Li Hai first brought the metal lump-like iron box before his eyes, and began to search it repeatedly for any existing inscriptions.
Regrettably, there were no inscriptions.
Not only were there no inscriptions, but the keyhole on this iron box, perhaps due to the passage of too much time, had now deformed and squeezed into a small slit, so narrow that even an embroidery needle could not be inserted.
Not only was the keyhole like this, but even the few seams of the iron box's door were clearly deformed, twisted and squeezed against each other like ugly scars.
"Let's pry it open and see."
Thinking this, Li Hai used both hands to grasp and pinch both sides of the iron box, exerting sudden force.
Instantly, two forces, each weighing hundreds of thousands of catties and opposite in direction, were applied to both sides of this iron box.
Buzz—
For a moment, large areas of the lake water around Li Hai vibrated under this unparalleled immense force, stirring up layers of ripples in circles.
But even so, the iron box, enduring such astonishing power, remained completely unchanged, without even the slightest tremor, as if the force Li Hai applied was fake.
From this, it was clear that this iron box was definitely not made of ordinary steel, but some kind of unimaginable Unknown Materials.
"Damn it! Are you made of Adamantium?! So light, yet so hard."
After cursing with a grin, Li Hai no longer bothered with the iron box, but instead picked up the crossbow.
"I'll deal with you later; let's look at something else first."
As he mumbled, he glanced over and discovered in a small corner of the crossbow arm, two ancient seal characters clearly engraved—'Nilaun'.
"Nilaun Bow?"
A guess formed in his mind.
To verify his guess, Li Hai pulled back the bowstring.
Whoosh—
Instantly, everything in his vision became completely clear.
No, it should be said, it became completely bright and completely transparent.
All inanimate objects and living beings in all directions, up, down, and all around, were seen clearly by Li Hai.
For example, looking diagonally upwards, his vision could easily penetrate countless tons of dark, heavy lake water and layers of thick rock, clearly seeing the Yu Family Village villagers who had already stood up from the ground on the lake shore, from bottom to top.
If he looked straight down, he could see the hidden gigantic caves beneath the thick mud and rock layers at the bottom of Li Lake, and the wide tunnels connecting all the caves.
This complete transparency would abruptly cease only when looking to an extremely deep and distant point, and all directions would again be enveloped in darkness.
According to Li Hai's rough estimation, this extremely deep and distant range could be several thousand zhang.
In other words, as long as he held this crossbow and drew the bowstring, his X-ray vision range would be ten thousand meters in all directions, up, down, and all around, or even further.
And within this range, all physical matter would be unable to obstruct his vision.
How terrifying.
"But what good is a bow without arrows? Is it meant to be… dry-fired?"
Thinking this, Li Hai tried to point the crossbow diagonally upwards, aiming at the old village chief on the lake shore a few hundred zhang away, who was loudly speaking to the villagers, then withdrew his finger and released the bowstring.
Swish—
Suddenly, an invisible and intangible force, extremely familiar to Li Hai, appeared out of thin air from the arrow slot, and at the moment of its appearance, it shot out from the crossbow, directly streaking towards the old village chief on the lake shore.
The next moment, the old village chief was accurately struck by this invisible arrow, and at the same time, his nose, ears, hands, and feet were all inverted and swapped. Then, he lost his balance and sat down on the ground, and then, as if he had sat on something, he yelped in pain and jumped up.
And Li Hai, deep in the lake, instantly realized upon seeing this scene:
"So that's it, the so-called curse of 'tongue in the chrysanthemum' that enveloped the entire Yu Family Village was shot out with this crossbow. That old man was in such pain after sitting on the ground because he sat on his tongue, right?"
After understanding this truth, Li Hai couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, but then he thought of a question:
"Then how should this curse be lifted?"
Pondering, Li Hai picked up the Nilaun Bow, aimed it again at the old village chief on the lake shore who was struggling to stand up after his hands and feet were swapped, drew the string, and fired.
...
The invisible arrow did not appear.
But the old village chief on the lake shore, in the blink of an eye, returned to normal.
The inverted and swapped nose, ears, hands, feet, mouth, and anus that had caused him so much pain and discomfort had all completely disappeared, as if they had never appeared.
"Hmm? What's going on?"
A puzzled Li Hai picked up the Nilaun Bow again, aimed it at him, and drew the string again.
But... the invisible arrow still did not appear, and the old village chief on the lake shore, who had returned to normal, remained normal, with no abnormal situations occurring.
"What's happening?"
In confusion, Li Hai aimed at the old village chief and fired more than ten times in one go.
But there was still no reaction, neither from the crossbow nor the old village chief.
"I understand."
Li Hai grinned, "This thing actually has a cooldown. After one use, you have to wait a while before you can use it again. However, lifting the curse seems to have no restrictions; a dry shot at the cursed target can lift it."
At the same time, he also understood why that Salt God, after using the Nilaun Bow once, never used it again until his death.
It was simply because the bow's cooldown period had not yet passed.
What an unlucky ship.
In any case, after thoroughly understanding the specific functions of this crossbow, Li Hai took it, preparing to put it into his Guiyou Cave Heaven.
But suddenly...
"Wait!"
Li Hai's movements abruptly paused, "Can't I use the Nilaun Bow's X-ray function... to see what's inside that iron box?"
Upon realizing this, he immediately became excited, then held the crossbow, drew the bowstring, and aimed it at the excessively hard iron box.
"It worked, I can really see it!"
Li Hai's face was filled with joy as he stared intently at the iron box.
In his current vision, the inside of the iron box was clearly visible.
However, the situation inside the box was not what Li Hai had imagined beforehand.
There were no high-tech weapons or armor inside, only dozens of thin, polygon-shaped disc-like objects of various colors, similar to large CD discs.
These Unknown polygon discs were all haphazardly stacked inside the iron box, some still intact, while others were already broken.
"It feels a bit like a USB drive."
Li Hai mumbled, "Could it be for storing some sort of data?"
As he muttered to himself, he saw lines of text, some blurry, some clear, similar to labels, on the surface of these discs.
Li Hai first looked at the few discs stacked on top, and on the surface of these disc-shaped objects, it was clearly written—
"Wu Xian Federation Military Intelligence Research Office... File No. 1"
"Qiongqi Sea Area No. 4 Prehistoric Civilization... Research Records"
"Yunding Plateau No. 8 Prehistoric... Relic Archaeological Research Records"
"Pixiu Mountain Range No. 5 Prehistoric Civilization... Research Records"
"Kuafu Riverbed No. 6... Relic Archaeology..."
"What is all this?!"
Li Hai's face was filled with bewilderment and shock, "Isn't the Wu Xian Federation already a prehistoric civilization? How can there be... even older prehistoric civilizations before them?
And... what are these No. 4, No. 8, No. 5, No. 6 relics? Are there really that many prehistoric civilizations? Then where did they all go?"