1886 Residual Information
“Who corrupted the information in the exploration log?”

Meng Chao’s mind raced, and he immediately came to a conclusion.

It was the corpse himself.

The reason was simple. If a third party had stolen this log book with the purpose of accessing its information, there would have been no need to make things complicated.
He could just destroy the entire log book.

Only Lei Zongchao himself could have stuffed the diary back into waterproof bag and tie it tightly to his inner thigh.

Why did he do this?

“Was he controlled by some mysterious force?”

It was very likely.

In the depths of the mysterious ruins, it would not be strange to commit suicide on the spot after one heard the Ancient Ruins’ Summon, let alone destroy a book.

This conclusion gave Meng Chao some hope.

Yes, it was a pity that the information was corrupted.

However, this incident showed that Lei Zongchao’s corpse must have sensed some crucial clues.

The incomparably mysterious and powerful existences in the depts of the ancient ruins had been asleep for billions of years. Yet, these clues were important enough for them to find troublesome.

Therefore, they influenced Lei Zongchao’s mind and made him destroy the log book himself.

“There must be other clues. Otherwise, this mummified version of Lei Zongchao wouldn’t have died so peacefully.”

In the beginning, Meng Chao thought that Lei Zongchao had starved to death.

However, he found an energy pill that had not been eaten amongst Lei Zongchao’s personal belongings.

Such energy pills were made of high-energy ingredients such as honey, sesame, butter, and so on. After repeated refinement and compression, it could at least satisfy a soldier’s dietary requirements for three to six hours of high-intensity work.

It was possible for an ordinary person to last an extra day and night after consuming this pill.

Meng Chao did not think that Lei Zongchao would have ignored the large energy pill that smelled so good.

“In a sense, this energy pill is a clue. It tells me that he did everything he could and he died without regrets,” Meng Chao guessed.

However, he had searched the dried corpse inside and out. He had even taken the camouflage uniform apart. He got close to cutting the dried corpse into pieces, but he failed to find any more information.

“Don’t tell me I have to cut open Senior Lei’s stomach?” Meng Chao muttered to himself.

Of course not.

As a Deity Realm elite, Meng Chao’s senses were like an invisible scalpel. He could see if there was anything hidden in his organs, limbs, and bones without hurting him.

With that said, the full-body scan did not give him any results.

Lei Zongchao’s body was clean. There were only a few positioning chips and physiological parameter collectors that had been implanted by the Blood Alliance. Apart from that, he never swallowed or implanted anything on himself before death.

“In that case, did he leave the information around here?”

Meng Chao scanned his surroundings and shook his head.

He rejected this hypothesis because the ancient palace was too vast, too grand, and too unfathomable.

Leaving the information in a place far from the corpse was no different from hiding a weed in an ancient forest.

“If there really is a clue, it must still be with this corpse of Senior Lei.”

Meng Chao returned his gaze to the exploration logs that had been terribly smeared.

For some reason, he found the book a little strange.

“Senior Lei, did you realize that your detailed exploration log was severely tampered with?

“He should have realized, right?

“Judging from the degree of wear and tear on the book, it was one of the items that he used most frequently in his daily life. Also, it involved his last words. He must have checked and modified his entries repeatedly. Even before he died, he must have taken a few more glances at it.

“So, if I look at this from Senior Lei’s perspective, what would I do if I find that my exploration logs have been crazily smeared?

“I would leave new information in the blank space behind.

“Only two-thirds of the exploration log are filled. The last one-third, which comprises 180 pages, are blank. That would’ve been enough for him to continue leaving a lot of information.

“But he didn’t leave a single word behind or even a shallow mark with his fingernails.

“I wouldn’t have continued treating this exploration log as a treasure since it had lost all of its information and value. I wouldn’t have stuffed it back into the waterproof bag and tied it to my inner thigh. It’s meaningless.

“This Senior Lei did something that he wasn’t supposed to do instead of something he was supposed to do. Why?”

Meng Chao’s mind raced, and he soon had an idea.

“Mummy” Lei Zongchao did not leave any more information on the blank page because it was useless to leave a message.

The mysterious force that controlled him to destroy the first half of the diary could have also controlled him to continue destroying the second half of the diary.

Yet, given the circumstances, Senior Lei still kept the corrupted logs instead of tearing them apart or destroying them with spirit energy to prevent them from influencing the later generations. This was because, despite the mysterious force’s interference, he still left crucial information in the logs!

Meng Chao’s eyes shone with excitement as he flipped through the exploration log again.

This time, he scanned it in detail.

He did not even overlook the page numbers that had completely congealed together, as though they had been dyed red with blood.

As expected, Meng Chao saw through it.

More than three hundred pages of the exploration log contained at least a hundred thousand words in tiny print and a lot of pictures. More than 99% of the information had been completely erased and covered.

Even so, a few words still managed to slip through the cracks.

On the surface, these characters were the same as the other surrounding characters. They were covered, smeared, and tainted by countless circles and crosses.

However, the coverage was only on the surface, and it was slightly lighter.

It was to the extent that Meng Chao could vaguely recognize them if he did not use his naked eyes. He had to activate his enhanced vision and scan them with his spirit power.

The words on the odd-numbered pages were “without”, “meaningless”, “today”, “tomorrow”, “destruction”, “survival”, “choice,” and “victory.”

The words on the even-numbered pages were “don’t”, “believe”, “in your head,” and of course, “voice.”

Meng Chao fell into deep thought as he looked at the letters he had refined.

There was no doubt that these surviving letters were not the result of a crazy smudge.

It resulted from the battle of wits between the mummified Lei Zongchao and the mysterious force.

They were meaningful.

However, how should he combine these words?

The even-numbered pages were simple.

“Don’t believe the voice in your head.”

What about the odd pages?

Meng Chao thought about it for a long time and realized that it did not make sense no matter how he put it.

However, if he repeated the words “without” and “meaningless” a few times, it would make sense.

He came up with three sentences.

“Tomorrow without today is meaningless.”

“Survival without destruction is meaningless.”

“Victory without a choice is meaningless.”