Chapter 00275: The Ruins of Humanity
# The Ruins of Humanity
Chapter 275
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 275: The Ruins of Humanity
Time gradually passed, and soon it was afternoon.
Since it was winter, the sky darkened very early.
Just then, the back doorbell of Li Chengxi's house rang.
He ran to open the door and saw Qian Sen standing outside, a weary look on his face.
"I've come to pick up Ms. Aidas. Has she had any trouble?"
"None at all. We were just watching a TV series together."
Seeing that Qian Sen had only brought a few people with him, unlike the morning when he came with a large group of fully armed combatants, Li Chengxi asked with some curiosity:
"Is the matter resolved? That was quick. I thought it would take at least two or three days."
"It's far from resolved. We've only temporarily lowered the alert level."
"Any new discoveries?"
"Through questioning the contained deities and communicating with our foreign counterparts, we've roughly confirmed what happened. This matter is beyond our control."
"What do you mean?"
"The problem is on the other side. It's said that some kind of extremely powerful magical artifact knocked many gods down. We're not sure if it's all of them yet, but we can confirm that a very large number of deities have landed on Earth. The current count has already surpassed four hundred, and it's still increasing as the search continues."
"Can't we do something about it?"
"How? The problem is on the other side, not here. Besides, even the gods who were shot down can't explain why."
Qian Sen sighed deeply.
"We need to be on full alert for the foreseeable future, ready at any moment to prevent these gods who have fallen to Earth from causing trouble."
Their landing points were random and their numbers immense.
The equipment for detecting spatial shift signals had even broken down when it happened.
Who knew where all these fallen gods had landed.
Some gods might be like Aidas, quickly falling into a state of suspended animation without a supply of divine power.
For Section Nine, this was actually a good thing.
At least in suspended animation, they wouldn't cause trouble.
The fear was that some evil god who happened to have a supply of divine power and loved stirring up trouble would be running around freely.
That would be a real mess.
So, for now, they had only lowered the alert level.
The search for these fallen gods not only couldn't stop but needed to be intensified.
He felt he could suggest Qian Sen shave his head.
At least then he wouldn't have to worry about a receding hairline.
"I'm here to pick up Ms. Aidas. We have a special containment facility for transmigrators in the next city. The deities who fell nearby have all been taken there."
"You're not going to capture them and slice them up for research, are you?"
"Not at all. We understand the importance of gods to the other world. Acting recklessly could trigger an even larger-scale disaster. It's simply containment, to prevent them from running around and causing incidents."
Section Nine's methods might seem a bit rough, but they were always reliable.
Li Chengxi turned around and called for Aidas to come downstairs.
"I'll notify you if there's any new intelligence. You should also be more careful recently. Since you were able to attract Aidas to land near you, it's possible other gods might come looking for you."
"I know. I'll call you if that happens."
The reason he could attract Aidas was because Li Chengxi, as the Demon God, had some connection with Aidas, the Springwater Goddess.
He didn't have much of a connection with other gods.
Surely he wouldn't also attract the Plague Goddess, whom he had slapped twice, or the Master of a Hundred Feet, whose followers he had killed... right?
---
With a sense of regret, the group of four left the cliff's edge.
After a brief rest, they set out again, continuing toward the distant aurora.
This leg of the journey took a full seven or eight hours.
It was early morning when they entered, and now it was definitely past lunchtime.
Still seeing no end to the aurora, the four of them sustained themselves with dry rations.
Now, under the aurora's light, an irregular rock protrusion jutted out from the snowy plains created by the illusion.
As they got closer, they could see that its smooth and glossy surface could not possibly have been caused by wind erosion.
It gave an even more abrupt impression.
This protrusion looked completely out of place, as if it had been thrust into the ground by some force, rather than forming naturally.
Continuing forward, about ten minutes later, the group arrived beneath this towering rock protrusion.
It looked like a giant stone dagger, and the smooth rock on its exterior showed obvious traces of artificial polishing.
At this moment, the aurora that had been guiding Audel also vanished, as if to say, you've found the right place.
"There's an entrance over here, but it's very narrow, and you can't see what's at the bottom at all."
Nimia pointed toward the base of the rock.
Right next to the ground, they could see an irregular entrance, less than two meters wide.
Audel approached and illuminated it with a magic light.
Just above the entrance, some patterns resembling text were carved.
Perrin, standing beside her, tried to identify them.
"What script is this? I've never seen it before."
"It's the Ancient Language. There are no more than five people who know this language now. I can only barely understand a little of it."
Audel was no expert in linguistics.
She could only make out the words 'army,' 'demon king,' 'seal,' 'ring,' and 'god.' She couldn't form a complete sentence at all.
However, from these few words, it was clear that she had indeed found the right place.
The cave wound its way downwards, and because of the curves, it was impossible to see how deep it was.
The group took out the ropes from their backs, tied them securely outside, and began to descend one by one, holding onto the rope.
Leading the way, of course, was Nimia, acting as the rogue to scout the path.
After climbing down past each bend, she would shake the rope to signal that all was well.
Based on their perception, the group felt they had descended about ten meters by rope when Nimia's voice came from below:
"Come down quickly, we might have found the ruins!"
Ruins meant treasure, which was why Nimia's voice sounded somewhat joyous.
The three people above slid down the rope one after another.
The inside of the cave was dry and cold, but the illusory snowy plains they had seen above were gone.
Audel straightened her robe and looked up to see a doorway with obvious man-made traces not far ahead.
On either side of the entrance stood two statues.
One statue looked like a male warrior clad in armor, the other a female mage holding a magic staff.
At first glance, there was nothing strange about the statues.
Audel could even tell that both statues had once been enchanted, but due to their great age, the original enchantments had faded.
The group moved a little closer, and Audel used Detection Magic again.
Statues at the entrance of ruins could provide a lot of information, such as the age of the ruins, the preferences of their owner, and some statues were even animated by spells, ready to strike down any intruders who approached.
Just as her eyes had told her, there had indeed been magic on the statues, but it had dissipated.
Now they were merely statues.
Judging by the degree of decay, she could confirm they were likely artifacts from the Mythic Era.
Many of the finer details were no longer clear.
But Audel noticed something that caught her attention.
Neither of these two statues had horns on their heads.
Not all members of the Demon Race had horns; Audel and Viola, for instance, did not.
But the Demon Race had a great fondness for horns.
Demons without horns would even buy special hairpins to wear on their heads.
Therefore, almost any statue built by the Demon Race would have horns.
Even the full-body sculpture of the Demon God currently being built in the Leon Territory had horns added to it, despite Li Chengxi not having any.
It was a custom of the Demon Race.
So, to find two statues without horns here...
"This reminds me of humans."
Audel's words made the other three turn to look at her.
(End of this chapter)