Lin Jie gently stroked the journal in his hands and he could feel this sense of familiarity vaguely intensify.
Where have I seen a journal before? wondered Lin Jie to himself.
But it’s impossible… According to Theodore’s description, this is an ancient book from the Lower District that’s at least several centuries old. I’ve only been here three years since transmigrating, so how can it be possible for me to have seen this book?
At the very least, even if I had stumbled across a similar journal in these three years, the impression shouldn’t be this fuzzy given my memory.
Lin Jie was being conceited. By the age of 21, he was a university lecturer and had managed to publish his own book. And the only thing that allowed him to reach the pinnacle of being an arts student at such a young age was his memory skills.
If even this was being denied, then Lin Jie wouldn’t have any remaining strengths at all.
Having a photographic memory was beyond him, but at the very least, he should be able to clearly remember something that he had seen or experienced within the last three years.
At the same time, Lin Jie had great trust in his own instincts.
If he reckoned that he had seen this book before, then it meant that he had definitely come across it.
Therefore… there can be only one answer.
Lin Jie’s finger traced along the edges of the stain. This was a mixture of mud and blood that had solidified into a thin layer, fusing with the original cover like a thick shell and hiding the original patterns.
Before I transmigrated to Norzin, on Earth—
I came across a journal when I was still there!
Lin Jie’s expression turned grave. This was a huge problem!
Why would something that he had seen before he transmigrated appear before him now and in the form of an ancient relic from the Lower District that was several centuries old?
What exactly did this journal signify?
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the journal. He was no longer trying to solve Theodore’s problem right now. Instead, he was scrutinizing the book to answer the many doubts that had surfaced in his mind.
Lin Jie flipped open the journal and looked at what was written on the first line…Oh, nothing, alright. The first sentence was largely covered by the stain and there wasn’t much left of the original text.
Via the interior pages of the book, it was even more obvious that the stains were dried blood. There were also some silk remnants as well, which could have been from some particular organization.
That’s frightening. I wonder what kind of horrible situation the owner of this journal got himself into? Lin Jie thought to himself as he progressed further along.
The sentences gradually got clearer from the second line on, and the meanings behind were straightforward and didn’t pose any problems to reading.
Theodore already had a confused expression on his face as he watched the young bookstore owner flip open the book and waited with bated breath for the latter to ask questions about the contents.
He had been confused as well when he had first taken over the book from the smuggler because he didn’t have the slightest clue about what was written inside it.
Therefore, he could only ask the smuggler about it, but regrettably, the smuggler’s response was that he was equally clueless…
Before selling the book to Theodore, the smuggler had already conducted his own research for some time, but it yielded no results.
Even so, the absence of information was information itself.
He could therefore be certain that the writings did not belong to the language systems of Norzin. In fact, according to the absurd claim by a specialist from that team, this language wasn’t from Azir.
In other words, if no user of that language ever showed up, nobody would be able to understand them!
Yet, the events here deviated beyond Theodore’s expectations.
He actually witnessed the young bookstore owner, upon flipping open the book, go through pages in succession without any pause… Not only did he stop, he appeared to be in deep thought from time to time.
Don’t tell me, he… understands this kind of language?! Theodore shivered.
“The first round of the expedition is in its final phase and the second round of the expedition is about to commence. I’ve compiled and submitted all the research notes on the writings found on the relic. Hopefully, the research institute can quickly come to a conclusion on our hypotheses.”
“To be honest, I am eagerly looking forward to it. This would be an unprecedented and tremendous discovery!”
“But just like with all other things, haste makes waste, and we still have to wait patiently.”
“Next, I will be using this journal to document all information that I come across, including my personal thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.”
“This actually seems more like a diary than conducting research.”
“Ever since young Wang from our team became hysterical from stress and forgot everything he experienced during the expedition, Professor Lin made it a requirement to do this as an avenue to unwind our psychological stress and also as a precaution from losing any more important research material.”
“Professor Lin is the veteran of the team. Despite being only 30, he has seven to eight years of archaeology work under his belt and is always reliable in everything that he does.”
“Preparations have proceeded as planned, all members are in position and the second round of expedition officially commences.”
“At present, we have already descended 120 meters. The entrance has been expanded and cleared twice, and fortifying structures have all been put in place; the probability of it collapsing is very slim. Everyone appears to be much more relaxed now.”
“It was indeed just as Professor Lin had envisaged! After descending another mere three meters, the entire passageway has straightened and became an ordinary flat path. Previously we weren’t walking on ‘paths’ but rather ‘walls.’ This building was first collapsed and then buried in time.”
“The characters that I have imprinted are not complete and still require much more samples for verification.”
“I’ll be carrying on with work.”
There were many missing pages in the middle section.
“We encountered some difficulty today. The engineering team informed us of an unfortunate news—the geology is unsuitable for further excavation as it could cause a landslide. The team could only withdraw temporarily and await further progress by the engineering team.”
“The engineering team uncovered a ‘gate.’ ”
The remaining words were covered by bloodstain and there was a missing page.
“It is certain that this was an overturned, enormous palace-like construct. The center was like a plaza and I’ve never seen any architecture …”
“The torrential rain has made work extremely arduous. Water kept constantly seeping in from the top, bringing along with it mud. Perhaps the weather has gotten hotter, for it felt slightly warm when it dripped on my neck.
“We did not find the load-bearing pillar… in fact, not a single pillar. As a result, that old fellow who proclaimed himself to be an architecture expert went into a fury, complaining that we weren’t serious in our work.”
“This damned old fogey. What else can he do apart from being sarcastic?”
“Makes me want to remove his tongue.”
“We unlocked a complete mechanism; the central plaza was a deeper tunnel. Professor Lin and Professor Zhang decided to explore further.”
“I’ve heard that they have only been married for two years, but their lovey-dovey ways made everyone else envious.”