Chapter 507: Discovering the Ruins! Dull and Tasteless

Ning Fei turned the livestream back on after leaving the library.

The streets outside were still bustling with tourists.

Shouldering his backpack with Little Fox tucked inside, Ning Fei made his way back to the cruise ship with Bai Yi.

"Brother, did you find anything?"

Bai Yi asked, unable to hide her eagerness.

The viewers in the livestream also watched Ning Fei, waiting for his answer.

Ning Fei nodded and said:

"I found a few things. According to Plato's accounts, human civilization was highly developed tens of thousands of years ago. The people of Atlantis expanded their territory and launched countless invasions."

"It wasn't until the Athenians rallied all remaining forces to form an alliance and fought back fiercely that Atlantis's advance was halted."

"Later, Atlantis's greed angered the gods. An earthquake struck soon after, and the civilization was quickly swallowed up."

"Of course, that's just a legend, but we can roughly deduce that Atlantis isn't actually far from the continent. It's somewhere along the coast."

"I'm going down to take a look."

Afterward, Ning Fei steered the yacht out of the port, then deployed and piloted the Submarine deep underwater.

The Bionic Tuna followed him, broadcasting his descent into the sea.

This time, Ning Fei didn't dive straight down.

Instead, he navigated along the edge of the peninsula.

The seabed near beaches was generally too shallow for a submarine to navigate.

But other parts of the peninsula dropped straight down underwater, like sheer cliffs.

A mountain range spanned the very edge of the peninsula, and Ning Fei guided the Submarine through the waters beneath these peaks.

The viewers were also very surprised.

For a moment, they couldn't figure out what he was doing.

Ning Fei flipped on the Submarine's floodlights, illuminating the boundary between the continent and the ocean.

"What is Temple Master Ning looking for?"

"He's looking for Atlantis, the legendary ancient city. What else?"

"Can he really find it in a place like this?"

"This is the first time I've seen someone search along the coastline."

"I have no idea what's going on, but it feels awesome. I bet Temple Master Ning is about to make a huge discovery. Let's wait and see!"

Ning Fei enjoyed immense global popularity right now, and countless people were tuned into his broadcast.

Yet, watching his current movements, many were left scratching their heads.

"Found it!"

Right at this time, Ning Fei was heard exclaiming.

"Those are words!"

His voice rang out through the livestream, and the viewers immediately peered closer at their screens.

Right where the ocean met the continental shelf, strange symbols were etched into a rock. If someone wasn't specifically searching for them, they would likely never notice the faint writing.

Ning Fei was currently four hundred meters deep at the bottom of the sea.

He brought the Submarine to a hover, then swam out wearing his Special Diving Suit.

The chat had already exploded.

"Holy shit, there are actually words on the seabed? Real or fake?"

"Could it be a coincidence?"

"Maybe an earthquake altered the seabed's geology and caused some inscribed rocks to shift?"

Aside from the regular viewers, many archaeologists were closely following Ning Fei's broadcast.

Several professional archaeological institutions had even glued their eyes to the stream.

Ning Fei swam over to the submerged rock face and gently brushed his hand over the stone.

At the same time, he clicked on his flashlight, casting a bright beam over the surface.

Across an area of about one square meter, the rock was covered in dense rows of small, engraved text.

"It's ancient text, leaning toward hieroglyphs."

"This writing was very likely left by a lost civilization. I can't decipher it."

Ning Fei muttered to himself as he studied the seabed inscription.

However, he had other methods.

The Special Diving Suit was equipped with built-in comms, allowing him to contact the outside world. He immediately called Lin Tao, the archaeology expert.

Lin Tao was a mysterious figure. The last time they crossed paths was during the search for the Tengshe at the Peach Blossom Spring Ruins.

Ning Fei had taken the Tengshe with him back then, leaving Lin Tao empty-handed.

Lin Tao had initially suspected Ning Fei, but since Ning Fei had been livestreaming constantly since leaving the ruins with no sign of a mythical beast in tow, Lin Tao had eventually let the matter drop.

As it happened, Lin Tao was watching the stream right now. He had instantly screenshotted the ancient text and was already trying to decipher it.

"I saw the text,"

Lin Tao answered when Ning Fei called.

"There are many kinds of ancient scripts—Oracle Bone Script, Sumerian, Mayan, and so on. This writing resembles Egyptian, but there are significant differences."

"I can roughly guess a few words. They translate to 'door,' 'open,' and 'nightmare.'"

"I'll need some time to translate the detailed content."

"I have a few colleagues who study ancient Egyptian. I'll go consult them."

Ning Fei nodded and said, "Sorry for the trouble."

Afterward, Ning Fei initiated a Diamond Ten-Pull.

He had only reached out to Lin Tao to test the waters. He knew that translating ancient scripts often involved a lot of educated guesswork, meaning the accuracy wouldn't necessarily be high.

Relying on the System was still much more reliable.

"Ding! The Host has selected the Diamond Ten-Pull."

"Congratulations to the Host for obtaining items."

"Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the skill: Ancient Text Deciphering."

"Ancient Text Deciphering: The Host possesses the ability to decipher ancient texts."

The System's prompts rang out in Ning Fei's mind.

The items were mostly things like Flat Peaches and strengthening pills. To the current Ning Fei, they were better than nothing, but barely.

Only the skills and props were truly useful to him now.

Now equipped with the new skill, Ning Fei immediately set about reading the text on the rock wall.

"The gates of hell will eventually open, doomsday is imminent, and terrifying flames will devour everything."

Seeing those words, Ning Fei instantly understood.

"It's likely describing a volcanic eruption. It sounds quite terrifying."

"According to historical records, at least two or three great ancient civilizations were wiped out by catastrophic volcanic eruptions. Those eruptions were orders of magnitude larger than anything seen in the past millennium."

"The earth was much more temperamental in that era."

"It seems the people of Atlantis predicted the eruption. This must have been part of a ritual or a prophecy."

With that in mind, Ning Fei carefully re-examined the geology of the seabed rocks.

He said to the viewers in the livestream:

"These are volcanic sedimentary rocks."

"This environment is the result of geological upheaval following a massive eruption tens of thousands of years ago."

"Atlantis really did exist, but it was likely completely buried by the volcanic eruption."

"Countless years passed, new civilizations emerged, and Atlantis slowly fused into the continental shelf."

"If my guess is right, we should be able to find plenty of evidence of Atlantis in this area."

Ning Fei felt a wave of disappointment.

If Atlantis really was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, then no ruins could possibly have survived. Naturally, that meant no heavenly materials or earthly treasures were left behind either.

The magma would have swallowed everything, obliterating all architecture and leaving nothing but a few faint traces behind.

It wouldn't be the only civilization in history to vanish in such a manner.

Ning Fei circled the edges of the seabed rocks a few more times.

He uncovered more patterns and text.

Brushing aside the thick layer of silt on the seabed, he even revealed half of a massive sun emblem.

Watching the stream, the viewers were entirely captivated by these markings.

Meanwhile, archaeological research institutions across Europe had plunged into a frenzy.

Without a doubt, the experts had recognized it at a glance—what Ning Fei had discovered were the ancient ruins of Atlantis!

"We need to get there, quickly! We can't let this Huaxia person find the entrance to Atlantis!"

"Notify the Government to lock down the local sea area immediately!"

"Exactly! Those are our territorial waters! We cannot let a Huaxia citizen excavate them!"

The research institutions' top experts went into overdrive. Phones were ringing off the hook, bags were hastily packed, and the entire community erupted in a mad rush.

This was Atlantis! The greatest legendary land of the Atlantic Ocean!

To see it finally discovered... how could they not be ecstatic?

This was a major event that would rewrite history!

Unlike them, Ning Fei actually found the whole thing rather dull and tasteless.

He was certain that the Ancient Kingdom of Atlantis had been completely incinerated by magma. The ancient city no longer existed.

Which meant there was no point in sticking around.

Thinking of this, Ning Fei piloted the Submarine and left directly.