Chapter 12: Yinghuo
"Don't talk nonsense. The bronze coffin tipped over, and the lid hasn't settled yet. It must have shifted just now." Lin Jia said this very calmly, trying to stabilize everyone's emotions.
Nine massive dragon corpses, each over a hundred meters long, lay not far away, their scales gleaming darkly, exuding a menacing aura. The bronze coffin, a full twenty meters in length, rested atop the Five-Colored Altar, bringing a strong sense of unease to everyone.
"I think we should all go together to explore that light source ahead."
"I agree. We should move as a group."
Many people made such suggestions, clearly driven by fear. Almost no one wanted to stay here any longer. In the end, everyone unanimously agreed to move forward together to investigate that light source.
This entire land was composed of reddish-brown soil and gravel, vast and empty, with only a few massive rocks scattered here and there as sparse decorations.
When they passed by the large rock they had earlier climbed to look into the distance, Liu Yunzhi let out a surprised exclamation. "There are characters on that rock."
Circling to the side of the rock facing the light source, they could clearly see two enormous ancient characters carved into the stone surface. Each character was five or six meters tall, with strokes like iron hooks and silver lines, vigorous and powerful, grand and imposing, as if formed by two raging dragons coiling together.
The characters were much more complex than modern script, likely carved in ancient times, having endured who knows how many years. The crowd gathered before the stone wall, staring at the two bold ancient characters. Many furrowed their brows, unable to decipher their meaning.
"These seem to be bronze inscription characters. The first character should be 'Ying'." Zhou Yi identified the first character, frowning as he muttered to himself, "What kind of place have we come to..."
"They are indeed bronze inscriptions. These two characters are 'Yinghuo'." Ye Fan casually spoke after recognizing them. He appeared calm, but the meaning behind those two words shook him deeply.
Yinghuo. How could it be Yinghuo? He could hardly believe it, and couldn't help but look up at the sky. Though it was now quite dim, only a few stars had appeared so far.
"Yinghuo? What does that mean?"
"Is Yinghuo a place?"
Many were puzzled, not understanding the meaning of these two characters.
When Zhou Yi heard the word "Yinghuo," he was as shaken as Ye Fan, his face turning somewhat pale. "A flickering fire, a confusing calamity. We really... can't go back."
"What do you mean? Where is this?" The crowd was filled with doubt and unease.
When Prince Wen heard the word "Yinghuo," he too understood its meaning and explained to everyone: "This place is probably no longer Earth. 'Flickering like fire,' it was called Yinghuo in ancient times, an omen of ill fortune. In antiquity, Mars was referred to as Yinghuo."
In the distant past, ancient people had already noticed that Mars appeared red, its brightness often changing, flickering like fire. Moreover, its movement across the sky was complex—sometimes from west to east, sometimes from east to west—causing confusion. "A flickering fire, a confusing calamity"—this was why it was called Yinghuo in ancient times.
Ancient emperors were superstitious and feared this star of calamity, believing it foretold misfortune. Whenever it appeared, either the prime minister would be dismissed or the emperor would die. Naturally, later generations did not believe such superstitious legends.
"Oh my god!" Kate, standing beside Li Xiaoman, struggled to understand the Chinese meaning of "Yinghuo." Once he did, he grabbed handfuls of reddish-brown soil, knocked on rocks, and continuously examined the geology, letting out a series of strange cries of shock.
"How is this possible?" Many were dumbfounded, utterly unable to believe the reality before them.
"Is the reddish-brown land beneath our feet... Mars? Are we no longer on Earth?!" Anyone hearing this result would be stunned into a daze, unable to make any sense of it.
Half an hour ago, they were on the summit of Mount Tai. Half an hour later, they stood on the ancient star of Yinghuo. This was nothing short of a fairy tale!
Lin Jia, tall and slender with an enchanting figure, her pretty face now somewhat pale, cast her phoenix eyes over the crowd and said, "For now, we've only seen this stone carving. We can't truly confirm whether we're really on the star of Yinghuo."
"But they say that on the dry surface of Mars, the ground is covered everywhere with red soil and gravel. Isn't that exactly what we're seeing?" a female classmate said, her voice choked with tears.
Humanity had already launched space probes to explore Mars as early as the 1960s, and in 1997, the "Mars Pathfinder" successfully landed on the Martian surface.
With decades of exploration, humanity was no longer completely ignorant about Mars, having obtained a wealth of valuable data.
"Martian soil contains a large amount of iron oxide. Due to long-term exposure to ultraviolet radiation, the entire planet looks like a rusted world, exactly matching what we see before us. Could it be... we've really left Earth and are now standing on another planet?!" A male classmate clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"If we're really standing on Mars, I don't think we could survive. There's not enough oxygen, no suitable temperature..." Li Xiaoman said this. Though her face was very pale, her words still sparked a glimmer of hope in many.
Throughout this process, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and a few others remained very calm. They were already certain they were no longer on Earth. What worse could happen? Whatever came next, it couldn't be worse than this.
The group lingered before the large rock for a long time before finally leaving, continuing toward the faint light source in the distance. It didn't seem very far, but after walking over five hundred meters, they still hadn't reached their destination. It looked like they would need to cover the same distance again.
Everyone was weighed down with worries, few speaking, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive. They feared that the last glimmer of hope ahead might also be extinguished.
"Bang"
Pang Bo kicked a piece of gravel at his feet, sending up a cloud of dust. Just then, he showed a look of surprise. He noticed that the stone he had kicked seemed to be a piece of tile.
"It really is a tile!" When he picked up the broken half of the tile, he immediately confirmed it was crudely made artificial pottery.
Instantly, a crowd gathered around to examine the broken tile. Many showed expressions of excitement.
"Since there are tiles, there must be buildings. People live on this land. It's not just a simple Five-Colored Altar."
"We're saved!"
"We can definitely escape danger!"
The pessimistic mood lessened, and a bit more joy emerged. People saw hope for survival.
By now, the sky had darkened, and stars dotted the heavens.
Ye Fan looked up at the starry sky and noticed a blurry disc hanging at the edge of the sky, about half the size of the moon as seen from Earth, enough to prove this place was not Earth. In another direction, there was also a bright star the size of a fist, much brighter than ordinary stars but dimmer than the small moon. It was too bright to be called a star, yet too small and dim to be called a moon.
Zhou Yi, Prince Wen, and Liu Yunzhi stood not far away. They noticed Ye Fan's actions and couldn't help but look up as well. When they saw two small moons hanging at the edge of the sky, their faces changed color.
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