Chapter 60: The Erasing of Traces

Xu Chen opened the first file, and his expression turned grave upon reading just the first paragraph.

[Investigation Report on the Damage to Stone Age Human Cultural Relics at Home and Abroad]

Xu Chen flipped to the frontispiece, and the signature on it was none other than Elder Ge.

This was presumably the material Elder Ge had compiled before "He" took notice of him. It was precisely this material, coupled with a certain keen scientific intuition, that had brought about Elder Ge's fatal doom.

However, Xu Chen did not cower. Aside from a momentary blank stare, he showed no other reaction and instead spread out the document to read.

Elder Ge had the backing of the state's resources. Moreover, information of this nature did not compromise national security, and there were not many foreign private collectors who hoarded such items. Consequently, the records in this document were exceptionally comprehensive.

As Xu Chen flipped through the pages, he found that the records essentially covered every country across the globe. One might say the meticulousness of the detail was appalling.

Yet, upon reflection, Elder Ge likely had a dedicated think tank to analyze the data, or perhaps he enlisted his colleagues, or at the very least, had his students perform the data analysis. It seemed almost normal that the data could be detailed to this extent.

[American Daisy Museum, Collection No. 118, Healed Phalange, Damage Assessment: 87%, Destruction of Civilization Traces: 100%]

……

[South African Australopithecus Museum, Y01-23, Simple Stone Tool, Damage Assessment: 52%, Destruction of Civilization Traces: 100%]

……

[South North China Beishan Cultural Site, DD-8, Earthen Pit Site, Damage Assessment: 23%, Destruction of Civilization Traces: 93%]

……

Xu Chen read through the entries one by one and discovered that all the cataloged cultural relics had two different methods for calculating damage: one for the physical damage to the artifact itself, and another for the destruction of the traces of civilization. At first, he found it somewhat difficult to comprehend.

Fortunately, anticipating that others would read this material, Elder Ge had included detailed explanations in his handwritten notes on how these two types of damage were calculated.

He wrote in his manuscript that the degree of damage to an ancient artifact was calculated starting from its completeness upon excavation. When the culture it carried was damaged to the point of being completely unrecoverable, it was rated as 0%, and whatever remnants still existed represented the degree of undamaged material.

Looking at it from this perspective, as Xu Chen scanned through everything, basically everything still had a little something left. Even the artifacts he had looked at earlier, which were reduced to mere scraps and ashes, were still granted a damage assessment rating of at least something other than 0%.

From this view, although some damage was severe, that old scoundrel Cthulhu apparently hadn't destroyed everything completely.

Then, through some unknown means, Elder Ge perceived a problem and immediately switched to a different method of calculating damage.

That was the traces left behind by human civilization.

Take the healed phalange, for example. Its healed end showed extremely severe defects, indicating that this early human had suffered severe injuries while hunting, but because of adequate nutrition and rest, had been properly healed.

Ultimately, he met his death, but not from a lack of food.

This finger bone indicated that he had a tribe that took meticulous care of him after his injury until he recovered completely.

However, this phalange had suffered severe weathering and oxidation, and during a certain transport, the bone sustained severe structural damage. That healed end had completely turned into powder, leaving only a fragment of the bone.

If you call it destroyed, something was still left behind; but if you call it intact, the most valuable healed end of this finger bone had been thoroughly and carelessly destroyed.

The traces of human civilization left upon it had been utterly worn away and vanished.

That simple stone tool was originally a stone axe, but due to improper preservation, it now looked no different from a rock on the side of the road.

As for that earthen pit, it originally bore artificial traces, but now it could easily be mistaken for a hole created by a falling boulder. The destruction of civilization traces did not reach 100% simply because it still retained the shape of a pit, and its material contrasted with the surrounding terrain.

The assessment of the destruction of civilization traces measured whether one could still see the marks left behind by human civilization upon the artifact.

Once Xu Chen understood what the civilization trace damage assessment meant, he continuously flipped through the rest of the material, and then... the more he read, the uglier his expression became.

Because the destruction of civilization traces for every single one of these artifacts was no less than 90%.

The most severe among them was a Stone Age cave with a large number of artificially excavated traces, which had collapsed due to the failure of reinforcement measures, causing every trace of civilization inside to be utterly reduced to ashes.

[Following a joint investigation and statistical assessment by historical department universities, all Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultural relics dating back tens of thousands of years BC have been completely destroyed.

The traces of human civilization have been erased, and what remains, after discussion, can only be termed "wrecks." These "wrecks" possess no civilizational value and can only prove that they, or our ancestors, once existed...]

Xu Chen noticed a small hole with yellowed edges on the paper, which looked as though a cigarette had been held too close, causing the glowing tip to drop onto the paper and burn a hole through it.

He could easily imagine how anxious and unsettled Elder Ge must have been when writing these conclusions—smoking heavily all the while he penned these words.

Xu Chen put away this document and opened another.

At a glance, the titles were nearly identical.

[Investigation Report on the Damage to Neolithic and Later Human Cultural Relics at Home and Abroad]

This one was also compiled by Elder Ge, focusing on the traces of civilization development during and after the Neolithic Age.

Because humans had mastered fire, a great weapon of nature, the development of civilization at this time was extremely rapid, changing with each passing day, and they already possessed the ability to alter nature on a small scale.

They could cast bronze, create language and writing, engage in animal husbandry and agriculture, and construct houses and city walls.

They already had the capacity to transition from tribes to dynasties.

The fire of civilization suddenly leapt upward at this moment.

With the previous preamble, Xu Chen found reading this section much less laborious.

He read this material with focused attention and discovered that the erosion of civilization traces had slowed down significantly at this point.

It was as if the erosion originating from "He" had been dragged into a quagmire named "civilization," making it difficult to sustain.

[British Museum, Rosetta Stone, Damage Assessment: 2%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 0%]

……

[Louvre Museum, Stele of Hammurabi, Damage Assessment: 3%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 0%]

……

[North Lake Provincial Museum, Sword of Goujian of Yue, Damage Assessment: 0.2%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 0%]

……

Although parts of these civilizational objects were still being eroded, they were far more resilient against "His" attrition.

Yet, as Xu Chen flipped further back, he realized he had been far too optimistic; the list seemed to be arranged in chronological order.

[Clarice Private Collection, Mayan Agate Crown, Damage Assessment: 9%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 2%]

……

[Leif Private Museum, Lydian Gold Coin, Damage Assessment: 28%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 67%]

……

[Sanxing Ruins, Bronze Candlestick, Damage Assessment: 35%，Destruction of Civilization Traces: 21%]

When Xu Chen reached the final few pages, the destruction of civilization traces was uniformly 100%. He instantly understood that the damage caused by the "special erosion" was far more severe than anyone had imagined!

[In summary, "special erosion" is influenced by the artifact's material, craftsmanship, forging methods, preservation techniques, and so forth. If not for the fact that the erasure of civilizational traces is far too unnatural, we would still consider this to be normal corrosion.

History professors believe that stricter preservation methods should be invented and adopted. However, I believe that a large-scale shift in preservation methods would inevitably lead to more frequent handling of cultural relics, which would result in a sharp increase in the damage to domestic artifacts.

The only remaining course of action is to investigate the exact cause behind the "special erosion" and then formulate a response!]

The characters written by Elder Ge were forceful and powerful, showing through to the back of the paper. At that time, he must have truly believed he could find a way to counter the mastermind behind the scenes.

After finishing the text, Xu Chen rubbed his eyes. He sighed, momentarily lost for words.

He was the one who best understood what kind of impact this specially corroded artifact had brought to the world; he had already suffered greatly because of it within the history department.

Only now did he realize that the traces of this civilization were far more precarious than he had ever imagined.