Sword of Dawn

Page 385

The seemingly endless illusions around him disappeared at some point, only the breeze blowing across the grassland under the night, and the white spider stopped at the middle of the mountain at some point. Some soft light shone on Gao Wen and Selena.

Suddenly, some irrelevant thoughts popped up in Gao Wen's mind——

It turns out that the "divinity" of the upper-level narrator...doesn't have eyes...

A gentle and familiar voice entered Gawain's mind at this moment: "Duwart... has disappeared..."

It was Naritil's voice, and Gawain was not surprised at all.

"Give up, Naritil, or should I call you an upper-level narrator?" Gawain shook his head, "I know, I know you long for the outside world, but you should feel it now, you don't belong there, someone like A god like you forcibly coming to reality can only bring millions of deaths, and it is difficult for you to be safe—you are the reflection of the dream, but those who prayed to you in the dream no longer exist .”

The white spider was silent for a few seconds before the voice sounded again: "They are all here..."

The huge jointed limbs moved to the side, and several white cocoons were tightly protected on the spider's chest and abdomen.

She has been carefully carrying and protecting these cocoons throughout her climb to the stars.

While seeing those cocoons, Gao Wen already understood many things.

"So that's what Duvalte said..." Selena also reacted, and said with a complicated tone, "We've always wondered where the avatars in the No. [-] sandbox have gone, so..."

"I want to take them outside," the white spider said softly, "because they all want to go outside, so I think so too..."

"No wonder... no wonder the upper-level narrators have undergone changes such as madness, division, and death..." Selena's voice was extremely low, as if talking to herself, "All of us are paying attention to the three thousand people who entered the network. testers, but...there are millions of avatars in the sandbox world...to you, they are also 'real'..."

The white spider didn't speak, neither denied nor admitted.

As the archbishop who has a deep understanding of the sandbox system and the mysteries of the soul, Selina finally pieced together the part of the truth that she had never been able to figure out before.

On the side, Gao Wen had already dealt with the knowledge of the gods a lot, and he had also obtained a large amount of inheritance from rebels. At this moment, he thought of something more: "Because I realized that most of the 'people' in the world are virtual The illusion that comes out, the upper-level narrator will fall into madness and die in madness, and this will cause him to split, making his human part and divine part into two individuals... It is precisely because of this Only through the process of death and division can you get rid of the shackles of the original "upper narrator's belief" and be able to devour the minds of the entire world without affecting your own existence, and put them all into those few In 'cocoon'... am I right?"

The white spider gently moved one of its long legs, and made a low and pleasant voice: "You know a lot..."

"Do you really think this will be successful?" Gao Wen frowned, "Even if you bring them to the real world, so what? They have no body, no material basis, and even no conditions to become a spirit body. They were born from sand. The box can only rely on the sandbox to maintain its existence—you are a god, but they are not, these cocoons will disappear as soon as they enter reality, have you ever thought about this?"

"...I don't know, and I don't care," Naritel said in a low voice, "They want to get out, and so do I, and that's all..."

In the seemingly gentle and calm words, the huge white spider slowly raised its upper body, and a shocking hostility finally emanated from this powerful divine creature.

However, Gao Wen just shook his head regretfully - it seems that there is no room for relaxation.

"Naritil," he said, facing the hill, gazing at the young god, "you will die, there will be no new divisions, no resurrection.

"You know how Duarte disappeared, and you should also know that I have established a connection with you through him.

"I have the ability to completely disintegrate you."

"I know," Naritel said softly, "That might be fine..."

Between Gawain and Naritil, the endless light suddenly turned into a torrent, scouring the entire plain, scouring the last territory of this false world.

……

The violent shaking awakened Orendelle before dawn, and countless residents woke up from their dreamless sleep, looking in horror at the land that was said to have been cursed, and in the direction of Orendelle's Throat.

They heard the low whistling sound coming from the collapsed valley, and the resonant sound that seemed to be shouted by countless people echoed on the plain outside the valley. It seemed that a huge force was brewing in the throat of Orendelle. At the last moment before dawn, it began to beat like a heart.

A ray of sunlight appeared on the distant horizon, and the magnificent crown of the giant sun seemed to be protruding from there. In this thin halo, under the light of the remaining stars in the sky, someone saw a spider-like illusory The giant shadow is climbing the hill at the edge of Orendelle's Throat...

The final moment seemed to have arrived, and Archbishop Semler subconsciously clenched the battle staff in his hand.

Disturbing whistling sounds echoed throughout the underground palace. The transparent illusory limbs mentioned by Magnum finally solidified to the point that all ordinary priests could clearly see them. Walking through it, every time a huge transparent limb passed the hall, there would be a low exclamation.

The prayer resonance of the brain servants had been successfully prevented by Magnum before, but this seemed to only delay the arrival of the upper-level narrator. He was still persistently squeezing into the real world, as if he would never give up until the last moment.

"This is the last moment..." Yuri muttered under his breath, "We've done everything we can..."

Wendy took a light breath and walked to a corner of the hall: "I'll go take care of the wounded."

"The Pope has just sent the last news that the stability of the sandbox system and the spiritual network have reached the limit," Semler said in a deep voice, "Next he will use all his strength to resist the arrival of the upper-level narrator. If the shock of his soul disappears...we will face death in peace."

Yuri looked ahead calmly: "I hope..."

A whistling sound that shocked the soul more than before suddenly reverberated throughout the underground palace, and at the same time, there was a strong building shock, which interrupted Yuri's unfinished sentence.

He raised his head subconsciously, and saw Archbishop Semler who was also dazed.

……

The nameless flowers and plants turned into ashes, the earth and rocks disintegrated in the air, and the rising black smoke covered the sky, making the starry sky dim.

The power supporting this false world at the last moment finally fell, and the entire sandbox began to irreversibly die.

The nameless grassland began to disintegrate, rapidly collapsing from the edge to the center, and the holy white spider also rolled down from the hill, and fell to the ground together with the cocoon she desperately tried to protect.

At the last moment, she wove layers upon layers of spider silk, bound and stabilized those cocoons again, without causing them any damage, as if it was her instinct to exist in this world.

The warm and bright lights spread out, dispelling the rising smoke and spreading flames. Gawain came to the side of the white spider that had lost the power to fight back, and looked at the bright light on her head.

Before he could speak, Naritil's voice entered his and Selena's minds.

"In the earliest days, they lived and thrived on this grassland... At that time, it was not a desert, and there was no Nim Sandro..."

At this moment, Selina finally recognized the terrain here, and knew where the faint sense of familiarity came from. She subconsciously looked around and identified the land that was sinking into darkness: "This is... no wonder I feel so familiar..."

This land was originally "edited" by her and Megal III together.

But that was a long time ago, so long that she had forgotten the original appearance of this place.

"Duwart once asked me, if everyone is content in this land, will everyone not have to face this end...All beings can live in the center of the stage in peace and joy, as long as they don't touch the border, this world is for everyone It's true...

"Poets can imagine the world beyond the ocean and the world between the stars, and sailors can have rich harvests in the near sea, and don't care about the sea edge that gets weirder and weirder as they go farther away...don't have any With too much curiosity, the world will be beautiful forever...

"I can't always give him the answer, I'm too stupid... But I think, the creators who created all this must know more...

"O Creator... You created this world, and you created us. What is the purpose of all this... Can you tell me what you want us to do?"

Naritil's voice was low and soft, and Selena fell into a long silence in front of this simple inquiry.

After a lot of thought, she raised her head and stared at the aimless face of the upper narrator.

"This is just an experiment, just... an experiment..."

Every word of her seemed to be exhausted.

Two seconds later, the white and holy spider finally let out a soft sigh: "Ah, thank you... I finally heard the answer from the mouth of the Creator with my own ears."

"Naritiel," Gawain couldn't help but took a step forward, "Actually, I can still..."

"Can you give me some time?" The upper narrator's voice came softly, "I want to...see the stars."

"Stars?" Gao Wen raised his head in astonishment, but he could only see a dark and chaotic sky without any stars.

And when he looked back, the white spider god and the cocoon she had protected until the last moment... had already begun to turn into specks of light.

……

The howling in the valley stopped, and the tremors of the earth also calmed down.

The residents of Orlandle walked out of their homes with uneasiness and fear, walked onto the street, asked each other about the situation, and looked in the direction of Orlandle's Throat in unison.

In the dim light of the sky, some children exclaimed.

In the outline of the rising sun, it seems that a nearly transparent giant spider climbed up the nearby rocks little by little, and climbed up to the high ground at the edge of the valley, where it stopped quietly, carefully pushing the cocoon-like thing to the front .

The last bit of starlight in the sky shone, reflected on the spider's increasingly illusory torso. He greeted the last starlight of the day, and seemed to give a vague admiration. Many people heard the illusory voice ringing in their minds , but was at a loss for the voice——

"Here, the story ends..."

Then the morning sun rose, and the brilliance of the huge sun shone on the earth. Everything dissipated like a dream, and there was only a thousand zhang glow in the sky and the earth.

Chapter 0819 Thinking about the Future

When the sun rises, a story that lasted for 520 years and three years ended. At the end of the story, the gods did not come to the real world, and the fragile and insignificant human beings survived the disaster again—the stories of many people continued. continued downward.

Semler held his battle staff tightly, and stood for a long time in the center of the hall, surrounded by countless priests and knights who held their breath and looked exhausted. The information from the surface had been sent to the Archbishop just now, but it seemed that The weird phenomenon that confuses the reality of the dream made him still afraid to confirm the final result. He and everyone were still waiting quietly with nervousness.

In the short moment when the morning sun spread across the entire Orlande area, the priests seemed to have been waiting for a century.

Then, dots of starlight finally appeared in everyone's field of vision, floating in the sky above the hall.

Semler heard an old and tired voice coming into his mind: "It's over... my fellow citizens, we are safe."

This is the voice of Megal III.

After a brief silence, belated cheers suddenly resounded throughout the hall!

"Successful!! We stopped a god!" "Extraterritorial Wanderer and Archbishop Selina, they succeeded!" "We survived, we survived!!"

Amidst the cheers from all around, Wendy, who was taking care of the wounded, slowly straightened up. The pollution in the depths of her spirit was receding. She felt that her soul had finally regained its freedom. She raised her head and saw that Yuri in the distance is also casting his gaze.

"We succeeded..." Wendy slowly raised the corners of her mouth and said with a heartfelt smile.

Yuri showed a complicated smile, he took a light breath, and muttered in a low voice as if telling himself: "...We haven't destroyed this world after all."

A stream of light suddenly appeared in the center of the hall, and as the stream of light converged, a lantern gathered in everyone's sight, followed by a female figure holding a lantern.

"Bishop Selina," Sammler immediately greeted the figure, "you saved the entire church again..."

The halo around Selena gradually dissipated. Of course, she is just a projection reflected in the consciousness of the people around her. Facing Archbishop Semler, the saint with the lamp shook her head slightly: "This time, I am not the one who saved the Church."

"Ah, the Outer Territory Wanderer..." Semler immediately realized, "Where is He now?"

"The wanderer from outside the territory has gone back temporarily. After all, he is just a projection in our spiritual network, and he will contact us again soon," Selina said softly, her eyes slowly sweeping across the entire hall, those cheers The priest, the tired but excited knight, and the attendants who survived the catastrophe came into her eyes one after another. Finally, she lowered her eyelids, "Thanks to your hard work in the real world, we can achieve the final success."

Semler looked at Selena strangely, and he found that the archbishop's expression was complicated, and his emotions didn't seem to be as relaxed and uplifting as the others, which made him deeply confused: "Archbishop Selena, you look...it seems Something on your mind?"

Selena thought of the figure chasing the stars in the night, and thought of the most difficult question she had ever answered in her life. She was silent for a long time before finally shaking her head: "I'm fine, just suddenly a little confused."

"Puzzled?"

"Archbishop Semler, what do you think is the greatest instinct of a civilization?"

"Instinct?" Semler was lost in thought in the face of this strange question. After a while, he said with some uncertainty, "Is it the continuation of itself?"

"What about continuation of oneself?" Selina asked again, "Beyond living..."

"I...don't know," Semler shook his head, "In my opinion, it's hard enough for us to continue in this world."

"That's right." Selena paused for a second, then shook her head with a sudden smile of relief, "and this itself is not your field of expertise."

From Selena's reaction, Semler deduced that this "Saint" must have experienced something in the confrontation with the upper-level narrator, and then suddenly revealed this sentimental state, but it is obviously not to ask these questions at this moment. when it comes to details.In the cheering and festive atmosphere that filled the surroundings, he was the first to calm down, and asked, "Archbishop Selina, now that the threat of 'God's Fall' has subsided, should we consider the future of the church?"

"Of course," Selena nodded and restrained her emotions, "Although the situation is exciting, there may not be much time left for us to celebrate.

"I also saw the news from the surface just now. The influence of the upper-level narrators has spread to the real world. There are too many witnesses to the movement of the Throat of Orendelle. I am afraid that news about this will soon reach Rose. In the ear of the tower - this headquarters is no longer safe.

"According to the previous plan drawn up by the Pope, we must immediately start the transfer of the headquarters. All members will leave, abandon this palace, take away all the research materials and materials that can be brought, and destroy those that cannot be taken on the spot. Destroy the central pillar, the elemental shell, and the upper dome without leaving any clues.

"The strongholds set up in the empire will also be transferred. Under the chaos, informers and traitors will soon appear. If necessary, we must be prepared to abandon all strongholds.

"All compatriots have gone into hibernation and will no longer carry out any church activities. They are waiting for a unified order, and according to the previous plan, they will be transferred to Cecil in batches-this work can be handed over to Yuri."

Selena said one by one, and Semler listened with a serious expression, nodded slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Things have finally come to this point... It's a pity that after 700 years of operation, they returned to origin."

"It's better than total annihilation," Selina shook her head, "and we still have at least 700 years of accumulated knowledge, and a new force willing to accept us, so it's not like we've completely returned to the original point."

"What about the Psychic Network?" Semler asked again.

"...After losing the support of the facilities here, the operation of the spiritual network will be greatly affected, but fortunately its foundation is based on our brains, as long as there are enough priests alive, it can still maintain a low limit of operation, "Selena has obviously thought about this issue, and immediately replied, "After the transfer begins, the mind network will maintain the basic mode, and the city of dreams will not be opened until we establish a new headquarters in Cecil. His Holiness the Pope In the process of maintaining the sandbox, the wear and tear is very high. Next, he will spend most of his time recuperating and recovering. The network affairs will be managed by me and Archbishop Daniel—mainly me, Archbishop Daniel is now in Aldernan, considering When it comes to security issues, he will only provide technical support."

"Well, I understand," Semler nodded and said, "In this way, as long as the psychic network is still there, it will be much easier to coordinate."

Afterwards, Selena looked to the other side of the hall, to the computing node hall where the brain servants were located, and her eyes fell on the observation windows and the open gate.

Semler noticed her gaze, and before she could speak, he said with a trace of emotion: "Archbishop Magnum... please rest assured, we will take him with us."

Selena shook her head and said softly, "No, take everyone."

"All..." Semler was in a daze for a moment, then frowned, "You mean all the brains? I'm afraid... no, this will definitely consume more manpower and material resources, and will affect certain transfers schedule……"

"I know, but I have already calculated everything that is needed. Our time is indeed limited, but as long as we do our best, we still have enough leeway to transfer all the brains to a backup safe base," Selina looked at Semler eyes, this may be the most irrational moment in her hundreds of years, but she will not affect the overall situation because of the flood of sensibility. To Orlandaille South County, Juniper County, Enchhawk County and Tarren Kings area. Cecil Railway Investment Company will help us arrange trains or hidden carriages, and the relevant lines will be dredged in the near future, and everything will be properly arranged."

"...But I'm afraid it can only transfer part of it." Semler frowned. "The key is that not only are there brain servants here, but also in more remote strongholds, outside the railway line invested and controlled by the Cecilians, there are also There are several nodes that are used to maintain other sandboxes - it's much harder to move immobile bots than normal people."

"As much as you can transfer, you can transfer as much as you can," Selina said, "If you can't transfer, try to choose a place to maintain it."

"Choose a place to maintain? Is there any point?" Semler frowned again, "The psychic network itself does not need brain servants, they are just used to maintain the sandbox system. Now the zeroth project has been terminated, and in the future It is impossible to activate it again, these brain servants..."

He looked at Selena in confusion, but only saw a pair of deep, calm eyes, unable to analyze her specific thoughts and emotions.

Selena closed her eyes, as if thinking.

This is a kind of repayment, an atonement for this wrong path; this is a kind of self-liberation, the first step in bringing the sect of the Sleeper back to the right path; it is also a meaningful remedy, and Cecil has obtained the death of all things Knowing biochemical technology, where not all brain servants have no possibility of cure...

But at the moment, she has a more important reason, which is more convincing to everyone.