Standing on the endless wilderness, Dongfangruo has a completely new understanding of technology.
The ancestors of the Earth who were once suspected of being relatively backward in technology actually possessed technological power that far exceeded that of current human society. But why were these things completely sealed with the sinking of the Quantum Origin?
Even during these six thousand years of development, mankind's self-proclaimed prosperity has not brought about any substantial progress.
On the contrary, now it seems... more like a conscious regression.
Too many questions appeared in his mind, making Dongfang Ruo feel a little dazed.
She tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down... Those are all things for later. Her first goal now is to find Lin Sen, or... the footprints left by Lin Sen.
"I never expected that Prometheus would actually live in a place like this during his interstellar travel. I thought he would face a bunch of machines beating with data every day." Manny also lamented, but there is no Dongfang
If she thinks so much, she just feels that the Quantum Origin and the superstring have brought her too many surprises.
Dongfang Ruo heard this and said, "Can you now determine the core of the Quantum Origin?"
Manny frowned and said, "Well... I have to try it first, but I'm not sure there really is such a thing. Sister, wait a moment."
Dongfang Ruo nodded.
While Manny was busy looking for the core, Dongfang Ruo walked alone along the path in the wilderness.
I haven't experienced this feeling for a long time.
Both sides of the road are lined with flowers and plants that exude a strong spring atmosphere, and there is a not-so-deep ditch on one side. The water in it is very clear, and it is decorated with a few duckweeds, giving people a different kind of visual enjoyment.
Dongfang Ruo walked forward for an unknown amount of time. When he turned back, Manny could no longer be seen, and a small house appeared in front of her.
It stayed quietly in the center of the wilderness, and it didn't look that old. There was even residual heat on the stove outside, as if someone was still living here this morning.
Taking his hand away, Dongfang became thoughtful and cautious at the same time.
"Mannie, be careful, there seems to be someone else here."
Manny was immersed in the world of superstrings and no longer cared about anything outside, so she didn't respond.
Dongfang Ruo frowned, his uneasy premonition growing.
However, she did not go back to look for Manny, but gently opened the door of the small room.
When I opened the door, I saw that the furnishings in the room were very simple and the room was very transparent. It did not feel gloomy and depressing.
A small table, a few small stools, and some handicrafts.
After walking around the room, Dongfang Ruo felt more and more that all this seemed beautiful and natural, but in fact it became more and more weird and inexplicable, especially when she saw those hand-carved figures, her heart was filled with confusion.
She couldn't stay calm because she saw many familiar faces.
"How do you like it?"
While Dongfang Ruo was looking at those statues in a trance, a strange yet familiar voice suddenly came.
Dongfang Ruo turned around suddenly, and the condensed aura sword in his hand was already pressed against the man's heart.
But when Dongfang Ruo saw his appearance clearly, all vigilance disappeared again.
Lin Sen, or a man who looked very much like Lin Sen, looked at Dongfang Ruo with a smile. He raised his hands and said, "I have no ill intentions. I just want to say that if you like it, I will give it to you."
Dongfang Ruo put the statue down after hearing this, and then said in a cold voice: "Who are you?"
Lin Sen thought for a while and then said: "Me? I should be Lin Sen."
"should be?"
He nodded: "Well, but I'm not so sure, because I once saw myself leaving here, but when I woke up, I found that I was still here, so... I think I may be Lin Sen, or maybe just
A uh... statue he left behind?"
Dongfang Ruo understood that the person in front of her did give her an unnatural feeling. She felt that feeling the most because she had truly felt it from Niyunji.
"You mean, Lin Sen came here and then left again? He just left you behind?" Dongfang Ruo's vigilance was raised again, and the solid blade in her hand had already pierced the skin of Lin Sen's heart.
.
He thought for a while and then replied: "There is nothing wrong with this understanding, but I am not sure whether the one who left is the real Lin Sen, because I might be the real one, right?"
After saying that, he smiled.
The feeling was very familiar, but Dongfang Ruo could tell at a glance how forced his smile was.
"Okay, I'll just think you are him, then you should also get to know me, right?"
He nodded: "Yeah, of course."
"In that case, do you have anything to tell me? In other words, did Lin Sen leave anything behind before he left?" Dongfang Ruo continued to ask.
After hearing this, he obviously hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Yes, I have a lot to tell you, but before that I want to confirm one thing."
"What?"
"If the one who left is the real me, and the current me is just a replica, then are you still willing to take me away from here?"
Faced with this question, Dongfang Ruo replied without hesitation: "Yes, yes, but I also have a prerequisite."
"Well? You say."
"I have to make sure that you will not have an impact on him and his life, just like the relationship between Niyunji and I."
He smiled when he heard this: "I have already thought about this. If I can really leave here and go to the real world, I will ask you to block my memory first."
After hearing this, Dongfang Ruo said, "Forget it, I'm not that good at dealing with this kind of thing."
He immediately became embarrassed, and then nodded: "Okay, let's put this matter aside for now, and I'll tell you something important first."
Dongfang Ruo didn't say anything, she put down her hand, and the long sword with solid charm disappeared.
"First of all, I have spent nineteen winters here, but I can't be sure that it is nineteen years, because everything here is not as natural and orderly as it seems." He walked out of the house and pointed to the distant sky.
: "Just like over there, I once went to search for the edge of the world alone, but as I walked, the originally clear sky would turn into a violent storm. Moreover, at first I thought it was just a little wind, but as I continued walking,
, I would be struck by lightning. Although it didn’t really hit me, I always felt that it was like The Truman World. I could enjoy the beauty of the limited order, but I was deprived of the right to explore this world.”
If you look to the east in the direction he pointed, you can only see clouds and mountains surrounded by blue sky. You can't imagine that it will suddenly turn into a scene of raging thunderstorms.
"Then what?"
"Then... then I had to go back and choose another direction to walk forward. As I walked, I saw a vast sea, endless as far as the eye could see. I had no idea if there was land on the other side of the sea." He said and turned around.
Turn around and look in the opposite direction.
That was the direction Dongfang Ruo came from before, but Dongfang Ruo didn't feel the breath of the sea.
"What about the other two directions?" Dongfang Ruo asked.
He replied: "I have been there. If you go to the place where the sun rises, it will get hotter and hotter until you see the world being burned to the ground. If you go to the direction where the sun sets, it will get colder and colder until you see the world in front of you.
Everything is swallowed up by darkness and completely lost."
"Lost? Then how did you come back?" Dongfang Ruo caught the loophole and asked directly.
He smiled: "I don't know, because every time I fall into a deep sleep, I will appear in this room when I wake up, so I never worry that I will be really lost."
Dongfang Ruo was startled when he heard this, then frowned and said, "Is this the second thing you want to tell me?"
He shook his head: "No, actually this is the same thing. This is a prison. It gives you everything you want, but there is no freedom."
"Really? Why do I feel that as long as you don't choose to leave, living in such a large land should be very comfortable." Dongfang Ruo asked consciously.
He smiled bitterly and replied: "This is the most deadly place."
"oh?"
"My consciousness tells me that the world is much bigger than I imagined, but I can only live in such a comfortable environment. Over time, people will get sick." He said and took out a portable phone.
He took a look at the wood carving he was carrying and said, "Just like this wood carving, I don't even know who is carving it..."
Dongfang Ruo took a closer look and saw that the wooden sculpture had all four limbs and a good figure, but the face had no facial features.
The familiar feeling made Dongfang Ruo frown.
"what do you want to say?"
He smiled softly: "It's nothing, I'm just feeling emotional."
Dongfang Ruo felt that this emotion was very dangerous.
"Okay, let's not talk about that, let's talk about more important things. After all, you can find the truth here, right?"
Dongfang Ruo looked at Lin Sen in front of her silently, and she wanted to say: 'Isn't this what you have been working hard to do?', but she did not say it, because he was indeed not the real Lin Sen.
"Well, what is the truth?"
He was startled when he heard this, and then burst into laughter, laughing inexplicably.
Dongfang Ruo's expression became more and more unkind, and she looked at him coldly until he managed his expression.
Then I heard him say: "I'm sorry, I lost my temper, but just now you suddenly asked me what the truth is, and I was a little confused..."
"so?"
"So...hehe..." He laughed again, but this time he didn't laugh very happily, but rather helplessly.
"So what does this question mean?"
"What do you mean?" Dongfang Ruo frowned, and then looked at his expression and understood immediately.
"Oh, okay, I understand. Are you trying to say that my question was too broad?"
He nodded: "Yes."
"Then..." Dongfang Ruo thought for a while, feeling too confused. Now if he really wanted to ask one by one, when would he go? Therefore, Dongfang Ruo directly chose to skip the useless content and asked: "Can you
Tell me how Lin Sen left here? Where did he go after he left? Did he tell you?"
He was startled when he heard this, then he laughed twice and said: "I'm sorry, if I really knew how he left, how could he be trapped here? But you, you entered here rashly, have you ever thought about how to escape?
?”
"We? Escape? What do you mean?" Dongfang Ruo's bad premonition began to become clear.
He said in surprise: "Haven't you noticed yet? Including what I said before, you can't just come in here casually, let alone leave at any time if you want!"
Dongfang Ruo was shocked when she heard this, and her expression changed drastically. She immediately contacted Manny and asked: "Mannie! Did you hear that? Is what he said true?"
However, at this moment, Manny has completely entered the inner ring of superstring space and lost contact with everything outside.
He looked at Dongfang Ruo speechlessly, and then shook his head: "I thought you were completely prepared, but I didn't expect you to be as stupid as me and rush in in such a hurry."
Dongfang Ruo felt even worse after hearing this. She couldn't contact Manny.
So he immediately flew up, and before leaving he said: "Wait for me here, I'll be back as soon as I go."
He nodded, and then said to himself: "Otherwise, where else could I go..."
…
"Mannie! Manny! Where are you?!" Dongfang Ruo returned to the wilderness based on his memory, but Mannie was nowhere to be found.
There was even the slightest hint of human presence in the air.
This is very anxious for Dongfang Ruo.
On the one hand, she was worried about Manny's comfort, and on the other hand, she began to be afraid. If all this was really as he said, it was a relatively restrictive cage, then how could she leave?
So what if we know the truth?
If Dongfang is really panicking now, she actually didn't make much preparation at every step along the way, because she knows how mysterious and unpredictable the danger behind all this is.
So sometimes if Dongfang thinks about everything she has experienced, she always feels that there is always a force helping her and guiding her, which makes her lucky to get here.
But now, that feeling is gone.
After losing his master, his friends, and even the Ankara King's Sword Society, Dongfang Ruo has nothing left now.
She stood in this wilderness, her heart so empty that she had no place to rest.
But she is Dongfang Ruo after all. She is very similar to Lin Sen in one thing, that is, she never knows what failure is.
Since there is nothing left, it is even more important to find out more, because I am afraid... it may not solve the problem at hand.
…
When Dongfang Ruo returned to the hut alone, he found that he was cooking, and it smelled quite fragrant.
"Have you found Manny?" he asked.
Dongfang Ru shook her head, her eyes were cold, and she wanted to get angry, but she felt that she didn't even have the strength to vent her emotions.
"Don't worry, although this place is strange, it's not as bad as you think. At least... when you choose to respect it, it will treat you well, so... maybe Manny will be back early tomorrow morning.
." He comforted Dongfang Ruo for a few words, and then concentrated on cooking.
At this time, the sun was setting over the west mountain and it was already evening.
Dongfang Ruo sat silently outside the small house, watching the sunset, feeling flustered and empty at the same time.
She remembered that her master was still trying to help her, Nalan? and Niyunji on the sea to prevent the Quantum Origin from sinking again, and she felt panicked in her heart...because she really didn't have time to enjoy the silence.
But before returning here, Dongfang Ruo had already tried to leave here, but when she invoked the mysteries of this world, she was rejected with indifference. That indifference made her fall from a height of several hundred meters, as if she had lost her divine power.
A broken-winged angel who transformed into a mortal.
When he fell to the ground, the pain made Dongfang Ruo wake up completely.
There is indeed a stronger order here, an order that she is unable to resist.
…
"Come and eat." He moved a small table out of the room and brought two bowls of porridge.
Dongfang Ruo felt strange looking at the rice porridge.
But he ate very deliciously, and while eating, he said: "Do you feel helpless? You want to go back, but you can't..."
Dongfang Ruo felt even more irritated when she heard this. Instead of touching the rice porridge, she turned her head away.
He saw it in his eyes, smiled softly, and continued: "Maybe the person who lived here had the same feeling."
After hearing this, Dongfang Ruo looked at him again.
"Who are you talking about?"
He put down the bowl and replied: "That's the man called Prometheus. If you think about it, he has lived here longer, so has he ever thought about returning home?
?”
Dongfang Ruo didn't say anything, but he felt that what he said was very interesting.
"The day I left the earth, the scene must have been very tragic. After all, in order to ensure fairness, everyone, no matter rich or poor, must choose to be with the earth, and the only one who survived was the human race. At that time, walking
What was Prometheus thinking when he entered the Quantum Origin? Is it a noble will? Is it a glorious sense of mission?" he asked.
Dongfang Ruo thought for a while and replied: "Isn't it? Otherwise, how could he be chosen as the leader? How could the matter of continuing the future of mankind be left to him?"
But he smiled and shook his head and said: "I thought so before, but thinking about myself, I am more and more doubtful, is this Prometheus really the kind of person with a lofty will?"
"What do you mean?" Dongfang Ruo asked.
He said: "Just like us, the 'Homecoming' plan that was initially formulated in order to find a way to continue mankind and solve the catastrophe of mankind's annihilation is not at its core to save someone, but to directly jump out of this level.
, rising to a state of ethnic consciousness that is very similar to that at the end of earth civilization. At this time, do we, as participants, have the lofty will?"
Dongfang Ruo understood after listening.
"We are forced to have no choice..." He gave the answer himself.
"Really? If it is really possible, why should we give up on others? If it is really a noble will, why will we fall apart? You don't really think that everyone is acting, do you?"
Dongfang Ruo's heart trembled when she heard this, and she stared blankly at him in front of her.
He sighed silently, and then chuckled: "Maybe after putting on the mask, we show our true selves."