Embers of Embers

Chapter 491 The Cemetery of Despair
A world war, a war that engulfs every inch of the land, and no one can stay out of it.
A storm arose in Lorenzo's mind, and he began to realize these changes in the situation, Lawrence's secret blood army, the reincarnation of the nation builders, the destined doomsday battle... all of these were advancing crazily, Like the wheel of history, he thought he had the ability to stop it, but found that everything was moving along with it.
Arthur's eyes glazed over, his pupils shrank into points, and he looked directly at the Queen. His voice did not fluctuate at all, just like a machine.
"What's the reason for the war?"
"This is what I want to explain. After so many years of research by the purification agency, have you ever thought about the connection between demons and us?"
asked the Queen, who seemed to know everything.
"No, that's a bit inaccurate. I've also read Mr. Holmes's report and Merlin's feedback. In essence, the 'demon' is just a by-product. The real threat to human existence is something called 'erosion' .”
The Queen went on to add that this was a conclusion reached after various incidents and recent interrogation experiments.
"The real disease is the so-called erosion, and the monsters are just sick humans. This has always been a civil war between humans."
She raised her head and looked at the only beam of light in the dome.
"Light, we cannot observe the existence of light intuitively, but we can be aware of its existence sideways from the things that are illuminated. The same is true for erosion. We can feel the oppression and hear the Geiger counter. The chirps and the changes of the monsters all prove the existence of erosion from the side, but we have not intuitively noticed it."
The queen looked at Lorenzo again as she spoke, as if she knew something, and her dull eyes made Lorenzo panic.
Although he didn't want to admit it, at a certain moment, Lorenzo seemed to realize the source of the demon, or the source of the erosion.
Power Gabriel.
After being [sublimated], Lorenzo's void will itself became a source of erosion, just like light, invisible and intangible, but it could detonate amazing power from nothingness.
In fact, it is a bit inappropriate to use Lorenzo himself as an example. He himself is not a completely nihilistic existence. Lorenzo still has a physical basis. As Watson said, Lorenzo is incomplete [sublimation]. Rather than failed [sublimation].
Each power corresponds to a characteristic of the demon, and Power Gabriel may correspond to those weird angels, silencers, and shepherds.
Cold sweat drenched Lorenzo's back, maybe... maybe those weird guys are the source of the erosion, and myself, this power named Mighty Gabriel, will the end of this [sublimation] be yes……
"The knowledge among the nation builders has also been lost a lot with the iteration, but there are some internal secrets that indeed support part of the understanding of monsters."
The queen's voice interrupted Lorenzo's thinking, she did not continue talking about the previous topic, but mentioned something else.
"For example, your so-called shepherd theory may disappoint you. This was realized by the builders of the country hundreds of years ago. The world is covered by invisible fences, and humans live in ignorance.
You must know that human history is very long. In this long history, there are also pursuers of the unknown. Most of them have died, but there is still something left behind. "
Lorenzo understands what the queen means, just like Shermans' notes, Merlin's research, and Lorenzo's obsession with Medici. These people are not very related, but they have a tacit understanding of the same thing. Pursue.
This reminded Lorenzo of what Oscar once said, when the two were chatting about writing. Oscar said that if you have an amazing idea, there is no need to be happy, because there must be another person in the world who thinks of it. .
"Then...why hide the secret?"
Arthur asked at this time, so it seems that the pursuit experiment is meaningless, and the builders have already grasped the situation about this part.
"If you builders of the country didn't keep secrets like this, the Red News incident could have been completely avoided... That's right."
Arthur's newly raised anger weakened again. He looked at the Queen and realized the origin of this sorrow. He could only lower his head, tortured by the pain of knowledge.
"Arthur, knowledge is cursed. The royal family has blocked William's exploration more than once, because we know very well what the result of the exploration will be, which is disaster, but we have no way to warn him, because this will inevitably trigger the information threshold, Causing disaster.”
The queen said helplessly.
"But we still underestimated a scholar's pursuit of knowledge. He started the experiment privately. All we can do is to minimize the harm. The same is true for your inquiry experiment. You should have seen those angels. "
Arthur nodded stiffly. This is the sadness of this world. The royal family has known all the secrets for a long time, but they cannot tell others. This knowledge cannot be passed on, it is cursed.
"Because of this, I guess that the predecessors may have been afraid of causing greater disasters. They carried out self-castration, blurred the division of historical eras, deified demons, actively abandoned most of the alchemical knowledge, and made mankind as ignorant as possible. , so that more people can survive.”
The Queen speculated about the past.
"And this is the main reason why humans have been unable to defeat demons. Our knowledge cannot be passed on at all. Even if someone knows it, they may trigger the information threshold and be killed by the descending angels."
"Keep silent."
Lorenzo said suddenly, realizing what the world was like now.
"Human beings live in an ignorant fence, and shepherds keep their sheep quiet to avoid being hunted by hungry wolves outside the fence... So what is the reason for the need to kill lambs on a large scale? Obviously they don't know anything, and they don't know anything. It will trigger the information threshold and not attract the attention of hungry wolves.”
"Because the fence is no longer big enough, Mr. Holmes, there's only a set number of humans we can protect."
The Queen reveals the shocking secret.
"According to hundreds of years of investigation by the nation builders, we will find that no matter how we kill the monsters, they will continue to appear. To be precise, this 'erosive' disease will continue to spread and cannot be controlled at all. Just like the detection of a Geiger counter Similarly, erosion can be regarded as a kind of radiation, so there must be some kind of radiation source in this world that is spreading the disease."
The queen looked at Lorenzo and then asked.
"You also have this concept within the Demon Hunting Order, right? Just like the lie of the Holy Night, you have captured the source of the concept of 'demon'."
Lorenzo did not answer this question. In fact, it now seems that the Demon Hunting Order may have been right. The Silent One's own nihilistic will and the nature of constant diffusion and erosion are very consistent with the concept of a walking "demon", but Lorenzo Clearly, as shepherds, they should not be the source, at least not the main source.
Like a big river, they are just a small branch in it.
"Have you found the source of the radiation?" Lorenzo asked.
"No, but we have come up with an interesting data. It may not be accurate, but just like breathing, demons will appear on a large scale every once in a while, which means that the uncertain radiation source will spread widely. Erosion, and this value is related to the human population. The current population value of the world has exceeded the set value, and the next round of demon disaster is getting ready."
"A birth control mechanism. When the human population reaches a certain value, they will come out to harvest for a round to ensure that the human population is at a stable value." Lorenzo said.
"Almost, but you are mistaken. The real birth control mechanism is the nation builder. We set off various events to drastically reduce the population to avoid causing large-scale spread of erosion."
The queen looked at the darkness around her, and she continued.
"Mr. Holmes, I know you are still suspicious of me, but there is nothing you can do about it. The knowledge has been contaminated, and all we can do is foolishly believe it. Do you know the Dunling Plan?"
She mentioned the Dunling Plan again, and Lorenzo remembered it. On a clear day, the tall Dunling Tower could be clearly seen no matter where it was in the old Dunling.
The Dunling Project was a technological innovation led by the Perpetual Pump. If the plan succeeded, the world would stride into the electrical age. But in the end it was stopped and buried in the archives, with only the remaining remains. Existing in the old Dun Ling, serving the purification mechanism.
"In fact, the main reason why the Dunling Project was stopped was because of the will of the builders of the country. It will bring prosperity as well as disaster. You may not be able to understand this, but it can be solved with the disaster plan of the purification agency. Very well explained."
The Queen turned her head and looked at Arthur. She probably knew too much today. Arthur's eyes were bloodshot. It was difficult for him to describe his mood at the moment. The thing he had been chasing for so long had actually been taken away a long time ago. The royal family knew about it, but they kept silent about it out of so-called protection.
Arthur felt betrayed and unworthy of those who died. One dead face after another flashed before his eyes, and there were too many names worth telling.
“I remember the plan was called a technological disaster.
A hundred years ago, our communication required carriages and letters, which were clumsy and slow. However, with technological innovation and the continuous development of transportation and communication technology, areas that were once out of reach have become within reach, and the entire world has become smaller for humans. , the unknown lands on the map are clearly marked.
This kind of thing should make people happy, but there is concern among the founders about this, and the spread of memes can be blocked by simply burning down a city and killing everyone who knows about it. , but now with the development of communications, we need to do more and more, and it is even said that antimemetic troops have appeared, but even so, it is difficult to contain these.
Once faced with a large-scale erosion outbreak, technology will accelerate our death. "
"So this is the reason for stopping the Dunling Project? Is it just that?"
Arthur asked, feeling angry that the Queen had no idea how many people's pursuit of knowledge had been ruined by such behavior.
"Sorry, we can only do this. Compared with the safety of all mankind, such a price is too small," the Queen continued. "With today's transportation and communication technology, once there is a large-scale spread of erosion, with its Memetic nature, this time we may not even have time to stop it, and it will fall completely."
"Are you controlling the progress of technology?" Lorenzo asked.
"Yes, like here."
As the queen's voice fell, the light beams that had been illuminating several people dispersed, and they spread to dark corners, illuminating them.
Lorenzo looked around. Most of them were still in darkness, but from the illuminated outlines, he saw the things hidden in the darkness. They were machines one after another that he had never seen before. Equipment, they are sealed in transparent containers filled with protective oil.
Like the corpse specimens soaked in formalin, there is a steel corpse in each container. They are like erected copper pillars, densely filling the space below.
"New steam engines, Otto internal combustion engines, Turing machines..."
The Queen looked at the copper pillars below and read out unfamiliar words one after another.
The light passed by, and Lorenzo was completely stunned. The strong light outlined one ferocious machine after another, and some were too huge and were directly exposed to the air. Lorenzo had never seen such machines before. It was like a bird, with huge wings, a heavy chariot, and huge cannons erected above it.
"You must know that human intelligence cannot be underestimated. What is gathered here are the eternal pumps and other institutions of the nation builders, as well as new technologies in the past hundred years, but they are all judged by the nation builders to have the potential to affect the survival of mankind. Stable and thus sealed here.”
Arthur's eyes trembled. He knew very well that any random technology here would have a great potential to affect the world today, but now they are like specimens, being contained here and never see the light of day.
"This is... the cemetery of technology."
The Queen looked sadly upon all this, this majestic tomb.
"This world is an extremely perfect cage. Knowledge about monsters cannot be passed on, and over-developed technology will also lead to disasters. Humans can only find a meager balance among them, and survive on their last breath."
"You...haven't you ever thought about using these technologies? Maybe we can win this war?"
Arthur asked somewhat innocently.
"If humans really have the power to defeat all this head-on, then why did the Golden Dawn collapse?" the Queen asked, "All our current technologies are based on the gifts of the Secret Keepers, and the Secret Keepers themselves are the most powerful when they are If we haven’t been able to solve all this for a while, how can we possibly do it?”
Arthur fell silent. He began to understand the queen's despair. He was the only person in the world who knew this knowledge. Arthur saw the world clearly, but he was unable to change it. He could only be so confused. Live on earth and surrender to the cruel reality.
"So... the war will continue?"
Lorenzo looked at the standing steel and asked.
"Yes, to preserve the flock, to maintain balance."
"But that's not right...why is this happening?"
Lorenzo couldn't accept it. He reached the edge. If he took another step forward, he would fall into the darkness, but he didn't. Instead, he slowly squatted down and huddled up.
"No matter how you think about it, it's not quite right, is it?"
Lorenzo looked ferocious, he could not compromise on all this.
Facing the cruel reality, some people will collapse, while others will fall into hysterical madness.
"Yes, it's not quite right. It shouldn't be like this, but I don't have the ability to do more. The only thing I can do is to keep these things in mind and tell them to those who come after me."
The Queen walked over expressionlessly. The intrusion of the King's Curse made her body weak, but she still stubbornly walked to Lorenzo's side.
“Lorenzo Holmes.
I know I don’t have the power to ask you to do anything for me anymore, but just take it as a gamble. In order to break this repetitive cycle, I hope you can do one last thing for me and everyone. "
Lorenzo slowly raised his head and looked at the queen. She was facing the light, with darkness rolling on her face.
"Go to the end of the world. The Keeper of Secrets knows far more than I know. If it were you, you might be able to find a way to escape from it."
"Why do you think I can do it? So many people, so many people in history have tried, but no one has been able to break free. Why do you think I can do it?"
Lorenzo was in great pain. At this moment, he could only feel a sense of powerlessness and despair that he had never experienced before.
"Probably...you are braver than me and everyone else."
The queen whispered.
(End of this chapter)