The Creators: From Night City

"Mr. Sabul, what are your plans next?"

"I won't go with you. I'll stay here with Ms. Laura. After all, you won't be at ease if I go."

Now that he knew that Samantha had been taken away by Matthias, his plan to intercept her in advance had failed, and Jiang Bing no longer felt any urgency.

Seeing that Jiang Bing wanted to stay, Whitman didn't wait for anyone else to speak and said impatiently, "Then I'll stay and be with Laura. I'm curious about Mr. Sabul's point that this is Yamatai."

His words and facial expression vaguely revealed that confirming that this was Yamatai was much more important to him than finding Samantha.

Whitman, who joined the ship halfway, is just a historian and program host, and does not have much fighting power himself.

He chose to stay, and everyone else, including Laura, had no objection.

Only Jonah was rough but thoughtful, and he subtly nagged Laura, reminding her to consider whether Jiang Bing, the outsider who suddenly appeared, could be trusted.

After what happened just now, Laura already had her own plan in mind, so she nodded to Jonah to indicate that she knew what she was doing.

Jiang Bing saw clearly these small movements that happened in the dark night.

Chapter 39 Reunion of old friends

The camp fire was rekindled.

With Whitman's support, Laura sat by the fire to rest.

Whitman was already impatient. As soon as Laura sat down, he hurriedly took out his notebook and pen, wanting to interview Jiang Bing on the spot.

"Hey, um~ Respected Mr. Sarbu, could you please tell me what makes you so certain that this is the Yamatai, long lost in history?"

Sure enough, this was the reason why he chose to stay.

It's no wonder he did that. This time, apart from the support from Samantha's family, Whitman also invested almost his entire fortune and life in the voyage of the Endurance. Now, he was counting on the major archaeological discovery of Yamatai to save his career.

In fact, Laura was also very curious about Jiang Bing's unique insights on this issue, and she quietly pricked up her ears by the fire.

"Hearing is believing, seeing is believing." Jiang Bing was too lazy to explain and said directly.

"I know a place that can answer your question."

Yamatai was so attractive to the two people that even Laura, who was already a little exhausted, seemed very impatient.

Until the storm dissipated and the moon and stars were sparse.

Led by Jiang Bing, the three of them headed up a mountain road.

The further they went, the more creations of human civilization appeared around the three of them.

As they crossed a creaking wooden bridge, Whitman suddenly sped up and ran to the front of the group.

"It's a torii!"

Whitman stopped in front of a dilapidated wooden building that looked like a memorial archway.

"The place you're taking us to is a shrine?"

As a historian, Whitman was clearly no idiot.

Laura followed from behind, but her attention was focused on the stone lantern next to the torii gate.

Perhaps because the moonlight was not bright enough, Laura asked Whitman for a flashlight and carefully examined the somewhat broken stone lamp.

"There's a lotus-shaped gem on the top, and the lamp cap is also hexagonal." Laura muttered as she poked the flashlight into the stone lamp to check the specific structure inside.

"Well, the fire bag in the fire room is octagonal."

Laura reached into the fire chamber and carefully wiped off the dust and dirt, revealing the swirling decorative patterns on the surface.

"It's the fern handprint!"

Laura cried out in surprise.

Looking at Whitman who also had a vague understanding of the subject, it was obvious that Laura's professionalism seemed to be superior.

"This stone lantern is most likely a product of the Kamakura period."

Laura shone her flashlight into the darkness behind the torii gate, then turned to Whitman and said, "There really might be Himiko's shrine up ahead."

"Professional!" Jiang Bing praised Laura's performance as a craftsman.

The three of them climbed the stairs and soon arrived in front of a thick wooden door.

Jiang Bing was about to step forward when the other two started commenting on the two stone statues on the left and right of the door.

Whitman: "This is the God of Wind and the God of Thunder, a standard Japanese-style shrine gate layout."

Laura: "The one with the wind sack on the left should be the wind god in Japanese mythology. The outer color has almost faded, but judging by the statue's gentle figure and simple carved curves, it should be a sculpture style from the Kamakura period of Japan."

Whitman: "The god of wind would have been painted turquoise, and the god of thunder would have been painted vermilion. Unfortunately, we no longer see their complete forms."

Jiang Bing quietly watched the two of them pretending to be cool, and finally understood a little bit how others had looked at him.

"Has the gate been renovated?"

As Laura approached the shrine entrance, she discovered a problem.

"So much time has passed, and it seems that there are still people on the island worshiping Himiko." Combining what she saw and heard along the way, Laura was now mostly convinced that this was Yamatai.

"It's most likely that group of X cultists who call themselves the Brotherhood of the Sun." Jiang Bing continued.

"Why does Himiko have such great magical power? Even after so many years, she still attracts so many people to worship her?"

'Her time on the island hasn't passed yet,' Jiang Bing thought to himself.

Whitman took up the topic: "Legend has it that she controls storms. This island is prone to frequent storms. Perhaps this is due to her fear of nature?"

"No." Seeing the two people looking at him, Jiang Bing gave the answer.

“It’s because of fear.”

Laura mused, "Fear of what."

"What else could there be?" Jiang Bing shook his head and added, "Unknown."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Laura agreed.

Whitman eagerly began to inspect the gate.

Seeing that the two had finished their conversation, he quickly said, "This door is liftable, but it's too heavy. I think we may need to use the device on the side."

Whitman pointed to the winch by the door.

"The handle has been removed." Laura went forward to check.

"It's probably to prevent theft and prevent others from entering the shrine casually."

Whitman was already impatient to find out what was going on inside the shrine, so he asked, "Then we can go there and find a handle inserted here. Will the person who set up the mechanism hide it nearby?"

Laura had already started observing along the wall on the left side of the gate.

She was obviously looking for a place to crawl into.

This is the behavior of a normal person. The wall is no more than three meters high, and you can always climb over it with some effort.

Jiang Bing didn't want to go through so much trouble.

As the two watched, he bent down and inserted his fingers under the heavy wooden door, lifting the shrine door inch by inch with a creaking sound.

Carrying the door on his shoulder, Jiang Bing waved his hand and invited the two to come in.

Feeling the pressure on his shoulders, Jiang Bing could roughly determine the weight of the door.

It’s no big deal, only about 700 to 800 kilograms.

"Uh~"

Amazed at Jiang Bing's performance, Whitman was hesitant to speak, but in the end, his curiosity about the shrine got the better of him, and he was the first to duck in.

However, Laura was mentally prepared because of Jiang Bing's previous experience of catching an arrow with his bare hands.

“Is this also Chinese kung fu?”

As she bent over and passed by him, Laura's eyes were filled with curiosity, and she asked with a hint of teasing.

"kindness"

Jiang Bing continued to be perfunctory. A woman who is too smart is easy to be annoying. Although she knows the principle of seeing through but not saying it out loud, this does not prevent her from looking for opportunities to be sarcastic.

"Come on~"

Whitman walked a long way, but he didn't dare to go any deeper alone, so he could only stop and call the two people.

The shrine was not big. The three of them walked for a while along a path marked by a low stone wall, but did not find any large buildings.

The entire shrine has a unique Japanese sense of homeliness.

Finally, light appeared in front of me.

"Be careful, someone might have been here."

Looking at a statue in the distance with a large number of burning candles placed in front of it, Laura took off the bow on her back and gave a quick warning.

Whitman hesitated for a moment before reaching into her shoulder bag.

As they continued to move forward, the specific situation around the statue finally came into everyone's sight.

Candles should be homemade products made from animal fats. They are brighter, but they produce a lot of black smoke when burning, which is very pungent.

Fortunately, Laura and Whitman were both attracted by the statue in front of them and didn't care too much about this.

"Incredible, it's really Himiko. This island is really the Yamatai Kingdom, or at least a part of the Yamatai Kingdom."

Whitman was so happy at this time that he quickly pulled his hand out of the bag, but what he took out was not the gun, but a camera.

He walked around the statue, looking for an angle to take a complete picture of the statue.

Laura looked at the statue wearing gorgeous clothes and a tall crown, but her attention was attracted by the small sun decoration on the top of the statue.

The symbol of the "Sun Queen", this statue is indeed Himiko.

Jiang Bing had not known when he was standing at the corner of a stone wall, coldly staring at a X cultist hiding in the darkness.

"You seem very afraid of me." He watched the man hurriedly throw away the bow and arrow in his hand, as if he was afraid that if he threw it too late, he would be killed on the spot in the next second. He squatted in front of Jiang Bing and trembled.

Laura soon noticed something was wrong and came over.

As soon as she arrived nearby, she noticed a basket filled with the same candles next to the X cultist and quickly came to a conclusion about his identity.

"He is the one who lit the candles, but this is..." Laura looked at the man shaking like a sieve, also puzzled.

The X cultist looked up, revealing his full beard and rough face.

"Um, the research institute."

"Oh~" Jiang Bing suddenly realized.

It turns out that the group of X cultists who ran away from the research institute came here again today.

It's fate, little brother!

The trembling X-cultists did not recognize Jiang Bing as the person who attacked the research institute that day at first, and they were thinking of using bows and arrows to attack him from behind.

But just after taking a few steps closer, he recognized the door-like "Big Chop Chop" on Jiang Bing's back, so he turned around and tried to escape, but was unfortunately caught by Jiang Bing on the spot.

"I just have one question." Jiang Bing took off the [Big Chop] from his back and stuck it upside down into the soil beside him under the gaze of the X cultists whose eyes were almost bulging out.

Jiang Bing took out a copy of the map of Yamatai he had obtained earlier and spread it in front of the X cultist.

"Mark out the location of your Solar Brotherhood headquarters, Matthias, and you'll still have a clean slate."

The cultist was very decisive. He just stretched out his hand and pointed at the northeast foot of the highest mountain on the map.

"I only know the location of the headquarters, which is on the foothills southeast of the ancient city. However, the location of the Holy Lord is known only to the bishops. I don't know."

After saying this, the cultist kicked the short bow away from him and raised his hand to ask, "This is all I know, and I don't have any weapons right now. Can you two let me go?"

Laura suddenly spoke up: "From the traces of candles burning on the altar, we can infer that you don't come here to worship every day."

"So you wouldn't come to worship the statue today for no reason, unless something important is about to take place, and you, the worshippers of Himiko, hope to receive her protection."

Laura's questioning temporarily dissuaded Jiang Bing from reaching out for [Big Chop].

"There's no way you could gather all the ingredients for this many candles yourself."

Looking at the increasingly panicked faces of the X-cultists, Laura continued to reason: "Given the extent of your worship of Himiko, it's impossible for such a big thing to be left to you alone, unless?"

Laura suddenly mentioned the tone, "Your bishop is nearby, right?"