Devil Civilization—Gulyain

The title at the very top of the webpage was red text on a black background, oppressively unsettling, with a horror-like quality that sent chills down his spine.

However, the website seemed to have gone unmaintained for a long time. Every section below was inaccessible.

Leaning back in his chair, he stared at the red text on the screen, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He recognized that shade of red. It was the dark reddish-brown color of human blood when it was nearly dry.

An inexplicable sense of danger surged up in his heart. He closed the webpage, and the computer screen brightened again.

"Land of Flowing Shadows? Some kind of urban legend?"

"Coast City seems to have a similar urban legend too. It's called... the Dark Predator?"

A monster that hunted stray cats in the dark and occasionally ate people. It had once been used to scare disobedient children, but no one mentioned it anymore.

After all, surveillance cameras were everywhere these days, and urban legends had suddenly become much rarer.

Besides, most people instinctively avoided dark corners without surveillance.

His fingernails tapped lightly against the desk as his gaze fell upon the brown leather-bound book he had collected from the church.

The writing on the cover looked familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen it before.

After a moment of silence, he pulled over his computer's camera and took several photos, intending to post them on the Chao Forum and ask about them.

But just as he was about to make the post, he deleted the photos of the brown book and instead copied out the first two characters from the cover by hand before taking another picture.

After posting, he casually drew open the curtains and reclined in his chair.

Moonlight streamed in through the window. The beams formed by the Tyndall effect had a cold hue, while the dust gleamed like tiny diamonds.

The damp night breeze brushed across his cheek.

Coast City stood by the sea and had high humidity, so the evening breeze before midnight was not cool. Instead, it left his skin feeling sticky.

With both arms tucked behind his head, he quietly watched the moonlit leaves outside sway gently in the wind.

After an unknown amount of time, the night breeze had even dampened the tips of his hair when he suddenly began to laugh.

First, he had transmigrated and been reborn. Then there were those monsters of unknown origin.

This kind of life really was... heartbeat, soul, trembling—the feeling of truly being alive.

It filled him with joy.

He turned his head toward the door. Outside were his mother and sister...

Only those weak at heart sought things from others—familial affection, recognition, care.

He had thought his heart was already strong enough, but it seemed that was not entirely true.

He remembered a line from a movie: one's state of mind could change.

Once the circumstances from that time were gone, one's state of mind would change with them.

Just as the Buddha would not feel emotional fluctuations over ants, yet when the World-Honored One was born, he had still declared, "Above heaven and below earth, I alone am honored."

Having sorted out the changes in his own mindset, Lin Ye's smile became more relaxed.

His mind eased, and he fell deeply asleep just like that.

"Cough, cough—"

The computer made its coughing notification sound. Lin Ye's eyelashes trembled, and after taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes.

He glanced at the alarm clock. 22:00.

"Did I sleep for nearly two hours?"

Looking at the computer screen, he saw that quite a few replies had already appeared beneath his post.

As he browsed through them, most were just jokes.

For example, some said the writing was so ugly it did not even look like writing anymore, then attached a picture of their own calligraphy.

Others simply left a comment to mark their presence.

But soon, one particular reply caught his attention. The username was [185 College Guy].

"This seems to be Ancient Tin Deer Script? Does it mean a highly poisonous medicine?"

Seeing that reply, he sat up straight and became a little more awake.

"Ancient Tin Deer Script? The Tin Deer Kingdom?"

He frowned slightly. The continent where the Liya Federation was located was East Continent, while the Tin Deer Kingdom lay on West Continent, bordering the west of East Continent, with many small countries between them.

Once, Tin Deer had been the most prosperous nation on West Continent. It had briefly become the world's hegemon, using the "deer of the forest" as its symbol.

Although it had declined somewhat now, its strength could not be underestimated. It remained one of the world's four poles.

"How could it be Tin Deer Script? It's so far away."

Quite a few replies had already accumulated beneath that comment. When he expanded them, rows of responses appeared.

[Pursuer](lv.27): It's not a highly poisonous medicine, but a medicine of magic. This is Old Gulyain Script, considered the predecessor of Ancient Tin Deer Script.

[185 College Guy](lv.5): What is Old Gulyain Script? I've only heard of Rhine Church.

[Pursuer](lv.27): Old Gulyain Script was created by the ancient Gulyain people, but the Ancient Rhein Civilization was already lost before the Tin Deer Kingdom was established. Ancient Tin Deer Script evolved by incorporating parts of Old Gulyain Script.

[185 College Guy](lv.5): Oh~ So that's how it is. Boss, then what does this magic mean? It can't really mean what I think it means, right? Wasn't that stuff just a legend?"

[Pursuer](lv.27): It really is a legend. According to legend, the Ancient Rhein Civilization wielded the power of devils, which was why it was also called the "Devil Civilization."

"The power of devils..."

Lin Ye murmured, thinking of the monster with the golden mask. Was that monster some kind of devil?

He continued reading.

[Deer Calls in the Woods](lv.19): I know a little about this too. My mentor said that after the Ancient Rhein Civilization was lost, the character representing magic lost its reference point. But it often appeared alongside characters representing death and Hell, so over the course of West Continent's history, it gradually came to mean "highly poisonous," "poison of Hell," and "inevitably fatal poison."

[Pursuer](lv.27): So that's how it is. I really haven't researched that area.

Seeing this, Lin Ye felt somewhat disappointed.

The original owner's high school history teacher had explained that so-called "lost" civilizations referred to ancient civilizations that suddenly vanished during a certain period, leaving behind only a small amount of history and legend.

As he looked at that final reply, his gaze shifted, and a hint of delight appeared on his face.

The reply had been posted at 21:58, less than five minutes ago!

Without hesitation, he pulled over the keyboard and began typing.

[Wild Grass Beneath the Woods](lv.8): "Masters, where can I learn this kind of writing?"

After replying, he waited for a while and picked up the brown leather-bound book he had collected from that church.

Before he could open it, the computer made another coughing sound.

"Cough, cough—"

[Pursuer](lv.27): That will probably be difficult. It's too niche. Very few people study Old Gulyain Script, and information about the Ancient Rhein Civilization rarely appears online.

Seeing that, Lin Ye put down the brown leather-bound book in his hand, somewhat disappointed.

This brown leather-bound book had been brought out of that medieval church, and it was even written in Old Gulyain Script. It might contain something extraordinary.

But it did not matter. He could search online for relevant information. He should be able to gain something, more or less.

"Cough, cough—"

[Forest Deer Calls](lv.19): If the city you live in is fairly large, you can see whether it has a Rhine Church. The priests there generally know some Old Gulyain Script.

Hiss—!

Lin Ye drew in a breath excitedly.

"Clap, clap, clap..."

[Wild Grass Beneath the Woods](lv.8): "Thank you for the guidance, boss!"

He closed the Chao Forum, opened a map of the Liya Federation, and directly searched for Coast City.

Thanks to its port, Coast City could barely be considered a second-tier city. Its scale was decent.

He entered "Rhine Church" into the search bar and pressed Enter.

The map rapidly zoomed in and directly marked the location.

There really was one!

He checked the location. It was not too far away. By bus, the trip would take less than an hour.

After calming himself, his gaze fell on the brown leather-bound book, and he smiled with relief.

"What will it contain? Could it be extraordinary knowledge?"

"Since there are monsters, there must be the extraordinary. That's reasonable, right?"