Now, the most pressing matter isn't figuring out the identity of this person who bears such a striking resemblance to me, but rather to determine what this "me" will ultimately evolve into.
Carrying this almost ludicrous question in mind, I continued to brush away the debris from the layer above.
What came into view first was that the trilobite had evolved into a fish—albeit an ancient, primitive species with armor plating on its back instead of scales—but it already possessed gills for respiration and a unique mouth structure.
However, this time, the leftmost fish and the middle fish were slightly different. The leftmost fish appeared perfectly normal, but the middle fish, while piscine in appearance, still sported appendages beneath its belly, reminiscent of the arthropods seen before, numbering eight in total.
This creature, which was part fish and part crab, was something I had never encountered before. Neither textbooks, nor research materials, nor even fossils had shown me such a marvelous being.
I supposed that I might now be turning a new page in the history of animal evolution.
As a seasoned researcher of biology, my excitement, compared to the other two, was quite pronounced.
It was akin to a treasure hunter stumbling upon a trove; my composure remained profoundly unsettled.
Yet, for those who didn't see this discovery as a treasure, it offered, at most, a fleeting sense of novelty; after all, none of them had ever seen such a fish either.
At this point, Number 12 spoke to me: “Look, this strange fish is circled. I wonder what that means.”
I examined it closely, and indeed, the odd fish was encircled precisely by a perfect circle drawn as if with a compass. This shape could not be a natural formation on the stone; it must have been deliberately drawn by the designer to single out this peculiar fish.
But what could be their purpose? I found it utterly baffling.
It was then that I noticed the line connecting the trilobite below to this fish didn't seem to be solid, but rather dashed—suggesting some other strange significance woven into the design.
Number 2 rubbed his chin and remarked, “Does this mean that this species doesn't actually exist, or that its existence is conditional upon certain requirements?”
I frowned and shook my head, indicating my ignorance.
My eyes meticulously studied the strange fish, but no further discoveries presented themselves.
The most important thing now was to see what I myself had evolved into, so I continued wiping towards the right, only to see a straight line extending directly out from a blank space.
I assumed this line was part of the overall pattern, but only after clearing it completely did I realize the line merely passed through this point.
The three of us exchanged glances. After a moment, Number 12 broke the silence: “It seems you’ve bypassed the fish stage and evolved directly into the next phase.”
I nodded; indeed, for such a design choice, this was the only plausible explanation.
I was just about to continue wiping upwards along that line when I was interrupted once again.
Number 2 pointed to that strange circle and said, “Look, at the very bottom of this circle, there seems to be a string of characters running along the outer edge.”
Upon hearing him, I looked again and found that there was, in fact, a sequence of letters.
The script was minuscule, written hugging the circumference of the ring, almost obscured by the line itself, making it extremely difficult to spot; one might mistake it for small pits caused by weathering.
The three of us leaned in close to the stone door, scrutinizing the characters at virtually zero distance.
Then, I realized what they were: Arabic numerals, specifically: 0016-0017-0018.
Seeing the number 0017 again made my emotions incredibly complex. Although someone had explained to me that the number 0017 denoted the seventeenth unidentified substance.
I had witnessed the power of this substance; it could induce species mutation—my tree-like arm was a direct result of it.
Yet, I always felt that this repeatedly appearing number held the key to everything, that its meaning encompassed far more than what was superficially apparent.
And now, not only did 0017 appear, but it was accompanied by 0016 and 0018—a sequence of numbers that could be linked, and whose rule was simple and easy to understand: an increasing structure with an equal delta.
What meaning could such a connected sequence be trying to convey? The situation was becoming increasingly bizarre.
Seeing the rapid shifts in my expression, the other two must have guessed that I understood the significance of these numbers, and they asked, “What’s wrong? What do these numbers mean?”
I looked at them and said, “It’s complicated to explain, and we’re in a hurry now; I don’t have time to tell you everything. Once we’ve figured out what’s happening here, I’ll tell you what I know. For now, all I can say is that there might be some kind of radioactive material within this stone door. Oh no, perhaps three types of radioactive material. This substance is extremely dangerous and likely to cause mutation—or death—in humans and other animals.”
Hearing this, both men furrowed their brows deeply, clearly sensing a bad omen.
And just then, we inexplicably heard a man’s voice: “No, not mutation, but evolution—the correct progression according to the laws of the cosmos!”
“Who! Who’s there!” The three of us instantly tensed up, a sudden cold sweat breaking out.
The voice was hollow, ethereal, seeming to whisper right beside our ears yet simultaneously echoing from the ends of the earth, making one’s legs feel weak just hearing it.
Furthermore, our current location offered an unobstructed view of the surroundings; if anyone else were truly present, we would have seen them.
After vigilantly scanning our surroundings for a long time without spotting a single shadow, the three of us felt an escalating dread.
At this moment, the Hellfire suspended in Number 2’s hand began to crackle loudly, as if igniting something, yet no tangible object was visible.
Number 2 frowned and stated, “There’s an aura of karmic obstruction circling nearby, but it seems incorporeal. The Hellfire can only sense its presence but cannot pinpoint its exact location.”
“Quick, look up!” At that moment, Number 12’s face paled as he pointed towards the ceiling.
We looked up. The only light source was the brilliant glow from the Hellfire in Number 2’s hand. It cast a dark red shadow onto the ceiling of the passage, and right in the center of that illumination, a triangular shadow was inexplicably moving slowly.
I looked back at Number 2’s hand; there was nothing above the light source that could possibly create such a shadow.
While I was startled, trying to locate the source of the shadow, the triangular shape had already drifted to the edge of the dark red light patch. Then, it slipped into a natural fissure in the top of the passage and vanished without a trace.
As the shadow departed, the flame in Number 2’s hand immediately calmed down, returning to its placid state.
The three of us remained silent for a long time. After a considerable pause, Number 12 asked me, “What was that? Was it some kind of animal? Why was its body so flat?”
Number 2 answered for me this time: “That wasn't an animal. I think that was the tomb’s occupant we’ve been discussing. We’ve been under his watch since we entered this passage. The Héhuān seeds might have been released by him too. It seems he doesn't exactly welcome us.”
After another moment of silence, Number 12 asked me, “What did he mean by that statement? In his eyes, the radioactive substance you mentioned seems to be an element of evolution?”
I shook my head, saying I didn’t know, but feeling unnerved by the feeling of being scrutinized by this unseen entity.
Regaining some composure, I said to the other two, “Perhaps if we look further up, we’ll find the answer.”
Saying this, I used my hand to continue wiping away the debris above. Sure enough, above the fish depictions, amphibians appeared—a lizard-like creature with a fish tail.
This was the first depiction that included environmental context: the lizard-like animal, still bearing gills, had just crawled out of the water onto dry land.
However, the next depiction showed an even more dramatic change compared to the earlier circling phenomenon.
There, the crab-legged fish now seemed smaller in stature, and the ends of its legs had become more developed, forming a disc-like structure, somewhat resembling a suction cup.
Moreover, this creature was adhering tightly to the inner wall of a geological structure resembling a pipe.
Above this creature, smaller, shell-like organisms were descending; however, these shells all had saw-toothed edges, and their dorsal contours were rugged, appearing quite robust.
Number 12 pointed at the pipe structure and asked me, “What is that? An undersea tunnel?”
I stroked my chin in thought and replied, “Very likely, but it could also be a capillary tissue within a hydrothermal vent used for expelling gas. These capillaries could be as thick as a human thigh, large enough to accommodate a creature of this size. And those shells seem to be this creature’s food source; they share a simple symbiotic relationship.”
As I spoke, I wiped away the line extending from my own portrait, and the result was the same—the line simply passed by the area.
At this, Number 2 stroked his chin and remarked with interest, “Our Number 10 seems to have leaped over another stage.”
I told him to stop joking and pointed to the circle surrounding the pipe. “There’s a circle here too, and the numbers below are the same. I truly don’t know what this signifies.”
Saying that, I continued wiping downward. The leftmost creature, following a normal evolutionary path, had indeed transformed from an amphibian into a massive giant lizard, presumably on the path toward becoming a dinosaur next.
But the bizarre fish to its left remained the crab-legged oddity, though its body had become flatter than before. It retained its carapace, but the armor now featured numerous perforations, seemingly an adaptation to reduce weight for more agile movement.