Since the inscription on the stone tablet records that this fungus can change the world and help some animals evolve, it is not surprising that it can control emotions in Haru, which is more simplistic than humans, through gene lock.

The mantis-man mentioned in the stone tablet here is a good example; 780 million years ago, that was during the Pebble Period.

The atmospheric oxygen concentration was at its highest during that period, and the species that emerged were mainly exoskeletontical insects.

If civilization arose during this period, it would coincide perfectly with the timeline.

I have a bold theory: those protozoa want to return to their peak in this world.

So it used some kind of ruthless means unknown to us to control the Haru species, and even endowed these Haru with some intelligence that their kind did not have.

They wanted to use Haru's hand to extend their own hand to the entire fertile world, at which time a new era would begin.

Ancient beasts will face humanity, and all living things will be reshuffled. Some species may even undergo reverse evolution ahead of schedule, facing the crisis of extinction.

If it were just extinction, that would be relatively quick and easy. I fear those fungi won't easily wipe us out, but will instead use various means to turn all living things into their puppets, so they can be used at will.

Everyone was astonished when they heard my guess; they had never considered such a thing before.

However, the leader of Asaida remained silent for a long time, clearly lost in thought.

Dante didn't question my idea. Not long ago, he had almost lost his life because of some plants, so he had no doubt that mushrooms could have intelligence.

The Asaida tribe may seem to be living a peaceful life now, but only the chief knows the truth.

For the past decade or so, the remaining Haru forces have avoided clashing with the Asaida tribe, and their strength must have recovered considerably.

This is evident from the news I brought.

As agreed, Asada mobilized the entire strength of his tribe to fight a great battle against Haru, who was entrenched in the eastern forest. He still remembers the situation at that time.

The Haru were routed, and far fewer Haru fled than those who fled on the western battlefield.

In such a short time, just over a decade, these Haru have already grown to such a scale.

Will the development of Haru on our side be even worse than that of Haru in the eastern region? Perhaps if war breaks out again, the outcome will be uncertain.

The leader looked at me, nodded, and said to Dante,

“No problem, that area is now under our jurisdiction. I can take you to see that stone house.”

"Thank you for your understanding, Chief."

Dante smiled and thanked him upon hearing this.

"You've forgotten that we're allies, and Haru is our common enemy. No need to thank me; I'm honored to have helped you."

The chief looked at me again, a hint of melancholy flashing in his eyes. If his tribe's deity hadn't disappeared, why would he have to worry about those Haru?

I know some of what I said was a bit sensitive, but I still restrained my curiosity and didn't ask where the mysterious person had gone.

The loss of a figure who can influence the development of a tribe is an unimaginable blow to the tribe.

The next morning, the leader personally led us to the place where they had fought a great battle before.

The terrain here is quite similar to what we saw at the sinkhole. The ground has been leveled and is relatively flat, with piles of weeds and dead branches on it.

However, unlike the sinkhole area, the grayish-white mushrooms here have grown into protozoan algae that are more than ten meters tall, while those in the sinkhole have been completely destroyed, and very few should remain.

After bypassing these pine algae, we walked for nearly a kilometer and arrived at a stone house that was also mostly covered by vines.

If someone hadn't led the way, this stone house would have been quite difficult to find in this dense jungle.

After entering the stone house, I found that it was somewhat different from the one we had encountered before.

The stone house here is obviously larger, and on the stone platform, in addition to some pottery, there is also an obsidian claw knife shaped like an eagle's claw.

I picked up the claw knife and examined it, but found no writing or anything like that on it. I asked the leader if these things had always been kept here.

The leader nodded upon hearing this, indicating that none of these items had been touched.

Dante and Suzu were already knocking and searching around the stone house. Seeing the two wandering around the empty room as if looking for something, the chieftain asked them a question.

"What are you doing? There's nothing left here except for that stone tablet and the things on the stone platform."

The leader felt a little regretful about this, as he believed there must still be some things inside the house, which Haru probably took with him when he temporarily left.

Only the huge stone tablet was inconvenient to remove, so it remained in the place.

However, only we know the inside story. When we entered the stone house that Haru was guarding, it was just like it is now, with little to no stuff except for the stone tablet.

Dante simply explained our intentions to the leader, who was quite shocked. He had been here many times before, but he never expected that there would be a hidden underground layer in this house.

The chief immediately ordered several of his followers, the locals, to go with Dante and the others to find the hidden location.

After Dante's repeated knocking and banging, he finally heard a hollow sound coming from the corner of a house again.

When the leader saw that there really was a hidden layer in the house, he became curious and ordered his men to find some simple tools and start digging.

I haven't found anything useful yet, so I can only focus my attention on the excavated interlayer.

We were in such a hurry to escape that we didn't have time to see what was inside.

Now that I see another empty space here, I'm also very curious about what Haru is trying so hard to protect.

Soon, Dante and the others cleared away the soil in the corner of the house, and what appeared before us was a stone slab the same size as the one we had encountered in the sinkhole.

The stone slab looked quite heavy, but the men here didn't seem to care much about it.

Not to mention the giant gorilla leader, the other indigenous men were all as strong as water buffaloes.

Opening the stone slab wasn't a difficult task for them at all.

At this point, some natives were already using the hardwood they had cut as crowbars, inserting them into the gaps in the stone slabs, and preparing to pry the slabs up.

"etc!"

Just then I shouted, and everyone stopped what they were doing.