Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 740: Chapter 739: Why does this thing look so familiar?

Fang Zheng certainly didn’t care about the wild ideas of the Lizard Man, in fact, the reason he had the other party leading the way was that it was more convenient and quicker to follow the locals into the area than having the Zerg conduct a carpet search.

Therefore, when Honid brought the Swarm to the doorstep of this Lizard Man Horde, it had already become useless to Fang Zheng.

At this moment, Fang Zheng had already controlled an Alien to silently enter the Lizard Man Horde through the ceiling of the cave and began to meticulously observe their ecology and culture.

The civilization of this Lizard Man Horde was very primitive; whether it was due to their long-term isolation from the world, Fang Zheng saw that their entire civilization was only slightly better than a primordial society. Looking at these Lizard Men, their main livelihood seemed to be based on cultivating fungi and they also knew some rudimentary mining techniques. At least Fang Zheng saw hints of ore tunnels in their settlement, as well as the Lizard Men shuttling back and forth, transporting ore.

Fang Zheng carefully sensed around and found that the physical constitution of these Lizard Men was fairly decent. Apart from the smaller Lizard Men, the body quality of the adults was roughly comparable to that of Entry Level Professionals. There were also individuals who seemed to be spellcasters, like ”Elders”, but the most psychic power they possessed was at the level of a Third-Tier Mage... and that already counted as the highest-ranking spellcasters Fang Zheng had seen in this Lizard Man Horde.

Such a Lizard Man Horde, if placed on the surface, would barely make any impression. Their thousand years of subsistence in such a forsaken place was likely due to the absence of enemies. After all, Chaos Monsters would not delve deep underground, and this subterranean area did not seem to be infested with creatures like Dark Elves as it was in the Eastern Continent. Perhaps this was why these Lizard Men had managed to survive until now.

Fang Zheng had no intention of disturbing the lives of these Lizard Men; as long as they did not seek trouble with him or the Swarm, he would not bother them either. His arrival here was still driven by that so-called... Land of Origin.

Since Fang Zheng’s intuition told him there was some ”event trigger” here, he naturally didn’t mind checking it out.

Not only that, but the place where these Lizard Men resided was somewhat unusual. As those few Lizard Men had said before, this was once a huge city, but now, a significant portion of the city was buried underground, with only the exposed parts left in ruins. The Lizard Men themselves didn’t seem to care about this either; they just numbly went in and out, living their daily lives.

However, to Fang Zheng’s disappointment, he did not see any twisted styles akin to those of the Goddess’s bathhouse in the Northlands, or rather, after so many years, this city, half-buried in the earth, had lost any discernible features.

But now that his intuition proved effective, it meant there was definitely something related to him here, or related to his goal. So, what could it be...?

Fang Zheng controlled the Alien, moving silently through the ceiling of the Lizard Men’s city, observing the Lizard Man Horde’s situation while searching for any potential clues.

Before long, Fang Zheng’s vision suddenly captured a bright and dazzling Radiance.

What was that?

Feeling this bright light, Fang Zheng hastily manipulated the Alien to turn and look toward the source of the light, and soon he saw a tower deep within the Lizard Man Horde’s premises—it looked like it could be the top part of some structure, but unlike the other broken ruins around it that didn’t even have a discernible shape, this tower miraculously remained intact. Because most of the Lizard Man Horde’s area was dark, Fang Zheng hadn’t noticed it right away.

But now, he quickly realized that this tower was somewhat unusual.

Even the light was somewhat unusual.

Fang Zheng was certain that it was neither a luminous stone nor the light of a fire but rather the glow of Magic Power.

At this moment, the Radiance was shining out from the tower, illuminating the Lizard Man Horde’s plaza like the beacon of a lighthouse.

”Clang clang clang——!”

At the same time, Fang Zheng saw a Lizard Man not far below him vigorously striking a gong, and upon hearing this sound, Fang Zheng saw the Lizard Men put down whatever they were doing and one by one, they entered the tower. Soon after, chanting-like voices came from inside the tower.

Are they conducting a worship service? Could it be that Lizard Men also have a religious tradition? Do they also worship the Goddess of Order?

Curiosity piqued, Fang Zheng manipulated the Alien to deftly tumble onto the second floor of the tower. After easily avoiding two Lizard Guards at the entrance, he climbed in through a third-floor window. Shortly after, Fang Zheng clearly saw the situation inside.

Inside the chapel, groups of Lizard Men knelt on the ground, with an old Lizard Man in a tattered robe, holding a wooden staff at the front, appearing to be their leader. Now it was chanting loudly facing a sculpture at the front of the chapel.

”Thank you, great Deity, for granting us darkness to hide from the vile curse! Thank you, great Deity, for giving us a sanctuary, sparing us the evil from outside! Oh God, omniscient and omnipotent, please protect your people so they may safely endure this boundless trial of darkness and be reborn!!”

What sort of nonsensical prayer was this?

Listening to the prayer of the Lizard Elder, Fang Zheng secretly smirked, then looked ahead to the sculpture. But upon seeing it, he couldn’t help but be taken aback.

What in the world was that...?

Fang Zheng saw before him a sculpture that was neither the Goddess of Order, as he had imagined, nor any other symbol of the deities he had seen during his studies in the Sanctuary. Instead, it was a strange creature with the head of a crocodile, the body of a hyena, and angelic wings sprouting from its back.

It stood upright on two legs like a human, but had four arms. Two of the arms held a shield and a longsword respectively, while the other two were raised high and clasped together, as if holding something. The eerie white radiance was emanating precisely from this.

It didn’t look like a deity, nor did it appear demonic, so what on earth was it?

Fang Zheng scrutinized the sculpture, but couldn’t identify it as any known deity. He had studied about the deities of the Main World at the Sanctuary. Besides the ’Supreme God,’ the Goddess of Order, there were also minor gods like Corrin, the god of forests and elves, and Gond, the god of blacksmiths and dwarves, generally regarded as the guardian gods of their respective races. However, Fang Zheng had never come across anything like this beast among those gods.

Of course, the Kings of Devils in the Ninth Hell did resemble this creature somewhat, but Fang Zheng couldn’t find any marks that were characteristic of the Demon King on the statue, nor did he sense any evil aura here.

Could this figure possibly be a Guardian God of the Lizard People?

After pondering for a moment, Fang Zheng shook his head, dismissing the doubts from his mind. He then controlled the Alien to climb the wall again up to the ceiling. This time, Fang Zheng finally got a clear view of what was being held in the clasped hands of the statue.

It was a small bottle, resembling an urn of ashes, with two intertwined snakes with wings carved on it. The bottle seemed like a special kind of artifact, completely milky white in color. The magical light Fang Zheng had seen was in fact originating from this small bottle...

Hm? Wait, why does this bottle seem familiar?

As Fang Zheng examined the ”bottle,” he suddenly had the feeling that he had encountered something similar somewhere before... But where could that have been?

While Fang Zheng was racking his brains, the radiance emitting from the bottle started to fade. It appeared that the Lizard People deemed the prayer ritual to be over. It wasn’t long before Fang Zheng saw them leaving the temple, returning to their respective posts, leaving only a few armed Lizard Guards behind.

At that moment, Fang Zheng noticed a wooden door quietly opening behind the sculpture, and a Lizard Man sneaked in... Wasn’t this the same individual who had acted so dramatically in front of him earlier?

What did he intend to do?

Fang Zheng watched Holder, the Lizard Man’s name, as he hid behind the statue and slowly began to climb up, unclear about what he was planning to do.

”Clang!”

Although Holder was very careful, he couldn’t possibly move as silently as the Alien; just as he reached halfway up, one of his feet slipped, and he accidentally kicked a decorative piece next to the statue. The ornament was knocked over, making a loud noise.

”What’s going on?!”

”What happened! Who’s there!!”

This noise, naturally, attracted the attention of the Lizard Guards in the temple. They ran over, shouting and brandishing their weapons, and soon spotted Holder hanging on the statue!

”Holder, what are you doing here?!”

”How dare you blaspheme against the gods – the Elders will not let you off!”

”Get down from there!!”

However, in the face of the Lizard Guards’ roar, Holder showed no intention of coming down. Instead, he leaped up in a few steps and arrived between the hands of the statue, where he grabbed the small bottle, its glow now nearly extinguished.

”I’ll prove to all of you that my bloodline, my title, it’s not a fantasy!”

As he shouted, Fang Zheng saw Holder clutching the strange little bottle and lifting it high. And with Holder’s gesture, the once dim radiance of the little bottle flared up once more...

Then, in the next moment, Holder thrust it deeply into his own body.

Seeing this scene, Fang Zheng’s mind suddenly flashed with a memory that was both familiar and strange to him!