Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 630 Returning to the Old Place (6)

"The terrain here hasn't been artificially reinforced or raised, so those altars directly beneath the old city shouldn't have been built yet..."

Han Zu's fingertips unconsciously traced the engravings on the stone steps, his mind rapidly recalling fragments of memories from his previous two visits to the old city. The dark altars hidden beneath the foundations of the old city (compared to its modern medieval style), the eerie runes carved into the stone walls, and the lingering oppressive atmosphere in the air created a strong sense of temporal and spatial dislocation with the medieval city before him bathed in sunlight (though greatly diluted by fog). He suddenly realized that he might be standing at the key to unlocking all the secrets of the old city—a "prototype city" that had not yet been transformed by subsequent civilizations and retained its original form.

Although previous explorations had clarified the city's macro-layout, the Gothic building remained like an uncut gem, concealing unknown information. Han Zu stood up, dusted off his clothes, and decided to re-enter the city's core structure. Unlike his initial wariness, this time he had a clear objective: to find early traces related to the subsequent altar, and direct evidence of the city's sudden abandonment.

When Han Zu first arrived in the Old City, he learned that there were two forces in that strange place. One was the rat extermination company before it became what it is now, and he already knew a lot about them. The other was the force that managed the city's cemetery back then. Han Zu had been curious about that force, but whether he was still with Infinite Company or now allied with the contractors, strangely, he hadn't been able to find any clues related to it. (Theoretically, Han Zu was the new head of the foreign affairs department of that force, but he hadn't taken office yet because after the underwater tunnel incident, due to Infinite Company's large-scale cognitive intervention and memory modification, even Han Zu's memory of the incident was incomplete. His complete memory was from when he first completed the Old City instance.) But this time, he might be able to get some clues. Even if he still couldn't, he might be able to find out what was going on with those altars beneath the Old City.

The main entrance to the building consisted of two heavy oak doors, the serpentine carvings on the panels appearing even more menacing in the mist. Due to prolonged exposure to moisture, the wooden doors were tightly stuck to the frame, and Han Zu tried to push them several times without success. He could probably smash the doors down with brute force, but to avoid damaging the building, he didn't do so and instead went around to the side of the building to observe it.

Upon observation, Han Zu discovered that the wooden part of a side door had rotted and collapsed, leaving only the stone door frame standing there, large enough for him to pass through. As Han Zu squeezed through the door frame, he noticed a string of small symbols carved on the inside. These symbols bore some resemblance to the runes he had seen on the stone walls surrounding the altar when he first encountered the old city altar, but the lines were simpler and more archaic, clearly an earlier version. However, they could also simply be similar without any connection. Unfortunately, the contractor's equipment was still down, preventing him from making a comparison.

Upon entering the building, the light dimmed instantly, with only a few wisps of mist seeping in through the broken pointed arch windows, forming faint pillars of light in the air. The floor was paved with large bluestone slabs, the cracks of which were overgrown with moss, requiring extra caution when walking. The first floor was a spacious hall, approximately two hundred square meters in area, with eight sturdy stone pillars arranged in the center. The pillars were carved with patterns of vines and flowers, some of which still bore traces of painted decoration, faded but still hinting at their former splendor. On the east side of the hall was a row of stone counters, behind which the wall was covered with square recesses. Based on their size and arrangement, Han Zu speculated that this had once been the city's administrative office or tax office—medieval public buildings often combined administrative and religious functions, which would explain the building's high architectural standards.

In Han Zu's memory, based on the comparison with the modern old city, the location of this building should be part of the modern old city near the seaside industrial area. Han Zu hadn't thoroughly searched that part, so he didn't remember much information or clues. Therefore, Han Zu decided to investigate this building carefully, intending to use the clues found there as the main basis. If there was an opportunity in the future, he could return to the modern old city through the Infinite City or other means and re-enter the industrial area for comparison.

He walked to the counter and carefully examined the remnants in the grooves. In one groove, he found several tattered pieces of parchment, the paper brittle and the writing illegible, but some medieval numerical symbols and names of goods, such as "wheat," "cloth," and "fish," were still discernible, further confirming the hypothesis that this had once been a tax office. The counter surface had many scratches of varying depths, clearly from long-term use of abacuses or pens; the density of the scratches indicated that administrative affairs here were quite busy before the city was abandoned.

On the north side of the hall, a stone staircase leads to the second floor. The handrail, made of sturdy oak, is partially decayed, but its core structure remains intact. Han Zu climbs the stairs, each step accompanied by a creaking sound that is particularly clear in the spacious building. The second floor differs from the first, divided into several rooms of varying sizes. Judging from the size and furnishings, this was likely the office and living area for the city's administrators. The largest room is located on the east side of the second floor. The floor is covered with a tattered wool carpet, and several faded tapestries hang on the walls. The tapestries depict scenes of port trade: merchant ships docked at the pier, dockworkers loading and unloading cargo, and merchants and crew haggling over prices. The scenes are vivid and detailed, recreating for Han Zu the bustling cityscape of that era.

In the center of the room stood a massive stone desk, its surface covered in scratches and ink stains. A broken ink bottle lay at one corner, containing only a few dried ink clumps. Scattered across the desk were several metal seals, their designs blurred but clearly the city's emblem—a seabird with outstretched wings, its claws clutching a coin, symbolizing the city's dual role in fishing and trade. Most of the desk's drawers had rotted away, except for the bottom one, which could still be barely opened. Inside was a relatively intact roll of parchment, containing the city's financial records in medieval Latin, the dates faded and illegible. Although Han Zu was not fluent in Latin, Gloria was from a Spanish-speaking country. During their time together, Han Zu had been exposed to a lot of Gloria's Latin conversations, so he could barely understand the general content: the accounts recorded in detail the tax revenue, port cargo throughput, and public building repair costs for the month. One item, "city wall reinforcement fee," caught his attention—the amount was not small, and it was marked as "emergency expenditure," which seemed to contradict his previous analysis that "the city had no obvious signs of war."

With these questions in mind, Han Zu continued examining the other rooms. The room on the west side of the second floor was relatively small, likely the living quarters for servants or clerks. Inside was a simple wooden bed, under which lay several well-worn silver coins and a rusty dagger. The dagger's handle was made of bone, engraved with simple patterns. Although the blade was rusted, its sharp outline was still visible—the craftsmanship of this dagger was clearly superior to the ironware commonly found in the civilian area, more like military equipment. Beside the bed, a wooden chest was rotten and contained a few pieces of coarse cloth clothing and a poorly bound prayer book. The cover of the prayer book bore the mark of the local church, and a dried flower petal was tucked between the pages, clearly an item carefully collected by its owner.

At the far end of the second floor was a small wooden door leading to the attic. The iron lock on the door was long since rusted and broken, and it opened easily with a gentle push. The attic was pitch black, and Han Zu relied on his keen eyesight to feel his way forward. The attic space was cramped and low, requiring him to stoop to move around. The attic floor was piled with many old wooden boxes and scrolls, most of them rotten and decayed. However, one box caught his attention—it was made of moisture-resistant oak, with a thick layer of resin on its surface. Although it also showed signs of decay, its overall condition was far better than the other boxes. Han Zu carefully opened the box and found more than a dozen rolls of parchment wrapped in wax. The wax seal was stamped with the same seabird emblem as the seal on the desk, clearly indicating that they were important official documents.

He selected a relatively intact roll of parchment sealed with wax, gently scraped off the seal with his fingernail, and unfolded the paper to read carefully. This roll contained the minutes of a city council meeting, also dated the summer of 1247 AD, only a week after the expenditure on "city wall reinforcement" recorded in the accounts. The minutes were disorganized, but several keywords recurred: "sea fog," "disappearing ships," "strange noises," and "prayer ceremony." Han Zu deciphered each word, gradually piecing together a vague piece of information: that summer, unusual sea fog appeared in the waters surrounding the city, and several fishing boats and merchant ships disappeared within it. Surviving crew members claimed to have heard strange noises in the fog, like the roar of some enormous creature. The city council held an emergency meeting, deciding to allocate funds to reinforce the city walls and organize a prayer ceremony in the square for the protection of the sea god. However, the last few lines of the minutes were illegible and chaotic, suggesting the recorder was in a state of extreme panic, leaving only fragmented phrases such as "the fog is coming in" and "they're coming."

This discovery not only explained the origin of the "city wall reinforcement fee" but was also closely related to the reasons for the city's abandonment. He quickly opened several other parchment scrolls, one of which was the port official's log, which detailed the disappearances of ships: starting in mid-June, at least two ships disappeared every week, with the disappearances concentrated in the sea northeast of the city. The last entry in the log was in early July, containing only a brief sentence: "Dense fog, no view of the docks, no sound of bells." Another scroll was the diary of a church priest, which mentioned that the residents were generally panicked, and many began to flee the city. The prayer services organized by the church not only failed to calm them down but also caused several believers to suddenly fall into a coma during the service. After waking up, they claimed to have seen "messengers from the deep sea."

Han Zu carefully put away the parchment, a new hypothesis forming in his mind: the city's abandonment wasn't without warning, but rather the culmination of a prolonged period of panic—unusual sea fog appeared, ships disappeared one after another, residents were gripped by fear, and city administrators attempted to stabilize the situation through fortifying the walls and prayer rituals, but ultimately failed. A massive fog disaster (perhaps accompanied by an attack from some unknown creature) led to the mass evacuation of residents. This hypothesis resolved the previous contradictions, but new questions arose: what exactly were those "messengers from the deep sea"? Was there a connection between the sea fog and the mysterious figures they had been tracking?

To verify his hypothesis, Han Zu decided to investigate the port area again. The fog seemed even thicker than before, visibility less than five meters, and a faint salty smell filled the air. He walked southwest along the main street, paying special attention to details he hadn't noticed before as he passed the commercial street: simple prayer symbols were carved on the walls of some shops, clearly left by residents during the panic; many broken pottery jars were scattered on the floor of a general store, containing unburnt herbs. Han Zu had come into contact with numerous biological reagents and various medicines, including many herbs, during his previous biological experiments. Although his interest didn't lie in herbalism, prolonged exposure had unknowingly made him a semi-expert in herbalism. Therefore, based on the shape and smell of the herbs, Han Zu could identify them as rosemary and sage used for exorcism—these traces confirmed the "resident panic" recorded in the parchment.

Upon arriving at the port area, Han Zu noticed tiny, luminous particles floating in the fog, similar to the deposits he had seen on the stone statue ruins in the Gothic courtyard. Suspecting a connection, Han Zu suspended his search of the buildings and quickly returned to the dock.

Back at the dock, Han Zu found the planks had become even more rotten, with sections collapsed into the sea. The water was an unusually deep black, and there was no sign of any fish activity. He walked to the cargo ship wreck he had found earlier and carefully examined its structure—the hull had many irregular marks of damage, not like those caused by impact or decay, but more like it had been torn apart by some sharp object. Scattered inside the wreck were many cargo packages, and in one wooden crate, he found several pieces of metal that were not completely rusted. The fragments were engraved with simple runes similar to those on the inside of a Gothic door frame.

Han Zu crouched down and dipped his finger in seawater, applying it to the runes. The runes emitted a faint blue light, which quickly faded. This discovery startled him—the rune's reaction was remarkably similar to the energy fluctuations he had witnessed long ago at the altar in the old city, only weaker. He realized that there was some kind of inherited relationship between this medieval city and the later old city, and this inheritance was likely related to the "deep sea" and "runes."

"Where's the boat?"

Just as Han Zu stood up, preparing to continue searching along the coast, he realized he was nearing the spot where he had come ashore. He instinctively looked toward the place where the ship that had brought him from the lighthouse was docked, only to find that it was empty except for the fog; the ship had vanished.

Han Zu thought the fog was obstructing his vision, so he mobilized his internal energy and used his night vision and X-ray vision to look over. The result was exactly the same as what he had observed with his naked eye: the ship was indeed gone.