death of hope

Chapter 449 "Enterprise Warrior" (359) Graveway

Archaeologist Hideichi Sakamoto lamented in the survey report that there are many similarities in the development process of civilizations in different universes.
For example, the sharp decline in the population caused by climate change or the great plague, such as the population explosion brought about by the increase in agricultural production in peaceful times, or the prosperity and decline of civilization caused by the corruption and greed of the feudal dynasty.

In the fourth era of the Salt People's Calendar, the King of the Salt People, 'Tatarios III the Miserly', made a bold and aggressive decision,

He led the royal family and the imperial guards to move out of the wealthy capital, and used half of the royal wealth to build an underground palace in the big salt mine. It was called "the king should share the joys and sorrows with the miners".

This kind of trick is very familiar to the archaeologists, but it is just a smooth rhetoric of the ruler, to put it bluntly;
In order to consolidate the power of the monarch and suppress the rising aristocrats, businessmen and religious forces, the "stingy Tatarios III" decided to completely control the mining of rock salt resources by the royal family.

It is said to be an underground palace, but it is actually an underground military fortress.
For the salt people whose ancestors originated underground, living down there is no problem at all. To some extent, returning to the underground can be regarded as tracing the roots and imitating their ancestors.

The physique of salt people only needs to ingest a small amount of food and gas. The fungus crops cultivated underground are enough to make a living, and the underground water resources are abundant. The ability of night vision, together with the cultivation of luminescent moss, can solve the problem of sight.

Once this large-scale project was completed, it would be tantamount to strangling the lifeblood of the salt-loving salt people. Since then, no one has dared to challenge the authority of the king.

The loyal royalists supported the king's crazy move, and many salt people voluntarily followed the royal family to live underground. In essence, they just ensured that their families would no longer be short of salt.

Fearing the unrestricted power of the monarch, some priests, businessmen, and nobles mobilized troops to plot a rebellion in the old capital, but were easily suppressed by the imperial guards who had been ambushing for a long time.

On the day the project was completed, the old king ordered the execution of [-] slave laborers. The corpses were used to nourish the fertile underground ridges. The Salt People's religion has a custom of blood sacrifice, which can be regarded as a good fortune for the new palace.

In this way, the royal family successfully controlled the salt rock mining, and the power of the monarch reached its peak. At the same time, not only the palace complex, but also a huge pyramid mausoleum were completed.
'Stingy Tatarios III' hated the ugly nicknames the world gave him and wished he had gone rich and dignified, but it turned out that the completion date was in time, and the aging king soon used the "big man" he had given himself. Gift".

The self-confident shrewd king felt that his name would go down in history, and died of illness with a smile. However, when he died, disasters followed one after another.

On the day the king was buried as a mummy, the crown prince was poisoned and killed by an assassin. Many princes and princesses fought for the right of succession. Guards officers and soldiers from different factions fought with swords in the newly built underground palace.

The second princess, Princess Noka Sicilet, stood out and stepped on the corpses of her brothers and sisters to ascend the throne, and the officers and ministers who supported her crowned her.

The official history of the Salt People came to an abrupt end after the coronation of Queen Noka Sicilet, and the historian stopped recording for unknown reasons.

We had to shift the direction of our investigation and observed the murals and carvings of ancient civilizations found on the surface in the early days of the planet's development. Finally, we found something that connected the last history of the Salt People.

Because of the civil strife in the underground royal family, the mining and supply of rock salt had stagnated for a long time.
Seeing that the rock salt stored in the warehouse is constantly being consumed, the outside salt people are worried about cutting off the confession, and they dare not go underground rashly, fearing that they will be charged with treason.

At this moment of panic, a disaster called "the wrath of the earth" happened by the Yan people. According to the Yan people's description, it should be a major earthquake exceeding magnitude 8.

The channel connecting the surface and the large salt mine was collapsed, which brought an end to this ancient civilization. The last time of the salt people was spent digging the channel.
Until the rock salt reserves are exhausted, they can only rely on a few small salt mines with extremely low yields to survive, and can no longer maintain a large population.

In the fourth quarter of the Salt People's Calendar, the last city of the Salt People was captured and slaughtered by foreigners. Since then, no record of the Salt People's race has been found.

For thousands of years, the vicissitudes of life have changed, and finally, the human colonists have come, armed with strong boats and cannons, and encountered the last intelligent population of this planet, the "six-legged frogmen".

Just like when the English colonists met the Indians, the bloody massacre began,

This planet became a human colony, and because of its superior environment, it was bid by Sakura Co., Ltd. at a high price, and the long history was finally discovered by us...

"Yawn... read until I'm... sleepy..."

Shaft turned off the tablet screen and rubbed his eyes: "This memory card contains precious research data, and it was just randomly thrown on the ground and stuck in the crevices of the rocks."

"Perhaps, the author of these materials, archaeological researcher Shuichi Sakamoto, has died."

"I hate this feeling of endlessness! According to the data, the royal family of the Yan people was buried deep in the underground palace, but we couldn't find any corpses."

"It's been 1 years, and it has already degraded naturally."

"I'm still more concerned about another thing. Who is cleaning the underground palace? It's spotless, cleaner than the toilets of Michelin restaurants."

"Who!?" Uzuki Shimizu raised his gun and shot a tactical flashlight at a statue: "Did you... see it?"

"A white shadow, disturbing voice, similar to the previous one."

"生き物らしくない! (Not like a living thing)" a superstitious samurai said anxiously: "Is this a 'ghost town'?"

"ばか! (Stupid!)" Uzuki Shimizu lightly tapped his shoulder armor: "Okada-kun, have you watched "Midnight Bell" too much? Remember, the living are much more terrifying than the undead."

"Haha, indeed." Johnny Blazer nodded and said, "The dead ghost won't blow your head with a shotgun."

The crowd scattered and explored in the underground palace, but found no trace of any living people, and gathered in front of the pyramid again.

"Damn it, there's no dust and dirt, and the floor tiles are as clean as they have been polished! There's not even a single fucking footprint! Where did Lai Sheng's grandson hide?"

"Boss! Boss!"

"what happened?"

"Our captain is gone."

"Just now I saw him wandering around, calling his child's name."

"Found it, look up."

Everyone raised their heads and found that Captain Marcus Lynch had climbed up the pyramid. He took off his gloves, touched the cold stone, his lips trembled, and seemed to be whispering something.

"Hey! Boss, what are you doing?"

"He doesn't answer."

"Damn it...it's not like I'm sick again..."

"It's really worrying, hurry up!"

Everyone also climbed up, and found that Lynch squatted down, with his ear against the boulder, and made a gesture of "shh!" with his fingers.

Oleg also stuck his ears: "There is no movement, Brother Lynch, what are you doing?"

"I'm not listening, but an indescribable, inexplicable feeling that there are people in here, and there are strange energies active."

"Feeling? Are you using... psychic power?"

"Well, since you gave me a shot of the medicine, my abilities seem to have improved a lot."

"Dude! You can't play around with that thing! It's harmful to your body!"

"Give me a few more minutes... I feel... there is a mechanism nearby..."

"Boss!" Wang Hongye exclaimed, "You're bleeding from the nose! Stop using your abilities!"

Johnny came over: "Look at your eyes, they are bloodshot, you need to rest."

"Old company commander," Lynch said stubbornly, "I can't rest now. I know exactly how crazy I look. I'm sorry to involve everyone."

"This stubborn donkey! The old company commander can't persuade you!" Oleg paced worriedly: "If you continue like this, if you use your abilities at will, you will kill yourself!"

Suddenly, Lynch seemed to feel something, stood up abruptly, pulled out the dagger and inserted it into the crevice of the stone.

The boulder made a rumbling sound, slowly retracted and lowered, and a straight tomb passage appeared in front of it. There was no light inside, but there was a white gleam.

Lynch walked in, scraped off a bit of the glowing plant at the top of the tomb passage with a dagger, and put it in the palm of his hand:

"This should be what Shuichi Sakamoto mentioned, the glowing moss cultivated by the ancient salt people."

"Please wait a moment! Captain!" Uzuki Shimizu said, "My lord will bring people over immediately."

Lynch ignored the other party at all, as if possessed by an evil spirit, he walked into the depths of the grave passage while muttering:

"I feel... darling... I'm coming for you"

(End of this chapter)