I couldn't help but recall the temple I had seen in the underground palace of the Gakuye God Kingdom. Through the memories of the God-King, the process of the God Kingdom's destruction and the ugly image of "Zambiga" were vivid in my mind...

"So, the people in Stone City don't believe in gods?!"

Zoe came to this conclusion.

Since ancient times, the coastal areas of China have worshipped "Mazu" to ensure safe voyages. Many coastal countries around the world also have similar traditions, praying to mythical figures for protection. Although these mythical figures are mostly creations and do not exist in reality, this kind of image does indeed give some comfort to those who work on the ocean.

"Not believing in gods, one possibility is that the monarchy is stable and does not need the image of gods to control people's minds," Han Yu said.

Han Yu's speculation gave us, who had experienced the underground palace in the Himalayas, a shot in the arm, and we thought we finally didn't have to worry about monsters like "Zambiga" appearing in Stone City.

...

In the very center of the main hall was a large chair made of some kind of metal. This was the first time we had seen metal objects in Stone City, and rarity meant preciousness.

This chair must have been the exclusive seat symbolizing the power of the city lords of the past. After years of baptism, the people were gone, but the chair remained, which was also ironic.

If this stone hall was the city lord's exclusive mansion, then the stone hall must be a structure that integrated eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, ruling, and entertainment. This was confirmed in the subsequent exploration process.

We entered a side door inside the main hall, and following the corridor, we came to the second floor of the stone hall. The second floor of the stone hall was a dining room.

The first thing that caught our eye was a round dining table carved from a whole piece of white and smooth jade stone, which could probably accommodate ten people sitting around it. However, regrettably, the other furniture in the dining room had not been preserved, because they were all wooden furniture, and too much time had passed, so they had all decayed and turned into a pile of wreckage.

Seeing that many of the tableware on the table were completely preserved, Fatty's greed took over. He stepped forward and picked up one of the small white bowls and carefully observed it. The texture of the bowl was as smooth and warm as jade, and it was carved with various beautiful patterns, making it look very valuable.

Fatty thought to himself that this was the key to getting rich, so he took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and stuffed the small white bowl into his pocket.

The dining room also had several side doors. We took a quick look at each one, but didn't find anything particularly strange. However, among the clutter, several sealed jars caught our attention.

The jars were slightly larger than a basketball. Fatty picked up a jar, shook it, and it seemed like there was something inside. He said to us with a playful smile, "Hey, sure enough, the tradition of drinking has existed since ancient times."

"This thousand-year-old wine is much more valuable than Moutai."

Fatty scraped off the layer of clay and waxy substance sealing the jar, and then gently lifted the sealed lid.

Fatty had long been prepared for the fragrant smell of wine to waft out. Even if it meant having a stomach ache, he would have to satisfy his craving and take a sip of this thousand-year-old brew.

But after the lid was opened, a rotten and fishy smell rushed out of the jar, a bit like a mixture of dead rats and some kind of chemical substance. Fatty was the closest and smelled it first. He felt a burst of nausea and wanted to put the jar on the ground quickly, but he accidentally dropped and broke the jar.

With a "crack," the jar split in half, and a human head mixed with green liquid rolled out of the jar.

We were all frightened by this scene. Zoe, Jennifer, and Han Yu screamed and took several steps back.

Fatty, on the other hand, let out a scream and collapsed to the ground with weak legs.

"Damn, a...a head..." Fatty said, pointing at the head with a trembling voice, "Why...why did they put a head in the jar..."

Zoe hid behind me and said tremblingly, "I remember reading an article before that said there was a cannibalistic tribe in Africa. They believed that eating something would replenish that part of the body, so they would use human organs as food ingredients for cooking. The tribal leader would enjoy the human brain, the other managers in the tribe would divide up the heart and kidneys, the young laborers in the tribe would enjoy the limbs, and the other parts would be distributed to others. They called this method 'human sacrifice'."

"These heads are placed near the dining room, presumably as some kind of ingredient. They haven't completely rotted away after so many years, which shows that the preservation method is very good. This may be the city lord's eating habits..." Zoe added.

After hearing the words "eating habits," I couldn't help but shiver.

The terrifying head feast made us want to leave quickly, but we didn't leave the stone hall because of this. We quickly left the second floor of the stone hall and went to the third floor.

This stone hall only had three floors in total. The third floor was the Stone City Lord's collection room. It originally displayed the city lord's various collections. Over time, many of the collections had naturally decomposed and been damaged, and only a small portion of them remained.

Most of the things that remained were various objects made of human bones, including masks made of skulls and scepters made of slender leg bones.

It seemed that the city lord of Stone City had a special liking for human bone crafts, especially skulls. The table was filled with strange objects made of various skulls, some of which were densely engraved with strange patterns.

This scene suddenly reminded Fatty of the small bowls of different sizes on the white jade dining table just now. He secretly took out the small white bowl from his pocket and took a closer look - "Damn, this is actually a human skull," Fatty was frightened and quickly threw the small white bowl aside, constantly chanting "Amitabha," "Amitabha."

Zoe was very interested in several leather scrolls on a stone platform. She picked up a scroll, laid it flat, and saw densely packed hieroglyphs. Zoe felt that this font was very familiar, but she couldn't remember it for a moment.

Zoe unfolded all the leather scrolls at once. The characters on all the leather scrolls were the same type of writing. She studied them carefully for a while, but felt clueless. Li Dechai, who was beside her, also shook his head, saying that he couldn't understand it.

The delicate animal skin was processed and coated with some kind of lipid substance, and it could actually remain unrotted and unbroken for thousands of years, which shows that the ancients' skills in some aspects are indeed worth praising.

Zoe kneaded the flattened leather scroll, and she felt that it was strange, thinking to herself, there are no animals on this island, so where did the skin come from? She put the leather scroll in front of her eyes and carefully observed the纹路, and suddenly thought of the thangkas she had seen in the museum before.

She was so frightened that she quickly threw the leather scroll in her hand forward, and her forehead began to sweat - the texture of these leather scrolls was exactly the same as those thangkas made of human skin she had seen before.