The breeze blows through the vast green land, and the wind echoes with low murmurs that cannot be recognized by human ears. Even though the real world outside is already full of ice and snow, in this neural network rooted in the spiritual world, the colors are bright The spring still lingers between the plains and river valleys for a long time.
In the center of the boundless "Spiritual Plain", next to several undulating hills, a huge city is standing quietly. The sky above the city is covered with pale gold and is composed of countless rapidly refreshing runes. A ring-shaped giant array, and between the city and the giant array can be seen several golden light flows that run through the sky and the earth - those light flows represent several information hubs that are connected to the real world. Each light flow has The ends are connected to a large building in the city, and these buildings are the transfer stations for the "residents" in the city of dreams to enter and leave the city.
In the central area of the city, corresponding to the location of the Royal District of Cecil City in the real world, the largest light flow is connected to the pyramid facility on the surface. At this moment, the light flow above the facility trembles slightly, next to the pyramid Somewhere in the square, a figure suddenly emerged from the air.
This is a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament who wears a monocle.
Yuri woke up from the moment of dizziness when he connected to the Internet, and moved his neck slightly - of course there was nothing behind his neck, but the residue remained when he was lying in the immersion chamber and in contact with those cold metal contacts. The "nervous reverberation" still lingered in his perception. He looked left and right at the people coming and going in the square, and then walked towards a figure waiting for him not far away. As the "nervous reverberation" in his mind gradually receded, he raised his hand and greeted the figure. Greeting: "Magnum!"
"I've been waiting for you here for a century!" Magnum's loud voice exploded in Yuri's ears the next moment, and the latter even suspected that the voice was half Everyone in the square could hear, "What are you stuck with in the real world?"
Yuri subconsciously rubbed his ears and looked at his old partner standing in front with a slight dissatisfaction. : "Have you really been away from the real world for too long, and have you forgotten how many troublesome things in reality can delay a person's time plan? There are not convenient neural networks everywhere outside, and everything takes time..."< /p>
Magnum showed an impatient look when he heard it halfway, waving his hands to interrupt Yuri: "Okay, I understand, I understand. I'll ask Pittman later. I know where he is." There is a special medicine for constipation..."
Yuri was stunned for a moment at first, and the next second he almost completely lost the gentle and elegant demeanor he usually tried to maintain: "Damn it! That's not it!"
Magnan waved his hands nonchalantly: "I understand, I understand. I was also middle-aged like you when I was alive...Okay, okay, I won't say it anymore. ”
This loud-voiced guy accurately ended the topic before his old partner’s anger was raised to the threshold, allowing him to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor in front of all students and researchers.Yuri blushed but had no choice but to do anything. The latter could only stare at Magnum for a long time before looking away with annoyance: "Open the passage - I didn't come here to quarrel with you. "
Magnum shrugged, waved it in mid-air, and said to the air: "Duart - we are here"
Invisible ripples suddenly occurred. Time fluctuated, and in the seemingly calm and continuous mental space, a "habitat" hidden at the bottom of the data was silently opened. A short and secret passage appeared in this dream city, and Magnum and Yuri were surrounded by people. Layers of halo arose, and then the two of them disappeared instantly as if being "deleted" by something.
The next second, they appeared in another space: a grassland that was equally vast but even more empty than the "upper level" appeared in front of them. This grassland was shrouded in the night. Under the sky, the starlight in the sky made the night not appear dark at all. Not far away stood a small hill quietly. The hill was shrouded in a slight halo, as if all the starlight was focused on it, and A giant white spider lay quietly at the foot of the hill, seemingly resting.
This is the deeper space of the neural network, the "computing layer" located under the "presentation layer" and "interaction layer". All network data are processed frequently here in their most original state. And high-speed exchange - although this exchange and calculation process is essentially carried out by the human brain, the human mind cannot directly understand this place, so everything presented here - including the grassland and the night sky The sky full of stars is just an interface created by the managers of this layer of space to facilitate the reception of "visitors".
For Magnum and Yuri, who are former priests of the Eternal Sleeper, this space has another meaning: this is the residence of the upper-level narrator of the "God of the Past" and Nari. A place used by Till and Duarte to "store" the ontology.
Yuri and Magnum looked at each other, and both of them could see some emotion in each other's eyes. The latter looked up at the starry night sky, and couldn't help shaking his head and mumbling. : "Now the positions of these stars are the same as those in the real world."
"After technological upgrades, observatories in various places have left a line specifically for Naratir. She can watch it at any time through the observatory's equipment. The starry sky - this is what His Majesty promised." As soon as Magnum finished speaking, a voice came from the side. Duarte, wearing a black dress and holding a lantern, appeared out of thin air, "What you see now The starry sky is what Naritiel projected after seeing the stars at various observatories in the empire. Recently, she is trying to record the trajectory of each star and calculate the position of our planet in the universe... at least. Between these stars."
Magnum blinked: "...This sounds like a great thing."
"Your Majesty said so." Duarte smiled and nodded, then he tookThe two visitors took a step forward and arrived next to the huge white spider in an instant. "Naratir was worried at first that she would be blamed for taking up free computing power, but His Majesty obviously supported her in doing so. We even arranged for a group of astrologers to participate. Of course, we are not here to talk about this today." As he spoke, he raised his arm slightly and pointed to the open space not far away. Gnan and Yuri looked over there, and at first glance they saw something like a cocoon being fixed on the ground by a large amount of spider silk. The "cocoon" was as tall as a person and had a translucent shell. There seemed to be something vaguely locked inside, and Naratir's "human form" was circling around it, seeming to be communicating with the things inside the cocoon.
Yuri looked a little surprised: "Can Naratir communicate with the captured 'fragment'?"
Duart shook his head: "Just a single Just keep asking - Naritiel is trying to dig out more secrets from the mental fragment, but I don’t think her method will work."
Yuri and Magnum looked at each other. They glanced at each other and walked towards the place where the "cocoon" was. Just halfway through, they heard Naratir's nagging questions - the upper-level narrator walked around the "cocoon", After walking a few steps, stop and ask: "Where are you from?"
"How many legs does the God of War you believe in have?"
"Does the God of War know that you have become like this? Did He change you? How exactly did you change?
"What is the connection between you and the God of War? Yes? Do you still need to pray after you become like this?
"Can you hear me?
"Oh, you don't want to say it, then...where are you from? ”
In the translucent cocoon, Malm Dunit’s spirit body was firmly imprisoned by the power of the upper-level narrator. He has not dissipated, but has obviously lost the ability to communicate, leaving only a stiff body. The face and dull eyes looked dull and dull.
“…All the ancestors,” Magnan shrank when he saw this scene, “If it were me, I would have definitely done it. ..."
"Ah, you are here! "Naratir heard the voice coming from the side and finally stopped from circling. She looked at Yuri and Magnum happily and ran over with a smile, "Where did you come from? "
"I just finished my work in the real world. Magnum should have been patrolling between various nodes," Yuri said immediately, and then his eyes fell on the "cocoon" not far away. , “What did you gain? "
"If you mean direct 'interrogation', then there is nothing to gain," Naritir shook her head, "The internal logic of this mental fragment has been disintegrated, although I tried to use various methods to Methods are used to stimulate and rebuild, but he still has not been able to respond to communication from the outside world - as you can see, most of them cannot be repaired. ”
Magnum XunHe reacted quickly: "In other words, did you gain anything beyond the 'interrogation'?"
"That's right," Naratir thought for a moment, "I tried to dismantle the fragments. By directly reading the memory - this method will miss a lot of information and may further 'damage' the sample, but it is somewhat rewarding.
"According to the memory I extracted, this is called Malm. · Dunit’s mortal pope pulled his soul world out of his body and dedicated it to his god through some crazy sacrificial ritual. Then the god didn’t know what he did to turn this soul into a human being. A state that can be divided and reorganized at any time... That's why what we caught is just an 'incarnation'...
"The true body of Malm Dunit should no longer be in this world. He is probably in that world." The 'God of War' is around, but the remaining memories in the fragments do not mention how to establish contact with that body, nor how to establish contact with the God of War.
"In addition, I also found a very important one. Information - We are not the only ones who have caught an 'incarnation'. If it is correct, the human emperor named Rosetta Augustus should also have caught one. "
Magnan's eyes suddenly widened: "Rosetta? You mean Emperor Typhon also captured a Malm Dunit? ! "
"Well," Naritir nodded, "Although these incarnations can move independently, they seem to be able to perceive the status of other incarnations of each other - in a fragmented and fuzzy memory, I One incarnation was seen being defeated in some kind of supernatural duel and being devoured by some very powerful force. And the strongest message that came out of that incarnation in its defeat was a name: Rosetta Augustus. ”
Magnum and Yuri immediately looked at each other, and after a brief moment of astonishment, they simultaneously realized the importance of this information.
Malm Du in “Cocoon” Nite is just a sluggish and fragile "incarnation" who looks miserable and suppressed, but this is because he is facing the power of the upper-level narrator here - a former god who has left the throne, even if he is now weaker. Well, that's far beyond what a crazy mortal soul can contend with, and if Naritir hadn't taken action...
Malm Dunit would have been a terrifying threat! He had already put himself in danger! Dedicating himself to God, he gained strange and unpredictable power. In addition to the elusive incarnation projection ability, he also carried the spiritual pollution from the God of War - this pollution is a particularly deadly and special thing. Even if ordinary mortals can fight against it, You have to take huge risks and pay a huge price!
However, such an incarnation was miserably defeated in the "extraordinary showdown" with Rosetta Augustus, and was even killed. "Swallow" is gone...
Swallow, this is not a word that can be used casually - it means that Rosetta Augustus hid a card, which is at least equivalent to an upper class Narrator!
He kept this card only to use it.To deal with the God of War? Or are you planning to use it against Cecil after this divine disaster?
"We must inform His Majesty about this!" Yuri said immediately, "Rosetta Augustus can 'devour' Malm Dunit who has the pollution of the gods. This has already been done Beyond the scope of normal human beings, he is either no longer a normal human being, or... he has borrowed some very dangerous power!"
"This is why I called you here," said Nariti. Er nodded seriously, "I know that both of you are from Typhon, and you happen to have a special background - Yuri, you were once a nobleman from Aldernan, and your family is the same as the Augustus family. After dealing with each other for a long time, you should understand the 'curse' of the Augustus family; and Magnum, I know you are from the Church of the God of War, so you should know the God of War, right?"
As a "god" personally created by the Eternal Sleeper in the past, Naratir obviously knew a lot of things. Yuri was not surprised by this. He fell into a brief thought, while Magnum next to him muttered something awkwardly. : "This...it has been too many years since I left the Church of the God of War..."
Yuri couldn't help but glance at him: "Your memory should not have faded to the point where you can't remember when you were a priest. Rules and regulations, right?"
"This... my development in the Church of God of War was not smooth at first. Even after I became an official priest, I mainly worked as a part-time job... although I occasionally did other things," Mag Nan scratched his face in embarrassment, "Of course, of course, I have been exposed to those dogmas... Okay, I want to recall it carefully, this matter seems to be really important..."