Law was left speechless by Ging's response, but the topic was effectively dropped.
Ging subscribed to the idea that 'the more friends, the more paths forward', and after seeing some of Law's abilities, he naturally grew closer to him.
And for Law, maintaining a friendly relationship with Ging, whether as collaborators, casual friends, or even close confidants, would only bring benefits, not drawbacks.
Both Law and Ging were intensely curious about the contents of the stone box, as it might hold crucial clues. But since Law couldn't exorcise the Post-Mortem Nen right now, let alone open the box, they had no choice but to set it aside for the time being and deal with it after leaving.
Kuro did not swallow the stone box. Instead, he held it in both hands and cursed Law in a low voice in the corner.
The stone statue in the sacrificial hall didn't offer much to investigate, so the two shifted their focus to the ancient script on the floor and the stone carvings on the walls.
The text was cryptic and difficult to decipher, so they turned their attention to the murals first.
Unlike the murals in the ruins outside, the ones inside the sacrificial hall completely deviated from depictions of daily life. The style was wildly imaginative, as exaggerated as it could get.
However, it was precisely this exaggerated style that gave the murals a striking, vivid tension.
There were images of colossal monsters, hunts of ferocious beasts, humans being purified in flames as sacrifices, figures bowing in worship around a corpse, a Void wrapped in bandages, and even a Void entering a massive monster's body, causing it to collapse and die...
Law and Ging walked around in circles in the hall, looking at the pictures on the wall and taking pictures with their cell phones.
The meaning expressed in the murals is more vivid and specific than the ancient text that cannot be fully interpreted.
After a full round, they had a rough understanding of the Selbo people's sacrificial culture, as well as the Void and those enormous monsters.
Among all the murals, Law was most intrigued by the ones depicting Void's interactions with the giant monsters. The sequence showed how the Void subdued the creatures, culminating in a scene where the Selbo people bowed before it.
According to Netero's accounts, creatures of the Dark Continent were unimaginably massive, and there, humans are like ants… literally, in terms of sheer size.
However, the five Calamities that humans encounter in the Dark Continent are all normal in size, and these Calamities have indescribable strange abilities, just like the Void on the island.
Faced with those enormous creatures, these beings can still occupy a territory and survive, mostly because they possess strange abilities.
Law had personally witnessed how Void attacked its prey. True to its name, it was an invisible disaster, a non-corporeal entity and is eerily similar to man-made bioweapons.
Theoretically, it is easy for Void to deal with creatures that are countless times larger than it. Even if it couldn't kill instantly, it could slowly consume them.
If they ever set foot on the Dark Continent, those incomprehensibly massive creatures would be a major threat. So Void's methods might serve as a useful reference.
When Law thought of this question, he couldn't help but think of Sanbica.
Seeing that Law was thinking, Ging did not disturb him, but lay on the ground and checked the Selbo script on the floor.
While he had a wide range of knowledge about ancient culture, he was not proficient in it. He could recognize that it was the Selbo script, but it was difficult for him to interpret and translate it.
After staring at it for a while, Ging's head began to ache, so he took some photos of it with his phone.
There was no need to decipher it now, as he could always consult specialists later.
And there were also Paleograph Hunters in the Hunter Association, full-time linguists, translators, and other jobs.
By the time Law snapped out of his thoughts, he saw Ging lying on the ground without caring about his image, meticulously inching forward as he studied the script.
Since arriving in this underground space, Law had noticed Ging's attitude toward ruins, which is an archaeologist's reverence. In the process of exploring the truth, he was careful not to destroy the things left over from the sedimentation of time.
Thinking of this, Law subconsciously looked at the highly airtight rubber gloves on his hands, which he put on at Ging's request.
Afterwards, he also leaned over and kept touching the ancient text on the ground with his hands, but the White Smoke Font did not respond at all.
If it were not for the selection prompt given when touching the Post-Mortem Nen, he would probably have thought that the White Smoke Font was out of power.
He knew nothing about these ancient texts, and didn't know whether Chrollo could understand them, so he could only take pictures of them first.
After a while, Law had meticulously photographed everything. On the other hand, Ging did the same, but he was much slower than Law because he was trying to interpret the text while taking pictures.
Seeing that Ging was in a state of full concentration on his work, which is very similar to Sanbica when she was working, Law did not disturb him.
He walked aside, picked up his phone and looked through the photos he had taken, to make sure the clarity of each one. After all, once Demon Island was under government control, returning here wouldn't be easy.
"The lighting from the flashlight alone is barely acceptable."
Law muttered to himself, picked a random picture and sent it to Chrollo, then put away his phone. Seeing Kuro holding the stone box with both hands, he immediately said in confusion, "You could've just swallowed it. No need to carry it around."
Hearing this, Kuro replied unhappily, "Oh, really? I held it in my hand because I couldn't swallow it."
"Huh?" Law was surprised. After all, he thought that Kuro could swallow everything.
"This Post-Mortem Nen is too strong. If I swallow it, I will be affected." Kuro explained.
"I see."
Law nodded and turned his attention back to the stone statue of Void.
The ancient text was unreadable, but the among the murals, the most revealing was likely the one depicting the worship of a corpse, because the eyes of the corpse are pitch-black holes.
The information they got was still too little to completely connect the corpses outside with the Void that appeared on the island, but at least they'd gained something.
Law's gaze shifted to the stone box in Kuro's hands. He had a feeling that if he absorbed the Post-Mortem Nen on it, he might just break past the 60% threshold.
After waiting patiently for a long time, Ging finally finished and got up from the ground.
Seeing this, Law asked, "How is it? Did you figure anything out?"
Ging let out a light sigh and shook his head, "No, we need to find a professional."
"I see…" Law couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Without the White Smoke Font, there was no way he could decipher it either.
"I know a Paleograph Hunter in the association. She has strong professional knowledge and may be able to decipher part of its meaning." Ging said.
Law nodded when he heard this and suggested, "Let's check the nearby buildings too."
"Yeah." Ging agreed.
The two walked out of the sacrificial hall and headed towards the surrounding well-preserved buildings.
Time passed in a blur, and before they knew it, most of the day was gone.
They combed through every house in the area, but apart from taking a lot of photos, they gained nothing substantial.
However, they found more and more stone carvings about Void, which showed that the Selbo people and Void seemed to have an unknown relationship.
But it's somewhat bizarre. After all, Void is a Calamity, so how can humans coexist with something like that?
If such a thing was possible, then maybe there are still humans surviving on the Dark Continent.
After hours of searching, Law and Ging finally took a break. They sat on a collapsed stone pillar, then took up the purified water and compressed biscuits they brought with them and started eating.
The eerie blue glow stretched across the ruins, illuminating the countless corpses scattered around them. A chilling dampness clung to their skin like invisible parasites. Yet, somehow, neither of them had any trouble eating.
While eating the compressed biscuits, both of them took the opportunity to think about what they had gained today. For a while, the only sound in the underground space was the sound of chewing, which was somewhat terrifying.
Just at this moment, the ground began to shake without warning. Law and Ging immediately put down their compressed biscuits and looked at each other.
Above them, tiny glowing particles broke free from the clusters of crystals, drifting downward like a surreal, starry snowfall.
"Earthquake?" Law muttered, glancing up at the shimmering rain of light.
Being trapped underground during what seemed like an earthquake was objectively dangerous, but both of them were very calm.
The tremors lasted only a few seconds before stopping, but after a few seconds, it started shaking again, over and over again.
"It doesn't feel like an earthquake." Ging said.