Chapter 702 - From Ancient Times (2/2)

“These…” Shao Xuan pointed at the creatures that looked like insects and beasts inside the ice and said, “There’s no way these creatures belong to this era.”

“You mean?” Mu Fa walked over too.

“They probably lived a very long time ago,” Shao Xuan said.

“How long ago do you mean?” Mu Fa asked.

“Could be tens of thousands of years, or even millions. No, maybe longer.”

Mu Fa, Duo Kang, and a few others inhaled deeply when they heard what Shao Xuan said. They had many thoughts, but none of them were even close to what Shao Xuan had said.

Ten thousand years was already a very long time for them. Many tribes had only begun to keep records during that time. That’s why they were all shocked when they heard the numbers “tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions”.

If other people said this, Mu Fa and Duo Kang would’ve thought those people were bluffing, but Shao Xuan was the person who said it.

Shao Xuan had always been accurate whenever it came to guessing.

“Tha-th-that long?” Duo Kang’s voice was still trembling when he finished his sentence.

These things lived even before their ancestors?

“They’re probably… all dead, right? Mu Fa said as he pointed at the frozen creatures on the ground.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting? How could they still live after being frozen for so long?” Duo Kang scanned the ground and ordered some people to pick up one of these creatures. They lit up some torches to speed up the melting process.

As the ice melted, the hairy creature that was even smaller than the average hand of an adult warrior was completely revealed. Without the ice, they could finally see this strange creature clearly.

“Have these really existed for that long? It doesn’t seem like much has changed,” Duo Kang said.

“They’re dead,” Guang Yi said in confirmation.

“I see injuries. It looks like they were pierced all the way through,” Duo Kang noted as he examined the strange creatures.

They also scooped up one of the creatures that was bitten in half by some fishes. After they melted these with the torch, they noticed that most of these had similar wounds. The beetles with shells were pierced right through at the neck. The ones that resembled fish and shrimp were also wounded the same way. A hole pierced right through them.

Duo Kang dissected the first beast that they melted and noticed that there was still undigested food within its stomach. You Yu said it was some type of grass.

“What killed them?” Duo Kang asked.

“Who knows? They were definitely killed by their predators. Some wild beasts, perhaps. But now is not the time to think about these,” Mu Fa said. He ordered the other Longboat tribesmen to put all the frozen creatures together and scoop up more ice to keep them frozen.

Meat could be preserved for a longer time if stored within a cold cave. These unknown frozen ancient creatures probably need to stay frozen in order to be preserved for a longer time.

Duo Kang also followed what Mu Fa did. He wanted to bring some back as a souvenir, so he also ordered the other Flaming Horns to keep scooping.

Shao Xuan took a glance at the ice that they scooped up and then looked back into the sea.

There was still a lot of ice and most of these ice had creatures frozen within them. Some were just ice, but most of the creatures were similar to the ones they scooped up.

Seeing these pieces of ice floating on the sea, Shao Xuan pointed to a single piece and told the person beside him who was scooping, “Scoop that one up.”

“Which one do you mean, Grand Elder?” the person who was scooping didn’t know which one Shao Xuan was referring to.

“Here, I’ll do it,” Shao Xuan took the net and scooped it up himself.

“What’s this?” Duo Kang couldn’t tell what it was. The ice was opaque, so they could only see what seemed like dried mud.

They couldn’t scoop up all the ice because there was limited storage on the ships, so they became more selective.

They would first scoop up the ice that was transparent so they could tell what was inside, or else their efforts would be wasted. They didn’t want to go back and find out that all that was inside the ice was a mass of soil. That was why the one Shao Xuan pointed to was constantly ignored by the others who were scooping. They already had a collection of all the different types so it wouldn’t make sense for them to scoop up more of the same kind. He just wanted to find out what it was, so he decided to scoop it up on a whim to bring it back as a souvenir.

“I don’t know what that is either,” Shao Xuan observed the piece of ice in front of him. After a few glances, he passed it to the person in charge of storing these ice on the ships. “Put this one with the other pieces.”

Since Shao Xuan scooped this one up personally, the person in charge of the storage didn’t want to make any mistakes. Even if this was just a chunk of soil, they would treat it with high caution and care.