Sword of Dawn

The light ball of the lighting technique emits a pale light, illuminating the furnishings in the house, but this light seems to be interfered and suppressed by unknown forces, making it only spread a few meters away, and can only illuminate nearby places. Things, and everything in the depths of the room, in every corner, was still shrouded in shadows like a thick veil.

Gao Wen stared at those shadows, only felt that there was emptiness in the depths of those shadows, as if the unlit places were not just darkness, but really nothing existed—he even had some unreasonable associations, thinking that if there were Whoever steps recklessly into those darknesses in the absence of light falls straight into nothingness, mind lost in the void of the web.

The three priests who were in charge of inspecting the house were obviously also aware of the weirdness of those shadowed areas. They carefully maintained their actions within the range of the lighting technique, and none of them approached the darkness.

"There is no dust...but there is an atmosphere that has been abandoned for many years..." One of the priests brushed his fingers over the square table in the center of the room, and a deep voice came from under the owl mask, "It seems to be the phenomenon of 'emotional resonance'."

"It's possible," another priest nodded and said, "There is some kind of power that can influence people's thoughts here, creating an 'atmosphere' that has been 'abandoned for many years'."

The No.3 priest checked several other places: "The furniture and utensils are placed in the place for daily use, there is still clear water in the water bottle, and the flowers inserted on the wooden pillars have not withered. leave……"

"This should be the data leaked from the No. 1 sandbox. It is the projection of a certain town in the sandbox. Judging from the undistorted state of the projection, this probably restores the situation in the No. [-] sandbox," No.[-] The priest said in a low voice, "In the No. [-] sandbox...is this the scene now?"

"At least one town looks like this."

Gao Wen followed the three priests, followed them to check the situation in the hut, but found no clues worthy of attention, then turned and exited the room, and returned to the street where Selena and the others were.

While the three priests were inspecting the house, the three archbishops who stayed outside were not idle. On the one hand, they maintained the spiritual protection of this area to prevent malicious minds hidden in the depths of the town from attacking the priests who entered the house. On the one hand, they are monitoring the movements in various parts of the town, paying attention to whether the town has changed synchronously after the three priests entered the house-in the spiritual world that involves consciousness activities, similar "linkage reactions" must be considered .

Gawain heard Selina Gerfen talking to Daniel.

"...This town is not in the 'blueprint' of the No. [-] sandbox," said the woman with the lamp lightly, "nor is it in the subsequent blueprint of the deduction. town."

Daniel asked: "Are there other similar 'self-evolving products'?"

"Yes," Selina nodded, "We have already observed a mysterious plain, several broken streets, and a mountain that came from nowhere—that mountain is floating above the city of dreams, if it is not His Majesty the Pope sensed the abnormality in advance and blocked it in time, and it may be directly exposed to the eyes of ordinary congregants."

Daniel was a little curious: "...These overflows seem to surround the City of Dreams, but at most they only affect the fringe neighborhoods, and have not directly eroded the central area of ​​the City of Dreams?"

"That's right, the City of Dreams is well-protected, and it's not so easy to invade."

Daniel and Gao Wen, who was standing beside Selena, showed thoughtful expressions at the same time.

At this moment, a melodious and mysterious bell suddenly rang in the small town!

Chapter 0763 Mysterious Church

The distant and mysterious bell suddenly rang in the small town. Even the archbishop of the Eternal Sleeper couldn't help but get nervous because of this sudden change. The three archbishops, including Daniel, raised their heads at the same time, looking for the direction from which the bell sounded. Selena noticed the changes in the town for the first time——

Starting from the far end of the street, the houses that were originally closed and dark inside were lit up one after another as the bells continued to ring!

In this scene, it was as if there were suddenly residents in those abandoned houses, as if this dead town was rapidly waking up.

Seeing the houses with lights spreading rapidly towards this side, Selina Geerfen reacted immediately, and shouted loudly to the hut behind her: "Get out immediately!"

The three priests who were investigating the situation in the hut seemed to have not heard the bell at all, but after Selena gave a loud order, they rushed out immediately, returned to the street with a little confusion, and looked at the Those lights quickly spread from afar.

In just a few seconds, the hut they were investigating before was also lit with soft and warm lights, and the door that was opened just now seemed to be pushed by an invisible hand and slammed shut.

There were vague sounds of conversation, walking, and moving tables and chairs in the cabin.

This eerie scene made people on the street look at each other in blank dismay, and the three high-ranking priests wearing owl masks couldn't help pulling their collars, showing a trace of fear.

Gawain frowned, and came to the window of the hut that had just been lit up, and looked inside through the gap in the wooden planks of the window.

A priest of the Eternal Sleeper wearing an owl mask also approached, as if he also wanted to observe the movement in the house through the window. Gawain stepped aside slightly when he saw this, and looked into the hut together with the other party.

The priest of the Eternal Sleeper knew nothing about it.

Inside the hut, the lights are warm and bright, but no one can be seen. There is only a bright lampstand placed on the square table in the center of the main room. In the empty house, various indistinct sounds echo.

Very weird - Gao Wen thought.

"It's weird," the high-ranking priest who was observing the situation inside the house with Gawain withdrew his gaze, and reported with a trace of nervous vigilance, "Except for a light, no residents appeared inside, and the voice came from out of thin air. "

"...It may be the reverberation of memories. The voices and incomplete scenes remembered by the collective consciousness remain in the abandoned mental space, and they are played in a loop as time goes by," Archbishop Yuri calmly analyzed, "Considering that this is an overflow Contaminated areas, similar situations are likely to occur."

"...There doesn't seem to be any additional changes." Selina Geerfen nodded after hearing Archbishop Yuri's analysis, and turned her eyes to look at the street—the warm and soft light came from every window and The iron-black street lamps on both sides of the road were all lit up from the crack of the door. This deserted town shrouded in clouds was still empty, but it was already illuminated by lights, but the seemingly warm lights were not there. It can't bring people the slightest sense of security, but it makes every visitor feel chills.

But apart from these lights and various inexplicable sounds, the town really hasn't changed much, and nothing dangerous has happened.

Selena looked away and asked the high-ranking priests who went to check the house before: "Did you find anything inside?"

"It's empty, Archbishop, and there's a long-abandoned 'atmosphere' that we suspect is some lingering emotional resonance..."

"There is almost no dust on all the utensils, there is still clear water in the water bottle, and the flowers have not withered. It seems that there were people living in it one moment, and suddenly disappeared the next moment, and this is somewhat different from the 'abandoned' 'atmosphere' Contradictions, do not know why."

"The light is suppressed inside, and the lighting technique can only illuminate a few meters away, and the edges are blurred."

"The dark shadows in the corner of the room are very weird, and you can't see any details in the shadows. It feels like nothingness is hidden inside, and it's a bit like those undefined areas in the dream city."

Listening to the priests' reports, Selina nodded and turned her gaze to another direction of the street.

Her vision suddenly froze.

"That church over there..." She frowned tightly, pointing the lantern in her hand to the small square at the end of the street, "Did it exist before?"

Several gazes turned to the direction Selina pointed at the same time, and everyone's eyes widened in astonishment——

A gray-white church with a simple shape, a steeple and two small towers is quietly standing in the eyes of everyone. The church is dark and quiet, in sharp contrast with the surrounding lit houses, but the church does not seem to be completely It was pitch black, and through a glass window in front of it, Gawain seemed to vaguely see a faint light in the very depths of it.

The appearance of the church itself is not important, what is important is - before the bell rings, it does not exist at all!

It was just an empty square!

The three archbishops couldn't help but exchanged their gazes. Yuri then stretched out his hand and pressed several times in the air, and a shimmering rune appeared beside him. When Gawain guessed whether the rune was some kind of more powerful While using the mind protection spell, he heard the gentle and elegant archbishop say: "Monitoring team, are there any new mind fluctuations around us?"

The group of runes shimmered in the air, and a young female voice came from the shimmer: "Report to the Archbishop——No new spiritual fluctuations have been observed."

Yuri nodded to Selena beside him: "It seems that this thing is not sent in from the outside, and there is no new overflow."

Selena frowned, stepped forward and asked those runes: "Then have you observed the phenomenon of consciousness awakening or secondary dreaming?"

"Reporting to the archbishop, I haven't observed it—monitoring shows that there are no large-scale spiritual fluctuations on your side."

Selena thought for a few seconds before responding: "Understood, continue to monitor."

After the runes were scattered, Yuri asked hesitantly, "Do you want to check that church?"

Selena looked at the hands she brought, and then at the lantern in her hand. After some weighing, she nodded: "Check - we have never observed such an abnormal change in the overflow projection before, and what appeared was still A 'church'...that might reveal to us the current state of Sandbox One."

The Eternal Sleepers team began to cautiously approach the church not far away, while Gawain blinked behind him.

This... so when they acted, there was a monitoring team behind them assisting them?

With a sigh in his mind, Gawain shook his head, and followed Daniel and the others who were about to arrive at the door of the church.

The small church with gray and white exterior walls stood quietly on the edge of the square, but there was a faint light flickering behind the dim windows. The team of eternal sleepers came to its door and found that the door of the church was concealed A gap.

All the houses in the whole town seem to have their doors and windows closed, but only this church, its door is actually ajar.

This abnormal situation made people more vigilant. Selina and the others did not enter rashly, but began to collect information about the church from the outside, trying to guess its situation.

Selena shook the lantern in her hand slightly, and the mysterious and elegant lantern emitted a calming white light. With the illumination of this white light, she approached the door of the church and carefully observed the pattern on the ancient door. And the patterns on the walls on both sides of the gate.

Gawain showed some curiosity, and Daniel immediately stepped forward and asked, "Archbishop Selina, what are you looking for?"

"Sacred mark," Selina replied indifferently, "this is a church, and there should be a sacred mark to mark which god it worships—maybe, we can use this to understand the pollution of the No. [-] sandbox Where did it come from?"

Gawain instantly understood Selena's intentions, and also learned a new piece of information - it turns out that the Eternal Sleepers have not yet figured out which god is polluting the No. [-] sandbox? !

He couldn't help but become curious about this, and began to follow Selina to check the patterned symbols on the gate and the wall.

Sandbox No. [-] should be designed as a "world" without gods, and the minds entering the sandbox have also undergone strict adjustments and amnestics to ensure that no one will retain memories of gods or have the idea of ​​​​worshiping gods, so Theoretically, there is no such thing as a "church" in Sandbox No. [-].

In other words, as long as there are churches or other similar "sacred elements" in the projections leaked from the No. [-] sandbox, it must be related to the god pollution suffered by the sandbox!

However, after some inspection, neither he nor Selena saw any sacred symbols that matched their memories.

They saw only one mural on the side wall of the church, which depicted a palm covering the sky and the earth below it.

This mural also appears on every house wall in the town.

Gao Wen couldn't help frowning—could it be that this picture is actually a "sacred symbol", a religious symbol of the "residents" in this small town?

While he was thinking, Selena and the others had already completed the external inspection of the chapel, and after some discussion, they decided to enter the interior of the church.

Gao Wen had no choice but to temporarily put aside the doubts in his mind, and followed in the footsteps of Daniel and the others.

Pushing open the half-covered door, the wooden door that seemed to be old did not make any sound. Daniel followed Selena and Yuri into the church, only hearing a few footsteps echoing in his ears.

The old mage raised his head and saw the "Outsider Wanderer" just beside him, walking like a stroll in the dimly lit church, and he was slightly relieved.

Several high-ranking priests wearing masks walked around the three archbishops, some of them lit up the lighting technique, and some activated the spell of mental protection. In the dim and flickering light and shadow, the scene in the church came into everyone's eyes——

Rows of empty seats are arranged in a church that is not too big. The old wooden floor is slightly potholed. At the end of the seat, there is a platform with a step above the ground. A wooden desk, beside the desk stood a black lamppost, and a candle that seemed to be extinguished was placed on the lamppost, burning quietly, illuminating a small area around the pulpit.

While the candlelight was flickering, Daniel and the others suddenly saw a figure in a gray-white robe kneeling in front of the pulpit, as if silently praying.

Due to the dim light, no one noticed that there was a figure who looked like a priest kneeling there before!

Everyone raised their vigilance for the first time. Pale golden runes appeared in the hands of Archbishop Yuri, and a simple staff appeared in Daniel's hands. staff, or took out the magic ball, or silently prepared the spell, or unfolded the spell book that recorded the spell. , everyone is on the verge of an enemy.

But under the necessary caution and restraint, everyone did not attack rashly.

Selena gestured to the others to be vigilant, while holding a lantern in her hand, she slowly walked towards the figure kneeling in front of the pulpit.

The latter only reacted when Selena was only a few steps away. The gray-white robe shook for a while, and the praying man in the robe slowly stood up. In the tense state of everyone, The figure turned his head and saw the uninvited visitor entering the church.

It was an ordinary-looking and kind-hearted old man with white beard and hair and wrinkles all over his face. He didn't seem to feel the tense atmosphere around him, but he was just a little surprised and smiled happily: "Ah, so there is a guest, There are not many visitors to the church on a day when the bells are ringing."

"A mind that seems to be communicable," Archbishop Yuri, who summoned the golden rune from a position slightly behind the Eternal Sleeper team, whispered as if talking to himself, "suspend the reset process."

Gawain glanced at Yuri indifferently.

On the other side, Selena stood calmly in front of the old man in a gray robe. The lantern in her hand emitted a soft light that made people feel immersed in it. She asked in a very natural tone: "What church is this?"

The eyes of the old man in the gray robe seemed to be confused for a moment, and then he said, "Of course it is... a church dedicated to the gods..."

Selena frowned: "God? Which god?"

The old man's eyes became even more confused. It seemed that someone had raised this question, which had greatly violated his three views, but after a short hesitation, he still slowly replied:

"The gods...of course...the upper narrator..."

Chapter 0764 The Dream of Qualitative Change

The upper storyteller.

After hearing this blunt combination of phrases, Gao Wen was briefly confused for less than a second, and then had some vague guesses from the meaning of the words.

This made him look serious in an instant, and his attitude became serious.

In the No. [-] sandbox... something unexpected happened, and this so-called "pollution of the gods"... I'm afraid it's much more complicated than everyone guessed! !

What Gao Wen can think of, Selena and other "archbishops" can certainly think of it. The phrase "upper-level narrator" itself contains a lot of information that can be directly understood. Yuri, who is gentle and wearing a monocle, quickly He frowned tightly and looked at the old priest who was being hypnotized by Selina: "What is the specific meaning of the upper-level narrator?"

"He is the creator of the world, he is also the destroyer of the world, he is the watcher of the world, and he is also the guide of the world..." The old man in a gray robe showed a peaceful smile on his face, and said slowly with the joy of preaching , "For our world, He is the all-knowing, omnipotent and irresistible master..."

Listening to these standard missionary speeches, Selena frowned imperceptibly, and interrupted: "How was the world born?"

The high-level priests of the dark sect are all experts who have in-depth research on religion. They know how to quickly collect information and grasp the essence when they first come into contact with an unfamiliar belief system-generally speaking, all mature beliefs will inevitably try to interpret the world The birth of the world, and their interpretation of the birth of the world will show their three views and ways of thinking to the greatest extent, as well as the main dogmas and core myths and legends.

The old man in gray robe was a little confused, and then under the guidance of hypnosis, he said what he kept in mind:

"The world...was woven by the upper-level narrator. He first created the chaotic sky and the gray-white earth from nothingness, and then gave colors and shapes to everything in the world... Afterwards, the upper-level narrator formulated the rules for the operation of everything , and wrote the original history, so the world began to run, and under the power of the law, it was endless..."

"...conforms to the activation process of No. [-] sandbox," Selina whispered to Yuri and Daniel, "the upper narrator... refers to us."

"A religion that believes in the 'upper narrator' was born in the sandbox?" Yuri had an unbelievable look on his face, and his voice was low as if he was talking to himself, "This is the trace of the 'God' we observed '? A sect born in a dream...would have the 'power of the gods'?"

"I don't know, but if this sect born in the dream is really the 'God Pollution' we observed..." Selena's voice suddenly became faint, and her tone even trembled, "Then... then I am afraid that we have unconsciously touched the ultimate secret of this world, the ultimate taboo!!"

On the side, Gao Wen also had countless guesses and assumptions in his mind, and suddenly thought of a question, he couldn't help but look at Daniel: "Did this sect that believes in the upper-level narrators be born after the No. [-] sandbox lost control?" ?The monitors didn't discover the sect before the sandbox got out of hand?"

Daniel immediately turned to Selena, and asked Gao Wen's question without changing.

Selena had no doubt about him, she nodded and answered Daniel's question: "Before the sandbox got out of control, the person in charge of monitoring didn't find such a sect in the sandbox... But due to the limitation of monitoring methods, it is impossible for outsiders to grasp the sandbox. Every detail of the sandbox world can only be controlled by the general situation and the "historical trend". Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there are religious germinations in some remote corners of the sandbox world... But in general, even if there are some The budding of faith, before the No. [-] sandbox got out of control, there was absolutely no such a mature sect that could build a church and have a complete creation myth. Such a large-scale abnormal phenomenon will definitely be observed. "

Gao Wen rubbed his chin, and said to himself: "In other words, this church that believes in the 'Upper Narrator' was born after the sandbox got out of control, and before that there were at most some things that could not be observed by external monitors. The trend of thought, or the germination of belief...Daniel, I would like to ask another question. Does the "divine pollution" observed by the eternal sleepers refer to the emergence of churches and sacrificial activities? Is there any "magic power" that can affect reality? thing?"

Daniel faithfully relayed Gawain's question, and it was Archbishop Yuri standing aside who answered this time: "The 'god pollution' we observed is some chaotic church silhouettes and blurred images of sacrificial activities. Considering the sandbox The world is a complete 'godless domain', and the appearance of such distinctive fragments in the sandbox itself already means that it has been polluted by gods. As for the 'divine power' that can affect reality... this is not be observed."

Then the archbishop paused and added: "If a 'magic' that can affect reality escapes from the dream-based sandbox world, the seriousness of the situation will not be what it is now, it will no longer be The pollution of the gods means that the power of the true god has come and has begun to distort the real world! At that time, no matter how big the sacrifice is, we will shut down the entire spiritual network at all costs."

Gao Wen breathed out in deep thought: "There is no problem for now."

Daniel immediately told the other two archbishops that he had no doubts, and Selina began to ask the gray-robed old man about other things to learn more about the world changes in the No. [-] sandbox.

"You mentioned the days when the bells are tolling—what do the days when the bells are tolling mean?"

"The day when the bell rings is the 'Day of Shelter' announced by the 'Upper Narrator'. Once a week, in the evening of this day, the bell will ring at the last minute before the sun sets, and people should return home. Or go back to other shelters, light the lights, be with your family under the shelter of the lights, never leave the house and come into the street... You come to the church on the day when the bells are ringing, because wandering the streets is too Far, too late to go home?"

"That's right," Selena casually replied, and asked again, "What will happen if you still stay on the street after the bell rings?"