Global Evolution: I Became A Zombie!-Chapter 211 - 207: The Bleeding Forest (2)

At the same time, somewhere else in the forest...

"I cannot believe the tribe we ignored became a powerhouse like this," the burly man in white robes commented.

His companion, the scrawny guy, didn’t bother replying. He had always been the quiet kind because of his strange ability. While he didn’t have a combat-oriented ability, his presence on the battlefield was crucial.

"Did you see anything?" Bron asked.

Timo, the scrawny dude, shook his head.

In reality, he had seen glimpses of the past from the ruins around them.

Retrocognition.

That was the ability Timo had. Just by being in a place, he could see all of its past. He was also the reason Pagona was able to remember its intense connection with the Collective, which was almost forgotten at one point.

Hence, he wasn’t a part of the assault team, but was there to find out a way to defeat the Decan god and leave for Pagona. That’s why, while the rest of the group was heading towards the temple, Timo and Bron were looking around the forgotten Deca village.

Although the place had only been abandoned for a little over five years, it looked as dilapidated as Pagona’s ancient ruins. It wasn’t nature’s doing. Someone had intentionally made the place like that. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

What Timo didn’t understand was how.

While Pagona had similar technology to alter terrains, it was given to them by the Collective. A house made house in Timo’s mind. He wondered if the Decan god was one of the Collective’s outcasts, trying to rule a planet with a low-tier civilization?

However, he quickly shook that thought out of his head. There was no way a group like the Collective would let such traitors live, let alone try to conquer a planet under its protection.

Little did he know, he was almost correct.

Timo controlled his wild thoughts and got to work. He touched the ruins, the broken homes, and other installations. However, what greeted him had nothing to do with their god but the tribe’s suffering.

He saw how the tribe was under constant threat of being wiped out, their desperation and helplessness. And then he saw the day that changed everything.

A ball of fire descended from the heavens, and with it came the Deca’s source of salvation. It wasn’t a surprise how easily the tribesmen believed the stranger from above.

In their desperation, they latched onto the one thing that could quell the misery hanging over their heads. Since Blaze had helped them and brought them out of extinction, it was only natural for the tribe to show fierce loyalty to him.

From the strange rodents to the war against Solia, everything was laid bare before Timo. And finally, he saw the place that was supposed to be the temple.

A crash site littered with corpses, or what remained of them.

At first, only the living were brought there. Everyone who entered the crashed ship disappeared within, never to return.

After some time, even the corpses were brought there, dumped unceremoniously around the ship. Then, more strange rodent-like creatures would appear, either dragging the corpse into the ship or devouring it right then and there, leaving only the bones behind.

Sometimes the tribesmen would come over to clean up the place, but after the war with nearby tribes, cleaning made little sense. After all, the Deca was busy expanding its territory, which inevitably led to countless wars.

With the wars came corpses, all of which were transported to the ’temple’ as tribute for their god.

Over time, the corpses and their remains piled everywhere. At the same time, strange structures made of flesh, bones, and all sorts of bodily remains emerged around the temple.

It didn’t make any sense to Timo.

A temple, even for the god of decay, was a sacred place. So why was it surrounded by corpses, that too mostly of the Sadarlans?

One explanation was sacrificial rituals. But even if they had to perform sacrificial rituals, they should have done so using animals, not their kin or other tribesmen!

As Timo tried looking deeper for Blaze’s possible weakness, he felt a strange sensation... it was like someone was watching him in the memories. But how was it possible?

Memories were things that had happened in the past, so how could someone in the past be aware of his presence in the future? He had only felt it once before... with the Collective.

Maybe it was the proof of his rampant theory, as if the flying scout ship he saw wasn’t enough proof.

They were fighting against someone from the Collective, if not just as strong as them. The realization made it even more important for him to look around for a weakness.

As he dwelled further, Timo realized the temple had always been a restricted place, but now, it was even more so.

First was the unbearable stench that no ordinary Sadarlan could tolerate, and even if they could, the place was littered with traps. One wrong step and one would become a part of the same structures they wanted to explore.

The number of visitors dwindled from hundreds to a mere three. One was Xilo, the super who was leading the battle outside the forest. Another was a child whom they had no information about, and the third... it was a woman.

Sometimes she brought the kid along with her, sometimes she was alone. But whenever she left the place, she had a look of ecstasy, as if nothing mattered to her anymore.

Apart from Xilo, they had no information about the woman or the child, and that made Timo feel anxious.

Bron noticed Timo’s expressions and rushed to his side.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, looking around to check if someone was there.

Timo shook his head, but didn’t dare to look further into the past. Besides, he had achieved what he set out to. They knew the exact location of the ’temple’ now.

Timo quickly conveyed that to Bron through signs, and he nodded. It was time for them to leave the accursed forest... unlike the rest of their crew.

At least that’s what they thought would happen.