Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 867

“More than that!” The surveyor’s beard was trembling with excitement, and his wrinkled face flushed with excitement.

He pointed with trembling fingers at the measurement drawings spread out on the table: "After precise calculations, we found that when the sunlight on the winter solstice passes through the main passage at a specific angle, it will illuminate the reliefs in three key locations in turn - this is by no means accidental!"

He took a deep breath, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "What's even more amazing is that the last beam of light will be accurately projected onto the skylight above the frozen chamber. And according to our calculations, depending on the season, on the days of the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice, depending on the angle of sunlight, the content of the mural corresponding to the light is completely different!"

Perfect stood up suddenly, reached out and accurately pulled out the calendar of the ancient desert kingdom from a pile of yellowed parchment scrolls.

Her fingertips slid quickly across the complex star map, finally stopping at a special mark: "Today is the winter solstice, and this time is the day when the year changes in the ancient desert kingdom!"

The surveyor nodded vigorously, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead. "There are less than two hours left until the best time for observation! We have cleared two-thirds of the obstacles in the main passage, but the skylight above the secret room is still covered by a nearly two-meter-thick layer of ice. What's more troublesome is that abnormal energy fluctuations have been detected in the ice."

Perfect was already striding out of the tent, his boots making crisp sounds on the ancient stone slabs.

The surveyor hurriedly rolled up the drawings and jogged to keep up.

She issued a series of orders as she walked, speaking quickly and clearly: "Immediately mobilize all alchemists, bring ice-melting potions and protective gear; notify the Steam Knights to bring heavy ice-breaking equipment and stand by outside the temple! In particular, anyone who comes into contact with the ice must wear anti-freeze protective gear."

She paused, her eyes sharpening. "Also have a team of linguists ready to record any inscriptions or symbols that may appear, especially those with special markings related to the stars. I suspect these symbols may be directly related to the prophecy of the 'White Star'."

As they passed through the temple's ruined pylon, Perfecto noticed that more than twenty scholars were already lined up on both sides of the main passage.

Everyone's face was filled with anticipation, and their eyes were shining with a desire for knowledge. Some young scholars were so nervous that they kept adjusting the recording boards in their hands.

The sand on the ground of the passage had been carefully swept away, revealing the original black basalt slabs.

The surface of these stone slabs, which have withstood thousands of years of wind and frost, is as smooth as a mirror, and they glow with a dim luster under the slanting sunlight.

The stone slab is densely engraved with ancient characters, which appear and disappear as the angle of sunlight changes, as if they have life moving on the stone slab.

"According to calculations, the light will pass through here first." The surveyor's voice was slightly hoarse with excitement.

His chilblained fingers pointed to a relief carving about a third of the way down the passage that was intricately carved with constellation patterns.

"Then there is the archway in the middle with a complete star map engraved on it," he staggered forward a few steps and pointed to the archway in the middle of the passage that was inlaid with meteorite fragments: "Finally."

His finger extended along the path that the sunlight would take, and finally stopped at the circular skylight above the secret room, which was covered with nearly two meters of frost.

The ancient reliefs on the edge of the skylight sparkled with strange light in the sun, and those ancient patterns seemed to have life, slowly wriggling, sometimes stretching and sometimes curling up.

Perfect looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly moving towards its intended position.

She exhaled gently, and the white mist condensed into tiny ice crystals in the cold air. These ice crystals refracted colorful light in the sunlight.

"Let us witness the wisdom of ancient craftsmen." Her voice was soft, but it made all the scholars straighten their backs involuntarily.

At this moment, the ground suddenly shook slightly, and small pieces of gravel fell from the top of the passage, bouncing on the stone slabs and making crisp sounds.

The ice above the secret room made a crisp cracking sound, and a ray of light was cast through the skylight, merging with the last ray of sunlight of the winter solstice that was about to arrive.

Then, the two rays of light met in the main hall of the temple, and after exquisite refraction, they were simultaneously projected onto the meteorite on the dome.

In an instant, the star map on the entire temple dome suddenly burst into dazzling light.

The meteorite fragments embedded in the rocks seemed to be given life. They began to slowly rotate and reorganize in a mysterious rhythm, gradually piecing together into a complete star map that had never been seen before.

“Write it down now!” Perfecto shouted, her eyes fixed on the ever-changing star map like a hawk.

Linguists hurriedly opened their notebooks, and the charcoal pencils scratched rapidly on the paper, trying to capture every fleeting change in the pattern.

When the star map finally froze, it presented a breathtaking configuration - seven main stars were arranged in the shape of sharp spears, with the tip pointing directly to the northern sky.

And at the deadly tip of the spear, a pale, almost transparent star was flashing a strange light.

"This is the White Star," the surveyor's voice trembled with awe, his cracked lips quivering slightly, "the sign of destruction predicted in ancient books."

His words condensed into white mist in the cold air, interweaving with the light of the star map.

Suddenly, the meteorite star map burst out with a dazzling white light, and the entire temple shook violently.

Perfect staggered and held onto the wall to steady himself.

She keenly noticed that along with the vibration, there was a crisp sound of ice breaking coming from the direction of the rear hall.

"The ice pond in the back hall!" She reacted immediately and turned and ran towards the back hall.

The scholars followed closely behind, the alchemical lamps in their hands casting swaying shadows in the dark passage.

When they rushed into the back hall, the scene before them made everyone hold their breath - the surface of the pool, which was originally covered with thick ice, had cracked into countless cracks, and faint blue light shone through the cracks, lighting up the ancient texts on the surrounding walls. These texts echoed the star map of the main hall, as if telling some long-forgotten secret.

Perfect squatted down and looked at the words carefully.

Her fingertips traced the trajectory of the text, and suddenly her pupils shrank slightly: "These contents are... Safra was attacked by the gods thrown at White Star. She was pierced through the body and fell, but before falling, Safra froze herself..."

The alchemists quickly set up recording devices to record the illuminated words.

At the moment when the last word was recorded, a deafening explosion sounded in the center of the ice pool.

A huge block of ice rose into the sky, revealing a vague human silhouette underneath...

(End of this chapter)