The believers of the Goddess of Life that Liliana had gathered from the various shrines in the Empire had begun to work, rescuing the wounded and treating those who had contracted fatal diseases due to radiation and high heat. This should be able to minimize the losses after the war. In this small village where the wounded and sick were being treated, another kind of busy craze was set off: the miraculous divine spells that the believers of the Goddess of Life performed through prayer amazed everyone, and this miraculous power was something that most of the regular soldiers of the resistance organization had never seen before. Of course, among the slave races under Melroy's name, there were civilizations that could use magic, but the slaves on this planet were completely isolated, and they had actually seen very little. So, the medical treatment of the believers of the Goddess of Life also played an unexpected role: the miraculous "magic show" greatly alleviated the pain of the wounded, and also allowed the children who were frightened by the war to finally show a little smile. After noticing this phenomenon, several female knights of the Church who had finished treating the wounded were more than happy to start a 'performance', using mystical divine arts and healing magic to attract all the children in the village. At least this way, the children could temporarily forget about the devastation of their homes.
Anurili and the resistance organization warriors around her were amazed. They watched as the saints, who were wearing luxurious church robes or armor and shrouded in divine light, sat on the dirt without a care in the world, called the dirty children to their side, and showed them all kinds of interesting tricks. They watched as the disciples, who were said to be the servants of the true god, who should have been enjoying the worship of mortals in the shrines, ran among the wounded, rolling up their sleeves and sweating profusely to save others. They watched as a holy girl wearing a crown of flowers and a white divine robe, who was respectfully called the Saintess, was smeared with blood by the children, but smiled and congratulated the children's mother, telling her that her children had recovered — compared to the moment when the mask of the false god Melroy was removed, this unimaginable scene before them was even more unbelievable. Anurili revealed a doubtful expression towards me, because just now, I had told this girl that these worshippers who were descending on the Aurora Light were the followers of a true God. What they were following was the God that the Melovans had once dreamed of becoming.
Obviously, these people were very different from the saints in the hearts of the local civilians.
"Don't be surprised. The word 'God' shouldn't have a negative meaning in the first place. It's just that the Melovans ruined the name in front of you." I smiled as I looked at the tiny Goddess who was curled up into a ball in my palm, hugging my thumb and using it as a blanket. Jingle was sleeping soundly and talking in her sleep in a daze. "There are many Gods and they manage the endless world. They create the world and life, so they view the world and mortals as their own children. They did not care if the mortals worshipped them, nor did they care if the mortals built temples for them. They did not even care if the lives they created were aware of the existence of the gods. If it could help the children's development, they did not even mind the mortals preaching atheism at a certain stage, and then hide in the sidelines and watch them develop. The gods I know are such strange fellows. Even though many of them have strange personalities, when it comes to dealing with mortals, they tolerate many things like the worst of naughty children. The Melovans think that the gods are a kind of power and the status that goes with this power. But in reality, the gods are a position and the responsibilities that go along with this position. They got this point wrong, so they sit on the wealth of the Empire and have a higher starting point than any other race. But for tens of thousands of years, they have been stuck in the dead end of their self-aggrandizement, unable to get out. "
Anurili listened to me with a surprised expression. She would probably need a long time to fully understand what I had just said. Right now, she only asked one question out of curiosity, "Then … is this the truth of the world?"
"More or less, a small part of it." I laughed. "There are many things that you don't know. You'll know them all after you officially interact with the Empire for a while. As for the truth of the world … perhaps the world has a more sinister side than you think, but life is definitely much better than you think. Actually, did you know that the Empire is also a branch of the Protoss … "
Anu Lili and the two resistance warriors who had been eavesdropping on me were instantly stunned. "Huh?"
I felt especially awkward as I scratched my head. "Cough, cough … I know I don't look like one, but didn't you notice that apart from me, the rest of us are pretty … at least, the army we brought is pretty imposing?"
I wanted to say the rest of us, but then I thought about it. Just the existence of Shallow Shallow and Liliana was enough to destroy everyone's average impression, so I hurriedly changed my words.
Anu Lili continued to maintain her dumbfounded state, as if she didn't even pay attention to what I was saying. At this moment, I felt really conflicted. How should I introduce them? Should I really be like Liliana back in the day, greeting everyone she saw, "Hello, this is the Crow God, this is the Crow God's second uncle, this is the Crow God's great-uncle …" I felt that if I really introduced them like that, I would really lose all my image …
Maybe I should go to Icetis and learn from her when I have the time, to understand how the Gods in the Star Domain interact with mortals, to be dignified and cute at the same time …
"Alright, this topic isn't important. Anyway, our branch of gods hasn't opened yet." I curled my lips and ended the somewhat strange topic in front of me. I saw that the believers of the Church of Life around me had already completed most of the treatment work. The Divine Power of Life was practically a bug when it came to healing and saving people. Apart from believing in Brother Spring and directly worshiping Jingle, it was really hard to find a more effective healing spell. "These believers are just a small part of it. There are still more believers waiting in line in front of the teleportation gate to save trillions of wounded and sick people from thirteen worlds. This is a huge project. Ah, there's also the follow-up problems of genetic adjustments and nerve agent sequelae … Anyway, now that the Mellowans are finished, I guess I'll have to get the shamans, druids, interstellar medics and the like to help. You guys still have work to do, so I hope you can be in charge of the rescue work. Let the other slave races worry about the rescue personnel of their own independent organizations. "
I thought about it. There were a lot of things to prepare for in the future. Supporting the indigenous civilizations of these worlds after the war was just the simplest step of everything. Now that the war was over, many related matters could be reassured to be handled by our servant army, and the tree elves should be the most suitable candidates. There was no one better at this kind of work than them. What the Imperial Army and the administration had to worry about was mainly the problem of the additional dozen or so directly governed worlds. Thanks to the Mellowans' long-term construction, the Empire had an additional thirteen directly governed universes with basic infrastructure at once. This was a huge victory, and I felt that it was as big a surprise as the batch of royal starships that I unexpectedly obtained. Now, these thirteen worlds must be incorporated into the territory of the Empire, or else it would not be the style of the Empire. Next, we had to use the Garden of Separation to "pull" these worlds into the Empire's territory. As for what coordinates to give them, whether they were to be treated as inland areas or remote areas, that would be left to the guys in the military to worry about.
Apart from the issue of how to organize the worlds, there was also the question of how to incorporate the indigenous people who had a certain amount of combat power and civilization potential, and whether they should be incorporated into the servant army. There were so many races, and their situations were all different. Some of them had a strong psychological resistance to continuing to become the servant army of advanced civilizations, and Anu Lili's hesitation on this topic proved this, but there were also some civilizations that could be incorporated. During the slave rebellion, there were many rebel forces that fought together with the Imperial Army. It could almost be said that they had already "practiced" as the servant army of the Empire. So, I felt that these thirteen worlds should be able to organize a new batch of servant armies.
Then, the military headquarters would be busy again.
From this, it could be seen that truly governing a country was a rather troublesome thing. Every action you took would be followed by at least ten times the details, and every problem would more or less require your personal attention. Those who thought that the war of the Empire was just two gangs fighting each other, and thought that everything would be fine as long as they led their own teams to the end of the war and went home … could go to bed now.
I looked at the time and saw that it was getting late, so I mentioned to Anu Lili another reason why everyone had come here.
"We're here to take Turazzo away. He should still be in the shelter at the core."
Hearing this, Anu Lili's expression immediately changed. She was very smart and knew what I meant, but she also knew that she could not do anything at this time.
Turazzo was a Mellowan. More than ninety percent of the Mellowans were mortal enemies of the slave races, but the remaining few percent were the exact opposite, and Turazzo was the most special of them all. To Anu Lili and her people, Turazzo was a teacher, a protector for more than a thousand years, a benefactor that allowed their race to retain the last seed and persevere until today's dawn. Even to the other slave races who had just gained their freedom, it was the same. It was undeniable that there might be vengeful factions among the slave races who advocated for indiscriminate revenge against all Mellowans, but those who knew the true rebels knew that their living space and the weapons they obtained in battle were all secretly supported by the conservative Mellowans. These conservatives had stood with the local natives since the beginning of the Mellowans' invasion of these universes, and after being suppressed by Barrian, they had always insisted on providing assistance to the rebels to the best of their abilities.
They did not care if these Mellowans had betrayed the Xiling Empire back then.
I knew that Anu Lili was one of the people who respected Turazzo the most. Her expression also revealed her current feelings.
"Teacher … what will happen to him?" Anu Lili tried her best to make her voice sound calmer.
"He will be sent to the military court to be judged for his treason seventy thousand years ago." I sighed. "To be honest, I don't hate him personally anymore, but he committed a grave mistake against our Empire back then … According to the Empire's law, treason is punishable by death."
Anu Lili's eyes instantly widened.
"But I think that he and the other conservatives will have their sentences reduced accordingly," I thought about it and comforted her. "They are different from the radicals. The only thing they need to be responsible for is their decision to commit treason back then. And the Emperor that they had betrayed back then is still alive, and that is my sister. I know her personality now — she is a very gentle person, and she does not have much interest in revenge. Moreover, the conservatives were on the right side in this war, and they have made great contributions. So, the future of the conservatives is actually quite optimistic. "
"I don't know about what happened to Teacher back then." Anu Lili lowered her head. Her voice was not loud, but every word was spoken with force. "I just hope … that his years of atonement will not go to waste, alright?"
I flashed a smile as wide as I could and patted Anu Lili's shoulder. "Give us permission to teleport. This way, the Empire will not barge in to capture him, but walk in and bring him out. You know what I mean."
The Geocentric Sanctuary was still in its old place. This huge steel city was once a battle fortress in space, but it had been severely damaged in the war a thousand years ago. After being transformed into a geocentric sanctuary facility, it had lost the ability to leave this place. Anu Lili opened the teleportation permission for us, but she did not follow us. She probably did not want to see the scene of her teacher being captured.
Only the few of us arrived at the underground base. We followed the familiar route through the outer zone. The ring city in the inner zone was completely different from the last time we saw it.
The buildings in the city were still there, but there was no one now. Everyone in the shelter had returned to the surface. Now, it was a completely empty city. The originally busy aircrafts in the sky above the city were now all gone. The water in the grand canal surrounding the city had stopped flowing, and the only thing that welcomed us was the empty and lonely wind that blew from all directions. The last owner of the shelter probably knew that it was time to leave. Now, the city's energy system was gradually shutting down, and the lights in the ring city turned off in a clockwise manner. We looked at the city that was gradually turning dark, and it felt like a giant beast that had been struggling on its last legs for a thousand years was slowly walking towards death.
When we came to the sky above the core area, the projection equipment in the sky stopped working. Along with a deafening buzzing sound, the blue sky a few kilometers above us flickered and then disappeared. What was revealed was a grayish-black metal roof — the true appearance of this shelter, an ancient and obsolete metal wreckage.
We found Turazzo in the core zone's main control room. In fact, he was the one who brought us here.
The main control room, which was as wide as a football field, was still brightly lit. It was the only place in the shelter that hadn't had its power cut off. The once busiest area was now empty. All the operating terminals were running automatically, and the projection screens were switched to standby mode. Turazzo stood under the control tower in the center. When he heard the sound behind him, he turned around and flashed us a faint smile. His voice was calm as he said, "Please wait a moment. I still have one last thing to do."
We waited quietly by the side, watching Turazzo turn off all the equipment. Finally, he placed his hand on a metal pillar in front of the control tower and paused. "A thousand years ago, I activated the key here …"
The metal cylinder was rotated once before it was slowly pulled out. The buzzing sound of an energy frequency reduction could be heard from all directions. The lights in the main control room dimmed, replaced by an orange-red standby light. The faint vibrations that had been coming from beneath the floor finally stopped completely.
"Now, it can go off work." Turazzo turned around and raised the key in his hand. "Can I bring this with me? Just take it as a souvenir. The shelter will melt down in an hour. This is the only thing I can leave behind. "
"Of course." I nodded. "Do you have anything else to pack?"
"No. Everything here doesn't belong to us. We've occupied this place for too long. It's time for us to leave." Turazzo exhaled slowly and extended his arms in front of us. "Put the chains on me. I'm sorry for taking so long."
"Actually, you don't need that," Shallow Shallow couldn't help but mutter. "You can't run … I feel weird."
"Put it on. I'll feel better. Also, before we leave … I want to meet the people outside. "
It wasn't an unreasonable request. Even though it might cause a commotion, we nodded in agreement.
We were teleported to the surface next to Anu Lili. Behind her, there were already more than a hundred members of the Resistance. They were all the comrades she could find in this area. When we appeared in front of the crowd with Turazzo in chains, there was only silence.
Turazzo looked up at the sky of the surface world and shrugged. "It's been a long time."
"Mentor …" One of the Resistance's soldiers couldn't help but step forward. He seemed to want to do something, but Turazzo stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Go back. You still have a mission — and so do I." He raised his arm to show the shimmering chains. "This is of my own free will."
He turned around, his back facing the Resistance's soldiers. In front of him were the civilians who took up most of his vision. These former slaves looked at the shackled Mellowan in surprise. Then, many of them remembered what they had heard from the Resistance. Complicated gazes came from all directions. Some of them were friendly, but there were also angry and hostile gazes. Turazzo was oblivious to it. He looked around at the wounded civilians, and then …
He knelt down.
Slowly but firmly, the old man knelt before the slaves who had just regained their freedom. Then, he lowered his upper body, his shackled arms landing on the dust and his forehead pressed against the chains. The entire world seemed to have fallen silent at that moment.
The slaves and the Resistance's soldiers stirred. But what surprised me was that it was Pandora who came forward to help Turazzo up. She helped the old man up, her gray eyes unfocused as she looked at him. "Let's go."
The old man finally looked relieved. He smiled from the bottom of his heart as he looked at the chains in his hands. "Now, I'm finally free."
Yes, freedom. Behind us were countless slaves in rags and wounds. They had just regained their freedom. Beside us was the old man who was shackled and ready to go to the Empire's court.
He had just regained his freedom too.
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