Could the Shrine of Life and Death Be Real?

With Miss Jia's support, the excavation work in the Great Wilderness Mountain Range proceeded faster and faster.

The number of livestream channels also increased.

There were not only main channels like Wang Jiao's, but quite a few secondary channels as well.

Yet Wang Jiao's stream remained the most popular.

After all, her livestream had an expert like Liu Chengchao holding the fort.

Its professionalism and cutting-edge information both outstripped the other channels.

At that moment, Liu Chengchao stood at the excavation site, his brows tightly furrowed.

"How is the progress now?"

"We've uncovered three thousand Wolf Clan skeletons and two thousand Giant Wolf skeletons.

"But..."

"But we still haven't found any Dafeng soldiers' remains, have we?" Liu Chengchao asked, his brows drawn together.

This matter was extremely important.

Since the excavation began, Wolf Clan skeletons and some armor components had been discovered in this buried area.

But those components all belonged to the Wolf Clan.

Not a single Dafeng soldier's skeleton had been found.

They had not even discovered a single Dafeng weapon or piece of combat equipment—not even scraps.

It was deeply strange.

Two armies had clashed.

Especially when one side had been the Wolf Guard, renowned throughout the land.

Yet there were no Dafeng soldiers' remains on the battlefield, and not even a few weapons had been found.

It was simply unimaginable. What kind of war had this been?

"None have been found," the researcher replied. "All the remains examined so far came from the Wolf Clan."

"Could it be that Dafeng's soldiers never engaged the Wolf Guard in close combat, and instead used bows or catapults?" Wang Jiao offered her own speculation from the side.

"Bows are powerful, but their killing power is limited.

"In this kind of terrain, there are far too many places to take cover from arrows."

Liu Chengchao frowned, deep in thought.

"Things like catapults couldn't possibly have been hauled up the mountain."

The battle here was truly bizarre.

Liu Chengchao had already noticed several suspicious points.

The Wolf Clan skeletons seemed not to have decayed even after a thousand years.

No Dafeng soldiers' remains had appeared in this battle.

It was as though, just like in the Shrine of Life and Death, Dafeng had sent only Heize to fight.

At that thought, Liu Chengchao's expression changed slightly.

"Let's go to the Shrine of Life and Death."

A sudden conjecture had arisen in his heart.

What if everything inside the Shrine of Life and Death was real?

What if Dafeng truly had only Heize, and he had slaughtered the Wolf Guard alone?

But... was that possible?

Was that something a carbon-based lifeform could do?

Looking at the scenes depicted in the Shrine of Life and Death, Liu Chengchao's heart sank into confusion.

Exaggeration and embellishment, he understood those.

Many Shrines of Life and Death contained exaggerations.

But one man holding back ten thousand was no longer exaggeration. It was myth.

Was there really any need to turn it directly into myth?

Or was all of this actually real?

Then Liu Chengchao shook his head.

Impossible.

How could one person kill tens of thousands of Wolf Guards?

Even if it were ten thousand pigs standing in a row without moving, one would grow tired from killing them all.

For now, they could only wait for the excavation to continue and see whether more clues surfaced.

Just then, Liu Chengchao's phone screen lit up with an incoming call.

"Hello, Old Wang. Do you have the results?"

"Yes. Too much time has passed, so the current tests cannot guarantee complete accuracy.

"Of the thirty-four sets of remains examined so far, all appear to have suffered bone fractures from powerful external blunt-force impacts, ultimately dying of internal bleeding."

"Thank you, Old Wang."

Upon hearing that answer, Liu Chengchao drew a deep breath.

His gaze turned toward the Shrine of Life and Death.

On the shrine's murals, Heize swept his spear sideways and sent people flying.

If he had truly stood alone against ten thousand, stabbing people with a spear would have been too slow. Sweeping it sideways would have been better—one sweep, and down went a whole swath.

At that thought, Liu Chengchao shuddered.

What nonsense am I thinking?

How could one person hold back ten thousand?

"Old Liu, have there been any other discoveries?" Wang Jiao asked from the side, still remembering to livestream.

She changed into a new outfit every day. Today, she wore a short skirt and flesh-colored stockings, radiating youthful sensuality.

"No." Naturally, Liu Chengchao would not voice his speculation.

If he said such things aloud, his career as an expert would probably be over.

"Mom, I've been doing well at school.

"I recently found a part-time job and earned some money."

Lin Chao sat in his chair and spoke slowly.

After earning one million, he had moved out of his single room and now lived in a two-bedroom apartment.

These days, he occasionally tried exercising, or rather, practicing martial arts.

He had also bought some supplements for his parents and arranged medical checkups for them.

Lin Chao's family circumstances were not very good.

His parents were ordinary people with little education, and both did physically demanding work.

Yesterday, Lin Chao had made appointments for their checkups and had them undergo a thorough examination.

Fortunately, there were no major problems, only a few minor ailments.

That was fine. They were not serious, and Lin Chao breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mm-hmm, I'm doing fine. I'm not tired."

Lin Chao replied.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Lin Chao froze.

Over the phone, his mother asked him for a favor.

"A distant cousin? Look after her?"

From what he heard, he had a distant cousin named Zhao Xiaoyi, who had been admitted to a university in Tianhai.

His mother hoped Lin Chao could look after her.

Zhao Xiaoyi would arrive in Tianhai City tomorrow, and Lin Chao was to help get her settled in.

Lin Chao did not remember much about Zhao Xiaoyi, only that she had been quite adorable.

If Lin Chao remembered correctly, when his father had fallen ill and needed surgery years ago, Zhao Xiaoyi's parents had lent them a considerable sum, helping Lin Chao's family through that difficult time.

Zhao Xiaoyi would be coming to Tianhai City and staying for a while.

Lin Chao could not refuse to help look after her.

"Okay, no problem," Lin Chao agreed.

Fortunately, he had moved into a two-bedroom apartment.

Otherwise, it would have been rather inconvenient.

Still, he guessed that Zhao Xiaoyi might not necessarily stay at his place.

If he remembered right, Zhao Xiaoyi's family was fairly well-off.

After hanging up, Lin Chao was about to put down his phone.

Just then, WeChat sent him a friend request.

Lin Chao took a look. It was his distant cousin, Zhao Xiaoyi.

This cousin truly was distant—they were already beyond the fifth degree of kinship.

"Brother Lin Chao, I'm Zhao Xiaoyi. Sorry to trouble you."

A bowing emoji followed the message.

"No problem."

Lin Chao sent back a reply.

"I'll pick you up at the train station tomorrow."

"Thank you, Brother Lin Chao!"

Lin Chao put down his phone and turned his gaze toward the Simulator.

There was only a little more than a day left until the next simulation.

"I wonder what this simulation will be."

Lin Chao thought about it, anticipation stirring in his heart.

After the first and second simulations today, he realized that the Simulator was becoming more and more advanced.

The third simulation might be completely different from the second.

"I hope I can get more benefits this time."

This time, Lin Chao planned to take the simulation seriously.

Last time, he had simulated Heize and assumed it was merely a game with strange elements.

He had never expected that the excavation in the Great Wilderness Mountain Range might prove Heize truly existed.

Then would this simulation also be a real world?