Sword of Dawn

Page 350

At this time, if he said that he has not investigated any sensitive information, it is not protecting himself, but showing that he has a problem!

The room fell silent for a moment.

Daniel suddenly had a faint feeling - he felt that the whole world outside this room disappeared from his perception in an instant, as if there was only such a quiet room left in the world, which was shielded , was blocked, watched by every pair of eyes of the Supreme Bishops.

The woman in front of him just looked at him quietly.

Daniel knew that the final inspection had begun, and if he failed to pass, his perception of this room would no longer be an illusion—the only "room" in the world would immediately become his own spiritual cage, and his The mind will be forever trapped in this room.

The conclusion quickly came to him—the woman smiled.

"Mr. Daniel, are you willing to make greater contributions to the church?"

"Greater contribution?" Daniel pretended to be puzzled, "You mean..."

"You now have the opportunity to enter the Supreme Bishops' Conference and become a member of the Archbishop. Your talents in network security and network architecture are very important to us-and what you are concerned about is the recent abnormal fluctuations in the spiritual network. It will also be answered as you obtain a higher authority to retrieve data," the woman said calmly, with Daniel's figure reflected in her eyes, "Mr. Greater responsibility, once you face the deeper secrets of the order, there is no chance of turning back.

"So, now you have a choice - what is your choice?"

Daniel pondered for a moment with a solemn expression, then raised his head and said solemnly: "For the benefit of the religious order, I have already put my personal life and death aside."

As soon as this sentence fell, the feeling of "closed" and "unique" in the entire room disappeared immediately, and the stagnant sunlight and dust were scattered like a broken mirror, disintegrating and disappearing everywhere, and the original bedroom was transformed into a living room in the blink of an eye. A magnificent hall, and Daniel himself is sitting next to a huge round table in the hall.

Sitting around the round table are many figures in white or black robes. Those robes depicting silent stars and spiral patterns respectively represent "waking dreams" and "peaceful deep sleep". stood up and applauded Daniel.

"Welcome to join us, Mr. Daniel." Across the round table, a woman in a long white dress with a gentle smile also stood up. "Your joining is very important to us."

Daniel recognized the lady's identity in an instant, and guessed that the other party should be the main personality of the "interface" he was talking to just now. He immediately stood up and greeted: "Archbishop Selina Gerfen."

"No need to be too polite," Selena nodded to him, "Mr. Daniel, you have been promoted. Frankly speaking, this promotion is a bit hasty. We didn't have time to prepare a more formal ceremony for you, and we couldn't even present it to you in the real world." You celebrate, all of this, and hope you understand.

"On the other hand, you should still be a little confused now, and you must be a little confused about the change of identity after becoming the archbishop. Originally, we should have given you more time to slowly adapt, but now the situation is special, and we need you to understand some things as soon as possible. , enter the state as soon as possible...

"The specific situation, His Majesty the Pope will personally explain to you."

Daniel maintained a polite and calm expression, but when he heard the words "Your Majesty the Pope", he couldn't help but tense up instantly.

And almost at the moment when Selina's voice fell, an amorphous starlight cloud appeared above the round table——

Daniel didn't know when the cloud of starlight appeared. In fact, he even suspected that the shapeless starlight was actually floating in the center of the venue from the beginning to the end, but his senses completely ignored the existence of the latter. !

In the next second, Daniel bowed his head and saluted respectfully: "Your Majesty the Pope!"

"Raise your head," the starlight cloud swelled and squirmed, and a voice sounded directly in Daniel's mind, "I'm going to get straight to the point—do you still worship God?"

Daniel's answer seemed to have been rehearsed thousands of times: "I have no respect for the gods, their existence is only frightening."

This is the standard answer for a true follower of the dark sect.

Countless people in the world who do not understand the truth have only fear and misunderstanding of the three major dark sects. They always think that those dark sects are extreme followers of gods, and they have fallen to the dark side of human nature because of excessive fanaticism and distortion of beliefs. At the beginning of joining the religion, they would also hold such wrong ideas, but as long as they have really come into contact with those distorted degenerate magic arts, have truly accepted a relatively high level of "baptism", and have come into contact with those hidden knowledge, any dark believer will know about them What is true "faith".

"Very good..." Starlight Cloud seemed very satisfied with Daniel's answer, "Then, what I'm going to tell you next will be the truth that most people in the world can hardly imagine...Gods are not only frightening, but also A yoke imposed upon all mortals..."

Daniel blinked.

He knows this, and he also knows that the name of this lock is "Spiritual Stamp". His master has been studying this stencil. In the origin space, there are hundreds of researchers with formal weaves. The stamp problem.

He even doubted that the knowledge about "Soul Stamp" would appear in Cecil's elementary textbook a few years later.

But here, he still had to properly show his astonishment: "A shackle?!"

The Pope's voice sounded in his mind: "Yes, a shackle, and what the Order of the Eternal Sleepers has been doing for 700 years is to find a way to break free from this shackle."

This time, Daniel was really a little surprised.

And he believes that even his master, the wanderer outside the territory, will definitely show surprise and curiosity when he hears this information.

"The way to break free from the shackles..." He couldn't help repeating, "How can a mortal do this?"

"Let the mortal mind operate in a sandbox world where there are no gods, until the mortal mind is out of the sight of the gods, until the connection between the gods and this world is broken," the voice continued to echo in Daniel's mind, "this The project ... has been named 'Project Zero'."

Project number zero!

Daniel's breathing couldn't help but pause for half a beat, and then what came to his heart was sincere joy.

He finally came into contact with this project, finally able to understand its true face!

This project hidden in the thick fog and directly controlled by the Supreme Bishops is actually related to the spiritual seal?

Immediately afterwards, he thought of many anomalies that had occurred in the mind network recently, and connected many clues——

This made the expression on his face serious and his tone serious: "Is there something wrong with this project?"

"We suspect..." The answer to him was Selina Geerfen, the archbishop who has survived for 700 years and now co-exists with the spiritual network as he spoke, shaking his head, "We doubt In a certain sandbox of Project Zero, the power of God appeared."

……

In the quiet room in the afternoon, the black-haired Mary was lowering her head, immersed in the sea of ​​advanced math exercises.

As the last few numbers and symbols fell on the paper, the female mage who was obsessed with learning finally raised her head and glanced at the tutor who was sleeping peacefully in the easy chair.

The tutor seemed to be in a deep sleep.

In the past many years, it was difficult for the mentor to sleep so peacefully - the unbearable nervous headaches and hallucinations tormented the spirit of the old mage, while making him more irritable and irritable. It also deprived him of the right to sleep peacefully, and this situation lasted for more than ten years.

It was the gift of the "master" that gave the mentor a chance to get better, and indirectly saved every tortured apprentice around the mentor.

That "master" was terrifying. Until now, every time Mary entered that "origin space", she couldn't help being a little nervous and afraid, but at the same time, she also had unavoidable gratitude to that "master".

The tutor made a sudden movement, waking Mary up from her brief distraction.

She quickly got up and walked towards the easy chair: "Mentor, are you awake?"

Daniel slowly opened his eyes and saw the familiar room and the familiar apprentice.

The old mage let out a soft sigh: "This time...something really happened."

Chapter 0760 The Truth About Project Zero

Dusk gently enveloped the earth, and the magic spar lamp in the study had been lit. Gao Wen casually signed his name on a document and handed it to Hetty who was waiting across the table: "Economic revitalization and industrial development in the Eastern Territory. You have to keep an eye on the construction, especially the economic experiment of the Sulam Terrace. You must strictly prevent the local businessmen from colluding with the old nobles to drive up the price of food and hit the new currency. Announced throughout the Eastern Territory."

Hetty took the document with a serious expression: "Please rest assured, I understand the importance of economic pilot."

Gao Wen hummed, and couldn't help but look at Heidi with concern: "How is your rest recently? Pay attention to your body."

"Let your ancestors care about this, I, a junior, feel very ashamed..." Hetty immediately lowered her head, "Recently, the government affairs hall is not very busy. After winter, many projects that are more affected by the seasons have slowed down or temporarily stopped. Internal affairs The department only needs to make a year-end summary and plans for the coming year, and the interns who joined the government affairs department last year can also be used now."

"That's good," Gawain nodded, "Then how about the magic net projects in the northern and western regions?"

"I have been synchronizing with the two big consuls on their progress. At present, the main cities and sub-level cities of the two borders have established basic magic net facilities-mainly because these cities basically have mages in charge , there is also a mage tower and a mature extraordinary material processing system, which can complete the laying of the foundation relatively quickly, but as for the lower-level cities and villages and towns... there is no progress."

Speaking of this, Hetty couldn't help but shook his head: "In addition, due to the arrival of winter, construction in areas outside the cities has become difficult, and the magic nets between the cities in the northern and western regions have not been connected. The relay device has barely realized the communication, and because the number of relay stations is scarce and the power is insufficient, the communication in each city is often interrupted, so it can be said that it has not yet entered the practical state."

"Understandable," Gao Wen was not surprised, "After all...the relatively large construction machinery and vehicles are still scarce, and the southern border is barely used by itself, and many areas in the northern and western borders can only rely on manpower for construction. Winter is not a problem. Hom."

The magic net can only exert its greatest value when it becomes a "net".

The communication network throughout the country, the powerful energy system, the cornerstone of industry, and the skeleton of society all need to be established on the basis of the connection of the whole territory of the magic network. Moreover, from the perspective of "empire", Gao Wen also needs to integrate the entire country Every region in the country is connected into a closer whole, so as to avoid the counterattack of those old forces in the distance, and prevent some difficult-to-care provinces from returning to the closed and divided state of the kingdom era.

But this is not so easy to achieve.

It is relatively simple to build basic magic net facilities in a city, but it is more than twice as difficult to build enough magic net sites in the sparsely populated wilderness, not to mention that many projects will face extremely harsh environments-high mountains , rapids and quagmire, frozen soil in the north, swamp in the west... even with the help of magic, it is very difficult to challenge these.

The small relay device can only allow the two magic nets to operate at the lowest power, but in order for the magic net to realize the full power transmission of energy and information, it is necessary to build a relatively large hub tower or hub station. At that time, Gao Wen relied on the power of the unified war to implement measures such as large-scale population migration, urban integration, and military management in border areas, so that the magic net "formed" in a short period of time, but now the entire empire has been unified. The country is out of a state of war, and the entire territory of the empire is much larger than the original southern border. Of course, similar methods cannot be used anymore. Even if they want to use it, considerable adjustments must be made.

On this basis, he can only proceed step by step, waiting for this huge project to be completed slowly.

"In addition to the main hub of the southern border, only the main hub of the East Holy Spirit Plain has been successfully launched," Hetty said, "The giant tree of Thorin helped us activate the hub of the Eastern Plain in advance. The hub, the northern main hub, and the San Sunil main hub have all been shut down due to winter."

"...Actually, it's also good. If the projects are divided up one after the other, we will have the opportunity to discover some hidden problems, so as not to cause too much damage to the magic network of the entire country." Gao Wen said half-relieved and half-sincerely, "You just Pay more attention to the news from the Sorin giant tree, the experience accumulated there should be of great help to our construction after the beginning of next spring."

Hetty bowed her head and accepted the order: "Yes, ancestor."

Then she took a quick look at Gao Wen, confirmed that all the documents and reports had been handed over, and took a half step back: "Then if there is nothing else, I will go back to the office first—there are still a few reports waiting. I review."

Gao Wen was about to get lost in thought, but when he heard that there was no problem, he nodded. As soon as he nodded, Hetty left the room quickly.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but Gao Wen even felt that the moment Hetty walked out of the study, there was an afterimage...

"It seems that the work pressure is still high recently," Gao Wen couldn't help but touched his chin, and said softly, "We still have to find someone who can share the pressure with her..."

As soon as he finished speaking, amber was released in the air beside him: "You really don't know why she is avoiding you recently?"

Gawain glanced at the half-elf: "Isn't this fun for the elderly?"

While speaking, he suddenly felt ripples in the depths of his mind, and a special identification mark called in his consciousness.

"Daniel seems to be looking for me urgently." He then looked at Amber, "Stay here."

Amber was stunned for a moment, then waved her hand: "Hey, I know..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Gawain was already sitting on the large armchair, entering a state of spiritual connection.

Looking at Gao Wen who had already closed his eyes, Amber couldn't help but frowned, and after a little silence, she murmured to herself with a little sigh: "Ah... you are like this, maybe you will die of exhaustion in this life... Is it just inseparable from 'tired to death'?"

The chaotic and flickering lights and shadows spread out in the field of vision, and Gawain could still faintly hear Amber's whispering BB, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

The scene in his vision has gradually stabilized.

On the endless expanse of water, huge metal platforms are arranged one after another. In the sky, there are gigantic geometrical figures and digital symbols running silently. In the center of the sky and the water, Daniel in a black robe is already standing beside the white round table.

"My lord," the old mage bowed immediately after seeing Gao Wen, "I have become the archbishop of the Eternal Sleep Sect."

"You have passed the test and been promoted smoothly?" Gawain immediately looked Daniel up and down, then nodded slightly with a smile, "That's really good news, congratulations."

"This identity is no longer important to me," Daniel immediately bowed his head and said with sincerity, "The knowledge and health you bestow are invaluable."

Gao Wen could feel that the old mage's words came from the heart.

In the beginning, the "loyalty" of this old mage from Typhon and from the Order of the Eternal Sleepers to the "outsider wanderers" might really be just because of fear, and loyalty stemming from fear often cannot stand the test, but as time goes by , as more and more things happened, this loyalty has obviously changed quietly.

Knowledge and health, as well as the real changes in the real world life after getting these two, all of this cannot be ignored.

The old mage lowered his head in front of the "Wanderer outside the territory", the respect in his heart was already greater than the fear.

He knew that he was probably not a good person—even if he was once, he is not now.

But at least he remembered to be grateful.

He once fell into despair due to talent problems, was driven crazy by imperfect biochemical transformation, almost completely lost his mind, and was ruled by those endless whispers and hallucinations in his heart. He once lost almost everything, even most of his humanity.

It was the gift of the "Wanderer outside the Territory", which gave him the opportunity to find all those things back.

Perhaps in the eyes of wanderers outside the territory, He just gave him some inconspicuous knowledge and some simple healing methods, but this "tiny" help from a "high existence" is enough to change the entire fate of a mortal.

The gift of fate needs to be repaid with loyalty.

"My lord," Daniel said respectfully, "After becoming the archbishop, I have gained higher authority—I have investigated the truth of 'Project Zero', and I have initially contacted the root cause of the current crisis of the spiritual network!"

Gao Wen's gaze became serious: "Project No. [-]...what's going on?"

"They're trying to remove the 'spirit stamp'!" Daniel replied immediately, "and they're not trying to remove one or two people—they intend to remove all the spiritual seals imposed on mortals by connecting the dreams of every mortal! !"

Daniel's answer made Gawain almost miss a beat of his breath, and the dignified and solemn image he tried to maintain almost lost control.

Two seconds later, he adjusted his mentality and stared into Daniel's eyes: "Do they know the 'Spirit Stamp'?"

"Yes, but they call it 'shackles' or 'chains of the gods,'" Daniel nodded. "I don't know how they first heard about this phenomenon, but it is clear that the study of the mortal mind and consciousness The Eternal Sleepers of the Realm know more about the 'Spirit Stamp' than the Doom Society..."

"The research on the Doom Society is still limited to the 'body', and the Eternal Sleepers have obviously entered the realm of the mind and even the soul..." Gawain nodded slightly, "Then what exactly are they going to do? How does Project No. [-] work?"

Daniel nodded and began to report in detail: "First of all, build a huge, independent spiritual world, which they call a 'sandbox'. This sandbox is a more complex and advanced space than the Dream City, except for the necessary monitoring measures. In addition, it is completely isolated from the outside real world;

"The human mind is introduced into this kind of sandbox world, and before entering the sandbox world, it undergoes thorough hypnosis and memory removal to delete all memories and concepts related to gods, and the sandbox world itself does not have any information related to gods. information;

"When the sandbox starts to operate in a closed manner, it will form a closed system, which can be self-consistent and self-sustaining, because it does not exchange any information with the outside world, and its interior has been thoroughly 'sterilized', so it should be a In a completely godless world, people who "survive" in the sandbox world will not remember what the outside world looks like, but will only think that everything in the sandbox is real;

"Finally, through the 'time iteration', the time passage in the sandbox world is accelerated, and it is completely out of touch with the outside real world, so that it can run for more than a thousand years, and let its internal mind experience dozens or even hundreds of 'reincarnations' Remodeling'..."

"Time iteration?" Gao Wen immediately grasped a key word in Daniel's report, "Speeding up the flow of time in the sandbox world? Does this require a huge amount of computing power?"

Daniel nodded with a serious expression: "Yes, very huge computing power, and not only huge computing power is required, but also a human brain that can be permanently connected to the network as an 'operating substrate', because the sandbox must be completely isolated, no As long as isolation is achieved on the network, isolation must also be performed in the real world, and ordinary eternal sleepers are floating on the Internet, and each node is constantly changing, which does not meet this condition..."

The mystery was finally solved, and the question that had troubled Gao Wen for a long time was answered.

"That's why they need brain servants!"

The spiritual network itself does not need a fixed "server". According to Gao Wen's understanding, its entire operation process is actually based on "cloud" technology: as long as a certain number of users maintain a connection with the network, only a small amount of The computing power task is distributed to those users, and the entire network can run, not to say that it needs some hardware foundation, that is, some terminals used to connect to the network (most of the eternal sleepers also use their own ability to omit this step) , and the equipment required for debugging and monitoring the network.

So, there is no need for the Sleepers to convert anyone into a "brain servant" to maintain their network.

But their "sandbox" requires.

Chapter 0761 Looking back suddenly, that person is... What the hell?