This was impossible.
When the Blood Alliance was destroyed, Meng Chao had not even been born.
How could he possibly know an Ancient Ruins explorer from the Blood Alliance era?
Though the dried corpse before him had been utterly disfigured by complete dehydration, its thick, stiff black hair showed that it could not have been more than thirty when it died.
Meng Chao did not think he could have met such a "young man" at any time or place.
Yet the intuition of a God Realm Expert told him that this dried corpse was not only an acquaintance, but someone he had been incomparably close to, trusted, and even revered.
"Could it have been some great figure recorded in history—one of the heroes who saved Dragon City from earthquakes, floods, and zombie tides in the early days after its transmigration? Had I seen his photograph in a textbook or science video?"
Meng Chao shook his head.
He did not think such a great figure or hero would have been captured by the Blood Alliance and used as cannon fodder to explore the Ancient Ruins.
Besides, he might trust and revere such great figures, but he was unlikely to feel such intense closeness toward them.
After pondering for a moment, a wisp of temperatureless Spirit Flame lit at Meng Chao's fingertips.
He gently touched the dried corpse's skin with that crystalline finger.
He found that despite its dryness, the skin still retained a trace of elasticity. It had not decayed to the point where the slightest touch would reduce it to dust.
Meng Chao felt slightly relieved.
His finger lightly traced across the dried corpse's face.
Spiritual Energy turned into dim fluorescent light, seeping through every opening in the skin as it carefully scanned the shriveled blood vessels and shattered nerves