Hearing the Tomb Guardian’s answer, Duncan was silent for a long ti—the response was so astonishing that, sohow, he felt as if he had expected it to so extent.
"... The ’Creators’ you keep ntioning, are they the Crawling King, or perhaps... The Saint?"
"We usually call him ’Pilot One’," the Tomb Guardian slowly lowered his head, "or the Cluster Controller—but we also know the nas Crawling King and The Saint, which were ntioned in the intelligence sent back by the Doomsday Survey Team from a certain ti point."
The tall Tomb Guardian paused for a few seconds, then as if talking to himself, he softly continued, "We also haven’t received any ssages from the Creator for a long ti."
Duncan did not respond; his mind teed with ssy thoughts. After briefly pondering, he looked up at the body on the throne. "So, ’Pilot One’ collected parts of the Dreaming King’s remains during the third long night and then used his special ’Replication’ authority to design the Crit Clans based on the Dreaming King as his assistants... Were the entire Crit Clans ’created’ this way, including those Doomsday Survey Teams?"
"Of course," the Tomb Guardian replied calmly, "The world was still very chaotic back then. The Creator briefly released so mortals into the yet unford Shelter, only to find they could not survive, much less be greatly useful. Thus, he had to seek help from beings as powerful as himself—Saslouka, who had died in the previous Creation, was the most suitable choice."
Duncan quietly listened to the Tomb Guardian’s narrative, but his expression grew increasingly complex. He suddenly realized that if one were to follow this logic... wouldn’t that imply all Doomsday Preachers could essentially be considered Saslouka’s ’progeny’?!
This bizarre and shocking thought flashed through his mind. Duncan was stunned briefly, then irresistibly drawn to another matter—
The crazed Preachers beca excited and fanatical upon seeing Holoss, even addressing it as the ’Ark of Promise.’ The main reason, of course, was because Holoss had entered the Subspace and returned intact, but could it also be... related to today’s Holoss actually being built upon the ’ancient spine’ of Saslouka?!
The insanity and fervor of those Doomsday Preachers, could it actually be so kind of stress reaction after the ’progeny’ ca close to the ’ancient god’?!
These startling thoughts beca hard to suppress once they arose. Duncan’s mind stretched far before his attention gradually refocused, landing back on the throne and the headless body before him.
He recalled a sentence the Tomb Guardian had said to him before entering the Tomb.
"You said his ti is running out... are you referring to this body’s ti running out?"
"He has watched over this place for a long ti, but the maintenance systems here cannot operate indefinitely," the Tomb Guardian said in a deep voice, "The ancient systems left behind by the Creator are gradually failing; they have been in service for far too long... This throne was once the starting point for one thousand two hundred observation stations, maintaining the ’existence’ of all Crits, but now it has beco the last observation station, and the operation of the throne is about to reach its end."
Duncan suddenly frowned, "... What will happen when the throne stops operating?"
The Tomb Guardian was silent for a mont, then slowly stated, "It ans that the first pillar system left by the Creator has completely collapsed—after that, the fourth long night will begin."
The fourth long night!
Duncan’s expression shifted slightly—after so many scattered and trivial clues, he finally received such accurate intelligence for the first ti, identifying the distinctive mont when the "fourth long night" would occur!
And the Tomb Guardian had just ntioned that the ancient systems left by the Creator were "all" failing. The collapse of the throne was obviously only one of them, and without a doubt, anomaly 001-Sun was another system nearing its limit... This matched the situation currently known!
Duncan’s brows furrowed deeply, thoughts swirling in his heart—
Logically, when the first "collapse" occurs among a series of interconnected complex systems, a chain reaction will certainly follow. In other words, when the throne here stops operating, the malfunction and complete shutdown of the sun will also accelerate...
Every opening of the long night starts with a major collapse of the previous long night. The third long night was no exception; the collapse of the throne, the operation of the ’Tomb of the Naless King’ as the last Crit observation station stopping, the sun will collapse more quickly in the subsequent series of malfunctions, until it permanently extinguishes, plunging the entire world into darkness...
Clearly, this Tomb Guardian knew a lot, so even beyond the era he lived in, beyond the current flow of ti. These pieces of intelligence... perhaps ca from those Doomsday Survey Teams that had set out long ago, monitoring the entire Shelter in the flow of ti...
Thinking of the ’Tomb Guardian’ who had brought him here, Duncan’s thoughts once again spread out:
This ’Tomb Guardian’, and the tomb he guarded, had existed in this chaotic interstice for ten thousand years. From what Fenna had revealed, the ’Tomb of the Naless King’ seed never to have engaged in such rational, direct dialogue with the outside world before. In the eyes of the world, this tomb was a chaotic and dangerous ’anomaly 004’, but now it seed that the Tomb Guardian and everything inside the tomb were quite ’normal’...
Duncan’s thoughts suddenly stopped; he turned his head thoughtfully toward the tall Tomb Guardian standing beside him.
... Really normal?
Could it be like those "indescribable" entities he had encountered before, that only he could understand and see everything before his eyes? And for those other "listeners" who had been drawn into the Tomb, did the Tomb Guardian and this ancient square at the end of the corridor appear entirely different to them?
Duncan recalled a eting not long ago where Rune had proposed the "cognitive displacent model". After pondering for a mont, he couldn’t help but ask, "Do the others entering the Tomb see the sa things I do?"
"I will try to obscure their senses and cleanse the harmful parts from their mories before they leave—mortals should not see too much, as it is harmful for them."
Duncan slowly nodded.
The Tomb Guardian’s answer didn’t entirely et his expectations, but it did sidewise confirm his suspicion.
The world he saw was not the sa as what ordinary people saw, and the more it involved "anomalies" and "visions", the more pronounced this "displacent effect" was.
Duncan sighed softly, setting these complicated issues aside for a mont. After a brief silence, he suddenly asked, "How much longer?"
The Tomb Guardian turned his head, "Hmm?"
Duncan looked up, pointing to the dark, towering throne, "I an, how much longer can this throne last?"
"Uncertain, I’m just a keeper, and the scholars who understood this complex system have been gone for a long ti. The only answer I can give you is... soon."
"What will happen to this body after the throne stops functioning?"
This ti, the Tomb Guardian didn’t respond, rely shaking his head silently.
Duncan did not press further; he and the Tomb Guardian stood together in silence, enveloped by the dusk’s Sky Light shining upon the ruins, for what seed an indefinite amount of ti, until Duncan suddenly asked, "I heard the sound of a bell... is it because this place is nearing its limit? Are you calling here on purpose?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Duncan turned his head, his expression puzzled and grave, "What do you want to do?"
To his surprise, the Tomb Guardian shook his head, "I don’t know."
"You don’t know?"
"I’m just a keeper. Those who knew everything, who understood everything, have been gone for a long ti," the Tomb Guardian looked into Duncan’s eyes, slowly beginning, "But I still rember one thing... just one thing."
He turned around, gazes drifting toward the vast ruins in the distance, toward those fleeting shadows that occasionally erged from the edges of the square, hastily moving through various doors, darting through tilines, and softly began,
"At the mont they set out, a ssage ca from the farthest, most improbable boundary of ti, arriving here almost instantly—a Doomsday Surveyor who claid to have reached the endpoint sent a sentence—"
"He said, ’Dusk has arrived, the Usurping Fla has ignited this world.’"
Duncan remained silent, all emotions hidden deep within his reflective gaze, leaving no one knowing what he was thinking at that mont.
But the Tomb Guardian did not seem to care; he just continued calmly, "I don’t know what thoughts you might have after seeing all here, nor do I know what you might do one day in the future, nor do I know how today’s disclosure might influence so future action, so decision of yours.
"My duty is only to guard this station and to activate it periodically according to ancient protocols, allowing limited data interaction with the outside world... We are a race carefully designed and created, each of us existing solely to perform limited, necessary tasks, and strictly speaking, bringing you here is not within my duties.
"But those responsible for assigning tasks are no longer here, nor have there been ssages from the creators for a long ti. I felt that I, at least, should... do sothing."
"...I understand," Duncan sighed lightly, his expression unknowingly relaxed. He then looked towards the Tomb Guardian, nodding slowly and sincerely, "Thank you for telling so much. To know these things happened is already a great gain for ."
"That is good."
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