Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 131: Tomb of God (4)

Dragon Raja 3

“It looks like a depiction of Japanese spirits,” Caesar said.

“Incredible,” Chu Zihang said. “We clearly reached an ancient dragon city, but these carvings indeed have a strong Japanese style, and the architectural features also feel Japanese.”

“Our high school history teacher said Japan was quite late in civilization development, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t envy the Tang dynasty’s civilization so much, sending so many envoys to learn from the Tang while munching on dry rice balls,” Lu Mingfei said. “How could the Japanese have such an advanced ancient civilization?”

The Trieste ship hovered in front of that building without passing underneath; Caesar controlled the air chamber to take in some seawater to stabilize the submersible. He didn’t immediately associate the structure in front of him with a door; it was just that the torii-shaped building had too many details, and Chu Zihang needed some time to capture all of them. Caesar felt that this position was excellent, so he took out his phone and stood by the observation window to take a selfie. If there was a chance to take a photo with a historical relic, he certainly wouldn’t miss it.

“Those look like characters,” Lu Mingfei pointed to the serpentine patterns in the center of the torii gate.

The patterns straddled the line between graphics and text, as if countless little figures danced around a bonfire, creating a grand and joyful scene. This type of pattern was appearing for the first time in the ruins of the ancient city and was entirely different from the inscriptions on the tower.

“It could indeed be a form of writing, but it’s not dragon script,” Chu Zihang said. “We can have Norma identify it.”

“Can Norma recognize it?”

“Norma can analyze it and then compare it with the databases. Norma has access to all the libraries in the world and can check which type of writing it resembles. This way, we can determine if the ruins of this ancient city have any connection to Japan.”

“We’re experiencing a slight communication issue with headquarters, likely due to solar flares affecting the communication equipment. The Ganryū Research Institute is urgently repairing it,” Chisei’s voice came through the headset. “However, Kaguya can also perform this task; her operating mode is very similar to Norma’s, and she can also access libraries worldwide.”

Caesar hesitated for a few seconds. It was rare for the connection between the commissioner and Norma to be interrupted, and this Dragon Embryo Project was directly established by the Executive Department and remotely controlled by Professor Schneider. The Japanese division was only an assistant, yet they had lost contact with headquarters at such a critical time. This meant that until communication was restored, they wouldn’t receive direct orders from headquarters. Could the opinions of the on-site commander, Chisei, represent those of Professor Schneider? Caesar recalled the thick manual from the Executive Department and couldn’t figure out what to do in this situation. Remain on standby? That was clearly not feasible; the oxygen supply would only last another 30 minutes.

However, that flat-headed island tortoise seemed to be a steady and responsible man, so he should be a trustworthy partner, right? This thought flashed through Caesar’s mind and then passed. Caesar had once proudly told the student council members that he would always give trust to someone he met for the first time because a leader who doesn’t have the grace to trust his partners would inevitably fail to gain more support. However, if the other party betrayed his trust, it would be very difficult to earn trust from him again. Caesar Gattuso could accept anyone betraying him once; he had the strength to withstand betrayal.

“Then let your Kaguya talk to me; I hope she’s as reliable as Norma,” Caesar said.

“Hello, I am Kaguya, the chief secretary of the Japanese division. How may I assist you?” A soft female voice entered the channel.

“That baby voice sounds like Lin Chi-ling,” Lu Mingfei remarked.

“If it’s the Japanese version, it’s Maaya Sakamoto,” Kaguya replied with a gentle laugh.

“I will send you an image of the writing; please compare and identify which type of writing it is,” Caesar said. “Also, I hope you can speak Italian, just like Monica Bellucci.”

“I will mobilize all resources to do this, but it will take about a minute.”

A few milliseconds later, the supercomputer array “Kaguya” at Genji Heavy Industries started to operate at full power, retrieving data from billions of computers around the world. The computers of various language research institutes were simultaneously locked in as if attacked by a deadly virus, with shutdowns automatically restarting and operating at full speed; all text databases were opened to Kaguya. Runes from Norse mythology, oracle bone script from China’s Xia Dynasty, ritual texts used to write medieval grimoires, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian texts, and Beirith scripts flooded into Kaguya’s memory, conducting tens of millions of comparisons every second.

“Comparison with the conventional database is complete; no matches found. Comparison with the pictographic database is complete; no matches found. Comparison with the incantation database is complete; no matches found… The true language database comparison is complete; no matching objects were found, and it cannot confirm that these patterns are characters.”

Caesar hesitated slightly. “What does true language database mean?”

“All databases can be divided into true language databases and pseudo-language databases. The true language database refers to those that truly existed and were used in history, while the pseudo-language database refers to those considered potentially fabricated by linguists.”

“How long will it take to compare with the pseudo-language database?”

“Comparing with the pseudo-language database will take seven minutes because pseudo-language databases typically lack logic and rules, requiring more logical operations to identify. If Norma were doing it, it would be faster, but mobilizing all resources, it will still take seven minutes.”

“Spending seven minutes on this doesn’t seem necessary,” Lu Mingfei said. “We don’t even have 30 minutes of oxygen left.”

“Let’s start comparing the pseudo-language database,” Caesar said. “While Kaguya compares, we’ll search for the embryo; understanding the identity of this city might help us clarify the identity of the embryo. If we’re going to kill an ancient dragon, shouldn’t we know who it is?”

“Is there a need for a formal name? After all, we don’t plan to erect a monument for it after it’s dead,” Lu Mingfei said.

“But if you kill an ancient species, you’ll need a name to refer to when you talk about it in the future,” Caesar said. “Otherwise, you’ll be drinking champagne in the future but won’t be able to boast about it.”

“Boss, we haven’t completed our mission yet; this isn’t the time to be drinking champagne and bragging,” Lu Mingfei sighed. “We’re completely at a loss here, okay? No matter how magnificent these ruins are, we have no leads on the embryo!”

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