Magic Technology Research Institute, the second basement floor, a confidential meeting room.
Wearing a dark blue coat, Gao Wen walked into the room. In this tightly guarded meeting room that was never opened to the public, he saw that all the participants of the meeting were already waiting here.
Wright and Veronica were talking in a low voice, Pittman was brushing his beard absently, Kamel was floating beside the conference table, the arcane radiance on his body was calm and blue, Hetty saw Gawain appearing, the first Standing up, bowing and saluting: "Ancestor."
The others also stopped their respective business, stood up and saluted one after another.
Gawain looked around the scene, his eyes lingering slightly on an empty seat beside the long table: "There is no need to hide at this time."
Amber's figure appeared immediately: "I'm used to it, I'm used to it..."
Gao Wen shook his head, came to the conference table, and said while sitting down: "Internal meeting, there is no need to be formal, today is mainly to exchange some information, and... I need some suggestions from some professionals on site."
Veronica raised her head, looked at the people at the scene, and knew it in her heart: "Is it related to the knowledge of the gods?"
"That's right," Gao Wen nodded and said, "Amber should have told you about the abnormality in the spiritual network of the Eternal Sleeper before the meeting, right?"
"I just said it half an hour ago," Wright replied, "I didn't even know that our penetration of the Eternal Sleeping Order had reached this level."
"The secrecy of this matter has always been very high, and it has nothing to do with the church. It is normal for you not to know," Gao Wen said with a serious expression on his face, "but now things have changed, and some information has to be made public.
"In short, according to the information I just received, it is very likely that the Eternal Sleepers' secret plan in the mind network accidentally touched the realm of the gods, and... they may have come into contact with the secret of the birth of the gods."
Gao Wen got straight to the point, and the meeting room fell silent in an instant. Everyone's breathing seemed to be half a beat slow. Even Kamel, who was not breathing, dimmed for a moment. After a few seconds, the corner of Pittman's mouth trembled. , breaking the silence: "I just said that something big must happen in this urgent and confidential meeting, but this... is a bit too exciting."
While talking, he lowered his head and looked at the several beards that he accidentally pulled off just now with some distress. After hesitating for a long time, he rubbed the beards on his chin again, and carefully reconnected them with spells.
Gawain didn't care about Pittman's murmurs. After seeing his big news successfully lifted everyone's spirits, he shared his previous experience in the spiritual network and his exploration in the "phantom town" described in detail.
Everyone at the scene listened carefully, even Amber, who often dozes off or wanders away in every meeting, pricked up her ears this time and listened very attentively.
"...This is the whole story," Gao Wen breathed out after nearly twenty minutes of narration, and said in conclusion, "According to my guess, the worship of the 'upper-level narrator' should be the main cause of the sandbox getting out of control, and this What is specifically concocted in the dream by the 'Upper Narrator Church', and whether this 'thing' is merely a conceptual product in the dream world... will be the key to the problem."
As soon as he finished speaking, Veronica, who was sitting in the second seat from the left, broke the silence: "You are suspicious...the belief in the so-called 'upper narrator' is in the No. 1 sandbox of the mind network... Really created a god?"
"There is no evidence yet, but I really doubt it," Gawain nodded. "The Eternal Sleeper has not yet found a 'way' for the gods to pollute the No. 1 sandbox. There is no evidence or clues to explain which god it is. By what method and when did they bypass the heavy protection of the No. 1 sandbox and enter the sandbox—we all know that the three major dark sects are the sects with the deepest understanding of the gods, but even the top researchers among them have no idea. If we can’t find traces of gods invading the sandbox system... then we might as well make a bolder assumption: pollution is not intruding from the outside at all... "
…
In the spiritual network, the central temple with the highest confidentiality authority, the archbishops sit around a round table depicting various symbols.
All the archbishops who participated in the meeting took off their disguises here, and used the real appearance of the real world—according to the church's internal regulations, this means that this meeting has a very high level of secrecy and high standards.
Archbishop Yuri in a white robe stood beside the round table with a serious tone: "...according to Archbishop Selina and I's speculation, the pollution...may come from inside the No. of the sect that worships the 'Upper Storyteller'."
Opposite Yuri, a short man in a black robe, with bristling red hair and a rather sonorous voice stood up and said loudly: "This is really unbelievable. The residents in the dream world suddenly started Doubt the authenticity of their world, and then start worshiping a fictional 'upper narrator', will a god really be born? And this god also caused the No. 1 sandbox to go out of control? It's really impossible to find out the reason Reasons made up under the circumstances?"
Yuri looked helplessly at the red-haired man on the opposite side—that was Archbishop Magnum, with a fiery temper and a famous loud voice, but he also knew that there was nothing wrong with the loud questioning of this loud gentleman here. Maliciousness is not out of opinion of a certain person, it is due to his character—this idea popped into his mind, and he said it naturally.
It's just that this gentleman's voice is so loud that it's difficult for people to get used to, and then again... In such a spiritual space, can't he turn down his "volume" a little
"Bishop Magnum," Yuri shook his head slightly, "everything I said is indeed just guesswork, and I know it's unbelievable, but don't forget that we are dealing with 'God', and God... is inconceivable in itself."
A group of starlight polymers floated above the gorgeous round table, and the voice it made reached everyone's ears: "Now there is any evidence to prove that the 'upper narrator' believed by the sect born in the dream world already possesses Is it some kind of divine quality?"
"Your Majesty," Archbishop Yuri lowered his head immediately, "There is no evidence for the time being, and we have too little information. At present, we can only confirm that such a sect has indeed appeared in the No. 1 sandbox, and its activities are consistent with a No. sandbox out of control corresponds in time."
The starlight polymer expands and shrinks in mid-air: "Then as long as there is evidence to prove that the 'upper narrator's belief' in the No. 1 sandbox really produced a god, or a 'thing' similar to a god, all the answers will be revealed. .”
Yuri frowned: "But... if that thing is really a god, how should we deal with it?"
"We have no way of knowing yet, but isn't this the answer and secret we have been looking for?" Pope Megaul III's voice gently echoed in everyone's mind, "We have been trying to dig out the secrets of the gods." to find out the truth of their birth, and now, we may be infinitely close to this truth... "
…
"The secret of the birth of the gods... may be hidden in the No. 1 sandbox," Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "If there is really a shadow of the power of the gods behind the 'Upper Narrator Church', then the concept of gods... will get the most Complete subversion."
"The gods did not create humans, but humans created the gods..." Pittman muttered to himself, his hands suddenly trembled, and several beards were pulled off by him again.
Holding a platinum scepter in her hand, Veronica, who was surrounded by a faint holy light, had been silent since just now, and seemed to have fallen into long-term thinking, and then she suddenly raised her head: "This... is actually the one who went against the plan at the beginning. One of the assumptions."
"Have you ever guessed this direction?" Gawain looked at Veronica in surprise, "Have you guessed that gods are actually born in the process of human belief?"
"We didn't speculate so deeply and directly, but we guessed that human beliefs—or the common thoughts of a large number of mortals—will affect the activities of gods to a certain extent. But this guess is too shocking, and it can neither be confirmed nor Falsification, or the difficulty of proving falsification is so high that it is almost impossible to achieve, so until the collapse of the Gondor Empire, this conjecture is still just a conjecture."
"But now the bold attempt of the Eternal Sleeper may prove your conjectures back then..." Wright said with a sigh, "I really can't imagine that the gods that make mortals fear and awe are in essence created by mortals?"
"Don't draw conclusions because of this, let alone be blindly confident and underestimate the 'God'," Veronica said gently, "The belief projection of hundreds of millions of creatures has become a god in a dimension that we can't understand. The changes during this period are beyond our comprehension. Maybe gods really came into being because of the belief of mortals, but we don’t have the qualifications and strength to call them our 'creations'... Perhaps, we should regard them as a A terrifying, out-of-control, but inevitable 'natural phenomenon'."
"Natural phenomenon..." Gao Wen couldn't help repeating the word in his mind, thinking deeply.
Then he nodded: "Indeed, as Veronica said, it may be some kind of natural phenomenon, and... it is a natural phenomenon that must happen."
Belief and religion can almost be said to be an inevitable stage of social activities.
There will always be a period of weakness in civilization. Mortals come from ignorance, facing this mysterious and unknown world full of crises, facing the incomprehensible and unpredictable nature, as a kind of intelligent creature, They will inevitably feel awe of nature, fear or worship those unexplainable natural phenomena.
And in the process of going from the unknown to the known, in the process of trying to recognize everything in the world, mortals will definitely try to explain those things that awe them and frighten them.
In a period when knowledge is insufficient, power is weak, and civilization is still in its infancy, these explanations... will inevitably point to gods, or other similar concepts.
In that closed No. 1 sandbox, in that man-made world that has been running continuously for thousands of years, the residents inside must have also faced such a question: Where did we come from? Who created this world
Maybe some "prophet" accidentally saw the data flow behind the world, maybe some adventurer accidentally came to the border of the sandbox, they were horrified by the vast and chaotic sea of mind outside the world, and saw The script running behind the world and the records of instructions left by the operators.
Thus, they have an explanation for their world: it is the "upper narrator" who created all this.
Then, there really is the "upper storyteller".
"The Eternal Sleepers are a group of outstanding soul engineers and excellent researchers, but it's a pity that they only pay attention to the technical field, but don't understand how society works." Gao Wen shook his head, and his tone couldn't help sighing, "If they understand Through the mechanism of social operation and understanding of all aspects of civilization development, even if they cannot predict that the No. 1 sandbox will get out of control, at least they can expect that the emergence of "religious activities" in the No. Be vigilant and plan ahead.”
There was a moment of silence in the conference room.
Although everyone here is aware of the rebellious plan, even though everyone here is more or less involved in Gao Wen's plan to challenge the gods and "rebel", the things discussed today still have a great impact on everyone .
Everyone is digesting carefully, and everyone is repeatedly verifying all aspects of those assumptions.
Putting his hand on his chin, Pittman said while carefully repairing his beard: "Then if this is the case, a 'god' was created in the No. 1 sandbox... I am afraid this matter will not end. We can still deal with the deer created by the Death Society with cannon fire or the army of sea monsters, but how can we deal with a god that runs in dreams?"
"Don't be so pessimistic," Gao Wen said calmly, "Even if that thing is really a god or a 'god-like', it has just been born and is still trapped in a dream, as long as we can understand its mechanism , it is not difficult to deal with—and the Eternal Sleeper will definitely do his best to solve this crisis for his own survival."
Pittman looked sad, and couldn't help twirling his beard: "Oh... I shouldn't have listened to Amber back then, my old age is not peaceful at all..."
The exclamation fell, and the old Druid looked down at the beard that had been pulled out in his hand, and his face became more sad.
"Just don't pick it up," Wright, who was sitting opposite, said with some concern, "I don't think I can get it."
"… well… "