Chapter 234: Chapter 232: The Former Moon Altar
Where did the older Moon Altars go?
At this question, everyone crowded around Li Luo’s electronic screen again, pointing as they launched into a serious discussion.
"This one should be from two hundred years ago. It doesn’t look that old. Look at the stones on it—there isn’t even any wear."
"Not necessarily. I think this one is from a long time ago. The runes are all a bit blurry! It must have been a long time."
"That’s because the runes are glowing, which is why you think they’re blurry. From this far away, anything that glows is going to be hard to see clearly!"
"Isn’t there wear on these edges, too? Look here, there’s even a hole right through it."
"Hey! That’s not wear and tear. That’s a water channel to let seawater pass through, to reduce the impact of the sea on the structure. The Moon Altar we’re on now has them too. Go see for yourself if you don’t believe me!"
"Really?"
"..."
A babble of voices erupted as everyone argued at once.
Amid the debate, none of the Fake Fishmen would concede. Staring at the Moon Altar on the screen, their opinions varied wildly.
This continued until someone looked up at the sky and suddenly froze, their eyes wide.
"Hey, stop arguing! Look over there! What is that!"
He pointed in one direction, calling out in shock.
Everyone quickly looked over, stunned speechless by the sight before them.
A long while later, someone finally stammered blankly:
"There’s another one?"
"There’s more than one! Look over there, there’s another!"
Someone else cried out, pointing a trembling finger in another direction.
There wasn’t just one moon—or rather, Moon Altar—in the sky. High up, behind the thick fog, other Moon Altars lay hidden.
Only then did everyone realize that these Moon Altars weren’t trying to disguise themselves as the moon, nor were they about to abide by some "there is only one moon" principle.
They had simply flown up into the sky for no apparent reason.
"One, two, three, four... ten!"
"There are ten moons!"
After counting several times, the group confirmed the number of Moon Altars now in the sky.
Whispers rose again, followed by an endless stream of confused discussion.
"Is that the Moon Altar from two thousand years ago?"
"No, two thousand two hundred years! You have to count the one under our feet!"
These Moon Altars floating in the sky each emitted a different light. Some were very bright, while others were extremely dim, their forms obscured by the clouds and fog.
Li Luo aimed the camera at a dim Moon Altar, and the scene on it became perfectly clear.
The runes were still clearly visible, but the light they gave off was very faint.
"This must be one of the much older Moon Altars."
"Could they really be so well-preserved? Fishman Island is only so big, so where were they hiding before?" Everyone wore a look of disbelief.
Although everything happening grew more and more fantastical, the facts were laid bare before them.
"Jeff, what is the purpose of these Moon Altars, anyway?" someone finally couldn’t help but ask.
"I don’t know." Jeff looked just as lost, staring blankly at the sky.
"Did the Great Clan Leader tell you what would happen after the Moon Altar was set up? Is this supposed to be normal?"
Jeff just shook his head again.
"You should go ask him soon. Maybe the Great Clan Leader didn’t expect this to happen either."
Hearing this suggestion, Jeff immediately stood up, ready to head back to the village.
But just as he got to his feet, he froze in place.
"Did you guys hear something?" he asked suddenly.
"What sound?"
"A humming sound."
The chattering crowd immediately fell silent, listening intently.
"I think I hear it too."
A faint humming sound was coming from beneath their feet.
One of the Fake Fishmen summoned a watery tentacle and placed it on the ground. He quickly came to a conclusion: "It’s coming from the runes."
"The runes are making noise?"
The group turned their attention to the runes and realized they were different now.
Under the moonlight, the runes were vibrating faintly. Tiny motes of dust were slowly rising with the sea breeze, becoming conspicuous white specks.
"Does it feel like the moonlight is getting brighter?" a Fake Fishman asked in confusion, shielding his eyes.
Only then did everyone realize that, in just a short time, the moonlight had indeed grown much brighter.
The fog even seemed to have thinned considerably under the moons’ glow.
But Jeff looked at the moons in the sky, then stared at the runes at his feet with a strange expression.
He crouched down, touched the inscribed marks, then rubbed them with two fingers. A fine powder fell from his hand, carried away into the distance by the sea breeze.
After doing all this, Jeff spoke, his voice trembling slightly, "It’s not the moonlight that’s gotten brighter. It’s the Moon Altar beneath our feet... it’s glowing."
At his words, everyone looked down at their feet.
"Should we run?"
"I think it’s too late. Look over there."
From within the distant fog, a Moonlight Wall suddenly rose.
The Moonlight Wall erupted from the far edge of the Moon Altar, sweeping toward them along the rune lines. Dust flew from the vibrating runes, appearing to be kicked up by the surging wall.
The vibrations of the entire Moon Altar grew more intense, and the humming sound drew steadily closer.
Everyone immediately stood ramrod straight, warily staring at the rising Moonlight Wall.
"What is that?"
"Moonlight?"
"Don’t tell me this Moon Altar under our feet is going to rise into the sky too?"
The group wanted to flee, but the Moonlight Wall had already surrounded them in the blink of an eye.
"Jump into the sea?"
"No! Those Old Eaters are probably still out there. The sea is even more dangerous!"
In an instant, the people on the edge of the Moon Altar were trapped, with no way forward and no way back.
No one had expected it all to happen so fast.
The Moonlight Wall advanced like a great coiled serpent, its speed accelerating. No one knew what would happen if they touched that dazzling light.
However, Mo Ling’s attention wasn’t on the Moonlight Wall.
He was still staring at the characters on the platform.
The characters that represented "clock."
The cross at the center was shaking violently. Dust motes hung suspended in the air, just like the scene of frozen time Mo Ling had witnessed before.
Not only that, but the Little Fish circling the cross was now swimming vigorously counter-clockwise, weaving ceaselessly between the arms of the cross.
It was like a rapidly flashing slide show; with each flash, the Little Fish’s position would change.
Frame by frame.
With each static frame, the Little Fish looked like a deeply etched stroke on the platform, showing no sign of movement.
But after the moonlight flashed, it would already be in a new position.
Mo Ling watched for a long time before realizing it wasn’t an illusion.
’It’s really moving!’
Moreover, as the vibrations grew stronger and the moonlight flickered faster, the Little Fish’s position began to change more and more frequently.
’A backwards-moving pointer, reappearing Moon Altars... what does it all mean?’
Mo Ling was in agony. He could clearly read the characters and had precisely identified the abnormalities of the Moon Altar, yet everything about it was like the dense fog covering Fishman Island—the truth was impossible to see.
Amidst the flashing light, Mo Ling felt dizzy and overwhelmed.
The Little Fish changed position frame by frame, and his vision blurred with each shift.
The strange, stimulating light made Mo Ling nauseous, and he could no longer stare at the flickering characters.
He quickly averted his gaze and looked at the others.
While he had been in a daze, the Moonlight Wall had already swallowed the people on the edge of the Moon Altar.
Now, they were all bathed in moonlight, staring straight ahead as if they had seen something terrifying.
Dust motes hung frozen in the air.
Upon the Moon Altar, everything was deathly pale.
Time had stopped again...
