Just then, the silverback that Zhuang Rui had subdued also ran to the hillside. It easily climbed up the hillside by grabbing the vines, then used its large paws to lift up a spot covered by vines, and its entire figure disappeared inside.
"What...what color is this?"
Even Peng Fei noticed this time. The moment the vines were lifted, the afterglow of the setting sun shone on them, reflecting a dazzling light. Caught off guard, Peng Fei's eyes were filled with tiny golden stars.
"Gold...Golden City!"
Zhuang Rui looked somewhat dazed. Although he had already used his spiritual energy to survey the situation inside the castle, he still couldn't believe that such a magnificent building could exist in the heart of this forest.
In terms of size, this castle occupies less than one hectare and is no more than three stories high. Compared with ancient Western castles, it is nothing special. However... the gold decorations inside and outside the castle give it a completely different meaning.
Even if the gold adorning the walls is only a thin layer, and even if the silver ornaments inside the castle far outweigh the gold ornaments, the castle is still incredibly large.
Zhuang Rui believes that if all this gold were collected together, its total amount would far exceed the Golden House in Genghis Khan's Mausoleum, so it is no exaggeration for Zhuang Rui to call it the Golden City.
The light that had just appeared was fleeting; Peng Fei hadn't even had time to discern its color before it was obscured by the vines. Now, upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, he couldn't help but stare wide-eyed, muttering, "Golden City... Brother Zhuang, was that golden light just now?"
"That's right, it's the reflection of gold! My God, this... how is this possible!"
Zhuang Rui realized his lapse in composure and quickly said, "Come on, don't just stand there, let's go inside and take a look..."
"Awoooooo..."
While Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei were talking, King Kong had already run down to the bottom of the castle. After seeing many of his men crawling into the vines, King Kong roared loudly.
With King Kong's roar, one by one, the gorillas pushed aside the vines and peeked out, making it even clearer to Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei that the wall shimmering with golden light was undoubtedly made of gold.
"What... exactly is this place?"
Zhuang Rui let out a meaningless groan. He had searched through the entire history of world archaeology, but there was no record of a golden city hidden in the forests of Central Africa. Apart from Solomon's treasure, there seemed to be no other place in Africa that could attract adventurers.
"Could it be that the Amazon's golden city was built in imitation of this golden city?"
Suddenly, this thought popped into Zhuang Rui's mind, and once it arose, he could no longer get it out of his head.
Among the world's top ten treasures, the City of Gold is quite famous, but that story is set in the medieval South American Inca Kingdom.
In ancient Peru, South America, there was a very powerful Inca Empire. Legend has it that all the palaces and temples in the capital of the Inca Empire were decorated with a large amount of gold and silver, making them magnificent and dazzling.
In the early 16th century, the Spanish overthrew the Inca Empire and plundered all its gold and gems.
When Pizarro, the Spanish commander at the time, heard that the gold of the Inca Empire was all transported from Manoa, a kingdom ruled by a chief named Pati, and that there were mountains of gold and silver treasures there, Pizarro immediately organized an expedition to the city of gold, located deep in the Amazon rainforest.
However, in this vast primeval forest, every step forward meant fear and death. There were ferocious beasts and venomous snakes, savage cannibalistic tribes, the risk of getting lost, and constant threats. Expeditions either returned disappointed or disappeared without a trace, leaving Pisalo to only find solace in his imagination when he looked at this forest.
Subsequently, the Spanish, Portuguese, British, Dutch, and Germans, having heard of the city of gold, all wanted to make a fortune, so they flocked there and ventured deep into the Amazon rainforest.
Among them was a Spaniard named Quesada who led about 716 explorers toward the city of gold.
After paying a heavy price of 550 lives, the city of gold and the legendary golden lake were finally discovered in the jungles of Kandy Namarga. They also found an emerald gem worth $3 million, but this was only a tiny fraction of the city's inestimable treasure.
The so-called Golden Lake refers to the site of the traditional coronation ceremony of the emperors of the ancient Inca Empire.
According to the nephew of the last Native American king in the 17th century, the heir to the throne was covered in gold powder, as if he were made of gold, and then swam in the lake to wash off the gold powder.
Then his subjects offered gold and jade, piling them at his feet. The new king then threw all the gold into the lake as an offering to God. This traditional ceremony was performed countless times in the ancient Inca Empire, demonstrating the allure of the Lake of Gold's reserves.
Since the 16th century, people have been trying to salvage Golden Lake. At the beginning of the last century, a British company dug a tunnel to drain the lake, but the sun quickly dried the thick mud into hard mud slabs. When the British brought drilling equipment from Britain, the lake was filled with water again, and this costly salvage operation failed.
In 1974, fearing that the treasure in the lake would fall into the wrong hands, the Colombian government deployed the army to protect the golden lake. Since then, no one has been able to approach the treasure, and the mysterious golden lake has become an unsolved mystery.
"Could this be the legendary Golden Lake?"
After the story flashed through Zhuang Rui's mind, he suddenly turned around and looked at the lake that was radiating rosy light.
Although the story is set in the Amazon rainforest of South America, the current situation is so similar that Zhuang Rui couldn't help but connect the two.
"Brother Zhuang, there are... so many skeletons here..."
Just as Zhuang Rui was speculating about the origins of the lake and the Golden City, he suddenly heard Peng Fei's voice.
"What happened?"
Zhuang Rui looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Peng Fei had turned on the bright light and was squatting under the green vines with a frown. He quickly walked over.
"Damn, what's going on?"
When Zhuang Rui walked up to Peng Fei, he was startled by the stark white bones on the ground. There were dozens of skeletons, each with intact bones, but the bones were blackened, as if they had been corroded by some substance.
"These must be human remains..."
Zhuang Rui's doctorate in archaeology was not for nothing; he also had some knowledge of human anatomy. These skulls, composed of the frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, sphenoid, and ethmoid bones, displayed typical human characteristics.
"How did they die? It looks like they were corroded by strong acid. Brother Zhuang, this place is a bit strange..."
Peng Fei's brows furrowed tightly, forming a deep frown. Ever since arriving in this area, he had felt a sense of trepidation.
"Can't you say something nice? There are gorillas living here, what's so strange about it?"
By this time, the sun had completely set behind one end of the forest, and the entire forest was shrouded in darkness. Except for the light near Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei, everything else was pitch black.
Who were these people? Why did they come here? And why did they die here? Moreover, there were no decaying clothes or other debris around them, so where did their clothes go? All of this remains unknown.
The unknown is always humanity's greatest enemy. The sudden discovery of so many human remains deep in this forest was eerie in itself, and Peng Fei's words sent a chill down Zhuang Rui's spine. "Damn it, I have a feeling something's not right..."
As Peng Fei spoke, he took the submachine gun off his back and pulled out four glow sticks from his backpack.
After flicking it in his hand, Peng Fei threw the glow sticks in four directions. These military-grade glow sticks immediately illuminated the area within dozens of meters around the two of them.
Chapter 1260 The Giant Python's Horror
After hearing Peng Fei's words, Zhuang Rui leaned back against the green city wall covered with vines and said, "I also feel something's not right. Why do I feel so uneasy?"
At this moment, Zhuang Rui felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were being watched by something. However, when Zhuang Rui used his spiritual energy to survey his surroundings, he found no danger. This unknown made him feel somewhat panicked.
Zhuang Rui's greatest reliance was the spiritual energy in his eyes. When the spiritual energy lost its effect, he felt like a child without a mother, somewhat lost and helpless.
"Waaaaah... Ouch..."
Suddenly, King Kong, who was standing directly in front of the castle, raised his head and roared. The sound was extremely shrill, which caused the gorillas that had been peeking out from behind the vines to climb down the vines.
"King Kong, what's going on?"
Zhuang Rui had never heard King Kong's roar before, but he could tell that it was filled with provocation, but also a trace of... fear.
Zhuang Rui couldn't imagine what could possibly frighten King Kong. Aside from mutated species in the ocean, King Kong was probably already at the top of the food chain on land, right?
However, Zhuang Rui soon realized he was wrong, and... very wrong. When he looked up at King Kong's raised head, he was completely stunned.
"What the hell is this thing?"
At the very top of the castle, where the glow sticks couldn't reach, Zhuang Rui saw two fist-sized light bulbs, about half a meter apart, emitting a soft green light.
"Damn it, could it be alien technology?"
Zhuang Rui was utterly bewildered by this bizarre scene. He simply couldn't believe that modern lights could appear in this forbidden forest, a place inaccessible to humans. "Zhuang... Brother Zhuang, those... those are animal eyes..."
Peng Fei, who was usually fearless, was now speaking haltingly, clearly quite frightened by the unknown presence on the castle.
"Eyes...eyes?"
Zhuang Rui was stunned upon hearing this. Could it be that there was another King Kong in this castle? If that green light was really an eye, it would be about the same size as King Kong's.
However, Zhuang Rui was puzzled. If such a large creature was hidden in the castle just now, shouldn't he have found nothing when he used his spiritual energy to investigate?
"Damn... a snake, a python, damn it, it's a giant forest python!" Peng Fei's trembling voice came from the side.
Before Zhuang Rui could think further, the answer was quickly revealed, because those two light bulb-like eyes slowly slid down the castle and soon entered the range of the light.
Peng Fei was right; it was indeed a giant python. Its flat head was like a millstone, dark brown in color, and covered with brown scales the size of a baby's palm. Its two eyes, the size of an adult's fist, were staring at the giant python on the ground.
Regardless of how long this giant python was, its head, the size of a millstone, was enough to swallow Zhuang Rui and the others whole. Of course, it didn't take Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei seriously either; its attention seemed to be focused entirely on King Kong.
"This...this isn't a movie shoot, is it?"
Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded when he saw the snake's head protruding from above the castle.
Putting aside its size, just looking at the snake's head, it's even bigger than the python in the classic movie "Anaconda." If Zhuang Rui hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he really wouldn't have believed that such a creature existed on Earth.
"Brother Zhuang... Brother Zhuang, it doesn't look like we're filming a movie..."
Peng Fei gently pointed the gun upwards, but dared not pull the trigger. He knew that snakes were very resilient and would not die immediately even if a vital organ was hit.
Moreover, the giant python's head was covered in scales, and it was uncertain how much damage his submachine gun could inflict on it. At this moment, Peng Fei's palms, which were gripping the gun, were covered in sweat.
Perhaps fearing the King Kong below, the giant python did not attack rashly, but instead confronted the King Kong. Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei did not dare to breathe, staring motionlessly at the behemoth.
Now Zhuang Rui and his companion understood where the bones on the ground came from. It must have been the giant python that swallowed the person and then vomited up the indigestible bones. The color of the bones was caused by the acid in the python's stomach.
This discovery made Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei even more nervous; perhaps from today onwards, they too would become one of these skeletons.
Moreover, Zhuang Rui now understood why he hadn't detected the giant python earlier. Even when he used his spiritual energy to observe the python above him, he could only sense a slight fluctuation in its life force.
"Damn, snakes really are cold-blooded animals..."
Cold-blooded animals, also known as warm-blooded animals, change their body temperature according to the external temperature. Except for birds and mammals, cold-blooded animals can change their body temperature by seeking cool or warm environments. Snakes, naturally, prefer the cool environment inside the castle.
Zhuang Rui cursed inwardly. He hadn't noticed such a slight fluctuation of life before, and the snake's body was like a pillar, coiled inside the castle, making it easy for Zhuang Rui to overlook it.
Zhuang Rui had never used his spiritual energy on cold-blooded animals like snakes before, and he didn't know if his spiritual energy would be accepted by this giant python.
Therefore, Zhuang Rui did not rashly infuse spiritual energy into the giant python's body at this moment. What if this big guy mistook the source of spiritual energy... himself, for something delicious and swallowed it?
"Wait, something's not right..."
Zhuang Rui suddenly thought of something.
"What's wrong, Brother Zhuang?"
Peng Fei was startled by Zhuang Rui's mutterings to himself.
Why aren't those gorillas afraid of this python?
Zhuang Rui noticed that after the python appeared, the gorillas didn't show any panic, remaining exactly the same as before. Only King Kong and himself, the few outsiders, seemed nervous.
This is highly unusual. Logically speaking, herbivorous gorillas and carnivorous pythons should be natural enemies, not coexisting as amicably as they are now.
"Yeah, those little gorillas don't seem afraid of this giant python?"
Peng Fei was also stunned when he heard Zhuang Rui's words, because right next to the head of this chilling giant python, several baby gorillas were crawling around on vines, and the giant python did not seem to be targeting them.
It seemed that Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei's conversation had caught the attention of the giant python. The millstone-like python head suddenly turned towards Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei. Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei, who were being stared at by the giant python, couldn't help but feel a chill. They could both feel the killing intent.
"Damn it, I'll risk it."