Chapter 1581 Prison

When the disaster broke out, plague and destruction raged everywhere, and the entire empire fell into the violent wind and waves of destruction. In the face of the equal doomsday, all races, no matter strong or weak, ended. The former protectors became butchers, and the former The home has turned into a devil's cave, the fire of civilization has gradually extinguished, and thousands of worlds have been wiped out. People who have not experienced that disaster personally may not be able to imagine the tragedy and panic when the disaster strikes, no matter how much history is unearthed in the future. It is difficult to restore the horrific scene from that time with data and ruins.

In the violent storm of the doomsday, except for a small group of lucky people who managed to escape from the contaminated area due to timely response or the desperate rescue of the empire, most races were destroyed in an instant without a chance to resist, but there are still some trapped in the empire. The races in the area survived: they happened to fall into the sight of the Abyss Xiling who was not completely crazy, so this group of guys who didn't know whether they were lucky or unfortunate were protected.

It is impossible to send these survivors out of the Empire area. The border has been closed. All the world gates to the far frontier have been shut down or blown up by the local defenders taking advantage of the last ray of light. Moreover, the pollution has completely gone out of control. , sending more survivors out of the Empire Zone means that the probability of pollution spreading is also increasing exponentially, so Abyss Xiling did the last thing she could do: bring together these surviving remnants of all ethnic groups, They were all sent to the last untouched world in the contaminated area, and then she "buried" this world deeply under the ruins of the old empire. Although everything in that disaster was unbreakable, Abyss Xiling was after all the wisest cluster consciousness in the entire empire, and at the end of the disaster she had completely controlled all the resources on the mental network, so she successfully built something similar to a protective layer, allowing The entire universe was isolated, as if invisible in the void—she had won the bet. The Abyss did not spread into this refuge.

This protective layer is the layer of strange interference that Sandora and I encountered. It turns out that the protective layer arranged by Abyss Xiling with the last bit of consciousness is working well, and tens of thousands of years have not done anything to it. Influence.

But just arranging a protective layer is completely insufficient. No matter how tight the defense is, it can easily be broken from the inside. In addition, no one knows when the unprecedented pollution in the Imperial District will dissipate (Abyss Xiling also had Let’s hope that one day this pollution will dissipate on its own.) The lifespan of mortals is short, their nature is mutated, and they are particularly prone to inheritance and historical distortion after many years of inheritance. Therefore, before Abyss Xiling left, he specially entrusted the three longevity species with the longest lifespan among the survivors: tree elves, and white people. Elves, and high elves. She asked these most immovable long-lived races to find ways to control the behavior of other races, in short: hold their breath.

The three elven races finally carried out this mission by establishing the "Lost God Religion" to this day.

Extinguishing the fire of civilization and ushering in the severe technological winter, all races will become silent. They are the last batch of cubs carefully hidden in deep caves by the mother beast, so they must learn to live in the cave. Because even just looking out of the cave would 100% lead to death, they put out the fire, shut their mouths, even sealed their minds, and then began to dig deeper into the cave - we are not here Life has been discovered elsewhere in the universe, with only a few scattered space installations, and the reason is simple: after many generations of planned natural population decline. These survivors succeeded in reducing the total population to a point where they could survive on a planet. They abandoned the alien colonies they once established and all returned to the planet where they first landed.

"The establishment of the Lost God Religion has gone through many twists and turns. It is the plan we finally decided on after trying various methods." Bishop Gale Feng is the oldest person present. He is now more than 70,000 years old and has already established himself in the old empire. He is one of the highly respected commanders of the tree elves. He once accepted the mission entrusted by the Abyss Xiling in front of a data terminal. No one has more say in the history of the Lost Religion than him. At this moment, the old man is full of energy. Tens of thousands of years of turbulent years slowly melted away on that wrinkled old face, and finally solidified into a piece of pride and open-mindedness, "The most extreme plan, but... there is no other choice. Initially, we tried for twenty years to Republic, but it led to an inefficient governance system. Various regulatory measures were complicated but full of loopholes. We could only rely on the people's horrific memories of the catastrophe, allowing them to control their words and deeds based on their own consciousness. Later, we tried thirty years of high-pressure centralization, Efficiency has improved, and regulatory measures seem to have become stricter, but what they have brought is a depressing, dull and unbearable social atmosphere. Although each small group still keeps in mind the agreement of 'no contact with special technologies', they can't help but The dissatisfaction was passed on to the rulers who maintained this social order, that is, the three elves; then we tried federalism, trying to let each tribe maintain their own country, and the head of each country would serve as a member of the 'Grand Federation' To fulfill the mission, this attempt almost led to a greater disaster - people's hearts are unpredictable, and more and more groups that study taboo knowledge for various purposes have emerged. Many people naively believe that as long as they are absolutely careful, Don't make mistakes when studying the foundation of the universe, and you will definitely not cause information leakage. Even dangerous signals have appeared within the three elves. In addition, the populations of some short-lived races have begun to change as a whole, and some have even Updated to the third generation, the younger the generation, the more they despise warnings about disasters, and even... In short, the federal system failed in the end. It could neither solve the problem of inefficient supervision loopholes nor make the social order slightly change. a little better."

When Liefeng mentioned the "Federal Era", he had a look of helplessness and bitterness on his face. I couldn't help but be curious about this. Another archbishop next to him took the initiative to explain: "At the end of the Federal Era, there were some events that were organized by the Federal Era. The so-called "revolutionary organization" formed by the third and fourth generation young people. They were born and raised in an absolutely safe environment, but they believe that they are experiencing the worst "era of oppression". They have only seen about it from textbooks and videos. Things about the abyss and catastrophe are almost something from the last era for short-lived races, so they lack awe of history. These young people occupy a considerable share of society, and due to federalization, the survivors They develop independently in racial units. These young generations will have the opportunity to develop and even become the ruling class in their respective federal states. These innovative organizations finally openly launched a rebellion, saying that they wanted to "overthrow the corrupt and dark immortal people" and establish "freedom". "A New Era of Breathing", I still remember what one of their slogans was...'This world should be saved by fourteen-year-old boys and girls'...Huh, in the end they only brought chaos. They almost caused the end of the world. .”

"They somehow found a void engine. Although they didn't know what it was, they resolutely tried to start it - because they believed that this thing was used to open the door to a new world. Fortunately, the Federation Army came in at the last moment. He killed the young leader in seconds," the archbishop sighed, "a sixteen-year-old boy...many races have lost a whole generation."

"We educate. They say we brainwash, we propagandize, they say we preach, we purge the media, they say we stop breathing, so in the end we decided to do what they said: completely eliminate modern technology." Liefeng continued. Over the topic, "After several failed attempts, we have realized something: the mortal race is fragile and changeable, and it can never guarantee absolute unity or eliminate selfish desires. Even us long-lived elves can only do this. No matter how hard we try, the mortal race will never be able to guarantee absolute unity or eliminate selfish desires." It is impossible for madmen to exist forever like Apostle Xiling, and only a few madmen are enough to destroy everything. Whether it is a republic or a federal system. Even an imperial system, it is impossible to fundamentally change people's hearts. No matter how strict the system is, it will take time to implement. , and triggering the end of the world may only require pressing a button. Under the premise that the 'doomsday cost' is so low and triggering the doomsday so quickly, it is impossible to rely on supervision to protect the world. So instead of going to great lengths to restrain people How to use technology correctly and let them distinguish between safe knowledge and taboo knowledge? It is better to simply seal everything up, so that at least the seeds of civilization can remain, no matter how long they are buried. There is always a chance for it to sprout again."

"We should be lucky that we woke up in time, and did not wake up until all races except the three elves have been updated," a fat bishop who had never spoken said with a smile, he kept his mouth closed. Eye. He is actually blind. "If we really delay it until then, I'm afraid we won't be able to complete the transformation without going through a world war. Because most races still have reason and can realize the necessity of this decision, so 'knowledge fades' The movement was completed in a relatively stable state, and it took hundreds of years, but nothing went wrong. This is how the world became after knowledge faded, because even the three elves cannot have too much exposure to technology and advanced magic. So in order to ensure that everything is within the scope of monitoring, we even gave up the interstellar age, and advanced knowledge is no longer retained within the three elves. All mathematical rate equipment and equipment related to void technology have been destroyed or sent to the Celestial Forge ——The outer area of ​​that place is simply a big cemetery, and the remaining facilities have become so-called ancient ruins. Now tens of thousands of years have passed, except for us old guys, and the old guys who came after death Except for the little guy who inherited the mantle (when he said this, he tilted his head slightly and looked at the only young bishop present), no one knows that the depths of the starry sky were once our home."

"Press technology back to the age of animal agriculture, so that even if a revival group appears, it will take hundreds of years for them to develop before they can access that knowledge again, and we will have time to react," Bishop Gale added, "Instead of trying our best to think of ways Instead of stopping people from detonating bombs, we might as well destroy them, that's the way we think about it."

"Not only did you erase the advanced technology, you also erased the truth about the disaster. You even replaced the real history with religious legends. Most people - including most people in the Lost Religion, don't know about the sealing The true meaning of technology, they are just blindly following the orders of the church." I looked at the fat bishop, "Is this necessary? Preserving the truth about the disaster does not conflict with sequestering technology. You can let the common people know why sequestering technology Ah, this can also provide an additional layer of deterrence, which is much stronger than those ambiguous legends now."

The fat bishop shook his head: "The civilization formed by the mortal race is easily distorted by time, and the higher the degree of civilization, the more likely it is to cause greater dangers. A group of primitive people may just blindly seek refuge in the gods when facing pressure, but a group of capable people may Civilized humans with the power of knowledge may overthrow the entire social order when faced with pressure. This was proven in the Federation era. Therefore, the more ignorant a race is, the easier it is to maintain stability. Even if a lie continues for thousands of years, no one will question it. . The goal of the Lost God Cult from the very beginning is to make most of the short-lived races 'ignorant', dull people's minds, reduce people's knowledge, and let them shift their attention from exploring the truth to three meals a day. In In this shelter, the more knowledgeable people are and the more they know the truth, the more dangerous they are. For those of us who have experienced everything personally or are selected intellectuals, it is easy to say that what we are most afraid of is that we have only a half-knowledge of history and lack the ability to act and be confident. A young man whose heart is as big as ever."

"Is this what the technical revivalists are like?" Sandora suddenly spoke.

"The Technological Renaissance is one of them. It emerged in this millennium. Similar situations have occurred more than once in the past tens of thousands of years," the fat bishop frowned slightly. "Actually, we also feel guilty for these organizations. In order to protect this refuge, the short-lived species have sacrificed a lot. If placed in a normal world, most of the people in the technological revival faction should have become the leaders of civilization and the pillars of the ethnic group. But in this world. They can only be suppressed. But the road has been set, and we have to keep going. Tens of thousands of years ago, we reached a consensus with the leaders of those short-lived races: they voluntarily gave up their knowledge and used the ignorance of future generations to The cost is to keep the Vault safe, and it's our job to try to survive as long as possible, maintaining that order as the only informed guardians."

"If I'm not wrong... the members of the Technological Revival Sect will eventually be absorbed into the church by you," Sandoraball suddenly said in a profound tone. "I scanned all corners of the city and found some interesting... places."

Bishop Gale Feng laughed: "Indeed, the technology revivalists have appeared more than once, and there are more than one technology revival organization in the world. Some of them have been successfully suppressed. We try our best to capture the members of these organizations alive. If they If your will is strong enough, tell them the truth. Those who can bear the truth will become a group of special monks in the church. The outside world calls them 'maskers'. They are execution troops who wear masks all their lives. After knowing the history, these 'maskers' 'The monks will take the initiative to deal with other revival organizations, and they are more enthusiastic than ordinary monks. This is not a bright method, but sometimes a little shadow is needed to protect the world. And regardless of whether they can become maskers or not, members of the revival organization who know the truth All will be tightly controlled by the church. Those who convert will be monitored, and those who cannot bear the truth will be placed under house arrest for life and will not be allowed to leave the city for half a step - we try to avoid killing these people as much as possible, because everyone is helpless, All are burdened with sin, including us.”

"The revivalists are fearless because of their ignorance. They think they are saving the world and are therefore motivated. However, after knowing the truth, they have to deal with their former colleagues without hesitation, and they cannot reveal the reason why they 'betrayed the organization'," Sandora's The voice was rather sighing, "You are covering up the truth about the abyss, probably to prevent a big collapse."

"Ignorance is bliss," the fat bishop sighed. "The truth of this world is not very beautiful. It is a kind of extreme despair. The entire universe may be wiped out at any time. All of us can live one more second because of luck. Mortals have no way to resist, and even no place to escape. The legends and stories we made up at least make people believe that civilization will slowly recover. People believe that the God of Technology and the God of Magic will slowly forgive mankind. In addition, they don’t have to be afraid of anything more. Many things, but what if the people knew the truth? They would realize that it is impossible for civilization to recover. There is no god of technology or magic. As long as civilization progresses, it will immediately lead to destruction. Our future is hopeless, in any direction. All progress is a dead end - most people will not accept this fact, and we have a lot of hard evidence to prove it. Only the most determined people can become maskers, and most revivalists are either crazy or crazy after learning the truth about the world. Becoming more extreme, they can only be imprisoned in mountain caves for the rest of their lives, because they always want to rush out and tell everyone the truth, making everyone suffer the same pain as them, or simply destroy the world. . These members of the revival organization are already strong men who are different from ordinary people. They are still like this, but what about ordinary people? Not everyone can accept this hopeless world."

"Instead of dying in despair, it is better to live in ignorance, so that at least you can enter the coffin with a vague hope. Before the doomsday comes, live one more day," Gale Feng's old and hoarse voice expressed everyone's thoughts, "We, the The old guy has experienced strong winds and waves, so just let us hold on, and the others... just pretend that nothing happened, and living in peace is worse than anything else."

I suddenly realized that this world is a huge cage. As the elf warning said: the cage will also become a barrier. In fact, it should be understood in reverse: the barrier is a cage. Everyone is trapped in a prison with no way out, but the prison is big enough, so most of them are unaware of the railings standing in the distance, and the three elves are the first prisoners to come in. They are in the center of the prison. He built a small home as exquisite as building blocks in a small piece of land, and then told other prisoners: This is the whole world!

The Lost God Cult used "ignorance" and "ignorance" to create invisible shackles, making the prisoners unable to reach the end of the cage. It also used religious legends to create a false sky, so that the prisoners would not see the dark roof of the cage when they looked up. As long as the bars are not visible, the prison does not exist - and so the majority of the world thrives in peace and contentment, generation after generation, never doubting their "whole world."

But now, the cage is finally about to be opened.