Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 262 Mysterious Symbols
When Nina was about to run to the second floor to say hello, Duncan appeared on the stairs.

He heard movement from downstairs.

"Mr. Duncan." Morris came to the stairs and looked up at the "captain" who was looking down, "I found the symbol you showed me in a document about the ancient kingdom of Crete... …at least very close.”

Duncan noticed the slight bloodshot eyes and slightly swollen eyelids of Morris. Obviously, the old scholar had spent a lot of time searching for these materials, but there was a gleam of excitement in his eyes, and his mental state was extremely exciting. ——This is the look you have when you are immersed in research and finally achieve something.

Duncan glanced at Nina, Alice and the others downstairs, and nodded slightly: "Look at the store."

Then he looked at Morris: "Go upstairs and talk."

The old gentleman stepped up the stairs with the big book under his arm, and the old wooden steps creaked. He followed Duncan to the master bedroom on the second floor—this was the first time he had come to this place.

Judging from the living standard of a subspace shadow, this bedroom is a bit plain, but considering Mr. Duncan's special "hobby" of "playing mortals", this plain room seems quite normal.

Morris carefully controlled his actions, satisfying his curiosity while not making any unnecessary prying eyes. Duncan pulled two chairs from the side and motioned for the old gentleman to put the big book on the desk by the window.

"Tell me about your discovery," Duncan said after sitting down, "what does that symbol represent?"

"About its significance... I don't have a clue yet, I just found the most likely source of it," Morris calmed down, opened the seemingly valuable document, and found the bookmark with the bookmark inside. One page, "Did you notice the location? It's here."

Duncan frowned slightly. He saw that the page was a picture, a rather exquisite hand-painted illustration, which should be a part of a large building, which looked like the main entrance of a palace, and the one with the hexagonal The frame and the symbol of the broken cross structure appear in the relief above the main entrance and occupy the center of the whole picture.

As for the content of the relief... It seems to be just some patterns with no meaning.

As Morris said downstairs, this symbol is in a very inconspicuous place-it is just a small decorative part of an illustration, and it does not even take up a tenth of the proportion of the whole picture. One of them is not specifically marked.

It's really hard for Morris to find this book from piles of documents, and find such a corner from this book.

"I have a vague impression. I should have seen it a long, long time ago. Thanks to the blessing of the God of Wisdom, this 'impression' is still effective today, allowing me to find this 'gadget' ’” Morris explained, “this illustration is a facsimile, the original manuscript of which appeared in a document on the study of the architectural remains of the kingdom of ancient Crete, which is not at present in Plante, but I believe some of my Academia friends should be able to help...

"Of course, even without the original manuscript, it is useful to note that this hand-drawn illustration depicts a lost ruin that was once in the frontier seas, on an unnamed desert island that It disappeared mysteriously in a dense fog around 223 A.D. of the New City State Calendar. Before disappearing completely, several expeditions successfully landed on the island and verified the shape and age of the ruins, confirming that it should be a product of the ancient kingdom of Crete. Judging from the decorations and reliefs on the surface of the building, the entire facility should be some kind of large-scale building with both academic and religious significance..."

As Morris spoke, he pointed to the text description on the adjacent page of the illustration. Between the slightly yellowed pages, you can see the annotations written by the old scholar in the early years.

"This kind of relief with tough and deep lines and a large number of rhombus elements in the pattern are the architectural characteristics of the ancient kingdom of Crete. They advocated the architectural style with thick lines and a sense of strength. Most of the main parts of their palace buildings are in various cuboid shapes. or pyramid shape, the building perfectly fits those characteristics..."

While listening to old Mr. Morris' interpretation, Duncan's gaze slowly scanned the pictures and words, and his attention fell on the hexagonal pattern in the center of the main entrance relief in the picture, his brows were slightly frowned: " There is no targeted interpretation of this symbol."

"...Unfortunately, this document is only a general introduction, and does not involve a detailed interpretation of the details of the ruins," Morris shook his head, "but this is unavoidable - the ancient kingdom of Crete It has been tens of thousands of years, and there are very few relics left by it, most of which are seriously damaged. Coupled with the loss or 'pollution' of various materials, the knowledge that can be analyzed by future generations is fragmented. It should be difficult for us to find a piece of An article dedicated to research on a certain pattern on a certain gate of the Ancient Kingdom..."

"Academic or religious facilities, the emblem at the entrance..." Duncan stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Why would a group of 'ascetics' 1 years later carry with them a badge from the Old Kingdom of Crete?" talisman?"

He turned his head and looked at Morris: "Do you think it is possible for there to be a 1-year-old 'Cretan family'?"

"...Someone said that rigorous scholars should not blindly deny any possibility, even if its probability is very small, but from my personal point of view, I think it is really impossible."

Morris said cautiously while thinking.

"A group similar to ascetics, the number of people may be very small, and their activities are extremely secretive. They have experienced the chaos after the collapse of the ancient kingdom, the age of disputes, and the wars of the old city-states. They have been passed down for a full 1 years. It has not been discovered since ancient times... If this possibility is true, I am more willing to believe that they are a secret religious group that was only established in modern times. A certain symbol of the period is used as one's own mark—this possibility is even higher."

Duncan listened to the old man's thoughts, hummed noncommittally, and glanced at the written materials again.

In the materials, there are some passages that obviously quoted the records in the original manuscripts, describing the few words left by the explorers more than 1000 years ago:

"...It stands right in the center of the island. The main building and the surrounding outbuildings occupy almost the entire island. It seems that the island was specially created for this building...

"...The main material of the building looks like stone, but it is tougher than stone, and the color is pale. The soldiers tried to carve out one of the wall bricks with an ice ax, and it took a lot of effort to succeed...When the ice ax and the wall brick hit, there was an exaggerated flame , The place where the wall tiles are broken has a silver-gray texture.

"There are a few small islands near the island, all of which are desolate, sparsely populated with plants, and even bugs are rare... There are no buildings left, maybe there used to be, but the scale is too small and has been swallowed by time...

"...On the evening of the third day, the small boat patrolled the island and found that a collapse point above the water surface had been submerged at some point, but there was no sign of high tide... The nearby sea area began to fog. Is there something wrong with the pastor? After praying to Bartok, the god of death and seeking enlightenment, he advised us to stay away from this island immediately."

Duncan looked directly at the end of this quotation and saw that the author of the document recorded it like this:
"On the seventh day after the expedition team withdrew, the fog dissipated, and another team arrived near the sea area, but the unnamed island could no longer be found."

Duncan couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

"It's just swallowed by the thick fog..." He sighed softly, "It sounds like the result of the collapse of the border."

"It looks very similar—but back then there was no mature Holy Emblem Beacon technology, and there were not enough accurate observation methods. Several abnormal phenomena, including the collapse of the border and the 'fog-eating' phenomenon, could easily be confused."

"The fog-eating phenomenon..." Duncan recalled a little, and then found the corresponding knowledge in his mind-he has been supplementing the common sense in this area through books during this time, "If it is really the fog-eating phenomenon, then there is still a possibility that this island It briefly reappeared in the world in a similar dense fog in the future, but it seems that there are no records of this aspect handed down."

"It is true, but it is also possible that relevant information has been lost."

Duncan hummed, and his fingers brushed the illustration involuntarily, brushing the small broken cross mark on it.

"This picture...shouldn't there be a possibility for the copyer to 'play freely'?" He suddenly asked worriedly.

"I don't think so," Morris replied immediately. "This is a very rigorous document. The creators of the illustrations and the editors of the original documents are all academic authorities with rigorous names. When leaving these materials, they would rather Leave the ambiguous places intact to future generations, and will not make any "supplementary adjustments" without evidence, or in other words, even if they make adjustments, they will definitely specify the corresponding in the remarks. Case."

"Is it true..."

Duncan muttered softly thoughtfully.

(End of this chapter)