My players are so fierce.

Chapter 1225. The remnants of the past will shape the new foundation

"Go, say goodbye to the shadow of the past. The painful journey you have endured on the physical level in the past period of time will end before the next dawn. Hogg, my friend, this is a very memorable moment, so I will not disturb you to reminisce about the past."

Murphy's voice came from the communicator of the Wise Wolf Armor, causing the werewolf Hogg, who was driving the power armor into the creation engine, to nod.

It knew what Lord Murphy meant, which was that it was impressed that Lord Murphy was such an energetic vampire.

Hey!
Don't think that if you keep your voice down, I won't hear the moans of Ms. Trish next to you. Okay, you vampires are really hopeless. All the rumors about the rotten midnight are true! Those vampires always wantonly fool around every midnight until dawn.

Tsk, the Chosen One of Creation who is immersed in desires really has no dignity, Lord Murphy!

Hogg complained a little in his heart, but it didn't stop.

For Hogg, there was not much to appreciate about love between men and women. After all, gnolls only went into heat twice a year, and were quite normal outside of the heat period. Moreover, for Hogg, the power he now held in the gnoll kingdom was so important and tempting that he no longer needed to indulge in such elementary pleasures.

Well, Hogg is very tough when he speaks with his trousers pulled up.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. Take me there and let me face the end of my fate."

Philip's voice echoed in Hogg's heart. The Bone-Biting King, who always appeared tough and fierce, seemed to become gentle at this moment of farewell.

It urged him, so Hogg quickened his pace.

Amid the sound of the Wise Wolf's armed forces colliding with the ground, he walked through the very busy manufacturing area of ​​the Creation Engine and around those huge construction machines, just like a pilgrim walking in the mechanical kingdom.

The machines left by the Creator were working according to the predetermined program. They ignored the "dwarf" moving forward, but for Hogg, looking at those huge machines, he felt like he was walking in the disappeared mythological era.

In the golden age when Sir Philip was born, were these great machines also fulfilling the grand blueprint left by the Creator to the world as they are today?

"Don't ask me, I don't know either."

Philip sensed its thoughts, and the Bone Gnawing King explained in an extremely patient and helpless tone:

“Although I was created in the Golden Age, I have been lying in the incubator as an experimental subject. The only times I woke up were for some tests. My understanding of the Golden Age is no more than yours.

It's like a poor person who is forced to leave his hometown. He only knows that his hometown is good but has never really lived there. "

“But you look forward to it.”

Hogg whispered:
"In order to return to the Golden Age, you even launched a war that destroyed the world and almost won. It seems that the Golden Age is as heavenly as it can be in your mind."

"You flatter me too much, cunning Hogg."

The Bone Gnawer King snorted and said:
“If I were really as powerful as you say, I would not have been defeated by the Songhai people’s sun bombardment, nor would I have died alone in a miserable state in an exhibition hall in a filthy swamp. I am just a lonely ghost who should not have woken up in this era. I am trying my best to bring this chaotic era back to the prosperous world that I have never seen.

Rather than saying how much I long for the Golden Age, I would rather say that I am disappointed with this era.

You know, I have never told you how I felt when I was awakened from my slumber by those explorers and learned that everything had changed.
That's a shame, Hogg.

You can't imagine how painful and lost I was at that time.

Even though I knew very well that the biologists in the Eden Zone shaped me only to create a king and leader for the gnolls so that they could better enslave my people, even though I knew very well that I was created as a perfect slave.

But I was still given a responsibility, to guard the Eden area, to guard that golden age, to become the gatekeeper of that brilliant land and to witness the advancement of supreme glory.

I hate this identity, but I am also proud of it.

I am actually not as great as you say. I used to indulge in the vanity called "perfection". I used to feel proud of the dog chain around my neck, and I fell into irretrievable pain after learning that everything was gone.

That day was the most embarrassing moment in my life. I knelt down beside the corpses of those idiots who had disturbed me, praying that fate would take me back to where I should be.

I remember that day I cried like a kobold whose toes were stepped on.
stop!

Come look at Him with me.”

The Bone Gnawer King said this, and Hogg stopped the advance of his power armor and turned around.

Together with its spiritual "ancestors", it turned its head to look at the sculptures of the Creator placed on both sides of the corridor leading to the Furnace of the World.

Those gorgeous, axe-carved stone sculptures, somewhat reminiscent of ancient Greek bodybuilders, sculpt the Creator in various forms. The exaggerated or abstract movements do not deliberately express the greatness of the Creator; they are even so lifelike that they make people laugh.

To be honest, Hogg feels that these sculptures are just a "live show".

It's like some bored guy captured the Creator's posture at work, and then restored those postures into sculptures. The significance of their existence here is not to show a perfect god to later generations, but to shape a real god in the posture of a mortal.

He has no trace of divinity, but is full of humanity. This alone proves that He is closer to this world than any other gods.

“It was He who created all of this, He led all of this, He planned all of this, and He designed the blueprint of creation to perfection. However, when the plan was about to be implemented, He left this world where He had poured countless energy without looking back, and left everything to His followers to complete.

However, He chose the wrong person.”

Philip sighed in Hogg's mind:
"In the past that I have witnessed while following Commander Murphy, I have fully realized that those who shaped me are not as perfect as they claim. They tried their best to be comparable to the Creator, but it turns out that they are just a group of mortals with their own problems, like a group of fools struggling in the sea of ​​desire but holding the power of creation.

The consequence of leaving the shaping of the world to a bunch of idiots is the mess we are dealing with now.

Hogg, tell me, if the Creator is really omniscient and omnipotent, then why would He do this?"

"How do you want me to answer this?"

The wisest of the Jackals shook his head helplessly in his power armor "wheelchair" and said:

"How dare I, with my inferior wisdom, guess the great ingenuity of the Creator?"

"Just say what I ask you to say. I'll be gone soon. This is definitely the last time we talk, so please be sincere, okay? I know that you, who have been enlightened, will definitely have your own opinions on this matter."

Philip cursed in annoyance, causing Hogg to roll his ears awkwardly. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke:

“Perhaps this is what the Creator wants to see?
He hopes that his successor will not lie in the perfect world and become an ordinary person with no ambition. He hopes that Lord Murphy can accomplish something and challenge his own limits. Since it is a challenge about survival and the future, there must be a bad enough trial ground, right?

He allowed Lord Murphy to be born in a destitute state, obviously expecting a story of emerging from a cocoon and becoming a butterfly.

He has enough power to single-handedly create a perfect era of prosperity.

You see, even more than a thousand years after the Creator left, these construction machines in the Creation Engine are enough to flatten the world.

He didn't leave because He couldn't do it.

He knew how bad the assholes in Eden would make things, but He did it anyway, just like the legendary God who didn't care about the changes in the mortal world, because He knew that no matter how bad the situation got, as long as His successor appeared, everything would be fine.

It’s not that He doesn’t care about all this.

He sent his most cherished 'child' here, and his successor personally led us step by step out of this quagmire created by ourselves, so as mortals, what qualifications do we have to criticize the Creator for not taking action? "Hogg shook his head and said:

“And on the other hand, if the followers of Eden were wise and fair enough, and they really transformed the entire world into a perfect place according to the Creator’s blueprint, would the Creator punish them for it?

Do not!
Judging from the various facilities and designs He left behind, He is a very gentle and kind God. He does not punish his followers for doing good things. On the contrary, He cheers loudly for their achievements in the clouds and praises how excellent His vision is.

Therefore, in my opinion, the Creator was not irresponsible at the moment of His departure. In fact, He must have made a great decision to leave the most precious thing to this world.

I would have called it 'freedom'.

But if you think about it carefully, in this era when "freedom" is stigmatized too much, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it "choice".

He left the power of choice to his followers. It was obviously humans who messed up everything, but they blamed the gods for their inaction. He had clearly given them everything he could, but those bastards a thousand years ago still felt it was not enough. "

At this point, Hogg curled his lips and said to the silent Philip:
"So, I have never been able to understand your original choice. Why were you so stubborn in wanting to turn this era back to the so-called golden age a thousand years ago?

Anyway, I think that although the era we live in is far from perfect, it is the most suitable for us. I have no intention of judging whether your feat of turning the world upside down a hundred years ago was correct, but if this helps your mentality at this moment, I would say that if your creator saw with his own eyes that his creation almost accomplished the feat of sweeping the world, then he or she would definitely feel excited.

In that sense, you have not let your Shaper down."

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"Humph, I can't hide it from you after all."

Philip snorted and said no more.

It silently allowed Hogg to drive the power armor into the area where the World Furnace was stored. Before Murphy and Tracey left, the program here had been set to a special mode, and something similar to an authentication device extended from the body of the World Furnace.

That was the final relief Philip longed for.

According to it, the Creator created a perfect "paradise" for his followers, and only those who are qualified are qualified to set foot in it.

But to be honest, Philip's statement is full of "wishful thinking".

At least as an administrator, Murphy, in a series of investigations into the knowledge left by the Creator, did not find any trace of the so-called "paradise" that the Bone-Gnawing King had been talking about. In fact, Murphy had always suspected that Philip might have been "cheated".

The Bone Gnawer King may be the victim of a despicable "information fraud", and no one knows who told it all this, but the fact is that the place that Philip wanted to go, which sounded good enough, might not have existed from the beginning.

As for Hogg
Hogg's clever mind was probably aware of this problem, so when the Wise Wolf's armed crew cabin popped open, allowing the small jackal in a black pilot's uniform to crawl out slightly and prepare to touch the authentication device, it suddenly said:
"I suddenly feel like I've gotten used to being in a wheelchair. Although it's a little inconvenient, how should I put it? This kind of physical torture is more in line with the image of a clergyman. Moreover, as the spiritual leader of the Gnoll Kingdom in the future, I really need the wisdom of the greatest leader in the history of the Gnolls.

Having an old ghost like you on my body will undoubtedly strengthen my legitimacy."

"what do you want to say in the end?"

Philip asked unhappily. Hogg was silent for a moment and said:
“Or, you can stay here and parasitize my body as a lonely ghost. Anyway, a jackal like me in my original form doesn’t have that long of a lifespan. I will die in thirty years at most.

It will be a wonderful thing for us to return here and die together.”

"You think too much, Hogg."

Philip said quietly:

"Even if you didn't choose lifespan enhancement when you were bound to the civilization candidate, the bio-capsule has repaired and strengthened your physical fitness. You can live for at least 70 years, provided you don't commit suicide. Okay, stop pretending. I know what you want to say.

You are afraid that after you complete this certification, I will be swallowed up by the World Furnace in a tragic manner, and even the last remnant will not be preserved, right?"

"Well, now that things have come to this, I won't pretend anymore."

Hogg nodded, then said sharply:

"Chief Murphy never said anything about it, but I could guess.

There is no such thing as a beautiful paradise for the children of creation. You have been deceived! I don't know where you heard this from, but there is no doubt that the furnace of the world does not have the ability to shape the destination of the soul.

If you walk into it, you will only become its fuel."

"But what's wrong with being the fuel for the new world? But what if that's what I want?"

Philip replied calmly:

"When I was alive, I tried my best to collect all the information about the Eden Zone and the Creator, some true and some false. I have forgotten where I heard the news about the destination of souls, but I have always believed it is true. The destination of all the sons of creation is in the creation engine that can shape the world.

From the time I was alive to the time I died and became a wandering ghost and was awakened a hundred years later, this has become an obsession of mine.

This is the destination I have chosen for myself, no matter whether it is heaven or a furnace. It would be even better if it is a furnace, so that I can turn the last bit of my existence into firewood to shape the world.

Even if it can only burn for a second.
I know you feel sorry for me, Hogg, and you hope that a wandering ghost like me can have a good home, but the fact is that I died more than a hundred years ago.

All my stories should end on the cold and lonely visitor's chair in the swamp restricted area. It was the grace of the Creator or something else that allowed me to have this journey now, to follow Chief Murphy and contribute some insignificant strength to his cause.

Do you think the proudest thing about my life is leading the gnolls to defeat the entire world?

Do not!
No, Hogg.

My real pride only begins after I die!
Under Commander Murphy, I have truly fulfilled my duties as a son of creation. I have completed the mission given to me when I was born, and I am worthy of my existence."

Philip paused, then cried out in a voice that was mixed with expectation and relief:
"What you see before you is the furnace of the world, Hogg, the mighty force that the Creator uses to shape the new world. For a life that has always identified itself as a son of the Creator and is proud of it, being able to end one's journey in the flames of this mighty force is a supreme gift and reward.

I will become one with the power of the world and I will become part of the new world.

That's the paradise I've been waiting for!
It is a more real and greater existence than any heaven that claims to bring bliss after death. It is the glory of devoting oneself to what one believes in and giving away all one's final glory.

I woke up in an era that does not belong to me. It took me more than a hundred years to get here through war, betrayal and death. I don't have to go anywhere. I'm back to my home.

Say goodbye to me, Hogg.

I hope you can be like me, walk in the career you believe in and love, burn all your passion and finally reach the end. "

As Philip's voice echoed, Hogg reached out and grasped the authenticator in front of him. As the prompt sounded, "Civilization candidate has been confirmed, incineration procedure started," Hogg saw Philip's spirit extending from his body. The savage and kingly werewolf turned around and waved his claws at it, then adjusted its black security uniform, and walked into the dazzling spark of creation in the World Furnace in front of him with a proud posture, wagging its tail and humming a song.

At the last moment, it opened its arms, as if turning into a ray of light in laughter.

And Hogg.
Without the mental oppression, Hogg regained his ability to move. He jumped out of the power armor's crew compartment, straightened his black pilot uniform, stood at attention in front of the closed World Furnace, and bid a final farewell to his superiors and predecessors.

The greatest leader in the history of the Gnolls rested in peace, and its final combustion added less than 0.001% of the energy stored in the World Furnace.

Just like that, history has completely turned over that page.

(End of this chapter)