Sword of Dawn

Page 411

After thinking for a while, Gao Wen raised his head: "Currently, the technicians still have no way to interpret the content of those signals?"

"There is no progress in deciphering it, it is a signal we have never been exposed to," Bertila shook his head, "It consists of a series of very short tremors and echoes of unknown meaning, completely different from the 'neural simulation' we are currently using Pulse' and 'Mind Transport Stream' modes. But one thing seems to be certain..."

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Which point?"

"That's not natural interference, definitely not," Bertila said quite firmly, "Although at first we suspected that it was related to the disturbance of the magic field that is ubiquitous in nature, but later the technicians collected all the magic power around the Sorin area The readings from the monitoring tower, those readings did not correspond to the signal I was listening to. And we sent a sample of the signal to Master Kamel in the Imperial Capital, who believed that some of the 'tremors' inside showed a complex combination, much like It's the result of human intervention."

"...That is to say, the technicians believe that the signals received by the Sorin Hub are man-made," Gao Wen rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, "but... who will send those signals? Our magic The Internet communication system is a new thing, and there is no second country on this continent that has mastered it..."

"If it is really man-made, then sending similar signals must have a complete set of technology. It is really impossible for several human countries at present, but..." Bertila said slowly in his thoughts, and the blooming vines were in her Squirming slightly behind him, there was a low and gentle rustling sound, "I still remember what you said - there is more than one powerful civilization in this world, and today's human beings do not have the upper hand compared to them.

"The sea monsters, giant dragons, and even the elves in the southern part of the mainland, their technology is not low-maybe we just happened to catch their broadcast signal?"

"The elves can rule it out. We now have technical exchanges with the Silver Empire. The two countries have established a signal relay and translation system through the Sentinel Tower. Kamel has signal samples, and there is no 'unrecognizable' problem," Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "As for the giant dragon and sea monster...it is indeed possible.

"It's just that our communication with these two races is still very limited at present, especially the dragon race, which is almost a stranger, and it may be troublesome to confirm the signal samples rashly.

"On the Kraken side... you can try to ask. There is also a technical cooperation between the Cecil Empire and the Kraken."

Bertila lowered her head: "Everything is up to you."

Gao Wen nodded, but sighed softly in his heart.

In this world... there are too many unknown things, and behind these unknown things are often dangerous. Up to now, the technical department is still trying to crack the secrets deep in the magic power. Today, with the gradual development of the magic net, but What "unrecognizable regular signals" have appeared is really disturbing.

Who is sending these signals?Kraken?dragon?Or some ancient civilization hiding out of human sight?Even the depths of the wasteland of Gondor, even the gods whose status is unknown... Every frightening conjecture is actually possible.

Gao Wen shook his head, and then suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, there was a report from the northern border before. During the test machine of the magic net near Cold Winter Castle, the technicians heard a very strange howling sound. It's called 'Echoes throughout the Magic Web system... I doubt whether these two things are related."

"I've also heard about it," Bertila nodded, "Intel will be shared between several hub stations. I've heard about what happened in the northern border. I can't rule out that they are related, but the difference between the two incidents is also obvious. ——What Winter Castle listened to was a short and messy howling. According to the information afterwards, the thing was very chaotic, and it couldn't even be called a 'signal', but what Solinburg listened to was clear and clear There are many, and there are even traces of manual debugging. So although these two incidents can't help but be associated together, I still suggest that they should be viewed as isolated incidents, at least not to merge rashly."

Gawain nodded slightly.

Despite falling into the dark sect, Beltira is still a technician after all. When talking about related topics, her thinking is clear and clear, and the communication is much easier.

And after he paused for a while, Bertila added: "However... If these two things are really related, I also have a guess."

Gao Wen glanced at the other party: "Just talk."

"If, I mean, if the signals monitored by Fort Winter and Solinburg are from the same source, then the previous signal in the northern border is very likely to be an unsuccessful attempt - the debugging has not been completed, and the magic net has not been adapted. , so it turned into a weird whistling, and the signal was not cleared until the Solinburg hub was activated..."

"I can't rule out this possibility..." Gao Wen said while thinking, "In short, I will order all the hub towers in the country to pay attention to these mysterious signals. Maybe we can catch more. Additional samples will probably help us Uncover the secrets behind these signals. As for your side... The giant tree of Sorin was the first hub to capture a clear signal. We are still not sure whether this is related to the environment of the Sorin area or the special nature of the Sorin hub itself, so you Pay extra attention, I will ask the Government Affairs Department to send you a few more experts in magic network communication."

"So much the better."

After finishing these important matters, the two of them fell into a short silence at the same time, and then Gao Wen took the initiative to break the silence: "Half a year has passed—are you still getting used to your new identity and new life?"

"It's better than I imagined," Bertila seemed to smile, "I thought it would be boring to be a plant, but the endless new things you brought really gave me a lot of things to do. Look Watching this land gradually recover is something that can bring a great sense of accomplishment... and there are magic web broadcasts and magic shadow dramas to watch."

"As long as you are willing to continue to be a law-abiding citizen of the empire, there will only be more incredible things in the future. This is an era of rapid change."

"I'm looking forward to it," Bertila nodded, then suddenly raised his head and looked not far away, "Ah, the guests are here."

Gawain turned his head to look, and saw the figure of Selina Gerfen suddenly appearing in the air.

He nodded to the dream saint: "Have you dealt with everything on your side?"

"Uri and Semler can take care of things in the real world, and Naritil and Duvalte will handle the follow-up in the network," Selena said unhurriedly. "As for me... I just want to talk to Magnum. Keep that stupid guy at a distance."

"What did he do again?"

"He had a great chat with Norris, and then on a whim, he tried to get me into a club of 'network minds' - a really stupid idea."

Gao Wen couldn't help laughing: "But I think this idea is good - after all, you, Magnum and Norris are in a similar state now, and in the future we will add more 'cyber citizens', Magnum's suggestion may be is a way for these 'cybercitizens' to re-organize society with new identities, and I think you could even bring Megoll on..."

"He named the club 'Sound and Face Wanzai'," Selina said lightly. "After finding out what this phrase meant, I decided to keep a distance from him."

Gao Wen's heart skipped a beat.

He realized that the "Sacred Words of Gawain Cecil the Great" that Amber had sorted out secretly had begun to spread—and his previous searches and seizures obviously failed to take effect.

"...The name is indeed open to discussion," Gawain's expression became as blank as Belterra's. "And Norris? What's his idea?"

"He's not interested—that's a respectable person, he only cares about the grain-producing areas of the Holy Spirit Plain and when he can return to work," Selina shook her head, "so I don't want to understand this How can a respectable person have a common topic with Magnum..."

"...Maybe it's just out of politeness," Gawain said in a low voice, and then there was a moment of silence, "Sorry, ladies, I have to excuse you—I have something I want to talk to my intelligence minister about."

Bertila bowed slightly and said, "Please do yourself a favor."

Gawain left, and in the quiet flower field under the giant tree of Sorin, only Bertila surrounded by flower vines and Selina standing quietly with a lantern in hand.

After a moment of silence, Bertila looked at the former Archbishop of the Eternal Sleeper: "I didn't expect that we would meet again under such circumstances."

"I've heard about your 'new state', and frankly speaking, the actual situation is even more unbelievable than I imagined," Selena said, "I warned you earlier that your biochemical technology has great hidden dangers..."

Bertila smiled slightly: "What about your soul path?"

"...It's true."

The two fell silent again.

They stood quietly under the tree, as if letting 700 years of time slowly settle down. It was not until a few minutes later that Selena broke the silence softly: "It has been 700 years..."

"Back then we were all human beings," Bertila said indifferently, "then we became less and less human."

"...You have been rooted in this land for a while, tell me your opinion - is 'He' trustworthy?"

There was a crashing sound from the crown of the giant tree of Thorin, like waves.

"That body contains an inhuman soul, but from my point of view, this inhuman soul is making everyone on this land live more like a human being—maybe we can't help it Definitely what an extraterrestrial visitor like 'Him' has in mind, but at least his actions so far... are better than anything we've ever done."

"Yeah...he'll even issue citizenship to a plant."

"And there are 'ghosts' like you."

"..."

Chapter 0869

The cold wind blows from the direction of the sea, rolling the imperial flag flying high on the coast. Under the emblem of sword and plow with gold pattern on the blue background, soldiers and technical craftsmen are connecting today's third fixed stake with the The steel frame is welded together——the unencapsulated magic net runes shone slightly on the ground not far away, and the sparks splashed when the heat beam swept across the steel fell on the ground that had just hardened not long ago. Inside the meter-high metal frame, some copper pipes and heat conduction fins have been fixed in specific positions, just waiting to be connected with the rest of the heat pipes.

This huge device is part of the "waste heat recovery center". Through the alchemical solution circulating in the pipeline, this device will turn several nearby facilities - including an alchemical reaction tower, a rune casting factory and an ooze monster waste Incineration Center - The waste heat released is collected and distributed through high-efficiency heat exchangers to the heating system of the camp, which is used to heat parts of the west side of the coast.

To survive in the cold northern region for a long time, similar technology is essential. It is far cleaner and more efficient than cutting down the slow-growing cold zone trees at the foot of the mountain and burning them for heating, and it can also avoid affecting the lives of local residents to the greatest extent. Living, someday in the future, these facilities may even be used to heat nearby settlements - of course, that will be a long time later.

And farther away, on the open and flat ground near the Beigang coast, large and small simple houses, military tents, towers, and some newly built brick and tile houses have been scattered, and the materials on the material storage yard are piled up like mountains. The large-scale construction machinery that has arrived at the construction site recently is busy. A temporary trestle extending towards the sea has been built. Near the trestle is a planned large area that will be used for the construction of dry docks in the future.

The temporary trestle was not fixed on the seabed offshore by fixed piles or the like, nor did it use a floating bridge, but was built on several huge ice piles. Those ice piles were as thick as a bell tower, frozen from the bottom of the sea and extended all the way. When reaching the surface of the sea, there are a large number of branched icicles piercing deeply into the bottom of the sea, and the whole is extremely solid.

Standing on a large rock near the temporary pier, Byron smiled happily against the sea breeze. He couldn't help but said to the Grand Consul of Victoria beside him: "Your ice spells are really amazing—I've been I've heard that the Wilder family has studied the skill of ice magic to the extreme, but I never thought it could be so powerful... When you raise twelve ice 'pillars' in the ocean, that scene is almost art."

"You've praised me, this is just a rough use of magic power," Victoria shook her head indifferently. In the cold wind, the "Queen of the North" was still wearing a long skirt, and the flying fine ice and snow were like a barrier "And I never imagined that one day I would use these magical skills to... build things. It was a novel experience, and I'm glad I didn't screw up the first time I tried it."

"Magic is a convenient thing. Using it to improve life or advance technological development is far more cost-effective than wasting the strength of mages on the battlefield-this is not what I said, but what His Majesty said," Byron laughed He said, "Although I don't know much about the magic field, I always highly agree with what His Majesty said, because at least after Princess Rebecca used her strength in the laboratory, there were inexplicable explosions and fires elsewhere. Accidents are much less…”

Victoria thought for a while and said seriously: "But in my opinion, Her Highness Rebecca's magical talent is actually far higher than everyone imagined——her ability to shape the fireball into a statue of His Majesty is the real one." Magic art'. But I can't understand the principle... If there is a chance, I would really like to study the mysteries of the field of evocation with her..."

The Grand Duke of Ice would always get serious in strange places, and Byron was no stranger to this. He didn't let this weird (and seemingly suspected of slandering the royal family) topic continue, but casually mentioned another thing: "As Ruler of the northern border, is it really okay for you to stay in Beigang every now and then?"

"The ruler of the northern border is the government affairs department of the northern provinces, and the authority of the Grand Consul is only a part of the government affairs department," Victoria said lightly, "As for the North Port... North Port is currently one of the most important projects in the entire northern region , The eyes from the imperial capital are always watching this side, and I often come here to show up... also to show the attitude of the Wilder family on this matter."

Byron shook his head: "I hope that the families in the north will understand your kindness one day—you are doing your best to prevent them from being included in the 'list'."

Victoria didn't speak, she just stood there quietly, her cold gaze slowly sweeping across the entire coastline and the rolling mountains beyond the coastline.

The "Northern Construction Corps" led by Byron has been stationed on this cold coastline for a month. For more than 60 days, engineering equipment has been working day and night, and a steady stream of supplies has been sent from the rear. Under the double impetus, the prototype of a large-scale seaport is rapidly taking shape, which is undoubtedly exciting.

However, this massive construction activity and the huge construction corps have also attracted many people's attention without any surprise.

This is the northern border, the cold and stubborn northern border, far away from every civil war in the kingdom, far away from every political reshuffle, and the northern border far away from the magic industry. In the depths of this frozen mountain, the ancient families and these families The spirit of bravery and stubbornness soaked in the blood is the same as it was centuries ago, and it has hardly changed.

They instinctively refuse anyone to "do something" on the land where their ancestors lived, even if these people are here to help them build this land, even if the traditional rulers of this land have publicly expressed their attitude and issued warnings, There are still many people who secretly resist the Beigang project.

The people here have not yet developed the concept of "the empire is a whole", and it is useless to tell them what national planning is.

Although Victoria once expressed her position to Byron, she made it clear that she would support the construction of North Port, and she didn't mind "beating" those local families who didn't know the current affairs, but in the final analysis, she didn't want to see too many people hanged in North Port. On the flagpoles outside - too many flagpoles in one port are not "beautiful" for the whole North.

So she, the "Grand Duke of the North", could only choose to show up here a few more times in the early days of the North Port Project, at least... the majesty of the Wilder family still works in this land.

Byron looked at the distant sea—on this clear and cloudless day, a Transcendent could see far, far away. Under the shimmering foam, the "sea peninsula" of the Holy Dragon Principality and part of the border of the Violet Kingdom can be vaguely seen, but farther away, there is only a vast expanse of whiteness.

That is a distance that even the eyesight of an extraordinary person can hardly reach - you need to rely on powerful magic items or additional spell effects to see that far.

"The direction of the storm circle..." Victoria noticed the direction Byron was looking at, and she nodded slightly, "On rare days, the weather is clear enough, and the scale of the storm just expands, so you can see Observed, but it should not be visible during this time-the storm circle in the northern sea will shrink in summer, and the outermost cloud wall is farther away from the land than usual, and it cannot be observed with the naked eye under normal circumstances. However, Winter Castle There is a large mage's eye installation that can see across the peninsula in all seasons, and I use it occasionally to watch that storm."

Byron glanced at Victoria curiously: "Did you find anything tricky?"

"Apart from confirming that it really won't dissipate, and confirming its cycle of change, I haven't found anything," Victoria shook her head, "The ocean is not calm, and it has reached an area where humans cannot set foot, and the legendary strong will also Die at sea outside the storm circle - no one knows how that layer of storms formed, let alone determine its internal structure."

"Your Majesty seems to think that it is one of the defense systems of the dragon kingdom 'Talrond', and beyond the storm is the territory of the dragon," Byron said casually, "If I ask you, he can directly contact the person who often visits Miss Julong...it seems to be Meili or something, talk to that Miss Julong, maybe you can find out something."

Victoria said blankly: "...there are many legends about dragons in the northern region, and most of them come from the Holy Dragon Principality. From our point of view, dragons are not easy characters to deal with."

Byron gave a noncommittal hey, and then slowly said thoughtfully while looking at the sea: "It's not easy to deal with... But according to this trend, when we step out of this land and send ships to the far sea, sooner or later All races have to deal with..."

Victoria glanced at Byron, and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but before she could speak, a faint commotion came from the south of the camp, interrupting what she wanted to say.

Following the prestige, she saw that a large group of people had gathered near the checkpoint in the south of the camp at some point. The people outside the isolation line were all dressed in civilian clothes, and the soldiers at the checkpoint had already gone to maintain order. Shouting voices came from there from time to time, mixed with a strong northern dialect.

Victoria's brows immediately frowned. She vaguely guessed what was going on over there. The ice and snow around her instantly condensed and swirled in the air like cold ice knives. Her tone was as cold as winter: "I am here Here, there are still people..."

Before the Duchess finished speaking, Byron suddenly raised his hand to interrupt her. The imperial general who was born as a mercenary just glanced over there and knew what was going on, with a strange smile on his face: "Don't So excited, Archon, those are just civilians, and some familiar faces - you've missed something lately, but I know what's going on, it's not like you imagined, it's a minor issue."

While speaking, Byron jumped to the ground and walked towards the checkpoint. At the same time, he said to Victoria who followed him: "Don't show up later, they may be too nervous-just watch me deal with it."

Victoria nodded in bewilderment, and released a curved light force field to cover her figure. She and Byron came to the checkpoint in the south of the camp, and the nearly [-] civilians gathered here were already standing in a clear line from the soldiers at the checkpoint. up two rows.

"The general is here..." "The general is here..."

Someone in the crowd saw Byron's figure, whispered reminders one after another, the soldiers made way for a passage, and the gathered civilians took two steps back neatly.

Victoria, who used the curved light force field to hide her figure, immediately focused her attention on those civilians—they were wearing coarse old clothes, but the clothes were clean and warm. Judging from their expressions, these people lived nearby and lived all year round. The most interesting thing about the working mountain people is that there are not only strong and strong men among them, but also women and children—all of them brought their families.

While Victoria was guessing which family incited the gathered civilians, Byron had already walked a few steps in front of the crowd.

Those dressed in coarse linen looked at the heavily armed, tall and majestic imperial general in awe, but they did not back away.

Byron glanced at them and said casually, "What are you gathering here for?"

His tone was flat and natural, as if he had already gotten used to it.

A few men stood up from the crowd. They subconsciously glanced back, and then boldly came to Byron: "General, we have something to say..."

Byron raised his eyebrows: "It's still the same as before?"

"Yes," several men nodded one after another, then took a breath, and shouted with a gong-like voice, "Southerners don't touch our land! You are digging our mine veins and water sources!!"

The civilians gathered behind them also shouted, and the scattered shouts lasted for a few seconds before they all stopped.

The leading man looked at Byron with a hint of expectation, and the latter curled his lips and waved his hand casually: "You heard it - arrest these people, send the men to the West District to dig drains, and the women to process potatoes and meat Fuck, the child also helps in the kitchen, and after that, he will have an hour of literacy class... Who brought this one who looks less than five years old!?"

A tall and thin man emerged from the crowd, with an awkward smile: "I, it's my son... He's really smart! And he's almost seven years old, but he looks thin..."

"I'm not blind yet. If he can be five and a half years old, I'll be your son!" Byron glared at the tall and thin man, then waved his hand angrily, "Go in, watch the kid, don't bring it in tomorrow .”

A group of civilians in front of the checkpoint immediately walked forward beamingly, accepted the inspection and body search of the soldiers very cooperatively, and then walked towards the camp under the leadership of several soldiers. When the man who took the lead passed by Byron He paused for a while, and smiled flatteringly: "General, is it better to end the day?"

"Otherwise?" Byron glared at the other party, "The soldiers of the empire will never deceive the people, saying that the end of the day is the end of the day!"

"Okay, that's good..."

The man nodded happily, quickly followed the team that had already gone far, and entered the camp.

Victoria watched dumbfounded.

Chapter 0870: The Courage to Go to the Ocean

Those civilians who came to "make trouble" were taken away by the soldiers, and they would be assigned to the construction site in the west area of ​​Beigang, where there were a lot of jobs that did not require much skill, and their identities were "because Troubleshooters who are fined to work" for their behavior will be sentenced to hours of labor - and a hot meal, a hot bath for obvious, basic survival needs and "a paltry subsidy for hard labor".

Victoria had never seen such an operation.

"Sometimes the rules are too rigid, so we need to play it on the spot, especially in a place far away from the imperial capital and with special folk customs," Byron looked at Victoria who appeared from the curved light field and looked at him with a look of astonishment. With a glance, he shrugged and said, "These civilians were 'incited' by the local nobles and manor owners, that's how it was at the beginning.

"The construction of the North Port by the Construction Corps here obviously stimulated some people—and the influence of the Wilder family made them afraid to show up. These people will find ways to use other methods to test our truth—they encourage Or bought some civilians who didn't know the truth, and those civilians were really angry when they first came here, but soon they found that we were more "kind and generous" than those who incited them. The Construction Corps has abundant supplies, and the civilians They asked for very little, and they could do some simple work here in exchange for food that they only enjoyed on special days in the past.

"However, hot water has a greater effect. Our collective bathhouse is the most popular place, more popular than I thought. The camp now has two waste heat recovery centers and a central heat exchange station, while Residents near this cold beach obviously don't have much chance to take a hot bath. My military doctor thinks that bathing these outsiders can effectively prevent them from spreading diseases in the camp. Now the latter has liked the abundant hot water supply here. ..."

Victoria's expression changed more times in one day today than in the past half a month. She frowned and looked at the "Imperial General" in front of her with a weird expression: "So...these people come here often? Ask you to protest, Get 'caught' by your soldiers and go to work, have a good meal and take a hot bath at the end..."

"As well as a small subsidy, as you know, the imperial law stipulates that those who perform labor reform can also get a small amount of remuneration for their labor. This is to motivate their enthusiasm for working to make a living."

Having said that, Byron paused for a moment, and then continued: "At first, only men came, and they were seduced or bought. After several times of forced labor and getting paid, some of them tried to sneak food I took it back to my family. I found out, but I didn’t stop it. It’s nothing. However, those behind the scenes obviously didn’t want to see this result. They should have banned this kind of behavior. You can imagine what happened afterwards—— These people started bringing women and children from their families. In fact, they even planned to bring old people and young children who were too old, but that would be too dangerous for me to allow..."

Victoria listened to what Byron said in a relaxed and cheerful tone, but her expression gradually became serious. When the other party's voice fell, she breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice: "So, now these people who have been encouraged... Already completely on your side ... and those who agitated them, have not yet realized the seriousness of the situation."