Kamel and Veronica immediately became nervous when they heard the words' somewhat related to the gods'.
In the past year, Cecil had encountered enough 'somewhat related to the gods'.
Gwen saw that he had successfully stirred up the atmosphere, so he did not continue to keep them in suspense. Instead, he went straight to the point. "Daniel has reported that there have been a number of strange deaths of God of War priests in Typhon recently. He has not been able to find out the specific situation, but he is sure that the number of deaths is definitely more than five, and all of them happened in the past half a month."
"Strange deaths of priests?" Heti frowned. "If it's just the strange deaths of priests … it could also be some kind of assassination attempt against the church … In places where theocracy is more serious and the people are fierce, similar things are possible, especially in more remote areas."
"Basically, we have ruled out this possibility." Gwen shook his head. "There are more than one church, including areas where the Church of the God of War occupies a dominant position. And if they were attacked by pagans, the Church of the God of War would definitely use this as an opportunity to publicize the martyrs. But the fact is that none of the deaths were made public, and even the scene was sealed. Daniel heard the news from a special channel."
Hearing this answer, everyone in the room looked at each other.
"Typhon's mainstream religion is the belief of the God of War, and the priests of the God of War occupy a very high position in their society. In the past hundreds of years, many priests of the God of War have died, but they all died on various battlefields because they followed the teachings of the sect. There were only a few cases where they died mysteriously from assassination and were not allowed to be made public. I can only find twelve records, and those twelve cases were spread over a span of two centuries. "Amber broke the silence and shared the intelligence after the Military Intelligence Bureau's analysis." One of our views is that there is an internal problem in the Church of the God of War in Tiphon. The death of the priests may be the result of some kind of internal struggle, so it is not allowed to be made public, but … "
"But this speculation still lacks support." Gwen continued Amber's words. "First of all, according to the information we have, the Church of the God of War in Typhon has always been united and stable. The current reigning Pope, Malcolm Dumont, is healthy, and the control of the Church of the Church of the God of War is not a problem. Plus, the situation in Typhon is also very stable, and the Church of the God of War has no reason to fight among themselves."
"So this is difficult to establish," Veronica said thoughtfully, her eyes falling on Gwen's face. "But just from the strange deaths of the priests, why do you think it may be related to the gods?"
"… Someone has gone crazy." Gwen said faintly.
Veronica's eyes suddenly became serious, and her fingers clenched the platinum scepter tightly. Kamel suddenly brightened a little, and the others had to squint their eyes.
"Several priests who came into contact with the death scene went crazy after the incident. Judging from the time, they should have witnessed the death of those priests, or … saw something that they should not have seen. Although the Church of the God of War has tried to block the news, there are still some rumors spreading. The evidence is that the Great Cathedral of the God of War in Oldenheim suddenly held a closed-door meeting and closed the outer cloister on the open day … "
"Closing the outer cloister on the open day, and after these incidents …" Veronica suddenly narrowed her eyes. "This … is really unusual."
"So, I want to hear what experts like you have to say." Gwen looked at Veronica and Kamel. "Especially your opinion, Veronica. You should have some understanding of the operation of the church in modern society."
"Judging from the worst possibility, the priests who died mysteriously were all killed by 'God's Punishment' or similar divine power. Their deaths must be signs of blasphemy and contamination, and it will cause uncontrollable secondary contamination. Therefore, the churches all over the country block the news." Veronica immediately expressed her opinion. "There are usually only two reasons for the priests to be killed by 'God's Punishment' or divine power. Either they deliberately did something rebellious and did not have effective protection, or some powerful force interfered with the basis of their faith, causing them to lose the favor of God. Priests who are controlled by powerful evil spirits often end up like this."
She paused and then added, "But both of these are unlikely. First of all, the Church of the God of War in Typhon is stable and has a strong foundation of faith. It is impossible for several priests in different areas to betray God in such a short period of time. Second … the evil spirits that can control the minds of the priests are afraid of the power of the holy objects. They will only cause trouble in the wilderness, but those priests died in the church."
Gwen nodded and then suddenly said, "By the way, there is a detail. According to Daniel, the priests who died seemed to have died when they were praying alone."
Veronica's face suddenly changed. "When they were praying alone?"
"Yes." Gwen replied with a serious expression.
"Then … I am afraid it is the third possibility." Kamel, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. "It is also the possibility that we are most worried about …"
Veronica held the platinum scepter tightly, closed her eyes slightly, and said what Kamel wanted to say. "Something happened to the God of War."
"It is too early to make such a conclusion, but we have to be vigilant." Gwen's expression was unprecedentedly serious. "We don't need to warn Typhon. If the Augustus Family is not stupid, they should have noticed something is wrong. They have been cursed by God, so they are vigilant in this regard. The key is that we have to be prepared.
"The belief in the God of War within Cecil's borders isn't strong. Although there is a certain number of believers, there aren't any powerful churches or High Priests. Furthermore, they've been remodeled by the government office, so it's relatively easy to supervise them. Leave this matter to Hu Po. Pay attention to the movements of the High Priests of War within the country.
"In addition to monitoring the priests, we also have to pay attention to the situation of the believers. Although the news from Typhon is currently focused on the priests who died mysteriously, it is difficult to say whether the believers will be affected or not. I'll leave it to you, Heidi.
"Kamel, your and Jenny's research on the siren runes has been fruitful. The mind protection system has been tested in actual combat, and now it is time for it to continue to work. We need more, more effective mind protection systems, at least to meet the needs of all the troops. Many soldiers believe in the God of War, and there is no lack of devout believers. We have to prevent this from happening … "
Gwen finished his arrangements one by one. After that, he began to think, wondering if he had missed anything. And at this moment, the magic network terminal on the side of his desk suddenly lit up, buzzing and clicking. Then, a figure with long white hair to her ankles appeared out of thin air in the room.
"Naretil?" Amber looked at the figure that appeared out of thin air, a little surprised. "When did you get here?"
Naretil immediately shook her head. "I didn't eavesdrop …"
"Ah, I was the one who asked her to come, but she was invisible. I almost forgot about it." Gawain patted his forehead gently and looked at the former god in front of him. "Nareltyr, what do you want to say?"
"That rune can be placed in the neural network." Naretil nodded and said with a serious face. "I remember it is very useful. When I wanted to enter the real world, I was blocked by it for a long time …"
The words of the "former god", who was now coexisting with the network, suddenly made Gwen's eyes light up. As a satellite spirit from Earth, he had not thought of this!
Of course, the main reason why his eyes lit up was not because he was suddenly enlightened, but because Kamel really lit up.
"This is a very good idea! The magic network is connected to all terminals, and the main effect of the mind protection system is actually those runes. If we can broadcast a specific set of runes throughout the Empire, even if it can't stop the direct invasion of the gods, we can also prevent the most affected priests and believers from being mentally contaminated. "Kamel's voice had a hint of excitement. It was the burst of joy after a researcher found a new use in the field of technology." If the 'mad god' really does appear, as long as we can keep our sanity in the first wave of attack, the biggest crisis will be over! "
"But the premise for this idea to work is that the entire Empire has been connected to the network." Heti, who had been silent all this while, said something to calm everyone down. "Now the neural network is still limited to the south. The main hubs in other areas are not online, and there is only one line in each place. That line can't withstand the pressure of broadcasting across the Empire."
"… Then we can only hope that what happened to Typhon is just an early sign … I hope our network can be completed sooner." Veronica lowered her eyelids slightly and said slowly in a soft and reassuring tone. "Relax, we are just preparing for the worst, and we do have a lot of effective means."
At this time, Hu Po could not help but sigh. "Sigh … At this time, the ones I'm most worried about are the Tiphons … I admit that Rosetta Augustus is a genius, but how prepared she is is completely unknown … The Tiphons don't have a neural network, and they don't have any mind protection technology. If they blow up on their side, I'm afraid it will affect our side as well …"
"But whether we warn or help Typhon, we have to first explain the source of the information …" Heti shook her head helplessly. "I really didn't expect that we would have to worry about them."
"This is what I said a long time ago. In the face of certain disasters, mortals do not care about national boundaries. Natural disasters do not care about nationality and race, and do not care about your ideas and beliefs. In the face of the tide, mortals are a community." Gwen glanced at Heti, pondering as he spoke. Then he said thoughtfully, "We still have to find a way to remind them … but it needs to be more roundabout …"
…
The cold wind blew through the frequency shield above Tarlonde, but under the cold wind, the Giant Dragon Kingdom was still as warm as spring.
The City on the Peak, Agundor, Tarlonde Council Headquarters, the internal medical center. In the Giant Dragon form, Melita Pânia slowly opened her eyes.
She was on a circular mechanical platform, and bright lights shone from above, making it as bright as day. A large number of mechanical arms and observation probes around the platform were still busy, carrying out the final finishing work. As the Giant Dragon receiving treatment in the center of the platform opened her eyes, these busy machines also completed their tasks one by one and began to quietly retreat.
A figure in a white dress walked out from the shadows not far from the platform and walked slowly to Melita. She looked up and said casually, "You are awake? We have cured your disease of 'three hearts exploding when you are out in the field' … "
"Don't make such a sad joke in front of a heart-broken dragon," Melita mumbled weakly, her voice rumbling. "Ahhh … I feel a headache, and my whole body is cold …"
Noretta shrugged. "It's the aftereffect of overusing the 'giant wave' booster. But don't worry, I have injected you with the 'gray' booster. It should take effect in a few minutes."
"Sigh … overdose of boosters, use boosters to treat it, then overdose of boosters, use overdose of boosters to treat it …" Melita could not help but mutter, "I feel like I don't have much blood left in my veins, other than the Symbiote's engine oil, it's the boosters …"
"Something like that. When you were sent here, your blood system was seriously contaminated. One of the three exploded hearts had a pressure coupling reaction and leaked a lot of toxic substances. We had to change all the blood in your body. For safety reasons, when we transfused the new blood back to you, we only transfused a little bit of the blood above the safety line to prevent your three new hearts from breaking down due to the pressure …"
Melita listened to her friend's words in a daze. Suddenly, she slammed her head on the platform and muttered dejectedly, "I might as well just die …"
"Don't complain. Do you know how much effort it took to fix your body parts?" Noretta immediately glared at Melita. "The cost of the replacement alone is equivalent to your salary for a whole year!!"
Without a doubt, this sentence immediately caused a terrible blow to the depressed Miss Blue Dragon. When the word 'salary' entered her ears, Melita felt that her newly replaced heart was on the verge of exploding again. Her voice trembled. "May … May I ask … this replacement, how much money will be deducted from me …"
Noretta raised her eyelids and looked at her friend. She deliberately kept quiet for a few seconds as if she was enjoying Melita's confused and panicked expression. She waited until Melita was about to spit at her before she said slowly, "Don't worry. You don't have to pay for it. Not only that, you should also have a small allowance. It's not a lot, but it should be enough for you to replenish the booster consumed in this mission and still have some left. "
At this moment, Melita seemed to be unable to believe her ears. "… Huh?! You're not lying to me, right? All … all reimbursed? There's even an extra allowance? Why? "
"The higher-ups of the council think that the loss of your mission is special. First of all, it's an act of force majeure. Second, it also brings some special … benefits to Tarlonde," Noretta explained. "In short, your conversation with Gwen Cecil has brought us something that we've been waiting for. So the council has decided to give you an extra allowance.
"In addition, this allowance is not a one-time thing. If you suffer losses due to similar missions in the future, there will still be full reimbursement and additional allowance …"
For a moment, Melita felt like she was living in a dream. She tried to resist the temptation of money, but the next second, she showed the true colors of the Giant Dragon and lowered her head to life. She was somewhat expectant, but inevitably, she asked with some hesitation, "What about the name of the allowance? Which category should I go to check my income? "
Noretta thought for a moment and said casually, "Since this cost was incurred after your conversation with Gwen Cecil, Speaker Andal has specially added a new category for you to claim — phone bill."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
