In the huge document brought by Morris, there was only this small section that was related to the mysterious symbol - and that symbol was only an extremely inconspicuous part of this small section. The author of the document did not even use a single word to interpret this symbol and the relief patterns around it.

Duncan and Morris could only analyze the details presented in the manuscript illustrations and preliminarily determined that the broken cross surrounded by a hexagonal outline should be a religious symbol or academic symbol from the Old Kingdom period.

Duncan slowly closed the big book.

From a rational point of view, Morris believed that the ascetics who visited the Lost Homeland a century ago could not be the descendants of the Old Kingdom - the possibility of a group of hermits passing down their heritage for 10,000 years without extinction in the chaotic and dangerous deep-sea era was almost zero. From a rigorous academic point of view, he could not make this assumption rashly unless he found more evidence.

But Duncan still intuitively believed that the group of ascetics at that time must have had a close connection with the ancient Kingdom of Crete. They possessed the mysterious emblem and attached great importance to it, which showed that they knew the meaning of the emblem.

Of course, assumptions are assumptions only. Without evidence, everything is just empty talk. At this stage, unless the group of ascetics from that year appear in front of Duncan again, no one can figure out where they came from.

"...How many Cretan ruins have been found and well preserved in the world now?" Duncan suddenly looked up and asked.

"There are very few ruins that have been found, and you can count them on one hand. As for the ones that are well preserved... that depends on what the standard of 'well preserved' is," Morris said. "For people who study the Old Kingdom, if they can find a large pit that is confirmed to be related to Crete, find a wall brick that is more than ten meters long, or even just find a few stone doors that have fallen to the ground, they can be considered well preserved."

At this point, the old scholar could not help but sigh: "Under normal circumstances, the relics left within the city-state's jurisdiction are unlikely to be preserved. We will leave as much text and image information as possible for them, record every detail of them as much as possible, and then store the relics that can be analyzed in research facilities. Finally... the relics themselves will be flattened, buried, and become part of the city."

Duncan thought for a moment and said to himself: "A foothold is as valuable as gold."

Morris nodded: "We study history, preserve history, and try to remember the past as time goes by, but we can't let the past squeeze out our living space.

"The New City-State calendar has been around for nearly two thousand years. In the most active era of explorers, new islands were often discovered, and unknown wilderness and ancient ruins came into our sight. However, in the last one or two centuries, this kind of 'discovery' has been on the verge of extinction.

"The original 'new island' gradually became one city-state after another. There is only so much land available for survival in the vast ocean. The few relics that are barely left... are either on isolated islands with harsh environments where it is impossible to survive, or they are shrouded by extraordinary forces, or are located on the edge of dangerous anomalies. Even the Four Gods Church can only explore them and seal them on the sea chart."

Duncan remained silent for a long time, but still focused on the symbol and the original documents behind it: "You just said that your friends in the academic world can find more information about this symbol?"

"I know a friend in Lunsa who specializes in the history of the Old Kingdom. He was my classmate when I was studying at the Academy of Truth," Morris nodded and pointed to the big book on the table. "He gave me this book many years ago. I remember he mentioned related documents at that time. I have written a letter, but I don't know when I can receive a response."

Duncan exhaled: "Be patient and wait, everything will be up to fate."

He then discussed with Morris many things about the ancient Kingdom of Crete - those scattered discoveries, those vague and strange legends, those ancient documents that were half true and half false, and even made it difficult to tell whether they were reality or myth.

After a pleasant conversation between the host and the guest, it was time for Morris to say goodbye and leave.

"Before I left, I promised my wife that I would go home for lunch," the old scholar said with a smile on his face. "If I go back too late, I'm afraid my wife and daughter will scold me for a long time."

Duncan couldn't help but laugh: "I see you're enjoying it."

Maurice nodded cheerfully, put on his hat, tucked the big book under his arm again, and went downstairs with Duncan.

Nina was counting some bills behind the counter, Alice was watching curiously, and Shirley had disappeared at some point, probably having gone out to play.

When Duncan walked down the stairs, Nina was patiently teaching Alice, who lacked common sense, about currency: "Look, this one with a golden corner mark is the sora, and here is the face value... These coins are 'peso', and the number on the front is the face value... Don't bite them, they are dirty!"

"It looks like business is pretty good today?" Duncan glanced at the money in Nina's hand and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Usually there isn't this much."

"Yeah, I don't know why, but business is good today," Nina happily waved the money in her hand to Duncan, "Does it seem to be related to Alice?"

Duncan was stunned when he heard this: "Is it related to Alice?"

"An old lady said this when she left just now," Nina said with a smile, "She said that there's a young lady-like clerk in the store, and the things on the shelves look real..."

Duncan: “……?”

He looked at Alice silently, and Alice looked at him in confusion.

However, Miss Doll had no idea what was going on - she was still trying to remember what the banknotes looked like and how to count them.

"I didn't expect Alice to be able to play such a role here," Duncan sighed thoughtfully after a long while, and then suddenly turned to Morris, "Do you want to take anything with you when you go back?"

"Ah?" Morris was a little surprised. "This... I didn't have this plan when I went out..."

"It's free. It's just a token of my gratitude for your efforts in finding the literature." Duncan smiled, walked to the counter, and took down a crystal pendant from the shelf. It was exactly the same pendant he had given to Morris as a "gift" before, because he bought a box of this kind of pendant. "I remember you mentioned that your daughter's pendant was damaged, so I'll give this one to you."

Morris looked at the pendant in Duncan's hand and saw the magnificent crystal representing modern industry swaying gently in the air, with the surface reflecting colorful lights. The first thing he thought of was the incredible experiences that Heidi had mentioned to him after she came back:

The experience of remaining awake as the city-state fell apart, witnessing the split of two histories and the annihilation of one of them, and the protection from the amulet.

Only then did he realize that Captain Duncan had already shown his goodwill so early on.

The dagger worth three thousand four hundred solas was just an insignificant gift, but the real treasure was almost covered in dust before our eyes.

"I hope this amulet can continue to bring good luck to Miss Heidi," Duncan said with a smile, "Take it, you deserve it."

Morris solemnly took the crystal pendant and expressed his gratitude, but Duncan seemed to remember something and muttered thoughtfully: "If you take this pendant back, your daughter will definitely blame you again, and this time your wife will also blame you. Wait a minute, I will find you a real thing so that you can report it to your wife and children when you go back."

Morris waved his hands when he heard this: "No, no, you don't have to do this for me..."

However, Duncan had already turned around and started rummaging through the pile of junk next to the counter. As he searched, he kept muttering, "No need to say more, I understand...ah, I found it."

As he spoke, he returned to the counter holding the "real thing" he had found, and put it on the table with a "bang".

The sudden noise startled Alice, who was standing next to her, and she quickly reached out to hold her head.

Morris stared in amazement as Duncan took something off the counter.

"This is..." The old man was a little confused.

"Antique," Duncan looked at the old man in front of him seriously, "I don't have many real things in this store, but this one is absolutely authentic."

"Looks like a cannonball?"

"Yes, it's from the Lost Homeland. It's in very good condition. You can even fire it with a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon of the right caliber," Duncan patted the large iron ball on the counter happily. "More importantly, the shell still has the complete steel stamp of the shell foundry and the personal mark of the foundry master. To be honest, it's even rarer than the dagger I had last time. I'll give it to you."

Morris looked at the cannonball, then at Duncan, his expression becoming increasingly odd. For a moment, he wondered whether returning with a cannonball or with a glass pendant would be more likely to raise his wife and daughter's blood pressure. However, facing the enthusiastic smile on Mr. Duncan's face, he finally swallowed all his words and calmly accepted this... "gift."

"Thank you very much for your kindness."