History

Translator: Cinder Translations

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"Fatty," Jiang Cheng's voice interrupted his thoughts. When he came to his senses, he realized they had already arrived in front of the second stone door. The doctor and Chen Ran had separated from their previously close position.

They each took a position on either side, standing in different spots.

"Wait outside for me," Jiang Cheng said in his usual tone, with a rhythm in his speech, "I'll go in with Brother Chen to handle some matters. If I don't call for you, don't come in and disturb us."

Fatty paused for a moment at the words, his mind still lingering on his earlier speculation, not fully processing what had been said. But trusting the doctor, he nodded and muttered, "Take your time, there's no rush, I'll wait outside."

Chen Ran grinned and squinted at Fatty, saying, "Then we'll trouble Brother Fatty to wait."

"What's he being troubled about," Jiang Cheng, casting a sidelong glance at Chen Ran, grumbled, "If anyone is going to be troubled, it should be me!"

Chen Ran tilted his head and gave Jiang Cheng a longer look, then made a brief eye gesture without speaking, stepping back and slipping into the stone door.

Once Chen Ran had left, Fatty quickly jogged up to Jiang Cheng's side. With an urgent yet still lowered voice, he asked, "Doctor, won't anything happen to you if you go in alone? I just feel like something's off inside..."

Jiang Cheng smacked his lips, turning to the concerned Fatty and saying, "Relax," patting his waist and grinning, "Don't you know how strong I am? I'm the king of the night."

Fatty automatically blocked out the rest of what he said, though he still advised the doctor to be careful. If anything went wrong, he could call out loudly, and Fatty would rush in to help.

"Stay alert here," the doctor suddenly spoke, his playful expression gone. He pulled his gaze away and pointed at the floor below. After a few seconds, he said, "There's something wrong below."

Fatty widened his eyes slowly.

"Brother Hao," Chen Ran looked at Jiang Cheng, who was cautiously stepping inside, and chuckled, "What are you doing? With me here, are you still worried about someone ambushing us from behind the door?"

Jiang Cheng patted his clothes and, with a slightly awkward apology, said, "Don't mind me, Brother Chen. When I was young, I was bitten by a dog hidden behind a door."

He scanned the surroundings. Aside from the old woman huddled in the corner, there was no sign of Su An.

Su An had also disappeared.

But unlike the other two who had vanished, it was clear that Su An had disappeared from this very room, and because he was severely injured, it was impossible for him to have left the room.

So... both of them turned their gaze toward the trembling old woman in the corner.

The culprit was obvious.

Both men were clever. From the information gained from the stone slab and the carvings on the stone pillars, along with their own judgment, they were able to piece together most of the story.

It had to be said that the history of Black Stone Town was far more complicated than they had originally thought.

And the "things" in Black Stone Town, the story they told, was a complete lie.

They were not the original inhabitants.

Jiang Cheng had long been suspicious. How could the natives of this isolated island have created iron weapons?

Or mass-produced them?

They were invaders, who had arrived here on large wooden ships.

Just like the pilgrims who landed in Plymouth in the 15th century aboard the Mayflower, unwelcome by the government at the time.

The first carving on the stone pillar recorded the origin of these invaders.

Torrential waves surged across the sea, and these invaders had probably stumbled upon the island by chance, or perhaps their ship had run aground near the island after a shipwreck.

The kind-hearted local natives had welcomed them, providing food and shelter.

Soon, the invaders became familiar with the local inhabitants, the original residents of Black Stone Town.

This was also the message expressed in the second picture: two groups of people, dressed entirely differently, gathered together with the sea in the background. The figures were twisting, seemingly dancing and singing.

In the third picture, some people were chopping wood in the forest, while others were climbing in and out of a ship that had run aground by the shore. It seemed they were helping to repair the ship.

But strangely, whether they were chopping wood or repairing the ship, all the workers were dressed in strange attire, while the supposed invaders were lurking in the shadows, whispering to each other, occasionally pointing toward the forest.

Clearly, they had discovered something.

And it was precisely this discovery that made them unwilling to leave Black Stone Town and instead entertain other thoughts.

In the following pictures, the perspective shifted, and the brushstrokes became bolder and sharper.

On a pitch-black night, a long line of people silently gathered outside the town and then ventured into the forest.

The use of contrast made the intentions clear. On the left side of the picture was the group entering the forest, while on the right side was a group of people lying in bed, sleeping soundly.

The ones entering the forest were the natives, while the ones sleeping soundly were the invaders.

The natives intentionally chose to sneak into the forest at night to avoid the invaders' notice, and a few of them were carrying something resembling a wooden board. On the board lay a person, a dead body with one arm dangling lifelessly in the air.

In the dead of night, a group of townsfolk, without torches, silently carried a dead body deep into the forest. It felt eerie just thinking about it.

But what was even stranger were the invaders.

They lay in different postures on their beds, each comfortably sleeping, yet the eyes of all were marked with deep, vertical slashes, like those of snakes.

They were not monsters, Jiang Cheng slowly inhaled. The artist probably wanted to convey that they were pretending to sleep but were actually awake and fully aware of what was happening outside.

The following picture confirmed this.

The next image had a sudden shift in perspective, resembling the feel of a modern-day hidden camera.

In the center of the picture, a group of oddly dressed people stood around a huge stone slab, holding hands. Some were bowing, others were crying.

On the slab lay a motionless person.

Then, a woman in a white dress slowly emerged from the stone slab. The depiction of this woman was much more detailed than the others, giving the impression that even the folds of her dress could be seen.

A townsperson approached her respectfully, handing her a container shaped like a jar. The woman took it, raised it above her head, and then suddenly tipped it over.

Inside the container was blood!

Bright red blood!

This was not a guess; the artist had painted this part of the picture with blood, and the vivid red had not faded with time. It was still glaringly bright.

(End of the Chapter)

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Read (NS) ahead on (pa treon . com / CinderTL) – Chapter 304.

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Translated 4 Series, 1.65K+ Chapters and 2.01M+ Words.