The panda, seeing Jiang Fan finish reading the main text on the stone tablet, quickly snatched it back and hid it under its fur.
No wonder the panda treated the stone tablet like a treasure; it recorded the story of him and his master fighting side by side. It was like a certificate and a medal of honor, worthless in the eyes of others but a treasure in one's own.
Jiang Fan sized up the panda and couldn't help but ask, "The panda inside, are you sure it's you, not your ancestor?"
The panda nodded proudly and even showed off the fat on its belly.
"Then you must be thousands of years old this year?"
Jiang Fan patted the panda’s belly. The fat was surprisingly firm, not looking like it belonged to a creature thousands of years old.
The panda gave a simple chuckle and held up five fingers towards Jiang Fan.
Jiang Fan pondered. China had a tradition of five thousand years of civilization. So, this panda must be five thousand years old.
"Five thousand years old?"
The panda shook its head like a rattle drum.
"Five hundred!"
"Fifty!"
"Five years old!"
Finally, the panda nodded. Jiang Fan almost fainted. This was unscientific. Ordinary pandas lived twenty to thirty years, and a five-year-old panda was just reaching adulthood. Why was this old panda, who had ridden with Chi You, only five years old?
"Silly," Zhou Niannian walked over, winking at Jiang Fan. "Now, many people like to change their online nicknames to underage pretty girls and boys, so the panda is just following suit."
So, after all that mystique, it was just trying to appear young... Jiang Fan picked up a bamboo tube and rapped the panda on the head with it.
While they were playing around, the live stream chat was in chaos.
Netizens were chattering. "What kind of messy history is on the stone tablet? The first half is somewhat proper, but the second half is not history at all."
"Right, in real history, how could there be things like the God of Wind and Rain, magic puppet mechs, or Han Ba?"
"It's just myths and legends written in the Classic of Mountains and Seas!"
"Exactly, like a fantasy novel."
"But the Classic of Mountains and Seas was written many years after the era of Chi You."
"It's just a case of 'transmission of errors.' Ancient history was recorded in a mythical mode, and later generations naturally copied it."
Netizens held different opinions, arguing heatedly. Some agreed that the stone tablet's record was true history, while others considered it fictional.
Jiang Fan sat on the ground, thinking. Myths and legends, of course, could not be classified as true history. For example, ancient Greek civilization often made up myths and legends to praise themselves, even fabricating that a shepherd named Homer wrote them on sheepskin, passed down through generations. Jiang Fan had calculated that if those ancient Greek myths were truly written on sheepskin, the volume would be astonishing. At least tens of thousands of sheep would have to be slaughtered to record them. Even if Homer's family was fabulously wealthy, they would be impoverished. Moreover, Homer was penniless, a mere shepherd – this was clearly fabricated.
Thinking of this, Jiang Fan couldn't help but ask the panda, "Are the stories inside all true? Was your grandfather the one responsible for recording them?"
The panda immediately showed a displeased expression, pointing to its own face. It clearly meant, "Look at this honest face of mine; you know I wouldn't lie."
In the live stream, Professor Zhang's expert team was once again dominating the chat with super bullet comments. "Everyone, listen to me. I believe the things recorded on the stone tablet are basically true."
"As for why it sounds like legends, it's probably because ancient people, out of faith, used an exaggerated method of recording."
"For example, the magic puppet mechs that drove the south-pointing chariots were likely dummies sitting in the vehicle."
"The Gods of Wind and Rain were probably scientists who could predict the weather."
"Han Ba had an ugly appearance. Ancient people regarded ugly people as evil gods, and seeing them would shake one's resolve and lead to a loss of combat effectiveness."
"These can all be explained scientifically."
Professor Zhang was getting carried away, but the netizens didn't believe him at all. They all felt that "explained scientifically" was utter nonsense; it was completely pseudoscience, like something from "Approaching Science." That program often featured such segments, like a village where everything was charged with electricity, and the air carried 220 volts. Upon investigation, after interviews, they revealed that the electric meter was faulty. Or a family's cow that laid mysterious black eggs. Finally, various experts were invited, and after scientific analysis, it turned out to be cow dung balls caused by constipation. This was clearly bullshit. Netizens felt that real history could absolutely not be as Professor Zhang described.
Meanwhile, Jiang Fan was also contemplating. After a moment, he slapped his thigh and said, "I've figured it out."
"Oh? Tell us quickly!" Zhou Niannian, Dai Xiaomei, and the others quickly gathered around.
"Didn't you see the records mentioning strange things like propellers and jet engines?"
"And the magic puppet mechs, I think they were clearly a type of robot."
"My view is that, at that time, a mysterious civilization imparted knowledge and power to Chi You and the Yellow Emperor."
"Therefore, they obtained technologically advanced power beyond their era. Things like summoning wind and rain, or energy annihilation, were products of black technology."
"As for Chi You, he might have undergone genetic modification, becoming a three-headed, six-armed being."
Actually, Jiang Fan was just making these up as a joke to entertain them. After all, science fiction movies, especially Marvel movies, were full of such scenarios. Beings possessed by alien symbiotes turning into monsters, or obtaining advanced technology from another universe – these were more common than ants on the ground.
Unexpectedly, after Jiang Fan finished speaking, everyone said in unison, "It makes a lot of sense!"
It was Jiang Fan himself who was stunned, asking Zhou Niannian in disbelief, "Does it really make a lot of sense?"
"Yes, your analysis is well-reasoned! You're a genius." Zhou Niannian praised Jiang Fan wholeheartedly.
Jiang Fan nodded. Indeed, science fiction movies had never lied to him.
These words were all clearly heard by the netizens in the live stream.
"I think what Jiang Shen said is the correct interpretation."
"Right, aliens giving advanced technology to two tribes, leading to a tech war, it's logical."
"This also explains why there are so many high-tech artifacts in this treasure vault, as well as superior agricultural crops and processing techniques."
"As expected of Jiang Shen, his powerful logical reasoning ability."
"Please accept my bow."
Unknowingly, Jiang Fan's stomach began to rumble. Lingering here wasn't a solution. More than exploring the truth of history, Jiang Fan preferred to find a way out first. He asked the panda where it obtained the stone tablet. When they searched the treasure vault earlier, they hadn't seen any sign of it.
The panda immediately gave a demonstration, lifting the square brick it had moved earlier. Beneath it was a hidden space where the stone tablet was placed. So, this was the mechanism. Jiang Fan suddenly realized. When they had inspected the ground earlier, they had only pressed the square bricks down, not attempting to pry them up. Without further ado, Jiang Fan immediately led everyone to pry up all the square bricks on the ground that could be lifted.