Chapter 1147: Declining Civilization

With his eyes closed, Lin An quickly simulated the possible problems that could arise.

Firstly, the system would definitely not let them live so comfortably; merely occupying a place earns points.

Then there is no doubt that during the occupation, either this Sky Eye Tribe will encounter trouble, or the insect swarm will actively attack them.

Moreover, their numbers will surely keep increasing.

The chance of the Sky Eye Tribe encountering problems is small; he had already seen this group of gatherers, the strongest being their chief, whose strength is respectable but only a half-baked Second Level.

Even under his own nose, Lin An didn't believe they had a chance to pull out any powerful 'ancient weapon'.

"Based on the clues we have now, theoretically, the larger the occupied gathering place, the better.."

"The larger the gathering place, the more 'fuel' there is."

"Moreover, the people here seem to have retained pre-civilization weapons, which also counts as extra help. Even a mining tool, considered civilian equipment, can unleash Second Level attack power. Larger gathering places must certainly possess stronger civilizational products."

"So.."

"Once all outsiders realize this, they will inevitably compete around several large gathering places."

"Awakened Ones will fight each other, and on the other hand they must also resist insect swarm attacks.."

"Perhaps the enslaved Sky Eye Tribe will also secretly resist."

"Under three-way pressure, it indeed counts as a difficulty."

After simulating various scenarios, Lin An's heart actually became a bit more resolute.

He doesn't fear the system giving difficulty openly; he fears the various hidden traps the system conceals.

"Let's occupy this place first and talk later."

"The nearest larger gathering place, judging by distance, would take at least half a day to fly to. Moreover, it's not much larger.."

"The earlier we occupy, the greater the benefit; wasting half a day is not worth it."

After weighing the gains, Lin An hesitated a moment but still chose to stay here and see how things go.

Nearby there isn't any gathering place that looks particularly large; if other Awakened Ones occupy it, he can simply fly over and seize it when things are about to end.

He believes that under his kind persuasion, the other side will surely volunteer to hand over the points.

Anyway, he has done this many times and is extremely practiced.

After making his decision, Lin An simply ordered the surrounding Sky Eye Tribe to gather all the civilizational artifacts of the gathering place.

He was still curious about the civilization that once existed in this world.

Ten minutes later.

"Sir, our holy objects are all here.."

Bearing suppressed hatred and fear, A Gu, despised by the tribesmen, undertook the task of communicating with Lin An, walking over while clutching a large pile of messy junk that looked like garbage.

Lin An gave a slight nod, then patiently examined the various unidentifiable junk.

Several books that looked like plastic, with production manuals, driving guides... written on them.

According to A Gu, these are their holy objects for learning writing, personally kept by the chief.

Very few people in the gathering place can read; basically the chief teaches them, although the chief himself cannot understand many characters.

After casually flipping through a few, relying on the system's translation function, Lin An realized the Sky Eye Tribe's former civilization was obviously highly advanced. From scattered phrases and pictures, the people here had mastered anti-gravity engines as early as several hundred years ago. On a few driving manuals found from who-knows-where, blurry advertisements showed vehicles that looked extremely high-tech.

In the promotional pictures, the Sky Eye Tribe people wore refined tech fabrics and were covered in electronic devices. Compared to the present-day Sky Eye people who look like primitives, they seemed like two different beings.

As for the other items, they are all consumer products. For example, the light-wave oven used for heating looks just like a microwave, able to heat food without external energy, making it the sole way this gathering place obtains cooked food.

A machine labeled as an industrial vacuum cleaner, used by this group of Sky Eye people as a weapon, is said to be able to control a single insect.

A glass tube the size of a water bucket can naturally collect water molecules from the air to produce pure water.

At the very core of the gathering place, Lin An even saw the so-called artifact, a personal-use 3D printer.

Compared to the extremely low-efficiency machines on Earth that can only print toys, this device, its paint peeled and squeaking as it works, still functions after a hundred years. According to A Gu, their weapons and armor are all processed by this machine.

As long as you feed it materials, it can produce anything.

"The technological level is very high..."

Amid the resentful gazes of the Sky Eye people, Lin An, not very skilled, directly disassembled the printer. In silence, he looked with some awe at its internal core structure.

The internal energy device looks like a miniature engine, with weak streams of radiation particles repeatedly striking the protective ceramic.

It is quite apparent that, based on his knowledge, Lin An barely judged it to be a miniature nuclear fusion device.

Such technology on a civilian device surprised him, and his doubts grew even stronger.

Generally, military technology is several orders of magnitude higher than civilian technology.

It's hard to imagine how high the Sky Eye Tribe's civilization peaked; how strong could their most advanced weapons be?

The technology that humans on Earth pride themselves on is obviously far inferior to that of the Sky Eye people.

So the question arises: how did this group of Sky Eye people fail?

"What do you usually eat?"

"Is there any historical record of what happened to you back then?"

He asked in a low voice toward the pale-faced chief, Lin An feeling uneasy as he inquired.

He didn't believe that the insects he had encountered could destroy the Sky Eye civilization; without monsters above Fourth Stage, there was no way such a powerful civilization could have declined to this point.

"Food, relying on the holy furnace.. and mushrooms.."

"After we pick up the insects' crystals, we can throw them into the tower; the holy tower will grant us energy."

Wiping his forehead, the chief, pressured by Lin An's intimidation, could only answer the questions honestly.

"History.. what does history mean? Is it about past events?"

"All I know is that my great-great-grandfather once said that even the heavenly deities had to listen to us!"

After Lin An pulled out the stone discovered in the insect's brain, he was slightly taken aback.

The Sky Eye Tribe's civilization has been severed; they have lost some vocabulary for expressing meaning, and can only communicate simply.

Do the heavenly gods and spirits have to obey?

What does this mean?

Not realizing how important his words were, the clan chief stared at the stone in his hand and instinctively swallowed his saliva.

"This thing is rarely seen."

"Only very few worms have it."

"One can be exchanged for a lot of food."

Lin An came to his senses, his brows furrowed tightly.

He always felt that many secrets were hidden in this Apocalypse Battlefield.

Before he could take the stone to the Spirit Ability Tower for a test, a faint buzzing sound was instantly caught by his hearing.

Suddenly turning his head to look into the distance, Lin An's aura surged.

He heard it—many, many worms were coming over.

After a few seconds, the earth began to tremble.