CHAPTER 215: CHAPTER 212 [SEE AND HEAR]

Chapter Two Hundred and Twelve [What is Seen and Heard]

The meeting had been underway for half an hour. A military map was projected onto a screen at the front of the room, one particular area conspicuously marked in bright colors. Vanel stood before the map and, smiling, gave his explanation. Afterward, several Psychics in the room exchanged peculiar smiles.

"...So, our mission isn’t a rescue mission, as it’s called, but an exploration task, right?"

In the conference room, Bonfrey, the Ordinator, softly uttered these words in his gentle voice and nobleman-like intonation.

Then, the entire conference room fell silent.

All the Ability Users present, except for the newcomer Sato Ryoko, were experienced Underground World Ability Users, accustomed to taking on commissioned tasks.

Long before they arrived, everyone had already made some guesses. This mission has been posted on the website for so long! If it were a rescue mission, they should have assembled and headed out as quickly as possible. Why would the mission be released so languidly, with participants selected so slowly?

Everyone already knew the answer.

"Please don’t misunderstand; that was deliberately released false information to ensure the secrecy of this mission," Vanel explained frankly. "I believe all of you can understand."

"So, what exactly is in this region that warrants such trouble and enormous expense from the Octopus Monster... err, the Amazing World Company, finding us to conduct a search together?" The Professor, in his deliberate voice, voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

Vanel stood up, turned on the computer, and the image projected onto the screen shifted from the map to the next slide.

The picture changed to several vintage black-and-white photographs. In one photo, a Caucasian man, wearing the common field shirt of tropical explorers, stood looking sternly into the camera. Behind him loomed the somewhat blurry outline of a strange structure. Its top was pointed, and farther away were the shadowy silhouettes of a building complex.

"In 1915, British explorer Mr. John Sterling—this gentleman in the photo—stumbled upon a strange place during an expedition in the Brazilian Amazon basin. In his notes, he referred to it as... ’the relics of the gods.’"

Vanel continued his explanation in a calm, unhurried voice: "So-called relics of the gods are mentioned in ancient texts from various cultures around the world: the Pyramids of Egypt, Olympia of the Greeks, the Odin pantheon of the Norse, and even ancient Huaxia... And in South America, according to ancient civilizations..."

"Aztec? Maya? Inca?" The Professor chuckled.

Vanel glanced at the Professor. "Professor, you’re an expert in archaeology. I’m sure you know a lot about this."

The Professor took off his glasses to wipe them, then put them back on, squinting intently at the projected photo.

"It looks like the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, but... it’s strange," the Professor said, his expression serious yet intrigued.

"How so?" Black, the Gray Cat, couldn’t help but ask.

The Professor paused in thought, then, remaining seated, he looked at the others in the room.

"I think even those who don’t know history are somewhat familiar with the ancient civilizations of Central and South America, with names like the Aztecs, the Mayas, and the Inca Empire."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Even if they hadn’t studied this period of history, years of exposure to novels, movies, and other cultural entertainment had given ordinary people a general understanding.

"But what I want to clarify is that the so-called Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas... are actually three distinct civilizations." The Professor, choosing his words carefully, continued slowly, "While their respective periods of prosperity did not coincide, and their geographical locations differed, they all belong to the ancient civilizations of Central and South America and share many cultural and religious similarities due to common origins. Consequently, many ordinary people have long been unclear about the distinctions between these three civilizations."

Noticing the expressions on everyone’s faces, the Professor gave a slight smile. "Alright, I won’t delve too much into a history lesson. I’ll get straight to what I find odd.

"First, let’s talk about the Inca civilization. The Incas were actually confined to the West Coast of South America and never truly expanded on a massive scale across the Andes Mountains. Their development was always vertical, north to south, not horizontal. This was because the Andes Range, a stretch of mountains spanning eight thousand kilometers, lay to their east! So, until the fall of the Inca Empire, they only occupied the West Coast of South America—that is, parts of modern-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Notice that this is still quite a distance from the region marked on the map earlier!

"The designated search area is within Brazil’s Amazon basin, deep in the heartland of South America. The Inca civilization, throughout its existence, never managed to expand its culture on a large scale to this area.

"Then, let’s talk about the Maya and Aztec civilizations. This is even stranger! The Maya actually predated the Aztecs; to be precise, the Aztecs were their successors. But I need to point out that the flourishing regions of these two civilizations were concentrated only in modern-day Mexico! Central America! The core area of their civilizations was near present-day Mexico City. You see, this is also a long way from the area we intend to explore!

"What I mean is, whether it be the Inca Empire, the Maya civilization, or the Aztec civilization... none of these three great civilizations managed to conquer the heartland of South America in their entire existence! The so-called three great civilizations of South America never unified South America and controlled the entire continent, as many tend to believe. No, it wasn’t like that! Throughout their existence, they actually occupied only a small part of South America, some nooks and crannies.

"The area we need to search is in the middle basin of the Amazon River within Brazil. This place, in the heartland of South America... according to the history I’ve learned, has never hosted a large-scale ancient civilized city-state!

"Now, let’s look at this photograph again! Behind the explorer, there’s clearly a vast complex of buildings! A typical South American pyramid! And in the distance, more extensive structures! Such large-scale building complexes must have been built upon developed productive forces, large populations... and a thriving civilization!

"I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but according to my historical knowledge... this photograph overturns my understanding! It would have been impossible for such a giant ancient civilized city to exist in this region!"

Having said that, the Professor looked at Vanel and shook his head. "If this photo hadn’t been presented by the reputable Octopus Monster website... had I seen it elsewhere, I would definitely consider it a fake."

"...Please, call us the Amazing World Company, Professor," Vanel sighed with resignation.

Chen Nuo understood. The Professor’s point was simple: the building complex in the photo was located where it shouldn’t be. To make an analogy... it’s as if someone claimed to have discovered a Huaxia civilization-built Great Wall in Afghanistan. That would be absurd. Because the ancient Huaxia civilization never extended to that region. Even if you found it and brought back photos, others would only think you didn’t shoot it in Afghanistan at all; you damn well shot it at Badaling in Capital City!

"I can guarantee on behalf of the company that this photograph is real!" Vanel said seriously. "This Mr. John Sterling in the photo received funding in 1915 from a few private capitalists in Britain and Europe for this unpublicized expedition. After his return, he compiled his expedition diary into a book for publication.

"But... precisely because of the doubts the Professor just raised, his journey, his discoveries, and his diary were considered a hoax by his European peers. No one was willing to publish or distribute his diary. At the same time, the explorer’s reputation was ruined. Many believed he had simply gone elsewhere, taken these photos, and then falsely claimed to have found these things in eastern Brazil. Everyone thought it was a scam.

"And the poor Mr. John Sterling, unfortunately, couldn’t bring back any other more convincing evidence or artifacts. Furthermore, this was during the First World War. Neither the general public nor the academic community had the interest or energy to focus on the adventures of this unknown explorer... Everyone was preoccupied with the war!

"This explorer, although he survived the expedition and returned, died of illness in London the year after his return."

"I need proof," the Professor said, shaking his head. "I’m sorry, archaeology is a rigorous science! I can’t just listen to your claims and believe such a bizarre thing! Everything I’ve learned in my life tells me that no flourishing ancient South American civilization ever existed in this area!"

"Alright. The next photograph may clear up some of your doubts," Vanel smiled.

The next photograph was quickly displayed. It showed a dried leaf pressed inside a leather-covered notebook.

"This is Mr. John Sterling’s expedition notebook, and the leaf you see here was found inside it." Vanel looked at the Professor. "Professor, what do you think?"

The Professor stared at the photo on the screen for a moment, then suddenly stood up. He strode to the front, right up to the screen, and studied the photo closely for a long while.

Finally, the old man took a deep breath, his expression one of immense astonishment. Then, he slowly turned his head to glance at Vanel.

"...I believe it! I have no more questions."

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the Professor. After returning to his seat, he still looked contemplative.

A few seconds later, the Professor looked up, noticed everyone watching him, and gave a wry smile, shaking his head. "This... this truly is an inexplicable miracle..."

"Professor, please explain it to everyone. Among us, you’re the only expert in this field," said Bonfrey, the Ordinator, who had the closest relationship with the Professor among those present.

"Well, this leaf is from a plant called..." The Professor uttered a few very peculiar syllables.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "I won’t go into detail, but this should make it clear. This plant is not very common, and its distribution is quite limited; it only grows in eastern Brazil! This leaf proves that the explorer indeed went to eastern Brazil!"

After a pause, the Professor continued, "Also, based on the size of the leaf, we can estimate the plant’s growth stage. The size of this leaf suggests that when the explorer picked it, the plant was not yet mature, before its flowering season. From this, we can roughly determine that he arrived in eastern Brazil during a specific season, or even month! This leaf provides two pieces of information: location and time! These prove that he did indeed visit a fairly specific area in eastern Brazil at a specific time."

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Nuo suddenly spoke. "Isn’t it possible that this explorer was a fraud? That he deliberately went to eastern Brazil to pick a leaf, then went to Mexico to photograph a Maya pyramid, and then came back to deceive people?"

When Chen Nuo voiced this, the other Ability Users nodded, showing similar doubts.

"Not very likely," the Professor mused. "Mr. Harvey, that was in 1915. Transportation, gathering supplies, and the inherent dangers of exploration which could be life-threatening... all technical conditions were not as developed as they are now. An adventurer wouldn’t travel all the way to South America, investing tremendous cost and effort, and risking his life, merely to concoct such an overly bizarre scam. The possibility is very small."

Chen Nuo nodded and said no more.

Vanel smiled. "Alright, let’s let the Professor rest for a moment. We’ll continue."

Then, Vanel added with a smile, "There’s another piece of evidence that proves the authenticity of this matter. After obtaining this photograph, we used our computer database to compare it with all known and discovered photographs of South American pyramids and architectural complexes! Through computer retrieval and comparative analysis... we reached a conclusion.

"This means the pyramid and architectural complex Mr. John Sterling photographed does not match any known or discovered South American pyramids or ancient civilization structures. The computer’s analysis determined the highest similarity to be no more than 63%! This indicates that the place in the photograph is, with high probability, an undiscovered ancient ruin! And our purpose for this trip is... to find these ruins!"

This last, somewhat inflammatory statement didn’t elicit much response from those present.

"Why find this place? What important value does it hold that requires you to spend such a huge sum and invite us to complete this mission?"

The speaker was Golden Bird, Elisa. The elderly lady had been listening silently, her expression stern. When she suddenly spoke, her voice was somewhat piercing.

"...Moreover, if it’s just an ordinary expedition to find ancient ruins, you could have hired an exploration team or an archaeological team. Was it necessary to find us Psychics? Or is there some great danger on this trip, situations that ordinary people can’t handle, that require the use of us Ability Users?"

Golden Bird’s question struck at the very core of the matter.

Vanel sighed. He didn’t answer directly but slowly manipulated the computer to turn the page.

A new photograph appeared on the screen. It was a page from the notebook, on which a few lines of text were scrawled in very messy handwriting.

Everyone recognized the alphabetic symbols, Chen Nuo included. But...

"Huh? What’s this?" Chen Nuo frowned. "Why can’t I read it?"

Every letter was familiar, but when combined, they formed completely unfamiliar words.

Everyone present, except for Sato Ryoko, had mastered at least two or three different languages. The letters in the photo were clearly English, with some Spanish letters mixed in. But the problem was, when put together, none of the words were recognizable.

Chen Nuo stared at the screen for a while, his lips moving slowly as if trying to sound out each letter, attempting to combine them into pronunciations...

Suddenly, an idea sprang to his mind!

But Chen Nuo didn’t speak. Instead, he looked towards the acknowledged expert in the room, the Professor.

The Professor’s eyes flickered; he had clearly thought of something too. His expression suddenly changed!

"These recorded words are not English, nor are they Spanish!" he exclaimed loudly. "He used English and Spanish letters as phonetic symbols! He encountered a language he didn’t recognize! And because he didn’t understand that language, he could only use the languages he knew as phonetic symbols to record the sounds!"

Chen Nuo nodded; this speculation was along the same lines as his own thoughts.

It was like... a Chinese person who doesn’t understand English suddenly hearing "thank you." If they don’t understand English but need to write it down, what can they do? They might write something phonetically, like "san ke you."

With this line of thought, everyone began attempting to read the text aloud, using the familiar English and Spanish letters as phonetic guides. Several people tried, their pronunciations varying, but overall, they were about seventy to eighty percent similar.

"Professor, do you know this language?" Chen Nuo asked Professor Runk directly.

The Professor read it several times and shook his head. "I don’t recognize it, but I can probably tell that the pronunciation is very similar to ’Yucatec Maya.’"

He paused, then said solemnly, "This ’Yucatec Maya’ is actually a variant of the ancient Maya language that has evolved over thousands of years. This language is rarely used anymore; only locals in the Yucatan Peninsula of South America still use it, and even then... it’s not widespread. But this pronunciation is only similar to Yucatec Maya; it seems slightly different... Could it be another kind of... ancient Maya language?!"

Ancient Maya language? Now this was interesting! How did this British explorer come to record a phrase of ancient Maya in his notebook? And clearly, he didn’t understand ancient Maya himself; otherwise, he wouldn’t have used English letters to notate the pronunciation.

"Could it be that... John Sterling brought a guide who was a Yucatec local?" Grey Cat Black proposed.

"Impossible!" The Professor immediately shook his head. "The Yucatan region is thousands of kilometers away from eastern Brazil!"

Chen Nuo also shook his head. It’s like going on a tour of the Great Wall; you wouldn’t hire a guide from Guangdong.

"Besides, this isn’t the Yucatec language! It only sounds a bit like it! But the pronunciation is older... some syllables sound even stranger... I highly suspect this is the true ancient Maya language!" The Professor shook his head.

Chen Nuo suddenly laughed. His laughter wasn’t loud, but it carried a slightly eerie tone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you noticed something interesting?"

After capturing everyone’s attention, Chen Nuo slowly lit a cigarette. With it pinched between his fingers, he drawled, "This explorer who recorded this ’ancient Maya’ phrase, Mr. John Sterling... under what circumstances did he ’encounter’ it?"

As he spoke, Chen Nuo took a drag from his cigarette, his smile gradually fading, his expression becoming serious.

"If he had discovered some mural, or recorded text... he would have had no need to use English or Spanish letters to mark phonetic transcription and pronunciation! He could have photographed the inscription or copied the characters directly! But instead, he used this ’pronunciation’ method to record it. Why?

"Because, this phrase, he didn’t ’see’ it! He... ’heard’ it!!"

All the color drained from everyone’s faces!

Not ’seen’! ’Heard’!

Only when you hear a language you don’t understand would you subconsciously try to record its pronunciation using a language you do understand! If it were ’seen,’ one could simply take a photo or write down the characters!

So, the question arose! An ancient ruin! In a relic of an ancient civilization! How could there be a "person" who ’spoke’ an ancient Maya phrase for him to hear? There were no phonographs in ancient times! No recordings! And how could there possibly be living people inside a ruin?

So, who exactly ’spoke’ this ancient Maya phrase for him to hear?

Suddenly!

WHACK!!!!!!!

A dull thud echoed in the room, right beside Chen Nuo!

Everyone immediately snapped their heads in that direction!

They saw Sato Ryoko sitting there, holding a freshly opened bag of chips, her plump hand reaching in to grab one to pop into her mouth...

Stared at by everyone, Sato Ryoko looked somewhat flustered and hesitant. With a pained and reluctant expression, she offered the bag of chips forward and said softly in Japanese, "Chips... do you want some?"

Everyone: "..."

Chen Nuo sighed but kindly reached out, took a chip from the bag, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Miss Ryoko, you’re still in the mood for snacks," Chen Nuo said with a smile.

Sato Ryoko stammered in reply, her voice full of grievance, "I... I don’t understand what you all are saying... It’s just so boring sitting here..."

[BANG BANG BANG]