After the crew landed, the first thing they did was to look for water and resources needed for survival.
The wood needed to build temporary shelters can be made from the towering trees on the deserted island.
The vines that cling to the rock wall can be used as ropes after being dried, which is very convenient.
These primitive ropes are needed to help transport wood, make fishing nets to catch sea fish, or build wooden houses.
After securing survival resources, the crew moved further towards the center of the island;
Gradually, we discovered traces that people once lived here, which were villages of various sizes.
The local indigenous people lived a simple and plain life, and a large number of stone tools and earthenware vessels can be seen.
These are readily available resources;
It is a pity that most of the houses built with mud have collapsed, and only a few still exist after a long time.
"Captain Pearson, there's a discovery here!"
“There are some here too!”
“There are some here too!”
The stranded sailors explore the secrets of this uninhabited island while ensuring sufficient resources for survival.
In each of those dilapidated houses, there is an earthen statue enshrined.
The upper body has bat wings that seem to have not yet fully developed, and the face has tentacles like an octopus.
The body is covered with scales, while the lower half is a humanoid body.
The statue is squatting on a monument similar to a large tombstone, on which are inscribed vague but strangely distorted words.
Even the most knowledgeable first mate on the ship had no understanding of this ancient text.
Apart from this strange statue, every house has a mark,
The mark was like a city, and above the city was a figure.
Mills felt that this figure might be related to these statues, so he asked the captain,
"Captain Pearson, these statues and this seal should be talking about the same object, don't you think?"
Pearson nodded and responded,
"Based on my previous experience with those archaeological teams, primitive villages would not worship more than one god or totem.
These may be two different ways of expressing the indigenous people's absolute loyalty to their objects of worship.
You see, statues are supposed to be used for daily sacrifices, worship and prayers.
The marks on the wall should represent that this village is protected by this "god". "
Pearson's explanation cleared up everyone's doubts.
When Pearson was young, he often followed the archaeological team on adventures at sea;
His father disappeared during a marine archaeological team, and Pearson wanted to find traces of his father in this way.
And follow in his father's footsteps, but the ocean is so vast and wide,
After all these years, Pearson still hasn't been able to find his father who has been missing for many years.
He also understood that every adventure was a job that required him to put his head on the line, and the kind father in his memory might have been eaten by a shark.
Pearson looked around.
In addition to the residential areas of the original villagers, there is a huge stone tablet approximately every 100 meters.
There are still some words carved on the stone tablet, and the vague text structure should be the same as that on the statue.
“Why did this primitive civilization go to such great lengths to move and carve these stone tablets
They had no scientific help to lighten these heavy stone tablets, and each one obviously required a long time and manpower to move and carve.
Maybe it's a custom
Similar to the pharaohs by the Nile River, every pharaoh would move into the pyramid that had been built with the efforts of the entire country after his death.
Are there corpses buried under these tombstones
If there are bones, there should be a lot of burial objects.
Once these burial objects are transported back to the Ouzhou mainland, they can be sold for a high price, and even a new ship can be purchased."
Pearson thought so, and ordered his men to push down the nearest stone tablet and dig up the soil underneath.
Unfortunately,
There was nothing under the stone tablet except crawling insects and solid soil. It was obvious that the stone tablet was not used as a tombstone. Then Pearson gave up the idea of digging up other stone tablets and gathered people to continue to advance to the center of the island.
"Mills!"
Pearson called out to Mills who was in high spirits.
For the young boy, this was more interesting than the boring days of drifting on the sea every day.
"What's wrong, Dad?" Mills asked Pearson.
Pearson, who has rich experience in archaeology, looked at his naughty child with a serious expression and said,
"child,
The civilization here is a bit weird, which gave me a bad feeling.
Remember to be in the middle of the queue, which is a relatively safe position.
If something happens, don't panic, we are an experienced team and can handle most dangers."
"Yes, yes, the experienced team is stranded." Mills stuck out his tongue and teased his father mischievously.
Pearson frowned, showing a serious expression, and said,
"My child, you must remember that only cautious adventurers can survive, while reckless ones will become food for wild beasts."
"Okay, okay, be careful,"
Mills responded nonchalantly, rolling his elf eyes around to explore the mysterious surroundings.
The queue slowly advanced to an altar, on which there were countless twisted skeletons entangled with each other, forming a tower about six meters high.
The skeletons that formed the ancient tower include not only human skeletons, but also animal skeletons mixed in.
But what is incredible is that these skeletons give people a sense of naturalness.
All the bones are connected to each other, but there is no sign of any artificial splicing.
If we didn't have some respect for life, we would probably think it was a monster with multiple heads and torsos, but this guess is very close to the lost truth.
"Captain Pearson, what on earth happened..."
The ship's first mate asked Captain Pearson.
Even the most experienced crew members were clueless about this scene.
Some of them were almost unable to stand and were about to fall to the ground. An emotion called fear spread silently among the crowd.
"I believe this was a sacrifice or a prayer ceremony to the gods, but it may have been attacked in a way we cannot understand.
All the creatures on the island fled here, and then... died alive...
No, maybe not dead, but turned into this tower of bones."
Pearson slowly stated his speculation.
At this time, Mills had already hidden behind Pearson, not daring to look directly at the bone tower that reflected an evil aura under the moonlight.
Pearson touched Mills' head with his hand, trying to calm his nervous emotions.
"Don't worry too much, they are just some skeletons. We have been at sea for so many years, haven't we seen enough skeletons?"
The first mate spread his hands and said,
But only Pearson noticed that the first mate's hands were also shaking slightly. It was obvious that he said this to calm everyone down.
As experienced crew members, they knew how to control the atmosphere at this time. The first mate continued,
"Don't let fear rule your mind, my friends."
Pearson carefully looked around for clues.
He shook his head, as if he didn't believe his own guess, and seemed to have other doubts in his heart.
The first mate looked at the hesitant Pearson and asked softly,
"Why don't we go back to the coast?"
But Pearson looked at the fragmented footprints on the ground that had turned into pits, and carefully analyzed and deduced the situation at that time.
The footprints on the ground were all moving in the same direction, which was the location of the strange statue in the altar.
"What on earth happened to cause all these lives to wither away overnight?"
Pearson thought so.
Everyone walked to the highest stone tablet behind the altar.
But what I saw were murals painted with blood.
The colors of the mural are no longer bright, and now appear as dark brown patterns.
Behind the stone tablet are four murals with coherent content.
In the first painting, you can see symbols representing human beings dancing around a campfire, which represents a primitive and happy tribal life.
The scene in the second painting is the same as the previous one, the only change is the location of the original bonfire, which has been replaced by the statue on the altar.
The third painting clearly depicts an altar and sacrificial ceremony.
An adult woman with her hands tied behind her back was placed in the center of the altar, with a pair of evil glasses in the sky.
The fourth picture shows that there is only darkness all around, with only the altar being bright.
People rushed towards the light, but those who did not have time to run into the light were swallowed up by the darkness and turned into food for the darkness.
Pearson sorted out his logic and confirmed that his inference was correct. He began to explain,
"I now understand what happened on this island. The original inhabitants lived carefree on this island.
Until they found the statue, and then they seemed to lose their minds.
Constant worship of the being behind the indescribable statue.
Devout faith does not bring joy and happiness, but madness.
People began to offer human sacrifices to please the master behind the statue.
Finally, the evil god's gaze was attracted, and all the lives on the island were taken away by the evil god. "
"No! This is impossible! I believe in God. There can't be any evil gods in this world!"
Some of the crew members who were already very frightened shouted loudly as if they had lost their minds.
The strange phenomena and various clues encountered so far have completely overturned all beliefs in the Supreme and Almighty Creator. Everyone can feel the veil of evil touching the defense line of everyone's soul.
Mills, who was hiding behind Pearson, suddenly shouted,
“It’s moving, it’s moving!!!”
People looked in the direction of Mills' finger. The light in the fourth portrait had been drowned by all the darkness.
All the lives in the paintings are piled up and almost melted.
Countless heads wailed in agony, and some even spat out curses of hatred.
The joints between the limbs were connected by external forces, and all the heads showed extreme pain.
It turns out that their souls have been sealed in the murals and tortured forever, with only endless waiting.
Waiting for the next batch of victims to join them and become the followers of the great creation.
The cowardly ones had fainted by this time, and the panicked ones left the team and ran meaninglessly.
Pearson and the first mate looked at each other.
He tacitly led Mills and other crew members who still had the ability to act independently to the place where they were stranded.
There was a lifeboat there that was still usable.
The reason why this lifeboat was not used before was that it could only hold four people.
There was also not enough fresh water and food on the lifeboat, but daily supplies had been replenished during previous explorations.
At present, this lifeboat is hope, the hope of leaving this ominous island.
Mills was carried on Pearson's back, with his arms around Pearson's neck.
Pearson ran quickly towards the coast.
"You can't fight that kind of evil! You can't even look at it! Run!"
Pearson shouted with cold sweat on his head.
At this time, the moon quietly hid in the clouds.
There was a tremor in the depths of the dense forest, and the stone tablets placed by the tribe lit up one after another.
Then it shattered piece by piece and then became dark.
The darkness recorded on the mural enveloped the coast of the deserted island and gradually advanced towards the center of the island.
Mills yelled, "Stop, stop now!"
At this moment, the first mate's heart was filled with fear, and he wanted to escape from this deserted island!
He wanted to be first on that lifeboat!
So he didn't pay attention to the darkness in the distance, but quickened his pace.
By the time he realized the darkness was crawling towards him, it was too late.
A dark green tentacle stretched out from the darkness,
That's a tongue!
It quickly rolled up the first mate's body, and then a severed hand flew out with a scream and chewing sounds.
As the screams faded, it marked the end of a life.
No, maybe that is just the end of life, but not necessarily the end of the soul.
Seeing this tragic scene, the other crew members turned around and ran back to the altar in the center of the island.
Although the people in the murals were transformed into a horrible mass of flesh at the altar,
But in the original murals, there was light, and it also represented hope.
Pearson ran to the center of the altar,
Below the location of the bone tower, there is an undamaged altar.
Some crew members chose to climb to the top of the bone tower, hoping to escape.
Some crew members were swept away by the dark green tongue while climbing up the tower and became the monster's delicious meal.
The surroundings were filled with devastation, despair and death.
The soul's elegy has already sounded,
Pearson knew in his heart that he and his group would probably be doomed.
But if possible,
Hopefully Mills' life can be saved.
Pearson knelt before the evil statue,
He took out his pocket knife.
Cut his chest.
He reluctantly took out the internal organs.
Mills saw his father's behavior nearby.
In addition to confusion and panic,
"Is father crazy too?"
Mills thought to himself.
Pearson endured the pain and trembled,
With clear eyes and fatherly love, he looked at the frightened Mills.
And said something that Mills will never forget.
"My child, my father will always love you."
Then pray to the evil statue.
"Lord of the Deep, the One Who Brings Destruction,
I offer you my soul,
I pray that you will dispel the darkness everywhere.
I want to serve at your feet,
Until the day you wake up."
The evil statue's eyes, inlaid with red gems, flashed, but did not make any response.
At this time, Pearson was almost in despair.
All of his actions were based on the knowledge he gained from archaeological excavations on the order of spells and rituals.
He hopes that by sacrificing himself he can gain the power of the evil god and save Mills' life.
I saw that the darkness had reached the altar,
The long tongue covered with blood has already stretched out,
Pearson also watched Mills being rolled away by the long tongue due to heavy bleeding.
The barbs on the tongue pierced Mills' back sharply.
The pain that came suddenly was not something young Mills could bear.
The body's protective mechanism put Mills into a coma.
"No! Mills!!!"
Seeing the bad news that Mills was about to face,
Pearson's eyes were filled with tears of blood.
I waved my hands towards the air, powerlessly.
Screaming hysterically with the last bit of strength,
“Ahhhhh!!!!”
Before he fell into a coma, Mills only remembered this scene: his father kneeling in front of the statue, the marks on the stone wall, and the burning pain.