It had been three days since the second batch of deep space probes were launched into space. As we did not know what the Deity forge looked like, nor did we know if it was a conspicuous space entity, these probes, like the first batch of probes, were searching the universe at a low speed. Even so, the "low speed" mode was only for the Schilling technology. After three days, even the closest probe had almost reached the edge of the galaxy, which was about 170,000 light years away from here.
The meticulous search by the low-speed probes had finally yielded results. In an unusually desolate and empty place at the edge of the galaxy, they had found traces of a man-made energy source. The "level" of this energy source was quite high. Although it was not psionic energy, it was definitely some kind of extraordinary power that was on par with psionic energy. If the Deity forge was really related to the sealed state of this universe, then this energy source was very likely to be the Deity forge. Anyway, we had not found a man-made energy source of a higher level for the time being.
It seemed that Celine would need another one or two days to get permission to see the pope (if the heretical incident had really reached the level where the pope would personally intervene). Then, Sandora and I would have the opportunity to go to the edge of the galaxy to check out the situation. Anyway, with the teleportation technology, we could run around in the universe in the blink of an eye.
Before I left, I randomly made up an excuse. For example, Sandora Ball had accidentally dazzled her eyes when she compared the brightness of the sun yesterday. Today, I wanted to find a secluded place to recuperate or something. I might have to spend the whole day in the forest. In the end, Celine did not suspect us at all for reporting the heretics. She only reminded us not to spend the night in the forest and continued to weigh the junk that a group of adventurers had picked up.
We first teleported to the Admiral Empire, mainly to check on the situation of the technological revivalists and to see if the consciousness of the two special patients had fully recovered.
This space castle, which was hundreds of kilometers long, had now ushered in the most desolate period of its history. Apart from the visitors, there were only a large number of autonomous robots on the spaceship. It was empty and quiet like a ghost town. The technological revivalists who were captured and brought here woke up in the prison camp to face such a cold, silent, eerie and uninhabited empty world. Although they were living in a prison cell, everyone knew about the Empire's spatial expansion technology. Not to mention that we might need to release all sorts of strange species into the prison, so the Empire's prison wardens never refused to expand the space in the prison cells. Even the ordinary isolation area made of superalloy was as large as a small town. Every "guest" was given a separate room, and if they were on opposite ends of the room, the distance between them would be so far that they would need to signal each other (that is, if they could see each other through the cell's alloy walls) … As expected, I still felt that that idiot Alaya didn't use his brain when he allocated the rooms.
My spirit was shattered by the "Calamity", and I was brought to an unfamiliar place in a daze. When I woke up, I was surrounded by a cold world of superalloys. There was no one to explain to me, no one to talk to, and my companions were nowhere to be found. I was alone in a metal box that seemed to have been built by giants. Other than the food that appeared in the food trough at a fixed time every day, there were only monster-like robots (actually, I think the autonomous robots are quite cute) that would occasionally appear before me and crudely instruct me on how to use the various facilities in the cell. This experience was definitely stressful. So when Sandora and I appeared in front of the "leader" again, she was curled up in a corner. Her panicked expression made it impossible to tell that she was a slightly heroic female leader just a few days ago.
Looking at her panicked expression, I felt a little apologetic. For the past two days, Sandora and I were busy communicating with the probes or studying the information we got from Celine, and we barely paid attention to the situation on the Empire Admiral. Although we didn't forget that there were people locked up here, it was almost as if we had forgotten about it. This was the downside of not having enough manpower. Usually, the Empire Admiral had a population of hundreds of millions. Even the unlucky ones who were thrown into the prison camp would be able to interact with other people. It was unlikely that they would be thrown into a corner by a bunch of machines and ignored for a few days. But now, there were only two Shiring Apostles in the entire universe, Sandora and I. At most, if we included the silly cat angel who was not very smart, and the little doll who slept in the spiritual world all day long, the two of us could barely be counted as half of the Empire Admiral. There was simply too much manpower. Also, Sandora and I were not used to personally taking care of such trivial matters. Not to mention that I was careless, when had Her Majesty the Queen ever personally taken care of the prisoners?
From the entrance of the prison cell, I almost "walked" to the female leader. While I was thinking if I should order a redesign of the Class II prison cells, I greeted her. "Yo, we are here to see you. It seems that the aftereffects of the 'Terror' have been completely eliminated?"
The female leader raised her head to look at me and Sandora. Her first reaction was … no reaction. She blinked hard and rubbed her eyes for a long time before she finally confirmed that she was not hallucinating. Then, she suddenly jumped up. "Ah! A living person! "
Me: "…"
I suddenly felt that my previous apology was a complete waste of emotions. What should I do?!
"Nonsense, of course it is a living person!" I did not say anything. Instead, it was Sandora who spoke first. "The aftereffects of the 'Terror' are not that serious. You should be able to recognize our faces by now."
The female leader pinched her arm and quickly looked around at the cold alloy walls around her. Then, she looked at me in disbelief. "You brought me here?! Where is this place? You … Who are you!? "
Then, she suddenly took half a step back and subconsciously put on a defensive posture. "Are you a heretic? Which ancient palace is this? "
"Sometimes, I admire your imagination. But sometimes, your imagination is really annoying," Sandora Ball said in dissatisfaction. "You and your subordinates were indeed locked up by us. However, we have nothing to do with the Lost Church. This time, we are not here to continue the interrogation. We are just here to check on the situation here to prevent you from scaring yourselves. Are you living well here? "
The female leader looked at Sandora Ball in my arms in astonishment. She might have finally recalled the horrifying moment that she did not want to recall. Then, as her mind wavered, she said something especially suicidal from the bottom of her heart, "Is there a loudspeaker in this ball of light? Is it your communication device? Are you in charge of moving the stereo? Why is this woman not willing to show herself? "
"Sandora, calm down! Impulsiveness is the devil! "I quickly hugged Wifeball in my arms tightly." If you die, you will have to revive! "
In the end, I was worried for nothing. Sandora didn't seem to take it to heart at all. "I am the Queen. Is there a need to be serious with her?"
"Err, alright." I smirked at the female leader. "Congratulations on your escape. Our identities are rather complicated. You probably won't be able to understand it. As for this place … I can only say that it is a prison. However, it won't lock you up for too long. Right now, because I want to obtain some information from you, I have temporarily locked you up here. Let me explain … "
After that, I told the female leader about her current situation. Since there was no need to mention the Xiling Empire at this moment, I simply told her that Sandora and I came from an advanced civilization far away. In any case, it was as advanced as it could get. Our power level would be infinitely higher depending on the plot. In any case, that wasn't the main point. The main point was that the Lost Church currently had countless hot-blooded combat nuns and combat monks wandering around with particle rifles and pulse cannons. They were currently searching the entire world for these "heretics" of the technological revival faction and were prepared to kill them first before questioning them later. If the female leader and her subordinates were to be handed over to them, they would definitely kill everyone from the leaders down to the Wang Cai Qiang. Thus, it seemed that staying in this prison had temporarily saved the lives of many people here.
I believed that the extreme conflict between the Church and the technological revival faction wouldn't last for too long. If I and Sandora could figure out why the Tree Elves wanted to seal off technology and solve this problem, the conflict between the technological revival faction and the Church would disappear. All that would remain would be purely criminal cases that weren't based on a conflict of faith. This was one of the reasons why we spent so much effort to protect the technological revival faction. Their motivation for reviving technology was completely good. Even though many of them were extremists, the remaining half of them were only scientists and scholars. I really didn't want to watch these pure and hot-blooded fellows fall on the first night of the technological revival.
Oh, the first night wasn't artistic enough. It should be said that the last night before dawn … seemed even less artistic?
"That's the situation." I explained the situation on the surface in simple terms. "In any case, you will be safer here. Most of the people in the technological revival faction haven't committed any crimes. There's no need for them to rush to die in the last few days of a religious vendetta. That's why I 'protected' all of you here. Of course, you should also know that many of your subordinates are … Hehe, let's just treat it as them dying here for a while. To be honest, all of you make me feel very conflicted. Your revival activities make Sandora and I happy from the bottom of our hearts. This means that there's hope for a civilization. However, why are there so many people among you slowly becoming terrorists? The same as terrorists? "
The female leader still didn't seem to be able to accept the concept of 'visitors from the heavens.' Thus, she listened to Sandora and I explain the situation in a daze. She didn't even know where to start. It was only when I changed the topic to the technological revival faction that she revealed a strange expression. Her words seemed to contain some emotions. "Any organization of a certain scale is unable to remain pure. No matter how high their ideals are, they can't stop the corruption of individuals. Furthermore, if you have come into contact with the Church of the Fallen Gods, you should know how strict they are in sealing off knowledge. Under such a high-pressure environment … Even people can change their hearts. It's inevitable for extremists to mix in such a large organization. Speaking of which, are you really from … "
"Don't dwell on this. You'll get the same answer no matter how many times you ask." I waved my hand at her. The female leader's face was filled with dense suspicion. Ordinary people were always suspicious of each other. It was even more impossible for me to dispel the mental barrier in the heart of such a 'heroine' with just a few words. I couldn't possibly use the 'Terror Calamity' to torture her again. Thus, I didn't intend to tell her too many things that challenged her worldview. "In any case, we intend to solve the problem of this world's technological blockade. Now that you've recovered, can you tell us what's going on with this technological blockade? Your technological revival faction has been dealing with the Church of the Fallen Gods for so many years. You should at least know some of their secrets. "
There was a reason why I had delayed asking this question until today. A few days ago, when Sandora had used the 'Terror Calamity' to break down the female leader's psychological defenses, we had indeed asked her about this matter. However, although the soul under the influence of the 'Terror Calamity' was defenseless, it was also in an overly repressed state. This state caused the female leader to only be able to honestly answer the questions based on her own memories. She had almost no ability to use her brain to think for herself. Thus, the information that we had heard from the female leader regarding the technological blockade was very one-sided. Now that she had recovered her sanity, I wanted to hear what an 'experienced' leader of the resistance faction had to say about this problem.
This kind of speculation might bring us closer to the truth. Furthermore, we were about to come into contact with the Pope of the Church of the Fallen Gods. Knowing more about the situation would also help us find a breakthrough point in our negotiations. After all, neither Sandora nor I intended to use violence to force the Pope of the Church of the Fallen Gods to submit.
"The teachings of the Church of the Fallen Gods are very clear. Mortals abused their technology and brought about the end of the world. Thus, the Gods were enraged and sealed off all knowledge. Now, mortals need to 'atone for their sins,' and the progress of atonement is decided by the Church of the Fallen Gods. So, it is only logical for them to control all knowledge." The female leader pondered for a moment and felt that this question didn't involve her organization's secrets (actually, she had revealed quite a lot of secrets under the influence of the 'Terror Calamity' a few days ago). So, she boldly opened her mouth. "The Church of the Fallen Gods has controlled all knowledge for tens of thousands of years. The elves are the core of this religion. They have enough lifespans to complete such a long-term project. Ordinary races don't live as long as they do. Thus, generations after generations of people grow old and die of illness. Slowly, they begin to view the Church of the Fallen Gods as something that is only natural … Tsk."
"It seems that you don't believe in the teachings of the Church of the Fallen Gods." I sat at the table opposite the female leader and turned on the holographic projection system installed on the table. A bird's eye view of the planet appeared. "This is your planet. Actually, we have been conducting some 'inspections' recently. The main purpose is to determine if your planet has been destroyed by the flames of war. At first, we also believed in the legends of the Church of the Fallen Gods. We thought that a high-tech war had broken out on this planet. This war caused the survivors to seal off their technology. However, after scanning 2,300 detection points, we finally determined that this planet has not encountered any global disasters in the past 200,000 years. You know what this means. "
The female leader looked at the projection in front of her in amazement. Her focus was completely off topic. "Ah! What is this?! Is this your display device? This … Is this technology or magic? This is godly! This beautiful little ball is our world? As expected, the earth model mentioned in the ancient records is correct. The world is a ball. This is really … No matter how much evidence we have to prove this, we have never seen the full picture of our own world! "
This is really sad. The space station that you built tens of thousands of years ago is still hanging in the sky. Now, the people on the surface have almost forgotten that the earth is a ball.
I knocked on the table and gestured for the female leader, who had climbed onto the table, to quickly get down. At the very least, she shouldn't squat on the table. "If there is a chance in the future, I will let you slowly study the holographic projection. For now, let's get down to business, alright, big sister?"
"Oh, oh. Sorry, I lost my composure. I am very interested in these new and interesting things …" The female leader jumped down awkwardly. "What did you say just now? Oh, right. You said that our world didn't have a … disaster back then? "
At this moment, she finally realized how much information I had just said. Horror instantly appeared on the female leader's face.
Obviously, even the technological revivalists believed in the legends of the ancient war. On this point, they had never doubted the Lost God Religion. But now, even this last common understanding was about to be broken.
"That's right. There are no traces of a world-class man-made disaster on this planet. There are no large-scale civil wars and there are no signs of external attacks. There isn't even a single crater that can destroy a city." My expression was very serious. "In other words, your ancient technology wasn't destroyed because of violence or sabotage. Instead … it mysteriously disappeared overnight. After that, you began to live the lives of primitive people without any doubts or reason. Do you understand this?"
"The Lost God Religion can't do such a thing!" The female leader immediately exclaimed. "They … They are also the victims of the technological blockade. Many of our spies have infiltrated the upper echelons of the Lost God Religion. We can confirm that no matter how advanced the technology of those cultists is, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the ancient civilization. How could they possibly … erase such a powerful civilization from back then without a sound?"
"It is hard to say whether it was erased or not, but it is certain that the ancient people of tens of thousands of years ago gave up on technology of their own accord in a situation of world peace." I wagged my finger. "At the same time, it was as though the entire world had agreed to retreat from the advanced cities. They turned off their reaction furnaces and locked the gates of their bases. Then, they began to live in the wilderness with men farming and women weaving. Of course, we haven't found any convincing documents yet. We can only deduce the situation of the civilization from some scanned ruins and the entire planet's geological remote sensing map. "
We just learned about this situation yesterday, and the process of our discovery was quite dramatic. Neither Sandora nor I expected that there would be other hidden reasons for the civilization's discontinuity on this planet. However, a newly assembled probe did a "multi-subject scan" on this planet for testing purposes. In the end, it revealed a shocking secret: all the ancient ruins on the planet were abandoned at the same time, and there were no signs of war!
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