I changed the world.

Page 235

As time passed, Chadwick got closer and closer to the central area of ​​the ruins, and he could now clearly see a magnificent pyramid standing there.

“This is simply a miracle…” Chadwick exclaimed, raising his phone to take a series of photos in low-light mode.

This enormous pyramid, based solely on Chadwick's visual estimation, is definitely over 50 meters tall. For an ancient ruin deep in the rainforest, such a size is simply inconceivable.

Its base is square, and upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is not a tilted pyramid structure, but rather composed of layers of square stone platforms, each smaller than the one below, with a total of nine layers. The top layer is a huge platform, upon which sits a temple-like structure.

These stone platforms extend into four wide staircases in the east, south, west, and north directions, leading to the top of the pyramid.

After passing a large area of ​​circular stone pillars in front of the pyramid, Chadwick arrived at the base of the pyramid without encountering any of the dangers he had anticipated.

This eased his anxiety, but his desire to explore grew even stronger.

As you walk to the base of the pyramid, the grandeur of this ancient structure becomes even more apparent. The square stone platform at the base extends to both sides, its length unknown, perhaps hundreds of meters. The pyramid is carved with intricate patterns, resembling a huge and exquisite work of art.

Chadwick believes that such massive pyramids were most likely used as temples or altars in ancient times. In either case, such structures have a very high probability of containing valuable artifacts.

Chadwick composed himself, stepped onto the pyramid steps, and began to climb upwards. The steps were long, and climbing from the bottom to the top was quite strenuous, especially since Chadwick was also carrying his mountaineering backpack.

When he had climbed about a third of the way, Chadwick was already panting heavily. He stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow. Just then, Chadwick suddenly heard a sound beside him…

He glanced around instinctively, but found nothing. Thinking it was just his imagination, he shook his head dismissively and continued climbing…

However, as he climbed higher, the sound in his ears became clearer and clearer. It seemed as if hundreds of people were shouting and yelling in the distance, or as if countless people were singing ancient songs in the distance. The sound was faint, yet it echoed in Chadwick's ears...

Chapter 438 Summoning

Looking back around again, all he could see was darkness, and he still found nothing. Filled with doubt and apprehension, Chadwick had no choice but to continue climbing.

Maybe... it's just an illusion... Chadwick thought to himself.

However, as he continued upwards, the sound he thought was an illusion showed no sign of stopping. The shouts and cries, accompanied by the ancient and melodious song, gradually seemed to echo with the faint sound of drums following the rhythm of the song...

Chadwick looked back several times, but each time he turned around, all he saw was the dark surroundings. This dark and silent ruin seemed to have remained unchanged.

A chilling sensation shot from his feet to his head, and Chadwick felt his back instantly soaked with sweat. He was certain he had heard it; it wasn't an illusion. However, at that moment, he couldn't pinpoint the source of the sound.

Could it be the ghosts of the local natives causing trouble?!

Chadwick suddenly realized he was facing a dilemma: should he continue upwards or turn back?

Chadwick looked up and saw that they were not far from the top of the pyramid, probably only a few dozen steps away. It would be a real pity to go down after reaching this point.

He reached up and pulled a sacred symbol with an abstract crown pattern from his neck, kissed it, then gritted his teeth and decided to go to the top to take a look.

Not long after, Chadwick stepped onto the platform at the top of the pyramid. Strangely enough, the moment he took his last step onto the platform, all the drumming, the noise, shouts, and songs around him suddenly stopped.

This even made Chadwick feel a little uncomfortable, and he subconsciously looked back to observe, but still found nothing.

At this point, he could clearly see the scene on the platform at the top of the pyramid. A square stone temple, about ten meters high, stood on the top of the platform. It was constructed entirely of huge square stones and, even after a long period of time, still looked neat and exquisite.

The stone temple's surface is carved with numerous patterns, and directly in front of it is what appears to be the entrance. The entrance is wide open, with two massive stone pillars standing on either side. These two pillars are over ten meters tall, and there are no visible signs of joining them. It's a mystery how the indigenous people of that time, with their manufacturing capabilities, managed to transport such large stone structures to these locations.

Chadwick raised his camera, snapped a few quick photos, and then strode eagerly toward the entrance to the stone temple. Upon reaching the entrance, standing before the towering doorway, Chadwick looked up at the carvings above. He could now clearly see enormous sculptures above the massive stone temple's entrance. The carvings were quite abstract, but Chadwick could still make out that they depicted scenes of heroes battling monsters. After a few glances, he walked into the stone temple.

Inside the stone hall was a spacious, square hall, empty and quiet. Chadwick shone his flashlight around and saw abstract patterns and murals painted on the walls. In addition, every few meters there was a thick pillar, which was so thick that several people could hug it. At the base of the pillars, there were abstract and strange stone animal heads protruding.

Between the pillars were rows of round stone braziers, arranged around the hall, one every few meters. Each brazier was larger than a washbasin in an ordinary household, and they were all dimly lit at this time.

Using his flashlight, Chadwick carefully observed his surroundings, hoping to find something. Besides some sculptures that seemed strange to him, Chadwick also noticed something—in a corner of the hall—that appeared to be a person lying down.

He carefully walked over, and by the light of his flashlight, he quickly saw clearly the "person" lying there—it was clearly a silver skeleton.

Chadwick stepped forward and, under the beam of his flashlight, carefully examined the skeleton.

It was unclear how long this skeleton had been there; in any case, it appeared to be much older than the skeleton he had found before. Not only had all of its body tissues rotted away, but even its clothes had been weathered away to almost nothing.

What was astonishing was that the skull was indeed silver, appearing as if it were cast in silver. Chadwick initially thought it was an artifact, since human bones don't typically turn silver. However, he quickly realized he was wrong; the skeleton before him was most likely left by a real human.

However, the skeleton was incomplete; the entire right arm and most of the right side of the ribs were missing, and there were multiple signs of fracture in other parts of the body. Perhaps this was the cause of the person's death...

Chadwick noticed a beetle-shaped pendant hanging around the neck of the skeleton. The pendant looked quite exquisite, so he took it off, examined it carefully, but found nothing unusual. He then casually stuffed it into his pocket.

Chadwick took several photos of the skull, then thought for a moment, took out a plastic bag from his backpack, removed a finger bone from the skull and placed it in the plastic bag, before putting the plastic bag back into his backpack.

He thought that he could try to test the bone sample when he got back, and maybe he would make some different discoveries.

After observing the skeleton for a while, he turned his attention to the walls around the hall. The walls were decorated with murals in the form of reliefs. In Chadwick's opinion, these murals were abstract and even absurd, with a flavor of Western postmodern painting. They were too unfriendly to people who did not understand the religion and culture of this civilization.

Thinking this, Chadwick walked forward, following the beam of his flashlight. However, after a short while, he suddenly stopped. At that moment, the flashlight in his hand was shining directly on an extremely intricate and enormous circular relief.

This is a huge, disc-shaped relief with a diameter of two to three meters. The relief is decorated with many different patterns nested in layers, like the dial of a watch. These patterns are arranged in concentric circles, and at the very center of the disc is a complex, abstract pattern with an unclear meaning.

Chadwick's gaze was now drawn to the design. Within that circular pattern, some inexplicable force seemed to be calling to him…

If a second person were present at this moment, they would have noticed that Chadwick was acting as if he were sleepwalking, unconsciously walking towards the circular pattern, one step, two steps... until he was almost upon it...

Chapter 439 Chimera

Then, he reached out and placed his hand on the pattern...

Just then, the icy touch jolted Chadwick back to reality. Before he could even process what had happened to him—why had he reached out and touched the design—he was completely bewildered.

Chadwick was terrified and instinctively tried to pull his hand back. However, the next moment, a light suddenly emanated from the spot where Chadwick's hand was pressing against the ornament, and at the same time, his hand was firmly sucked onto the ornament. The light then spread upwards along Chadwick's hand, quickly reaching his entire body. Now, in the darkness, Chadwick's entire body shone with a soft glow, as did the huge circular ornament in front of him.

As the light came on, Chadwick felt a strange heat rushing into his body from all directions. His body began to heat up, growing hotter and hotter until he felt waves of dizziness, as if his blood was about to boil…

He felt like a fish in a steamer. He tried several times to pull his hand back, but his palm seemed to be stuck to the pattern, and no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.

The voices rang in his ears again, as if countless voices and pieces of knowledge were whispering in his mind. The voices were profound and eerie, giving Chadwick a splitting headache, making him feel like he was about to faint on the spot...

He didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly, Chadwick felt an immense force surge through his hand. This force was so immense and irresistible that Chadwick lost his balance and crashed into the wall in front of him…

In a moment of stress, Chadwick instinctively closed his eyes. However, the expected violent collision did not occur. After a few breaths, Chadwick opened his eyes again and found that he was no longer in the dark stone hall, but in the wilderness.

Where...is this? Chadwick was sitting on the ground. He straightened up and felt dizzy, as if there were some extra things in his mind. He then pressed his temples, and the dizziness made him afraid to think about what was in his mind.

After a while, Chadwick finally recovered and had the energy to observe his surroundings. It was an area shrouded in thick fog, and the sky was dim. Chadwick subconsciously glanced at his watch; it showed that it was 7:56 PM on March 19th. Logically, it should be nighttime, but judging from the sky, it didn't seem to be completely dark yet…

Because of the fog, Chadwick couldn't see very far, but nearby, he was surrounded by a large patch of tall grass. Strangely, this grass had a feather-like shape. Chadwick didn't seem to remember ever seeing this kind of plant in the rainforest, yet here, such plants existed in large numbers, and he was surrounded by a large clump of them.

"Where am I?" Chadwick asked himself again.

There is no answer.

There was no signal on my phone, no signal on my watch, and I couldn't even be sure if I still existed on Earth.

Chadwick was a little dazed and stood there for a while before standing up. What made him feel somewhat safe was that his backpack was still on his back and had not been lost.

Chadwick took off his backpack, rubbed his shoulder, checked his body to make sure he wasn't injured, then took out a bottle of water from his backpack and took a small sip. In the rainforest, clean fresh water is a precious resource, especially in this unknown territory, and it can't be wasted.

Just then, a rustling sound came from afar. Chadwick, who was carefully watching his surroundings, quickly stopped what he was doing, squatted down, and remained motionless like a statue.

Through the gaps in the feathery grass, Chadwick spotted a figure faintly appearing in the mist not far away.

Before long, a monster that Chadwick had never seen before gradually emerged from the thick fog. It looked around and slowly walked toward Chadwick's location.

The moment Chadwick saw the monster's outline, he instinctively lowered his body, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

This was an unusually large creature, estimated to be about three meters tall. It walked on four legs, and what was most striking was its three distinct heads. The head on the left had curled ram horns and a head shape somewhat similar to a goat's, but its deep red eyes and slightly open mouth revealing sharp canines made it quite different from a goat. The head in the middle had a thick mane and a face with distinctly brown and yellow feline features, which immediately reminded Chadwick of the lions he had seen in zoos. However, its exposed, protruding saber teeth were somewhat similar to those of the extinct saber-toothed tiger. Unlike the other two heads, the third head on the right was a scaly, python-like head, with a pair of serpentine vertical pupils reflecting a cold light.

The monster's three heads each had long necks and were looking in multiple directions. Chadwick estimated that if it stood up completely, it would probably be four to five meters tall.

The monster exuded an aura that instilled a subconscious fear in people, so much so that the moment Chadwick saw it, a chill ran down his spine, and he couldn't help but want to turn and run. In an instant, he felt his whole body begin to tremble uncontrollably, his teeth chattering, and he almost lost control and stood up, rushing out without a care in the world.

However, his reason held him firmly in place, and at the same time, a strange power from an unknown source surged into his mind. Chadwick noticed that the inexplicable fear he had felt earlier was slowly fading away. Although it still made his heart pound, he no longer had the urge to rush out regardless of everything.

But what kind of monster was it? Chadwick was certain that in all his years, he had never seen anything like it, either on television or in real life.

No! Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Chadwick. He suddenly remembered a monster image that had appeared in a comic book that supposedly drew inspiration from Western mythology.