The so-called Monument Square is also the Totem Square. Everyone has their own name for this place, but as long as the relevant words are mentioned, everyone knows where they are talking about. I don’t know why Fina would suddenly propose to go to see those monuments with Anulili: This little queen who lacks common sense usually rarely invites strangers so actively, but she leads Anulili anyway. Li's tour route would also pass through the Monument Square, so she readily decided that everyone would go together.
Of course, before going to Monument Square, we still passed by the commercial street. After all, the biggest sightseeing spots in Shadow City are the several giant commercial areas here. Items from various civilizations in the macro world, dazzling or even guessing their uses, are the most important features of Shadow City. Many people finally get the opportunity to visit Shadow City. One of the purposes is to bring some rare things back. : Even if the things they bring back, they will never understand what they are doing for the rest of their lives. In the commercial street, we bought a lot of souvenirs for Anu Lili for her to bring. This girl is completely dizzy now, and she is basically in a situation where we dragged her wherever she goes: the first time I came to Shadow City Everyone is like this, she doesn't look at the things we choose for her, and puts them away happily anyway. These things would be good gifts, and she could take them back to open the eyes of her compatriots, and to make her brother happy. Anuza did not come with her this time. That young man is also very busy now. Although he can’t help in technological reconstruction and other aspects, he is also a very infectious young leader. He used to lead only one village, and now he leads an effort to build a new city. Originally, Anu Lili also wanted Anuza to hand over the work at hand to others and come to Shadow City with her, but now Anuza has other tasks: to cooperate with the local missionary of the goddess of life and the empire Researchers, to find a solution to the sequelae of brain injury.
Anulili's race was the one that was most devastated by the Melovas back then. They were not only used as slaves, but even their racial genes and acquired growth and development were tampered with. The Melovas destroyed the brain tissue of these slaves from their infancy, causing Anulili's people to be unable to count and perform more than three steps of logical reasoning: this locked the possibility of their technological recovery. After the war, apart from rebuilding their homes and resuming production, the main task they had to face was to eliminate the sequelae of brain injury. It is obviously not enough to rely on the little information in the hands of the rebel organization and the only technical personnel with sufficient knowledge. Fortunately, when the imperial army left, they left behind many missionaries of the God of Life and researchers of carbon-based biology. These people are experts in the field of health. Now that the research on the treatment of brain injury sequelae has made preliminary progress, Anuza volunteered to become the first batch of volunteers.
"Although I don't know your brother, you should be proud of him."
After hearing the story of the Anulili siblings and their race, Fina said to the former seriously, with a straight look on her face.
At the same time she was pushing Biberu who was rumbling all the way.
"Well, Anuza is a brave child. I always think he is the luckiest part of my life." Anu Lili was holding a large bag of souvenirs with a smile on her face. She seemed to have adapted to this dazzling scene a little bit. place and start enjoying your amazing journey today.
"No, I'm talking about his dedication to the race being able to think freely," Fina said to her new friend next to her while pushing Biberu forward. In fact, I'm curious that she usually pushes this big ball How did you look at the road at the time, "Freedom is a very important thing, especially the freedom of a race or civilization. Those who can contribute to this are worthy of pride. You are outstanding."
Anulili smiled a little embarrassedly, she was not used to Fina's strict, precise and straightforward way of speaking, but Biberu suddenly interrupted: "Your Majesty, your evaluation is very good. Yes, but... but the front is a..."
"It's a slope!!"
Then we saw that the big ball pushed by Fina suddenly started to accelerate, accompanied by a fluctuating exclamation, and rolled out along the ramp just like when it appeared before. I was sad to find that the end of the ramp was a moat .
"Biberu! Wait for me!" Fina stood there and said something seriously, before chasing down the ramp. My sister and I couldn't help but look at each other silently: it turns out that in an emergency, nonsense It's just to die, just now Biberu just said the first half of nonsense...
In fact, I think Fina should be able to catch up with her own ball... She can catch up with the ball she was pushing before, so she and her sister didn't make a move, but we all forget that Fina is not an original Xiling Apostle, she often forgets herself This superhuman body has many functions such as sonic charge and short-distance jump, so we just watched her foolishly run to the end of the ramp, and watched her prime minister jump on the fence of the moat, and then plop fell into the river...
It's a sad story - we have disturbed passers-by along the way who need reassurance and explanation...
Anu Lili was frightened again at this time.
In Shadow City, every citizen must have two things. The first is naturally the citizen identification card. For ordinary races who cannot use the Xiling network, this card is your ID card, whether it is long-term or Temporary, in short, activities in Shadow City and use of city services all depend on this card. And the second thing... is the citizen security package.
This suit consists of sensors that detect the wearer's physical fitness and a hazard response system plus a small personal shield. If an external threat is found, it can choose to activate the shield after determining the user's ability to withstand damage to protect the user. This set of devices is essential in Shadow City, because there are too many races gathered here, and the environment is unfamiliar and dangerous to those races. There are some races that often accidentally hurt others - they are really careless, and some races often accidentally put themselves in dangerous places - this is even more careless. In order to prevent a superman from one plane from crushing a tourist student from another plane with a handshake, or to prevent monks from Lingtai Xianshan from being burned to death by psionic crystals in order to collect psychic jade, we have to Each citizen is equipped with this kind of protective device, so that they can stay away from the deadly factors in Shadow City. Facts have proved that they are very effective: although you will often see someone walking on the street and suddenly a shield pops up, or you walk and a shield pops up on you... But at least the life gods in the city The priests haven't written a letter of complaint to Lilina asking for a reduction in work intensity for two months.
When Biberu rolled down, I saw at least 20 shields light up one after another along the way, and then there were pedestrians running around who were bounced like bowling pins: there are quite a lot of people on this ramp. Now the sister is reassuring the frightened townspeople. However, everyone living in this city is accustomed to all kinds of unexpected situations. Occasionally, a dragon god who failed to land in the sky or an out-of-control Godzilla rushing out of the military academy is a big deal for the tough citizens of Shadow City. It's not a big deal, let alone being hit by an iron ball weighing one and a half tons: the people here are very tough.
And I took Anulili and ran to the edge of the moat quickly, and looked at the place where Biberu fell. The ripples there had not subsided, and Fina was staring blankly at the last drop of water by the river. There were large swathes of water on the bank of the moat, and there was indeed a lot of movement after the big iron ball fell.
"Mr. Iron Ball will be fine..." Anulili has now accepted the miracle of life diversity and the fact that the prime minister of a country can be a big talking iron ball. At the bottom, a worried look appeared on his face.
And at this moment, there was a sudden violent splash in the moat, as if something was about to emerge from there, Anulili and I looked at the water surface in surprise, and then a wet girl really rose from the water surface Woke up!
This is a girl with long hair and a very beautiful appearance. The clothes on her body seem to be made of some kind of slippery leather and shells. When she came to the surface of the water, I saw a fish tail on her There was a flash of water behind him. Anulili continued to be dumbfounded, and I was also quite surprised: "Isana, aren't you a saltwater fish?"
"You can survive in fresh water—I came here today." The mermaid girl was also very surprised to see me appearing on the bank of the moat, and she was taken aback for a moment before replying, "Recently, a group of freshwater mermaids moved here from a world called Gampola. , they lived in the moat..."
…the population of Shadow City is really getting more and more diverse.
At this time, Isana also recovered from the surprise at the beginning, and remembered that she had a serious business to rise to the surface of the water, so she cleared her throat: "Ahem, a big ball fell into the water just now, may I ask you?" Was it a golden ball that fell? Or a silver one?"
Me: "..." Has this saltwater fish finally become so bored? !
Fina froze for a moment. She probably hadn't heard the story of the golden ax and the silver ax, but she answered honestly: "It's just a big alloy ball. I don't know what material it's made of, but he can talk..."
Isana smiled happily: "Very well, you are very honest, it seems that you dropped the big ball—he smashed the storage room and the courtyard wall of a family in the mermaid village below, and has been detained now." Down, you can pay for it."
During the conversation, another little girl who looked much younger than Isana floated up from the water. In the flash of the water, I saw a lavender tail. This may be the fresh water that Isana mentioned recently moved to Shadow City. The mermaid is gone, and the new little girl looked timidly at the stranger on the river bank: "Did you drop that big ball?"
I looked up and silently looked at the land of Gaia in thought: The story of the two axes did not seem to develop like this in my impression...
But forget it, don't worry about the details, nothing in Shadow City is developing normally...
Later, I called out to the imperial soldiers who were patrolling nearby, and asked the urban construction and engineering department to send people to help those innocent mermaid citizens repair their houses. Finally, Biberu was sent up by those mermaids living in the moat. , the Prime Minister said that many things happened today, and he was in a delicate mood and did not want to talk about it in detail. Isana chatted with us happily for a while, telling the stories of her and her mermaid friends living underwater. These stories sound amazing to those of us on the shore. For example, mermaids never know the seasoning packets in instant noodles. What's the use... After Biberu was thrown onto the shore by the other mermaids, Isana said goodbye to everyone happily, and returned to the river with a flick of her tail: I haven't had time to ask her, what is the mermaid? How about instant noodles...
When I left this place, I finally found that there was a projected sign on the river bank at intervals, which said that there were mermaids living in the moat recently:
"I would like to inform citizens that the mermaid students from Gampola World and their families have settled in the section C-33 to C-36 of the moat. This area is now a residential area. Throwing debris into Hanoi and swimming in the corresponding section of the river are prohibited. Violators It will be punished as infringement of other people’s property. Fishing in the corresponding section of the river is strictly prohibited, and the mermaid caught will have the right to confiscate the angler’s fishing rod and all bait. This is hereby notified.”
There is a line of small words under some notice boards: "Additional emphasis: once again, swimming, especially naked swimming, is strictly prohibited in the corresponding river section. Please be decent, citizens, you all have ID cards—Shadow City Cultural Propaganda Department-Lily Na."
... In short, don't worry about these strange customs of Shadow City, it's not surprising that anything really happens in this place.
"This is Totem Square, also known as Monument Square."
Soon, we arrived at the destination of this trip, the most solemn Shadow City, and a place where any disrespectful behavior is absolutely prohibited.
The large circular square is gradually sunken inwards, like a shallow plate inlaid on the ground. The deep obsidian and the cold and hard silver-gray alloy are laid on the ground, which is extremely solid. The monuments formed by holographic projections are arranged one after another on the square, circle after circle, row after row, solemn and solemn. A holographic screen scrolls on the monument, recording the nations and heroes who have fallen on the journey or are still moving forward with words and images.
You can romp around anywhere, but not here. Even the leaders of the empire are obliged to remain solemn in front of the monument on this square. In front of the entrance of the Totem Square, there is an iconic monument. It is the only monument here that does not use a holographic projection surface, but is all cast with starstone and superalloy. It does not record anyone's name, nor does it have any carvings. Image, only one line on the monument:
"For them, keep going."
I stopped in front of the monument and paid my respects silently. Next to me was Fina who also lowered her head. Biberu couldn't move in a human way, and now he doesn't have the ability to move, so he said in a low voice: "Old guys , we are still moving forward."
Anulili didn't know why the atmosphere suddenly became so serious, but she could already see something from the surrounding environment and those solemn black monuments. She didn't know whether an outsider like herself should salute rashly, but she also agreed with me. Fina followed suit and bowed her head in greeting.
"This is the epitome of every historical moment on the way forward of the empire, and most of them represent battles of life and death." I took the lead and walked slowly to the center of the monument square, followed by Anulili, Fina and my sister. As for Biberu, he temporarily stayed on the edge of the square and waited. He had trouble moving now, and felt that he would disturb the tranquility of the place.
"... Is this the monument to the fallen soldiers?" Anulili seemed to understand why it was so solemn here.
"...not all of them," Fina replied after a moment of silence, "only a small part here will be used to commemorate those who died in battle, and most of them belong to a certain race, or a certain war, or a certain historical event." Look at these holograms, you won't be able to see them for days and nights. These glory are too heavy, few people can bear it, they should belong to the whole species, belong to the whole civilization, even belong to the whole world... "
We stopped in front of a monument. On its heavy black body, a line of text floated: "Salute to the family of Tam, you fell before the dawn, but please rest in peace—the dawn has come."
"This race was completely annihilated in the late stage of the Great Nebula Battle, and their remaining population was small, but they refused to return to the rear," Fina stroked the cold surface of the monument, "'Someone must block the shepherd, ours Civilization has been completely broken, but your history is still intact, so let us go', I still remember what the patriarch of the race of only 2,600 people said to me."
"Race... the world..." Anu Lili was shocked by this fact, she couldn't even hear the words behind Fina, this girl who had never imagined how huge the empire was, became dazed in this magnificent square, as if she was sleepwalking Looking at the monuments lined up all around, they are arranged in order, and there are so many of them, and behind each of them may even represent the story of an entire race, at least the story of the heroes who once saved the world.
"There is a saying in the macro world:" Fina said suddenly, "When I stood on the black square and looked at the history in front of me, I suddenly felt that I was worthless. The battles I once led, I once killed The enemies of the world, the mountains of wealth and every glamorous title that once piled up slowly collapsed in front of those cold monuments. I once rushed to my little battlefield with a sword, full of pride, and felt that I was a hero, but now—I I would rather be an ordinary soldier behind these true heroes than to be able to rush to the truly glorious battlefield.
This is what a general from the macro world said while standing on the Monument Square. Now he is unrecognizable, but his words are widely known, and this should be the most worthy of this square. "
"I hope you and your people can forget those unpleasant history and fight for my Majesty," Fina suddenly turned to Anulili, "As you can see, this is a glorious empire, it shelters too much Many races, but it is facing challenges, if you want to protect your hard-won freedom... I hope you will join us." RS