With a slight cold feeling spreading in his mind, Daniel's slightly chaotic thoughts quickly became clear.
Everything on the safe springboard is normal, the ports in the brain have been directed to the controlled shallow sea of consciousness, memory camouflage and multiple shells are operating as usual, praise the wanderers outside the territory - their minds are heavily armed, and no one can learn from the flawless mind. The slightest abnormality can be seen in the barrier.
Even if the other party is a powerful archbishop.
Daniel settled down in his heart, he knew that he had entered the spiritual world, and in this spiritual world, there was nothing abnormal about the expression on his face.
"Which archbishop are you?" he asked with just the right amount of respect and calm.
The woman on the opposite side used an unfamiliar face. This face was probably created temporarily for this conversation. It was an act of concealing her identity, but Daniel still asked. Normal reaction when talking to a strange archbishop.
"Don't worry about this, this face is just an interactive medium, and now the Supreme Bishops' Council is talking to you," the woman on the opposite side said lightly, "Please be prepared and answer our questions."
Daniel showed a submissive look: "Yes, I will not hide it."
The woman on the opposite side nodded in satisfaction, and then asked: "Recently, you have been investigating fellow church members in the Aldernan area. Is there such a thing?"
"It is true."
"It's not your job as security chief, what's the reason for this investigation?"
"Recently there have been many rumors about the failure of the spiritual network, and the security system has also detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes. I am worried that the network security is threatened, so I launched an investigation."
"Why didn't you take the initiative to report it, but chose to do it privately?"
"I'm not sure about the details of the situation, so I want to confirm whether the problem is with the security system. If the problem is related to the security system, I will deal with it myself according to the regulations. If it has nothing to do with the security system, I will naturally report it to the Supreme Bishops. This is for Save the manpower of the church and improve the efficiency of the investigation”
"This explanation is reasonable..." the woman said, her words paused for a while, it seemed that the Supreme Bishops behind her were having a quick discussion, and she continued after a while, "You just mentioned that the security system detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes , what is the specific situation?"
Daniel immediately took out the remarks he had prepared: "I found a 'blank connection'. Some nodes maintain a connection with the spiritual network, but there is no record of data transmission. I suspect that a large number of computing resources are using Stealthy ways to be diverted from surveillance, or 'swallowed' by holes in the network…”
He said it very calmly, because this is indeed an abnormal phenomenon that his security team discovered in the mind network recently!
And he is very sure of one thing: the abnormally lost computing power is definitely not swallowed up by the master's "origin space", because the computing power quota required by the latter has already been "reasonably allocated" by him from the bottom of the mind network , is not considered "abnormal loss" in any case, what he and his security team observed is indeed a real "abnormal situation".
These unknown calculations must be part of the situation that the Supreme Bishops have been trying to cover up recently, and Daniel chose to say it at this moment, except because he judged that the time is ripe and he needs to show his own strength and value. , and one more important point—
He is the security director of the psychic network and the person with the highest authority in the bishop hierarchy. If the vicious situation in the psychic network has developed to the point where the Supreme Bishops cannot cover it, then he must be the first to notice the abnormality!
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 while.
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, Locked away, watched by every eye of the Conclave.
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—this only "room" in the world would immediately become his own spiritual cage, his mind Will be trapped in this room forever.
The conclusion came to him quickly—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, the recent abnormal fluctuations in the spiritual network, are also important. The answer will be answered as you obtain a higher authority to retrieve data," the woman said calmly, with Daniel's figure reflected in her eyes, "Mr. Daniel, at the same time, we will also remind you that a higher status means a greater Once you face the deeper secrets of the order, there is no chance of turning back.
"So, now you have a choice—what's 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 person 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 Selena'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'll 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 don't 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 have such wrong ideas, but as long as they have really come into contact with those distorted degenerate magic arts, 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 real "faith".
"Very good..." Starlight Cloud seems 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 an imposing force. The chains upon all mortals..."
Daniel blinked.
He knows this, and he also knows that the name of this lock is "Spiritual Stamp", and his master has been studying this stencil, and in the original space, there are hundreds of researchers with formal establishments studying this 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 seven hundred 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 out of 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 plan...was 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 seven hundred years and now co-exists with the spiritual network in the form of a spiritual body, while 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—unbearable nervous headaches and hallucinations tormented the spirit of the old mage, making him more irritable and irritable at the same time. Deprived of his right to sleep peacefully, 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."