Chapter 756: Another program
Chapter 754 Another Set of Programs
There was no one who didn’t expect good news, yet sadly, as Collette had said to Duncan – at the end of time, there was no good news.
This little sanctuary that had been forged out of the ashes was moving towards its final collapse at an ever-increasing rate, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault, nor was it some localized malfunction or man-made sabotage – it was the end of all things, for the time of that end day had come.
Lune and Halina listened quietly to everything Duncan told them, including what the joint exploration team had seen and heard in the border waters, the clues they had found on Sanctuary Island, Duncan’s contact with the Profound Lord, and even the “take-over-the-world” scenario.
Duncan didn’t hide this last thing, he didn’t mind that the two popes in front of him knew the “other choice” of the world – and relatively speaking, he didn’t hide the “future of fire”. In contrast, he did not hide how the “future of fire” would end, nor did he hide the end of all things that the final preacher had shown himself.
Lune and Helena were silent for a long time, until Duncan had told them everything, and they remained silent for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, Lune sighed softly, “Some things are better left unknown.”
“Ignorance is the prerogative of the mundane, you have none,” Duncan said lightly, “After knowing this much truth, what do you have to say?”
Helena thought hard for a moment and raised her head and said slowly, “While the end of the world is inevitable, it’s not really completely out of the question, is it?”
She paused and gazed fixedly at Duncan, a distant wave seeming to be reflected in those eyes as deep and blue as the sea, “You actually have another set of options, don’t you?”
“The Asylum is a narrow, closed system, all disaster redundancies are limited, all resources can only be circulated internally, and there is only one set of vital support systems – there is only one sun, there is only one Boundless Sea, and even the number of city-states had their limits set back at the beginning of creation, and All of this is encapsulated by that eternal curtain ……
“As it turns out, such a set of systems is just too fragile in the face of a catastrophe at the level of a major collapse, just like a building about to fall, those who hide in the house cannot possibly have the chance to repair the entire system from the inside, and instead can only watch the entire shelter gradually crumble, and no matter how long this shelter has ultimately supported itself, and how many years the civilization within it has been developing, the outcome of this is predetermined The result is doomed.
“The Boundless Sea’s shelter can no longer be repaired, and any repair within it will not save it, it can only be a short-lived survival; the opening of the Flame Age is another form of survival, and there’s no turning back, once this route is chosen, the entire civilization is actually equivalent to having been sealed in the grave… …”
And then he paused for a moment, during which the entire living room was silent – so much so that even the crackling in the fireplace not far away became the loudest sound in the place.
“Another world.” Duncan said calmly.
Shirley and Dog sensed the change in the aura and suddenly looked a little uneasy.
“Since the option of perpetuating the old world is either going to the end of the line or is unreliable, there is only one way we can go …… No more perpetuating the old world, let’s build a new one.”
The “Popeess” only frowned lightly and did not respond.
Her voice was mixed with a slight tremor and echo, as if there were many murmurs indistinguishable to the human ear overlapping everything, the air in the living room did not know when it seemed damp, cold, and with a kind of fishy salty peculiar to the sea breeze.
Duncan waved his hand, interrupting Vanna’s later words, and then he frankly met the gaze of the “Pope of the Deep” in front of him: “Hello.”
She suddenly responded and immediately turned to Duncan, “Captain, this is …….”
The “Pope” blinked and finally broke the silence, accompanied by the soft sound of the waves, her voice seemed to vibrate directly in everyone’s mind, “Another sanctuary?”
Vanna’s eyes widened slightly – as the Pope spoke, it was as if she heard the faint, distant sound of the waves, yet the sound of the waves seemed unreal, as if it were just an inadvertent glance cast by the Goddess.
Duncan, for his part, didn’t seem surprised; he exhaled softly and replied faintly, “…… Build a new one.”
“Because the upper limit of civilization development within the shelter is that ‘shell’ – the Eternal Curtain.”
Duncan spoke nonchalantly, but his gaze never left the “female pope’s” eyes, and then he waved his hand with one hand, making a chopping gesture.
The “Pope” didn’t seem to hear him, she didn’t respond to this greeting, but still stared at Duncan, the waves in her eyes looked turbulent, then she repeated: “You actually have another plan, right?”
Duncan slowly opened his hands as the Pope watched, his expression particularly serious: “So, we need a world, a ‘world’ far larger than the Asylum, one that can accommodate more possibilities, one that can allow civilization to continue to grow to the point of breakthrough. It should be able to allow civilization to continue to develop to the point of breaking through the upper limit, at least …… even when the end of the world comes again, it should have the ability to leave behind more embers, rather than plunging everything into darkness after the sun goes out ……”
“The Pope watched Duncan silently for a moment before she spoke softly, “Of course we know that – but how can it be done? In the hot ashes of the chaos that followed the Great Annihilation, it was a miracle that a shelter like the Boundless Sea could be sustained. Outside of it, order has long since disappeared, and we have waited a long time for the chaos to subside. …… The Boundless Sea is the only remaining ‘fragment’ of order. ‘debris’, and beyond that, there are no longer any ‘materials’ with which to build a new habitat.”
The soft sound of the waves seemed to overlap with some disturbing whistles and noises, Helena’s eyes gradually emerged a hint of chaos at some point, it was as if something was growing and wriggling in her throat, and on the skin of her cheeks, dark purple, fine scales as if they were some kind of sea creature had quietly emerged. Still, she sat upright on the couch, as if waiting for Duncan’s answer.
Everyone else, including Maurice and Lucrecia, consciously kept their mouths shut, no one daring to interrupt at this point.
“So, the key is ‘order’, the ‘order’ that can support the whole world’s operation – the reason why the lifespan of the shelter is limited is also because of the imperfections in the order.”
Duncan looked at the “Popeess”, as if he was looking through the other party’s deep eyes and staring at another distant being, and then he exhaled softly, “…… Just as I’ve been thinking all this time. ”
He raised his hand and pointed to himself.
“I have order here, complete ‘order’.”
A pin dropped in the living room.
A sudden warm touch came from his hand – Duncan looked back to see Nina grabbing his palm, a slightly troubled expression on her face.
Duncan smiled and reached up to press Nina’s hair, “Don’t worry.”
Nina inhaled softly and nodded vigorously – and in her vision, the smile on Uncle Duncan’s face was fading into a blur.
That smile gradually faded into the countless stars.
As brilliant and radiant as a river of stars – the giant constructed of starlight slowly stood up in everyone’s field of vision, the eons of stars, clouds of gas and nebulae of creation seeming to flow and cover everything in sight, the giant still standing in the living room, looking out yet seeming as if it was strong enough to fill the entire world, to hold up the entire heavens and the earth.
Ta bent down in the direction of “Helena”, and the stagnant ancient stars seemed to rise and shrink and tremble in the illusion, as if they might expand and release themselves violently every second and turn into a starburst that would devour everything.
“The order of the entire universe – complete and healthy, untouched by that Armageddon ‘order,’ ” Duncan said slowly, his voice vibrating among the stars. “It was only for a moment, but on a data level, it was complete.”
Duncan felt his body, felt his mind flow through the brilliant, magnificent stars, and for the first time, he realized that he was “breathing”, “breathing” on the scale of the stars.
Then, he immediately restrained the urge to continue breathing.
He knew that the “change” in his body was once again accelerating.
Ever since he had left the island of the Holy Land, his “change” had been accelerating – at first, he had only been able to know what he looked like from the careless glimpses of others, but after he had gotten a glimpse of some of the truth from the King of the Pale Giants, he had been able to perceive his starry body in the mirror, by means of conscious control. conscious control, he was able to perceive his starlight in the mirror, and not long ago he had witnessed the change in himself in his “bachelor pad”, and now ……
He has to control it very carefully in order to remain “human”.
Time is running out in this asylum.
His time is running out too.
Duncan looked into the Pope’s eyes and saw a distant being – perched on a gray reef, huddled in a palatial nest, long dead.
Countless “heirs”, also dead, surrounded her palace.
The long dead creature looked up and met Duncan with her many eyes.
Her voice came into Duncan’s ears through the mouth of Helena: “…… It’s beautiful ……”
“Now there are two problems,” Duncan spoke, controlling himself and gradually recollapsing the starlight into “Duncan”, “First, ‘Data’ alone cannot build a new world. I need raw materials, lots of them. …… And I don’t know exactly how the process is supposed to be accomplished, I only have a vague and generalized impression, an impression that tells me that what I need is not out there on this infinite ocean. …… It’s too small, it’s not enough.
“Secondly, I don’t know how to create a new world while preserving everything that exists in this shelter – it might go up in smoke in the glow of the new world’s birth.”
(End of chapter)