Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 271: Atlantis

In the central zone of the large city, apart from the numerous giants walking around, I even saw a dinosaur. A massive apatosaurus was beside a gigantic pool. It seemed to be kept in some sort of a cage. Around its cage were a series of steps. A bunch of giants were standing there, gesticulating at the dinosaur while looking at it.

"This is impossible, I thought dinosaurs were extinct at that time period!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Canyue, what's going on over there?" Old Du's voice roused me from my deep shock.

"I used the memory fragment to return to Blue from a million years ago. At that time, Blue was still in the ice age," I said.

"The ice age a million years ago? How can there be dinosaurs at that time? I thought dinosaurs went extinct during the Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago," said Old Du.

"Canyue, did you see it wrong? I saw dinosaurs as well, but the memory fragment I used should be something from 100 million years ago," said Zhang Bao'er.

"I am sure I didn't see wrongly. The dinosaur lived in a circular city. As for the city, it was right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean," I replied firmly.

"A circular city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Are you referring to Atlantis?" asked Old Du in excitement.

"Yes, that's very likely. The Atlanteans I saw are all two meters tall with sparse hair. At that time, they already had the technology to create aircraft. At the same time" I suddenly sank into silence.

"What?" asked Old Du.

After some hesitation, I told them the truth, "I also discovered our ancestors. They seemed to have been enslaved by the Atlanteans."

"We still need to verify if the people you saw are really the Atlanteans. The city you saw was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but in the legends, Atlantis is located in the Strait of Gibraltar," said Old Du.

At that time, I noticed that as the perspective of my recording moved deeper along the city's main road, more and more gigantic pets could be seen. A lot of Atlanteans were walking their little triceratops, little saber-toothed tigers, and so on toward a pyramid. The pyramid was made of some glass-like transparent material. Under the sunshine, the structure looked like it was shining in gold.

"What a grand structure!" I couldn't help but exclaim in admiration at the sight of Blue's technological prowess from so many years ago.

Suddenly, sounds of music appeared from the imposing pyramid. Different from the previous soundless recording, this part of the recording actually contained sound. The music was rather pleasant.

The music was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was powerful yet gentle, and the pleasant melody gave me the illusion that it was swirling around the pyramid while slowly rising into the sky, creating an effect that made it even more pleasant to the ears.

I impatiently brought my perspective closer to the beautiful construct. Looking at the glorious building, I suddenly noticed a row of familiar characters. After looking at them for a while, I confirmed that they were the same characters that were inside the Imperial Golden Book I had once stolen from Fode. There was now no doubt that those characters were the Atlantean script.

I grew incomparably excited at that discovery. I had not expected to solve that mystery from an incomplete fragment of history. In fact, every single discovery made in this fragment was something worth being excited over.

Behind the pyramid, I discovered a massive reflective wall. The sunlight would gather on the wall before being reflected onto a different rectangular building on the other side of it. Between the two massive buildings was a thick energy beam.

"This building...could it be the legendary Sun Palace? Is the legendary Heart of Atlantis that can absorb and convert solar energy located between these two buildings?" I wondered to myself, growing even more excited.

Apart from the Sun Palace, in this city known as the Poseidonis, exquisitely designed giant buildings could be found everywhere. I continued roaming the streets, lost in the city of grand architecture.

In between these massive buildings, I could even see trams. They were probably powered by solar energy, constantly moving along the different roads in the city. One ought to know that I was looking at a scene from Blue a million years ago. What I saw convinced me that the legends about the lost civilizations were true.

Suddenly, I noticed numerous birds rising into the sky. These birds were completely unlike any modern birds we knew of. They were relatively large, and every single one of them was extremely bright-colored, looking even fancier than peacocks and golden pheasants.

Oddly, the birds seemed to have been startled. They rose into the sky before gathering together into a swarm. The odd behavior of the birds had also attracted the Atlanteans. Soon, they started pointing at the birds in the sky as they talked. I looked in the direction they were pointing and hissed in shock. Far on the horizon, a ferocious giant had appeareda blazing planet.

"What is this? Is a planet going to collide with Blue?" I wondered. My heart started beating rapidly at the realization that this beautiful city was about to be met with a calamity.

While I was still feeling nervous, a large fleet rose into the sky and sped off toward the incoming planet. All the life forms in the city, ancient humans included, were gathered on the streets and the city square. All of them gazed at the departing fleet solemnly. Even the ancient humans, in their chains, had their eyes filled with a desire for survival.

"Bao'er, Old Du, I'm seeing a planet on a collision course with Blue," I shouted at the two.

"A planet colliding against Blue? Are you referring to the extinction event of the dinosaurs?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"No, that was further back in time. This planet is even larger than the asteroid that had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. From its outline on the horizon, it is at least half the size of the moon," I replied, my heart still beating rapidly.

"Half the size of the moon? Have the sea and atmosphere of Blue started being pulled away?" asked Old Du.

"Not at the moment. Does that mean that the planet is still quite far away?" I asked.

"Yes. It should be quite far away, or a planet of its size would have already started affecting the objects on Blue with its gravitational pull," said Old Du.

"This is odd. Why has a collision of this magnitude never been mentioned by any geologists on Blue? This is something of a bigger scope than the dinosaur extinction event," I wondered.

"Keep watching. Perhaps there will be more changes. See what happens in the recording," said Old Du.

At that point, all the Atlanteans seemed to have sensed the impending disaster. The giants started making last-minute struggles as numerous ships sailed out of the port. Many also started running toward the peak of a tall mountain beside the city.

The plot twist in this single recording was too intense, exceeding what one would experience even in a movie. I had not expected a single memory fragment to contain so many ancient memories.

"I saw the extinction of the dinosaurs, but it wasn't due to an asteroid. It was a sickness, an unknown virus had wiped out the dinosaurs. Also, the virus seemed to have spread only among dinosaurs, and it did not affect other life forms," said Zhang Bao'er after a long silence.

"Virus? That's not possible. I can still see dinosaurs in Atlantis," I said.

"But I witnessed the death of the final dinosaur on a mountain with my own eyes. Since then, there are no longer any dinosaurs on Blue," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Bao'er, try to look at the center of the Atlantic Ocean during that period of time," said Old Du.

"I checked long ago. There is nothing there except for the boundless sea. There are many icebergs, but no islands or cities were seen," said Zhang Bao'er.

This wasn't a suitable time for a debate. I saw that the distant red planet was starting to become more and more distinct. Suddenly, a large explosion erupted far on the horizon. The explosion was so powerful the surrounding air became completely devoid of any water vapor. A massive shockwave spread as far as the eye could see. After the explosion, a black hole appeared in the middle of the approaching planet.

"My god, the Atlanteans seem to have cracked the planet with their fleet," I exclaimed in shock.

Immediately, numerous broken chunks of the planet rained down from the sky. Some dropped into the sea, creating massive waves, and some crashed into icebergs. Some even crashed into Poseidonis itself, creating massive explosions in the city. One of the chunks landed in front of the Sun Palace, crushing the beautiful glass wall. I was about to continue exclaiming in shock when one of the chunks flew right toward me. It quickly reached me before suddenly, the recording ended.

"Canyue, how're the weapons of the Atlanteans? Did they manage to destroy the planet?" asked Zhang Bao'er, curious as ever.

"A hole was blasted through the planet, and the broken chunks flew everywhere. The Sun Palace was ruined, but another broken chunk hit the observer, ending the recording," I said helplessly.

"We got a glimpse at true history only to receive more questions in return," Old Du lamented.

I was somewhat unreconciled to losing that part of history. I resumed my search for more memory fragments, hoping to learn more. But I was utterly disappointed after going through about a dozen fragments containing recordings of more recent periods.

"I'm tired of this. There's nothing else of value to be found. If we really want to go through all these recordings, I think we'll need hundreds of years," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Old Du, did you find anything valuable?" I asked.

"Yes. I think I found a fragment freshly deleted today. I saw a familiar race in the recording. There is an Eternal on this planet," said Old Du.

"Eternal? You mean there is an Eternal here?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes. From their appearance, I believe it is none other than Dirk, the person Commander Herbert talked about previously," said Old Du.

"What? You saw Dirk? I thought he had transformed into a beast," said Zhang Bao'er.