"This is... truly spectacular."
Looking at everything inside the temple, Lara's mouth hung open in surprise. She hadn't expected that, just as Xia Yu said, there would be a whole new world at the end of the passage.
"How about it? I'm quite the prophet, aren't I?"
Xia Yu leaned in, looking as if he were begging for praise. Seeing him like this, the bit of embarrassed anger Lara felt instantly vanished.
She lightly punched Xia Yu's shoulder and responded in a very perfunctory tone, "Yes, yes, yes, you're the best, you're super amazing."
After speaking, Lara scanned her surroundings, taking in the temple built in an unknown era, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"Now we need to figure out how to reach the top of the temple. If I'm not mistaken, that's the most valuable part of the entire place."
Seeing Lara's calm analysis, Xia Yu stopped joking around and began to analyze along with her. Although he could cheat, playing a game with 'moons shroud' active wasn't very interesting, and the same applied to reality.
Exploration is all about the 'explore' part; discovering hidden things or solving puzzles through one's own thinking is the true essence of adventure.
Following Lara's calm analysis, she quickly discovered that the crashed fighter jet could be used as a ramp. As long as they burned away all the trees supporting the fighter jet, it would collapse due to the loss of support.
After that, they could climb up the temple along the fighter jet's wings, and then follow the roof to reach the top.
After simulating her plan in her head, Lara asked Xia Yu for a flint and briefly explained her plan. Xia Yu didn't object; exploration is about testing the unknown, so there was no harm in trying.
After putting away the flint, Lara nimbly wove through the interior filled with overgrown trees.
When she encountered higher places, she would directly grab onto crevices with her bare hands and leap up, her movements as agile as a wild monkey.
"Tsk, has the soul of a wild person inside her awakened?"
Watching Lara find several weak points supporting the fighter jet almost without hindrance, Xia Yu clicked his tongue, finding it a bit hard to keep a straight face.
This is clearly your first time exploring an ancient tomb in Yamatai, so why are you so skilled, Lara?
In a short moment, sparks ignited within the dead wood, and Lara returned to Xia Yu's side along a safe path.
Looking at the slightly out-of-breath Lara, Xia Yu pointed at the rising flames and said, "Aren't you afraid of starting a forest fire? Also, why are you so skilled?"
"I once learned from Roth how to light a fire so that the flames only burn within the desired range. Besides, it's very humid here; it won't cause a forest fire."
After explaining first, Lara looked at her hands and said somewhat strangely.
"I'm not sure either. I feel like I was born for the wild. Whether it's climbing or using the terrain to get where I want to go, I'm very adept at it."
"Maybe it's talent. After all, talent is just that unreasonable."
"Then you're really lucky; your talent happens to be your hobby," Xia Yu remarked from the side.
Having your talent be your hobby is indeed quite lucky. Who knows how many people go their whole lives without knowing what their talent is, only to live a mediocre life.
Or perhaps one's talent is worlds apart from their birth. Someone with a maxed-out swimming talent born in a water-scarce region might never discover their talent in their entire life.
After chatting for a while longer, the trees at those weak points were about to finish burning. Since they were dry trees to begin with, they naturally didn't need to burn for long.
"Crack, crack..."
The sound of splintering suddenly came. Cracks appeared in the charred wood, and then, unable to hold on any longer, it was crushed by the fighter jet. The next moment—
BOOM!!
The fighter jet slammed heavily onto the ground. The jet, which had already been corroded by rust to the point of near-disintegration, shattered immediately, the entire fuselage breaking into two halves.
After waiting a bit longer for the last trace of flame to extinguish, the two of them followed a small side path to a stone platform.
The stone platform was perfectly aligned with the edge of the fighter jet's wing. Although the wing was already rusted and damaged, it could still support the weight of two people.
The two first jumped from the stone platform onto the wing, then climbed up along the broken gap. Once they reached the fuselage, they climbed from the other wing onto the temple roof.
Although there were several gaps in between, both of them leaped across without incident.
The temple was a typical ancient Japanese Buddhist temple design, with a sturdy wooden structure supporting the entire building, standing on masonry terraces, and featuring a tiled roof carved with Tomoe patterns.
However, the tiled roof was now covered in moss, and the area at the top where the Buddhist shrine was placed was thick with dust.
The two walked carefully from the tiled roof to the very top. Where the shrine was originally placed, there was only a treasure chest. The front of the chest featured a three-headed hidari-tomoe carved in gold. The chest was primarily made of wood, with gold as an accent.
"There really is treasure."
Lara looked at the treasure chest placed in the center, walked over in surprise, and circled around it.
"Maybe some deceased person placed it here as their burial goods."
Xia Yu stepped forward directly, gripped the chest lid with both hands, and pulled upward, opening the rusted treasure chest bit by bit.
"What deceased person would put their burial goods in such a conspicuous place..."
Lara couldn't help but retort at Xia Yu's words, but seeing that Xia Yu was already opening the chest, she also hurried over to help pry it open.
With a click, the rusted lid was forced open by the two of them, and the items inside were revealed.
The treasure chest wasn't large, but the items inside were very attractive. There were various ancient artifacts, as well as many items made of gold, filling the entire chest.
"Wow, these things are worth quite a lot of money." Looking at the chest full of ancient artifacts, Lara couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Although Lara came from a noble background and had seen plenty of money, she didn't like using her family to define herself; she preferred being self-reliant.
Even her university tuition was earned by working several jobs simultaneously during her studies.
Therefore, seeing these ancient treasures, she still revealed the side of an ordinary person and secretly calculated how much these things were worth.
"Indeed, setting aside the cultural value of the artifacts themselves, these gold items alone are worth a fortune."
Xia Yu casually picked up a bronze mirror inlaid with gold, which was also engraved with clerical script from the Three Kingdoms period, but this was normal.
Yamatai was a country during Japan's Yayoi period. There are records of Himiko in the 'Records of the Three Kingdoms: Book of Wei - Biographies of the Wajin.' Himiko once suppressed civil unrest in the land of Wa and later sent Nashonmi as an envoy to Wei, receiving a golden seal as the 'Queen of Wa, Friend of Wei.'
After that, the land of Wa continued to send envoys to China, a practice that lasted until the Western Jin period, which succeeded the Wei dynasty.
Finding artifacts related to the Three Kingdoms period here now was quite normal. These artifacts were likely rewards given to Himiko by Emperor Ming of Wei back then.
Although this world had supernatural powers, it seemed the flow of history was much the same.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu suddenly shuddered. Could it be that the Huaxia side also had these kinds of unscientific ancient tombs? Forget it, forget it; before his strength reached the standard, he'd better not go there yet. It was too dangerous.
The Steam Autumn Sale is here, but unfortunately, there aren't any games I particularly want to buy. I'll just wait for Wo Long and Hogwarts Legacy next year. I really wish I could just wake up and have it be next March.