In the ancient city, on the outskirts, amidst the mountains.
A woman wearing a black and white explorer's outfit sneezed involuntarily, then shook her head vigorously, feeling as if someone was talking about her behind her back!
"Xiu Zhu, are you feeling cold?"
"We're fine here. Why don't you take a break first?"
Not far from the woman, by the ruins of a stone wall, a short-haired woman in a brown archaeological uniform said.
"How could I? I'm fine, I even ski in the snow at home without any issues." Lin Xiu Zhu replied with a smile.
"You're right."
The short-haired woman patted her head, thinking that they were all professional beast masters. Although it was a bit cold here, it shouldn't affect them at all.
This is the site of the iron-eating beast's ruins.
Currently, an archaeological team of eight people is investigating this site.
Five men and three women, seven of whom are students from the archaeology department of the ancient city university. As for Lin Xiu Zhu, she is a researcher of the iron-eating beast, invited to assist in the investigation.
The team has been investigating this site for some time. The collection and organization of artifacts and stone carvings have been completed, but there is still a lot of special information that cannot be deciphered.
The ultimate goal of archaeology is to restore the true history of the time. Clearly, these people have not yet fully understood the significance of this site.
Lin Xiu Zhu sighed as she watched the archaeology students investigating while slacking off.
The only known information so far is that this is the site of an ancient tribe that worshipped the iron-eating beast, and no more significant data has been found.
She had hoped to find new discoveries about the iron-eating beast, but it seems she was overthinking…
"Dad?"
When Lin Xiu Zhu felt helpless, suddenly, her phone rang.
Seeing the contact, her expression relaxed.
Has Dad returned from the snow mountain?
Hmph, this old man must have just returned and noticed she wasn't home, so he called right away because he missed her so much!
"Hello…"
Lin Xiu Zhu moved away from the site and answered the call. Immediately, Lin Hongnian's voice came through.
"Xiu Zhu, are you still investigating the iron-eating beast site with those juniors?"
"Yes."
"How's the progress?"
"There hasn't been any substantial progress, but I heard that the archaeology professors will come to guide the site in a couple of days, so there might be a breakthrough then."
"Didn't you say you weren't very interested in this site, Dad? Why are you asking about it now?" Lin Xiu Zhu pouted.
When her teacher notified her about the iron-eating beast site in the ancient city and invited her to assist in the research, Lin Hongnian was not enthusiastic at all.
He thought that an old site had nothing worth studying, and it was better to train more beast pets and pursue new breakthroughs.
The ancient people's understanding of the iron-eating beast might not be as strong as modern beast masters.
"Ha ha ha…" Lin Hongnian laughed awkwardly, but he didn't know that the iron-eating beast had ancient bloodlines and traces of evolution from ancient times, which was a real slap in the face.
"The situation is different now, Xiu Zhu. Shi Yu is also in the ancient city now. I've already contacted him. You should contact him too and ask him to assist you in investigating this site."
"Ah, why?" Lin Xiu Zhu was taken aback. Shi Yu?
What does Shi Yu have to do with the iron-eating beast site?
"During the time you were away, Shi Yu has already deciphered the site in Pingcheng. Due to some opportunities, his iron-eating beast has awakened ancient bloodlines through the evolution holy spring in Bingyuan City, capturing traces of evolution."
"That's why I suddenly started to pay attention to the iron-eating beast site you mentioned before. If you haven't made any progress, you might invite Shi Yu to try."
"What!!!"
After Lin Hongnian finished speaking, Lin Xiu Zhu couldn't help but shout.
This shout immediately drew puzzled looks from the other members of the archaeological team.
What's wrong with Senior Panda?
Could it be that they haven't found anything new for too long, causing Senior Panda to completely break down?
"Okay, I understand. I'll contact him right away!"
After Lin Hongnian explained, Lin Xiu Zhu's eyes sparkled, and she was full of energy again.
After hanging up, she looked at the juniors who were slacking off and said,
"Everyone, there's new progress."
"I just got information from my father that the iron-eating beast had an evolved form in ancient times. We might start investigating in this direction!"
"He has invited someone to assist us in the research, and they will arrive soon."
"Really?!" The archaeology students were stunned by Lin Xiu Zhu's words, then they showed signs of joy.
They naturally knew who Lin Xiu Zhu's father was, a well-known master-level beast master.
Since it's information from Director Lin, it must be reliable.
"Senior, when will the expert arrive? Should we go to meet them?"
They were excited. Although this was just a small site with no significant information, if they could decipher an ancient evolved form of a beast pet, it would be a significant achievement, and they would likely earn a lot of credits.
"Wait, I'll call him."
"Also, I'm not sure if he's an expert…"
…
After talking with Director Lin, Shi Yu was completely awake.
He was so focused on the ancient iron-eating beast site that he couldn't sleep.
A moment later, he received a call from Lin Xiu Zhu.
"No need, just tell me the address, and I'll take a taxi there."
Hearing the mix of anticipation, tension, and urgency in her voice, Shi Yu couldn't help but laugh.
He immediately imagined Senior Panda pacing outside the site, helpless and at a loss.
"Okay, I'll write down the address."
Shi Yu quickly confirmed the address of the ancient iron-eating beast site with Lin Xiu Zhu and started packing his things.
At the same time, he didn't forget the most important thing…
"Eleven!"
Shi Yu chuckled and pulled Eleven out of the space.
Eleven: o(≧口≦)o!!
What now?
"Um, how should I say this… to dig… no, to visit the site of your ancestors? Want to come along?"
Eleven: ???
Eleven was confused and was then tricked onto Shi Yu's shoulder.
The site wasn't very far away.
It took less than two hours for Shi Yu to reach the outskirts of the mountains outside the ancient city.
Upon arrival, the students from the ancient city university were already waiting at the entrance to the mountain, led by Lin Xiu Zhu.
"Here!"
Seeing Shi Yu, Lin Xiu Zhu was pleasantly surprised, and the archaeology students were also sizing him up.
They had already learned about Shi Yu from Lin Xiu Zhu.
He was from the same hometown as Lin Xiu Zhu, had an iron-eating beast that had awakened ancient bloodlines, and had experience in deciphering sites!
However, he was a young beast master, not an expert.
This information basically meant that they could only see what valuable information Shi Yu could provide, and the investigation work would still be their responsibility.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Shi Yu walked a few steps and approached the group.
He also sized up the others, feeling a sense of familiarity.
These people exuded a sense of being in the same field, lacking any youthful vigor, making them seem quite mature.
"No, no." The students from the ancient city university said.
"You're the one who's been working hard." Senior Panda said, then she paused.
She suddenly noticed Eleven on Shi Yu's shoulder, looking utterly dejected, and was taken aback.
"This…???"
"Chirp!" Eleven greeted Senior Xiu Zhu.
"Eleven???" Lin Xiu Zhu was surprised. What's going on? Why is Eleven so small now!!
"Hey, is that an iron-eating beast?"
The others also looked at the tiny iron-eating beast on Shi Yu's shoulder, slightly stunned.
This…
It doesn't look like a baby, more like a toy. What's going on?
"It's nothing, I taught it the size-changing skill, and it's currently in a reduced state." Shi Yu said.
"Can iron-eating beasts learn size-changing?" The archaeology students were surprised when Shi Yu spoke.
Recently, due to the research on the iron-eating beast site, they had done a lot of homework on iron-eating beasts.
Besides the basic information about iron-eating beasts, they also knew about the few skills outside their species that iron-eating beasts could easily learn.
For example, the iron-eating beasts from the Bamboo Rock Martial Hall are famous for learning "Thunder Palm Cannon Fist."
For example, a master's iron-eating beast is famous for learning "Metal Vibration," a metal sound wave skill that makes the body constantly emit a metallic noise.
In addition, there are other specialized training methods.
In short, their research on iron-eating beasts should be comprehensive, but they had never heard of an iron-eating beast that could learn size-changing.
"Is it because it has awakened ancient bloodlines?" Lin Xiu Zhu asked.
"Indeed, ancient iron-eating beasts were much larger." Shi Yu nodded.
Eleven closed its eyes and fell into deep thought. Its size-changing skill wasn't taught by Shi Yu using the "cheat hand," was it?
However, since Shi Yu didn't want it to say anything, Eleven obediently kept quiet, pretending to know nothing.
Pretending to be clueless.jpg.
"Can you take me to see the site first?" Shi Yu asked.
"Sure." Lin Xiu Zhu nodded, and the others also nodded.
Then, they started walking towards the site inside the mountain.
During this process, Shi Yu continuously asked them about the site's information.
"Has the age of the site been determined?"
"Approximately 4400 to 4500 years ago." A male archaeology student said.
Shi Yu nodded. This time period is quite subtle, a period with a significant historical gap in this world.
"What is the main focus of the current investigation?"
"There are some artificial artifacts, but they are mostly daily items."
"Additionally, a relatively well-preserved metal fragment was discovered, which is suspected to be a piece of ancient armor after initial reconstruction."
"The most information is carried by the murals and strange symbols on the site's stone walls. However, these symbols do not resemble any known ancient writing and do not match the writing style popular around 4500 years ago. By the way, similar symbols were also found on the metal fragment."
After the student finished speaking, Shi Yu was slightly stunned and looked slightly expectant.
"Can you take me to see the armor fragment first?"
"Sure."
A few people looked at the newly arrived Shi Yu with strange expressions. This young brother is not very polite and seems more interested in the iron-eating beast site than they are!
Soon, Shi Yu followed them to the archaeological camp set up outside the site.
Upon entering the tent, Shi Yu saw the armor fragment they mentioned, which was actually a palm-sized metal piece.
The metal piece lay quietly in a glass container.
There was indeed a strange symbol on the metal piece.
"This symbol…"
Under the watchful eyes of the others, Shi Yu stared intently at the symbol.
Then, as if something triggered a memory, a wave of emotion surged within him.
Damn.
Shi Yu was shocked, completely dumbfounded, and suddenly remembered.
He had seen this symbol before.
On Earth, he and his teacher had studied a niche mythological system that recorded the same symbol!