Chapter 955 Whether the fire of civilization still exists
Hao Ren could not imagine what it felt like to be alone and forgotten in the depths of the vault, but he could see the traces left by the old man in the past nine hundred years everywhere in this small room.
A brief glimpse into his life. He once used discipline and will to force himself to continue to watch 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 is just an ordinary human being; he woke up from his false self-discipline and meaningless squandering, and spent the last few decades of his life leaving all the history he knows here, because he is the legacy of this civilization.
The last "parent".
"I only woke up in the second half of my life, so I had to work twice as hard to make up for the wasted time," the old man muttered in a low voice, his voice unclear, "The only thing I'm thankful for is that I'm really healthy. Medical
The experts' judgment was correct. I can live a long and healthy life. This life should have been used for reconstruction, but I was trapped in this room, so I spent nearly twenty years leaving those things. Our history
, our culture, our traditions, where we come from, why we left our hometown... That was the longest time I had been awake. I worked day and night, and I was terrified every time I found that I had an extra gray hair. I almost went crazy.
I fell down, but I didn’t dare to go back to the dormant cabin, because I didn’t know if I could get up again after lying down... I am getting older and older, and in the last few years, I have to spend half of my time every day.
Next to that window..."
The old man raised a finger tremblingly and pointed to the door, where a small window was embedded. During the days when he was awake intermittently, that window was the only channel through which he could see the outside world.
"I look outside, and sometimes I have hallucinations. I see certain dormant pods suddenly open, and children jump out, healthy and energetic. But sometimes I also see scary things...Those dormant pods
It fell on the bridge. There was blood seeping out from it. I completed 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 there, and this time I didn't set a time to wake up. My 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 ran into the shelter city in panic, their "parents" were still sleeping. When those children were trying to survive in the empty city, their "parents" could only watch.
Those dormant cabins that have become empty. The first settlement appeared in the shelter city, the first new generation appeared, the first kingdom appeared, the first division appeared, the first failure occurred, the first power outage, the first
The second cold winter, the first artificial gravity shutdown... The last guardian of civilization could only be trapped here, at a loss, scared, angry, and finally cheered up, carving the history of the entire race on the wall, from a young man to a middle-aged man
years, and then became an octogenarian from middle age...
But the children and their descendants in the shelter city slowly forgot everything during the eight hundred years of hard survival, and eventually even where they came from. The only thing that can connect them with the watchers in the vault is
The only thing left together is the name of the reactor at the end of the "world": the Ancestral Furnace.
"Why do you want to write these things on paper and carve them on the wall?" Lily asked curiously, "Didn't you prepare other teaching materials?"
"Because it lasts longer this way," the old man's mouth twitched, showing a difficult smile. "The equipment outside has not been maintained for hundreds of years, and they will always break, but things written on paper can be preserved for a thousand years.
, the things carved on the wall can be preserved for ten thousand years. As long as this place remains closed, it can even be preserved for longer... I have always believed that the children are still alive, but there is something wrong with the host that wakes them up. Once they wake up
But I'm already dead, so they can still find my manuscript."
The old man was silent for a long time after saying this. Finally he looked at Hao Ren and broke the silence again: "I want to ask again, are they all still alive?"
"All their descendants are still alive." Hao Ren replied cautiously.
"Oh, really... so many generations have passed..." The old man nodded slowly, already having a premonition of something in his heart, but he still asked, "Then do our culture and traditions still exist?
spread?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion until Vivian broke the embarrassment: "Many generations have passed...you know what will happen."
The old man was silent and slowly walked towards the long table where the manuscripts were stacked. He refused Hao Ren's support and Nangong Wuyue's help, but silently sorted out the manuscripts by himself, stacked them in order, and then he tried
He tried to move those things but he no longer had the strength.
"Let me help you," Lily rushed forward and grabbed the thick pile of manuscripts without any explanation, "Where to move?"
"Take me to see...the descendants of those children." The old man looked up at Hao Ren, his eyes calm, neither sad nor happy.
"You will be greatly disappointed." Vivian said next to her.
The old man had only one reply: "I'm already dying."
Hao Ren nodded, took out a life-sustaining collar from his pocket and handed it over: "Put it on. We will pass through a place full of radiation, this thing will keep you safe."
For the first time in nine hundred years, the old man left his room. When he stepped out of the door, his body was obviously shaking violently, but he waved his hand and refused Nangong Wuyue's support, muttering almost stubbornly: "
I want to go see them myself."
In front of the gate of the Ancestral Furnace, the crowd has grown larger and larger.
The alarm issued by the blood servants alerted everyone in the royal city, and then strange theories such as "Ice Flame Witch" spread wildly among soldiers and civilians. All the princes and nobles were alerted, and the bachelors also ran away.
Looking for answers between the library and the ancient altar, crowds poured out of the royal city and gathered in groups in the open space in front of the ancestral furnace.
The traces of frost and cold air and plasma flames left on the earth left these superstitious and ignorant people in awe, and the strange noises constantly coming from the ancestral furnace made them even more suspicious.
When Hao Ren led the old man out of the exit of another control station on the high ground, what he saw was a crowd of people. Residents of the shelter crowded on the "plain" below. They argued and worshiped.
, praying, like believers waiting for divine revelation.
The giant generator set in the Ancestral Forge 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 a low roar immediately came from the depths of the Ancestral Forge.
The roaring sound grew from small to loud, and then gradually became calmer. The shelter residents waiting in the open space were startled by the sudden noise and began to make noises. Then they saw that the already dim lights in all directions suddenly returned to normal.
As soon as there was light, the entire enclosed space became brighter, and the two huge iron wheels on the royal city in the distance slowly began to rotate. Only then did these people finally realize what was happening: the heart of the world began to beat again.
So everyone knelt down, including the generals and ministers. Everyone knelt down devoutly in front of the ancestral furnace, praising the arrival of light and warmth in unison.
Next to Hao Ren, the old man looked at all this in surprise: "What...are they doing?"
"Praise the heart of this world for starting to beat again, praise the gods for sending favors," Hao Ren sighed softly, "Vivian said, you will be disappointed. These people have no idea about the Ark at all. Their whole world is this
Over a hundred kilometers of spherical shell space, these people have thrived here for generations, and now they have returned to the wilderness. They were divided into four kingdoms, fighting with each other endlessly. They believed that their world was created by God. Outside the ark
It is a piece of sea water, and they even think that their world is a giant turtle..."
"Turtle... We used this saying to comfort the children back then. We said that the Ark is like a turtle shell, which 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 position of a prosecutor: "Although it is a pity, your civilization has been interrupted."
The old man didn't answer. He just looked at the situation below quietly and listened to the voices of the Ark residents who were dressed in tatters and whose words and deeds were primitive. Finally, he suddenly smiled, as happy as a child: "They still speak the language of their ancestors.