Chapter 469: Chapter 331 The Stone Statue Group - Pterosaurs?!
The diameter of the giant stone pillar peak is as much as two hundred meters, making the entire top of the giant stone pillar peak resemble a huge round table.
A circular area with a diameter of two hundred meters might not sound large, but if calculated for area, it covers nearly fifty acres, a space so vast that it could be sufficient for planting and living on.
The top of the giant peak is not completely flat; instead, the center rises slightly, like the pointed roof of an ancient house.
Of course, the slope is very gentle, with the central part elevated only about a meter higher than the surrounding areas.
The peak top has no snow accumulation whatsoever.
Perhaps it was the avalanche he triggered that swept the snow down from the peak, or maybe the snow never reached the top of the giant peak at all.
After all, this giant peak rises abruptly from the plains, with most clouds sitting around its midsection, making it uncertain whether snow could even fall on the peak top.
However, these aren’t the main points here.
While the mysterious voice was still announcing the end of the activity to him, he saw things both familiar and strange.
He saw the beast statues.
Many statues.
Less than five meters in front of him, there stood a statue of a black bear.
Facing Xu Xin, facing outward from the giant peak, it stood on its hind legs, razor-sharp claws raised as if about to swipe down and attack Xu Xin before it.
It wasn’t just this one statue.
At about five to six meters from the cliff’s edge, at intervals of three to four meters, there stood such beast statues.
The statues formed a circle around the edge of the giant peak, collectively facing outward and frozen in poses as if ready to attack, seemingly guarding something behind them.
Another ten meters further back, there was another circle of statues.
These statues also struck attacking poses. They were notably larger than those on the outermost circle, adorned with patterns clearly resembling blood traces.
This was a circle of mutated creature statues.
Another ten meters further back, there was yet another circle of statues, which closely resembled those on the altar stone pillars.
These statues not only bore patterns but also exaggerated features—boar tusks, cat paws, rabbit ears, bear claws, and so on.
The second circle of statues were lower-level mutated creatures, while this circle consisted of mid-level mutated creatures.
However, what grabbed the most attention was not these three circles of statues.
From the first moment Xu Xin ascended the mountain, he immediately noticed two towering statues over five meters tall near the center of the peak!
"These are... winged dragons?" Xu Xin’s eyes trembled violently.
This... is way too gigantic?
Indeed, these two enormous statues standing at the innermost area were distinctly creatures from Earth’s distant past, living from 210 million to 65 million years ago, now appearing almost surreal.
Pterosaurs!
The two pterosaur statues struck exaggerated poses, spreading wings that seemed to cover the sky, heads thrown back, gaping with huge, pointed teeth bared, looking ferocious and poised to strike!
Their imposing presence surpassed that of the "little guys" in the prior three circles by far!
Many people tend to mistakenly believe pterosaurs are dinosaurs, but they are not. They coexisted with dinosaurs, being large flying reptiles instead.
The Greek word for pterosaurs roughly translates to "winged lizard."
Once these ancient creatures appeared before modern people, even as statues, they were enough to make jaws drop!
Especially as Xu Xin had just faced the largest flying creatures on Earth, a flock of vultures; he assumed by now he had become immune to the shock of giant flying creatures.
But...
The vulture’s wingspan of under five meters seemed adorably diminutive compared to these pterosaur statues whose wingspan exceeded ten meters.
These pterosaurs were simply massive! So massive, it felt somewhat unreal!
After all, people living in modern times can only see such enormous, long-extinct flying creatures in movies!
Of course, in the long river of Earth’s history, this size isn’t exactly the largest.
On Earth, the largest flying creatures ever seen, the Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, had wingspans exceeding 12 meters and teeth 10 centimeters long, making them equivalent to gliders in the sky!
But the two statues before them likely hadn’t reached such sizes.
Fortunately, after witnessing the Lake Giant Python’s hundred-meter-long body, Xu Xin’s tolerance had increased significantly. He took a deep breath to steady his emotions.
Looking behind the two pterosaurs, at the highest point of the stone pillar peak, a small violet-black vortex was slowly rotating.
Of course, compared to the two massive pterosaur statues beside it, the size of this vortex was petite, but Xu Xin could still fit through without much issue.
This vortex should be the gateway that mysterious voice mentioned, connected to the foot of the snowy mountain, right?
Xu Xin took a deep breath and slowly walked toward the center of the giant peak.
He dared not touch the statues.
In this world, statues are not merely sculptures; they could very likely come to life!
Either they would crack, burst with light, and spawn real creatures like those on the altar, or they could move with ease like Chang Yin, Xue Lan, and their family as mere statues!
Hence, he dared not act rashly while walking among the statues.
While carefully examining the surrounding statues, his watch suddenly vibrated.
Xu Xin was slightly stunned, then rejoiced.
Was it actually possible to connect to the outside world from here already!
He raised his hand to look; it was a voice call from Li Wenxi.
"Hey, are you obediently staying in the tree house, keeping an eye on everything?" Xu Xin was in a good mood, answered the call, and teased directly.
"Xu Xin, you’re amazing!" Li Wenxi’s voice was full of excitement from the other side, "You actually climbed up so quickly! Just now, that voice made a world announcement saying you completed the snow mountain climbing activity, and even opened a leaderboard just for you. The world channel is blowing up now!"
A world announcement?
"’Congratulations survivor Xu Xin for completing the snow mountain climbing activity, becoming the first person to complete the event. The snow mountain climbing leaderboard is now open, the top one hundred will receive special rewards, other survivors, keep trying!’" Li Wenxi mimicked the mysterious voice’s tone and excitedly said, "It was announced worldwide directly! I knew you would do it without a hitch!"
Goodness, did it really mention his name directly?
Xu Xin opened the world channel, and sure enough, the screen was filled with discussions about him, area 188, and this snow mountain climbing activity that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
He took another look at the leaderboard, and indeed, currently, his name was the only one hanging alone on it, the font was very large and in gold.
"Alright, alright." Xu Xin couldn’t help but curl up his lips into a smile.
Being praised and admired by someone you like is quite an enjoyable thing.
He dodged a statue of a mutated creature and, while walking toward the heart of the giant peak, laughed and said, "Who was it back then that said, ’If you don’t come back within twelve hours, I’ll go climb that snow mountain’?" Xu Xin imitated Li Wenxi’s tone, clowned around.
"Why are you imitating how I speak!" Even though Li Wenxi said this, her tone was still full of excitement, "Haha, I was just worried, but I really do trust your skills! So, any discoveries? By the way, you’re still at the peak now, how are you going to get down?"
Xu Xin glanced at the increasingly close purple-black vortex and said, "A teleportation channel has been established, I can now travel back and forth between the peak and the foot of the mountain at any time, but only I can."
"Teleportation channel? That’s so great!" Being someone who had used teleportation doors many times, Li Wenxi was not too surprised at the teleportation channel, "Then... are you coming down first, or..."
"I’ll take a little stroll up here first." Xu Xin didn’t tell Li Wenxi about the situation up here, otherwise, she’d definitely be worrying, "I’ll be back soon."
"Alright!" Li Wenxi didn’t ask much, "Just be careful, even if the activity is over, there might still be dangers!"
"Got it, rest assured, I’m very cautious."
"By the way, up till now, Fei’Er has already brought back three people and four tree houses! Finish up quickly and come back so we can discuss how to settle these people!"
Three people already brought back?
Three people but four tree houses, did she kill one?
Lou Fei’Er is quite capable.
"Alright, I’ll explore a bit and then head back."
Xu Xin hung up the call and looked up at the winged dragon statue already within reach.
The details weren’t visible from a distance, but up close, all the details on the winged dragon statue could be seen clearly.
Despite its single color, the winged dragon statue was remarkably realistic. Even the texture of the skin, wrinkles, and the strained stretching of the wings made it look lifelike.
This made Xu Xin have to wonder if this big statue was originally alive like Chang Yin and the others, and just got petrified!
If it’s really like that...
Xu Xin took a small step back, distanced himself a bit.
If that’s the case, the possibility of this big guy coming back to life is really high!
However, if he could contract a winged dragon...
No, no, no...
The likelihood is practically none.
Judging by the arrangements of the statues, the outermost ones are ordinary creatures, moving inward are low-level mutated creatures, mid-level mutated creatures, and these two winged dragons.
In other words, these two winged dragon statues very likely represent advanced mutated creatures!
High-level mutated creatures; best not to have any delusions about it, these things are more likely to ride him than the other way around.
Xu Xin wanted to reach out and touch the winged dragon statue. After all, by touching it, he could get an introduction, understand what this thing is.
Touching it should be okay, right?
...On second thought, better not tempt fate, if it really moves, it’ll be the end for him.
At least, wait until Ji Chaoyang comes up, the two of them can discuss it, having more people means more security.
Circumventing the winged dragon statue, Xu Xin continued forward.
About ten meters behind the winged dragon statue was the slowly rotating purple-black vortex.
"Huh, what’s that?" Xu Xin’s brow raised in surprise, he quickly stepped forward.
There were some strange patterns on the ground near the vortex.
Directly below this rotating purple-black vortex was a triangular pattern with florid designs, its entire texture glowing with purple-black light.
Around five meters away from the vortex were three circular patterns spaced evenly, each aligning with a vertex of the triangular pattern below the vortex, all neatly surrounding the triangular design, and the purple-black vortex.
Do these patterns have some significance? Is this purple-black vortex activated through the triangular pattern?
Then what are these circular designs?
These circular designs look familiar; they seem somewhat like... the circular patterns at the tree house exit.
Every time one exits the tree house, they must touch the circular pattern.
Does this circular pattern also require the touch of a survivor to activate?
Xu Xin walked to the edge of the pattern, crouched down, and reached out to touch it.
The moment he touched it, the entire pattern suddenly lit up with purple-black light from the spot where he touched, and then the light spread, fully illuminating the pattern within seconds.