As a slight chill spread in his mind, Daniel's slightly muddled thoughts quickly became clear.
The safety board was all normal, the port in his brain had been directed to the controlled shallow sea of consciousness, the memory camouflage and multiple shells were working as usual. Praise the extraterritorial wanderers — his mind was heavily armed, no one could see the slightest abnormality from the flawless mental barrier.
Even if the other party was a powerful archbishop.
Daniel's heart calmed down, he knew that he had entered the mental world, and in this mental world, there was no abnormality on his face.
"Which archbishop are you?" He asked with just the right amount of respect and calmness.
The woman on the other side used an unfamiliar face, this face was probably temporarily created for this conversation, it was an act of concealment, but Daniel still asked, this was a normal reaction for an open-minded believer of Eternal Sleep to open his heart to an unfamiliar archbishop.
"Don't worry about this, this face is just a medium of interaction, now the highest bishops are talking to you," the woman on the other side said lightly, "Please be prepared to answer our questions."
Daniel showed a submissive look, "Yes, I will not hide."
The woman on the other side nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "Recently, you have been investigating the church compatriots in the Oldenheim area, is this true?"
"Yes, it is true."
"This is not your duty as the security chief, what is the reason for the investigation?"
"Recently, there have been many rumors about the mental network malfunctioning, the security system has also detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes, I am worried that the network's security is threatened, so I started the investigation."
"Why did you not take the initiative to report, but choose to do it privately?"
"I am not sure about the details of the situation, so I want to confirm whether the problem is with the security system, if the problem is related to the security system, I will deal with it according to the regulations, if it is not with the security system, I will naturally report to the highest bishops. This is to save the church's manpower and improve the efficiency of the investigation. "
"This explanation is reasonable …" The woman said, and then paused for a moment, it seemed that the highest bishops behind her were having a quick discussion. After a moment, she continued, "You just said that the security system has detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes, what is the specific situation?"
Daniel immediately came up with the excuse he had prepared, "I found a 'blank connection', some nodes maintain a connection with the mental network, but there is no record of data transmission, I suspect that a large amount of computing power is being transferred out of the monitoring in a secret way, or 'swallowed' by the network loopholes …"
He was very calm, because this was indeed an abnormal phenomenon that his security team had recently discovered in the mental network!
But he was very sure of one thing: the abnormal loss of computing power was definitely not swallowed by the master's Origin Space, because the quota of computing power needed by the latter had been "reasonably allocated" from the bottom level of the mental network, so it could not be counted as an "abnormal loss" in any case. What he and his security team had observed was indeed a real "abnormal situation".
The missing computing power must be part of the situation that the highest bishops had been trying to cover up recently, and Daniel chose to say it at this moment, not only because he judged that the time was right and that he needed to show his strength and value, but there was also a very important reason —
He was the security chief of the mental network, the person with the highest authority in the hierarchy of bishops. If the malevolent situation of the mental network had developed to the point where the highest bishops could not cover it up, then he had to be the first one to notice the anomaly!
At this moment, if he said that he had not found any sensitive information, it would not be protecting himself, but indicating that there was something wrong with him!
The room quieted down for a moment.
Daniel suddenly had a vague feeling that the whole world outside the room had disappeared from his perception in an instant, as if there was only this quiet room left in the world. This place was blocked, sealed, and watched by every pair of eyes of the highest bishops.
The woman in front of him just looked at him quietly.
Daniel knew that the final examination had begun, and if he failed, his perception of this room would no longer be an illusion — the only "room" in the world would immediately become his mental cage, and his mind would be trapped in this room forever.
The conclusion soon came to him — the woman showed a faint smile.
"Mr. Daniel, are you willing to make greater contributions to the Church?"
"Greater contributions?" Daniel pretended to be puzzled. "You mean …"
"You now have the opportunity to enter the highest bishops and become a member of the archbishop. Your talents in network security and network architecture are vital to us — and your concerns about the recent abnormal fluctuations in the mental network will be answered as you gain higher access to information," the woman said calmly, her eyes reflecting Daniel's figure. "Mr. Daniel, at the same time, we would also like to remind you that a higher position means a greater responsibility. Once you face the deeper secrets of the Church, there is no chance to turn back.
"So, now you still have a choice — what is your choice?"
Daniel pondered for a moment with a solemn expression, then looked up and said solemnly, "For the benefit of the Church, I have already put my personal life out of my mind."
As soon as he said this, the feeling of being "closed" and "only" in the room immediately disappeared. The stagnant sunlight and dust shattered like a broken mirror, disintegrating and disappearing everywhere. The original bedroom turned into a magnificent hall in the blink of an eye, and Daniel himself was sitting at a huge round table in the hall.
There were many figures in white or black robes sitting around the round table. The robes with the depiction of silent stars and spiral patterns represented 'waking up from a dream' and 'peaceful sleep' respectively. These figures stood up from their seats and clapped for Daniel.
"Welcome to us, Mr. Daniel." On the opposite side of the round table, a lady in a white dress with a gentle smile stood up. "Your participation is very important to us."
Daniel immediately recognized the lady and guessed that she should be the main personality of the "interface" that he had just talked to. He immediately stood up and greeted, "Archbishop Selena Geer."
"No need to be so polite." Selena nodded at him. "Mr. Daniel, you have been promoted. To be honest, this promotion is a bit rushed. We did not have time to prepare a more formal ceremony for you, and we can't even celebrate with you in the real world. I hope you can understand all this.
"On the other hand, you should still be a little confused about the change of identity after becoming an archbishop. We should have given you more time to slowly adapt, but now the situation is a bit special. We need you to understand something as soon as possible and get into the zone as soon as possible.
"His Holiness the Pope will personally explain the specific situation to you."
Daniel maintained a polite and calm expression, but when he heard the words "His Holiness the Pope," he could not help but tense up.
Almost as soon as Selena's voice trailed off, an amorphous starlight cloud had already appeared above the round table.
Daniel had no idea when the starlight cloud had appeared. In fact, he even suspected that the amorphous starlight had been floating in the middle of the venue from the beginning to the end. It was just that his senses had completely ignored the latter's existence!
The next second, Daniel instantly bowed his head and respectfully saluted. "Your Holiness the Pope!"
"Look up." The starlight cloud swelled and squirmed, and a voice rang directly in Daniel's mind. "I will go straight to the point. Do you still worship the gods?"
Daniel's answer seemed to have been rehearsed thousands of times. "I have no respect for the gods. Their existence is only terrifying."
This was the standard answer of a true follower of the dark cult.
Countless people in the world who did not know the truth only feared and misunderstood the three dark cults. They always thought that the dark cults were extreme followers of the gods, and because of excessive fanaticism and distortion of their beliefs, they had fallen to the dark side of human nature. Even some of the low-level followers had such a wrong idea when they first joined the cult. But as long as they had really come into contact with the distorted depraved theurgy, really received a higher level of "baptism," and had access to the hidden knowledge, any dark cults would know what their true "faith" was.
"Very good." The starlight cloud seemed to be very satisfied with Daniel's answer. "Then, what I am going to tell you next will be the truth that most people can't imagine. Gods are not only terrifying, but also a shackle imposed on all mortals."
Daniel blinked.
He knew this, and he also knew that the name of this lock was "Spirit Steel Seal". His master had always been studying this steel seal. In the Origin Space, there were hundreds of researchers with formal training who were studying this steel seal.
He even suspected that the knowledge of the "Mind Stamp" would appear in Cecil's elementary textbook a few years later.
But here, he still had to show an appropriate look of astonishment. "A shackle?"
The voice of the pope rang in his mind. "Yes, a shackle, and what the Eternal Sleep Congregation has been doing for seven hundred years is to find a way to break free from this shackle."
This time, Daniel was really a little surprised.
Moreover, he believed that even his master, the Foreign Wanderer, would reveal an expression of surprise and curiosity when he heard this information.
"A way to break free from the shackle …" He could not help but repeat. "How can mortals do this?"
"Let the minds of mortals operate in a sandbox world where there are no gods, until the minds of mortals leave the sight of the gods, until the connection between the gods and this world is broken," the voice continued to echo in Daniel's mind. "This plan … is named 'Project Zero.'"
Project Zero!
Daniel could not help but hold his breath for half a beat. Then, heartfelt joy surged into his heart.
He had finally come into contact with this project and could finally understand its true nature!
This project that was hidden in thick fog and directly controlled by the highest bishops was actually related to the Spirit Steel Seal?
Then, he thought of the many anomalies that had happened recently in the mental network and connected many clues.
This made his expression become solemn, and his tone became serious. "Is … is there something wrong with this project?"
"We suspect …" It was Selena Gerfen who answered him. The archbishop, who had lived for seven hundred years and was now living in symbiosis with the mental network in the form of a spiritual body, shook her head. "We suspect that the power of God has appeared in one of the sandboxes of Project Zero."
…
In a quiet room in the afternoon, the black-haired Mary lowered her head and was immersed in a sea of advanced mathematics practice questions.
As the last few numbers and symbols fell on the paper, the female mage, who was obsessed with learning, finally raised her head and glanced at her teacher who was sleeping soundly in the reclining chair.
Her teacher seemed to be in a deep sleep.
In the past many years, her teacher had rarely slept so soundly. The unbearable neurotic headaches and auditory hallucinations tortured the old mage's mind, making him more irritable and irritable, but also depriving him of the right to sleep. This situation had lasted for more than a decade.
It was the gift of the "master" that gave her teacher a chance to get better and indirectly saved every apprentice around her teacher who was suffering.
The "master" was very scary. Until now, every time Mary entered the "Origin Dimension," she could not help but feel nervous and fearful. But at the same time, she was inevitably grateful to the "master."
Her teacher suddenly moved, waking Mary up from her momentary absent-mindedness.
She quickly got up and walked to the reclining chair. "Teacher, you're awake?"
Daniel slowly opened his eyes and saw the familiar room and familiar apprentices.
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