Sword of Dawn

"I can't put into words the shock of that moment, I saw the figure, but the figure flashed from the corner of the room ... I'm not sure if it's real.

"Does that moss have hallucinogenic ingredients? But I have to live on them to survive...

"On the tenth day, I found water! In a place where many people were eating, one of the pipes was able to flow water! And it was clean water! I think I can live here for a long time!

"The appearance of these clear waters, does it mean that some kind of purification device here is still in operation? Are there more devices in operation?"

Amber looked at every line of written records on it seriously, biting her lips unconsciously, as if watching her adoptive father struggling to explore and survive in such an isolated ancient fortress. After Sally Randolph found the water source, she couldn't help letting out a soft breath: "He may have found a working canteen..."

Gawain nodded slightly beside him, and said in a low voice, "I'm more curious about the figure he saw."

"He mentioned here—" Amber turned a page, glanced at it and pointed to the content:

"...I saw figures again, and more than one. This time I can confirm that it was not a hallucination, but what happened next made me even more astonished and confused.

"Those figures are 'shadow dwellers.'

"They are the same as described in the monograph. They seem to have no form like ghosts, and they are wrapped in some kind of tattered 'shroud' to take the shape of a human. They shuttle freely in the shadow world, and they obviously noticed me, the uninvited guest who broke in.

"I was ready to fight, but the battle didn't happen - all academic records say that the shadow dwellers will attack all material creatures that enter the shadow realm, but those shadow dwellers just stared at me indifferently, I can be sure they Watching, though there's nothing but hollow darkness in those 'shrouds'...

"After an unbearable confrontation, the shadow dwellers all left, and there was no communication between us.

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on."

Amber frowned. She also felt that the shadow dwellers her adoptive father encountered were a bit weird, but she couldn't explain it, so she could only keep these questions in her heart and continue to look down——

On a new page, Surrey Randolph's text continues to record his experiences in Shadowkeep:

"...No. On the 14th day, I found a room where certain devices... were still operating.

"It's hard for me to describe exactly what I saw, those things were beyond my knowledge - Around a huge pillar, I saw a large number of pale yellow translucent egg-shaped containers fixed on a bracket In fact, those egg-shaped containers are about the size of a full-grown cow...

"There are a lot of pipes extending from that large pillar, connecting to the surrounding egg-shaped container.

"Almost all of the containers were broken, cracked, askew, falling to the ground, their contents dried out, and inside those damaged containers I saw many small bones.

"This makes me shudder—as a royal shadow guard, I have seen many miserable scenes and many death scenes, but the small bones in those containers are weirder than those scenes I have ever seen Horror, this makes me wonder, what were the Gondorians doing here?

"I checked the room with shock and nervousness and found her.

"The only complete container, the only living entity.

"She was curled up in some kind of liquid, floating in a translucent crystal container, which looked like a piece of amber.

"I can't describe my mood at this moment, and what makes me feel at a loss is that these crystal containers are exactly the same as the target items described in the mission, which means...the 'things' in the containers are what I want to bring back 'Ancient Legacy'.

"My task can be completed, but the premise is that I have to find a way to get out, and I have to take this unhandy container out - if I open it rashly, will the little girl inside die directly? This is It's a tricky thing."

Amber's eyes were fixed on the page in front of her. Even though she had finished reading the content of this page, she never turned to the next page. It was not until a minute later that Gao Wen patted her on the shoulder lightly.

Amber woke up with a start, then took a deep breath, and turned the page——

"...No. 15 days, I haven't figured out what to do, but I suddenly realized that it's useless to think: I'm still stuck here.

"A person who can't even get out alive, but thinks about completing the task, is really wishful thinking too much.

"I put aside the unsolvable problems at the moment and refocused on finding a way out.

"Considering that for a long time to come, only this little guy in Amber will be left with me, so I named her Amber.

"But I'm guessing she has something else—there's a line of letters etched into the base of each oval here, each with a slightly different letter, which might be her real name (although I doubt Did the Gondor scholars who worked here really name a batch of experiments), but that was the ancient Gondor script 1000 years ago, which is very different from today’s universal alphabet, and my ancient Literal knowledge happens to be a weak point.

"I can only trace these letters down. If one day I can really get out alive, maybe the scholars in the capital can answer my doubts and let me figure out the real name of this little guy, or at least figure out those Gondors back then. What people call her."

At the end of the page Surrey Randolph left a large blank space in which he traced in bold letters a line of letters that few in this day and age can understand.

Amber stared at the line of letters, and raised her head after a while, looking into Gawain's eyes: "What do these letters... mean? What was my original name?"

Gao Wen withdrew his gaze from those letters. He looked at Amber silently for four or five seconds, and finally exhaled softly, and spoke slowly:

"Android 36, [-]."

Chapter 0679 Those who have passed

Cyborg 36.

The room fell silent, and Amber quietly looked at the line of letters drawn on the diary. She didn't say a word for a full 2 ​​minutes.

But just when Gao Wen couldn't help but want to say something, Amber's fingers moved again, she pursed her lips, and slowly turned to the next page of the diary——

The Surrey Randolph story continues:

"...my mechanical watch broke and I had to give up on 'time' after recording the date twice by my pulse and intuition. Now I don't know what day it is, but I guess I have Stayed in this ancient fortress for at least half a month.

"During this period, only 'Amber' was with me.

"The little one was sleeping peacefully in her 'bed' with no movement, I've been trying to talk to her for the last few days and of course she hasn't responded, but I do it every day - talking can Maintain will and sanity, and a sleeping little girl is at least a better listener than a stone in the corner.

"...During such a long period of time, those shadow dwellers have appeared twice in total. To be honest, the appearance of those 'ghosts' will bring me a little surprise—they are indeed weird and scary, but at least They are some kind of 'living creatures'. Sometimes I even have some crazy ideas and want to try to communicate with those 'ghosts', but this is too dangerous...

"I finally put my crazy idea into practice once, but the shadow dwellers ignored me at all. They just wandered in this room for a while, and then gradually disappeared.

"In the end, only Amber was with me.

"...my health is deteriorating, that's for sure. All the sustenance I can find here is moss and water, and the fact that I survive on them to this day is a miracle—grown in the Shadowlands The moss in the water can actually keep people alive, which is already a gift in itself, isn't it?

"I was terrified. I had a low-grade fever. Maybe it was because the floor was too cold, or maybe it was because I was too weak. This insignificant illness almost made me plan all my future affairs immediately—but after planning What's the use? Today I cursed the king for the first time, and the honor is far from me.

"...How much time has passed outside? I have long since given up recording the date, and estimating the time has become impossible for me. I can only judge by instinct, maybe I have been here for several years, the capital I've probably been listed as a missing person over there, or listed as a 'suspected defector' according to the rules of the Royal Shadow Guard.

"I've been keeping my journals down for a while now, and trying to keep my letters and fonts as small as possible, because I'm running out of ink, and although I've watered them several times, it's not enough. I'm going to try tomorrow with The moss was burned to ashes, and then mixed with water to see if it could make some ink. If not... If I want to write something in the future, I'm afraid I can only use my own blood.

"I've made some cheesy inks, the colors are a little weird, and the smell is, but they're obviously good for writing!

"...A thing that is definitely worth recording happened today! It is definitely worth recording!!

"Amber moved a little bit - literally, I'm sure she moved her little hand, she was sucking her fingers!!

"She is alive! She is indeed alive!"

After that, Surrey Randolph wrote many scattered accounts in excited emotions, including some of his experience of maintaining survival in the Shadowkeep. Amber seemed to become impatient, and the speed at which she turned the paper Speeding up, it didn't stop until a diary page where the handwriting was shaking slightly, and the writer seemed to be extremely excited.

"...I don't know what I did, and it may have nothing to do with me, but the ancient device in the room suddenly made some noises, and there was a strange sound of water and humming coming from the big pillar, I was almost shocked Jumped to the place where Amber sleeps, gods behold - what did I see?

"The crystal container was opened, and Amber was crawling out of it, using both hands and feet, and almost fell to the ground.

"To all the gods and ancients I know, I can't describe in words what I felt at that moment - I smacked myself several times, banged my head on the wall next to me, and yelled, used All methods were used to rule out the possibility of hallucinations, and it was only at the end that it was confirmed that it was all true, and Amber just sat on the ground and stared blankly at me!

"Damn it, I didn't scare her, did I?

"I found myself feeding this little guy moss - what could be more frustrating, stressful and frightening? The poor child...how is she going to survive in this bloody place?

"There are still some yellowish thin liquids left in the egg-shaped container, at least they are not poisonous. I tried to use them to feed the amber, which quickly ate some, but the liquid was too little, I still Something has to be done with her eating problems.

"She doesn't drink blood.

"With the last bit of liquid remaining in the container, I had no choice.

"I fed her moss - I made pots out of iron-clad containers I collected, built a fire with combustible rubbish I found in warehouses, and I boiled the moss so badly that they turned into some kind of rotten Huge soup... When I let Amber drink them, I even felt like I was feeding poison to this little guy.

"She ate the stuff and seemed fine for a while, but not sure what will happen after that... I'm going to have to stay awake for a long time to prevent her from choking on the vomiting...

"...Thank God! She's all right!"

The handwriting on this page was shaking violently. The writer’s nervousness and excitement seemed to be preserved through the strokes for decades. At this moment, the paper was overflowing. Amber stared at the gray-black handwriting, and suddenly spoke Said: "No wonder I'm not tall... right, old Zongzi?"

This is the funniest self-mockery that Gao Wen has ever heard.

He stretched out his hand and stroked Amber's hair. When the big hand covered the top of her head, the half-elf's body shook slightly, and then she took a deep breath and continued to roll backwards.

"...I feel guilty when I think that this little guy can only eat these moss with me, but compared with the worst situation, it is a great luck to survive, I think I should stop complaining, At least now I'm finally not alone...

"Amber can't speak, she can only make a weird hoarse voice, which sounds like the deepest whispers of those shadow dwellers, but she obviously wants to communicate with me. I spend most of the time with her now Speaking, although she can't make the same sound, I always feel that she can at least understand some.

"Amber learned to make ink for me! It's just pouring moss burnt ashes into water and stirring, but I have to watch because she will eat it...

Amber's fingertips moved slowly among the yellowed and fragile pages, flipping through the pages one by one, slowly turning the words that recorded her childhood to the end, and the diary finally came to the end.

At the end of the diary, Surrey Randolph finally discovers something unusual about his "adopted" little one.

"...I saw Amber talking to those shadow dwellers!

"No, strictly speaking, it shouldn't be a conversation, because Amber doesn't have the full ability to express, but at least they are communicating—Amber is gesticulating to those 'ghosts' who suddenly appeared, and those 'ghosts' are actually in Respond!

"I attacked those shadow dwellers almost subconsciously, and after realizing how close they were to Amber, I couldn't be more astonished...

"...Amber has some kind of shadow talent that I can't understand, and I can finally confirm it.

"She has chatted with those shadow dwellers more than once, and even pulled me up last time—she seemed to be trying to introduce me to those terrifying 'ghosts', I was so nervous that I didn't know how to react, and those 'ghosts' There was no response as usual, which made Amber angry for a while.

"I also saw her moving in the room with my own eyes, a shadow power wrapped around her, making her run from one end of the room to the other very quickly, and even a shadow transcendent like me could hardly catch up her speed.

"She even went into a completely sealed room, through some kind of high-level shadow jump...

"I think I probably guessed why the ancient Gondorians put this little girl in a container... Such outstanding shadow power, maybe this is the 'achievement' of those ancient Gondorians?

"I'm really curious about the secret behind Amber, and I'm curious about what those Gondorians are doing here...

"Curiosity reminded me of the things in the outside world. I held Amber and talked a lot, describing to her the flowers, plants and trees in the outside world, and describing the bright colors. She was very confused and probably couldn't imagine those scenes at all, but she He seemed very curious again, and seemed to be very concerned about what I described.

"I feel guilty, I shouldn't have said that to her... She really wants to go out, she wants to see the outside world, although she can't say it, but I can feel her emotions and thoughts, but I have no choice, I can't even get out by myself!

"Amber has been very irritable these days, she started to create some dark vortexes and fissures in the room, I told her this is very dangerous behavior, but she didn't listen at all - I don't know what she wants to do, but this It's really, really dangerous!

"...This may be the last diary entry I left in the Shadow Fortress.

"After being trapped for so long, after being abandoned by the gods for so long, after even myself giving up hope... I never thought that this day would actually come——

"Amber opened a rift to the outside world!

"Although it is still growing slowly, it is not enough for one person to pass through, but it is indeed right in front of my eyes - the bright sunshine and bright colors are just opposite the crack!

"Farewell, this cursed place!!"

The diary ended here, and the next few pages were all blank paper.

The room fell into dead silence. After the sound of turning the pages of the book disappeared, the silence here was like a faded oil painting.

After several minutes of unbearable silence, it was Pittman who was the first to break the silence: "... when I first saw Sally Randolph, he was lying weak in the wilderness, covered in ragged clothes, with hair and beard They are very long, as if you have lived in the wild for several years, and you were sitting beside him blankly, with a rag on your body, neither crying nor making noise, so quiet and frightening.

"At that time, I was avoiding the pursuit of some people. I was a guy who could not even save my own life. After meeting you on the way to escape, my first reaction was to leave quickly and let you fend for yourself in the wilderness... …

"But just when I was about to leave, you suddenly moved and grabbed my robe—did you know? You looked like a human four or five years old at that time, but your strength was incredible. You pulled I, I seem to want me to save the dying person next to you. You didn't even know how to speak at that time, you could only make some very hoarse noises, which didn't sound like human beings could make at all.

"I was very nervous and scared. I tried my best to throw you away, but you got up again and gave me something in a panic."

Amber finally raised her head slightly and looked at Pittman: "What?"

"It's a bunch of gray-black 'moss'," Pittman grinned, and the wrinkles on his face piled up vertically and horizontally, as if this thing was really funny, "It took me a while to understand what you mean , you want to use moss as a reward, let me save the person next to you.

"I will always remember your expression at that time, you were holding a handful of moss, as if you were handing me a handful of gold——

"I was amused by you, and then... I relented, and I will never be able to get rid of you two in this life."

There was a trace of bewilderment in Amber's eyes: "I...don't remember at all."

"Of course you don't remember, your memory didn't stabilize until six years later, and before that, it took you four and a half years to learn to speak your first word," Pittman shook his head and sighed, "because you Your soul is synthetic - you are an artificial human!"

Chapter 0680 The Insider

After another ten seconds of silence, Amber broke the silence again. The half-elf lowered her head and whispered softly: "...So, I don't have to look for the whereabouts of my biological parents anymore, right? old man."

"We just want you to be able to live like a normal kid, and normal kids have parents - Surrey Randolph and I say to you after realizing that you'll soon lose all your early memories I told a lie that I picked you up from the forest, and your parents’ whereabouts are unknown,” Pittman said in a low voice, shaking his head slightly, “Hey, maybe we should tell this lie more thoroughly, so that you won’t be in trouble for so many years. I have always cared about my biological parents."

"You always knew the name 'Android 36'?"

"After the death of Surrey Randolph, I found scholars of ancient characters and asked them to help translate the meaning of these letters..." Pittman sighed and said slowly, "But it doesn't make sense anymore, After reading his notes, even if I can't understand these letters, I can guess your origin... That's why I once wanted to take this secret into the coffin."

Amber pursed her lips: "It's a good thing you didn't bring it in, otherwise, even if I dig you out again, I'll still make trouble for you."

Pittman spread his hands, showing a helpless look: "I don't know who you learned your temper from."

Amber's lips moved, but she didn't make any sound. She just looked down at the old and yellowed diary, and after a long time, she muttered: "This is at least an answer..."

Gao Wen stretched out his hand and brushed lightly on top of her head: "Are you okay?"

"I didn't cry."

"I didn't say you were crying..."

"...Fortunately," Amber shook her head, but still did not avoid Gao Wen's hand, "It's just... this answer is different from all the answers I have imagined."

"As an outsider, I can't plan your life for you or decide your thoughts, but from my point of view...all of this is over," Gao Wen looked at Amber, "whether it is the people who created you, or The things mentioned in Surrey Randolph's diary are all in the past tense. These people and things together shaped you today. Since you are still alive now, you should look forward."