It took me a lot of effort to convince Harlan that Sylvia—or Bella Villa was not beaten into what I am now, and then I pulled him to sit near the window and ordered some snacks and Sylvia Via's handmade freshly squeezed juice.
※※Hallan kept a dumbfounded expression the whole time as he watched Sylvia busy behind the counter, and he didn't come back to his senses until a plate of dim sum was placed in front of him.
I glanced at him curiously: "Are you familiar with Bella Villa?" "It's not too familiar. When the old empire was still there, the distance between me and her was far away, so there wasn't much intersection. After being polluted—you know, in the Fallen Apostle camp, we have acted together several times,” Harlan said casually while observing the exquisite pastry in front of him, “Although I don’t know much about it, I know Bella Villa He is an indifferent person, very cunning, and occasionally behaves a little meanly, in short, he is not very easy to get along with.
The difference from the one in front of me is simply... I still can't believe the scene in front of me. "
"That's how it was when we brought her back," I said for ten minutes, talking about Bella Vila's transformation into Sylvia, "and that's it, Bella Viera La split into two people, the original personality was sleeping most of the time, and Sylvia controlled the body's activities.
But recently, Bella Vila has regained some vitality. She is trying to help us train the ravens and the mysterious caster troops. When she is in better spirits, she will also go to the Celestial City to help. "
"I can't believe she made this," Harlan pointed at the snacks on the table, "No normal Xiling apostle can make such a gorgeous and meaningless thing, I can feel that this so-called Xiling Sylvia's personality is completely different from Bella Villa's, and she doesn't even have the consciousness of being an apostle of Xiling.
Unbelievable, there has never been such a situation before, a powerful Emperor Xiling was injured to such an extent. "
Harlan said that a normal Xiling apostle would never be able to do the things in front of us.
I believe this, because Sandora's cooking level is there.
As for Harlan's exclamation, I don't take it seriously: "I think Sylvia is in a good state now. Bella Villa has admitted that Sylvia is a bit like a personality she created for 'escape and rest' , Sylvia likes ordinary life, with a peaceful nature, a little lazy, and a little too kind.
I've never seen her angry at anyone: Bella Villa has long wanted this kind of life, and it's nice to have this chance to rest. "
Harlan was thoughtful, maybe he couldn't understand this mentality.
He is different from Bella Villa, I can see that this is an old emperor who is still burning with fighting spirit.
And he has never encountered the kind of betrayal that Bella Villa encountered. The latter is already tired, so he hopes to rest, hopes to live in a world where he does not need to use his brain to worry about intrigue, and live his little life in peace. Most of the former cannot agree with this kind of "escape" idea.
Sure enough, after some thought, Harlan shook his head lightly: "I don't understand.
But that was Bella Villa's idea, she made such a decision, and no one else could say anything. "
"It's actually not bad, she also helps me take care of a lot of things now-if I just wake up."
I laughed.
I said in my heart that Harlan didn't understand Bella Villa, that's just right: I was afraid that he would also plan to retire like the latter. The reason why he was caught back was to provide for the elderly.
If Harlan really said that he retired, I wouldn't even have the heart to cry.
"Occam's betrayal..." After a few seconds of silence, Harlan suddenly let out a slight sigh.
"Before he fell, he was a good man who was strict with himself. Although he was a scientific researcher, he had the roots of a soldier.
Loyal to the Empire and his mission, he can be a bit harsh in his field of study, but at other times, he's kind to everyone—hence our nickname 'Candide'.
Occam is the best scientist I have ever seen, even after being corrupted, he is also the best, but I didn't expect him to come to this point in the end... The damn corruption turned us into some kind of monster..." "You and Is Occam on good terms? "I heard that Harlan knew Occam very well, and he was a little concerned.
"Area 103, Occam was originally my chief technician." Harlan raised his head and looked into my eyes. "He was also the best scientist in the old empire era. I thought you knew this."
I opened my mouth wide open, and it took a long time before I remembered that I had indeed heard about it: "I did know it, but I didn't think about it for a while—then what, if you don't mind, tell me about the situation 'over there' Tell me? I'm curious about the fallen apostles—you know, Bella Vila's memory has been messed up, and the other fallen apostles we caught aren't high enough."
Harlan smiled and nodded indifferently: "Of course it's okay, but let me explain in advance: I may not know much more than Bella Villa. What you said a few days ago is correct. Our memory has been tampered with. In the abyss After the effect faded, a lot of deep memory was washed out, and all I kept were the insignificant parts."
"After the disaster, the order of the old empire was completely disrupted. Less than one-third of the original emperors and their high-ranking apostles survived. The first thing that 'that lord' did after appearing was to reorganize the Fallen Apostles.
'It' never shows up, but it can control everything through the apostle's spiritual network, and it directly uses this irresistible control to divide our forces again.
The strength of some emperors is well preserved, and there are more survivors under them, so they have become several pillar military giants, and they are in charge of the few remaining sky areas in the old territory. Protecting a large number of military facilities, after the end of the chaos period, I became one of the strongest emperors.
The rest of the emperors whose personal strength is well preserved, but whose subordinates are already incomplete are divided into two categories: those who are in better condition, become the head of the independent legion, form their own faction, own the legion and territory, but have no sky zone level Bella Villa is one of them; those who are in poor condition can only rely on others. These emperors or generals basically have more or less personal strength damage, and their subordinates are almost completely wiped out. Can't pull the legion either.
They can only be eagles and dogs under the command of military magnates or faction chiefs. They still retain the title of emperor or general, but to be honest... these titles have no meaning anymore. "That lord" judges the value of an apostle by its standard, It doesn't care whether it is a former emperor who is assigned to be the fleet commander by itself, it doesn't care about anything, except for 'Daye', it has not even shown any emotional tendencies, I even feel that 'that Your Excellency isn't really a personality at all... at least not a distinct personality like you and me. "
Of course not—I thought to myself.
If the guess is right.
The "Master" of the Fallen Apostle is another part of the collective consciousness that Xiling split out back then, and the super life born from the spiritual network of the Xiling Apostle. This super life has a completely different way of thinking from the "outsiders". Will care about things in the real world, as if Xi Ling can't tell the difference between dusk and morning.
However, Xi Ling looks a little more humane than "that lord" of the fallen apostle.
At least Xiling has emotions, and seems to like me and Sandora very much. The abyss version Xiling on the Fallen Apostle is completely like a ruthless ruling machine.
Harlan mentioned Daye just now, of course I am more interested in it, but as expected, Harlan can only wave his hand apologetically: he can't answer what Daye is, this part of the information must be It is the core secret of the fallen apostles.
It is the first batch of data to be deleted when the reverse transformation is completed.
"Actually, the above-mentioned types are relatively lucky," Harlan returned to the topic of the relationship between the fallen apostles, "Even if we fall from the emperor to the commander, it will have no effect on us.
Anyway, the apostles of Xiling don't have much concept of power, even if they become fallen apostles: we don't need to pursue power.
What is really unfortunate is the part of the apostles who completely collapsed after the catastrophe but did not die.
And those who were excluded from the spiritual network because they offended 'that lord'..." Harlan's eyes changed: "They are called 'Ripers'.
Concise and concise, the part that was torn out from the group of apostles.
The Ripper was either a severely mutated individual who was so severely injured in the disaster that he could not recover his sanity or even his form after the end of the chaos period, or he was kicked out of the mental network in the later stage and deprived of all authority 'traitor'.
The Rippers are ostracized by all, unable to connect to the main net, so that they are regarded as 'freaks' by their former compatriots, and most of the Rippers die quickly: they are always sent on the most dangerous missions, or to the unknown The area acts as a pioneer. They don't even have an army, and even if they do, they can't command them, so they can only mix with monsters from the abyss, drive beasts and turn themselves into beasts..." "Like... Caesars? "I suddenly remembered the first fallen emperor I met. Now it seems that the fallen emperor who couldn't even maintain the form of an apostle is exactly the same as the tearer in Harlan's mouth.
"He is indeed one of the Rippers, I heard that he died in battle in the frontier operation in the unknown area," Harlan nodded, "It seems that he encountered you.
After Caesars died, no one even investigated the cause of his death. The fallen apostles only mentioned his name when announcing the death list. You can imagine how sad the Rippers are.
Corruption has greatly changed our nature. If it was the old days, we would never treat a former compatriot like this. Even if he accidentally lost all his power, we would treat our compatriots as honorable veterans, but among the group of fallen apostles, except Apart from the goal given by "the lord", we gave up all our feelings. Under this premise, individuals who cannot provide strength for the "great cause" are easily abandoned, and no one hesitates. "
Harlan and I are very sorry for this, but the past is over, and there is nothing to regret. I still mentioned the border war a few days ago: "What happened at that time? Everyone can see that your situation is not right , you and your army are sleepwalking..." "That's what I'm going to say," Hara's eyes sharpened, "sleepwalking—that's the right word, my mental state was so messed up in those days that I didn't even know I was What to do, I can only be sure of one thing, I and my army seem to be taken by 'the Lord' to execute some plan, not on the level of reality, but on the level of the spiritual network: the last thing I remember, is that Moved all of our mental connection access points to a separate network segment, then opened this network segment to the outside world, and after that, the memory is a mess."
I couldn't help leaning forward with my upper body.
A vague guess flashed through his mind like lightning: "You said that your spiritual link was in contact with something else? How did you feel at that time?" "You may not believe it when you say it," Harlan grinned , "Do you know why I led all my subordinates out of the 'over there' territory?" I shook my head to express my ignorance.
"In my confusion, I had hallucinations," Harlan shook his head and smiled wryly, "I suddenly found myself surrounded by countless enemies. I can't remember whether I gave the order or not At that time, what did the subordinates around us do? In short, we seemed to 'break through'.
At least we felt that it was a 'breakout'.
Out of yonder sphere of influence we temporarily lost our aim, and then followed our instinct to attack the New Empire: that was the only thing we could find to do. "
"You said you were on the land of the fallen apostles, and you felt surrounded by enemies?" I quickly put together the fragments I guessed, "Let me take a look: 'That lord' first connects your spiritual links and The main network is isolated, and then this part of your network is in contact with a certain force from the outside world.
After that, the spirits of all of you became muddled. Not long after that, you had an 'illusion', thinking that the fallen apostles around you were all enemies, so you 'broke out' and left the base camp. After that—have you already met with the fallen apostles? Aspect's spiritual network out of touch? Harlan nodded: "Actually, at the beginning of that dazed state."
I felt that the connection between myself and the main network was weakening, and after breaking out and leaving 'there', this network connection was completely cut off.
That being said, I was a 'ripper' for a short while. "
Harlan said.
Laughing at himself, then seemed to remember some details: "By the way, now that I think about it, that kind of feeling of ignorance strikes me.
It's a bit like being caught by you... um, when the prodigal son turns around..." Me: "... Let's not mention the name of the move on such a serious topic.
Just say that things have passed. "
"In short, the two feelings are similar. They are suddenly in a state of confusion. I don't know where I am. The judgment of friends and enemies around me is confused. A repressed deep personality begins to compete with myself for dominance, and then there are behavioral changes. abnormal.
If I have to say the difference, it is that when you are affected by your reverse transformation power, the process is more rapid. "
Hearing this, I finally fully understood: the reason for Harlan's massive invasion of the empire was that he had undergone an incomplete "reversal". At first, this reversal was only to allow him to break through and rebel against the Abyss Empire. It was completely a subconscious move when Harlan's army had no goals to do—no wonder that battle was fought like a sleepwalking battle.
So where did his reverse transformation come from? Only void creatures have the ability to reverse transformation, and Harlan's entire legion is affected by this similar reverse transformation effect, which is reminiscent of the new empire's current technology of using spiritual networks to purify the fallen apostles—just Harlan The subordinates also had abnormalities after their spiritual links were tampered with by "that lord", so there is only one explanation: before Harlan and his army fell into "sleepwalking", they produced with a void creature Spiritual connection.
I recalled the time when Harlan invaded the empire, and calculated that the moment when his anomaly occurred should be shortly before that. During that time period, only one incident fell into my sight: when I set off for the far border, I inexplicably entered the In the state of void fugue, a voice suddenly contacted me. The origin of the voice was unknown. I once thought that "it" came from the civilization on the other side of the abyss, but now that I think about it, it seems that the civilization on the other side has not yet mastered the technology of instant communication with this side. , and the voice that communicated with me at that time spoke very strangely—although I only had a few sporadic "communications" that could not be called conversations with the other side, I could still clearly feel that the mysterious voice a few days ago was somewhat different from the spokesperson of the civilization on the other side Same.
I recalled the content of the voice talking to me at that time, and some things that sounded inexplicable at the time were gradually explained: the voice actually reminded me implicitly that it did not come from the other side, and before hanging up the communication, "it" revealed A very important message: "It" lost a lot of "stuff" in just a few minutes in order to connect with me.
At the beginning, I naturally thought that it would take an astonishing amount of resources for the civilization on the other side to communicate with this side, but now that I think about it, this "loss" could be something else, such as a network node.
Because of the establishment of a hyperlink with the void creature, the owner of that voice will be impacted by the void power every second. What it loses under this impact is nothing but its own component: the spiritual node.
That voice is most likely "that lord" that the Fallen Apostle spoke of! Seeing the cloudy expression on my face, Harlan couldn't help being curious: "What did you think of?" "If I'm not wrong," I looked into Harlan's eyes, "I know your 'sir' identity, and not long ago, she took the initiative to contact me, and even the anomaly between you and your army was related to that contact: she used you as a kind of buffer, and used it to have a mental conversation with me that lasted for several minutes. Even!" RT