Capítulo 1581: Chapter 1581: Prison
After the catastrophe erupted, plague and destruction rampaged everywhere, the entire Imperial District was engulfed in the monstrous tempests of annihilation. In the face of equal doomsday, all races, regardless of their strength, t their end. Forr protectors turned into butchers, and forr hos transford into demon caves. The fires of civilization gradually dimd, countless worlds were obliterated in smoke and ash—not anyone who hadn’t personally experienced that disaster could possibly imagine the horror and panic when calamity struck, even though no amount of historical data and ruins unearthed later could restore the terrifying scene of those years.
Within the tempestuous waves of doomsday, apart from a small group of lucky ones who managed to escape the Polluted Zone either by tily reaction or the Empire’s desperate rescue attempts, most races were utterly destroyed before they could even resist. Yet there were still so races trapped within the Imperial District who survived: they happened to fall within the sight of Abyss Xyrin, who hadn’t completely lost her mind, hence this group of people, whether lucky or unlucky, ended up being protected.
It’s unlikely to send these survivors out of the Imperial District now, as the border is closed, all World Gates to Far Border have ceased operating or been destroyed by local defenders during their last monts of clarity. Moreover, since pollution is completely out of control, sending more survivors out of the Imperial District would exponentially increase the chance of pollution spreading. So Abyss Xyrin did the last thing she could do: she gathered all the surviving remnants of various races and sent them to the last world within the Polluted Zone yet unaffected, then deeply ‘buried’ this world beneath the ruins of the Old Empire. Despite the disaster breaking everything, Abyss Xyrin was the most wise collective consciousness of the Empire, and during the end phase of the disaster, she had fully controlled all resources on the Spiritual Network. As a result, she successfully created sothing akin to a protective layer, isolating the entire universe, almost as if invisible in the Void—she gambled correctly, and the Abyss did not spread to this refuge.
This protective layer is the strange interference Sandora and I encountered. Facts prove that the protective layer laid out by Abyss Xyrin with her last bit of consciousness is still functioning quite well, unaffected by thousands of years of ti.
But rely setting up a protective layer is entirely insufficient; even the most stringent defenses can easily be breached from the inside, compounded by nobody knowing when the unprecedented pollution within the Imperial District will eventually dissipate (Abyss Xyrin once hoped the pollution would retreat on its own). As mortals have short lifespans, are prone to mutation, and are especially susceptible to loss of inheritance and historical distortion after extended succession, Abyss Xyrin specifically instructed the longest-living three Longevity People among the survivors before leaving: Tree Elves, White Elves, and High Elves. She asked these scarcely swayed Longevity races to find ways to control the behavior of other races, simply put: hold their breath.
And the three Elven races ultimately carried out this mission by establishing the ‘Lost God Sect’ to this day.
With the extinguishing of civilization’s fla, welcoming the technological winter, all races must remain silent; they are the last batch of young cubs carefully snowbound within deep recesses by the mother beast, so they must learn to live within the caverns, for even a re glance outside the caves invites certain death. Hence they extinguish fire sources, seal their mouths, even block their Spiritual Wisdom, then begin to furiously dig deeper into the caverns—we haven’t discovered life elsewhere in the universe, only so scattered outer space facilities. The reason is simple: through many generations of planned natural population decline, these survivors successfully reduced their total population to a level that can survive on a single planet; they abandoned the alien colonies once established and migrated back entirely to the planet they initially landed on.
‘The establishnt of the Lost God Sect went through many twists and turns, it was the final solution we settled on after attempting various thods,’ said the Lie Feng Bishop, the oldest present, now over seventy thousand years old, He was once one of the esteed commanders of the Tree Elves during the Old Empire Era. He once received Abyss Xyrin’s mission before a data terminal. Regarding the history of the Lost God Sect, no one has more of a say than he does. At this mont, the Old Master’s spirit livened up; several million years of proud tis slowly dissolved on his wrinkled old face and ultimately solidified into an expression of pride and openness, ‘The most extre solution, yet… no choice. Initially, we attempted a twenty-year union of various races, which led to inefficient governance and cumberso yet loophole-ridden oversight asures, only relying on people’s terrifying mories of the catastrophe, having them voluntarily control their behavior. Later, we tried thirty years of high-pressure autocracy, efficiency improved, and oversight asures seed tighter, but it resulted in a suppressive and unsettling social atmosphere, although each small tribe still rembered the covenant to ‘avoid touching special technology,’ they subconsciously transferred dissatisfaction to the ruling Elven Three Clans maintaining this societal order, and further attempts led to a federal system, aiming to have each race maintain its own nation, each nation’s leader acting as the Council mbers of the ‘Great Federation’ fulfilled their mission. Yet this attempt nearly triggered greater disasters—it was human nature hard to gauge; increasingly more groups researching forbidden knowledge erged for various purposes, many naively believed that as long as they were suprely cautious, there must be no risk of information leaks when researching fundantal universe knowledge. There were even dangerous signals appearing within the Elven Three Clans, especially as so of the short-lived species’ population utterly renewed, so even reaching the third generation, the younger generation underestimated warnings about catastrophes, even… Overall, in the end, the federal system also declared failure, unable to resolve inefficiency and oversight loopholes, nor improve societal order slightly.’
Lie Feng showed obvious helplessness and bitterness when speaking of the ‘Federation Era.’ Curious, I couldn’t help but ask, and another Archbishop nearby voluntarily explained: ‘Towards the end of the Federation Era, so so-called ‘Reform Organizations’ ford by the third and fourth generation young people erged. They were born and grew up in absolute safety yet believed they were experiencing the worst ‘Oppression Era.’ They only saw stories about the Abyss and major catastrophes through textbooks and footage, suffering species almost considered it the stuff of epochs so past, they lacked awe for history. These young people occupied a significant portion of the society, and due to federalization, the survivors independently developed on a racial basis, these young generation had opportunities to develop, grow even beco the ruling class within their respective Federation Nations. These Reform Organizations finally openly rebelled, claiming to ‘overthrow the corrupt dark Longevity People,’ establishing a ‘new era of free breathing,’ I still recall their slogan was… ‘the world should be saved by fourteen-year-old boys and girls’… humph, in the end, they only brought chaos, nearly triggering an apocalypse.’
‘They found a Void Engine sohow, although they didn’t know what it was, they resolutely tried to start it—because they believed this thing could open the gate to a New World. Luckily, the Federation Army shot the young leader down in the last mont,’ the Archbishop sighed, ‘a sixteen-year-old boy… many races faced total fall through a single generation.’
‘We educate, they say we brainwash; we advertise, they say we preach; we purge dia, they say we forbid breathing, so finally we decided—to do exactly as they said: completely wipe modern technology.’ Lie Feng continued the topic, ‘after several failed attempts, we realized sothing: Mortal races are fragile and ever-changing, and it’s impossible to guaranty absolute unity or eliminate personal desires, even we long-lived elves are no different. Mortal races, no matter how hard they try, could never be like the Xyrin Apostle; the Madman will forever exist, and only a few madn are enough to destroy everything. Regardless of adopting republican systems or federal systems, even imperial systems, people’s hearts couldn’t change fundantally, and even the tightest systems need execution ti, but triggering doomsday might rely require pressing a button. With the ‘doomsday cost’ so cheap, triggering doomsday so swift, relying on regulations to protect this world is impossible. Therefore, instead of exhausting efforts to constrain how people correctly use technology, allowing them to differentiate safe knowledge from forbidden knowledge, it’s better to seal everything, at least preserving the seeds of civilization forever, no matter how long deeply buried, there’s always the chance it could sprout again.’
‘We should be grateful that awakening occurred early enough, not awaiting a complete generation renewal outside the Elven Three Clans before realizing,’ said a plump bishop who hadn’t spoken throughout, smiling. He kept his eyes closed, apparently blind, ‘If delayed until then, a world war might have been necessary for transformation. Most races maintained enough reasoning to realize this decision’s necessity, so the ‘knowledge decay’ movent completed relatively smoothly, spanning several centuries but without incident. After knowledge decay, the world beca like this—since not even the Elven Three Clans could overly contact technology or High-level Magic, to ensure everything under surveillance, even the interstellar era was abandoned, and within the Elven Three Clans, advanced knowledge wasn’t retained either. All devices involving Math Rate and Void technology were destroyed or sent to the Heavenly God’s Forge—that place’s outer layer is like a massive graveyard. Remaining facilities transford into so-called Ancient Relics. Now, thousands of years have passed, and besides us old fogies and the young ones who inherited their mantle (raising his head slightly to ‘look’ towards the only young bishop there), no one knows that the depths of space were once our ho.’
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‘Repressing technology back to the era of animal-powered agriculture, so even if Revival Organizations sprout, they’d need hundreds of years of developnt before coming in touch with those knowledge, giving us reaction ti,’ Lie Feng Bishop added, ‘rather than struggling to prevent people from detonating bombs, better to simply destroy the bombs; that’s our approach.’
“You not only erased advanced technology but also wiped away the truth about the disaster, even replacing real history with religious myths. Most people — even those in the Lost God Sect — are unaware of the real aning behind the sealed technology; they just blindly follow the Church’s instructions,” I looked at the fat bishop, “Is this necessary? Preserving the truth about the disaster doesn’t conflict with sealing technology. You could let the common people know why the technology is sealed, which would add a layer of deterrence, much stronger than these vague legends.”
The fat bishop shook his head, “Civilizations ford by Mortal Races are easily distorted by ti, and the more enlightened they are, the more danger they pose. A group of Primitive People facing pressure might blindly rely on gods, but a group of educated and powerful enlightened humans might overthrow the whole social Order when pressured; this was proven during the Federation Era. So, the more ignorant the race, the easier it is to maintain stability; even if a lie persists for ten thousand years, no one will doubt it. The goal of the Lost God Sect from the beginning was to make most short-lived species ‘ignorant,’ dull their minds, reduce public knowledge, and shift their focus from seeking truth to their daily bread. In this Refuge, people with knowledge, those who know the truth, are the most dangerous, including those like us who have experienced everything firsthand or were selected as the Inford. The greatest fear is the young who are half-inford about history and have unprecedented confidence and initiative.”
“Is this how the Technology Revival Faction is?” Sandora suddenly spoke.
“The Technology Revival Faction is one of them, appearing this millennium, and similar situations have occurred more than once over the past tens of thousands of years,” the fat bishop slightly frowned, “Actually, we feel guilty about these organizations as well. To protect this Refuge, many short-lived species have sacrificed a lot. Most people in the Technology Revival Faction, if placed in a normal world, would have been navigators of civilization, pillars of their Race. But in this world, they can only be suppressed. But the path is set, and we must continue on it. Tens of thousands of years ago, we and the leaders of those short-lived species reached a consensus: they voluntarily shed their knowledge, sacrificing the ignorance of future generations to ensure the Refuge’s safety while our task is to strive to live longer, maintaining this Order as the only inford Guardians.”
“If I’m not wrong… the mbers of the Technology Revival Faction will ultimately be absorbed back into the Church, won’t they?” Sandora Ball suddenly spoke in a aningful tone, “I’ve scanned every corner of this city and found so very interesting… places.”
Lie Feng Bishop laughed, “Indeed, the Technology Revival Faction has appeared more than once, and they are not the only technology revival organization in the world. So of these organizations have already been successfully suppressed. We try to capture the mbers of these organizations alive. If they are resolute enough, we tell them the truth. Those who can withstand the truth beco a special group of monks in the Church, known externally as ‘Maskers.’ They are an enforcent unit perpetually masked. After learning the history, these Masker monks take the initiative to confront other Revival Organizations with enthusiasm exceeding regular monks. This isn’t a bright thod, but sotis guarding the world requires a bit of Shadow. And regardless of whether they beco Maskers, mbers of Revival Organizations who learn the truth are tightly controlled by the Church. Those who convert are monitored, and those who can’t bear the truth are confined for life, not allowed to leave this city for even a step — we avoid killing these people whenever possible because everyone is helpless, everyone bears guilt, including us.”
“The Revival Faction, fearless due to ignorance, thinks they are saving the world and are thus driven, but after knowing the truth, they must unhesitatingly confront their forr comrades from the past, and they can’t reveal the reason for their ‘betrayal,'” Sandora’s voice was full of lant, “You conceal the truth about the Abyss, probably to prevent triggering a massive collapse, isn’t it?”
“Ignorance is bliss,” the fat bishop sighed, “The truth of this world is not very beautiful; it is an extre despair. The entire Universe could be reduced to ashes at any mont. Every extra second we live is due to luck, Mortals cannot resist, not even having a place to escape. The myths we fabricated at least let people believe that civilization can slowly recover, people believe the God of Technology and the Magic God will gradually forgive humans, and they needn’t fear more. But if people knew the truth? They would realize civilization cannot possibly recover, there’s no God of Technology or Magic God, and any progress in civilization will bring imdiate destruction. Our future is hopeless, and every direction leads to a dead end — most people couldn’t accept this fact, and we have plenty of compelling evidence to prove it. Only the most resolute can beco Maskers. Most mbers of the Revival Faction, after learning the world’s truth, either go mad or beco more extre, and they can only be confined in mountain caves for life because they constantly think about rushing out to tell everyone the truth, let everyone endure the sa pain as they or simply pull the world into destruction. These Revival Organization mbers are already extraordinarily strong; what about ordinary people? Not everyone can accept such a completely hopeless world.”
“Rather than dying in despair, it is better to live in ignorance, at least then, one can hold onto a vague hope until their deathbed. Before Doomsday arrives, every extra day lived is a day gained,” Lie Feng’s old, hoarse voice echoed the sentint of everyone, “We old folks have weathered great storms; let us hold the line, while everyone else… can pretend nothing happened, living safely and peacefully is better than anything else.”
I suddenly realized this world is a giant cage, as the Elven warning says: the prison will also beco a Barrier. It should actually be understood the other way around: the Barrier is the prison. Everyone is trapped in an inescapable Prison, only this Prison is large enough that most are unaware of the bars standing in the distance, and the Three Elf Clans are the earliest prisoners, who created a delicate little ho like building blocks in the center of the prison, then told the other prisoners: this is the whole world!
The Lost God Sect has crafted invisible shackles with ‘ignorance’ and ‘primitive simplicity,’ rendering prisoners unable to reach the end of the cage, and used religious myths to create a false Sky, so prisoners wouldn’t see the gloomy top of the cage when they looked up. As long as the bars are unseen, the prison doesn’t exist — thus, the majority of the world lives peacefully, generation after generation, never doubting their ‘entire world.’
But now, this cage is finally going to open. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian) to recomnd it, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian to read.)
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