Alone and forgotten in the depths of the vault—Hao Ren couldn't imagine what it would feel like, but he could see traces left by the old man in the past nine hundred years everywhere in this small room. You can get a glimpse of his life. He once used discipline and will to force himself to continue watching according to the plan, because he was once the best talent in this ark; he also once gave up on himself and squandered his time and supplies in this small room, because he was just an ordinary human being; He even woke up from the false self-discipline and meaningless squandering, and used the last few decades of his life to leave here all the history he knew, because he was the last "parent" left by this civilization.
"I didn't wake up until the second half of my life, so I had to work harder to make up for the wasted time," the old man muttered in a low voice, his voice was indistinct. "The only good thing is that I'm really healthy. The experts were right, I could live a long, healthy life that should have been spent rebuilding, but I was stuck in this room—so I spent nearly twenty years leaving those things behind. Our History, our culture, our traditions, where we came from, why we left... that was my longest waking life, I worked day and night and was terrified every time I found a gray hair. I almost went insane I fell, but I dare not go back to the dormant cabin, because I don't know if I can get up again after lying down... I am getting older, and in the last few years, I will spend half of my time there every day. next to a window…”
Trembling, the old man raised a finger and pointed to the door, where a small window was inlaid. During his intermittent waking days, that window was the only channel through which he could see the outside world.
"I look out and I sometimes hallucinate and see certain hibernation pods pop open and children jump out of them, healthy and alive. But sometimes I see scary things... those hibernation pods fall On the bridge. There is blood oozing from it. I finished the last bit of work in this state, and it's time to rest." The old man's cloudy eyes looked towards the corner of the room, where he had been lying for hundreds of years, "So I went back inside, and this time I didn't set a wake-up time—my physical body is already one hundred and three years old, and there is no need to wake up again."
This is the life of the last "parent" of Ark.
When those ignorant children panicked and ran into the refuge city, their "parents" were still sleeping, when those children were trying to survive in the empty city. Their "parents" can only watch over the empty hibernation cabins. The first settlement, the first new generation, the first kingdom, the first division, the first failure, the first power outage, the first cold winter, and the first artificial gravity appeared in the refuge city. Downtime... The last guardian of civilization can only be trapped here, helpless. Scared, exasperated, and finally cheered up. Inscribed on the walls the history of an entire race, from youth to middle age. From middle age to old man...
However, those children and their descendants in the city of refuge gradually forgot everything during the 800 years of struggling to survive, and finally even forgot where they came from. The only thing that can connect them with the watchers in the vault is probably the name of the reactor at the end of the "world": Ancestor Hong Furnace.
"Why do you write these things on paper and engrave them on the wall?" Lily asked curiously, "Did you prepare any other teaching materials?"
"Because it can be preserved for a longer period of time," the old man twitched the corner of his mouth, showing a difficult smile, "The equipment outside has not been maintained for hundreds of years, and they will always break down, but things written on paper can be preserved for a thousand years ...what is carved on the wall can last for ten thousand years, as long as the place remains sealed. Even longer... I always believed that the children are still alive, it's just that there is something wrong with the host that wakes them up. I am already dead, so they can still find my manuscript."
After the old man finished speaking, he was silent for a long time. Finally, he looked at Hao Ren and broke the silence again: "I want to ask again, are they all still alive?"
"Their descendants are still alive." Hao Ren replied cautiously.
"Oh, that's right... So many generations have passed..." The old man nodded slowly, already having a premonition of something in his heart, but he still asked, "Then is our culture and tradition still being passed down? "
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, until Vivienne broke the embarrassment: "It's been many generations...you know what's going to happen."
The old man was silent, and slowly walked towards the long table where the manuscripts were piled up. He refused Hao Ren's support and Nangong Wuyue's help, but silently sorted out the manuscripts by himself, piled them up in order, and then tried to Trying to lift those things up—but he didn't have the strength anymore.
"Let me help you," Lily rushed forward and snatched the thick stack of manuscripts without any explanation, "Where are you moving?"
"Take me to see...the offspring of those children." The old man looked up at Hao Ren with calm eyes, neither sad nor happy.
"You will be disappointed." Vivian said beside her.
The old man had only one answer: "I am already dying."
Hao Ren nodded, and took out a life-support collar from the portable space and handed it over: "Put it on. We will pass through a place full of radiation, and this thing will keep you safe."
For the first time in nine hundred years, the old man left his room. The moment he stepped out of the door, his body visibly trembled violently, but he waved his hand and refused Nangong Wuyue's support, muttering almost stubbornly: " I'm going to meet them myself."
In front of the gate of the ancestor's furnace, the crowd has become more and more numerous.
The alarm issued by the blood servants alarmed everyone in the royal city, and then strange sayings such as "Ice and Flame Witch" spread wildly among the soldiers and civilians. All the princes and nobles were alarmed, and the scholars also ran away. Searching for the answer between the library and the ancient altar, the crowd poured out from the royal city, and gathered in groups in the open space in front of the ancestor's furnace.
These superstitious and ignorant people were in awe of the traces left by the frosty air and plasma flames on the earth, and they were even more surprised by the strange movements coming from the ancestor's furnace.
When Hao Ren led the old man out from the exit of another control station on the high ground, what he saw was a crowd of people. The residents of the refuge were crowded on the "plain" below, arguing and worshiping. , Praying, like believers waiting for divine revelation.
The giant generator set inside the Ancestral Furnace has been repaired, and the autonomous machines are waiting for the next order, so Hao Ren sent a start signal to the generator set, and there was a deep roar immediately from the depths of the Ancestor Furnace.
The roaring sound increased from small to loud, and then gradually became stable again. The residents of the refuge waiting in the open space were startled by the sudden sound, and they all started making noise. Then they saw that the dim lights in all directions suddenly returned to normal. When the light was turned on, the entire enclosed space became brighter, and the two huge iron wheels on the distant royal city slowly began to rotate. Only then did these people realize what had happened: the heart of this world started beating again.
So everyone knelt down, including those generals and ministers, and everyone knelt devoutly in front of the ancestor's furnace, praising the coming of light and warmth in unison.
Beside Hao Ren, the old man looked at all this in surprise: "What are they... doing?"
"Praise the heart of this world to start beating again, praise the gods for their blessings," Hao Ren sighed softly, "Vivienne said, you will be disappointed—these people don't know anything about the Ark anymore, their whole world is like this In the spherical shell space of more than one hundred kilometers, these people have multiplied here for generations, and now they have returned to barbarism. They split into four kingdoms, fighting with each other endlessly. They think their world is created by God, the Ark There is a sea of water outside, and they even think their world is a giant turtle... ”
"Turtle... Back then we used this saying to comfort the children. We said that the ark is like a tortoise shell and will protect everyone from harm," the old man said in a low voice, "at least they still remember this."
Hao Ren was silent for a few seconds, and he had to make the final conclusion from the standpoint of the examiner: "It's a pity, but your civilization has been interrupted."
The old man didn't answer, he just quietly looked at the situation below, and listened carefully to the voices of those Ark residents who were dressed in rags and had primitive words and deeds. In the end, he suddenly smiled, happy like a child: "They are still speaking the language of their ancestors, Isn’t it?” (to be continued~^~)