The Frost Moon is coming to an end, and the cold winter has arrived in the northern countries of the continent.
The cold north wind howled through the city streets, causing sharp whistles in the gaps between the buildings. The snow on the roofs was blown off by the wind, flying in the air into a hazy curtain. curtain, as if a new snowfall is coming.
And all of this is blocked by thick walls, laminated crystal glass and heating systems.
Gawain was sitting in the study, flipping through a recreational book about the descriptions of gods and monsters in the Northern Continent. He was holding a dip pen in his other hand, casually sketching out some of the things that came to his mind on the draft paper. Picture and inspiration, the sound of the wind whistling outside is filtered by the glass, and when it enters the room, only a faint reverberation remains. This reverberation is mixed with the low and slow music coming from the magic device in the corner of the room, making it even more exciting. Calm down.
Betty stood quietly by the desk, folding her hands on the apron of the maid uniform, lowering her head and nodding her head, snoring slightly.
Gawain glanced at Betty who was dozing off, couldn't help but smile and shook his head, and returned his attention to the random sketch, but he suddenly felt something strange in the hand holding the pen. There was a soft touch, accompanied by a soft "pop" sound. Looking down, he saw that the tip of the dip pen that had been used for a long time was cracked, and the leaked ink was falling on the paper along the crack, spreading a stain. trace.
Gawain frowned, put the broken dip pen aside, and looked at the lines drawn on the paper - the winding river flows quietly, and there are antique bricks and tiles on the river bank. House, a small stone bridge spans the river. The sunset casts rays of light along the eaves of the houses on the water.
The scattered ink stains are spreading on the small stone bridge, as if they are gradually swallowing up the picture.
Gawain casually crumpled the draft paper into a ball and threw it aside. The door of the study room opened almost at the same time, and Amber pushed the door open and walked in.
Betty, who was taking a nap, suddenly woke up and stood up straight, but after seeing who it was, she yawned again and relaxed.
Gawain raised his head and glanced at the half-elf lady who came in through the door, and couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth: "...It's really cold."
"...Ah ?" Amber heard this sentence before she opened her mouth, and she couldn't react immediately, "Why do you say this suddenly?"
Gawain pointed to the window: "In this season, you don't even go out of the window. "
When Amber heard this, he immediately put his hands on his hips and stared: "Nonsense! It's still windy on this cold day. I have to brave the wind and snow to climb to your second floor window. The risk of being locked out by you, I'm not crazy!"
As she said this, she saw the paper ball on Gao's desk - as we all know, Amber is a very curious species - so She couldn't help but came closer curiously. After judging from Gawain's eyes that it was not a secret, she casually opened the paper ball, only to see that it was just a strange picture.
"What kind of place is this... just nowDuo Empire? Did the sun appear smaller..." Amber blinked, "What a strange architectural style, and it looks pretty good... But judging from the shape of the building, it shouldn't be from the northern region, right? Where do you plan to promote it? "
"It's just a random drawing, just think of it as my imagination," Gawain flicked the paper in Amber's hand with his fingers, and the drawing depicting the scenery of another world fell silent. The ground turned into dust, "Let's not talk about it for now, what's going on? "
"Hey, don't destroy it. It's such a pity..." Amber yelled subconsciously first, and then curled her lips, "It's not a big deal, but there is news recently about Typhon's border. The troops have begun to equip magic vehicles... faster than we expected. "
Hearing Amber's words, Gawain gently pinched his chin. After a moment of pondering, he just smiled: "Sooner or later it will be like this. This is the general trend. Just notify Changfeng Fortress and maintain vigilance. ”
“I understand. In addition, Hetty asked me to remind you when I came here," Amber continued, "The Imperial College will be put into use next month, and students from all over the country will be arriving at the end of this month. You have to decide on the details. Is it open time yet? "
"Imperial College...this matter is finally ready," Gawain said, nodding, "The opening day is scheduled for the first rest day next month, and the rest of the schedule will not be done. change. ”
“Okay, I’ve written it down. "
Gawain hummed, paused for a moment and then asked casually: "By the way, what is that Bard doing now? "
"At the Druid Research Institute in Thorin's Great Tree, serving as a researcher and special advisor there. The report from the surveillance personnel said that he performed well, actively cooperated with various operations, and assisted the staff there to transfer a large number of dangerous samples from the underground palace," Amber reported, "Now the transfer of those dangerous samples has basically ended , Bard's next work is to cooperate with druids and scholars to study the photosynthesis of Thorin giant trees in winter - they hope that this part of the research can help improve crops. "
"Well, very good," Gawain nodded and asked again, "What is Bertila doing? ”
“Photosynthesis is taking place. "
Gawain: "...ah? "
Amber couldn't help rolling her eyes: "Otherwise, what else do you expect her to do? "
Gowen was stunned for a second, and covered his forehead with his hands: "...That's right, she is a plant after all, so she is normal..."
As he sighed, he felt a sense of humiliation. The strange fluctuations coming from the depths of his mind suddenly appeared, causing Gawain to pause in the second half of his sentence.
Across the table, Amber cast a curious look: "What's wrong? "
"Wait a minute, Daniel seems to have something to ask me for," Gawain waved his hand, "You are watching, I need to meditate. Betty, go to the door and don't let anyone in. ”
Hubo agreed with ease, and the little maid ran to the door. Gawain stopped.After wasting time, he quickly concentrated his mind and sneaked his consciousness into the level of the spiritual network little by little.
After a brief period of dizziness and spatial displacement illusion, the scene in front of him has turned into the endless and calm clear water and blue sky in the origin space. Huge geometric patterns and gear-like structures are quietly rotating in the sky, without any traces. There are metal platforms erected on the vast and windless water - but unlike when this space was first born, those metal platforms are no longer empty now, but are equipped with various experimental devices, forming a Create an experimental environment that does not interfere with each other.
There was a bright light flashing on the metal platform in the distance. It was obvious that a group was connecting to the cyberspace through the immersion chamber at this moment and conducting some experiments.
The open area located in the center of the origin space will never be disturbed by those experimental environments. There is still a white round table here. There is a circle of empty seats next to the round table, and Daniel is standing on one of them. In front of the seat, seeing Gawain appear, the old mage immediately bent down respectfully: "My lord, I'm sorry to disturb you suddenly."
"No need to be formal," Gawain waved his hand, casually speaking in his own room Sitting down on the high-back chair, "What happened?"
Daniel immediately replied: "My Lord, there is something strange in the spiritual network recently. I think it is necessary to report to you."
"Oh?" Gawain raised his eyelids, "Tell me in detail."
"That's what happened..."
Daniel talked about the recent period in detail. The rumors and strange stories that appeared in the Eternal Sleeper's spiritual network were all about the various clues he had investigated through his own connections and power. They were all detailed and he did not dare to report them without any concealment.
“...Basically, these are the kinds of abnormal phenomena that have appeared in the psychic network in recent times. Although the Supreme Bishops Conference said that these are rumors, and my investigation has not found the above-mentioned abnormal phenomena for the time being. There is actual evidence, but judging from the frequency and scope of the 'eyewitness reports', coupled with the information I heard from the bishops, the situation may not be that simple.
"I am afraid that there is indeed something wrong with the operation of the psychic network. Some problems have arisen, and the stability of some virtual spaces is declining. Some Eternal Sleeper cultists who have been connected to the Internet for a long time must have indeed encountered trouble. I found some hidden distress messages in the deep database, but I don’t know. Why, when I found those believers who had sent letters asking for help, they knew nothing about these things.
“Three areas on the edge of the City of Dreams have been blocked recently. The Supreme Bishop’s Conference said to the outside world that it is carrying out data reconstruction and necessary maintenance... It is a normal operation in itself, and the edge area is temporarily blocked. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but if something like this happens at this time, it’s still hard to avoid making people suspicious.”
Daniel talked about the information he had collected one by one, and Gawain’s brows grew more and more as he listened. Wrinkled.
The anomaly is already very obvious. Perhaps ordinary believers are still influenced by the words of the Supreme Council of Bishops and the Ever-Sleeping Pope.Blinded, but as a bishop, Daniel collected enough intelligence to confirm that there was indeed something wrong with the psychic network.
There is something wrong with its operation, but... what is the reason?
Gawain subconsciously glanced at the origin space around him, and unwarranted associations arose spontaneously, making the expression on his face look weird.
This origin space was opened up from the bottom secret of the Mind Network, using the computing power of the Eternal Sleeper and borrowing the traffic of the Mind Network. Recently, due to the new information from the Magical Technology Research Institute, Several project teams have been set up, and the frequency of use of the origin space seems to be getting higher and higher...
Oh my god, I'm afraid I'm not too good at plucking the sheep, and I'm going to kill the sheep... …
But Daniel couldn’t guess what type of train the powerful extraterrestrial wanderer was running in his mind at this time. He was just a little nervous because of Gawain’s sudden silence: “My lord?”
Gawain woke up from his meditation and looked at Daniel: "You said... could the abnormalities in the psychic network be related to the origin space?"
"...My lord, to be honest, I I have also doubted this direction," Daniel thought seriously for a moment, lowered his head and replied, "After all, the origin space is closely related to the operation of the mind network, and it has been executing several large-scale projects recently, drawing huge computing power from the network, but After careful inspection, I think the possibility of the origin space causing the mental network failure is very low."
"Oh?"
"The computing power that the origin space draws from the mental network is very low. It belongs to the 'redundant' part, in other words, it is the part of computing power that is outside the scope of the backbone of the psychic network and does not affect the overall operation of the network," Daniel explained. "The network resource management method originally designed by the Eternal Sleeper is very simple and crude. , there is a lot of waste of computing power. After I reconstructed their management mechanism, I hid this part of the originally wasted computing power and used it exclusively to maintain the origin space. Therefore, in theory, no matter how the origin space expands, The development will not affect the backbone network..."
"Well..." Gawain touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "In other words, abnormal fluctuations in the spiritual network will not be affected. Affecting the origin space?"
"Theoretically, this is true, but we'd better strengthen the monitoring of the origin space in the near future," Daniel nodded and said, "After all, we haven't found out the abnormalities in the main network yet. Why does the phenomenon arise? If there is a hidden danger in the infrastructure of the 'spiritual network', then even if the origin space is isolated from the main network, there is no guarantee that there will be no problems."
" Will the researchers working in the origin laboratory be in danger?" Gao Wen said what he was most worried about at the moment.
"It seems not at the moment," Daniel has obviously thought about this issue. He answered quickly, "Those abnormal connectors in the psychic network all have one thing in common: they maintain Having been online for a long time and undergoing profound brain transformation,It is almost impossible to completely disconnect from the Internet, and they often engage in deep immersion, and the connection between the mind and the network is too tight-but our researchers in the Origin Laboratory are connected to the Internet through immersion cabins. There is a layer of real-world protection and no depth. immersed in the situation, and at the same time, they also strictly implement the working time system specified by you and will not maintain long-term connections, so security can be guaranteed. "
Gawain was slightly relieved after hearing this: "That's okay...but we should still be vigilant. I will remind the researchers here to pay special attention to their mental state when online recently, and you will continue to pay attention to all abnormalities in the spiritual network. "
Daniel immediately bowed his head deeply: "Yes, my lord. ”
Gawain exhaled and looked up at the vast sky above his head.
The huge geometric structures and symbols and numbers were still running in the clear sky. , the invisible wall of data blocks the connection between this secret space and the backbone network. Standing between the vast water and sky of the origin space, people who visit here will not perceive that there is another, larger network synchronized with this space. Running.
But after Gawain opened more advanced permissions, he could see more -
He could see a larger online world and its origins. The space exists in parallel. A magnificent dream city covers the sky above this space. Countless light points are flying and drifting in the void. Those are the Eternal Sleeper cultists who are the nodes of computing power. They are the residents of this network world.
Under his feet, under the vast "water surface", is a more chaotic and more complex flow of light, which is the deeper foundation of the spiritual network, which has taken hundreds of years to develop. The darkest and deepest network "abyss" in the virtual world.
He frowned.
It seems that this sheep was not killed by himself...
Then why did it suddenly happen?