Number 12 stared, confused, and asked, "Wh... what is going on? Are those bears above? According to what you said, if the patterns carved on this stone tablet represent biological evolution, why would a single-celled, lower life form like Paramecium skip so many levels to evolve directly into a higher mammal like a bear?"

I frowned, also unable to fathom why this would happen.

Logically, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, lower single-celled organisms would first evolve into multicellular organisms, such as the various simple-structured insects in the water, then evolve into more complex fish and amphibians, and subsequently into birds or mammals, marsupials, and so on.

But a direct leap from Paramecium to a bear simply could not be explained by common sense.

It was then that Number 2 spoke up, "I don't think this creature looks like a bear. A bear's claws aren't this long. And look closely: although the carving on this stone has been worn away by years of wind erosion to the point of being unrecognizable, the eye area has no sockets at all. This suggests that even when complete, this pattern definitely had no eyes. Although we often call bears 'blind bears' (Xiong Xiazi), that only means their eyesight is poor; it doesn't mean they lack eyes."

Number 12 pondered for a moment. "No eyes? Perhaps this is a symbolic design, hiding some kind of code."

I carefully examined the claws of the bear-like creature, paying no mind to what they were saying.

But in the end, because I truly couldn't figure out how a Paramecium could evolve into a bear, I had no choice but to continue wiping the stone tablet upward. The wind-eroded dust fell away slowly as I cleaned, and another bizarre creature pattern gradually revealed itself before us.

First, I saw several pairs of long, thin legs. While not as numerous as those of a millipede, the sheer density of them made my scalp tingle.

Furthermore, these legs weren't flat like those of ordinary insects, but stood upright like stakes, only bending at the joints. Supporting this structure, a spindle-shaped animal covered entirely in armor appeared before us.

This creature had numerous legs, was sheathed in hard armor, was streamlined, and possessed three long, thin tails. This image was intimately familiar to us.

If fossils of ancient marine life were ever discovered, it was almost certain that such creatures would be present among those remains.

Yes, this was the representative of the lowest forms of life in Earth's nascent oceans—the trilobite.

The trilobite was carved with vibrant detail; because the artisan had applied heavy pressure during the etching, its outline was perfectly preserved.

Seeing the trilobite pattern, the three of us fell silent again.

Between the single-celled primitive organism and the trilobite, this bear-like creature suddenly stood out glaringly.

"Bear, bear..." I murmured the animal's name to myself, and suddenly my mind was struck by a bolt of lightning—a flash of inspiration.

I slapped my thigh and exclaimed, "It’s a tardigrade! One of the multicellular protozoa. Look at its claws; those aren't claws but cilia on its body. This simple multicellular creature still retains the cilia Paramecium uses for locomotion, only due to evolution, the cilia are not spread across the entire body but are located where needed. It is the evolutionary descendant of the Paramecium!"

They both nodded in agreement. "That makes sense then. Evolving from single-celled to multicellular, and then to a marine primitive organism—this is indeed an evolutionary chart. It seems the ancients were far more advanced than we imagined."

I nodded. "Indeed. If this was the pre-Qin era, just being able to draw these few creatures would be remarkable, let alone articulating the relationships between them. I truly wonder what kind of person the tomb's occupant was."

Number 12 stroked his chin and said, "Alright, I change my mind. I no longer believe the tomb owner was a wealthy physician. Perhaps he was an ancient biologist, or someone who time-traveled from the modern era to antiquity!"

Neither of us paid attention to Number 12's baseless speculation. Number 2 then said to me, "Let's not rush to open the door yet. The tomb's occupant is too mysterious. Once inside, we might encounter even stranger things. We should study what this door carving is trying to convey; perhaps the clues we gain here will help with what comes next."

I nodded. "But we must hurry. The time for the Toad King to emerge is not far off."

I said no more, preparing to continue wiping the dust off the door to see what the next layer depicted.

But just then, Number 12 exclaimed in shock, "Wait!"

Number 2 and I both turned to look at him, asking curiously, "What is it?"

Number 12 pointed to the trilobite to our right. "Look, there's another thin line next to that trilobite."

I looked where he pointed. Sure enough, next to the trilobite on the right were some faint etchings, but because they were near the edge of the door, they were severely weathered. The straight line had become a broken, dashed line, and if one didn't look closely, it might be mistaken for an accidental scratch mark.

I followed the intermittent dashed line downward and discovered it was a thin line extending from the top of the tardigrade on the lower right.

Since the Paramecium and the tardigrade appeared in pairs, we hadn't considered that the layer above the tardigrade might feature three lines—a limitation of our habitual thinking.

Now, this broken, dashed line extended from the tardigrade on the right to an uncleaned area next to the trilobite above.

If two tardigrades evolved into three trilobites, would this extra trilobite be like the other two, or would it represent a creature entirely unknown to us?

With this thought in mind, I cautiously wiped away the dust covering that area.

All three of us widened our eyes, ready to see what was drawn in that section. Even though we were prepared for anything—so much so that seeing an alien wouldn't shock us much—we were still genuinely stunned by what we saw.

When I saw what was drawn in that area, my face instantly turned pale, and I sank onto the floor, pointing at the pattern and stammering, "It appeared, it's appeared again! What is happening, how is this possible?"

The drawing before us was exquisitely rendered, subtly dangerous, and the craftsmanship was superb, presenting the subject exactly as it was. We recognized it instantly.

It was my face! The face I saw every day when I looked in the mirror.

This sudden, major discovery was more inexplicable than any before.

The last time I saw my own face was on the ruins island in the sea off the Chukchi Peninsula—a strange island composed of various magnetic substances.

Those magnetic substances recorded the entire process of my ancestors' extinction. They could not only emit light, sound, and images but also produce bizarre, highly realistic illusions. Most astonishingly, in those phantoms, I witnessed scenes of myself battling fierce beasts in an arena.

I had also found what resembled my own tomb, inside which I discovered a severed hand and a skull covered in runes of the Wu Clan.

That incident remains a mystery to this day, and now, my own face had reappeared in yet another bizarre location.

In truth, my first reaction upon seeing my face was shock and disbelief, but my second reaction was excitement—an unprecedented surge of excitement.

Because this time, I felt I might finally unravel the true secret.

The other two were lost in disbelief, looking at me, then at the drawing on the wall, then back at me, then back at the drawing.

After repeating this several times, Number 12 finally spoke, "Is this... you?"

I nodded. "It is me. This is definitely me."

Number 12 seemed to momentarily lose his composure, pointing at me and stuttering, "You... you evolved from a tardigrade?"

I broke into a cold sweat but couldn't explain, so I managed, "M-maybe."

At that moment, Number 2 interrupted us. "Maybe my foot! How is that possible? I think this kid might be the owner of this tomb."

My jaw nearly hit the floor. I pointed to my nose and asked, "You mean I'm a thousand-year-old corpse? Impossible! I had a childhood; I grew up little by little from being a toddler. If you don't believe me, I can go back and show you my baby pictures."

Number 2 laughed heartily. "Just kidding. If you were a mummy, the Hellfire in my hand would have reacted."

Then Number 12 seemed to grasp something. "I know! This must be a case of coincidence—a look-alike. Look, this person clearly has ancient-style hair, meaning they are from antiquity, but their face just happens to look exactly like Number 10. Have you never taken costume portraits?"

I was speechless. I thought that if this happened anywhere else, I would dismiss it as a malicious joke, but the illustration on the ancient tomb door was so vivid and serious that it was impossible to refute.

Number 2 recited, "Amitabha. Assuming the tardigrade suddenly underwent a genetic mutation, leaped through all the stages to become human, and happened to look exactly like our Number 10, possessing intelligence like a normal human, and this strange phenomenon was drawn on the door, then I speculate that in the coffin inside this tomb lies..."

I coughed, cutting off his meandering deduction. "When you were born, did you know you evolved from monkeys? I don't think the tomb owner is the person who looks like me; I think it's someone who has a macroscopic understanding of all this."