Jiang Fan was astonished and simultaneously discovered that the floor was covered with intricate patterns.
Over time, the floor became covered with thick dust. Jiang Fan quickly called Yao over to wipe away the dust, revealing the patterns above.
Some of the patterns depicted descriptions of ancient battlefields, similar to the murals.
In addition to these, there were many illustrations of mountains and rivers, red flowers and green grass, which appeared to be some kind of map.
There were also scenes depicting primitive tribes hunting prey in the wilderness.
The forms of these prey were bizarre. Some are still present in modern society, like the one being roasted over a fire, which was clearly a salmon.
There was also a pig-like creature, eaten down to its skeleton. Although the skeleton was a bit larger, it was still recognizable as an ancestor of the wild boar.
However, Jiang Fan had never seen some of the creatures depicted, only heard of them in legends.
For example, a creature that looked like a horse but had tiger-like stripes and a deer's tail.
Jiang Fan recalled that the description of the *Lushu* in the *Shanhaijing* matched this animal perfectly.
There was also a fish shaped like a cow, with a cow's head, but it inhabited hillsides and had a snake-like tail.
Wasn't this the legendary *Lu*, said to cure tumors if eaten?
One illustration depicted countless primitive people by the sea, hunting a giant fish with harpoons.
The fish was larger than a mountain and had sharp teeth. The humans were as tiny as ants in comparison.
A single parasitic copepod on the fish could crush the hunting party.
"A Kun,"
Dai Xiaomei also came over and exclaimed upon seeing it.
Even Dai Xiaomei knew about this creature, infamous for its ability to grow by consuming.
Furthermore, there were illustrations depicting a nine-tailed fox that could transform into human form and interact with people.
The nine-tailed fox was famous, known to all, even the entity possessing the seventh Hokage in the neighboring Land of the Rising Sun, known as Kurama, or its disguised form, Tamamo-no-Mae. The *Shanhaijing* also contained a detailed description of the nine-tailed fox's appearance.
Additionally, the illustrations documented scenes of ancient primitive people worshipping sky gods.
The depictions of the worship rituals were very detailed, not only portraying the expressions of the primitives vividly but also showing the appearance of the sky gods.
The sky gods also had various forms. Some looked human-like but were exceptionally large.
They could step across mountains and drink rivers dry, somewhat like the legendary Kuafu.
Others were bizarre. For instance, one sky god was a giant eye in the sky, overlooking the mortal realm.
Jiang Fan felt he had seen this form somewhere before.
After much thought, he remembered it was the "Angel of Sky" from the anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion."
And the Angel of Sky's prototype was one of the Outer Gods from the Cthulhu Mythos.
This meant that Chinese deities could be linked to the Cthulhu Mythos.
These illustrations held too many unsolved mysteries.
After briefly scanning the illustrations, Jiang Fan's gaze shifted to the ground beside him.
Various peculiar plants were spread out on the ground, resembling herbs.
One of them was the Phantom Star Grass, which had lost its crystal protective cover and had dried out.
"Huh, isn't this that grass that releases poisonous gas?"
Dai Xiaomei casually reached out to pluck the Phantom Star Grass, but upon touching it, it turned to ash.
"Ah!"
Dai Xiaomei jumped back two steps in fright.
"Don't touch them."
Jiang Fan warned. Just like the food and fruits, these medicinal herbs only retained their form; they had actually decayed.
All medicine has a degree of toxicity. Inhaling the ash of poisonous substances would be bad.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound echoed from the passage above.
Jiang Fan immediately looked up warily and saw several observers flying down.
Due to Jiang Fan and his companions' rapid descent, the observers couldn't keep up earlier.
They had only just flown out of the passage through which Jiang Fan's group had descended and were now circling Jiang Fan and the others.
The viewers in the livestream had been watching the dark, oppressive tunnel for a long time and were already yawning.
The appearance of the observers immediately excited them, as they discovered there was more to this place than met the eye.
"Huh, this looks like a treasure trove."
"There's fruit, food, herbs, and weapons; everything is here."
"Haha, hurry and collect all these things, they're definitely valuable."
Suddenly, a giant red bullet comment appeared, like a firework display.
"Ahhhhh! This is an ancient ruin!"
The netizens' eyes were almost blinded by the giant bullet comment, and they couldn't help but curse.
"Who bought a rocket to send this super bullet comment?"
"One hundred yuan each, are you made of money?"
"This is blatant showing off."
"Exactly, I wouldn't even buy a colored font bullet comment on a monthly subscription for ten yuan."
The sender of the bullet comment seemed embarrassed and quickly explained.
"Sorry for disturbing everyone. I am a professor from the Archaeology Department of China University of Science and Technology, my surname is Zhang."
"This is the first time I've seen such an ancient and fantastical ruin, I was so excited that I accidentally sent a rocket."
"Please forgive me."
So, it was a professor who was made of money, no wonder he could afford a big rocket so casually.
Hearing it was a professor, some people started egging him on.
"Professor, what's mysterious about this ancient ruin? Tell us about it."
Professor Zhang didn't refuse.
"Then please all of you reduce the font size of your bullet comments, and I won't need to send super bullet comments."
Seeing that all the netizens had turned off their bullet comments, Professor Zhang immediately began to speak eloquently.
"We have discovered quite a few ruins in our country, such as the Yuanmou Man tribe. However, they generally only consist of a few skulls, teeth, and stone tools."
"A ruin this complete is the first of its kind ever discovered in the world."
"Jiang Shen and the others probably haven't realized the preciousness of this ancient ruin yet."
The netizens listened and began to discuss excitedly.
They urged Professor Zhang to share more professional knowledge.
Professor Zhang was also a little excited and explained without reservation.
"For example, the patterns on the ground. Jiang Shen might just find them interesting, but he hasn't noticed that the patterns are painted with pigments of various colors."
"Ordinary pigments would surely fade after a thousand years. The only ones that wouldn't fade would be those using photon pigment technology, which is still under research."
"Just the composition of these pigments alone is enough for the archaeological community to study for several years."
"And the knife over there, have you noticed it? The knife has rifling."
"Yes, rifling is only found in gun barrels and cannon barrels. This technology normally wouldn't appear until the late Ming Dynasty."
"Why would a weapon from a thousand years ago have rifling, what is its purpose, and how was it manufactured? These are also mysteries."
The netizens were very intelligent and immediately sensed a hidden meaning in Professor Zhang's words.