black tower

The long fire of Christ is about to be extinguished, and human beings will find new light in themselves.

- DH Lawrence

After experiencing the third war of the awakened and the natural disasters that followed, the total population of the earth has been reduced by half.

In the past, the high technology that human beings are proud of has also become a terrible means of killing. A photon cannon can destroy a prosperous city and wipe out millions of lives.

In order to compete for resources and redistribute benefits, the Awakened represented by Sentinels and Guides used their own advantages to show their talents in the war, which caused even greater disasters.

When human society is on the verge of collapse and the earth is about to become the ruins of civilization, the war-torn countries have united like never before to form a United Earth Government and divide the earth into 24 tower areas.

So far, a new structure has appeared in human urban planning. The tower has become the center without compromise. Human living areas are built around it, and the people in the area are also protected by the tower.The tower, a low-key building with a history of thousands of years, shouldered a major responsibility for the development of human history for the first time. Those awakened people who awed or feared ordinary people were managed and placed by it. The awakened ones, who are regarded as scourges by ordinary people, have thus become the protectors of human beings, and are generally respected and favored by society.

In the eyes of Zhao Hongguang, the awakened guide, the dusk of St. Nelensa always has a strange sense of hazyness. This hazy feeling carries the sadness that poets often give to the dusk, and it is a color that cannot be adjusted by his pen.Zhao Hongguang looked at the painting that had just been completed on the shelf with a sense of scrutiny. On the painting, under the rusty afterglow of the evening light, a black tower stood alone on the other side of a sparkling river.

So be it.Zhao Hongguang made a self-compromise in his heart. In a short period of time, as a professional guide and an amateur painter, he may only be able to reach this level.

Zhao Hongguang quickly packed up his painting tools. Before leaving, he couldn't help but look up at the tall black tower. Among the 24 tower areas on the earth, each tower area has such a tower. Such a peculiar building is different from the traditional white tower. Its pure black color always makes people have an indescribable sense of depression; secondly, its existence is like a forbidden area in the tower area, and many suffer from free disease or madness. After the sick sentinel entered it, he never came out again.

Zhao Hongguang heard that the remains of those unlucky sentinels would be cremated on the spot in the Black Tower, and then discharged directly into the Luoning River that separated the White Tower Group from the Black Tower.

This legend once caused him to dare not eat fish in the cafeteria for a while, because the fish served in the cafeteria in the tower area were all caught from the Luoning River, which is rich in food.

It wasn't until Zhao Hongguang was 15 years old when he witnessed an old man with a numb face take a box from the instructor that he finally understood that the legend was just a lie to deceive children.That’s right, as one of the eight largest tower areas under the United Earth Government’s jurisdiction, the St. Nelensa Tower Area is not so poor that it needs to feed the fish with the ashes of the Sentinels.

Yes, that box contained the ashes of a Sentinel suffering from madness.

After so many years, Zhao Hongguang still vaguely remembers the guy who couldn't grow up with them anymore. Madness is really scary, it can turn a normally cheerful boy into a complete lunatic in an instant.At that time, his guiding ability was far from reaching S level, otherwise, he thought, he might be able to save that hapless sentinel.

For some reason, Zhao Hongguang suddenly felt a trace of sadness in his heart. He even felt that now is the best time for him to draw out the twilight of St. Nelensa with a paintbrush. After the communicator vibrated and beeped, it sent out an emotionless electronic voice: "Guide No. 2073, Zhao Hongguang, please go to the No. [-] White Tower Guide Management Office immediately, and please reply."

"Received by Zhao Hongguang, guide No. 2073." Zhao Hongguang sighed softly. He originally wanted to go to the cafeteria to eat, but it seems that today's dinner has to be delayed again.

In the St. Nelensa tower area, each white tower has an exclusive number. The No. [-] white tower is the center of the tower area and the tallest white tower in the entire tower area. The prismatic spire is not gorgeous. , but looks simple and solemn.After Zhao Hongguang deposited his painting tools in the storage place of the No. [-] White Tower, he immediately stood on a free transmission disk.

After the artificial intelligence that sent the disk noticed that someone was standing on it, it immediately issued a sweet electronic voice: "Excuse me, where are you going?"

"Guide management office." Zhao Hongguang took a deep breath. Every time he went to that place, he was always a little hairy. After all, he really didn't like to face those serious managers.

"Okay." At the moment when the sweet electronic sound ended, Zhao Hongguang felt a slight vibration in his body, and the surrounding environment changed from the lobby on the first floor to a transmission channel of light and shadow changes.

Five seconds later, the electronic channel disappeared, and Zhao Hongguang appeared at the door of the guide management office.

Sitting behind a curved desk, Yu Ziming, Director of the Guidance Management Office of St. Nelensa Tower, showed a kind smile the moment he saw Zhao Hongguang.

"Director Yu, what do you want from me?" Zhao Hongguang remembered that the last time he saw the other party showing such a smile, it was because he passed the review of the S-level guide.

You know, since the chief guide Wei Chen passed away five years ago, there have been no new S-level guides in the St. Nelensa Tower area, and Zhao Hongguang is the first guide to pass the S-level review in the past five years.

Today, Yu Ziming smiled brighter, which means that he will bring better news to Zhao Hongguang.

"Congratulations, Hong Guang, the results of the S-level guide advanced assessment you participated in before have been released, and your final rating has been confirmed as S1. Now you are the only one in the entire St. Holding a paper document in his hand, although the current technology has advanced to the point that any information can be transmitted through sound and light, but out of respect for tradition, a paper document for physical preservation is still necessary .

"Really? I really didn't expect that I actually met the requirements of S1 level."

Only one step away, I am the highest level guide recognized by the guide committee.

Just a little bit, Zhao Hongguang jumped up. One second before his feet were ready to exert force, he immediately realized that such behavior was too naive for a guide with strong spiritual power. Zhao Hongguang believes that he will soon be awarded the honorary title of chief guide of the tower area.

Zhao Hongguang suppressed his excitement and took the honor from Yu Ziming.

"Then can I apply for sentry matching? As you know, so far, I have never had a fixed partner sentry. Although I don't mind using my spiritual power to help more comrades, I really want to try What would it be like to be a highly matched sentinel?" Zhao Hongguang looked at Yu Ziming expectantly, who was also a guide, and he must have understood his expectations.

"Of course there is no problem. But you have to be mentally prepared. At present, most of the senior sentries in the tower area already have matching guides." Yu Ziming replied straightforwardly.

Under normal circumstances, the tower area will not take the initiative to match high-level guides. The fear is that there will be an embarrassing situation where high-level guides and low-level sentries will be matched. Gao can also successfully complete the task of grooming and comforting them, although there will always be a little lacking.

Zhao Hongguang followed Yu Ziming to the data room on the middle floor of No. [-] White Tower, where the data of sentries and guides after passing the advanced ability assessment will be stored.

The matching data of each tower guide and sentinel is confidential. Although Yu Ziming is the person in charge of the tower guide management office, he still has no right to open the data room by himself. It was not until 5 minutes later that the director of the data room rushed over in person. .

"I didn't expect it to be so late, and you haven't left work yet." The director who was planning to go home muttered, and opened the door of the data room with his iris and fingerprints. He is a rare "ordinary person" in the tower area. , as one of the cadres sent by the government to provide "management services" for sentinels and guides.

"The data over there came out only after reviewing the data. I think it is necessary to let the youngest and outstanding guide of Saint Nelensa know the good news earlier." Yu Ziming was really happy for Zhao Hongguang from the bottom of his heart. After Wei Chen passed away, As an old guide, he is full of worries about the future of the tower area. The guides in the Santa Nerence tower area have never had an advantage. Compared with many excellent S-level sentries, there are very few S-level guides.

All Sentinels within the tower area are within range of the guide.

After Zhao Hongguang put his palm on the data receiving platform according to Yu Ziming's instructions, this was the second time he used this machine. The first time was when he was rated as an S-level guide. With the improvement and stability of his ability, Their own data will also have corresponding changes, so the guides or sentries in the tower area generally apply for matching after the decisive advanced evaluation.

The moment Zhao Hongguang pressed his palm on the data receiving platform, countless fine rays of light of different colors immediately appeared on the originally silvery white receiver. Two rivers, rushing to the distance, heading to the same destination.

"Hongguang, if your most suitable Sentinel is lower than A-level, we won't let you bind him alone." Yu Ziming stood aside and looked at Zhao Hongguang who was full of expectations, and smiled at him.In fact, what he said is no longer a secret. Guides are scarce, especially today when high-level guides are scarce. No tower area is willing to let S-level guides match with low-level sentries alone. There is a saying that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. Great and excellent guides should make greater contributions in guiding the sentries in order to realize their ultimate life value. Of course, no one cares whether this life value is what they want to realize.

"I heard that the probability of high and low matching is not very high, so, Director Yu, don't scare me." Zhao Hongguang turned his head and smiled at Yu Ziming, and the data receiving station also made a clear sound after completely entering his data. The beep sound, and then a string of characters jumped on the screen quickly.

Zhao Hongguang stared at the screen nervously, like a gambler holding a lottery ticket and waiting for the big prize.

Finally, the jumping characters on the screen stopped, and the Sentinels matching Zhao Hongguang's attributes would be arranged from top to bottom according to the degree of matching, and each page would display up to ten people.

Needless to say, Zhao Hongguang's eyes must have been fixed on the first name that appeared first, but it was a little strange that only this name was in red.

"Han Jun..." Zhao Hongguang murmured out the name. After realizing who this person was, his eyes quickly became surprised, and then looked at Yu Ziming who was also looking at him in surprise.