Chapter 108: Skeleton

Inside the canopy covering the excavation site.

There is a roughly fifty-meter-diameter, central depth about twenty-meter hui-shaped deep pit.

Excavation workers push carts through the hui-shaped slope, pushing the excavated soil out of the pit, then transporting the soil out of the canopy.

Leon followed Ada and Silas to the edge of the pit and looked down, discovering that the center of the pit consisted of two rows and three columns, a total of six massive stone pillars forming a stone array.

More than thirty Oxford students carrying satchels or backpacks, holding cameras, lighting equipment, etc., stood at the edge of the stone array.

Leon turned his head to the right and saw the workers pushing carts, walking out one by one through a tunnel.

Tunnel?

Leon didn't expect that Silas's archaeological team had actually dug through a tunnel leading downward.

The three went down the slope to the bottom of the pit and met up with the group of waiting Oxford students.

As soon as they arrived below, the students immediately surrounded the three and eagerly expressed their excitement.

Precisely, it was Ada and Silas.

After all, in the students' eyes, without these two, they would never have had the chance to discover such a large-scale relic.

Leon, however, was squeezed to the outside of the crowd.

However, Leon didn't care at all, as archaeology and history were indeed not his forte.

Instead, he focused his attention on Ada.

Only seeing Ada, surrounded by the crowd, she maintained a pleasant, gentle smile and chatted happily with the students.

How did she manage to change her expression so quickly??

Leon was puzzled by this.

"Ah, women." The bewildered Leon crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Kids! Quiet down for a moment!" Silas raised his right hand, letting the enthusiastic students temporarily quiet down.

After quieting down, he continued: "Since Miss Wang has arrived, it's time to lift the veil of this relic and together witness its true appearance!"

"Whoa!" The students couldn't help but cheer.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Silas said that and turned toward the tunnel, with the students closely following.

Ada then took off her sunglasses, put them away, revealed her full face, and quietly reminded Leon as he walked up beside her.

"Newbie, stay alert and always be wary of the situation inside."

"Hmm." Leon had given up trying to explain to Ada that he wasn't a newbie, merely responding softly.

Just before Ada and he were about to enter the tunnel, Leon took out his agent's dedicated phone and reported the latest situation to his superiors.

Moreover, lights were installed every three meters along the tunnel ceiling, making the interior not so dark; after proceeding downward for about seven or eight minutes, they exited the tunnel.

Upon exiting, Leon only felt a sudden sense of openness.

The underground area at the tunnel's end, excavated by the workers to be very spacious, with strong lighting equipment installed around, made this place as bright as daytime.

And ahead, beneath the covered soil, was a city wall built of massive square stone blocks.

Leon roughly estimated that the wall's height was at least twenty meters.

Directly opposite the tunnel exit stood a gate about five meters high and roughly seven meters wide.

Only seeing more than ten workers at the gate performing the final cleanup, immediately transporting excess soil outside.

Leon again took out his dedicated phone to take photos, then uploaded them.

Immediately afterward, he and Ada followed Silas's team to the front of the gate.

"Whoosh~." A faint wind sound entered their ears.

The closer Leon got to the gate, the more he could feel the air flowing through the crack.

This indicated that the side of the wall and gate was not a sealed space.

But for safety considerations, everyone still wore professional masks and took appropriate protective measures.

All preparations were complete.

Silas had the students assist the on-site workers in jointly opening the gate made of cedar wood.

"Whoosh———!" The moment the gate opened, it caused a violent airflow.

Looking ahead, everyone discovered that the other side of the gate was another world.

It was a relatively well-preserved ancient city!

The city lay entirely within a cavern beneath the hills, and they did not need to install strong lighting equipment to use natural light for archaeological work.

Sunlight poured through small openings in the cavern's ceiling, or through areas they could not observe, forming beams of light that showered the entire city.

"My goodness, I never imagined. I never imagined at all."

Silas strode through the gate onto the street, his voice trembling with awe as he exclaimed:

"This city is clearly right beneath our feet, yet no route allows direct observation; only after discovering the stone array could we continue to uncover this city that seems deliberately hidden.

What in history did it undergo that made the ancients do this?"

"Professor." At that moment, Ada walked up beside Silas and softly smiled, saying, "Guessing won't work."

"Miss Wang is quite right." Having come to his senses, Silas turned to the students and loudly reminded them:

"Kids! For now, first take photos for record; do not casually touch anything here; remember not to act alone; safety first!"

"Understood, Professor!"

"Professor! Let's get started!"

The students did not hide their excitement; they were all eager to delve into the city.

Archaeology in ordinary times is indeed a rather dull discipline, but if one can uncover relics, especially such a large city, it certainly satisfies humanity's exploratory drive and curiosity.

Having finished the reminder.

The workers continued cleaning near the city gate, while Xi Ersi led the group along the main thoroughfare inside the city, heading toward the city center and its far end.

Ai Da and Xi Ersi walked at the front, the students moved in small groups in the middle, and Leon stayed at the rear of the line, staying alert.

Clack! In an instant, the city filled with a nonstop stream of camera shutter sounds.

The students photographed and recorded everything along the way.

The city's buildings featured domes with a distinct Middle East style, and the primary construction materials were stone and very rot‑resistant fir.

The deeper they went, the more things they could discover began to appear.

Skeletons—vast numbers of skeletons filled the streets.

From the varied styles of leather armor and weapons, and from the extent of human‑caused destruction, it was easy to infer that a brutal war had once raged here.

That's normal.

The archaeology team had long become accustomed to it; if a site this large lacked human skeletons, that would be the abnormal thing.

So the scene from movies where people scream "Ah! Ah!" at the sight of a skull never occurs.

However, after they pressed on for a while, they encountered a truly bizarre phenomenon.

Some skeletons wore heavy ancient Greek armor, and these skeletons, resembling ancient Greek heavy infantry, inexplicably stood an astonishing three to four meters tall.

In addition, they discovered skeletons that resembled humans but were definitely not human!

It seemed the war that occurred here exceeded the scope of their comprehension.

(End of Chapter)