In reality, Warlander would probably have to stop twice halfway.
However, in the game, when he stepped onto the last step, he was so relaxed that he didn't even breathe.
Looking at the old man wearing golden power armor, standing in front of the hall waiting for him, the warlord looked back at the densely packed figures and torches under the steps behind him, and couldn't help but click his tongue in surprise.
tongue.
At this time, a calm and kind voice floated over.
"My name is Lei Ze."
"I... pangolin," the warlord looked away from behind and looked at the old man in power armor again. Finally, he couldn't help the curiosity in his heart and asked, "Can I ask a question?"
"my age?"
The old man stared at him with eyes full of wisdom, as if he had read through his thoughts.
The warlord nodded and asked simply.
"How old are you?"
Lei Ze raised his gaze slightly, stared at the tall arch and thought for a while before speaking.
"In the 42nd year of the Wasteland Era, we captured the Valeant Laboratory affiliated with the War Construction Committee and obtained all the genetic source code of the Valeant people, which marked that we have completely controlled our own destiny and gained the independence and freedom we dreamed of.
.”
"It was also at that time that Marshal Julius cut my umbilical cord with his own hands and took me out of the broken culture tank... You can do the math for me."
After hearing what the old man said, the battlefield atmosphere team was stunned for a moment.
If he remembered correctly, it was the year 214 of the Wasteland Era.
That is to say...
This old guy is 172 years old?!
Although this age is not a problem in a game with a fantasy background, the main reason is that the game is too realistic and he accidentally used reality as a reference.
"Are you surprised?"
"Indeed..." After suppressing his surprised expression, Warfield nodded and said with emotion, "You are probably the longest-lived person I have ever met."
The old man smiled lightly.
"Living a long time is not a skill. There is nothing to show off. What's more, I am not the one who has lived the longest."
"Are you talking about Lord Marshal?" Warfield Man looked excited, "He is really still alive?"
The respected commander of the Guards did not answer his words, but turned around and walked towards the main hall.
The warlord quickened his pace, chasing behind the scarlet cloak, and followed the old man into the hall.
Towering marble pillars connect the towering dome to the ground, and magnificent reliefs are engraved on each pillar.
There are no bright red carpets or crosses here.
There are no electrified lighting tools either.
The only decorations are milky white marble and utensils made of pure gold.
The Guardsmen in golden exoskeletons held up fire-igniting spears as high as two people and lit the torches embedded in the wall.
Their expressions were solemn and solemn, as if they were performing some sacred ceremony.
As the torches lit up, the originally dark hall was also illuminated by the slowly burning flames.
At this moment, the warlord was surprised to find that there were reliefs carved on the walls on both sides of the hall.
Those reliefs are connected like murals, full of stories, and extend to the end of the hall.
He walked to the wall closest to the door and stood there, looking at the reliefs carved on the wall.
I saw three blazing torches standing on the top of the relief, with three powerful arms connected to the handles of the torches.
The thick arms were like mountains, standing tall and tall. And the flames burning in the torch were as hot as the sun, dispersing the shadows on the ground.
"...This is the post-war Reconstruction Committee period, the 21st year of the Wasteland Era, the beginning of the Velant people's plan and the beginning of the suffering. At the same time, it was also the day the Marshal was born...
Walking to the side of the warrior, Lei Ze reached out and touched the mural. His eyes seemed to be lost in memories, and he spoke slowly in a gentle and solemn tone.
"The Wastelanders gave them mixed reviews, and we call it the era of the Big Three."
Feeling the weight of history, the warlord swallowed involuntarily.
"...the three giants refer to the Technology Department, the Production Department and the Defense Department?"
"Yes."
The old man nodded slowly, and his gold-plated index finger followed the veins of the marble, down the veins on his arm, and stopped at the black spots as thin as gravel.
At first, Warlander thought they were just colorful embellishments, but it wasn't until he got closer that he realized that those black dots were actually miniature sculptures of prostrate people.
His eyes widened involuntarily.
No wonder he always heard Fang Chang say that these big-nosed people were born artists and engineers, and it would be a waste of their talents to let them go to war.
This stone carving skill is simply superb!
"Thousands of survivors have made the glory of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee just like tens of billions of Awami League citizens have jointly made the Awami League prosperous..."
"However, their greatness is also the most overlooked."
"In this way, we unknowingly created a monster, fed it, obeyed it, and finally feared it... and were dragged by it onto a path we had never imagined. In the end, almost everyone forgot that we should
What to do, and what to do.”
Looking at the old man who was lost in memories, the warlord's Adam's apple moved.
"I remember... the Post-War Reconstruction Committee also saved many people."
Lei Ze nodded slowly and said in a gentle tone.
"You're right. If it doesn't save anyone, why is it called the Post-War Reconstruction Committee and not something else? The fire will burn and it's not something to be grateful for. We have to remember those who survived and we have to remember
The one who was burned to death... This mural only records the history of the Weiland people. I believe there must be other murals in this world, or similar things, that record parts that are different from ours."
The warlord also nodded.
He remembered that there seemed to be a cinema in the inner city of Boulder City, which would show some past history and calculations of future possibilities based on what was happening now.
However, that movie theater had been destroyed by a collapsed building during the Great Revolution in Boulder City.
Unfortunately, he has never been there to see it, but only heard it mentioned by the NPC in the game.
Seeing that he did not continue speaking, Lei Ze turned his attention to the reliefs on the marble wall and continued.
"After winning the final victory, the Villants built this Court of Glory as a gift to the Marshal. And the Marshal ordered us...that is, the Praetorian Guards, his most loyal servants, to bring Wilant to
People’s history is engraved on the wall.”
"It's not that we don't have more advanced recording technology, but Lord Julius... our respected marshal said that it is easy to tamper with those illusory lights and shadows, but things carved on stone will not be easily and completely tampered with.
erasure."
"Even if people who came here after us chipped away the entire wall, the traces of hammering would still seep deep into the root of the wall."
"Unless the person who tampered with it completely destroyed this monument, wiped it completely from the earth, and then built a higher, bigger, and more magnificent fake on the ruins."
With the young man behind him, Lei Ze, who was wearing gold power armor, continued to walk forward.
Following behind the old man, the warlord stared intently at the reliefs on the wall.
He first witnessed the rise of Triumph City, and witnessed the war between the Valantians and mutants and predators... These legendary pasts seemed to have happened somewhere before, and the more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
It wasn't until a certain moment that he suddenly realized that these things had not happened before, but had been happening all along.
Such as the conquest of the city of Aventre.
Those miracles who occupied the League of Nations era, possessing advanced technology and huge wealth, but shut out some survivors in the wasteland, are simply carved out of the same mold as the old aristocrats of Boulder City.
But the point of difference is also here.
The Wilrants who conquered the city of Avente did not make the same choice as the Alliance in the end.
They executed the stingy nobles and confiscated the property of the rich, but the poor people did not get any benefits in the end... The Weillant people who conquered the city of Avente regarded them as accomplices and lackeys of the nobles, and took all foreigners
Demoted to slavery.
They carried out a thorough liquidation of the survivors in the city, but only ignored the problem itself.
The casino continues to operate.
In a series of events that took place in the following decades, the Wilantes completely changed from persecuted people to complete persecutors.
The contents on the reliefs are becoming more and more shocking. There is not a trace of red on the milky white marble walls, but the paintings are dripping with blood.
Later, a group of people appeared on the relief.
They have no eyes or mouths, and even the bridge of their noses has been cut off, leaving only one ear.
The warlord recognized them, and his expression became astonished.
"That is……"
Lei Ze said in a calm tone.
"Clone trooper, since you have been on the battlefield, you should be familiar with it."
Of course the Warlanders recognize them.
Those who grow eight times faster have an average theoretical lifespan of eight years, but their average lifespan on the battlefield is only three years.
During the Battle of Sunset, the Alliance took the surrendered clone troopers as prisoners, and many of them are still alive today.
They have neither reproductive function nor complete minds, and it is almost impossible to integrate into civilized society. How to deal with them more humanely and whether to count them as human beings has always been a difficult problem for the Alliance Institute of Biology and the Academy of Social Sciences.
Seeing that the young man behind him seemed to be very interested in them, Lei Ze stopped in front of the mural about clones, recalled it for a moment and then spoke.
"We used our own genetic source code to create a group of Valantians who are different from us, hoping that they can fight for us... However, it turns out that this is a failed exploration. Sacrifice is not something that can be replaced.
Civilization will only move forward after paying a sufficient price."
A failed quest?
There was a complicated expression on the warrior's face.
In fact, if he were to evaluate them, those clone cannon fodders were still a bit difficult to deal with.
To this day, he still remembers that the Pioneer was once cornered by an army of 2,000 clones, and even the launch of a tactical nuclear bomb did not fundamentally change the situation of the war.
It wasn't until reinforcements from the Alliance arrived that the entire battle was completely ended.
Of course, they were not called the Alliance at that time, and many things only happened later.
"Actually, there's one thing I don't understand...why someone like His Majesty the Marshal would approve of technology like cloning human cannon fodder."
Including the massacre of the city of Avente...
The marshal should still be alive at that time, right?
Looking at the young man with confusion written on his face, Lei Ze just smiled faintly.
"Thinking about the plight of the predecessors from the perspective of future generations will indeed lead to confusion like this... Then I also want to ask you, why do people as aboveboard as your managers treat clones as containers?"
Warlord was about to answer, but suddenly realized something and looked at the old man in golden power armor in astonishment.
Your managers...
Did this guy see through his identity?!
Lei Ze glanced at him meaningfully, and those cloudy pupils seemed to penetrate his soul.
"You are too young. You can hide it from others, but you can't hide it from me... It was probably more than a hundred years ago, when Marshal Julius had not left us. There was a time when the person I dealt with most often was
You bunch of 'blue gophers' and pangolins running around? There's nothing wrong with you calling yourself that, it all looks the same to me anyway."
Seeing that the old man had already seen through his trick, the warlord was silent for a while and said with a wry smile.
"When did you find out?"
Could it be that a flaw was exposed in Dawn City?
There seemed to be a member of the Praetorian Guard there, too, and he seemed to be named Quaker.
But when dealing with that guy, he was always very careful, and even after careful consideration, he didn't seem to reveal any flaws.
"...No need to guess, I knew who you were and where you came from from the moment you entered Triumph City."
After a pause, Lei Ze continued.
"But you don't need to be nervous. It doesn't matter to me whether you are a resident of the shelter, a visitor from five light years away, or an alien who is no match for humans... You are the marshal waiting for you."
As a person, and I brought you here, my mission is completed."
After speaking, he looked at the reliefs on the wall in front of him and continued in a normal tone.
"Mr. Julius is not a perfect saint. He is actually the same as your respected managers. He also has his own feelings, desires and ideas..."
"He will be angry when he is betrayed, and he will be sad when he sees his companions dying around him. Avent City betrayed us, but the residents of Avent City are indeed innocent, and he regretted it afterwards. However,
Things have already happened, and the water that was thrown out cannot be put back into the cup, and many things will not be reversed due to personal will."
"Between the worst and the worse decision, he chose the moment when he thought the damage would be less, allowing time to resolve the conflict between the Wilantes and the old humans, and avoiding the conflict between the Wilantes and the Wilantes.
We parted ways. And this is also the reason why Triumph City protects slaves. Before this, foreigners other than the Weirant people, let alone becoming captains of thousands, even surviving was a luxury."
"Including the later clone troopers, he hoped that in this way, the Wilrantians would shed less blood. However, when he came to his senses, he suddenly discovered that he had just created a new batch of Wilrantians.
, and does not fundamentally solve the problem."
"And the sacrifices the Wilant people made for this did not decrease. On the contrary, due to the increase in war potential, more wars were won and more blood was shed."
"And this is what makes him even more painful. He thinks that he is a sinner of the Wilant people and even all mankind. He regrets that his decision-making is extremely stupid, and he is very much like the smart-aleck Lowell in the Far East."
"He wanted to end the Wasteland Era, but he made himself and his children a part of the Wasteland Era. However, even so, his subordinates still worshiped him, and they worshiped him more and more, and even regarded him as a god.
……including me."
The old man lowered his eyebrows slightly, then opened his eyes again.
"I see all this, whether it is his joy or pain, after all, he always takes me by his side."
"He once asked me if I regretted it, but to this day, my answer is still the same... I will never regret my loyalty to him."
"As the gentleman himself said, no one can go through life without making mistakes, and there has never been a perfect saint in this world. He can predict many things and solve many problems, but in the end there will be someone who has unexpected consequences.
The unreached quagmire lurks in front of us all..."
"But there's nothing to be afraid of. We're not even afraid of death, let alone a fall?"
"As he himself once said, as long as we record history honestly, face it openly and openly, the Wilant people are a nation with hope, and sooner or later we will be able to get out of our own quagmire.
walk out."
When he said this, Lei Ze had a calm expression on his face.
The battlefield atmosphere team's Adam's apple moved and he swallowed lightly.
The plain and ordinary tone seemed to be eloquent, but it seemed as if a thick epic was unfolding in front of him.
It is impossible to say that there is not the slightest touch in my heart...
As for where the marshal was, he actually already had the answer in his mind.
"So... Marshal Julius is actually gone a long time ago, right?"
In fact, he had already had a premonition.
"The omnipotent marshal in the hearts of the Velant people is actually just an ordinary person born in the 21st year of the Wasteland Era, not even an awakened person. Years of war have left many incurable hidden diseases on his body, so much so that
In the end, he had to wear power armor with a life-support device to stay alive, and he would be woken up by pain almost every night..."
"I remember the last time I had dinner with him was at a victory dinner in the 100th year of the Wasteland Era. He probably wanted to wait until dark before leaving, but in the end he couldn't hold on anymore at dusk and left in a hurry
After saying his last words, he walked into the deepest part of Glorious Academy alone."
"At that time, we didn't know that those were his last words, although I had a premonition...after all, he had been handing over the power bit by bit since a long time ago and preparing for what would happen after he left.
Already."
This time, Lei Ze finally answered his question head-on, and set his sights on the end of the marble relief - the blank space where no relief had been carved.
"Future history will be written by future generations themselves. In accordance with his last wish, we recorded what happened after he left on the wall moment by moment, and followed his will to wait for the arrival of 'that person'."
"...but there is one thing I still don't understand," the battlefield atmosphere team took a step forward and couldn't help but ask, "Why did he hide his death?"
Lei Ze did not answer, but turned his attention to the door at the end of the marble relief.
"He's right in front, just ask him directly."
The warrior was stunned for a few seconds, but when he saw the keys and flashlight handed over by the old man, he still reached out and took them.
Walking to the heavy iron door, he inserted the key and turned the lock.
With a heartbreaking creaking sound, the rusty iron door finally opened.
To his surprise, what caught his eye was not a glorious palace, but a simple room.
The decoration here was very monotonous. If it hadn't been for a bed, he wouldn't have imagined that this was the place where Marshal Julius, whom everyone admired, lived and lived. It was more like a storage cabinet.
The dust blowing in his face made the warlord frown involuntarily.
There is no electricity here, so there is no such thing as a dormant cabin.
As for Julius's body, the loyal Praetorian Guards would certainly not let him rot here. He had probably been cremated or placed in an incorruptible coffin.
It’s not that no one has been here before, at least the commander of the Reize Corps, who is responsible for keeping the keys and keeping secrets, must have been here.
The warrior turned on the flashlight and looked around, and was suddenly surprised to find a golden power armor placed in the gap between the bookshelves in the 3rd and 4th rows.
"Good guy...the real mission reward is actually hidden here!?"
Warlander muttered to himself in surprise, stepped through the thick dust on the floor, and walked to the powered armor.
This should be the one Julius wore, and the armor should be made of real gold.
Even after a whole century of baptism, there is not a trace of rust on it.
He reached out and touched the suit of armor, only to see that the helmet's eyepiece suddenly lit up, and the power components inside the armor also made a restarting sound.
And at this moment, a deep voice floated out from the helmet...
"You came?"
"What the hell?"
Startled by the sudden sound, the warlord took a step back unconsciously.
But he soon discovered that it was a pre-recorded sound.
"I told Lei Ze that if the last wall is used up and what I'm worried about still hasn't happened, it means everything we did is correct. Then we can just find a place to bury me."
"But now that you're here...it seems that what I least expected, but was extremely sure would happen, finally happened."
"Actually, pretending that you are still alive is not a smart decision, but I had no better way under the circumstances."
"The mission of the Legion is not just to save the people of Wilant, we also shoulder the mission of cleaning up the mess for the People's Federation. I also tried to make the Legion a little normal before I left, but unfortunately I have...
Days are numbered...and once I die, the legion will surely fall apart, and chaos will swallow up everything we have left in this world."
"I know the Legion is a beast, but it's better than those man-eating marauders, mutant hordes, or mutant slime molds that can't be called civilization at all. Maybe one day we'll be killed by other survivors who band together.
, or be replaced by more advanced and civilized productivity and production relations, just like the overthrow of the War and Construction Committee... But this day is definitely not now."
"Winter is over, but chaos and barbarism are not yet... If we die early, a better era will not come. We will fight among ourselves towards a future that is worse and more barbaric than the Stone Age, and transform into
A real beast.”
"I tried to use technological means to extend my life and lived for twenty more years, but the problem was not solved. My children became more dependent on me. And the power that was ready to move and the ambition that came with power also
Expanding silently."
"I have also considered the hibernation capsule, but that is also not a good idea, because my death is necessary for the Velant people. An immortal leader will not bring a brighter future to his children.
In the future, they will only turn into cold and hard stones in admiration and admiration."
"Besides, I can't do anything while I'm in hibernation, let alone deter those guys who are ready to make a move. And when I wake up from my hibernation, I will bring new troubles when I come back from the dead."
"In this case, I can only accept being a 'living dead' myself."
"Weilant people will unite unswervingly in the name of loyalty until we survive the last cold winter. Facing existences that are more barbaric than us, we will be invincible. And the only person who can defeat us must be Bi
We are more civilized, more progressive, and more historically inevitable."
“Someone must come from our unconquered lands, liberate us from missions and loyalties that are becoming burdensome, and take us and all the other suffering survivors with him.
A new era."
"I guess when that moment comes, our territory will not be so vast that it cannot include even five hundred habitable galaxies. In this case, it's not a big deal to fall before learning to walk... Besides, this is what we owe to others.
of survivors.”
"Weilant people should become part of the world, not the enemies of the world. I believe that since you are standing here, you will understand what I am talking about."
"See this suit of power armor? It's yours now."
"Put it on, walk out from here, and tell my loyal boys that the Legion has brought them to the dawn after the long night, and that its historical mission is over! Now they themselves are the sun, the torch in their hands
It’s just the whiteness of the sky!”
"Tell them again that their beloved Marshal Julius was 79 years old and died at dusk before nightfall. He fell asleep with a smile on his face. He may have regrets, but he has no regrets. There is no need to miss him, he is nowhere to be found.
No longer there, never left, and has long since become everyone living in this land!"
"Be loyal to your true heart, be loyal to all Wilant people, be loyal to all the survivors who are suffering——"