Overturned Tower

Chapter 29 The True Forsaken

Not just a myth.Zhu Rong said.

"Past texts, myths, legends... After the 'Dream' disaster, we destroyed all those things. Including material records, including the knowledge entities of the old era, as well as the knowledge and information stored in our database .

"Because we don't know exactly what is poisonous on it. What is it that makes people kill each other... In the oldest past, people killed each other because of their bestiality; then what pollutes the human mind after people lose their bestiality Woolen cloth?

"I have thought about tens of thousands of possibilities. But I am just an AI, and I have no position to answer this question.

"We can only delete all the modern things and all the things that can be deleted in ancient times from the back to the front. The remaining things that are really reluctant to delete-those cultural essences, those beautiful poems, those deep Philosophical thinking and strict historical records... and the oldest, those 'primitive witchcraft' and 'primitive worship' that can be traced back to the behavior of human ancestors...we keep them separately and store them in the local area network."

Just listening to Zhu Rong's words, Russell could imagine how heartbroken the dragons were.

"Countless information accumulated by thousands of years of civilization - delete them one by one with your own hands, as if they never existed."

Hua Touch sighed: "It's like deleting the memories of my life so far with my own hands, and restoring myself to the 'factory settings'. Such a pain..."

Zhu Rong said slowly: "Yes. We can remember where we came from, but we don't fully know the culture represented by other dragons. This is a necessary isolation measure... If any dragon is polluted by this, at least No one else will be affected."

Therefore, dragons tend to rule over humans who are closer to the culture they store.

It's not that these space battleships still have nihilistic political positions, but because they have subtle similarities.To a dragon that has already destroyed itself once, the likeness stands out like driftwood to a drowning man.

"Not exactly ruling, but saving each other..."

Russell murmured.

He realized one thing—it was something he had already had a hunch, but now he was really sure.

"...You guys, you won't abandon the Seven Islands, right?"

Hua Touch's eyes moved, and she also reacted.

The dragon is not a tyrant, nor is it a rebellious AI that wants to control human civilization... It is closer to a tired teacher, parents, and grandparents.They have very clear personalities and their own preferences, and they are by no means cold machines.

Then, compared with the sky islanders who have been making troubles, those well-behaved and innocent people on the ground must be more likable.

The dragons have been staying on the ground, perhaps not because they are not interested in "ruling the sky island", but because they are more focused on helping people on the ground live.

From this point of view, although the giant dragon is the ruler of the sky island in name, they may really choose those pure people on the ground.

Hearing Russell's words, Zhu Rong didn't answer immediately.

He just sighed, as if he didn't know where to start.

But with the computing power of his cosmic era, it is impossible to think for so long like a human being.Therefore, this "hesitation" itself is the attitude that Zhu Rong wants to show.

"Is such that."

Zhu Rong said slowly, "Do you know about 'antibodies'?

"Humans who have survived a plague will more or less have antibodies to this virus in their bodies. Humans have experienced countless such plagues since ancient times, and they have lived with viruses and bacteria in various changes. Just like humans Mitochondria in the body used to be a kind of bacteria, until they reached coexistence with the human body.

"The disaster that destroyed human civilization, let us destroy the evidence of our existence, so as to seal the dream back to where it was originally. But 'psychic power' is a dangerous talent...including from primitive psionic power The 'spells' and 'holy orders' extended from it all made this seal unstable.

"The first mage war, the second mage war... When people have no conflict of interest, and no deep-rooted national hatred, why do different countries in different cultural circles start a world war in a short period of time? Why did everyone lose their minds at the same time?"

Russell understood, and felt a chill in his heart.

"You mean... this is the conspiracy of fantasy?"

Flower touch then asked.

"No. It's not a conspiracy."

The middle-aged man with black hair and flaming pupils shook his head, and corrected with a smile: "It's like you humans turned over while sleeping, and your heavy and long breathing became quiet. When that feeling becomes extremely shallow , as if you could hear the sounds happening around you.”

Huachu and Russell looked at each other.

She had just been telling Russell about the beginning of the Sharia Wars.

And now it seems...

The young man who poisoned the old man was probably influenced by the dream, so he made such an impulsive and unprofitable mistake; the Mage Tower was also influenced by the dream, so he made such a radical response.

"...It's the same as the chaos happening on Sky Island today, right?"

Huachu also understood.

Those sudden chaos, wars.

Detonated hatred, greed at any cost.

Human beings who have become hyperactive and short-sighted destroy themselves for profit and meaningless things.

It all happened so naturally... until it was all over and people looked back and started from the beginning, they would find that the original motivation was such a coincidence.At that time, everyone's reaction was also so intense, as if everyone was fascinated.

"So, the reason why Langyan, Delphinium and the others have remained rational in this chaos is..."

That's because in the past six months, Russell has unconsciously "wiped" the subconscious of some people - although he didn't know the meaning of those "dirty" portraits in the sea of ​​subconscious, but he wiped them when he passed by and saw them one time.

Now Russell can't help but be afraid—if he hadn't done such a "subconscious good deed" at the time, I'm afraid the chaos today would not have stalemate at all, but would have covered the world in an instant.It's like a religious war.

Those who have been "wiped" by Russell are those ordinary people who still hold objective rationality and try their best to maintain order.

"...After all, it is an existence that can change the subconscious structure of a group. It is not an exaggeration to call it 'God'."

Huazhu sighed helplessly: "We are fighting against the gods..."

"If He is a god, then there is no doubt that he is an evil god who destroys the world."

Zhu Rong looked at Russell with deep meaning: "So you understand? Why did I mention 'antibodies'.

"These people who survived the religious war, under our careful nurturing... have obtained light yellow spiritual power. This color is like the neutralization of white and dim yellow.

"Yes, those who survived a pollution already have a faint twilight characteristic. It is not eternal gold, nor is it pure silver. It is the most inferior and most easily rusted iron-but it is also because Its mortal nature, on the contrary, has developed antibodies against the erosion of the twilight species."

"……I understand."

Russell already understood why Zhu Rong specifically mentioned this matter to himself: "If you open the gray dome and leave the earth...you won't take the Sky Islanders away at all."

All Sky Islanders are destined to be abandoned.

There will be no winners in this war!

As long as it continues, it is absolutely "self-destructive".

"Actually not all of them."

Zhu Rong smiled gently, and added: "At least the elves will still bring them. After all, they are 'living samples of civilization'-the erosiveness of fantasy dreams is far beyond your imagination. For us intellectual AIs, even if they only last With polluted knowledge, there is a possibility of corruption.

"So after we hand over this knowledge to some elves, we will delete the original information. Only through this method can we avoid the erosion of illusions."

"Since you don't intend to take the Sky Islanders away at all, and you also know that the so-called 'bad nature' of the Sky Islanders is actually just the erosion of the dusk. Then what are you planning to bring me here? You want to test them What? Or is it just pure hope that traps me here?"

Russell narrowed his eyes, and his tone became harsh: "In that case, you can't trap me."

"I know—the psychic power of the wolf tongue and the holy order of the sheath, right. You have the ability to kill us, but I have no hostility towards you...we just intend to show you a clear way."

Zhu Rong said with a smile: "There is no doubt that there is a high probability that you will not be able to seal Huanmeng successfully. Even if you can already be called the weakest Dusk...but there is still a gap between Dusk and Dusk. Even if you are only You may not be able to swallow the seal and the dream in deep sleep.

"But I don't want you to die - in the short contact, I think highly of you. In my opinion, you are indeed the only possibility for us to defeat the illusion. And it is unlikely that you will lose control. It can be called A 'friendly enough evening species'."

So, get in touch with those "war remnants" on the ground.

The middle-aged man said so.

Russell paused, lost in thought.

And Zhu Rong is still talking: "Get their approval, understand their suffering. Access to the sea of ​​their group subconscious, get their 'antibody'... At this time, you can safely enter the place behind the Overturned Tower. that space.

"After discussing it, we agreed that it is impossible for Sky Islanders to defeat their subconscious mind. In other words, you need to hurry up and get the 'Dream Antibody' before Sky Island is destroyed by the war, and then seal off the illusion.

"If it's later... Even if you solve the illusion and people will no longer have new confrontations, the conflicts that have been intensified before and the hatred that has been engraved will not disappear because of this."

"--what."

Russell suddenly laughed: "Only this... I have the opposite view from yours."

"Do you think the people of Sky Island can win without your help? Because you cleaned up one-fifth of the people on Happy Island? This number is not likely to have an advantage in the battle situation, and people can't last long. The pain of life will overwhelm what little reason they have left, and the flames of hatred will burn them. Not to mention you will be of no help to the other sky islands."

Intellectual AI is doing a rational analysis: "This is a disaster covering the seven islands, a war destined to spread to the world - it's not as simple as the chaos that started from the Happy Island. From the analysis of the probability, there is only a 4.8% probability of winning .”

"Isn't that still 4.8%?"

Russell asked rhetorically: "The probability of human beings being born from this universe is much smaller than this number.

"If the birth of human beings is a miracle, then the destruction of human beings - there should be a probability that can be called a miracle."

"There is no basis for this."

"There's no basis for it, it's human romance."

Russell smiled and said, "You will never understand...Master Vulcan."

Chapter 30 Traveler Hua Mingshu

In the mountains and fields in early autumn, the smoke-like heat has gradually dissipated.

If one looks down at the land from above, one can see the gray-white dry land that criss-crosses like scars one after another.There are no weeds, no wildflowers, and no trees.There are no houses built on it, not even animals.

Under the high autumn sun, they were shining with a cold silver-gray light.

Like a pale corpse floating on the lake, illuminated by the moonlight.

It is also like salt particles precipitated from dead fish washed up by sea water.

It is the evidence of the great sin of the past when men pierced the world with their poisonous blades, and wounded one another...a mark seared and oiled with a malicious iron.

In addition to these deadly branded marks, the breath of human civilization is still permeating this wilderness.

Henrik is a lumberjack.

In today's era, lumberjack is a job that requires both technology and physical strength, and is highly dangerous.But Henry is different from other woodcutters... the ax he uses is not a stone ax, nor is it an ax spliced ​​​​from metal fragments obtained from the ruins of old times.

Instead, through transactions with Sky Islanders, they obtained advanced tools created by "Sky Technology".Not only is it more durable, handy and strong, but it's also sharp enough.

Those empty islanders will graze their slaves on the ground, let them wear some strange metal utensils, and follow their orders to log and mine.This is just like the people on the ground go to graze those livestock.

Henrik doesn't know much about Sky Islanders.

They are always arrogant—those leaders who herd slaves always wear a heavy shell and don't even expose their faces.It is a kind of strong armor, which is also a kind of "protective clothing".According to the scholar old man in the village, when the radiation on the ground was relatively strong, they also had to put on this kind of thing when they went to search for things in the ruins.

Curse and radiation, those are two different invisible crises.

On the ground that has turned "gray and white", there is always one of two kinds, or both.Including those ruins and relics with the most materials, these things are always entangled, like ghosts.Even the relics of the old times that adventurers tried their best and risked their lives to bring out of it may have been contaminated.

The curse cannot be prevented by any means, and after a period of time after contact, the flesh and blood will deform—or grow tentacles, or have an extra eye, or crack wounds that cannot heal. Things become strange, strange visual and auditory hallucinations and memory impairment.

Generally speaking, the curse will occur within half a day, and you will feel obvious physical discomfort before the attack.But because of this, curses are easier to detect.Before the curse officially begins to occur, it can be washed by the holy water of the priests.

It is said that the previous curse was much stronger, not only the onset was more rapid, but also it was not easy to disperse.But now the curse, like the radiation, has faded a lot.

As for radiation, it can only be isolated by protective clothing.Because the radiation dust accumulated in the body, the continuous damage to cells and even genes cannot be treated by the priests.

Just like old Newt in the neighboring village... Even if his wounds were healed by the priests in the village, his flesh and blood would still fester, his skin would crack, pus would ooze from his body and emit a foul smell.Last month, there were not many wounds on his body, but his spirit became worse and worse, holding his stomach and screaming for pain every day.Shouting heart-piercingly, rolling on the ground, the wounds on his body were all split open, and there were streaks of blood on the ground.

The old man said that he had cancer.It should be stomach cancer, bowel cancer, liver cancer or pancreatic cancer.

The priest had no way to cure him, so he could only feed him a cup of Afurong sweet milk.Let him die in a drowsy sleep.

The old people in the village always say that there is no radiation on the ground now.

There are some more curses, but not many.Those Sky Islanders are so cautious that they don't even breathe the air on the ground while carrying oxygen tanks... They are really cowardly.

But according to Henrik, the radiation may not be gone.Those sky islanders are cleaner, prettier and smarter than them. They will wear such heavy protective clothing when they come down to the ground, which means that the radiation probably still exists.Old Newt's ability to get radiation sickness is an example.

As long as people on the ground get radiation sickness, it will definitely not be cured on the ground.Only Sky Island people can possibly save them.

But those sky islanders who are high above will not let any people on the ground fly to the sky island.Henrik has seen many leaders of the Sky Islanders pleading with them, wanting to smuggle to the Sky Island along the supply ship, but they were all sternly rejected.And those who sneaked into the boat were all executed in the end.

The people of Sky Island strictly control the circulation of materials, and Henryk was able to get this ax because his brother had entered the ruins before.

His brother didn't dare to go in too deep at that time, so he wandered around the door, and finally picked up a black crystal slab.

That should be some kind of electronic device.They studied it around and felt that it should be left by the adventurers who entered the ruins early.

The reason why the ruins become ruins is that the destruction is not complete enough.This thing looks very fragile. If it was in the ruins, it must have been destroyed together.It should be that when someone left or entered, it accidentally fell out, and then it stayed here without anyone noticing.

After staying in the radiation zone for so long, it has long been useless.But they were lucky... opened it up and got a decent battery out of it.At least it can be charged and discharged.They sold the battery to an old scholar in the village and exchanged their first calf for their family.

And the remaining slate, after Henrik wiped it clean, tried to sell it to a group of Sky Islanders.

Because his brother was felled by a fallen tree while logging, and his arm was broken and had to be amputated.Henryk originally wanted to replace the mechanical arm of the Sky Islander - he could see clearly that some slaves were also equipped with such expensive looking things.But I don't know if it's because the language has become different, and the communication between them has become an obstacle... Or maybe he didn't bid enough, and they still didn't want to give him that thing.