The conversation between Daniel and others made Gao Wen have some uncontrollable associations.
Ever since he learned that the concept of "upper-level narrator" and its related beliefs were produced in Sandbox No. 1, he has been thinking about the nature of the gods in this world and the process of producing various concepts related to gods, and what he is most concerned about is Two questions:
First, how did the gods of this world come from? Second, what role does the "precept system" surrounding these gods play in the entire belief system
In this world, many beliefs and concepts corresponding to gods all originate from the "Eternal Slate", and according to Gao Wen's judgment, the role of the Eternal Slate to mortals in the world should be only a kind of "guide medium", which came from the god-killing fleet back then , due to some temporarily unknown reason, it carries the breath of the gods destroyed by it. Ordinary people in this world cannot read the battle report records of the god-killing fleet from those ancient metals like him, but can only sense The little power left by the gods—since the power of the gods often means the knowledge of the gods at the same time, the mortals who first came into contact with the Eternal Slate also indirectly learned the knowledge of the gods.
The knowledge of the gods has an irresistible erosion and assimilation effect on the mortal mind.
On this basis, many religious beliefs in the world today have been stimulated and gradually developed. This is obviously different from the "upper narrator belief" that was completely created from scratch in the No. 1 sandbox.
Gao Wen has always been confused about this—in the actual history of this world, the mortal civilizations of this season came into contact with the fragments of information left over from the ancient gods. Afterwards, mortals believed in and worshiped according to their own understanding of the information. , and formed a religious system belonging to this season's civilization in the process, and got feedback from the gods. In this process, what position and state are those ancient gods in
Perhaps it is possible to boldly guess that they were revived in the belief behavior of the new season of civilization—and because the customs, historical trajectories, and even the main races of civilizations are very different in each season, these revived gods have already become Individuals that are completely different from the gods of ancient times, but because of the information carried by the eternal slate as "basic guidance", these "gods of recovery" must be inextricably linked with the "primordial gods" of ancient times connect.
Do the gods themselves know this? Do they care about this
Leaving their own fragments of information in the eternal stone slab, maybe it was the means of self-protection they left behind when they were on the verge of destruction? Some kind of solution that is not a solution, some hugely flawed "resurrection"
If the above conjectures are all true, what is the "precept system" built around the gods and occupying an important position in the behavior of faith
The precept system can also be regarded as the "dogma" and "clear rules" of various religions. It is a combination of a series of rules used to regulate the daily words and deeds of believers. Restraint, it also means the acquisition of divine power, the effect of prayer, and even closely related to "divine punishment". Every mortal who believes in a specific god needs to carefully abide by the various precepts in order to maintain his connection with the gods. From this point of view, the precept system seems to be the constraint formed by the gods on people.
But if the gods of this world were really born from faith, or resurrected from faith, then the precept system...is it really just a "one-way constraint" of God on people
The Eternal Sleeper team began to explore this phantom town. Headed by Selena, Daniel and other archbishops, the ten-member team first began to investigate this quiet square. Gawain followed them silently, with thoughts in his mind. .
In the belief of the "upper class narrator", there is a "rule" that "on the day when the bell is ringing, you must not stay in the street, otherwise you will be 'deleted'". This is a very typical "commandment", according to Archbishop Yuri According to the clues, the origin of this commandment is most likely because the No. 1 sandbox ran an early "periodic reset" operation.
An ordinary technical operation, in the closed No. 1 sandbox, has evolved into a part of the later rules and regulations. The residents in the sandbox have completely forgotten the original reason for this "rule", or do not know it at all. The real reason for the rule, but since it is part of the "dogma," they follow it religiously.
Even though, the No. 1 sandbox has long since lost the operation of resetting every ten days...
The two priests of the Eternal Sleeper wearing owl masks finished exploring the nearby streets and alleys. They returned to Daniel and bowed to salute: "I didn't find anything, Archbishop—this place now looks like an ordinary uninhabited town. "
Daniel nodded, and Archbishop Yuri next to him said: "The situation in the nearby houses is the same. Everything has returned to 'normal', and this time there are no bells ringing, and no lights suddenly turned on."
"Normal..." the red-haired, extraordinarily tall Archbishop Magnum muttered, "The more normal this kind of place is, the more weird it is."
Archbishop Yuri frowned slightly, and said as if talking to himself: "I have a feeling that this town seems to have its own mind. This mind tried to influence us last time and tried to break through the blockade, but it failed, so this Once it chose to shut itself off, shut off the 'truth' deep in this town, and never reveal any information to us... "
"You mean, this town is 'alive'?" Archbishop Magnum raised his eyelids, suddenly showing interest, "Then if I send it a Psychic Storm, will it jump up?"
Yuri glanced at the grumpy archbishop: "You can try."
Magnum froze for a moment, then shrugged: "...that's really boring."
Gawain listened to the conversation of these eternal sleepers, and walked casually to the center of the small square.
This used to be the site of the small church, but now the church has disappeared, leaving only a slightly potholed, old stone floor and a few puddles of water on the ground.
He stopped beside one of the puddles of water, his eyes swept randomly, and landed on the puddle of water.
Reflected in the water was a scene that seemed to be normal: an empty square, extinguished street lights, dark houses, and Gawain's calm and indifferent face.
The "mirror surface" in the dream world often has special meanings, so Gao Wen also became a little curious about the possible reflections on the water surface, but he watched for a few seconds, but he did not see things such as himself blinking strangely in the reflection, The "classic" vision of an extra figure.
This made him smile and shook his head, feeling that he was thinking too much, and the ghosts he had seen in his previous life entered his mind.
But just when he was about to look away and look elsewhere, the reflection in the water really changed——
In the small town in the reflection, the street lights suddenly started to light up, and warm and soft lights suddenly appeared in the dark houses!
Gao Wen was a little stunned, and almost at the same time that the town reflected in the water surface changed, he heard a melodious bell ringing in the town as if it came from the sky!
The sudden ringing of the bell made him subconsciously raise his head and look around, and Daniel and others near him reacted at almost the same time—obviously, Gawain was not the only one who heard the bell.
"It's the bell..." Selena frowned, and the light of the lantern in her hand became faintly brighter, "I still don't know where it came from..."
"Just now I said that there were no bells ringing," Yuri said with a hint of self-mockery in his tone, and at the same time showed a hint of confusion, "but there were only bells ringing and no lights were on. This is different from last time."
As he said, in the quiet and deserted town, only the strange and melodious bells sounded, but the surrounding street lamps and the portals of the houses did not light up with warm and soft lights like last time.
However, Gawain glanced over the ponded water in the square, and he clearly saw that in the reflected town, the lights were lighting up one by one, and they were rapidly spreading towards this side!
Suddenly, he seemed to have guessed what the malicious mind hidden in this town wanted to do, but before he had time to remind him, he saw Archbishop Yuri who was still talking just now disappeared in front of him out of thin air.
Then disappeared, those high-ranking priests wearing owl masks who seemed to have not reacted, followed by Daniel and Archbishop Magnum who had just reacted and were about to cast spells to protect their minds, and finally raised their hands. The lantern seems to want to dispel the darkness and illuminate the hidden mind of Selina Gerfen nearby.
Everyone disappeared in front of Gao Wen in just an instant, as if they were "deleted".
They were deleted because they violated the precept of "not staying in the street on the day when the bell is ringing", and were deleted by the "God's Rule" believed by the "Upper Narrator" sect!
Gao Wen stood quietly in the middle of the square, looking at the phantom town that was still empty as usual, with a calm expression.
I was actually a little flustered.
He himself didn't seem to be affected, but...he wasn't sure if he was also "deleted".
After all, he still doesn't know the nature of this "deletion", and he can't find an additional observer to confirm his current state.
But these changes in mentality did not affect Gao Wen's next actions. He quickly calmed down his mind, and first weakened the "strength" of his access to the spiritual network in a sober and calm state, confirming that he is still in a state where he can Disconnect from the network at any time and return to the state of the real world.
This seems to indicate that he has not been affected by the strange power of the town, and his own mind is still able to come and go freely in the network.
Afterwards, he began to try to sense Daniel's mental frequency, and tried to use a "secret port" to establish contact with him.
Daniel disappeared together with the other priests, but Gawain didn't think that this weird town could directly "kill" so many powerful superhumans so easily. After all, it was just a projection of sandbox No. It has some strange powers, and it should be limited.
As early as when they were secretly transforming the mind network, Gao Wen and Daniel considered what to do if something unexpected happened and the main ports of the network were shielded and blocked. A monitored "dark line" is used for emergency contact.
It's just that Gawain originally imagined that the Pope the Sleeper and the Supreme Bishops would block the network when they sensed the invasion of "rogues from outside the territory", but he didn't expect that these hidden links would come in handy.
Consciousness precipitated, spirit condensed, and the secret spiritual connection was established in an instant. Gawain quickly sensed the familiar fluctuations from the depths of his consciousness, and heard Daniel's voice in his mind: "My lord, how is the situation over there?" ?”
Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm not affected," Gao Wen said in a deep voice after calming down a bit, "Where are you now?"
Hearing that Gao Wen was not affected, Daniel didn't seem to be surprised at all, as if he felt that this is what a wanderer outside the territory should behave, and then he reported the situation around him: "My lord, I don't know where this place is. —It was dark around me, and I could only see the shadowy mist churning, which seemed to shield my senses and block my mind."
Gawain frowned slightly. From Daniel's description, he had no way of judging the state of the other party.
But there is one thing he can be sure of - he really doesn't seem to be affected by the strange power of this phantom town.
Daniel is currently in a dim and hazy environment, surrounded by fog that blocks perception, while Gawain sees the normal Phantom Town, and his own mind can perceive the surroundings normally, and he can leave here at any time. The situation between the two is obvious. different.
Why not be affected by yourself
Because the No. 1 sandbox can't recognize the soul of this "outside wanderer"? Or is it because I didn't use the standard port of the eternal sleeper to access the mind network, but the "vulnerable port"
Gao Wen briefly analyzed it, but it was not the time to get entangled in this matter. He could only temporarily put aside his doubts in this regard, and began to think of ways to help Daniel get out of trouble.