Sword of Dawn

"Yes, I guessed it," Gawain Cecil nodded lightly, "Dynasty has no eternity, and the kingdom that a group of refugees put together in a hurry is even more difficult to say how rich it is. There is no "valve" that can assist the royal family to maintain absolute authority like the Deep Blue Well, and there is no strict system and detailed historical materials passed down by the Gondor Empire for thousands of years. The pioneers are heroes, but what can the descendants of heroes be? They are only descendants That's all...we don't even dare to think about how rotten Ansu will be after decades, hundreds of years, or dozens of generations.

"So we thought at the time, if it was you, if you had actually seen the 'landscape' you described to me, then you probably wouldn't be able to stand the mess—and so what if it wasn't mess? Our generation The foundation laid by humans determines the upper limit of the kingdom's development, and this upper limit... is far from enough to fight against the tide of demons and gods.

"So it's gone when Ansu is gone. The living can't control the affairs behind him. Charlie never thought that the dynasty he created would last forever-of course, I don't know if he will still think so in his later years. Got it, after all he was very young when I left.

"But then again, what do you think? After inheriting my memory, when you overthrew that dying kingdom with your own hands, did you have any hesitation in your heart? Now standing in front of me, how do you feel about your original Do you have any doubts about your decision?"

"I didn't hesitate at all," Gao Wen smiled, looking at the figure in front of him calmly, "and after seeing you, I was so open-minded that I had no doubts - the dying kingdom is not worth keeping, and In my opinion, what you and Charlie have entrusted to me is not the 'Kingdom of Ansu', but what you have entrusted to me is the things in this land and their future. From this point of view, I think I have done a good job. it is good."

The phantom of Gawain Cecil's eyes widened in surprise. He stared at Gawain for a long time before suddenly laughing, and said while laughing: "If Charlie is here, it will definitely be because of you Clap your hands and applaud this sentence—how do you think he will evaluate your calmness?"

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "How would he evaluate it?"

The tall phantom took half a step forward, raised his hand and patted Gawain on the shoulder——

"Gao Wenqing is right."

Then, the phantom dissipated.

……

Gawain blinked, and he saw that he was in a giant city shrouded in chaotic sky. Rows of houses stretched out in the distance, and weird spiers pointed to the sky like a forest, and a majestic figure stood in front of him. In the center of this giant city, the figure was overlooking the land, a pair of amber eyes staring at him from the depths of the hazy clouds.

"It seems that you are done talking." Ms. Ye's voice descended from the sky, calm and gentle.

"How long have we been talking?"

"In a split second."

"I thought it was a long time ago..."

Ms. Ye's voice stopped for a moment, and after a few seconds of silence, he spoke again: "How do you feel? I regained my memory and saw the remaining consciousness again. Do you have anything to say?"

Gao Wen thought about it seriously, and as his expression gradually relaxed, he breathed a sigh of relief: "There is a sense of relief that has successfully stepped over a step in life and let go of a burden."

"That's good, I was still worried about whether these materials would cause trouble to you," Ms. Ye said with a hint of a smile in her voice, "Now it seems that my judgment is correct."

"Your judgment?" Gao Wen raised his eyebrows, "How did you judge?"

A voice descended from the sky: "You are more generous."

Gao Wen: "..."

At this moment, the Lady Ye in his eyes seemed to overlap for a moment with a certain shadow assault goose he was familiar with, but before he could think about anything, that lazy and majestic voice came from the sky again: "Okay, now that a private matter is settled, it's time for us to move on to the next step."

Gao Wen took a deep breath when he heard the words, the experience just now had made him realize that this "covenant of the ancient gods" was far more outrageous than he expected, and the Ms. He didn't know how many heart-challenging things were waiting for him. He straightened his expression and controlled his heartbeat, and then he raised his head and looked into the eyes of the sky: "What's next? A message from the sailor?"

"Oh, put that at the end—the next thing we're going to talk about is still your matter," Ms. Ye said with a chuckle, "Believe me, nothing about you is more important than the sailor or the fate of this world." Simple."

The other party's words made Gao Wen's expression immediately serious, and he frowned slightly: "What do you want to say?"

"Over the years, you have made many great achievements," Ms. Ye said unhurriedly, "Revitalize the southern border, unify the country, lead an era, and even integrate the civilization on this planet—you recovered the wasteland, You have defeated the gods, and now you will lead the world to fight against the demon tide and complete the last test before civilization marches towards the starry sky...

"What an astonishing achievement, and in many people's minds, these achievements are all in one person, so when you completed these great achievements, was there a moment, even if it was just a moment, that you realized that you have become... like a god?"

Chapter 1558 Like a God

Under the night, Gawain felt a chill penetrating into his soul.

Ms. Ye's amber eyes overlooked the earth from the sky. In the depths of the clouds, those eyes were as devoid of temperature and emotion as the evening skylight. Under the purest and calm gaze, Gawain instantly understood the other person The meaning is deep in the words.

He didn't speak for a while, but Ms. Ye obviously knew that the "mortal" in front of her was very clear about the meaning of her warning. After a moment's pause, he slowly spoke: "Your great achievements are countless, and there is your own wisdom in it And vision, there are also unrepeatable luck and situation promotion, and the efforts of many like-minded ordinary people, but most ordinary people will not distinguish these things ——Great Gawain Cecil The Great Emperor represents the brightest light of this era. Even though there are countless firewood under this light, it is only that brilliance that illuminates the world.

"And that's going to be a huge problem.

"Gao Wen, your arrival and activity have greatly promoted the progress of the world. You have accelerated many things that might have taken several generations to complete to a certain extreme. What you have done has exceeded the imagination of many people. You have lived in this world for many years, and you should be very clear about what the consequences will be when sentient beings face things beyond imagination."

Gao Wen listened quietly to Ms. Ye's words, and he didn't speak until the other party's voice fell silent: "The Theocracy Council will try its best to avoid this situation, and the widespread enlightenment of people's wisdom and the popularization of the concept of ideological trends will also eliminate the one you said. possible."

"Ah, the Theocratic Council, and a series of literacy campaigns you lead..." Ms. Ye said slowly, "Indeed, when I woke up from an uncontrollable sleep and saw these things appearing in the world I was taken aback. I admit that these are all effective means, especially the popularization of knowledge and the systematic analysis of the mechanism behind the gods. This is indeed a fundamental solution to the problem of 'divine disaster', but... …Gowon, you should know this will take time.

"You need at least one or two generations to complete the 'sinking' of literacy, and only after this sinking reaches the lowest level of the people, the most ignorant and isolated backcountry, can the shadow of divine disasters be truly controlled, but in before this?

"There is a time gap of several decades - especially when you lead the world to solve the crisis of the demon tide, your personal achievements will reach a peak, and the whole world will survive because of your leadership and blessing. By then How much energy do you have to check the cognition of every fool in the village and ordinary people in the mountains, and how much time do you have to guide ordinary people to look at you as the 'savior' with a calm and rational attitude?"

Gao Wen frowned tightly. It's not that he hadn't thought of this frightening possibility, and he had been using various methods to try to avoid this situation, but at this moment, Ms. Ye's attitude made him vaguely aware of the possibility. However, this shadow has not been really eliminated.

At the same time, he also heard Ms. Ye's voice continue to come: "Great man worship... This is a dangerous borderline between reason and blindness. If you take a step back, the people will see a great leader. Step forward, people see a savior from heaven, I know you have made a lot of efforts to prevent people from deifying you, this includes nationwide, and even world-wide literacy, including banning any form of Personal idolatry, especially for your personal idolatry, you even acquiesced to some... 'publications' that are not so friendly to your personal image, because these things can make you more like a living person in the eyes of the world , instead of a symbolic leader of steel, these efforts are not useless, but... not enough useful.

"Because you can only prohibit or promote something in form forever, you can't precisely control the minds of everyone in the world, even if under your guidance, the people maintain a rational and clear understanding of you on the surface , but what about in private? What about the backcountry where you can’t reach? In their hearts? There will always be people who think you are like a god, or even the incarnation of the savior. Even if they don’t exist now, there will be soon. .

"People's hearts are uncontrollable, and the scary thing is that this uncontrollable human heart will always turn into some kind of substantive disaster. The transformation process is slow but hard to stop, and it starts silently."

Gao Wen's expression became more serious than ever before, his face sank and his voice was low: "This kind of thing...has happened before?"

"Yes, it happened," Ms. Ye replied calmly. "The great leader is regarded as the incarnation of gods. The leader's denial and all efforts have had little effect. What's more sad is that he has indeed been successfully curbed during his lifetime. However, only ten years after his death, the world-wide remembrance and gratitude brought him back to life as a 'God'... Due to the huge contradiction between humanity and divinity, The wretched new god soon fell into madness, and I saw his end before my own eyes."

Gao Wen pinched his chin and fell into deep thought. The shadow in front of him made him feel very stressed.

Idolatry, personal deification... This is the last situation he wants to see, but the situation Ms. Ye said is irrefutable. He can indeed prohibit this kind of deification and worship from the form and the surface, but he It can't stop ordinary people (especially those who still occupy the majority of the population and have relatively backward and blind thinking) from the "superstitious imagination" of a great person in their hearts, and this kind of thing that happens at the level of the human heart... It is the most dangerous in this world.

Of course, he also knows that this kind of personal deification and idolatry will never be a long-term situation. One day the people will be enlightened and rational, and the wise people of future generations will learn how to correctly view a great figure in history, but the problem is that ... Before this day comes, his divine transformation may have been completed!

He was silent for a long time in his contemplation, but he was not thinking of a solution in vain—because this was not something he could come up with on the spot in a moment, and at the same time, he was more aware that since Ms. Ye chose to put this matter at this time If the matter is put on the table, it means that this ancient god should have already made arrangements. The reason why he has been meditating quietly for so long is just sorting out his thoughts, sorting out the existing information, adjusting his mentality, and preparing for the future. A "suggestion" to the ancient god in front of him.

Finally, his complicated thoughts calmed down again, and his mind was calmer than ever before. He raised his head and stared at the gaze in the mist: "Then what is your suggestion? You have told me so much, it should not just be Play it to scare people."

Behind the hazy mist, Ms. Ye seemed to have a smile on her face: "I do have a plan—but it requires your cooperation and your choice."

"Coordination and trade-off?" Gao Wen frowned, "What about the specifics? What should I do?"

"I can't tell you directly at this point in time, but you will know soon," Ms. Ye laughed, "First of all, I want to ask you a question... You know, this world has gone through many reincarnations , batches of gods have been born in civilization season after season, and because mortals have the same primitive awe of nature, these batches of gods are always repeated, then have you ever wondered why in After going through so many reincarnations, there has never been a new 'God of Shadow' born in this world, why is it that an 'old antique' like me is always in charge of the Shadow Domain?"

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, but he soon had an answer - because he had studied this question a long time ago: "Because the reflection of thought trends is exclusive. Thought trends can reflect new gods in blank areas, but they cannot reflect existing gods. The area covered by a new reflection—on this planet, you are already occupied by the Shadow Authority, and the thoughts of mortals in this regard cannot possibly shake your existence."

Speaking of this, Gao Wen himself stopped suddenly. He vaguely guessed what Ms. Ye meant: "You mean to say that if you occupy the 'position' in advance, you can avoid the problem of divine transformation?"

"It's a bit close, but it's not that simple," Ms. Ye said with a smile, "Our ultimate goal is to avoid a... what should I call the god you may be transformed into? Ah, it's called the God Emperor 'Okay - we want to avoid a god emperor, so we can't get a similar god to occupy this position even if it is to 'occupy the position', so we have to start from another angle-to keep you in prison Firmly fixed on the 'position of non-god', all thoughts that can point to the concept of 'God Emperor' should be blocked, and even let it become a 'vacuum' in the deep sea.

"In fact, this is the reason why I can always maintain my sanity while continuing to hold the authority of the shadows."

Gao Wen was originally full of thoughts about how the word "God Emperor" popped up, but when he heard the last sentence of the other party, he was suddenly stunned, and then he reacted: "You mean...that uses Anchor generators that sustain your existence?"

Ms. Ye's eyes fell to Gao Wen, and she smiled behind the clouds: "According to the information I collected after waking up, the satellite you live in is not in very good condition, even though you are walking around the world in a mortal body now. , but that satellite still maintains most of your thought threads, and on the other hand, if—I mean, if, someday, something happens to your body, you also need a more reliable vehicle to relocate Your soul, isn't it?"

Gao Wen's expression became weird: "So what you want to say is..."

"What I want to say is that now that you have taken over a lot of authority of Sky Station..." Ms. Ye said unhurriedly, "So should you consider moving in directly? My neighbor."

Gao Wen: "..."

He finally confirmed that Ms. Ye is indeed unreliable. Although the aura she exudes after she appeared is always mysterious and full of majesty, her painting style has always been hidden under the cover of coercion. The ground swayed from side to side—or why did the last few words of His sound more and more wrong? !

But after the initial astonishment and astonishment in his heart, Gao Wen quickly began to analyze the suggestion given by Ms. Ye with a serious attitude. He realized that this suggestion was not a joke. It's actually a very serious plan.

He looked at the sky, and his expression became extremely solemn: "You mean, you want to bind me to that 'anchor generator' like what the sailors did to you back then?"

"This is the simplest solution, and it is only possible because of your special situation," Ms. Ye did not deny, "Because you have merged with the legacy of the voyager, I can use a relatively simple solution to solve your problem." Hidden dangers on the body - not everyone can directly bind to the anchor point generator, there are some special existences, and it will take a lot of work for me to create a suitable 'anchor' for it."

Gao Wen's heart moved, and he immediately wanted to ask what the other party said about "special existence" and "creating a suitable anchor", but before he could speak, Ms. Ye directly led the topic: "Then what is your answer? ?My neighbor, do you want to consider 'moving'? Don't worry, this process is just a data level migration and rebuilding a series of mapping relationships, and will not affect any of your thinking or actions, and you will not even feel it happening What has changed—the only thing that has changed is that we have completely solved a hidden danger.”

Gawain was lost in thought.

He is indeed hesitating, but not the matter of "data migration" itself, because the situation is indeed as Ms. Ye said, the satellite he is currently serving as the main body has reached the end of its service, even under the lowest load. He will always receive error messages or warnings from satellites. Although he is indeed using the body of "Gavin Cecil" to survive now, once the satellite is completely scrapped, he himself will inevitably be greatly affected , not to mention what to do if something really goes wrong with his body.

In contrast, the situation of the Sky Station is of course much better. The service life of a semi-permanent space giant is by no means comparable to that of a small satellite. Even though the Sky Station has been in a dormant state for many years, the recent period Over time, the engineering team led by Nicholas has also sent back a lot of evidence, showing that the gradually waking space station is actually in a much better condition than Gawain imagined at the beginning.

Gao Wen even thought about whether it was possible to switch his "body" from the satellite to the sky station, instead of controlling the space station through a series of indirect jumps like now (this is very energy-consuming and troublesome), but he never found a way.

And now, the solution is at hand.

Except for one question - is this ancient god's suggestion really safe and reliable?

He looked into the amber eyes of the sky, and those amber eyes stared back at him.

He saw something familiar to him in those eyes.

After a certain sense of understanding, he nodded slowly: "How do we start?"

"The moment you nodded, it had already begun."

Gao Wen was slightly taken aback: "...Then the 'cooperation and trade-off' you mentioned just now refers to..."

"……you guess?"

After Ms. Ye's voice fell, a violent dizziness suddenly hit from all directions!

Confusion of the five senses, discontinuous thinking, wildly dancing lights and shadows, and massive amounts of data that could break the minds of ordinary people flooded Gao Wen's mind like a storm. At this moment, he even forgot his name and His own origin, forgetting himself, he kept falling in weightlessness, as if falling from the clouds into the abyss, and this terrible process lasted for an unknown amount of time.

But in the end, the wave of madness died down.

He opened his eyes and found that he was standing on the edge of a forest, and not far ahead were tents in the wilderness.

The Earthly Dawn is quietly floating in the sky.

Without warning, a voice suddenly appeared beside Gao Wen: "Old Zongzi! You finally came out!"

Gawain was startled by this sudden voice, he turned his head and saw Amber standing next to him, and the shadow mist behind him was gradually dissipating.

Chapter 1559 The Traveler

Looking at the amber that suddenly appeared, Gao Wen was in a daze for a moment. This was not only because he hadn't sensed the presence of the other party's aura at all, but also because of the storm-like confusion of perception and the information storm in his head before. He is still a little groggy now, and he roughly remembers what he saw and heard at Lady Ye, the memory fragments he regained, and the meeting with Gawain Cecil, but other than that, he always feels that He seemed to have forgotten something, and this disobedience made him frown.

So he stood on the spot and sorted out his state. After he calmed down a little, he breathed a sigh of relief, and his eyes fell on Amber: "Where did you go before? I haven't seen you and you since I arrived in the city of a thousand towers." Mordir... by the way, where is Mordir?"

"Modill and I came out a long time ago. He is resting in the camp at this time. I came here to check the situation when I sensed your presence." Amber grinned heartlessly and raised her head. Pointing to the direction of the camp, "We've been waiting here for you for three days—during this time, we've been wandering around Lady Ye's divine kingdom."

Gao Wen frowned: "Are you in Lady Ye's divine kingdom?"

"Yes, near the seat of God, He showed us many incredible things, such as ancient observation records, the equipment of the navigator, and so on. I'll chat with you later," Amber said with a smile, "Let's not talk about it for now. What about you? What did you see? What did Ms. Ye tell you? What are we going to do next?"

Gao Wen was startled, some fragments appeared in his memory, and then he shook his head: "I have recovered some past memories, but it is too much to explain, let's talk about it when I have a chance."

"Oh, let's talk about it when we have a chance," Amber waved his hand, "If there is nothing else, we have to pack up and return to China as soon as possible. There are still many things waiting for you to deal with on the alliance side. Now it is the mother star barrier. Critical phase of the plan..."

Gawain collected himself, nodded slightly, and followed Hu Po who had turned around and walked towards the camp.

……

The chaotic and unknown sky covered the shadowy giant city. Layers upon layers of buildings and towers stretched continuously in the foggy streets and alleys. On the streets with a faint mist floating, dusty travelers were walking slowly. Come to a door.

The worn-out robe and hood covered the face of the traveler. Only the slightly hunched body and the dry and old skin on the hands showed that this uninvited visitor to the city was no longer young. He stopped in front of the door, Looking up and seeing the signboard of fine wine and table knives hanging above the gate, he stretched out his hand to push the dark wooden door.

With a "squeak", the door opened in response. Behind the dark wooden door was an open tavern. The long bar was facing the direction of the door. A man with long silver hair and disturbingly pale skin was The girl who lowered her head to wipe the wine glass raised her head from behind the bar counter. Her eyes were as pale as her complexion, and her delicate but inhuman face was like an unpainted plaster sculpture. She stared at the traveler at the door. Nodding slightly, her slightly indifferent attitude made her look completely unqualified as a bartender.

And near the bar, there are several sets of tables and chairs, where the guests are drinking and chatting, the figures of each one seem hazy and unreal, their roughly human-shaped bodies are outlined by the undulating black mist, and the humming conversation between them is indistinct Unclear, as if a group of invisible clouds are communicating secrets that only madmen can know.

And among these shapeless drinkers, there are two or three special customers. These two or three people have the same silver-white hair as the girl behind the bar, and skin that is so pale that it is almost plaster—those shapeless like clouds The drinkers didn't respond to the travelers who appeared at the door, only the few people with silver-white hair and pale skin looked up and nodded to the travelers.

The traveler's hood also rose and fell slightly, and then he ignored the cloud-like and weird "guests", walked through the aisle between several tables, and came straight to the long bar.

The silver-haired girl behind the bar put down her work, picked up a wiped wine glass, turned around and poured a glass of fine wine with off-white foam and put it in front of the traveler: "You are so late - this glass of wine has been waiting for you for a long time gone."

The traveler looked at the wine glass in front of him with some hesitation, and took it up after a few seconds, an old voice sounded from under the hood: "Sorry, miss, my memory is not very good, I... don't remember myself There is an appointment, I just feel that I want to come to such a place, so I follow the feeling. Did I miss something?"

"You don't remember?" The silver-haired girl raised her eyebrows in surprise, but soon smiled, which also diluted her initial cold impression, "Ah, it's normal, after a long journey , people always forget something... It seems that you have traveled a long, long way?"

"Yes, I have walked a long, long way. I can't remember how long I have been walking," the traveler laughed and raised his glass. "The scenery here is incredible, especially this city. This city... seems to have no boundaries, and I even feel that I can explore it for a lifetime-ah, thank you for the wine, miss, this wine tastes really good."

"This shop is a specialty product, and the technology of brewing wine was passed down from my great-grandfather," the silver-haired girl said with a smile, then raised her head slightly, pointing to a certain direction in the bar, "Also, if you plan to finish your work in this city If you are on a journey, maybe you can talk to that person, that guest is looking for a partner on the journey, and she has been wandering here for a long time."

The old traveler raised his head, only to notice that there was another place in the corner of the bar, and a short figure who was also covered in a black cloak was sitting quietly in front of the window, and there was a strange haze outside the window Fog, the scenery on the street is blurred in the fog, and the short figure seems to blend with the surrounding shadows, maintaining an extremely thin sense of existence in this bar with many customers—if it is not for the hostess Mind you, he didn't even notice someone sitting there.

Without much hesitation, the old traveler picked up his glass of wine and walked towards the strange corner. He sat down in front of the short figure, whose hood moved slightly, and his attention seemed to fall on On the uninvited guest—the shadow of the hood still casts its face, but the traveler can feel the gaze from the other side.

"I heard that you are looking for a partner on the road," the old traveler said proactively, "I am an adventurer, and I have just arrived in this city not long ago, and I am also looking for someone to go on the road together... Do you have any goals? "

"I'm waiting for someone, or maybe I'm looking for someone," the short figure said, "I don't remember clearly, I only know that there is a very important person, and I got separated from him, and I have to get back to him as soon as possible." He got it back."

"Oh, that sounds important," the old traveler nodded. "Is there any characteristic of your friend? Maybe I have seen him once-don't look at me, I have traveled a lot place, met a lot of people.”

"He..." The short figure thought for a while, and slowly answered, "I just remember that he is very tall, and when he walks in front, he can almost block the sun like a wall, and when he walks in the summer, he is in his shadow. It would be cool in here, and he would scare people, saying he was going to slap people against the wall, but in fact he never used such violence, and..."

The short figure stopped, as if she was trying to sort out her vague memories. After a few seconds, she seemed to remember something, and her tone rose slightly: "Oh, I remember, he slept in a coffin..."

The old traveler was still on the chair, as if he couldn't keep up with the train of thought of the person in front of him, and it took a few seconds for his voice to come from under the hood: "It sounds like your friend... has wonderful hobbies. "

Immediately afterwards, he paused for two seconds, and then asked: "Then where are you going to find your friend? How are you going to find him?"

The short figure pondered for a moment, then stretched out his hand to under the table, and took out a shovel from under the table two or three times.

"I have to dig him out again."

The short figure said, with a hint of excitement and determination in his tone, and in the shadow cast by the hood, the traveler Mordir clearly saw a pair of amber eyes glowing slightly.