My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 162 - 161: The Damage from a Top Student

Under the dim light, the ferocious beast bared its huge maw.

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Seeing this scene, a knot formed in many mercenaries' hearts, and they suddenly had a bad feeling.

But there was no turning back now, they could only keep moving forward. Some of the more optimistic ones thought that surely, unimaginable treasures awaited at the end of the road.

"Lead... Boss, which path should we take?" Shay glanced around, noticing that besides the differences in the beasts, there seemed to be no other distinguishing features.

Tang Yu pondered for a moment, "Since we don't know which path is best, let's... go through the bear's mouth passage. At least it's not as ugly as the other three."

The passages connected to the beast mouths were like underground tunnels, enclosed all around but maintaining a similar spaciousness to the square, with walls that emitted a faint luminescence.

The group headed straight for the bear's mouth passage.

The other Awakeners did much the same; the square was large, but after making a round, they found only this exit and each made a judgement to choose different paths.

Tang Yu noticed that the Silver Wolf and Warhammer, two of the large mercenary corps, joined forces and entered the tiger mouth passage, followed by several other mercenary teams.

He glanced back, hmm, there were quite a few mercenaries from Lindong following behind as well.

This wasn't surprising; the performance they had just demonstrated outside was noted by these mercenaries. They might not have the gall to cozy up directly, but following at a safe distance to ensure greater safety was probably what most mercenaries were thinking.

Including many foreign Awakeners inside the passage who saw Tang Yu and his group taking the lead, each slowed their pace, trailing far behind.

Tang Yu was well aware of what these people were thinking, but he didn't want to concern himself with these matters.

Only the weak needed to scheme and strategize. For him, finding the Sky-splitting Crystal as soon as possible was key.

'Besides, our team might not be leading the way. Maybe others entered the Secret Realm even earlier. Not to mention that gold-swallowing beast is nowhere to be found; it must have followed the passage and run off somewhere.'

Thinking of this gave Tang Yu a bit of a headache. He could only hope that no one had stewed the gold-swallowing beast, as alive, it was worth more than dead.

Throwing out a few round Puppets to scout ahead, the group walked through the passage.

Alert and silent, the atmosphere became still in an instant, and the only sound in the passage was the light sound of footsteps.

"There seems to be something carved over there."

After walking for a while, Shay suddenly pointed at the stone wall ahead.

Tang Yu stepped forward and saw a series of crooked and twisted patterns etched onto one side of the stone wall.

"Perhaps this is some form of writing?"

He concentrated and had a moment of clarity.

These patterns that looked like ghostly talisman drawings, he could actually understand their meaning!

"I, Thief King Zuofo, have stolen endless treasures in my lifetime. Alas, I cannot steal my own lifespan."

"Do you want my treasure? If you do, I'll give it all to you. Go search for it! I've placed all my treasures in the deepest part of my tomb."

"Brave adventurers, strive onward!"

"..."

Tang Yu was momentarily stunned.

These few sentences contained a rather large amount of information.

He naturally didn't know who Zuofo was, but from these words, he deduced two key points: Zuofo was powerful in life, and the burial goods with Zuofo in death were also powerful.

Tang Yu looked around; it was still unknown how long this bear mouth passage was. Thinking of the previously spacious square and the unknown environment beyond, Zuofo's tomb seemed extravagantly large.

A tomb built using an entire Secret Realm as the core?

Indeed, he must have been filthy rich.

And what he relished most, was having wealth.

These characters, not only could he understand them, but so could everyone else; people revealed expressions of deep thought or excitement alike.

However, Tang Yu did not proceed further; instead, he scrutinized the characters even more carefully.

"Indeed, these crooked patterns are runes, no mistake."

Runes are the most essential language, capable of transmitting information on a spiritual level. From Kevin's reaction, Tang Yu knew the preciousness of runes. Even in his own library, there were only a few volumes of the Rune Language Book.

Regrettably, his understanding of runes was limited. Even as he understood their meaning, these characters still seemed like bent and twisted patterns to him, no different from before. With his level of Rune Studies, he still couldn't recognize any of the rune patterns.

This made Tang Yu somewhat defiant.

Could it be that these were fake runes?

"This one represents the rune of flame, this one, um, represents the rune of absorption…"

Eileen stood by his side, her young face showing a contemplative hue.

Upon hearing this, Tang Yu countered, "That doesn't seem right. I also know the flame rune. The last stroke's hook should point upwards, and the vertical line above it should be higher, shouldn't it?"

"That's not the case," Eileen shook her head gently. "What you're describing is the most basic flame rune. Beyond that, there are twelve First Layer derivations of the flame rune, along with ninety-six Second-tier derivations…"

"And this flame rune, to be precise, should be a Fire Attribute Inspiration Rune, which serves to boost morale, belonging to one of the Second-tier derivative talisman drawings. Look at this energy node, doesn't it look very similar to the flame rune? And in the context of this entire sentence, it translates to 'bravery.' Plus, there are these… these…"

"Regrettably, there are a few runes whose meanings I can't deduce," said Eileen, looking somewhat downcast.

Although the others did not understand, they appeared impressed.

Tang Yu, on the other hand, was hit hard.

From Eileen's explanation, he realized that it made perfect sense!

All at once, it clicked for him, but why hadn't he considered this before?

Both had studied runes from the same book, yet unknowingly, such a vast disparity had developed between them.

As a poor student, and one who prided himself on having a good grasp of knowledge, he felt as though he just took a severe blow from the aura of a top scholar.

Especially Eileen's last remark, for some reason, it reminded him of the phrases those top students would often utter back in the day…

"Regrettably, I just got one little question wrong…"

Otherwise, it would have been a perfect score.

Tang Yu composed his wounded spirit, but did not look away.

This was rune language, which, though bereft of any power, had substantial value just as runes themselves. Encountering them now, he could not let them go.

"Shall we dig out this entire area of the wall?"

"Dig???"

For the Patrol Team members and Yan Dazhuang, this tough job naturally fell into their hands. Receiving Longswords, high in Quality, they managed to cut through these hard walls with the sharpness of Advanced Equipment. After some effort, the large section of the wall cut out was divided into several stone slabs and stored in Space Backpacks.

'Bringing these rune texts to Kevin should help him decipher quite a bit. It seems like a promising start.'

However…

He glanced at the now significantly excavated wall, and it seemed somewhat… somewhat damaging to his image.

After all, he was still seen as a big shot by the Mercenary Corps in Lindong. A big shot shouldn't stoop to digging stones, right?

He needed to do something to compensate.

Thinking it over, Tang Yu had a brainwave, "I've got it! Since there were originally inscriptions here, why not just carve some new text in their place, and incidentally do some advertising…"