"I, Master Fuli, guarantee that for now, I won't touch anything in your City of the Dead, any burial artifacts. At most, the archaeology team will come over to imprint your text and murals!"
"If you see anyone breaking the rules, you can come straight to me to complain, and I'll stand up for you!"
Master Fuli assured the black slime.
"Gurgle gurgle..." The black slime was overjoyed and continuously expressed gratitude to Master Fuli, even considering setting up a shrine for him in the City of the Dead.
"Forget about the shrine, but you'll have to come with us later and give a testimony about the deeds of your king when he was alive, and about the Terracotta Tribe."
Master Fuli waved, indicating that the black slime need not be too courteous.
The Security Bureau is excavating the site in order to glimpse the former glory and technology of the Spiritual Particles civilization through it.
Now there are living beings here who can speak about past events, making archaeological research on artifacts less crucial.
There's nothing faster than asking those directly involved; it perfectly suits the context here.
Archaeology doesn't compare to questioning witnesses.
"Gurgle?"
The black humanoid slime looked puzzled, raised its hand, pointed at its face, with an exclamation mark appearing above its head.
"Rest assured, can Master Fuli possibly deceive you? My reputation is well-known throughout the ten-mile radius."
Master Fuli spoke confidently, boasting that his fox qualities are renowned on the entire internet.
"Gurgle..." The black slime nodded, half-believing.
With the black slime leading the way, the Security Bureau personnel immediately learned about the past and general layout of the cave.
The cave indeed has an entrance and exit, but they were sealed by the guards after the tribe was annihilated.
The entire man-made cavern has three layers: the upper cave, where everyone currently stands, is a cemetery for the tribe's honored warriors; the second layer, where the Treasure Tree resides, is for royalty and nobles.
The third layer is solely for the king, but unfortunately, construction had not started before the tribe was decimated by an unstoppable natural disaster.
The king died without a complete body.
The black slime proudly introduced itself to everyone, saying it once belonged to the Terracotta Tribe, later transforming into a certain fungal polymer through the terracotta box.
Its mission is to guard the City of the Dead, waking every few centuries to gather companions to clean the cemetery, then returning to a wilted state, becoming mold on the walls to sleep until the next cleaning day arrives.
"Have you...never left?" Master Fuli asked the black slime curiously.
"Gurgle..." The black slime shook its head; the outside world harbors frightening existences, and the environment is unsuitable for them.
They need large amounts of water to survive, with humidity no less than ninety percent; otherwise, they would wilt and die after traveling only a few kilometers outside.
In the black slime's perspective, although it has awakened dozens of times, the tribe's annihilation feels as if it happened just recently.
The monster that destroyed their tribe might still exist. That day was utterly despairing for their tribe, having just defeated other tribes, and their city had just built drainage systems, with everything progressing positively.
But due to the monster's passage, the king and the entire city vanished in an instant.
The monster swept away all tribal clans like a big cleanup, crushing everything they prided themselves on, including [Divine Descent].
Casually and ruthlessly, apocalypse is just like that.
It resembled ancient "Gods."
Carrying a world-ending disaster, it swept through the universe in all directions.
At this point in the story, the black slime couldn't help but display a look of lamentation and melancholy: "Gurgle gurgle, gurgle..."
It's a miracle you're alive out there.
"What did it say..." Wang Qiqi saw the black slime alternating between pride and melancholy while looking at the strange scene unfolding before him and, feeling somewhat confused, asked Golden Leopard what the slime had said.
"It explained the reason for the tribe's destruction. I'll tell you more when we go back!" Golden Leopard thought for a moment and said to Wang Qiqi.
Instinctively, Golden Leopard sensed something peculiar from the black slime's tale.
During the existence of the Terracotta Tribe, carbon-14 dating should place it around fourteen thousand years ago.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring province, the civilization referred to as the [Dadiwan Ruins], and other human civilizations existed.
Yet, they weren't attacked by monsters, developing in their territories or migrating to more suitable regions.
There's archaeological evidence for this; no black slime-related apocalypse monster descriptions are recorded on any artifacts or murals.
However, based on the black slime's account, a monster akin to a primordial creature destroyed all city-states.
There's a logical contradiction and inconsistency here.
Unless the monster...selectively exterminated.
"Does the monster have a pointed tip on its head and a round halo behind it, or is it covered in circular adornments?"
After hearing the slime's story, Master Fuli also sensed something strange and directly asked the slime.
"Gurgle gurgle!" The black slime showed a shocked expression, terrified, and made its slime stand on end.
The black slime nodded vigorously, confirming the monster had a large halo behind it.
Infinite divine light illuminated the earth, causing immediate destruction wherever it went.
Extremely terrifying—
Have you...seen that monster?
Master Fuli: "......"
Well, there's no need to ask further; continuing will land everyone in an interrogation room to sign confidentiality agreements.
On Blue Star, encountering any illogical events with pointed caps, circular features, or halo traits, throwing it to the Second Epoch never fails.
The fungi the Terracotta Tribe played with might have triggered a backup plan left by the Dragon People before their demise.
Fungi from the Second Epoch carry gene pollution with the characteristics of complete sterility.
The Second Epoch died on that front; humans are considered the inheritors of their genetic bloodline continuity.
Thinking about this, a peculiar expression appeared on Master Fuli's cheeks as he secretly mused:
"Could it be a special deal? If the fungi population of the Second Epoch reproduces to a certain extent, it might awaken some kind of sterilization program, summoning biological weapons of the Second Epoch to eliminate ancient fungi on Blue Star..."
"This matter must be hinted ahead to Old Li, to let him dig deeper in this direction; otherwise, truly summoning a dragon would be a disaster..."
Suppressing his thoughts, Master Fuli turned to Wang Qiqi and asked, "What time is it now? I need to return to school before Ah Qing finishes school, and I have two video conferences to attend..."
The matter of the Treasure Tree was temporarily settled, and next would be for it to watch [Human City Speed Guide].
Although the matter of the Terracotta Tribe in the cavern potentially affects a wide area according to speculation, it's something the Security Bureau needs to delve deeper into.
Ansheng pondered, feeling staying inside the cavern gave a subtle feeling of raving on a tomb.
Anyway, there's nothing much; he planned to go out and wash away the cemetery soil, and find a brazier to leap over.
"Now? It's just past five," Wang Qiqi glanced at her watch and said, "If we take a helicopter back, we'll make it home before Ah Qing finishes school."
"Well...could you arrange that for me?" Ansheng nodded gently.
"Okay, but..." Wang Qiqi glanced at Master Fuli, turned her gaze towards the Ba Mountain Mosquito or rather the Treasure Tree curled up in its lap:
"Master Fuli, could you lend a hand? Our Security Bureau can't keep that guy under control..."
Ansheng looked over at Master Treasure Tree.
"Wow—"
Master Treasure Tree was startled, tightened its grip on the blanket Wang Qiqi handed it. It treated the blanket like bark, wrapping itself tightly, and uttered a "wow."
Ansheng frowned: "......"
I'm not going to harm you, what are you startled by, where's your stubborn mule temper gone.
Although Master Treasure Tree appears in child-like form, it is by no means an unaware child.
It faintly perceives...
Master Fuli might...want to cook it in soup?