Jiang Chen's words sent a wave of realization through Debi—and the millions watching the live stream.
She frowned. "You're saying… this cave wasn't always underground?"
Jiang Chen nodded. "Exactly. If this was a human settlement from the Neolithic Age, then logically, it should've been on the surface back then. Which means—"
"The entire landscape shifted," Debi finished his thought, her voice filled with disbelief.
Jiang Chen's expression darkened as he stared at the murals again. "This place was buried over thousands—maybe tens of thousands—of years. Something happened that caused this entire civilization to sink beneath the Earth."
At that moment, the live chat erupted with shock and speculation.
[Wait… you're telling me an entire human settlement got buried 4,000 meters underground?!]
[This is some next-level lost civilization sh*t.]
[Bro… what if this wasn't just one village? What if there's more buried down here?]
[So basically, Jiang Chen just found an ancient apocalypse site?!]
Debi turned back to the murals, her eyes filled with wonder. "These paintings… they must be telling the story of what happened. But…" She pointed to the images. "What's with the floating figure? And why do these people seem to be worshiping it?"
Jiang Chen studied the sequence again. "The first painting shows people—small, large-headed, and distinct from the later ones."
"The second and third murals…" Debi trailed off, staring at the images of figures kneeling before the floating entity. "It almost looks like… they were visited by something. Something they saw as divine."
Jiang Chen exhaled. "And the fourth mural—five figures, each a different color. Black, yellow, white, red, and brown."
Debi's eyes widened. "The five major human races…"
Jiang Chen nodded. "It suggests that whatever event happened here—whatever knowledge or influence they had—was somehow spread across the world."
Silence fell between them.
For the first time since stepping into this expedition, Jiang Chen felt something deeper than excitement.
A mystery stretching back thousands of years.
A civilization lost to time.
And a story—one that was never meant to be found.
Debi let out a shaky breath. "Jiang… what if we're the first people in history to ever lay eyes on this since it was buried?"
Jiang Chen's lips pressed into a thin line. "Then we need to figure out why it was buried in the first place."
Because something told him—
This was only the beginning.
Debi's breath hitched as Jiang Chen's words sank in.
Six million years.
The weight of that number hung heavy in the air, suffocating in its implications.
The live stream had gone dead silent. Millions of viewers sat frozen behind their screens, trying to process what they had just heard.
And then—
Explosions of disbelief.
[Wait, what?! Did he just say SIX MILLION YEARS?]
[Bro, that's… that's before humans even EXISTED.]
[Jiang, are you saying this cave was a human settlement millions of years ago?!]
[If this is true, history books are about to get REWRITTEN.]
Even the experts watching the live stream had gone completely quiet. Not a single scholar dared to challenge Jiang Chen's words.
Because if they denied it—
They had no explanation for what was right in front of them.
Debi finally found her voice. "Jiang… what are you saying?"
Jiang Chen exhaled slowly. His gaze swept over the ancient murals, the remains of a civilization lost to time, and the prehistoric giant salamander that still thrived in the depths of the Earth.
"I'm saying," he began, "that our understanding of history is flawed."
Debi stared at him, wide-eyed.
He continued.
"This cave system was formed at least six million years ago. That means whatever was once here—this civilization, these people, their way of life—had to exist before that.
But according to everything we've been taught, modern humans only emerged about 200,000 years ago. The Neolithic Age, where early humans built settlements, farmed, and created art, only started around 10,000 years ago."
He pointed at the murals.
"And yet, what do we have here?
A structured society.
Domesticated creatures.
Artifacts.
Written stories—painted in symbols meant to preserve their history."
Debi took a step back, her pulse racing.
"This… this doesn't make sense," she whispered.
Jiang Chen's eyes gleamed. "Unless—"
He turned to face the camera directly.
"There was a human civilization before us.
One that existed long before recorded history.
One that lived, thrived, and disappeared millions of years ago."
The live chat exploded.
[PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION?!]
[STOP. THIS IS TOO MUCH.]
[If Jiang is right, everything we know about human evolution is WRONG.]
[Bro just casually dropped a theory that breaks ALL of archaeology.]
But Jiang Chen wasn't done yet.
"There's something else," he continued. "A gap in human history—between 4 million and 8 million years ago. A time period where evolution was supposedly slow, where our ancestors were still ancient apes.
But what if…
They weren't?"
Debi inhaled sharply.
Jiang Chen pressed forward.
"It only took a few hundred thousand years for early humans to evolve into modern Homo sapiens.
It only took 70,000 years for Homo sapiens to become what we are today—technologically advanced, ruling the world.
And in just 10,000 years, we went from the Stone Age to space travel."
He turned to Debi. "So tell me—what could have happened in FOUR MILLION YEARS?"
Debi's hands trembled.
"If humanity today could accomplish so much in 10,000 years, what could an earlier civilization have achieved in four million?"
She swallowed. "Are you saying…?"
Jiang Chen nodded.
"I'm saying we might not be the first."
Silence.
Cold, suffocating silence.
And then—
[HOLY SH*T.]
[WHAT IF THERE WAS A SUPER-CIVILIZATION BEFORE US?!]
[Jiang just shattered all of history in a single livestream.]
[If this is true, then… what happened to them?]
Jiang Chen's gaze darkened.
That was the real question.
If there was a civilization before this one—
Why did they disappear?
And why had history buried them so completely?
This was no longer just an expedition.
This was the beginning of a truth no one was prepared to face.