Alice in the Land of Steam

There is always a chessboard on Tiantis' tea table. Using these black and white chess pieces to simulate war is always an elegant hobby, but our leader's character in this regard is not very good. Basically, except for directly overturning the chessboard, she has used all other tricks to play tricks. So after the rumor spread, from the adults who were also witches to the ordinary members who just came to report their work, they would avoid playing against her for various reasons. Therefore, for a long time, she could only entertain herself by playing chess with herself.

The chess game in front of him was a direct manifestation of this behavior. When Bailong entered Tiantis's office, she had not arrived yet. It was said that she was staying in the Iron Eden Reglagios for some important matter. Bailong always had a questionable attitude towards the adjectives such as "important" or "urgent" in the leader's mouth, but once the matter involved the ancient mysterious city, the situation was different. Even within the Witch Society, only a very few people knew of its existence, and Bailong was almost the first person to know about it - as early as that chaotic era, in order to avoid the war, he led a group of companions to escape into the vast forest of Elgolan, but met a girl with black hair and black eyes.

She was so mysterious, with a melancholy and alienated temperament shrouded from head to toe, as if she was out of tune with this world, yet attracted everyone's attention to explore her origins; she was also so powerful that she didn't even need any rough physical movements, just a word to freeze those relentless villains, and made the army that massacred a thousand cities blend into the rotten leaves and dust without noticing, becoming a part of this big forest.

That girl was definitely the most special person Bai Long had ever met in his life - perhaps partly because he was not so knowledgeable at the time, so he tended to regard some common things as special, but he still felt that way to this day. At the same time, Bai Long also knew that the other party did not save him out of kindness, because her eyes were full of indifference and scrutiny when she looked at him. Bai Long remembered those eyes for a long time because he felt that he should have died at that time, but the girl did not allow him to die, so she took back his soul from the hands of death and made him a lingering undead in the world.

Later, the girl took the initiative to give her name. She said that the meaning of Tiantis represented reality, so she was a very realistic person. If you don’t show appropriate value, you will be abandoned. She asked Bailong some very basic common sense, so basic that it even made people doubt that she was not from this world. After listening, she fell into deep thought. In an unsettling and suffocating silence, she suddenly said to everyone something that sounded incomprehensible at the time: "This is not how the world should be. He will not be satisfied."

But if the world is not supposed to be like this, then what should it be like? And who is He? How can He define what the world should be like? And why is He dissatisfied with the current state of the world? Does He think He is God? But even those gods who drive their followers to wage wars with Gods only want to rule the world, but have never thought about shaping the world into their ideal form?
Bai Long thought to himself that he did not agree with this, but what happened next completely overturned his inherent cognition: the girl brought them to a city built entirely of steel and rock, and told them that this was Eden; she took out many magical objects and books that could fill the entire building, and the books were all full of theories that were so absurd that people wanted to laugh; she asked Bai Long to bring people to verify these theories, and told him that if he failed, the rotten leaves and mud outside would be his fate.

Human potential is infinite, especially when faced with a life-or-death crisis. Bai Long and the members of the Seeking Knowledge Society he led did not want to die, otherwise they would not have risked being judged by the king and hunted by the army to flee their hometown. Therefore, these low-level extraordinary people, whose average strength was only Sequence 8 and whose strongest was only Sequence 7, quickly burst out with unimaginable power. In just months, they had penetrated the knowledge recorded in those books and finally came to a conclusion: Under normal circumstances, these theories would never be true, with only one exception, that is, in an environment without magic power.

When he came to this conclusion, Bai Long couldn't help laughing, but that was not happiness, but self-mockery, because this conclusion was even more absurd than those theories themselves: without magic, the world would no longer exist, so what was the point of whether the theory was established or not? Moreover, even if these theories were established, what would it matter? They were all based on precise world principles and expensive mechanical power, and were far less powerful and convenient for mortals than extraordinary powers. It was conceivable that no one would be willing to abandon extraordinary powers and choose them, which would undoubtedly be a step backwards!

But the girl didn't think so. After listening to Bai Long's conclusion, she thought about it for a long time, and finally asked suddenly: "If I want to use this theory to create a completely fair and equal world, do you think it is feasible?"

Bai Long just wanted to live, and he knew that those members of the Seeking Knowledge Society who regarded him as their backbone probably wanted to live even more. They couldn't possibly disobey a person who could take their lives at any time. Besides, although the other party's ideals sounded a bit ridiculous, they were at least better than ruling the world, right?

So he nodded and answered very firmly: "Totally feasible."

In this way, the Witch Society was established - at least, its prototype was established.

It was only much later that the young man realized that the number of lives sacrificed for the ideal of changing the world was far greater than the number of lives sacrificed for the ambition of ruling the world.

……

How many of those people are still alive? It seems that I am the only one left. Bai Long held a chess piece, seemingly hesitant about the endgame in front of him, but in fact he was just recalling the faces of those people and some things that happened when he was with them. How did the association that he joined just for survival eventually grow into a behemoth that encompassed the East and West continents? Memories are far more reliable than records on paper. If there are one or two scenes that are clear, then Bai Long can get a little comfort from them, as if the dead will also miss the past and feel sad about the past.

Unfortunately, he found out in the end that he remembered no one. Perhaps it was because those people didn't really want to join the Witch Society. They left for various reasons and never returned to the young man's memory. In the end, he was the only one who truly accepted the society's philosophy and was willing to fight for it.

Because he has experienced too many meaningless things, it was okay at first when he got used to it, but once his fate changed and things beyond common sense began to challenge his cognition, then even the most law-abiding people would suddenly have the urge to go against the world at a certain moment. Sometimes people call this mentality idealism, and sometimes they criticize it, thinking that only young flowers living in a greenhouse would have such unrealistic ideas. They see the world too simply and always think that everything can be solved by their own hands.

This contradictory argument seems to be an additional supplement to the complexity of human nature. Even Bailong himself feels incredible when he recalls the past: Does the young man who just lives for the sake of living and survives really have the potential to become an idealist? Did Tiantis see this at that moment and treat him differently?
Click.

The clear and crisp sound of the chess pieces falling woke Bai Long from his trance. He lowered his head and saw an ivory-white chess piece had penetrated deep into the heart of the chessboard, threatening his king. When he raised his head, he met a pair of bright black eyes. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes: "You disrupted my chessboard. Can this be considered a challenge to me, Bai Long?"

"Do not."

He subconsciously put the chess piece in his hand back to its original position and shook his head to indicate that he had no such intention: "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."

"Oh?" Tiandis was not disappointed by his refusal, but asked with interest: "I didn't expect that you are also a person who likes to reminisce about the past. Do you mind sharing with me what it is, Bailong?"

"I didn't expect that," Bai Long glanced at her, "You would be interested in these things." "Maybe it's because I've heard too much about the past today." Tiandis leaned back in the elegant high-back chair, adjusted his sitting posture casually, and said in a relaxed tone: "Don't mind hearing one more thing."

"Okay." Bai Long thought for a moment and said, "It's not really an important matter. I'm just a little curious about why you saved me and why you chose me."

He didn't say when "that time" was, but Tiandis understood it immediately, after all, she had only saved him once. However, she didn't expect that Bailong would remember this incident for so long, and even still feel nostalgic until today. For a moment, a complex emotion surged in her heart.

Will there ever be a time to look back on the past?

She thought carefully for a long time, and finally gave an answer slowly: "Maybe it's... a feeling?"

"Feeling?" This answer surprised Bai Long.

"That's right." Tiantis recalled the past, and the corners of her mouth slightly curled up. In fact, she shouldn't have saved anyone, because the 120 million years of sleep were just a dream to her, and after waking up from the dream, those betrayals were still unforgettable. She couldn't forgive the betrayal of mortals, so at that time, watching them kill each other with cold eyes, like appreciating the most ridiculous tragedy on the stage, seemed to be the most appropriate choice.

But she watched for a long time, until the sound of the tide in the forest gradually died down due to the wind, and then she was sure that she should save these humans in front of her, because time always repeats endlessly, if the witch does not save him today, she will save him one day in the future. If the boundaries of time and space are blurred, then it is not so important to draw a boundary for something that is bound to happen.

This was a very strange feeling, and it would be difficult for anyone who had experienced it to understand it, so Tiandis did not intend to explain it in detail. Strangely, Bai Long seemed to understand what she meant, and did not insist on asking questions, but just showed a thoughtful expression.

"It's an interesting statement," he commented, "although it's somewhat illogical."

"Scientific research requires logic, but I don't."

Tiantis chuckled and said, "Okay, let's get back to the topic. I heard that your research has achieved results. This sounds like good news. However, why didn't Fei come to report with you? I remember that she is the person in charge of this project, right?"

"Fei..."

The name mentioned by Tiantis made Bai Long fall silent for a moment. After a while, he replied, "Maybe she needs some time to calm down. Not everyone can accept this result. In fact, in addition to Fei, some researchers involved in the project told me that their inherent cognition has been extremely subversive and it is very likely to affect other research projects. Therefore, they applied for temporary leave. I am not sure when they will be able to return to their posts, but you will see their leave reports soon."

"That sounds really...interesting."

Tiantis commented: "I originally thought that nothing could make you researchers lose your composure like this. After all, you are people who have come into contact with alien civilizations."

"In theory, it is true, provided that you read the research report first, Tiantis."

Bai Long said seriously, picking up the paper document that had been placed on his left hand. The document bag sealed with fine kraft paper was marked as top secret. This level of confidentiality meant that only a few people in the entire association could know its contents. Apart from the researchers who participated in the research project, there were only Tiantis, the seven witch ladies, and the main persons in charge of the six major agencies within the association.

Tiandis took the file bag, unsealed it, and pulled out a thick stack of paper reports, which was as thick as two fingers. The black-haired girl turned to one of the pages and glanced at it casually. She was indifferent to the dense data and various obscure professional terms on it. She quickly closed it and said, "As a research report, it is qualified, but if you expect me to read it word by word, it is obviously too much. So let's skip this process and tell me the conclusion directly, Bailong. I believe you can summarize it in the most concise words, right?"

Bai Long had already guessed what Tiantis would say, so he didn't have any extra emotions. He just took a deep breath, as if he had filtered all the words in his lungs so that when they came out, they would be spoken with the calmness and rigor that researchers usually have: "The conclusion is that I think the association should immediately terminate the Eden Project and adjust its strategy. It should never take the elimination of magic as the ultimate goal again. That will lead to consequences that we cannot bear!" (End of this chapter)