IBHJ Chapter 834

Waver looked at him, somewhat surprised. "You know about Sanxingdui?"

Shirou nodded. "Yes, I do. Is there a problem?"

"No, it's just that China is relatively unique. Due to their political situation, other countries don't know much about what's going on there, and even the Chinese people themselves are often in the dark about their own country. Without Tri-Hermes, I wouldn't know much about China either," Waver explained.

"Is China really that mysterious?" Romani asked, his curiosity piqued.

"More than mysterious, I'd say it's just incredibly complex, especially when it comes to the foundation of their mysteries," Waver said.

Shirou frowned. "But what does any of this have to do with Sanxingdui?"

"Oh, it's definitely related." Waver paused and turned to Gray, who was standing beside him. "Gray, do you remember the report you submitted about the connection point in Romania?"

"Of course I do," she nodded. "It happened recently. Even though I'm still under the curse of reverse growth, my memory hasn't gotten that bad yet. I remember that in Romania, the Caster of Red faction summoned an evil god."

"That's right. It was the evil god summoned by the Caster of Red using the R'lyeh Text," Waver said solemnly. "And Prelati's Spellbook in his possession was precisely the handwritten copy of the R'lyeh Text that Marco Polo brought back from China."

Hearing this, Shirou's eyes widened. "Waver, are you saying..."

"Exactly." Waver nodded, "According to the information provided by Tri-Hermes, the handwritten copy that Marco Polo brought back was discovered in Sanxingdui. The various matters regarding the connection points in China submitted by Hinako also prove this point!"

"Hold on," Shirou frowned, "Hinako has solved some connection points in China before?"

"You didn't know?" Waver looked at him strangely.

He shook his head. "No, I had no idea."

"It doesn't matter if you don't know. The information submitted by Hinako is very concise, and she's almost silent about the matters of the connection points in China, only saying things like 'China will not give birth to connection points again'. As for the general situation, it was during the end of the Warring States period, and she joined forces with the First Emperor and Crown Prince Dan to repair the connection point," Waver explained.

"The First Emperor and Crown Prince Dan..." Shirou raised his eyebrows. He couldn't believe Hinako had conquered the connection point in China by joining forces with this pair of close friends turned mortal enemies.

Waver said, "In Hinako's report, one thing was mentioned. Evil gods appeared in the connection point in China. Moreover, in the records of Tri-Hermes, evil gods seem to appear frequently in China. So, I have a guess..."

Shirou frowned, deep in thought. "Sanxingdui... Ancient Shu..."

Waver looked at him in surprise. "Ancient Shu? That's a civilization that even the Chinese themselves probably don't know much about. How would you..."

"Don't worry about that," Shirou said, waving off the question.

Of course, this was a matter of course for him. He was a transmigrator, after all. The ruins of Sanxingdui were the ruins of the ancient Shu kingdom!

"You're saying the evil gods are somehow related to the Shu kingdom?" Shirou asked, frowning.

Waver nodded. "Not just related, but definitely connected."

Evil gods had countless ties to China. Even the famous Yang Guifei was the Vessel of an Outer God, which was why Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was jokingly called the Rider of Evil God. However, in the Nasuverse, due to the First Emperor's influence, the foundation of mysteries in China was very complex, with the more famous ones being Taoist techniques and Miao sorcery. Shirou had never thought that the Cthulhu system of evil gods originating from the west would actually be related to the ancient Shu in China.

"But what does this have to do with ancient civilization?"

"Of course it's related. Remember the copy of R'lyeh Text that Marco Polo took from Sanxingdui, which I mentioned earlier?" Waver asked.

Shirou nodded.

"What Marco Polo brought back from Sanxingdui wasn't just R'lyeh Text, but also a fossil of an amphibamus vertebra with human handprints on it. The amphibamus was a top predator that went extinct 200 million years ago. If it hadn't gone extinct, even dinosaurs wouldn't have been able to dominate the planet. That fossil is said to be preserved in the Wandering Sea to this day."

"So you're saying..."

"The information provided by Surtr is correct. There was indeed an ancient civilization, but it's unclear whether they were outsiders to the planet like those Greek gods. However, it's undeniable that the level of development of that civilization was extremely high. They had mastered nuclear technology over 2 billion years ago, which means that civilization was likely able to traverse the stars," Waver said.

"But if that's true, a lot of things don't add up," Shirou frowned. "The biggest question is how mythology fits into all this."

"It's like the intersection of materialism and idealism, just like how the surface world's science and the magiworld's magecraft coexist now. Even though they're both around, there are definitely many contradictory and irrational elements. That's why I asked Romani to join us," Waver said, glancing at Romani.

Upon hearing this, Romani was taken aback and pointed at himself, "Wait, me?"

"That's right." Waver nodded. "In the era you lived in, the miracles of God still existed, and you personally experienced the Lord's power firsthand. After hearing so many materialistic things, don't you have any thoughts about this?"

"Hmm... I honestly don't have much to say. While God does exist, there's no denying that organisms have evolved and gone extinct on this planet. You know, if you really want to know more about the intersection of mythology and reality, you should talk to Gilgamesh about this. He was the first human to give the gods the boot. He should have more thoughts on these matters than me, don't you think?" Romani suggested.

"You know I'm not a fan of that guy," Waver said calmly.

"Still unable to let go of what happened in the Fourth Holy Grail War?" Shirou frowned.

Waver looked at him. "Isn't that a matter of course? Even though I'm different from back then, I won't forget how he caused a lot of chaos in that war."

Shirou was at a loss for words. It's not like he could convince Waver to forgive Gilgamesh, right? People who push others to forgive are the worst kind of people.

"Besides, asking him wouldn't be much different from asking you," Waver said, turning to Romani.

"But I honestly don't have any special insights on this, and I don't feel like my worldview is being shaken up... It all seems pretty reasonable to me," Romani said, feeling a bit helpless.

He was unique in that way. Even though he had experienced God's miracles firsthand, he lived and thought like a human. You could say that King Solomon, the King of Magecraft, was the perfect ruler at the crossroads of idealism and materialism, which is why Romani didn't have any thoughts about it. Shirou was the same way. He didn't feel anything about it either. Regardless, there are undeniably huge inconsistencies and contradictions between mythology and materialism.

After all, in mythology, humans were created by gods. There are mythological tales of Nüwa and Prometheus creating humans. But in materialism, humans evolved and developed from hominids.

Mythology and materialism seem to be incompatible, yet they both exist simultaneously in reality. This world has gods, and mythology isn't just make-believe. The existence of ancient civilizations and the biological evolution of trilobites, amphibamus, and dinosaurs also prove that materialism is on the right track.

These contradictory ways of understanding the world, which shouldn't be able to coexist, actually do exist side by side in our reality. It's just like the magiworld and the surface world. Even though they're contradictory, they're both present at the same time.

Shirou said, "Anyway, all we can do for now is keep digging. After all, the Council is making moves to try and go back to this Primordial Age billions of years ago. The only way to protect the present is to figure out who they really are and uncover the truth about the past."

Waver nodded, "I just didn't want you to be on edge waiting to hear from me, so I came back for a bit. After this, I'm planning to head to the Oklo uranium mine area in Gabon and places like Sanxingdui in China to do some fieldwork."