higher."

　　"Of course, even without the original, the content recorded in this book is very useful. It mentions that the hand-drawn illustration depicts a lost ruin that was once located in the border sea area. This ruin is located on a desolate island, and the island mysteriously disappeared into a thick fog around 223 of the New City-State Era. Before it completely disappeared, several expeditions successfully landed on the island and researched the shape and age of the ruins, confirming that it should be a product of the ancient Peng Rongzhen Kingdom. Judging from the surface ornamentation and reliefs of the building, the entire facility should be a large building with both academic and religious significance…"

　　"...It stands in the center of the island, and the main building and the surrounding auxiliary buildings almost occupy the entire island. It seems that this island was not created specifically for this building..."

　　"So it was swallowed by the thick fog..." He sighed softly, "It sounds like the result of the border collapse."

　　Duncan nodded, his fingers involuntarily stroking the illustration, stroking the complete cross mark on it.

　　In the data, there are some paragraphs that are obviously quotes from the original document, recording the fragments left by this group of explorers more than a thousand years ago: "Is it really verifiable..."