The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Also because of this incident, the once extremely hot New World civilization cooled down instantly. Many scholars and experts who became famous for this subject were ruined, and even affected other related subjects. This incident became the laughing stock of the whole world until It took many years for the adverse effects to gradually dissipate, and disciplines such as archeology, folklore, and religious studies were re-accepted by colleges and universities in various countries.

However, until today New World Civilization Studies is still a taboo, mainstream academic circles still do not recognize the existence of any civilization in the New World before the migration of the Old World, and anyone who mentions New World civilization will be regarded as heresy to be defeated, because the academic circles have already I can't bear the farce of fake civilization appearing at one time.

Although Todd Bruce is not a firm supporter of New World civilization, he also believes that there was civilization in the New World before the Great Migration, but because of unknown reasons, that civilization suddenly disappeared.

The reason why he thinks so is that when he studied folklore in his early years, he found some ruins of man-made buildings in some remote areas. Although the locals said that those buildings were settlements left by early explorers and migrants, However, he could tell from the style of those buildings that these architectural relics did not belong to any old continent civilization style.

And the more important point is that there are some legends in all the areas where he found this kind of ruins. The contents of these legends are all kinds of strange and have no similarities. Because of the mysterious existence of Guge, he will suddenly appear after a certain stage in the legendary story, and then sing a long poem loudly.

This is not something worthy of attention. Folk legends basically have something in common, and they may all come from the same legend. Someone heard this legend and thought that some content sounded good, so they used their own inside the legend.

For example, there are hundreds of versions of the most classic mouse hunter legend in the Old World. Almost every country has its own mouse hunter legend, and the content is somewhat similar.

But the problem is that these legends containing the mysterious existence of Guge are all different in content, only the mysterious existence of Guge is the same, and the long poems sung by Guge are also completely different, but they are coherent, and the regions where these legends are spread are all separated It is very far away, the farthest is almost separated by dozens of countries, and the people living in those areas are all different in terms of race and origin of the old continent.

And the strangest thing is that only those areas where there are man-made architectural relics have such legends. Once you leave that area, even if it is the same country or the same nation, there are no legends related to it.

Back then, this discovery aroused great interest of Todd Bruce. For this reason, he also tried to write a research project report, hoping to obtain financial support from relevant associations and colleges. However, this matter involved the New World civilization. In the end, there was no pass.

However, he did not give up on this. In the absence of external financial support, he did not hesitate to use the rewards he had accumulated over the years to collect information in those areas at his own expense. In the end, he took all the areas where such legends circulated. After reading it over and over, I also collected all the long poems sung by Gu Ge in the legend.

At this time, he discovered that these long poems are actually a coherent poem. The content of this poem is about how a great civilization went from prosperity to decline, and finally the survivors left this world and entered a world called Dreamland.

This discovery made Todd Bruce believe that the civilization mentioned in this long poem is the lost civilization of the New World. For this reason, he once again went to the area closest to the Otter Federation, hoping to find more from the remains of man-made buildings in that area. many clues.

But it turned out that the relics in that area were completely destroyed by the local government in the name of a certain project, and the people who originally lived here were scattered and moved to other places.

Originally, Todd Bruce thought that this was just an exception, but later he discovered that the same situation had happened in other regions where such legends spread, and what was even more strange was that all his relevant research materials disappeared overnight , and no one knew how it disappeared, even if he called the police, he was only told that there were no traces of being stolen, which made him more and more sure that he should have discovered some secrets of the world, and someone was covering up these secrets .

Although the downturn in his career over the years is largely related to the fact that folklore is a fringe and unpopular theory, but this incident may also have some influence.

However, he did not give up on relevant research. Over the years, he was still secretly collecting clues about the Tonian civilization, but unfortunately there were very few clues related to it.

He had known for a long time that there was a slate mural related to the Tonian civilization in the Monte Manor, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes. Unfortunately, even though the Monte Manor was deserted, it still belonged to private territory, and the security work in the Great North Point area was also very serious. So tight that even thieves and thieves can't sneak in, let alone a weak scholar like him.

Today's banquet fulfilled his long-cherished wish for many years, allowing him to see the slate mural, and at the same time, he easily judged from the content painted on it that this slate mural indeed belonged to the Tonian civilization, because in Among the patterns drawn on the slate, he found several things mentioned in Guge's long poem.

Although Gu Ge's long poem was just a description in words, the details of the descriptions of those few things were so detailed that he only had to glance at it, and immediately had an association, as if he had seen it before.

After seeing a piece of evidence that could prove the real existence of the Tonian civilization, Todd Bruce was so excited that he completely forgot where he was and who he was talking to. When he heard someone call the Tonian civilization After it was a pseudo-civilization, he immediately refuted it.

However, after saying this, he immediately regretted it. He was worried that Leo Dodd thought he was a researcher of New World civilization, and then regarded him as an academic liar. I am afraid that the research project document is really wasted.

However, when Todd Bruce was feeling uneasy, Leo did not argue with him whether the Tonian civilization was a pseudo-civilization, nor did he further discuss the contents of the slate murals, but turned his head. Looking at the briefcase on the side, he said, "Professor, what's in these briefcases?"

"Ah?" Todd Bruce didn't react for a while, he was stunned for a moment, and then realized that his opportunity had come, he quickly picked up the briefcase on the ground, and said in a panic: "These are all yours, uh , No, it’s some of my research project files, I sorted out some research projects in the past few days, oh no, decades, hope, hope…”

Halfway through the talk, Todd Bruce didn't know what to say for a while, for example, he couldn't say something like asking the other party to invest money in his research project, so his face became a little embarrassed.

"Can you let me have a look?" Leo asked calmly, not caring about the other party's state.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Todd Bruce took out the documents in a hurry, and then handed them all to Leo.

Leo took the file, walked to the desk beside him, put the file on the table, turned on the light, and said to the butler standing at the door: "You can leave first, if Madam asks me, just say I have something to do .”

"Understood, sir." The butler nodded, walked out, and closed the door.

"Sit down for a while, and I'll talk about it after I finish reading the document." Leo pointed to the sofa not far away, gestured to Tond Bruce, then pulled out a document, and carefully read it.

Todd Bruce walked to the sofa, sat on it cautiously, and looked nervously at the desk. Although it is not clear whether Leo will become an investor in his research project, Leo can take a serious look at his research project The documents already made him happy, because over the years, even the director of the college who is responsible for project investment has never read the project documents he submitted so seriously.

These documents involve a total of more than a dozen different research projects. Todd Bruce is a scholar and researcher who doesn't know how to attract investment, so the research project documents he wrote are more like some kind of academic reports. All the contents in it are piled up by a lot of boring professional terms. After reading this kind of content, people will not have the slightest desire to invest, and it is even possible that they will not be able to resist even reading the first page. Sweep it all into the trash can.

However, for Leo, Todd Bruce's academic style of writing is very much in line with his taste, and he can also get a lot of useful information from it.

Although the document was boring and difficult to understand, it was not too difficult for Leo. He quickly read it through and fully remembered and understood the contents.

After closing the document, he said to Tond Bruce: "Your research projects not only include the research of folklore, but also the research of archaeology, sociology, religion and mysticism. It is very complicated. Your Does one person have the energy to study so many projects?"

"Of course not." Todd Bruce replied hastily: "But if there is enough financial support, I can recruit enough research teams. I only need to be responsible for the research direction and data analysis. I don't need to do everything myself. Intervene." As he said, he added: "You should have read my resume, I have the experience of being in charge of seven research groups at the same time, and all seven research groups have achieved results."

"But those seven research groups are just one subject, not involving so many disciplines." Leo retorted, motioned the other party to stop talking, and asked directly: "If I am willing to invest in your projects, what do you need? How much money?"

Todd Bruce thought about it seriously, then raised his hand and gestured: "Forty thousand Otts, I only need forty thousand Otts."

"Forty thousand Otts? In other words, each item is only more than two thousand Otts." Leo frowned and said, "Is the money enough?"

Todd Bruce could see that Leo already had investment intentions, and he was worried that his asking price was too high and the other party would give up the investment, so he quickly replied: "No, not a lot! As long as you save some, it's enough."

Leo thought for a while and said, "40,000 Otts is too little, I can provide you with 400,000 Otts, and if necessary, you can add more."

"Ah?" Todd Bruce was completely stunned. He suddenly had the illusion that he was dreaming. If it wasn't for the inappropriate occasion, he might have slapped his face fiercely to confirm whether he was really there. dream.

Leo added: "But the money is also conditional, that is, I have to account for 90% of the project's shares, and I have the right to access all research materials, including the right not to publish them."

Regarding Leo's request, Todd Bruce hesitated. First of all, the proportion of shares in research projects must be high. In normal research projects, investors can only get 60% of the shares at most. A few special projects with unknown prospects For new discipline projects, investors can also get about 70%, but they get 90%, and it is 90% of all research projects, which obviously far exceeds those practices.

What's more, the research projects he brought are not the kind of projects with unknown prospects, but projects with appraised value. He is now only one step away from the final results. As long as there are enough funds invested, they can If they can conduct on-the-spot investigations, they may collect enough physical evidence to support the project results, so Leo's investment basically does not have much risk.

The more important point is that Leo actually wants to have the right to access all research materials, which is obviously the most unacceptable, because conventionally, investors can only access research materials related to the project. There is no right to read reference materials and other materials, and the ownership of those things belongs to the project leader.

Although the conditions offered by Leo are extremely attractive, the additional requirements are very excessive. Todd Bruce instinctively wants to refuse such a request and end this conversation.

But in the end, he suppressed the urge to refuse and seriously considered whether this request was acceptable, because he knew very well that if the opportunity was lost this time, it would be unknown whether the next opportunity would appear again, and he did not I am confident that I can spend another ten years waiting for the next opportunity to come.

After thinking about it again and again, Todd Bruce still couldn't make up his mind to agree to the conditions offered by Leo. Instead, he said with a serious expression: "Sorry, Your Excellency Leo, this decision is very difficult to make. I need to go back and think about it calmly. You answer."

"It's okay, I'm waiting for your reply." Leo did not urge the other party to make a decision, but rearranged the documents in his hand, put them back in the briefcase, and handed them back to Tom Bruce, saying.